Madeleine McCann: 100 Days Of Voyeurism And Entertainment
THE case against Robert Murat is making slow progress, or no progress. An unblinking Madeleine McCann continues to stare at readers from the front page of the tabloids, scaring parents and children via leaflets in banks and cinema adverts.
But now there is a new bad man. He is Francisco Pagarete. He is the lawyer acting for suspect number one Robert Murat.
“Lawyers sick outburst,” says the Mirror’s front page. “These bloody McCanns should just go away and leave this town,” says he. “They’re giving it a bad name.”
The Express also leads with the lawyer’s words, albeit abridged to “Why don’t these bloody McCanns go home”. The words hang beneath the word “MADELEINE”, the Express’s bold statement playing at the bold facts.
And there is more from Pagarete. “As a Portuguese person I think it is strange that somebody would leave their kids. Then, after the first thing happened, they left their twins and went to see the Pope. It was like the McCanns on tour.”
The McCanns did meet the Pope. Or, as Mick Hume points out in the Times, “as a BBC headline put it, in a Lloyd-George-knew-my-father moment, ‘Pope meets Madeleine’s parents’.”
That was the private moment played out before millions. The McCanns were doing their bit, getting spiritual succour. But why were we all invited to watch? Were the media outlets going out of their way to help one family or just giving the public what they wanted: grief.
But there was no news. There is no news. All is a public spectacle. And now the lawyer for the only suspect is the bad man who says bad things.
“You would never leave them alone like that in a foreign country and go to have a drink. It is not a normal thing,” says he.
Many may well be appalled. Others will agree with Pagarete. But these words and their reporting add nothing to the case, shed no light on the girl’s disappearance.
In any case, the McCanns aren’t leaving. “I won’t be driven out by bullies,” says Kate McCann on the Mail’s front page. This is the “Kate McCann interview”.
Says she: “Sticks and stones… we will never go through anything worse than being parted from Madeleine. We will not be leaving or be forced out. I am not prepared to be bullied into something that I don’t want to.”
So she won’t go. And tomorrow when it will be 100 days since Madeleine disappeared, the McCanns will be in Praia da Luz. And so too will be the TV cameras and the newspaper reporters.
They will want a story. And they will get balloons, doves and to review an investigation that has turned into voyeurism and entertainment…
Posted: 10th, August 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (239) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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August 10th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I agree with you all it was highly iresponsible to allow a 5 yr old child return to the pool on her own to retrieve her shampoo, what was that mother thinking??
HANG HER!
August 10th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
IMO I believe people are MORE upset with the McCanns because of their attitude when asked about leaving 3 small children sleeping while they were at a bar and grill with friends..
I have read in a few places there will be BIG things happening tomorrow…100 days missing!!! It is actually quite sad!! What will be the next timemark?
Someone posted about the dad taking her body back to the UK…Well i dont think you could get thru the airport with a body…..BUT how about rags used to wipe up blood? This case has gotten so strange…
August 10th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Good Golly Miss Molly, I agree with you entirely & well said.
August 10th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Voyeurism and Entertainment?
Well maybe … but who was it who actively sought the attention of the public? Not in the quiet, dignified way of Mr and Mrs Coombs, who’s daughter Natasha has been missing since 17 July, but with fanfares, photo calls, balloon launches, public begging, tacky rubber bracelets. The McCanns turned their daughter’s tragic disappearance into a travelling roadshow, and appeared to relish every celebrity moment.
Never mind that it was their own negligence which precipitated the event - with the assistance of the UK media they attempted to fudge such issues, avoid all awkward questions and preposterously insist that theirs was ‘normal’ behaviour.
The problem was, and still is, that their (and the UK papers’) vehement denials of any wrongdoing, and insistent statements to the effect that leaving children in this way is perfectly normal behaviour is akin to a red rag to a bull. It angers people and, combined with their vociferous family, who open their mouths only to change feet, and their (to say the least) unorthodox demeanors it makes them supremely unlikeable. I’m sure that the Portuguese are heartily sick of them by now - and who can blame them?
Having managed to invite the public to participate in every single day since Madeleine vanished, and having used the media for their own ends, the McCanns are now discovering the opposite side of the publicity coin. They were warned, by the PJ and the Mark Warner PR team, right from the beginning, that this could happen, and they can hardly complain now, just because neither the investigation, the media, or public opinion are going the way that they want.
An old phrase …”You made your bed, now lie in it” seems to fit the bill perfectly.
August 10th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
i find odd the statement Mom McCann made that even if Madeleine is found she does NOT want to return to their home, too many bad memories there? Bad memories at home?
Just wondering, does anyone remember when Dad went home the first time? Could there be something to that? They are acting like children right now…the sticks and stones, and we will not be forced to leave Portugal, and they HAD to take the kids out of the daycare(well…isnt that daycare for the people that stay in those apartments where Madeleine is missing from or am i wrong? and isnt it Gerry and Kate’s responsibility to take care of their kids? who pays for them to go there?) Right now it seems like they are looking for pity because people are talking about them, one of the Mccann friends said police leaked info to start a smear campaign? Why would they do that? If the parents and their friends did nothing wrong, they have nothing to worry about. We now read that the McCanns needed help gettin pregnant with Madeleine, and what Maddie told her mom the night she left her sleeping ALONE to go out to eat(how do we know that is what she said?) and she is sorry she left her(sorry now because something happen to her?)
I guess we all need to wait to hear about the blood in the apartment and that man that killed himself in ref to that missing girl from Switzerland and the man the police are waiting to talk to in the hospital(shot by the man that killed himself?)
This case is about as odd as the Jon Benet case…Mom Ramsey took any info to her grave and Dad has moved on with his life.
August 10th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Has anyone found Madeleine yet???
Yes there are parents who will go to the end of the earth and search for there child..Without the media following them…Has this media circus worked? McCanns are celebrities..They played up to the media…Why??? Has Madeleine been found? or is there something more sinister being played out???
August 10th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Interested in seeing what Gerry has up his sleeve for the 100 day missing party(i see he is back to the blog)…..All we know for sure is Madeleine is missing and her parents left her alone with 2 younger siblings while they were out with friends(like eating in the gargen…that is absurd) and STILL dont have a problem with that? Someone, Some Place knows what happen and where she is. Yes, we should not have to worry about sick people stalking our children…BUT isnt it our duty as a parent to PROTECT them?
Who knows what the truth is…from the current news…police are looking at the parents and their “friends” again and will clear Murat(wasn’t it the friends that made him look guilty?)
IMO the police are on to something after “bugging” the Mccann and friends calls, texts and emails and i hope we hear something SOON. I do pray that Madeleine is alive and well.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Mrs McCann :
Says she: “Sticks and stones… we will never go through anything worse than being parted from Madeleine.
HELLLOOOOO Ma’am!!! You will never go through anything worse than being parted from Madeleine ….. if you hadn’t been “parted” from her in the first place, NONE of this would have happened !!!!!!!
August 10th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Point 7 (Claire):
“i think he took her body in suitcase or evidence and hid it or buried it at home.”
- So, for the intervening period between her disappearance and him flying back to UK, they successfully managed to hide her somewhere without anybody finding out during a high-profile missing person case. Then, on the night he flew back he got her wee body from wherever he’d successfully hidden it, packed it in his bags, went off to the airport, and got through baggage control without being caught. I want to laugh honest…
August 10th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
A lot of question to answer here, but first a few home truths,
The parents SHOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT 3 SMALL CHILDREN ALONE under any circumstances.
Had this not been abduction, murder or whatever it proves to be then anything else could have happened, choking, accident , fire, explosion, catch my drift.
Anyone that agrees that it is ok to leave 3 small children of that age alone in an apartment to be checked on every 30 minutes needs to have their head examined.
The parent’s of Maddie, well something is wrong here, it will come out in time probably but have you ever had that nagging thought in your head that something is not quite right in this case ?….. you and millions of other people are thinking the same.
Never in the history of the media has a case like this brought so much attention, the moors murders, other child abductions, this tops them all and why ?.
Because it is so strange, had the parents done this in the UK, there would have been outrage, the parents would have no doubt been charged with neglect, social services and other departments would have been involved and they would have undergone lengthy interviews at the police station.
None of this has happened because the parents of Maddie are touring worldwide with donations flooding in from the public, and they are unlikely to come back to the UK in the forseeable future unless they find their daughter or things calm down in the UK.
I can’t say much about the police in portugal because there is nothing to say, and obviously they think along the same lines, what they have done is completely botch the investigation from the start.
I found it starange that the parents had the digging stopped a few weeks ago when the police were all out for a thorough search after getting a letter from a person giving details of where maddies body could be found, this same person had apparently sent the dutch police a letter previously with the location of two murdered girls which were indeed found, but the portugese police spent less than a day in the area with a handful of officers and a couple of dogs after Maddies parents were refuting the idea that their child’s body may be there and thus the search was ended with the parents intervention.
This also of course now applies to the blood in the apartment in which they were staying which the parents don’t really want to know about or face up to.
No matter what the outcome of this is, their conscience will haunt them forever and they will never be able to blot this out.
Maddie relied upon them for security and safety and so did the other children, the parents failed, not with 10 year old kids, or 12 year old kids, or 8 year od kids, but they left 3 children under 5 years old on their own in an apartment in a foreign country to fend for themselves whilst they wined and dined themselves.
It makes no difference how far away they were be it 100 yards or 1 mile, they checked them every 30 minutes (so they say), a lot can happen in 30 minutes, they should be accountable for their actions, Maddie suffered as a direct result of their actions, no wonder they won’t step foot together back in the UK at this present time.
I think they should be investigated and I think the British police should do it, something is untoward here.
Just think about it from day one, peer into the looking glass, black is white here and white is black.
Unprecedented Media Coverage, No reliable Witnesses, Botched Police Investigation, Massive Donation Funding, Tours Of Sympathy, Unwillingness to Accept Possible Death, Blood In Apartment Which Has Tried To Have Been Cleaned Up, and many more strange things.
Just think deeply about it, and then think about it again and you will be able to see everything is not as it seems here.
August 10th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
There can not be a single parent out there who does not feel sadness, pain and hopelessness at this continuing debacle. My angst is NOT particularly with the parents obvious partial negligence in allowing whatever has happened to happen, nor with their, presumably, elaborate and organised events to maintain publicity. My problem is that they behave very much as though the limelight that they occupy is not only cathartic to their plight, but that it is the most important fundamental raison d’etre. I can understand that they don’t want to jump and react to these inumerable ’sightings’ that are taking place everywhere, but the evidence in Belgium was sufficiently strong enough for the authorities to take DNA samples from a cup, alledgedly, or at least potentially, drunk out of by Maddy. Yet ‘Team McCann’ rolled on to Huelva, in SPAIN! (?????!!!!!). I’m sorry, but my gut instincts compel me to say that had it have been MY child, I would have been on the next available flight to Brussels. The sightings in Morocco were one thing, even ‘though Morocco is a short trip from Portugal, I never truly understood why they didn’t pursue the claims there. But the BELGIUM sighting? A whole Nation, if not SEVERAL Nations held there breath, many hoping and believing that the DNA would prove to be Maddy’s, and the parents swanning around the Spanish ‘Costa de La Luz’. Makes one wonder. Godbless, sleep tight Maddy, wherever you are………….
August 10th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Pat - who needs Freud? Most on here know by now that Brian’s dreams are going to solve the case! This is Brian Ladd, lately of West Virginia, now resident somewhere on the east coast of the USA I believe. Brian is trying really, really hard to dream about Madeleine, and has already come up with some interesting stuff. It’s amazing how several million quid in reward money can really concentrate the mind, conscious or unconscious, isn’t it!? Brian has even offered to go to Portugal to try to help solve the case, but he says that Gerry and Kate refused on religious grounds ……
Before anybody accuses me of being a nut who believes in psychics and dreamers, I am only reporting what I have read, OKAAAYYYY!
August 10th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I think it’s about time we moved away from our fascination with this story - I’m quite frankly bored of hearing or reading about it …..
August 10th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Whether it is Francisco Pagarete or the lacals saying the above matters not. Whoever is saying this is giving the place a bad name not the Mccanns.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Are you really all taken in by the propaganda? Did you watch / listen to today’s Sky interview of the McCann’s? He continues to lie about the Bar being only 50 yards away, he refused to answer the question about their arrangements for other nights out (claiming sub-judiacy) - when they clearly left their children/babies alone, and repeated the ridiculous claim about their behaviour being the same as being in the garden, garage or upstairs in the same house. Totally ridiculous and should’ve been challenged by the interviewer (if it hadn’t been a stage-managed pro-McCann interview).
I feel for poor Madeleine - whether she is still alive or already dead - she certainly deserved better, her parents let her down in the most basic and fundamental way by not taking care of her - preferring to go out and dine with their friends. Because of their behaviour leading up to the “abduction” and for the past 99 days I have no sympathy for them and understand exactly where Murat’s lawyer is coming from. Let’s get real about this.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
The lawyer says the views are not his but thsoe of the locals in Praia. If this apparent crime had occured over here, with foreign parents and a foreign suspect, would the British be supportive of the parents or pointing fingers after 100 days?
August 10th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Other parents of missing children have not had the luxury of high-paying jobs, media campaigns, and donations that the McCanns have, and so have had to get on with their lives without their missing children! You can’t tell me that they’re suffering any less than the McCanns. My sympathies are with the obscure missing children and their equally heartbroken parents.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Claire,
Did you know that Sigman Freud supposedly believed in dreams that are before the fact and ??? can’t think well yet today. I had a book a long time ago something about?? the dream will be especially vivid but so long ago I can’t remember the details. Maybe the book stated that Freud didn’t include the information in his material but his thoughts were obtained in letters. Anyway, it was a book only about dreams.
Due to the time frame of the night your dream is hard to ignore. There are other possibilities maybe more hopeful.
One news article confirmed a circumstance that previously appeared curious. I just can’t figure it out. Tonight I will write about it.
August 10th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
YES THE PJ POLICE WERE INVOLVED IN THE TO TORTURE OF A WOMAN TO GET HER TO CONFESS TO THE MURDER OF HER DAUGHTER! SHE STILL CLAIMS SHE IS INNOCENT AND THAT THE POLICE IN ALGARVE FORCED THE CONFESSION OUT OF HER!
August 10th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
THIS IS SUCH A SAD STORY, ITS A SHAME SOME PEOPLE HAVE TO TAKE THE MICK! REMEMBER THERE IS A LITTLE GIRL MISSING. THE POLICE (BRITISH) WILL GET THE TRUTH IN THE END SO INSTEAD OF POINTING THE FINGER AT PEOPLE LIKE THE McCANNS OR R MURRAT WHY DONT WE JUST LET THEM DO THEIR JOBS AND PRESUME INNOCENT UNLESS OTHERWISE IS SAID BY THE BRITISH POLICE. STOP GIVING PAPERS LIKE THIS ONE ANY PUBLICITY! FIND A DIFFERENT PAPER THAT TELLS THE TRUTH!
AND IN MY OPINION I THINK THE McCANNS ARE INNOCENT PARENTS FIGHTING TO GET THEIR DAUGHTER BACK! THEY COULD DO WITHOUT THIS SORT OF PUBLICITY!
August 10th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Is Murat’s lawyer really saying all that is being reported? I think I read that Murat’s lawyer said his (lawyer”s) mother kept him on a leash? Did I read that right? If true, too bad she let him off! I don’t think he is helping Murat’s case if he is really saying all that I read.
Also, there is a story about a police officer who supposedly accused another mother with a missing child and a picture that is hard to believe, if true. None of the information is clear so ???? but
Wiith so much reporting it would take time to sort to make heads or tails. The entire scene is such a nightmare!
August 10th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
i swear i reall know it was them have said it for ages its obvious. can you also remember when the dad of madaline went home Why? well i think he took her body in suitcase or evidence and hid it or buried it at home. im well known for being a bit psycic i had a horrible dream the mum did it and hes covering up cus he loves her she dint to it on purpose she just lost it. x
August 10th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
i wonder if the mccanns would be so keen to stay where they are if madeleine hab been “abducted” in sunny Birmingham or somewhere similar. And before any angry brummies respond I myself are a Brummie
August 10th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Has Ben Needham’s mother ever given up hope?
Parents don’t give up because they can’t - I don’t think it comes down to choice, whether a child is missing 3 months, three years or far longer.
It’s true that Murat has been given hell (but he hasn’t been cleared yet either.)
The McCanns are also being given hell. When a crime like this is committed the ramifications are wide and extreme and everyone gets caught up, innocents as well… even Murat’s lawyer is ‘caught up’ more than he wanted. He’s annoyed because he’s getting married this coming week and I guess wanted this all over by then…
August 10th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
well said Sandra!
August 10th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
MAZ, If you had a child missing would you go home and just try to forget about it? My God, I would never give up. I would go to the depths of hell to find her if need be. I don’t know if Madeleine will ever be found, but I can keep hoping and praying for a miracle.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Sorry. I meant to write
…any hope of finding Madeleine after all this time.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
The “case against Robert Murat” appears to be a fiction created and sustained by the red top press. That has helped to keep the entertainment going. There never really was a “case”. The only “progress” it can make is for the man to be cleared and justly compensated for the needless hell he has been put through.
Pagarete is only voicing the beliefs of many people. You can sense the frustration the locals are feeling at having the McCanns continually moping around. It’s not as if they realistically have any hope of finding Madeleine after. Perhaps it is time for them to go home and concentrate on the well being of their remaining children.