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
Comments
- leesmith on Michelle Obama Is A Monkey And Other Offensive Google Images
- magnetite on Church Gives Soul Tattoos To Worshippers
- Evie Walton on Peter Andre ‘Begs’ Katie Price To Come Home
- yampster on The Chilcot Inquiry Into The Iraq War, In Pictures
- yampster on Join The Campaign For Straight Gay Marriages
August 11th, 2007 at 2:04 am
‘I just feel that lots of people are morally harpooning the parents for neglect - regardless of whether they feel this is a sign of their GUILT at having something directly to do with M’s death / disappearance, that they’re just harpooning them anyway.’
I agree Colette, there are no answers so who can we attack with no reserve….who will everyone attack next???
August 11th, 2007 at 1:58 am
Hey A.L. I, I think everybody with a speck of moral decency wishes Madeliene is returned safe. I, for one, think the McCanns have paid for their mistake a million times over. They are not the ones who need to be punished any more. The people who think there is some sort of conspiracy going on, need to get a life!
Why shouldn’t the McCanns do all they can to find there daughter? Does anybody really want the sick bastards to win, so they can do it again next time? I’m all for the death penalty for paedophiles. In fact I’d like to pull the trigger! There should not be any known paedophiles in the community, they should have all been slaughtered already! What’s wrong with the law makers of this planet?
August 11th, 2007 at 1:55 am
And those locals, you can never trust the locals…
August 11th, 2007 at 1:52 am
Come to think of it, that lawyer is rather a ’swarthy’ chap isn’t he…
(no offence to any ’swarthy’ types on this forum, of course.)
August 11th, 2007 at 1:51 am
I remember my parents leaving myself and my sister (approx 1979) for a new years eve party much more than 100yds away around corners and beyond. I recall my dad checking on us once that evening (we pretended to be asleep) and we didn’t sleep early once they had gone - I was 7 or there abouts!
The 70’s have constantly been quoted as the ’safe years’ in the press. What makes it so much different to now? Parents not so jumpy? Or less press coverage of the like in the 70’s?
August 11th, 2007 at 1:50 am
That Leticia story’s really sad….
August 11th, 2007 at 1:44 am
I guess we all have our own styles. I prefer to think about factual evidence (of which we have very little admittedly) - such as results of tests, statements about timings (although these seem to differ), sightings of ’swarthy’ men hanging around appartments (!) etc. and concoct a possible explanation around all that.
But I imagine body language is also important, whether one looks into the camera or not when one gives a message to ones abducted daughter. Things that point to possible guilt (and therefore to possibly finding Madeleine).
I just feel that lots of people are morally harpooning the parents for neglect - regardless of whether they feel this is a sign of their GUILT at having something directly to do with M’s death / disappearance, that they’re just harpooning them anyway.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:37 am
What about Leticia Wright? If the Mccanns raise awareness of child neglect maybe this would not happen in the future?
August 11th, 2007 at 1:35 am
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!!???? jUST BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT PERFECT.PLEASE LETS CONCENTRATE ON WISHING THAT MADDIE IS RETURNED SAFELY. IT TAKES ALL SORTS TO MAKE A WORLD. STOP JUDGING. HOW ABOUT CONCRETE EVIDENCE INSTEAD OF VICIOUS RUMOURS OF DRUGS,MURDER,ETC.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Hear hear David.
Not forgetting the lawyer or could it now be the local people?
August 11th, 2007 at 1:27 am
Hi Colette,
Yes agree we need to focus more on missing Madeleine rather than everything else going on. Thought I imagine everything else going on can provide clues. Thank goodnees I haven’t (& most people on here) already joined the PJ.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Oh, so it’s the McCanns giving Portugal a bad name. I thought it was the sicko paedophiles that lurk in the shadows, that was giving the town a bad name!
August 11th, 2007 at 1:17 am
You’re not alone Ringo!
I promised myself to leave this site alone, but can’t help myself.
Some of these comments are quite entertaining at times, though obviously the context is not (AT ALL.)
Food for thought: let’s all agree now that the McCanns are neglectful parents. There. That gets that out the way. And from the moral, to the practical:
Where’s Madeleine?
For Madeleine, it doesn’t matter anymore whether her parents were bad (or otherwise) for leaving her unattended. Not right this minute anyway. All that matters right now is finding her.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Ok it was the Mccanns/ Murat/ the solicitor/ someone!
Please talk……….someone……….anyone!
August 11th, 2007 at 1:04 am
7
August 11th, 2007 at 1:03 am
5
August 11th, 2007 at 1:01 am
Now I’ve only got the spam protection to keep my mind writhing and alive
August 11th, 2007 at 12:59 am
Where is everyone when you need someone to chat to?
August 11th, 2007 at 12:57 am
On my own………on my own………wail, wail. wail.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:26 am
I am attempting to balance the anti Mccann lot on here as I couldn’t beleive what I was reading myself.
Disclaimer:
I am nothing to do the Mccann lot have never met them or had contact with them, thought I would really like to meet Madeleine alive & safe.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:22 am
nancydrew, I imagine you could say what you really wanted to say to your missing daughter whilst the worlds media is focused on your every blink, sigh or cough (& you know they are watching & analysing as they all think you killed her). I’m sure you would be very focused & natural.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:03 am
Star, not sure about the guy who was shot either, have not heard he died yet. Perhaps people can direct their angst & speculation towards him now as he must have something to do with Madeleines abduction?
Come on guys there is yet more mud to sling for sure; lets get going!
August 10th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Star, I assume that children don’t go missing in the USA as they all appear from your post to be under parental observation 24 hrs a day? I am not criticising your post but would like to point out that people would rather bury their heads in the sand (it will not happen to us - rather like the Mccanns) and tut about what their neighbours are doing whilst doing much the same themselves.
I am not pro or against the Mccanns here BTW but we have to allow our kids out playing in order for them to develop certain skills needed to reach adulthood, whilst making sure they are safe. There is more chance of them being involved in a car accident than them being abduced…..didn’t notice the motorway running through the Mccanns apartment last time I saw it on the news.
So how do we protect our little ones? Bear in mind that child abuse is not something invented in recent years but has gone on for centuries, just more publicised these days.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
star 30, I just cant believe Kate’s reaction when asked on that SKY interview to send a message to her daughter. Surely, if you believe there is the slightest chance that she might be alive and watching somewhere, you would look directly into the camera and say ‘ mummy and daddy are looking for you, we are going to find you and be with you really soon sweatheart. we love you very very much, dont be frightened…’ or some other heart felt plea to her abductor ‘ please please give her back, dont hurt her etc etc. But no. Kate laughed, looked away from the camera, hesitated then said as an aside…we love her but she knows that already. well 3 months on, if she is still alive, 4 year old maddie might need reminded that she knows they love her.
Also, when they keep giving the ‘like eating at the bottom of the garden’ line, why does no-one ever ask them how they performed their own ‘listening service’
from chaplins bar over 800m away the night before?
I would really love their interview behaviour to be examined by a body language expert.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
I am disgusted with what I have read here. Haven’t these parents had punishment enough? They were complacent and over confident. You’ve seen the photos of Gerry with his children on holiday. This is a tragedy - be human. I have railed at them as well, we all have.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Why are they all just not charged with criminal neglect of all of their children. The tapas 9 went out night after night for a week, leaving their kids alone.
Creche all day, left alone at night.
And people sympathize with this lot?????
August 10th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
In ref to the other missing girl…did she go to the pool on her own? I was just wondering. I read she went back to get shampoo? Five is awful young for a child to be running around without a parent. Maybe things are different outside the USA. Seems more acceptable?
I pray that this child and madeleine are found alive and well.
Maybe the man who was shot will have some info on both girls?
Does anyone know what condition this man is in?
August 10th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Unsure if she can swim.
No a private pool.
Not busy at all as it is a private pool. So there is every chance she could fall in and drown without anyone noticing for quite some time.
So you are saying the mother of the missing German girl should have gone with her? Despite the fact she most likely did this on many occasions without harm or any cause for worry. Are you also saying we should wrap our kids up in cotton wool and track their every movement? Not allow them the chance to develop through experience? Maybe we can chip them & monitor them on our computers?
Who would have thought there was someone watching their routine? Watching, waiting for their golden chance?
Perhaps nobody is jumping on this single mother because she is not trotting around the glode publicising her missing child?
Strange I read not so long ago the Mccanns had support because they were middle class - is a single mother not to be sneered at then???
August 10th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Just watched a McCann vid from Sky news….at the end the lady doing the interview asked Kate what she would say to Madeleine if she could hear her…
well she sorta laughed or coughed or something and said that i love her, she knows how much we both love her. Odd not much to say at all…They actually had more to say about not being bullied into leaving….and talked about the police leaks and such..
Oh and if they went home, i think they would have to pay their own bills, not use the donations?
August 10th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Is this supposed to be sarcasm Ringo?
Can the 5 year old swim?
Is the pool well attended by lifeguards?
Is the pool area very busy, thus increasing the likelihood of a small child being accidentally knoked into the water?
If the answers are NO; NO and YES, then it would be a very irresponsible thing to do.
As a parent, the questions above should automatically be asked and answered … if in any doubt then go WITH your child, because you would never forgive yourself if something happened. The same risk weighing process applies to just about every part of every day when you have small children - it is part of what makes being a full time parent such an exhausting experience.