MADDYWATCH: Madeleine McCann’s Family House
Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY EXPRESS: Front page, plus pages 4 and 5, with logo (“THE HUNT FOR MADELEINE: Day 117”). “MADELEINE: NEW SETBACK OVER CRUCIAL DNA EVIDENCE” announces THE WORLD’S GREATEST NEWSPAPER.
It reports that a “devastating blow” has been struck – which turns out to be the news that the DNA tests will not be ready for weeks. The tests are being carried out at the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham, so there is no opportunity to blame the Portuguese authorities on this occasion. The paper has to content itself with the comment that the tests are being delayed by “the nature of the evidence”.
The paper notes that as the McCanns try to come to terms with losing Madeleine “they continually face new accusations”.
It then lists these “vicious smears” and describes each one in detail: “Kate’s guilt”, “Drugging their children”, “Wife-swapping holidays”, “Excessive drinking”, “Children left to cry”, “Killed in the apartment”, “A body in the hire car”, “Emergency call delay”, “Intercepted phone calls and emails”, “Friends under suspicion”, “Forged birth certificate”.
For reasons best known to itself, the paper prints a picture of the McCanns’ home, with a caption noting that it is worth £600,000.
THE STAR: Most of page 9. “DIVIDED IN GRIEF: Pals fear Maddie parents’ rift. “Friends” are apparently “concerned about GP Kate’s crestfallen body language”.
Portuguese newspapers are accusing the police of driving a wedge between the couple to test their individual accounts of what happened on the fateful night. They also claim that a rift has developed over the media campaign.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Small box, page 2. “Expert warns McCanns of long wait for DNA results” The paper reports on the delays, and says that the McCanns have been advised not to return to Britain until the results are known.
OTHER PAPERS: No Madeleine news today.
Posted: 28th, August 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (386) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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August 29th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
199 - don’t ask, don’t tell..
August 29th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Post 166 - “so which is it i?” is a good question. Molly, your point about the ambiguity in Gerry’s statement is valid and raises a red flag. Refer to my comments and response on post 190 to you where I wrote “a lie is much harder to recall than the truth”.
If Gerry weren’t a Physician, his conflicting remark would not be as big a deal coming from a distressed parent. But he is one so this inconsistency is more pronounced. I would surmise that they are keeping close tabs on any and all of these same inconsistencies down at police headquarters.
August 29th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
For those of you who don’t believe they would have the arrogance to try to get away with this no matter how desperate they were you should remember the old saying.
What’s the difference between a Doctor and God ?
Answer…………….. God doesn’t think he’s a Doctor……….
August 29th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
(195) Crimson: Just when we were beginning to get along as well!
August 29th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Ho Ho…He Heeee……Sorry to laugh folks I know this is a serious matter but I just resd on MSN that after nearly 4 freakin months Gerry Mac has just made a direct appeal to the ‘abductor’.
It must have gone along the lines of It’s getting ‘hotter’ here…. wife out of sun cream,…. no sedatives left for the twins and the little beggers keep wakin up. I can’t get me soddin hands on the appeal dosh to buy some more.
So send Massie(or whatever her name was) back and we’ll forget all about it theres a fine fellow.
Hmmmmmmm
August 29th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Those of you who rule out the complex staff could possible be involved in anything have never worked in the hotel, catering and leisure industry as I have for over 40 years. You’ve never encountered the types of personnel that get hired. Even the top 5 star hotels have lapses in internal security, and checking references and backgrounds. It can be oh so easy for all types of characters with ulterior motives to wheedle their way into the trust of employers and guests alike. Jonathan mentioned paedophiles would find the complex an easy touch for coming into contact and trust with young children. Yet other organised persons or groups intent on robbing clients, or selling kids to wealthy childless couples could easily use employment at the complex to further their aims. To some in the Arab world blond hair is irrisistable and whether it be a young girl or young boy is of no consequence.
Hotel and catering staff DO indeed take revenge on difficult customers. I could write a book on all the examples I’ve come across. It may have all began as a simple act of locking young Madeleine up in some basement or cupboard with sticking plaster over her mouth to stop her crying out for help. Maybe she became so terrified that she expired, or had some accident trying to escape. You can’t tell me that any staff member or members involved in carrying out something like this, then discovering the child had died accidentally, is going to go running to the PJ or parents and admitting it was just a prank.
The scenario of arrogant parents turning down offers of babysitting and then shortly after perhaps staff coming across Madeleine wandering around lost, and thinking how easy it would be to teach the parents a lesson is very plausible. That something may have gone tragically wrong in this manner is far more likely than all the suggestions that the parents did it.
I’ve worked in hotels in Africa, Hong Kong and Malaysia where children and even adults get kidknapped or murdered in their rooms. I’ve seen children get up in the night, wander down corridors, get into elevators and end up in the basements or service areas of these establishments. So please, don’t tell me it couldn’t happen or that complex staff are so innocent and well referenced and 100% honest and incapable of carrying out such an act.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
A quick news summary from Portugal - from Isabel (ionglobaltrends)
1pm TV news TVI.
British police and PJ been in a meeting since this morning, whent out for lunch, but will continue this afternoon.
B.police brought some news, that PJ was happy about….not mention what kind of news.
Results of analyses not ready.
About seringes mention in Correio da Manhã…PJ did not agree or desagree.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
194 - the Milk Man?
August 29th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Pat (186): fair point but would only apply if you actually thought a member of the MW staff might be involved. The Mccann’s presumably do not. I have no evidence that a MW staffer was involved but everyone ‘connected’ to this has be checked out.
As for the baby left, baby right bit, I am right handed and have always held my child in my left arm. I assumed this was because I simply felt more adept at feeding etc with my free right hand. Interestingly, my wife who is right handed prefers to carry our child in her right arm. Our child, is now a 15 month old toddler, who is showing signs of being left handed. Who should I ‘blame’ for that? (Sorry in advance left handers).
August 29th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
HELLO NIAMH. I shouted that just in case you did come back. Please don’t lump everyone in the same ‘filthy’ basket. Plenty of people on here, myself included do believe in legal process and continue to believe the McCann’s are the victims. Pat (191) is correct, we were basically invited to discuss and share info on this, but don’t worry if you don’t want to partake. Thats OK by me.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Moderation
Maybe the forum is like a little club of mad hatters.
I will be back later tonight.
August 29th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Response to Niamh Well, the problem with what you suggest is the police are supposedly “incompetent” and reportedly some places afraid or involved in covering up peadophile rings, not to mention all the rest of what most of us on here have read. I am not really convinced this about the police but that has been said.
On television we all were invited to help find Madeleine. Part of that is to speculate in an attempt to discard and sort. Exactly how much progress has been made is unclear.
At what point does the UK release their version of the dog sniff death finding? or will that info be kept within the Portugal investigation and remain secret?
August 29th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
(169) “Tell yourself a lie often enough and it can become your truth - such is the basis of denial”
So true. And here’s another to chew on:
“A lie is much harder to recall than the truth”.
Simple, yet profound.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Jesus Christ Anorak is it right to give all these nutters a forum? I feel dirty after reading this rubbish. Very sad people with no lives. I don’t believe for one moment that they did this, my heart goes out to them, but even if they did, you lot seriously need to get help. Leave it to the cops will you? Your speculation is even more pathetic than the tabloids, at least they do it for a living, you lot do it for some very sad reasons.
Oh and you needn’t reply to me, I have no intention of ever looking at this filth again.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
186 - I had similar sentiments all along. Two behaviors involving the security of the twins after their sibling went missing (among many others) don’t sit right in the Mccann investigation:
1) when Kate “discovered” Maddie was first missing, she ran screaming from the room back to the Tapas bar - leaving the twins behind to sleep - apparently not worried about their safety or their being abducted too. Instinct tells me this behaviour is odd for a mother of one missing child.
2) IF you believe your child has been abducted and you really don’t know who did it, why leave your remaining children in the hands of the resort employees who are basically strangers while you fly off to meet the pope or gallavant to press conferences? As a Mother of two, those kids would be so close to me at every minute of the day you’d think they were attached by velcro. This may be viewed as over the edge cautious, behavior but it’s not neglectful, negligent or disconnected.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Yes, thats what I think Kath. As I’m totally left handed I held mine the other way to leave my left hand free.
Jolly old psycho-babble again. Though maybe they’re right, maybe I am as mad as a hatter???? la la la la la la la. Don’t all agree at once.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Jonathan the only difficult part of the someone at the complex might have done it is the continued use of the creche for the twins after the abduction. If my child was abducted at the complex I don’t think my nerves could deal with leaving the rest of them with people at at the place NO. No reasoning could overcome emotion, not for me anyway. That is an area I have a hard time relating.
I am curious about what the other ladies think? If your child was abducted at the complex would you take your other children and leave them there during the day?
August 29th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
184 -I liked the other research theory better!
August 29th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
^^^ I am also right handed and carrried my children in the crook of my left arm (as did my husband, another righty)- presumably it is to leave the right hand free to do everything else.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
175 - Moderation that is certainly interesting and good news! I am a righty but have always held my babies in my left arm and carried them on the left side. I know how much I love them, so this only supports my beliefs! Whether it’s really true or not, it never felt comfortable carrying them on the right side.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
179 - absolutely the first line was left off. It was not necessary to include that to make my point. You don’t expect him to get right into a self-confession upfront in the opening line of his blog do you? Come on Jonathan, I know you are much smarter than that! No, confessions, whether they be subliminal or direct “unfold” during the course of a statement. Over time.
No one comes out and says ‘yes, officer, I did it, please arrest me and here’s why”. They slowly, take their time, test the waters, get their feet wet, wade in the pool a little deeper and deeper and deeper then PLUNGE! They dive right in! Later on, they start to slowly come to the surface, and come up for air, temper their comments a bit, back pedal, generalize some more…..and try to come up for air…swimming to shallow waters again. By then, they’re soaking wet. The baptismal like confession is done. It’s an attempt at rebirthing to make one feel temporarily relieved, freed from guilt, washed clean of their sins. But it never goes away…..it just stays with them for the remainder of their lives. You can’t unzip and step out of your guilty conscience like you can do w/ a wet suit. You must live in your own skin forever. That is the hardest part for people who have never in their wildest dreams ever conceptualized they’d be in this situation. On one level, the humanitarian forgiving Christian in me, feels deeply for them. For no way did they ever want any of this to happen. On the hand everyone knows that IF they did it, they too must pay the ultimate price to society.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
(178) Penster, i agree motive is a little lightweight but no more so than some of the suggestions on here. What did appeal about it is that medics, particularly those at consultant level can be intensely arrogant and really get up peoples noses. Add someone stupid into the mix, who didn’t think through the consequences and you have a possibility, but only that.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
175 - Moderation. The National Enquirer also believes Alien body snatchers with 3 heads came down and killed Jon -Benet Ramsey. The Ramsey’s were ultimately “let off the hook” because Patsy Ramsey got very ill and eventually succombed to Breast Cancer. Accusing a dying woman of killing her own daughter or at least being a partner in the crime is not the sort of terrain that any investigator wants to find himself in. The Ramsey’s case was one of those really sad cases where everyone knew who did it but the perps ultimately got away with a bad cover up job due to sloppy police investigative work. Most people who really undersand this crime, know that there was no home invasion on that fateful Christmans nite. There was no outside perpetrator such as the one that came out of the woodwork confessing this (Mr. Carr) only to be extradited from Thailand to avoid pedophilia charges there. There was no evidence of any one else killing Jon Benet Ramsey other than an inside job. Her father’s DNA was found on her private parts and her Mother’s handwriting was analyzed on the poorly written ramsom note. The reason this crime never got solved was because of poor police investigation by the Boulder Police. End of story.
Let’s just hope that the same mistake does not occur here w/ Madeleine Mccann. The similarities are a bit too close to home for my liking. Two adorable little girls with so much personality and promise for the future cut short and no one is coming forward to claim accountability. Hence proper police investigative work is so critical. Yes, someone out there today knows exactly who committed the Jon Benet Ramsey murder and someone out there also knows who took Madeleine. Pinning it on the right person thru various means is a whole different ball of wax.
My gut tells me we may be hearing from the Ramsey’s son one day who was “asleep” in the house the nite that Jon Benet was killed. My guess is that he knows exactly what happened and may spill his guts one day.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Crimson (172) I said ‘tabloid and shame’ beacuse you omitted the first sentence of the blog. Are you denying that or just trying to squirm around it ?
Given all the smears, I think the first sentence is extremely important and is about all he can say given secrecy laws etc. What does your Freudian analysis tell you now?
August 29th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Jonathon you make some excellent points (176) partic where dna is concerned but you cannot seriously say that Birchell makes a “fair case for opportunity and motive amongst staff”? It is ludicrous to even suggest that the staff might abduct a child to teach the parents a lesson! There is no fair case made at all, and certainly no motive for abduction. There’d be kids missing left right and centre if the staff at holiday resorts nicked them everytime there was a disagreement with a paying guest.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
(173) That is a most interesting angle! Perhaps Kate took over the controls at the keyboard while Gerry was out jogging yesterday. There is no love quite like the love of a mother for her child. If anyone cracks in this case my bet is that it will be the mother - in this case, Kate MCCann.
(174) Because it’s too late to get out. Back track a moment here, IF the Mccanns are accountable for this…IF …is the hypothetical….There is really no graceful way out of it now. The only way out would be:
1) To make a full confession which is unlikely to happen.
2) To continue to win over the publix sympathies and get away with it by fading into the background over time. With an unresolved crime line.
And IF they did not commit this heinous accidental crime against their daughter, then there is one other way out.
3) Find the person who did it.
IF you believe the Mccanns are guilty, then you only have option 1 or 2. IF you believe the Mccans are innocent, there is always option 3 to hold onto. I am sure IF I was a mathematician, which I am certainly not, I could give you 100’s of examples statistically that would show you the probabilities of each. Unfortunately, no can do. Besides, that would be overthinking this and wasting even more precious time. Accidental crimes are not planned, they unfold as it happens. So IF this was a crime of that nature, there will unevitably be a slip up down the line. Not like a perfect murder.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Overdoses and syringes. Fanciful to say the least. Ok my thoughts:
IF, the M’s had accidentally overdosed Madeleine, then the first thing on their mind would have been to get help and ensure that she survived. Sedatives in (substantially) large doses cause respiratory depression (loss of will to breath) and that is usually relatively easy to manage with artificial respiration and adrenaline shots. The M’s know this only too well. They didn’t overdose and leave their daughter to die. A daughter that was concieved via IVF - a personally invasive process which requires so much commitment, not to mention expense. Does that help put an end to the sedation theory?
For abduction, the abductor is likely to be in the apartment for seconds, minutes at most. How much evidence is there likley to be? Very little. Maybe some DNA from skin cells, a hair or two and maybe some fibres from a blanket. Simply as an example, it was reported that Murat had been in the apartment yet there was never any report of his DNA. It was also reported that there was one DNA profile unaccounted for. Its a holiday apartment so thats pretty easy to understand.
SO why is there a real result from the early forensics? Its possible that one of the DNA profiles that was justifiably found has been incorrectly excluded, the unaccounted for profile can’t be matched so leads nowhere, the initial forensic collection was not thorough enough or the analysis didn’t seperate and identify a small sample.
The latest analysis is so important because they now seem to have collected everything from all (?) anticipated locations and have the capability to seperate and analyse all of it. It just takes time.
Birchell (158) makes a fair case for opportunity and motive amongst staff. KM reportedly said “They have taken her” which might also fit. These are possibilities that really do have to be considered. However, undesirable to say given the M’s religous beliefs, the local church should also be considered.
I would also say we keep hearing how individuals with child sex abuse records gravitate towards children whether that be on-line, at work etc. Unfortunately, it would be all to easy for someone to gain employment in a child friendly holiday centre, especially if an individual’s prior offenses had gone unreported or unrecorded for whatever reason.
Should the recent samples have also included the premises, homes and cars of a much wider group than reports indicate?
I will make the comment, for which I have no evidence (tut tut), that I trully believe the perpetrator is local. That fits well with any planning, opportunity and means. It also means this case is solvable….
If the perpetrator was not local, he/she/they were very organised which means, without some luck, the case maybe unsolvable.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Oh dear… there are some really bizarre comments today. Whatever is going on?
Even the National Enquirer has agreed the Ramsays did not kill Jon-Benet. (after first wrecking their lives of course)
Even the Sun has agreed that Colin Stagg did not kill Rachel Nickel (after wrecking his life)
Re-trials…. Sion Jenkins. Barry George (another one who looked creepy!!)
Proven innocent eventually, Sally Clarke and so on and so on.
All because of pseudo psycho-analysis by talking heads who should themselves be locked up.
I would hate this to happen to the McCanns, (they didn’t hold hands in a conference) Robert Murat (dodgy eye and bi-lingual) Sergei Malinka (owns a PC and a cellphone) Murats girlfriend (German and a Jehovah’s Witness)
In the papers today…. people who hold their babies in their right arm are not bonding and also have mental health problems because the heart is on the left-side. No mention of the left-handed among us who hold babies that way naturally!!
This sort of mumbo jumbo is how witch hunts start.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
If Gerry is holding the smoking gun or syringe crimsonnclover, why keep this in the news?
August 29th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Crimson/Clover When I read that after you posted I thought that doesn’t quite sound like Mr. McCann’s typical language. Do you think his wife came up with that one? He usually talks about them jogging or something non emotional.