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
- 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 30th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Nobody asked for a ransom in the case of Ylenia. Now some people fear the offer of a reward will bring in false information (we’ve seen this with the Madeleine case):
http://www.lematin.ch/pages/home/actu/suisse/actu_suisse__1?contenu=292358
August 30th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
*no one asked for a ransom
August 30th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
…and those (226) evidences are really strong ones…
for other theories there is *no* evidence at all, not one evidence even after 100something days:. no traces anywhere, one asked for a ransom, neither she was sighted.
why are you so reluctant to simply consider the facts of the case ?
August 30th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Who was it that the witness Martin Smith saw carrying a child? Was it ever decided?
http://www.drogheda-independent.ie/frontpage/drogheda-family-hit-out-over-madeleine-case-clue-coverage-1060695.html
August 30th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
It is not so surprising that there is little evidence. The Swiss 5-year-old Ylenia is still missing. Yesterday a reward was offered for help in finding her after more searches in woodland revealed nothing.
http://polizeinews.ch/page/22045/6
August 30th, 2007 at 11:59 am
evidences - for a killing by relatives - we know of:
- emails and communication
- cadaver dog
- “jane tanner” - which came out with the most ridiculous attempt to provide
gerry/russel with an alibi ever made
August 30th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I agree with much of what jonathan says in 176, but think a kidnapper could have been an outsider with local help. I would guess the whole group, the McCanns and their friends, had been observed over a period of days and unfortunately the McCanns had the apartment which provided the best escape route, via the car park and quiet back road. Also, I think the abductor would have been able to hide for longer than a few minutes inside as it seems the bedroom was not thoroughly checked at one point (9.30pm). On the issue of sedatives, there are a couple of medicines, antihistamines with a sedative effect, so strictly speaking not sedatives per se, which doctors sometimes recommend to parents whose children need a good night’s sleep - Phenergan and Vallergan. A teaspoonful of these syrups (no need for injections) usually guarantees 8 hours deep sleep.
There will be a huge amount of forensic material to unravel and process from an apartment which has been used by many different people, material which will have to be checked with databases of known (international) suspects, involving detectives from other countries, no doubt. It was suggested somewhere that the apartment had been let in the intervening weeks between the McCann family moving out and the British forensice team moving in, to detectives. I hope this was the case.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:34 am
The cadaver dog findings are the biggest indication for me - dogs may be mistaken occasionally, but not repeatedly and dogs do not conciously lie. My own untrained trio can locate a pile of fox poo in a large area within minutes (they are convinced that it is Chanel for dogs;) )- so an extensively trained dog, with an experienced handler has my vote of confidence every time.
There is also the matter of ‘intercepted’ emails and phone calls. The McCanns obviously have access to both mobile phones and computers (else how does Gerry post his daily blog?), whether or not these are the same ones which the PJ removed from them at the beginning of the case. It is incredibly easy to monitor every keystroke on someone else’s computer without ever touching it and without their knowledge. Even you or I can do it - illegally of course - but a warrant for such a thing would be relatively easy for the PJ to obtain I should imagine. Mobile phone monitoring is equally simple… just Google on ‘remote keylogger’ and ’surveillance equipment’ if you are unaware of the availability of such equipment … and what is available for public use is only the tip of the iceberg!
August 30th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Pat … I’m no Guru - I’m just as much in the dark as everyone else. The only difference between myself and some others is that I will not allow an emotional element into my reasonings - I am interested ONLY in what happened to Madeleine, and to that end anyone and everyone who had the opportunity is a suspect (in the English rather than the Portuguese sense of the word). From that point onwards logic and observation takes over - what is reasonable? what is believable? what fits? what is the probability?.
You are of course completely correct about Justine McGuinness … she actually KNOWS no more than the rest of us - the only difference is that she is being paid for what she says!
Birchall has a point - I worked on the fringes of the Hotel and Restaurant trade for some years, and my daughter is a trainee chef within one of the largest Hotel chains in the world. Upset a member of staff badly enough and you can be sure that some retribution will be coming your way! But deliberately rubbing someones steak on the floor (or worse), inserting bodily fluids into their food or stategically placed itching powder are a long, long way from snatching someones child. He is also correct that many petty criminals sneak past reference checks and into employment within the hospitality trade - but if his belief that child traffickers were at work at MW were to be true, then Madeleine would not be the first western child to have vanished in such circumstances (across the world). It is, of course, possible - but is it PROBABLE?
I should also add, that contained in the above are the reasons why I rarely eat out and prefer to self cater on holiday… If I do, then I am always VERY careful to treat all staff with deference, politeness and respect
Moderation asks what more searching could the McCanns do at this stage? Well one hell of a lot actually … they could start with a media campaign of posters and TV adverts across the hundreds of countries who are still completely unaware of Madeleine. Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, India, South America - none of these have any awareness of Madeleine, yet all contain countries where child trafficking is rife. There are still many, many places where populations do not have access to the internet, or indeed TV - but posters could certainly be seen - even with the basic story in picture book form for those who cannot read.
If MY mission was to find my daughter ‘leaving no stone unturned’, then I would have been targeting these countries from the get-go - the world is, as Moderation rightly points out, a big place, yet the McCanns and their Fund have largely ignored all but Western Europe and the US… (a cynic might point out that these are the places where the disappearance of a pretty, blonde western child is likely to engender more sympathy).
August 30th, 2007 at 11:18 am
sorry, “closure”
August 30th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Birchell (214) If I get you right, “Somehow I don’t see the McCann’s had much time to bath the kids before bed between the time they returned from the beach cafe till when they joined friends for dinner.” You speculate that they did not have time, though they did, as they took children home at 7 pm and then went to dinner at 9. So 2 hours is enough to bath children and get ready for an outing.
Pat (209) No need for sedatives as sedatives, cough medicine can be one, I know this as a mother, and sure as brits they got their medicines with them from UK.
Kris (204) I was touched by your words. God help her and her family if she is still out there! This ambiguity is what Mr. M referred to as lack of “disclosure”.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Birchell You are right. It is more encouraging to think Madeleine might be in Saudi Arabia. At this point I hope so because that is better than what I have been reading otherwise.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I said my hope was and it was but it still is by the way. I am feeling discouraged by the recent reports. While wanting to be hopeful I am a little concerned about being unnecessarily hopeful somehow.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:38 am
I have tried to avoid the dog sniff dead body info for a while. My hope was there is some other way to explain.
In fairness to all parties I take up for the Dutch who collected money and did a study in Portugal. The reason I take up for them is people, even where I live, were invited to help find Madeleine. So, some collected money and did more than the typical person or people and it is hard to see them put down for that effort. At least I see nothing to suggest they were interested in a smear campaign. NO.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Moderation more
here is more Some quote Sousa and then move on to official police person comments… so which can be confusing but here is more which is obviously not encouraging. If you read my past posts I have always been hopeful about the outcome, etc.
Yesterday it was reported that the new leads in the case added weight to the theory that Madeleine had not been kidnapped after all. The Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Noticias said: “According to Olegario Sousa, there is more evidence to sustain the theory of the death of the girl.
“The investigation does not depend just on these results which will come from England.
“It is not just these traces which allow us to give strength to the theory that the child is dead. The matching of all data collected and evidence from witnesses has been put together to draw this conclusion.”
August 30th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Also, I think the problem now appears to be with info suggesting a two hour death inside the apartment, if true.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:32 am
Response to Birchell I don’t know but I think there were sniff dogs of some kind around after Madeleine vanished. It is hard to think a white van happens to show up to empty garbage immediately after she disappeared but how would I know????
August 30th, 2007 at 10:09 am
May (203) I worked one year in Saudi Arabia just after the Gulf War 1 and our company managed many of the compounds throughout the kingdom. Thus I had access, like in most places I worked elsewhere, to information on events that often went unreported publicly. Blond ex pat children were under a particular threat from local paedophiles. I can assure you that there are paedophiles and perverts out there like in any country, who had a distinct liking for blond children. So much so, that some parents dyed their kids hair during their time there. Try googling Paedophiles +Saudi Arabia and just see all that shows up.
Some new questions I find myself asking is:
1. “How is the garbage in the complex collected?”
2. “Once collected what becomes of it?”
3. “Is it collected in white vans?”
4. “Is the rubbish sorted or does it get incinerated straight away?”
Could the answer to 3 and 4 be the reason the PJ are so sure Maddie may never be found?
Normally after a day outside kids get bathed before going to bed. Could an accident have occurred at that time? Somehow I don’t see the McCann’s had much time to bath the kids before bed between the time they returned from the beach cafe till when they joined friends for dinner.
There are so many equations and possibilities, yet until the British police became involved little appears to have been worked on.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Anorak Will there be a new version today?
August 30th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Moderation
This is what Mr. Sousa, Portugal police, reportedly said.
This is what Portugal police Sousa reportedly said.
“The apartment is the key — all the answers lie there, they say - but they are far from resolving what exactly happened and why the body disappeared,” he told the British newspaper.
Sad, but he says why the “body” disappeared, not why Madeleine disappeared.
If there are 220 police looking for a live child and he said that how do you explain?
August 30th, 2007 at 9:15 am
I keep reading on this forum the question ‘why aren’t they out there looking for their daughter?’.
Where should / could they look? the world is a big place, even Praia is a big place to search every property……
Someone tell me what exactly they could do if they packed their rucksacks and set off…
I simply can’t imagine what else they could do other than try and get her image out there as much as possible.
Even a team of detective couldn’t do any more. The PJ have 200 officers on the case and the Brits have 20.
Realistically, what could they do?
August 30th, 2007 at 8:19 am
it’s sad to see how the media and comments are spinning these wild and baseless conjectures concerning the MMs
they are both clearly grief stricken and surely had nothing to do with it……yes, they were negligent, but the real criminal is the individual who took the child
and surely not for adoption….adoptive parents pay premiums for the *youngest* kids, who are more malleable, more likely to bond, less likely to have suffered trauma, etc…..
abduction—that still seems the most likely scenario…..by some opportunistic killer/molester who spotted mm, noted the pareents’ routine, and pounced
poor mm is probably long gone, dumped at sea or buried somewhere
unfortunately, it happens all too often, even right under parents’ noses
August 30th, 2007 at 5:28 am
The couple have not specified a date for going home but family members have said it is likely to be in the middle of September, when the lease on their rented villa runs out. Their campaign manager, Justine McGuinness, is also due to return to Britain before September 10.
I can’t find much in the articles to explain if there is a continued search for Madeleine.
August 30th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Speculation about what may have happened to Madeleine has been rife and several Portuguese newspapers have turned their attention to the couple themselves.
The McCanns’ spokeswoman Justine McGuinness dismissed the latest claim that Portuguese police are examining a syringe and tranquillisers found in the family’s apartment.
She said: “I can categorically say the McCanns did not have syringes or sedatives with them on holiday. They do not use sedatives on their
children.”
The problem I have with Mrs. McGuinness statement is how could she KNOW? Maybe what she says she thinks or believes but how could she KNOW? The last statement that the McCanns do not use sedatives on their children is not a fact that Mrs. McGuinness could possible know without a doubt is it?
August 30th, 2007 at 5:10 am
Richard does you know how it was determined by the Dutch study that Madeleine was taken away in a white van? I have an appreciation for people who will put their findings on the table for inspection.
August 30th, 2007 at 4:31 am
All I know about Molly is she could just about convince me of anything.
August 30th, 2007 at 4:27 am
I Wonder You are funny but you have a point.
August 30th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Kris says: “Who will continue to look?”
That’s the point. The McCanns are not even searching anymore and she is their daughter. The question you should be asking of the McCanns is why they don’t keep on searching for Madeleine if they believe she has been abducted and is still alive. They do nothing but hold interviews with the press, go to church, jog and update the blog entries each day. There’s been no active searching by the McCanns for weeks now.
The PJ suggested that they not return home for a while, but they are not calling them suspects either. They’ve also stopped talking with the McCanns on a regular basis to keep them up to date. Innocence until guilt is proven but the investigation seems to be going in the direction of the McCanns having to be included with everyone else who may have potential involvement. Leaving no stone unturned.
Do you know if McCanns have been asked to take a lie detector test? That’s what I want to know. It’s not been made clear.
August 30th, 2007 at 3:23 am
I think the saddest thing about this whole issue is what a witch hunt it has turned into. Just think for a moment if all these accusations turn out to not be true, and all those who are hung up on them and turning this into the salem witch trials are so hell bent on blame and that little girl is really still out there alive somewheres, where does that leave her? Noone will be looking any longer. She will wind up being resigned to her fate…whatever that may be.
I do not know who is at fault in all of this, and I do not agree with what the parents did to have this all come about, I agree these were selfish choices. But I also don’t agree with everyone condemning them without complete evidence just based upon the brewing hatred that they have for the choices they made. Would it be easy to hate them? With all the prior knowledge we have I’m sure that it would. But if they truly did not have anything to do with this, and they are greiving inside beyond all imagination in anguish and regret, for at the very least for the child alone…we should not condemn without fact. If she is still out there nobody will be looking for her.
The pressure of the accusations, the PJ, the press, and all the blogs are the factor which is making it difficult for everyone. I am sure that the police wish to have closure whatever the outcome because of the pressures, the parents are in a precarious position, and everyone is breathing down all the necks involved. Who will continue to look for Maddie? If there is even a chance that she is out there, alive, and hoping someday she will see the people she knows and loves, imagine if her little mind could understand all that came about to stop the searching and that all hope is dashed for her every coming home again. To me this is the saddest part of it all. I say stop the pressures, until we know the absolute facts…conclusive facts before lighting your torches and going on a witch hunt. We do not know she is dead for certain, we do not know who took her, we do not know if she truly died in an accident and was moved, and if so by whom.
Just think of her being out there somewhere and laying her little head down to sleep with tears in her eyes, because we have no proof to make us not believe, and not believing will resign her to her fate if she truly did not die. This is what sickens me the most….Who will continue to look?
August 29th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Birchell (197)
I believe that you have a point, I always suspected the staff. However, some points to think about: I don’t think PJ has skipped this possibility and sure they have checked all basements.
If Staff (were the buglers in other nights) then something went wrong and the child was removed immediately out of camp, so how will such theory match with smell on keys and car boot of M.
I lived in Arabia for the longest time, they are not interested in blond kids, they are not interested in kidnapped kids (period). They don’t have paedophiles. Search in the right places.
Finally, I agree with Jonathan (176) “I will make the comment, for which I have no evidence, that I truly 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”.