Madeleine McCann: Kate And Gerry’s Blood, Threat And Tears
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
THE SUN front page: “KATE’S AGONY – CONFESS & YOU’RE OUT IN A YEAR.”
“Deal of blood, threat and tears.” Kate McCann is being interviewed by police. This is a “highly-charged confrontation, Portuguese officers citing forensic evidence told the GP she would receive a jail sentence of between two and three years if she signed a confession.”
Kate McCann is “horrified”. Says she: “How dare you?”
A source tells the paper: “The police were trying to get Kate to say she had amnesia or was in shock or had a breakdown. They said if she signed the confession she’d serve a year and that her husband would not be charged and could go home. It was effectively emotional blackmail.”
“SHOCKED” Gerry McCann has been named as a formal suspect.
THE SUN SAYS: “But the allegations made yesterday against Madeleine’s distraught mother Kate are astonishing and, in places, farcical. A suspicious page of the Bible left open? A call to a priest on the day of Maddie’s disappearance? Not exactly a smoking gun.”
Do all crimes involve a smoking gun?
The Sun concludes: “The Sun desperately wants justice for Maddie. But the greatest pity is that she is the one person who seems to have been forgotten in this mess of incompetence.”
And the Press continue to watch the parents.
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE: DEATH ON MUM’S BIBLE.”
THE WORLD’S GREATEST NEWSPAPER writes of “THE DAY THE JEERING STARTED”.
“Just two days ago Kate McCann, 39, was regarded almost universally as a victim who had suffered unimaginable agony. Families everywhere shared her heartbreak at losing her beautiful daughter. But it was clear yesterday, as the GP arrived to be formally named as a suspect in her daughter’s disappearance, that much of that sympathy has now gone.”
The crowd outside the police station – 400-strong – goes into a “frenzy” when Kate McCann arrives. “There were whistles, then jeers and boos before some in the crowd began to shout insults. ‘Whore… daughter of a whore,’ some yelled in Portuguese.”
The Express translates.
A local man says: “They will find this more and more because in Portugal harming a child is the worst thing…The Portuguese people took them to their hearts and now we feel cheated. It will not be nice in Portugal for them now.”
Kate is “cool and collected”.
DAILY MAIL front page: “THE ACCUSED. Portuguese police’s staggering grilling of Madeleine mother.
• Why was her blood in your car?
• Did you drug her that night?
• Confess and get just two years.”
DAILY STAR front page: “YOU KILLED MADDIE.”
DAILY MIRROR front page: “MADELEINE SENSATION. We have found her blood in the boot of your hire car.. DID YOU KILL HER BY ACCIDENT?” This is “what police asked Kate McCann during 16-hour grilling”.
THE GUARDIAN front page: “Mother, victim…suspect: police target Kate McCann.”
THE TELEGRAPH: “Kate and Gerry McCann named as suspects,” says the headline.
“Mr McCann stared straight ahead as his suspect status was announced and refused to answer questions from awaiting journalists. A crowd which had been attending a concert in the town square earlier listened to the announcement and several people gasped audibly.”
In “Villagers back Madeleine McCann’s parents”, the paper journeys to Rothey, Leicestershire, the McCanns’ home town. Michelle Canilleri, who lives in Rothley, shares with the world: “I can’t believe it. This is such a shock. They have got the wrong people. No way in the world would either Kate or Gerry harm any of their children.”
THE INDEPENDENT front page: “FROM ANGUISHED PARENT, TO GRIEVING MOTHER, TO SUSPECT.”
“Shortly before 11am, Mrs McCann’s spokeswoman, Justine McGuinness, revealed that the 39-year-old GP was being made an arguida – official suspect – in the case. And then she uttered the six short words which will be inconceivable to some who have followed this case and a confirmation of long-held suspicions to others. ‘Kate fears she will be charged,’ Ms McGuinness said.”
THE TIMES front page: A picture of the McCanns meeting the Pope.
Madeleine McCann The Public Spectacle
Posted: 8th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,454) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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September 9th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
TO JAN 901
JAN SAYS: I think that the Police have much to hide and the heat is on them. Maybe some things are surfacing that they don’t want the rest of the world to know about?
AND: I would not invest a penny in Praia da luz! I will never go there. All they have shown me is how unsafe and non supportive they are to their guests and how little they value children….look what they did to their own.
LOOK JAN, YOU TWAT IDIOT, WE DON´T NEED PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN OUR COASTS, KEEP YOUR SELF OUT PLEASE, AS WE DON´T NEED YOUR STUPID MONEY YOU WANKER, PEOPLE WITH YOUR BRAIN TYPE IS THE ONE THAT LEAVE THEIR CHILDREN UNDER SEDATION TO GET DRUNK, BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS TO OUR COUNTRY AND ANY OTHER COUNTRY THAT YOU VISIT, THANKS GOD NOT ALL BRITISH PEOPLE IS SO PRANK AS YOU ARE, SO DON´T GET YOUR ASS EVER OUT OF YOUR GREEN GARDEN OF PANSIES
SORRY to any other of you, for this rude words, but this is the type of people than make bullshit constantly out of any other countries
September 9th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
John K. You are always too quick to jump to conclusions and make harsh judgements about people. If somebody offered you your own chat show to get your missing daughter back, wouldn’t you bite the bullet? Wouldn’t you say you liked Robbie Wiiliams? Wouldn’t you interview Nigella Lawson?
The way I see it, Ian and Jean McCann are just doing what any parents would do to get little Maggie back. If you ask me, I think they look shattered and should take a holiday, disapproved of as that might be by the great British public. As my Dad used to say, you can only stand in the other man’s shoes if the cap fits wear it.
Arthur
September 9th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Oh… and what was the diagnosis of the O’Brien’s vomiting child?
September 9th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
…And if the ‘allergic reaction causing asphyxia’ scenario were right, and the sedative was only administered on 2 & 3 May, I guess it probably wouldn’t have had time to turn up in hair on a brush?
And yes, blunger 987, I wondered if O’Brien might have brought something a bit stronger from his hospital in Exeter..
It would be interesting to look at hair that had been growing for 4 months at least on his kids.
Or perhaps his kids have just had their heads shaven because of suspected ringworm?
September 9th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Its not that difficult to explain away an incorrect drug injection,it does happen.
Hey the batch had the wrong dosage in it, it was contaminated, my daughter was dehydrated from the days play.
I have Pmt and want her gone she making my headache worse.
Surely death by misadventure is less severe than a 4 month goose chase in the eyes of the law.
However no body ,and a media campaign that netts you 1m quid is probably just what the Dr ordered.
September 9th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
The childrens act 1989 didn’t help either dogstar
September 9th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Jamie wrote: ‘…I have been thinking about this a lot recently for a variety of reasons and trying to understand what exactly has gone wrong in the UK - because the problems you list are not nearly so evident in certain other societies…’
The rise and rise of child advocacy groups in the uk has effectively written the law with respect to children and young people since it’s last major revision in the early 80’s (which was also, co-incidentally, the time at which many of these advocacy groups suddenly sprang into existence). What happened 9and continues to happen) is that legislation is weighted so completely in favour of young people and children that the very people charged with their welfare and education feel disempowered (teachers, social workers, youth workers), much less able to exercise authority or discipline without being hauled up before some committee for ‘abuse’.
When I was a kid at school in the 70’s I got caned - many boys did. We learned our lessons - it bloody hurt. These days if that happened that head teacher would be reported, arrested and villified as a child abuser.
And that is why our young people are out of control. Next time you give money to a children’s advocacy group, ask yourself first what it is this group might be fighting for? What are their vested interests? What’s the agenda? Who actually benefits?
September 9th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
While the child neglect allegation is properly investigated.
September 9th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Now look, Stevie, have I not been saying this on this board and elsewhere for weeks? Wllie McCann and his tragedy-queen wife, Ruth have been setting themselves up for celebrity bashes all summer. What finished me was the suggestion (abandoned thankfully) that Willie McCann would present the Mercury Music Prizes, but only AFTER they were renamed the ‘Find Holly’ awards and his own skiffle band were allowed to play the interval spot. It’s so nauseating, I’m surprised he didn’t need to prescribe himself an anti-emetic. Meanwhile Dr Do-nothing is pestering the BBC to drop all 9/11 commemorations in favour of a phone-in for the charity she and Hubby McCann set up to save an old pub in Glasgow from demolition. I ask you! Doesn’t Glasgow have enough alcohol abuse without this latest PC madness from thsese people, who are not even British.
Anyway––let’s hope all this latest hullabaloo doesn’t deflect the Italian police from looking for little Melanie McCann. Mate of mine swore he saw her in Padstow.
John
September 9th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I agree, Anna. Those two little ones should at the very least be visited and supervised regularly by the childcare authorities, beginning today.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Sorry, I of course meant:
‘Played’ relates to something at a particular point in the past (night of 3 May)
‘Have played’ relates to an event or course of events extending over tuime (25 days?)
Unless of course this is a Scottish way of expressing oneself?
September 9th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
The McCann’s ditch their plan just because they imagine themselves to be unprotected? What about their missing daughter, who the whole world knows was truly left unprotected by the parents? Isn’t she worth enduring a little pressure? Hmmm, something is up. The tide is turning and the “children should not be seen or heard” parents have custody of two small children who may be in harm’s way. Someone needs to be appointed watchman of those children until this case is solved.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
977 If any of the cars used had contained any forensic evidence we would have heard about it just as we heard about the car hired by the McCanns. Why publicise one car and not the others, unless it was a deliberate attempt to gain a confession without evidence, which I doubt.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Re the sedative.
These are a bunch of medics. I find it hard to believe one or two of them didn’t tuck something in their bags stronger than over the counter piriton.
The two younger ones stayed asleep in the tumult could something so mild do that ? Unless in excess dose ?
I think it was something else. Thus necessitating the alleged refusal to allow testing of the the twins urine. And - more importantly - making it necessary to prevent an autopsy at all costs.
It must have been something which could not be talked away by inventing an imaginary illness for which it would be appropriate. Something absolutely unacceptable in the bodies of 2 and 3 year-olds.
A powerful tranquiliser/hypnotic ?
September 9th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
(To Dave: the following falls under the heading of “outlandish theories” and, no, I don’t believe it actually happened, either.)
My own quote (”Trying to play with her brother and sister and accidentally smothering them”) just reminded me of an old CSI episode where three children were left alone and one accidentally smothers the baby while trying to play with it.
To protect their child, the parents hide the body and raise the alarm that the baby was abducted.
When, during the investigation, it surfaces that the baby is dead and that it was an inside job, the eldest child and the parents all try to confess to the crime, to protect the middle child, who has no sense of guilt and no understanding of what he has done.
Outlandish theory: could one of the twins have accidentally hurt Madeleine?
Children have been smothered before due to having siblings sleeping on top of them. If the three had been sedated, neither would have moved until it was too late.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Final point for now: I heard Gerry saying (black-haired man carrying McCann child on his shoulder) @I can’t say anything except that ‘We HAVE played no part in Maddy’s disappearance’.
To me, YET ANOTHER weird use of language.
Why ‘have’?
Why not ‘did not play’, or just ‘played’.
‘Have played’ relates to something at a particular point in the past.
‘HAVE played’ relates to an event or series of events extending over time (25 days?).
September 9th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Ok so madeleine died of an allergic reaction due to medication provided by Obrien.
G&K have Obrien by the short and curlies .
So jane sees him taking the body away but says its someone else,or just makes it up.
So theres 4 people privy to this event.
Surely 1 out of 4 would have cracked by now.
Maybe they need to interogate Jane big time, give her the 3rd degree ,good cop bad cop routine. Shes pretty removed from this as far as you can be but still implicated.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
It would be useful to see the rental documents for the hire car in question, so we could see exactly who hired it and on what dates for the whole month of May. I have a copy of such paperwork for when Murat hired a car, so why can’t we see it for the McCanns?
September 9th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Returning to the UK:
I’d be surprised if the McCanns ever return to Portugal.
Now they’re in England, and already building the case that ‘they can’t get a fair trial in Portugal’, their British and Portuguese lawyers are probably already ‘forum shopping’ - trying to get the case heard in the most favourable jurisdiction.
Portugal has territorial jurisdiction, since the alleged crime happened there.
But England has ‘personal jurisdiction’ over both what happened to Madeleine, and the parents, if it’s claimed they’re involved.
I understand that the default jurisdiction under EU rules is the territorial one (a Portuguese court).
But a team of expensive lawyers can waste lots of time and money arguing that the case should be heard in England where, interestingly, the restrictive rules of evidence would not allow the intercept evidence which is apparently a key element in the PJ’s case. People have been trying to change this restrictive rule for soome time, but it’s still in place.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
my god I can’t believe it, we are now gonna have to listen to gerry spouting off his nonsense 24 hours a day 7 days a week and nobody can do a thing about it. Everytime a question is asked that he doesn’t wanna answer he is gonna come up with the same lousy excuse “i can’t answer that due to my legal position in portugal”
well, gerry, you aint in portugal now so just answer the fuckin questions you been skirting for the last 4 months.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Chlorpheniramine (aka Piriton, standard OTC antihistamine):
“If you experience an allergic reaction to chlorpheniramine including swelling of your lips, tongue, or face, difficulty breathing, closing of your throat, or hives, stop taking it and seek emergency medical attention.
“Infants are especially sensitive to the effects of antihistamines, and serious side effects could occur…”
‘Doctor’ helpfully pointed out yesterday that the allergic reaction would normally occur the SECOND time the drug was used. Given that Madeleine had got the partying parents into trouble by crying for DADDY for 2 houtrs when left alone on 1 May - and that the parents partied with the MCann 9, HALF A MILE away, with no checks on the kids, on 2 May, that would mean a possibly fatal adverse reaction on 3 May.
The ‘emergeny medical attention’, if it was not too late, would indeed be a tracheotomy (resulting in ‘damage to the neck’ and blood on the floor) to restore breathing after swelling in the nasopharyngeal area that blocked Madeleine’s throat.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Angry #971,
I have been thinking about this a lot recently for a variety of reasons and trying to understand what exactly has gone wrong in the UK - because the problems you list are not nearly so evident in certain other societies.
I am British and have lived in the UK, Portugal and Belgium - and travel a lot - and am utterly shocked by the behaviour that I see on my return to Britain by a minority of children as it is unlike anything I have seen in any other country (including the USA and Japan**). Whether it’s sitting on a London bus, or walking in the street, small children scream and shout and run wild. By the time of late adolescent, this behaviour seems to have translated into binge drinking and associated loud behavour. Even the son of the former Prime Minister was found face down (and ‘off his face’) in Trafalgar Square a few years back and there were lots of people who publicly said (to paraphrase) “This is what young men do”.
Even when I was in Harlem a few months ago (which has a reputation as a living hell), two kids who got too close to me on their bikes when I was crossing a pedestrian crossing immediately said “Sorry!” as they ran into a store to buy some candy or whatever…
It’s so deeply entrenched in the UK that it’s almost impossible to know how to break the cycle effectively. As said, it is a minority problem - but the majority culture of decent, law-abiding citizens, is no longer willing (or knows how to) dominate and undermine this bad behaviour.
A little off topic, I know, but just thought I’d respond to your interesting observations.
** I was overwhelmed in Japan at how well behaved whole families were, how quiet and well-behaved children were, and how age was revered.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
So do many of you agree ? There is a culture in our country (UK) supportive of leaving children of threeyears out of earshot for periods of half an hour or more ?
From my own experience I would absolutely refute this. Everyone I know regard such a thing as culpable child neglect, and I regularly read of Child Care proceedings in which people lose their children based on recurrence of such an event.
Journalists have been saying its ok ? I think that’s putting the cart before the horse - if they said it’s part of a prior decision to remain in tune and sanctify the McCanns.
If I am wrong, then I am forced to conclude something pretty horrid to explain why I have not seen it. Could this be (oh no) a CLASS thing ? Despite their education, both the McCann’s are solidly working class. Do you really mean to tell me that they, their extended family, and the majority of others in similar social situations are regularly leaving two and three year old children beyond earshot for 30 minutes are more ? With no disapproval from family or friends.
If this is so then it has to stop. Which makes it all the more imperative that the McCann’s are made a very visible example of, not excused on the basis that many others are as culpable.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Angry (974):
Where did you get that information?
The contents of the court order (as revealed by the Portuguese press before the cars were collected by the police), included only the cars that had previously been used.
The reports about evidence being found in the McCanns’ car was reported *on that same day* (about 2 months ago), and was related to said cars.
Was there a second court order and a second collection of cars?
September 9th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Hello…
Few small points (I agree that it would be ueful to have some sort of multiple-thread backup forum here dealing with ‘known’ facts and theories):
I read something about the PJ having arranged a ‘meeting’ (=confrontation) between Murat and the three of the McCann 9 that claimed to have seen him on the evening of May 3 when he claimed to be at home with his mother, and that this was an important element in the evidence.
It could still be Murat. It could be the McCanns, with or without O’Brien.
As others have said, the PJ were probably trying to get Kate and/or Gerry to break, not necessarily knowing definitely that they were responsible, but as an essnetial next step in testing all the theories.
The ’sedative - accidental death - cover up’ theory is, given just what’s in the public domain, and the McCann’s weird behaviour, a pretty good one. If there were accidental death from oversedation or (more likely) allergic reaction to a sedative they’d first used (provided by O’Brien?) the night before (sensitizing Madeleine for a strong allergic reaction the next day), then the McCanns and O’Brien would have known they’d lose their jobs and much else if this was revealed - and the child’s body would be the key evidence for this.
It fits pretty well, gives motivation &c, but it may well be only one theory the PJ were testing ‘to breaking point’ last week.
Personally, for the very very little it’s worth, I’d bet on that theory. It seems like a very reasonable bet, but of course it’s only that - probably for the PJ too.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Still on the aggravated negligence charges, the head of the Portuguese Bar Association gave an interview where he used a couple of very simple examples to explain the charges that can be brought.
I’m going to attempt to quote his examples:
1. You’re sitting on a chair. Playfully, I nudge you. You fall off the chair, hit your head on a rock and die.
It was negligent behaviour on my part, but nobody could have assumed that I meant for you to somehow hit that rock, nor could I have predicted that you would.
(The lack of intention and the unpredictability of the result, here, is key.)
2. You’re sitting on a chair. On the edge of a cliff. Playfully, I nudge you. You fall off the cliff and die.
It was aggravated negligence, since I should have predicted that my actions could have serious consequences.
In Madeleine’s case, the parents - especially due to their profound medical knowledge - should have predicted a variety of consequences of leaving a 3 yo child alone (even if “being abducted” wasn’t one of them).
Falling off the bed. Choking on something. Vomiting. Convulsing. Having an asthma attack. Getting bored, getting up, finding the medicine cabinet and munching on the “candies”. Getting thirsty, finding the cleaning products and drinking the nicely-coloured “juices”. Trying to play with her brother and sister and accidentally smothering them.
All of these are pediatric A&E admissions on a nightly basis. They’re not unpredictable - they’re very much predictable. Predictable to a parent of 3 but, especially, predictable to a doctor.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
The cars that were the subject of the court order were clean. Nothing was found in any of them. The car where the alleged tace* blood was found was the car hired 25 days after Madeline disappeared.
*Trace blood is not a perfect match. It contains characteristics of the victim and can come from another member of the family just as easily as the victim.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
So armchair sleuths
Madeleine choked to death after being sedated,which as drs they could have concocted any old blurb, it isnt a crime to sedate a child if you have a medical reason.
It isnt difficult to make up a medical reason,these are Drs after all.
So dead child asphyxiated on vomit, with sedative in system ,lets say she was dehydrated after being in sun all day so they would make it more potent.
People do die from vomit aspiration and carers arent convicted of murder.
Why would anyone Jump into an abduction scenario if a Dr even if sedation was given ,when they could BS there way out of it.
Child neglect sure aint murder. And fraud to boot.
They are behaving like A hs because theyre Consultants, thats what they do. I should know I work in a hospital. Not all consultants are though I must add.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
967 The car hired by the Mccanns was at no time hired by any other member of their group or Murat.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
There is a culture of neglect in this country no matter how much people want to protest that there isn’t. The news is full of stories about children committing crime, including murder. These are all children who have for the most part been neglected during their short lives.
Every day of every week I see children as young as 2 and 3 playing out on my estate without adult supervision.
We are too tolerent of neglect, and its time that the police did their job and prosecuted parents.
The Government have just issued details of fining parents of children who are found on the street having been excluded from school, yet its ok for even younger children to play out unsupervised.
It makes me sick.