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
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September 9th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
You can do a tracheotomy with a knife and a pen.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Emergency tracheostomies have on more than one occasion been done with cutlery or box-cutters or swiss-army knives, and the tube improvised out of a Bic-type ballpoint pen (the transparent bit) - it’s actually a reasonably well-known solution.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
tracheotomy??
September 9th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Noticed How Gerry has not updated his foolish BLog
September 9th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Don’t tell me they had equipment needed for a tracheotomy??
September 9th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
gecko100 re: 1138
The Port. police are probably happy to see the backs of the McCanns, even though they know what the McCanns did to Madeleine. A similar feeling was expressed in the movie Deliverance by the Sheriff.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
“Are the McCanns currently in the position to kill their remaining children and then themselves or are they being closely monitored?”
Frankly, I have asked myself the same question. If they are guilty they will be reviled by the whole world in a way no common criminal could be. Having duped the world, the backlash would be terrible. Their lives would barely be worth living, in jail or out.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
I firmly believe that gerry and kate hid maddie in pavarrotti whilst they were in italy.
I also think the pj knew and had to let them leave cause the evidence has gone to the grave
September 9th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
1133 - they’ve admitted, finally, to using Calpol, having denied they used anything for 4 months (another troubling inconsistency).
As I said earlier, admitting to using Calpol doesn’t mean they didn’t also use something else…
And even if ‘Night Calpol’ with antihistamine wasn’t available OTC in May, they could certainly have ‘made their own’ with the Calpol they now admit to using, plus, say, OTC antihistamine syrup.
Or, s doctors, they could have added a bit of, say, codeine.
Though I’m interested in the ‘damaged neck stories’ leaking from the PJ.
One rationale might be emergency tracheotomy, as someone here suggested.
Medications would be undetectable if they found the body (or have found the body) now, I suppose… but neck injury following panic emergency medical intervention might still be identifiable.
Can’t think where else the ‘damaged neck’ stuff comes from, unless it were associated with Kate shaking Madeleine, either to try and resuscitate here, or out of frustration that she wouldn’t go to sleep on Big Party Night.
And I can’t think what the PJ evidence for this scenario could be, except for a body, or intercepts inadmissable as evidence in an English court.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Beloving you: What on earth are you on about?
September 9th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Sky news is still using language totally biased towards the McCanns. They “endured” questioning etc etc ..on and on and on.
omg - “some people in the Algarve” who have been “totally supportive” up to now have “fallen by the wayside” - having been “misled by rogue editorials”, but this “doesn’t translate into animosity”.
“MISLED BY ROGUE EDITORIALS” !!!!!!!! exactly those words.
Sky reporter, Sky Tv, 21:18 today.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
I’M BORED
September 9th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
kate and gerry are, by their own admission, shit parents and not worthy of the task. (not verbatum) if thay are not further investigated by the social services, then another crime will have taken place.
It is inconceivable that anyone living on a council estate anywhere in the country would be with their 2 remaining children this evening after the crimes they have committed.
BRING FORTH THE GUILLOTINE, and blunt the blade on the way
September 9th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Oh dear… don’t want to seem to be talking to myself, other Martin.
I’ll go blue…
Hope my other self isn’t someone like John/Arthur/&c morphing again…
Moderators: couldn’t you restict the number of different names coming from the same IP address to 3 or 4, say?
—————————–
Mods and Admin,
Unless people are abusing the system and deliberately posting under AN Others user name, not really, no. But we definitely monitor outrageous numbers, especially when they argue with themselves, then the user is banned
But there are users having the same or similar names, we suggest then they refer to their parents.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
erm… whoever brought calpol™ in to this. I believe kate is so pious that she would never buy it over the counter.
with her experience she would have concocted something her self
September 9th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Are the McCanns currently in the position to kill their remaining children and then themselves or are they being closely monitored?
September 9th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
From the movie “DELIVERANCE”
The Sheriff: Before you go, buddy, let me ask you something.
How come you all ended up with four life jackets?
Bobby: Didn’t we have an extra one?
Ed: No. Drew wasn’t wearin’ his.
Sheriff: Well, how come he wasn’t wearin’ it?
Ed: I don’t know.
Sheriff: Don’t ever do nothin’ like this again. Don’t come back up here.
Ed (or Bobby?)You don’t have to worry about that, Sheriff.
Sheriff: I’d kinda Iike to see this town die peaceful.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Interesting Martin
September 9th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Jan & others:
In a forum like this - as opposed to a formal trial, which has real consequences for those accused - we don’t have to, and shouldn’t, presume either innocence or guilt.
In a way, it’s rather more like a chaotic low-grade version of what jurists call an ‘inquisitorial system’ of finding out what happened - the way the PJ work in association with judges in Portugal and all EU countries apart from England, Wales and Northern Ireland - rather than the familiar ‘adversarial system’ of England and the US.
The accuracy of the Team McCann reports of the interrogations of K&G can be judged by the suggestion they were offered a ‘deal’ or ‘plea bargain’.
This simply cannot happen - CANNOT, not ’should not’ - CANNOT happen in an inquisitorial system. It is the court, not the police, that decides charges, and penalties within a fixed range set by law. And the court in some senses does not exactly ‘presume innocence’:
‘The adversarial system places a premium on the individual rights of the accused, whereas the inquisitorial system places the rights of the accused secondary to the search for truth.’
http://law.jrank.org/pages/7663/Inquisitorial-System.html
This fact, the greater difficulty of securing a unanimous verdict from a jury, the more restricted rules of evidence, excluding for example intercepts, and so on, make me, reading between the lines, wonder whether the McCanns may attempt to go for trial in a British court, which I think is theoretically possible since England has ‘concurrent jurisdiction’ when it comes to the death of a British national.
The McCanns expensive lawyers could argue that a trial in Portugal would be inappropriate given negative pretrial reporting in the Portuguese press, irregularities in the pretrial process, the need for the McCanns to be with their children in England and goodness knows what else.
Sure, in the EU it would be very unusual to substitute the ‘personal jurisdiction’ of an English court over the fate of Madeleine McCann, and the possible involvement of her parents in a homicide, for the default ‘territorial jurisdiction’ of Portuguese courts over events in that country.
So maybe I’m wrong, but reading between the lines of statements from Team McCann I wouldn’t be surprised to read in the next few days that a petition to this effect is being considered by their expensive lawyers, should there be enough evidence to mount a trial in Portugal.
Again, I’m not a lawyer and could well be wrong, but I’d think that the McCanns would stand a better chance of pursuing this option if they stayed in Britain, and tried to contest extradition on this basis, rather than returning to Portugal.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Unfortunately I agree with you 1127.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Sorry to say it..but I think this case will never be solved!!! DO I think the Mccanns are guilty? HECK YEA!!!! Does the PJ have enough evidence?? HECK NO!!! They screwed up and they know it…they waited toooo long and now the Mccanns are back home..But they will never have Peace and their reputation will be completely destroyed..
September 9th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Actually you’d presume they wouldn’t harm a child as well.
Presume implies previous knowledge, whilst assumption is blind faith with no proof.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
You presume a doctor is a responsible member of society, and assume they wouldn’t harm a child.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Im not british, and im living close to Algarve (although not portuguese) and ive been reading different articles about this case since it began… Nobody knows by now what has happened. It is possible that the new accusations are simply not right but… The news coverage by the british newspapers are a SHAME. They have been really beligerant with anything that was against their truth, namely, that the “perfect” couple were innocent… Despite the doubts, they kept maintaining their truth against evidences… The take out for me is clear. They should avoid partiality. Hope they can learn from this. It is a shame that they kept the public opinion away of all points of view, regarless nationalities.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
okay, “if” they killed their little girl. but why can’t i be just as sure of their guilt as the millions of people and the entire press who were just as sure of their victimness.
if i hear Gerry call his daughter “lovely” or “beautiful” one more time! if madeleine were ugly would they still want to find her?
and the mccanns will continue searching for her… at the local gastropub. just as OJ searches for the murderer of his children’s mother on the golf course.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Re: Calpol, are you sure Calpol Night with anti-histamine was available in May. This article says it launches in the UK in September 2007.I’m only familiar with the original, containing paracetemol for lowering fever, and that wouldn’t have a reliable sedative effect:
http://www.talkingretail.com/products/6395/Calpol-offers-new-profit-oppor.ehtml
September 9th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
1114 jan - we should not be ‘loyal’ to deceptive child murderers.
and assume and presume mean very different things. the press assumed the mccanns were telling the truth and didnt question it. they should have - even for their fellow Brit.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
I think many of us here are exploring the implications of their (possible) guilt, and trying to assess its likelihood. Something the media in general have yet to do.
I think 1108 just left the “if” out. It’s probably best to keep it firmly in.
Remember the McCanns have lots of (other people’s) money to spend on legals, and we must respect the sysop’s position.
But refusing to even consider the possibility of their guilt is a denial of justice. No-one is above suspicion, and history suggests that family should be prime suspects, however incredible that may at first seem.
And suspects the authorities in charge have now formally declared them to be - authorities who know many times what anyone else does.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Dont underestimate PJ- could be they are keeping the big one up their sleeve until the time is right to play their full hand. On the evening news it was reported that FSS have analysed a large amount of material and the results conclusive.It was never going to be a half baked possible blood stain in the car boot-K and G too clever for that.
On the subject of the Rothley 2, I wish they would change the record about being sure M is still alive and soon to be returned to them. If they know something it makes the whole thing sick beyond belief.
People keep mentioning a body being found but I cant find anything elsewhere to back that up-where did that one start?
September 9th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
1116 Pete, No, no it does not…but you made me laugh…thanks!
J