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 10:41 pm
bulldump, please tell us why your identity can’t be revealed? Anyone with enough nerve to call themselves bulldump is interesting to me. YES.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Response to Rosemary
I wouldn’t think so, NO. To think that the police and media worldwide take up viewer time so that a few people might go down to the ice cream parlor with Madeleine sounds unlikely.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
lol, i can’t tell you where the name came from or it would reveal my identity
September 9th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
1163 - blunger, I couldn’t agree with you more. The outpouring of emotion and religious display for this one child is ludicrously out of proportion to the other things going on in the world.
This goes for the amount of interest that all of us on this forum invest in this case. I have asked myself why I’m not showing a similar level of interest in other, quite serious things that are going on around the world.
I think it has to do with the fact that this case is obvious and other things are ambiguous and difficult. It’s very much like reading a potboiler mystery novel. You can relax your mind into it.
Before anyone has a go at me for saying that… It applies to me as much as anyone else. I’m as fascinated by this as any of you.
But I digress…
Cute and blonde shouldn’t equate to privilege. Why is Madeleine McCann, whatever may have happened to her, more important than any little girl facing egregious conditions in many places in the world where life is considerably less comfortable than it is for doctors in Leicester?
However, blond(e) and cute usually does equate to privilege, for both sexes and at all ages.
WHY?
September 9th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Where y’all from??
September 9th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
bulldump (wherever did you get that name?)
re 1169 - I like it - big lol!
September 9th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Martin Says:
I’M BORED
Dorothy Parker Says:
The only cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
Trismegistus says:
No one can accuse this forum of having no curiosity.
LOL, goodnight everyone.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Martin - Yes I agree with you.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
when gerry refused to answer questions the pj should have got up out of his chair and taken gerry outside to the awaiting journalist and told them that gerry’s refusal to answer questions was both “hurtful and unhelpful to the investigation”
I hope they swing (oh they already do!!!!)
September 9th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Pat 1149 / Elizabeth 1149:
I wondered about that scenario, but just couldn’t imagine how it could actually work.
The only thing I could think of was: ‘they’ have somebody (Murat, say) under observation, waiting for him/her/them (Kate immediately knew it was plural) to move a living or dead body, and think if ‘bad they’ think it’s suddenly safer to make a move, ‘bad they’ might break cover.
But to me, it just doesn’t work. Even if ‘they’ (the good ‘they’) are, say, watching a suspect in Lithuania or somewhere.
And the acting skills it would require from Team McCann surely go even further than they have so far. Unless Team McCann weren’t told, of course. But that’s getting even more far-fetched.
Not impossible. Just makes less sense than the accidental death scenario.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
if the press here in england have any decency at all they will drop the mccanns and crucify them for their failure to answer all questions.
in portugal they still have the right to remain silent, here we abandoned that idea quite a while ago.
in a british police station they would have been cautioned and told “You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
September 9th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
1159 Judith, I believe the report on Paulo’s blog, quoted on Anorak, that GM’s father was a Labour politician was a mistake. A lot of people contradicted him, asked him to check his sources, etc. and, as far as I can see, it has been removed (from the blog).
September 9th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Blunger:
You are absolutely right!!!!
But this whole Mccann tragedy has many people fascinated..and it will continue for months, i’m sure. Whe I first heard of Madeleine, It was through Beckham..and since then, I would get daily updates.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
1149, Pat, At first I thought it was a distraction to see how other suspects would react, or perhaps they were negotiating a ransom.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
I wonder how many little girls of roughly Madeleine’s age have been dying slowly under rubble in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Palestine today ? Probably with bits of their parents (who had not left them alone) scattered nearby ?
Deaths either directly at our hands (ie our bombs/shells), or supported by us (ie US or Israeli action).
Doesn’t matter, does it. After all, they’re not BRITISH.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
OHsusanna
they’re not bastards. they’re much worse than bastards when the truth shakes out here…..
September 9th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
1159
yup. noticed that too…..
September 9th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Ah well - I suppose nothing new is going to come out tonight now.
This has been for me largely a displacement activity to avoid doing my duty by unmasking a huge violation of democratic process which I have discovered inside SecondLife.
Powerhungry and unscrupulous people are everywhere, even in virtual worlds.
On SecondThoughts, perhaps I can’t be bothered.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
It’s funny how Kate was all “motherly and affectionate” w/ the twins this morning arriving to England..But while they were in Portugal, she was not seen in any photos giving her kids affection!! HOW FAKE is that..and I just checked Gerry’s blog, and he has not updated since Sept 6……If he truly knew and felt his daughter was still alive somewhere out there..He would have continued his foolish Blog..I feel bad for all who gave those bastards any money.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Pat - 1149
I have just read a blog - by Tony Lankester - Mail & Guardian online - similar
theory - I also wonder what you all think. It just gets more complicated!
September 9th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
NOSY TROLLS
talk about need to get a life. To me that sounds what these trolls I hear about need to do. Gee.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
“Are you dead? Or did you get chili sauce in your laptop? ”
Now there’s evidence of COMMUNITY for you !
September 9th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Good name anyway or at least a nice way to put it. I KNOW. YES.
I just can’t yet conclude and somehow know it that will require hindsight. Wierd to know that maybe but??
Moderation, do trolls have big noses? Like NOSY?
September 9th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Christoph….
Are you dead? Or did you get chili sauce in your laptop?
September 9th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
I think two sorts of people in the UK face big problems right now.
1) The media editors/controllers agonising over whether and when to switch to impartiality, or even to the other side. What a gamble. Is it best to go first, or second ? Or to stick with them through thick and thin ? The dilemma is purely financial, of course, nothing to do with truth or morality.
2) The Home office (maybe it’ll even go to Gordon for decision). What will they decide when the McCanns try to resist recall to Portugal, and put up a case for trial in Britain. Will he give them up ? Would we ever know they tried, if the decision is no ? Mind you the Portuguese might be glad to hand over of this media-poisoned chalice, let alone the astronomical trial costs.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Oh, more trolls you mean?
September 9th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Martin Says:
September 9th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
I’M BORED
LOL Martin, you would only have yourself to blame for that?
September 9th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
I am still very curious as to why the McCanns from the very beginning had instant access to the “great and the good” in Britain - The woman from the “Mirror” seconded to them, then Clarence Mitchell from the F.O. then Brown with his phone-calls (and what else?) and encouragement, and afterwards advising the obnoxious Mr. Mcann to wind the whole thing down when he went to speak at the Edinburgh thing, whatever it was - apparently they also had contact with Des Browne. They seemed to have access to Kirsty Wark and Penny Wark (who wrote that sickly rubbish in The Times and who must be her sister). The British press is continually rooting for them. They’ve already been in touch with Milliband to exert more pressure on their behalf. Prince Charles and his Duchess were slavering over them….what’s going on? Who are these McCann people? Why are they being so assiduously protected by our lot over here? What is being hidden by other people in high places? Has anyone any ideas? Surely it can’t all be because Mr. Mcann’s father was a Labour politician once. Or can it? Or is it the Scottish thing? Brown wouldn’t want Scotland discredited by one of his own? This link - to people at the top - really puzzles me. Someone please say something on this.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I am curious what some of you think about a theory of some posters I have read. Some suggest maybe this new development is actually a ploy by police via media to distract so that Madeleine can be found. Wow. No doubt it would be great to find Madeleine is alive and all of this is a scam but? Do the police and as a result the media really take up worldwide news time to misinform the public involving a case so that a few people will be confused? So, if a practice like that is acceptable then how much news would most people be wasting time watching? I would like to know what Spudgun thinks too. Help me out here.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Tracheotomy ? In knowledgeable hands and in an emergency a kitchen knife is fine.
Saved many a life.