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
September 8th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Some may be interested to follow this link:
http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/mothers%20who%20kill/Mothers%20Who%20Kill.htm
September 8th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Just a moot point about where any court case could be held and the hiring of English lawyers /solicitors/ barristers etc wouldn’t they have to have a full working knowledge of Portuguese law?
But so far they are ‘just’ suspects as opposed to under arrest and charged, and the interviewing of others hasn’t started yet.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Doctor (again) 330:
Could you clear up a couple more points?
I’ve read that it may not have been blood, but minute traces of some other fluid detected in the boot of the car.
If the body had been stored or buried somewhere (warm or perhaps cold) for nearly 4 weeks, would there perhaps be fluids that could be released if tissues were damaged by the body being moved? I guess the fluids, or perhaps congealed blood could have even got into the boot of the car indirectly from skin or clothes that had handled the corpse?
Also: someone posted yesterday that to be poisoned by, say, chlorphenamine, would require a massive dose. But if sedatives were first used, or perhaps increased, after people complained that Madeleine had been crying (for her father, not her mother!?) 2 days before, then what are the possible adverse reactions that could result in death from a far lower dose than what’s required for systemic toxicity?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
If she’s convicted, think she’ll serve her sentence in Portugal or Britain?
September 8th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
well she aint gonna look so fresh and floral in a sweaty portugese prison
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=69+European+Prisoner
September 8th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
This comment maybe irrelevant but i thought i’d write it anyway. I did a search of Kate McCann’s images and noticed how bright and floral her clothes are. Her make up and hair always look good and she accessorizes with jewellery. I was just struck that if my daughter had been abducted i’m sure i’d struggle to put on brightly coloured clothes and my face would be void of make up.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Well, Fox News’ source is the family.
My guess? They told the family they wanted to leave and were told by their lawyers or the authorities they can’t leave. So now they “want” to stay.
Anything to spin it. It’s what they’re good at.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
why the hell are the mccanns trying to make it look like it is their own decision to stay in portugal, murat has not been allowed to leave in order to visit his daughter and estranged family.
surely as prime suspect they are required to remain in portugal
September 8th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
329 Sky news say the opposite, that the McCanns have vowed to stay in Portugal to clear their name.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
324
I agree that this would be the most compelling reason to cover up a death they had inadvertently caused through recklessness.
It would explain how they could bring themselves to do what to my mind is practically unimaginable: unceremoniously (in every sense of the word) stash their daughter’s dead body, and (even more unthinkable) take it out again 20 days later and cart it around (I would be too squeamish to do that with ANY dead body, let alone my own child’s).
I would prefer to think there was some heavy-duty rationalization going on there, if this is what happened, rather than a total absence of scruples and decency.
It would also be a way to rationalize their subsequent dupicity to themselves. They would tell themselves it was in the best interests of their surviving children to keep the family together.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Doctor 313:
Having begun to list all the charges that the McCann’s could have avoided if they’d just owned up to involuntary manslaughter in the first place (amazingly, the Portuguese police have apparently suggested that could still be the only charge Kate McCann might face if she confessed to it - though I’d be amazed if various other civil and criminal cases wouldn’t follow, based on that confession, in England and elsewhere)…
…Having started to think about that long list, I completely agree with you that a panic reaction following the shock of finding oneself suddenly holding a dead child, probably sedated, perhaps shaken too (either in frustration that she wouldn’t sleep, or in an attempt to revive her), and on some level aware of the consequences for one’s career if the details became known, and aware also that nothing would bring the child back, and that the other children needed a mother…
…In that situation I CAN understand a panic reaction. Perhaps I can even begin to understand, say, Gerry and then the O’Brien couple getting involved in a panic cover-up. They were probably all in shock.
Then I can also imagine how, as things unfolded, and they got caught up in what Kate McCann called ‘another reality’ or something (another telling expression, like the famous initial ‘They’, the latest ‘fighting [non-existent charges] to the end’ and so on)… I can imagine how it became more and more difficult to escape from this new tabloid/celebrity reality.
I imagine, if the outlines of the version of events leaked by the PJ are correct (and I’m pretty convinced they are), the McCanns will be almost relieved that the whole charade is finally almost over.
What they probably did is terrible, but I do feel pity, especially for the baby twins, whose life has been profoundly damaged from the start through no fault of their own.
What I feel most angry about is the bloody British gutter press - and the Grottiest Newspaper in the World, in particular.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Doctor, thanks for explaining that possibility.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
If blood leaked from a dead body after 25 days, there would be evidence of decomposing flesh with it as the blood will have coagulated by that time. It simply does not ring true that blood was found in the car after 25 days.
The other scenario as I said earlier is that the same car is alleged to have been hired by O’Brien prior to Madelines death. She grazed her knee when getting on to the plane and its possible that on a journey with the O’Brians, Madeline picked the scab and as hire cars usually carry a first aid kit in the boot, the grazr could have been dressed at the back of the car.
It speculation I know, but makes more sense than finding blood and no decomposing flesh after 25 days
September 8th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
327
You’re right, you can’t bleed 25 days after death. But she may have had ‘old blood’ on her… for example her parents may have tried to resuscitate her initially, an act that can result in traumatic bleeding.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Funny.
The most-watched U.S. cable network, the dreaded “Fox News”, is reporting the McCann’s who were, yesterday, so eager to stay in Portugal to defend themselves are now going to high-tail it out of Portugal back to Britain to clear their names. In Britain.
Parents of Missing British Girl Madeleine McCann Want to Leave Portugal
September 8th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Thanks for the education, Martin, and contradiction of my previous now discredited assertion.
So, yes, Britain prosecute if necessary.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Ok help me out on this one. IF she died accidently and they are trying to cover it up, why wait 25 days to hire a car? Where was she in the meantime? But most important of all, and Doctor you may be able to answer this one, if she had been dead for 25 days and her blood is now found in this hired car, how is that? You can’t bleed that long after dying. My head is melted. I don’t want to think for a second that Gerry and Kate have had ANY involvement in this but if it’s proven that they did……doesn’t bear thinking about. I feel so much for them if they are innocent and going through this.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Couple of legal points: British courts have worldwide jurisdiction over death of a British national (like Madeleine). If for any reason the CPS thought the Portuguese courts were not an appropriate place to try those accused of responsibility for Madeleine’s death, they could issue indictments.
I guess the Maddy Fund is registered or incorporated in the UK, but my understanding is that if contributions were solicited on the basis of misrepresentations by the McCann’s, they could be sued in loads of places. The misrepresentations have been made globally through the Net, though I think this is still a slightly tricky area. But there are probably various charges relating to the fund that could be made in the UK specifically.
There are also questions of, I think, civil and criminal damages for which Murat and various others could sue Team McCann and others in various courts.
The McCanns could presumably be prosecuted in Portugal and elsewhere for ‘perverting the course of justice’ and various associated things, not to mention defamation of the Spanish police and individual officers.
There’s also the question, perhaps, of damages from loads of people in Praia da Luz and perhaps further afield for loss of earnings &c.
I’m not a lawyer, but I imagine that in principle the full list of charges would be pretty long, and involve several jurisdictions.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
finally agree with christoph..the fund will be their downfall…i dont think they killed her on purpose..its certainly not murder if they are responsible..i dont think any parent could do that to such a sweet child but even if it was an accident…why the media campaign and why the fund…thats basically theft in my mind..
September 8th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
320
Sorry I didn’t make myself clear there. I didn’t mean it makes it right, I was just trying to establish possible motive for the crime of ‘covering up’. For all those people out there who think that the parents couldn’t possibly do something so unspeakable I am simply pointing out that they could and with (what they perceive to be) very good reason…
September 8th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
FOR MODS AND ADMIN
posts 97 and 103.
Mods and Admin
Thanks Moderation for enlightenment, but given the lecture thought she could get the name right
September 8th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Great point, one, I think, largely overlooked.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
FOR MODS AND ADMIN
June, it wasn’t you, it was me! Must do something about the name, although every say i think I ought to get out while my sanity is still intact!!
Without checking back I can’t remember exactly but I know I didn’t aim it at Judith directly, it was a general comment after so much rudeness.
Sorry you got the blame. Mea culpa….
realised when I couldn’t find anything, skimming again eh?
September 8th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
313 Two wrongs don’t make a right.
If they had accidently caused Madelines death then coming clean about it would have made any consequences less severe.
A conviction for nelegence or even recklessness is far less severe than a conviction for manslaughter or murder.
They would probably have been suspended for a period by the BMA but now the BMA will have no option but to revoke their licences.
The setting up of a fund knowing she was dead (if thats the case) will lead to arrest the minute they set foot back in this country for deception.
They would probably have been able to keep the twins on a supervision order, but now they could loss them altogether.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
287 - Angry your absolutely right…the no body no crime thing doesnt work if there is enough evidence to convince a jury or a judge that a crime has taken place…If you look up Robert Picton..he killed lots of people whos bodies he fed to his pigs…and he is still going to serve a nice long jail sentence for it..without the help of a body for evidence..
September 8th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I would.
Hey, June, can you ask your web guy to check in your plugin? In one minute that’ll fix the scroll bar issue on the bottom of the screen which was mentioned here.
Mods and Admin
No I haven’t , but you can, if you go into ‘The Anoraks’ you’ll find a contact point there.
I am so not not not teccie dunno what the f*** thats all about, and we might end up with a lemon and purple colour site . Look for the Sepguy name of Nick. But I do know we have a limit of two links per posts to keep the spammers out, or at bay at least
Now, Christophe, away home to your lovely lady, hard though it is to part from such a luscious truly wondrous being like me…………….
September 8th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
No, it wasn’t sarcasm, Mary, it’s pointing out how absurd it is to say now you’ll be late and “doomed” to bad luck as a result after you’ve been chatting on a blog for hours.
I rather think this is a poor proof of “luck” as a concept. Nothing stopped you from leaving half an hour ago.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Mods and Admin
to Judith C
I have checked and double checked all your posts and there is only one which I have moderated, this afternoon ,and asking you to refer to the post where I called Rosemary an ‘ignoramus’. I have checked Rosemary’s posts and they are not moderated. Please clarify
And thankyou for the reference to my ‘bad’ manners, my manners actually are good and I wouldn’t call someone an ignoramus
September 8th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
314 - NOW THAT WAS ENTIRELY SARCASM!! Not drama queen.
But thank you for your concerns. I will drive carefully. If you don’t ever hear back from me again, well, then you’ll know it was a stroke of bad luck that I encountered.
Keep me in your prayers dear Chistophe.
Je t’aime.
September 8th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
No, it was your decision to be late and has nothing to do with your superstition. But if you want to notice bad “luck” on the way, be my guest.
Not very smart of you…
Now. NIGHT ALL!