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 3:22 pm
Gerry just said “we are unfortunately prevented by Portuguese law from revealing details of the investigation”. ( a paraphrase - not wordforword exact ).
Ludicrous and hypocritical since they are totally bypassing this restriction..
The McCann family is continually revealing selected and slanted details. Presumably this is a loophole in the law. The suspects cannot speak, but they can tell everything they know, and give details of their questioning, to their family. Who can then spout to the media with impunity. How is this possible - it gives the family a huge propaganda advantage, and allows them to defame the police, and twist things to their viewpoint any way they wish.
I’d like to see a UK court gag the family here from revealing anything the suspects are not allowed to publicise.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
You tend to notice people being judgemental more when the judgement is against you.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
A newspaper warning against being judgemental?
Isn’t that like the McCanns being given a TV series about childcare?
I wonder how many journos would still be happy to leave their children alone?
September 9th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Dave (960):
Erm, that was a very basic Example, comparable to the one I did above about dying one’s hair blue.
I actually don’t believe this theory at all. I’m all in favour of Occam’s Razor.
But it does reflect the rumour going around that the McCanns “inherited” the use of a car which had previously been rented by another couple from their Holiday Group, and only later did they RENT it themselves.
(Which makes “only rented 25 days later” absolutely true, though deceiving.)
This rumour was circulated by the British Press when they were sure that O’Brien was a murderer and had done it. They have since “forgotten” all about it, now that it incriminates the McCanns and not O’Brien.
Angry (961):
The court order was aimed at the Rental Company, and related to cars hired by persons of interest on the night of the disappearance.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Just saw a Sky News interview at the airport on the couple’s return to the UK.
They just don’t get it, do they ? How to care for small children ?
Gerry read a prepared statement with one twin over his shoulder, whilst Kate held the other right up close. The child was paying full attention, even examining Gerry’s script whilst he read.
Children of that age will not understand what is said in detail, but some words will register, the whole experience could leave a lasting stressful impression. Why did Kate not sit them somewhere quietly out of range ? Maybe because they are a helpful prop - reinforcing the “caring parent” image ?
To include the children in this was one more error, showing a total lack of understanding of the care and protection these little ones need.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Blunger # 958
“They should not be influenced to drop their quite proper standards on this with any rubbish about “but UK parents do this - its cultural”.
We don’t, and it damn well isn’t.”
I have seen many articles - and comments - since the disappearance in which British journalists and commentators have indicated that they have left young children in exactly the same circumstances as the McCanns did.
Today there was an article in the Daily Telegraph by Jenny McCartney saying that people should stop being ‘judgmental’ about the McCanns leaving their children as they did.
To say, therefore, that there is no ‘culture’ of doing this in the UK is incorrect. By saying that there is a culture of doing this by no means means that the majority are doing it, but it does mean that *some* people do and that *some* people (including journalists and commentators) tell people that they are being *judgmental* when criticizing the behaviour.
There is none of this politically-correct non-judgmentalism in Portugal. There is a very strong taboo there against leaving children unattended (ie out of earshot or eyesight as appropriate). there is a very strong taboo also (just by way of example) against public drunkenness - again, unlike the UK.
These cultural differences have, to an extent, affected the different ways in which the British and Portuguese public have reacted to the McCann affair.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Maybe she had a stomach bug which caused vomiting, but the vomiting hadn’t started when she was put to bed.
Then a dose of sedative which prevented her waking upwhen she started to vomit in her sleep.
Which she choked on.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
962 You said
“Why if she wasnt asleep didnt they just give her some more sedative?”
Simple answer - because its a crime to medicate a perfectly healthy child.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
So far the facts are
Missing child
parents coping by whatever means to come to terms with the consequences of a missing child.
I still find it hard to believe that even if drugged and possibly died from this ,that they concocted a plan to hide the body and cry abduction in approx 2 hours b4 they went on the razz.
A woman in oz was almost convicted many years ago when her daughter(teenager) was abducted from her bedroom whilst sleeping.
It turned out to be a previous lodger who had done it he knew that the patio door was left open at night for the cat.
But the woman had 20 odd years of tittle tattle to put up with before the case was cracked.
It would be terrible if this is the same.
Why if she wasnt asleep didnt they just give her some more sedative?
September 9th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
959 The car hired by the Mccanns was at no time hired by any other member of their group or Murat.
September 9th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
My god K9 you’re a genius, I bet that would never have crossed the minds of the police in a million years
email them quick
September 9th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Moderation (953):
Actually, they took all the cars that had been hired on the night by persons of interest, not cars which were *presently* in their possession, and which were either back with the Rental Company, or had been rented on.
The court order was for the Rental Company to hand over those cars. If any were in the possession of someone else at the time, they were still searched.
Recall that the rest of the Holiday Group was no longer in Portugal by the time the cars were searched and, yet, the cars they had rented were searched.
Example:
1. Murat hires Car A.
2. It’s in his possession on the night of the 3rd.
3. Murat is a “person of interest” in the investigation.
4. Court order requests Car A for evidence collection.
5. Car A was, by then, in the McCann’s possession. (Coincidences happen.)
6. The McCann’s car is searched because Murat was a person of interest in the investigation.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
In fact it might be quicker and better for the Portuguese to prosecute and punish them without delay for simple and easily provable child neglect. They should not be influenced to drop their quite proper standards on this with any rubbish about “but UK parents do this - its cultural”.
We don’t, and it damn well isn’t.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Without a body it may be very hard to get a conviction on hiding the corpse, and even the court case (if it happens) will be at least a year away.
I believe that as a matter of priority the Leicestershire authorities should investigate this couple for child neglect, and take exactly the same action as would be taken against any other couple. How many nights did they abandon their children ? How far away did they go (much further, it seems, than on the fatal night)? What sedation did they use ? How much care/time did they personally give to the twins during their huge media campaign ?
These matters should be progressed NOW, and action taken quickly, quite independent of the larger portuguese charges.
Please lets hear no more about “many UK parents think leaving there children unattended is ok”. I utterly refute this, and any who do so should be subject to the law if the children are as young as these three were. Caring for your children does NOT involve having them under your EYE at all times. Of course they can sleep alone upstairs. It involves being able to HEAR them at all times. We parents know how fine-tuned our ears come, to interpret the slightest whimper.
Be out of sight - yes of course. But have no responsible person within EARSHOT - never !
September 9th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Who says crime doesn’t pay?
So far the McCrim’s have stolen a million from the kind-hearted public.
They have newspaper, book & maybe a movie deal for several more millions.
After their plastic surgery and the furore has all ‘died’ down (unintentional pun) they can go back to the Prai de Luz resort and buy the entire apartment complex, luxuriating in the balmy air.
Bless …
September 9th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
946.
946.
Hair from M could easily end up in the car whenever it was hired if it was used to transport items that she had been in contact with at any time. Hair alone would prove nothing unless it was a vehicle totally unconnected with the family with no reasonable possibility of cross-contamination.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
951 You’ve obviously never seen a trachy done. I watched one done on my mother. You get a slight drizzle of blood and nothing more. The is no gush or spatter, so none could have ended up on the wall except by accidental transfer.
You say “It’s hypothetical, but it fits most of what we have heard,”. Er the blood in the apartment wasn’t Madelines. That was confirmed weeks ago.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
K9 950. I understand they took the cars of everyone involved and searched them all with the dogs. Something like 9 cars including Murats. BUT they only did this a few weeks ago…..
The McCanns didn’t have a hire car when madeleine went missing.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I’ve travelled extensively and holidayed in Spain and Portugal.
I don’t believe for a moment MW offered a service personally to the McCanns. They are covering their asses after the event (IMO). Its a big resort and I bet the staff didn’t even register any of them until the furore started…. then suddenly they remembered. I take it all with a huge pinch of salt.
I’ve visited many hotels in Iberian resorts where there are children screaming all the time because they are in rooms on their own while their parents are in the bar downstairs most of the night and no-one takes any notice! These parents are known to claim they have a disability so need a lower floor room to avoid going too far up to the room to check on their children.
The Tour Operators don’t care and neither do the hotel staff. and why should they if the parents aren’t fussed?
Mark Warner is no worse or better than the majority but the focus is on them right now.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
A possible scenario -
“Omg, she’s vomitted in her sleep (holiday tummy ?) and choked on it. What do I do - she’s not breathing. I’m a doctor - attempt an emergency tracheotomy with the kitchen knife (hence invisible blood aerosol on wall) ! Failure.
How can I report this ? Sedated child lying dead with throat cut open. Chlid neglect, child sedation - loss of medical licence, no income, other children constantly suoervised if not place in foster care, public humiliation and poverty.
Hide the body - claim abduction. It does her no further harm, she’s dead, but this way I can save the younger children from the awful consequences. It’s awful, but it’s logical. Friend X will be in the same trouble re childneglect/sedation if this comes out. Lets persuade him to keep her body in the freezer in his flat until the surveillance dies down in about 15 days time.”
It’s hypothetical, but it fits most of what we have heard, and it shows us how this could have started as no more than neglect, and then escalated out of control. No need to think of them as evil monsters who tried to harm their child.
Even if this is all the truth, I could still have retained some slight empathy for their dilemma, but for the gigantic dishonesty of the subsequent “find Maddy” campaign, and its utter contemptuous disregard for the public.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Angry (937):
Quite right. Risking stating the unsightly obvious: there would have been no forensic investigation needed - the smell upon opening the trunk would have sufficed.
So (if one is to assume that it *IS* Madeleine’s blood in that trunk), the blood must have been transfered 25 days previously, on the 3rd.
(Naturally, if there had been some explanation as to how Madeleine’s blood could have ended up there while she was alive, the McCanns would have provided it. They want to save their necks, after all.)
Naturally, the police have a list of all previous renters of the car. Who had that car on the 3rd, 4th or 5th? Did Murat rent it? O’Brien? Malinka? The McCanns? The Pope? Daffy Duck? Gordon Brown?
Obviously, the first action upon finding the blood is interviewing the person or persons who had access to the car around the 3rd.
The British Media may portray the PJ as daft, bumbling and incompetent, but even they have watched a CSI episode or two, and know that such an interview must take place.
Does nobody ask WHY they would search that car, in the first place? Out of all the rental cars in the Algarve, why search that one?
Because it had been rented by a “person of interest” around the time of the disappearance.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I wonder if The Pope will send them a Papal Blessing now ?
September 9th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Angry (937) I’ve been wondering about the blood too. I thought, a few weeks ago, it was reported that Madeline’s blood was NOT found in the apartment? I also thought the only recent reports referred iof DNA found in the appartment. The trouble is one, possibly credible, report gets picked up by the other media who add their own ideas and ‘expert’ comment. It’s like one huge game of ‘chinese whispers’.
As for the car, I don’t know for sure but if something is bloodstained and damp, could it not transfer some of that blood stain to anything it comes into contact with? I fear this is getting very ghoolish now but did Madeline have to be in the car for her blood to get into the car, or could it have been something stained with her blood?
Alternatively, could it not be dry flakes of blood?
September 9th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
If all they have found is a hair in the car (without sedative evidence) then it is next to useless as evidence.
I often find strands of my daughter’s hair stuck to a jumper, hanging off a bag, wrapped around a button etc.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
931.
The hair in the hire car was allegedly relevant because the car was not hired until 25 days after Madeleine disappeared.
It has been denied by the car-hire company that anyone in the group had prevously hired that particular car. This was (allegedly!!!) part of the reason for calling them in. The stuff about the others having the car was said to be untrue. Hence the question, how was her hair in the boot of the hire car? (from beach towels?)
HOWEVER… I am only reporting what I hear / read. I have to be bit of a news hound (papers and TV) so I get a cross section of info from both good and bad sources of news.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I thought leaving children unattended already was a crime in Portugal?
September 9th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
939 I would have though that a reputable holiday company would not allow children to be left unattended. I would how many will now make this a clause in their terms and conditions.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
940, Oh, I thought Adelaide was nicer than the UK!
September 9th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
NoW probably offered them the most money.
September 9th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
938, Mark M, Yes you have a point. It’s just not one of my bookmarks. I thought overall their coverage was quite balanced.