Madeleine McCann: Suspects Kate And Gerry And The Flight Of Fancy
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
THE SUN front page: “EXCLUSIVE – ‘We’re being set up. I’ve had enough. Let’s go home.’” This is the “ANGER OF MADDIE DAD.”
Gerry and Kate McCann, “the doctors”, are back in their home town of Rothley, Leicestershire.
Pages 4, 5, 6 & 7: A statement from Gerry McCann in which he thanks one and all for the support and adds: “But we would like to ask for our privacy to be respected now that we have returned home.”
But their private grief is public spectacle. Can they be left alone with their daughter still missing and their campaign to find her in progress?
“YOU’LL LOSE THE TWINS.” Portuguese police are said to have told Kate McCann she should confess or face losing her two children.
“FACT OR FIT-UP?” The Sun considers the claims and gives each an “EXPLANATION.”
THE SUN SAYS: “McCanns’ hell”. The McCann’s “torment gets more horrendous by the day.” Where is the “kidnapper who might still have the four-year-old child in his clutches?”
THE TIMES front page: “McCanns fly home to fights their case.”
Mr McCann says the police’s focus on them is “deeply disturbing”.
Portuguese newspapers claim the McCanns failed to answer 40 questions put to them during interviews last week. “They apparently feared that they could wrongly implicate themselves if he [sic] did so.”
Pages 6 & 7: “Puzzles and mysteries at the very heart of the investigation.”
The paper tries to answer some of these questions. It tells us: “Although a small child could be killed quickly it would take time to hide the body so that it was not discovered in the biggest search in Portuguese history.”
The paper’s David Brown does not reveal how he researched this. He just knows.
The window to the McCanns apartment might have been opened from the inside. Brown of the Wapping Yard concludes: “Or was the window opened to make it appear as if an intruder had used it to enter the bedroom?”
Hmmm. What say you Mr Brown?
DAILY MAIL front page: “Police are determined to charge McCanns with killing Madeleine. HOME…FOR HOW LONG?”
Mr McCann is said to have told a friends: “We are being completely stitched up by the Portuguese police. We are completely f*****. We should have seen this coming weeks ago and gone back to Britain.”
Pages 2 and 3: “Madeleine’s parents consult Pinochet’s lawyer.” The McCanns have consulted with Michael Caplan QC, the British lawyer who represented Chilean dictator General Pinochet, who stood accused to torture and human rights abuses. Interesting?
Pages 4 & 5: “Questions the police must answer.”
The paper wonders if Robert Murat was named as a suspect in the hope his presence might “lead the couple into committing an incriminating indiscretion?” Or not.
In attempting to answer the key questions, the Mail produces more questions.
And the evidence..? The paper’s Michael Hanson wonders just how “foolproof” forensic tests are. You can’t argue with the science. Or can you?
DAILY MIRROR front page: “Kate weeps in Maddy’s room.”
The paper’s “EXCLUSIVE” is that Kate McCann sat alone in Madeleine’s “pink-painted room” and “sobbed in despair”.
How does it know this?
A friend says: “They are not running and will clear their names.”
Pages 4 & 5: Four pictures of the McCanns: arriving at Faro airport; boarding a flight,;on the plane getting ready for take off; and walking to their family home in Rothley.
Pages 6 & 7: “40 questions they both ‘refused’ to answer’.” And: “Officers say her replies left a lot to be desired, ‘it was claimed.’”
“McCANNS FACE KILLING CHARGE.”
“WHY COPS THINK SHE WAS NOT ABDUCTED.”
Page 9: Brian Reade has a daughter the same age as Madeleine McCann. Brian, who writes for the Mirror, has found it “impossible to imagine the depth of pain and guilt”. Without a body, says Brian, “They may never be able to prove their total and complete innocence.”
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE ‘WE CAN PROVE PARENTS DID IT.’ Portuguese police make dramatic new claim over evidence.”
Pages 2, 3 4, 5: The paper’s Martin Evans is on flight EZY 6552. He sees the McCanns travel home. He experiences “first hand…Kate’s pain and anguish on that most difficult of journeys”.
The seatbelts sign goes off. A note is passed to Kate. It is from another passenger. Kate reads the “simple message” of support. “A female passenger kneels by Kate and gives her a “tight hug.”
Kate sobs, “tears dripping slowly down her cheeks”.
Page 6: “Questions for the McCanns.” The Express has a go at solving the mystery. It says “Case could hang over us for ever say parents”.
DAILY STAR front page: “Maddie’s parents surprise flight.” Flight?
Pages 6 & 7: “We’re not running away.”
Page 7: More from Martin Evans, who sees the McCanns’ “pained expressions”.
Pages 8 & 9: “Furious donors want cash back as pressure mounts on friends to reveal all. DAD: I’LL USE £1M MADDIE FUND TO CLEAR OUR NAMES.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH front page: “Year-long wait for McCanns to clear name.”
Says Kate McCann: “Portuguese law prohibits us from commenting on the police investigation. Despite their being so much we wish to say we are unable to do so except to say this: we have played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter Madeleine.”
Page 4: “Couple facing a ‘life sentence of grief’.”
THE GUARDIAN front page: “Exhausted and under suspicion, Madeleine’s family come home.”
Pages 2, 4 & 5: “Rothley villagers relieved to see family return.”
“Thank goodness. They’re back where they belong and it’s the best place they could possibly be,” says one young mother.
The Rev Mark Chandler adds: “My every sense tells me that Rothley is just pleased and relieved to have them back.”
THE INDEPENDENT front page: “130 days since they left for a family holiday, the McCanns return to Britain without Madeleine. This is “THE HOMECOMING”.
Pages 2 & 3: “A shattered family returns to Britain without Madeleine”. “Portugal’s media clamour for conviction”.
Says one mother holidaying in Praia da Luz: “You don’t want to believe the worst but when you read headlines like these [in Portuguese media], obviously one conclusion seems more likely than another.”
Says the Diario de Noticia: “PJ wait for final examinations to arrest Madeleine’s parents.”
Madeleine McCann: private grief as public spectacle
Posted: 10th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,280) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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September 11th, 2007 at 12:16 am
erm.. pete why on earth would england wanna go to war with portugal, they aint got a pot to piss in, it would be like america invading afghanistan or something silly like that
September 11th, 2007 at 12:14 am
“The same inspector also said that mentioning Madeleine’s coloboma, if she was abducted, was signing her death sentence”
That is SO true. Exactly what I thought near the beginning. Made her FAR too hot to hold, and absolutely unsaleable. Death sentence. Exactly. Did they advise the McC’s of this danger, I wonder ? Were they ignored ?
September 11th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Just heard a wisper that Mullder and Scully are looking for work. Maybe the McCanns should hire them.
Night all
September 11th, 2007 at 12:13 am
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=8144
It’s about the phone intercepts.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:12 am
(1114) K-9
A simliar thing happened to me. I misplaced a pint of lager and immediately called the Samaritans. Only after a long talk with them did I realise that I had already drunk it
September 11th, 2007 at 12:12 am
such cynicism Christoph….I like Gerry myself
September 11th, 2007 at 12:10 am
(1114) K-9
No worries. Got it
September 11th, 2007 at 12:09 am
Sounds more like a starting point where he can move to 90% certainty that she’s innocent…
September 11th, 2007 at 12:09 am
(1114) K-9
“The same inspector also said that mentioning Madeleine’s coloboma, if she was abducted, was signing her death sentence”
Please translate??
September 11th, 2007 at 12:09 am
He’s using unnecessary words again, to reinforce his main lies:
“totally 100% innocent”
is the same as
“totally innocent” or “100% innocent”
or just
“innocent”
means the same thing.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Aha…
“Celebrities including children’s author J K Rowling and soccer star David Beckham made public appeals that helped the family raise money for their fund but using fund money to help pay for legal advice is not an option, according to solicitor Julian Young, president of the West London Law Society.
“People have given money to help fund the child’s return and not help the parents,” he said. “If it had been said originally that the money was wanted to help with legal fees then people perhaps would not have been so generous.”
…. It seems the money is not an option
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1678678.0.0.php
September 11th, 2007 at 12:07 am
A police inspector has just confirmed live on Portuguese tv that the first call Kate placed was to Sky News and only later did the McCanns call the police.
Quite logical behaviour. The other day, when I misplaced my keys, I called CNN. *THEN* I looked inside my purse.
(The same inspector also said that mentioning Madeleine’s coloboma, if she was abducted, was signing her death sentence.)
September 11th, 2007 at 12:07 am
1041.
A wild guess on body hiding theories-in the first instance, by necessity, very close.Perhaps in a bin bag in space under bath or under sink? At first they were looking for a child not a body and no- one suspected she was not abducted for some time. She could have been carried out in a holdall or beachbag-even in the big babybuggy they wheel around. Maybe one of the visiting clan took care of it while the Mccanns posed for the cameras elsewhere-maybe G was off raising awareness.
I guess she ended up over the cliffs straight into the Med.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Don’t know about autism, but IVF children are at increased risk of deformity, including coloboma (deformed eye) which M has, and which is often associated with a subtle complex of other difficulties. Google it.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:04 am
I’ve never really noticed how behind the times newspapers are until this situation arose.
The fact is that they are already behind the times by the time they’re printed. By the time they reach the newsagents we already know pretty much everything that’s going to be in them. By the time we’ve bought them we’ve probably read everything that would have interested us in them on the internet.
Now factor in that their reporting of this incident has been lead from the beginning by their approximation of popular opinion and you get an even clearer idea of just how behind the times they are. They’re always playing catch-up.
They were ridiculously pro-McCann when there was no empirical evidence either way purely because this was the populist stance. Then, as the evidence started to come in, they remained in this pro-McCann camp because they didn’t yet know how the country felt. It would certainly seem that they are changing their position now. But isn’t that at least a couple of days too late? When the McCanns became suspects, wouldn’t that be the time to knock the ‘language of the McCanns’ on the head? They have still tried to engender sympathy for the McCanns and still forced the, largely irrelevant (in that they are bound to be biased), opinions of the McCanns’ family and friends down our necks.
Is it really likely that the police, with all the World watching, are just clutching at straws? Is it likely that they are trying to frame the McCanns in front of everyone? To any right minded person it should have been absolutely obvious that the McCanns were not all they seemed when they were made suspects. Yet the papers carried on as if it was some kind of conspiracy. They should be ashamed of themselves. Who buys newspapers anymore anyway?
September 11th, 2007 at 12:04 am
“Kate and I are totally 100% confident in each others innocence”.
Surely he should be saying:-
Kate and I are 100% innocent.
A person and be 100% confident and still be wrong.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:04 am
“Kate and I are 100% confident in each other’s innocence”
What a bizarre thing to say. Sounds more like people convincing themselves that whatever they did was ok.
Interestingly enough they may indeed have played no part in the ‘abduction’ because that was probably done by some other ‘friend’. An interesting use of words there by Gerry Berrry Boy………….
September 11th, 2007 at 12:02 am
1104 and 1105
Control!
Which will be his undoing, if he is guilty.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Wheres everyone getting the autism thing from??
September 11th, 2007 at 12:01 am
I am just waiting for him to start describing the “abductor” as the Griffin
September 11th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Why could they not reveal that they had drugged her ? Why was this such a threat to them that they took the horrific risk of conspiring to hide her body?
I think - because they are medics. A medic who abuses access to prescription drugs is very quickly no longer a medic and on the dole.
In addition, they faced the likelihood of having their other children taken into care.
Careers and families wiped out at a stroke, for several of them. They probably had been involved in childcare action from the otherside, and knew the score.
Hiding the body did M no harm, she was dead. It might save the other kids, and the parents.
Frankly I might have done the same, if I had been in their shoes. Though I wouldn’t have been in them, because I would never have done the actions which led to this frightful dilemma.
Think about it. Imagine the choices. Its logical. And remember they are well acquainted with death, and acting rationally in its presence. Not like you and me.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Sorry I mean’t Simon
September 10th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Because he thinks he can exercise control with it. And sell us on the idea Maddy was abducted. He said so on this last post!
September 10th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
(1097) Christoph
Come on Christoph. He is going to keep insisting she is alive and abdcuted right until the end game (which isnt far away). I am less surprised about what he is saying than I am about the fact that he is saying anything at all.
It seems the man cannot shut up. What was it he said yesterday about wanting some privacy? Yeah right on Midget man..
September 10th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Pete - Snap!
September 10th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
I got a lot of “for now…” in his post.
“Had” assured them?
“will return as requested for our own emotional reasons.” Not to assist the investigation or face justice? Only if you feel like it?
September 10th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
I noticed that after he was released from his last police interview, he said something about believing Kate to be innocent.
I thought he was subtley putting the blame on her.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
“We have appointed solicitors to advise us and assist our Portuguese lawyer in preparing our defence against any possible charges.”
How can a defence be prepared if they don’t know what charges are going to be brought against them?
Where is the money coming from for all these legal eagles?
September 10th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
1094 We were thinking the same thing Fizz.
It is a very clear indicator of the way he is thinking.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Who on earth thought that keeping a blog, when you suspect your “lovely daughter” is missing presumed abducted, was a good idea and why hasn’t one of the “learned” (my quotes) advisors cum spokespeople advised against it?
Call me cynical but perhaps it’s the outline of a book.