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 10th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Community Service finished already?
September 10th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
674
You forgot to add
King of the Tabloids - The Sun!!
September 10th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Right you lot, just noticed the time! Am off home now, back tomorrow for more innuendo and prejudice!
Have fun (K)
September 10th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Yeah, a good friend of mine has a lazy starboard mincer too.
What of it?
September 10th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Legend Update
Gerry McCann - The Whining Midget
Kate McCann - The Ice Maiden or Skeletor
Auntie Phil - Mark F (as in one size larger than a Marquee…)
Inspector Sousa - Clouseau
PJ - The Lying Squad
Jane Tanner - The Illusionist
Justine McGuiness - Comical Ali
The McCanns & Holiday Friends - Tapas 9
The Whining Midget and the Ice Maiden - Teflon 2 or Tapas 2
Auntie Phil (again) - Tapas 9 Meals
Robert Murat - The Patsy
Daily Express - The Worlds Greatest Newspaper
Distance Between Tapas Bar & Apartment - The Grassy Knoll
The “Abductor” - The Griffin
Madeleine - The Worlds Most Famous Child
?? - Lard Man
Find Madeleine Fund - The Booty
Auntie Phil (again) - Eater of Cream Cakes, Doner Kebabs & flame grilled Whoppers
September 10th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
670 Moderation
My little 2 year old has a squinty eye
I take exception to RM being an abductor on the grounds of a squinty eye
September 10th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
no,this one had a slim but shapely body.
you can hardly see where aunti phils body ends and her head begins.
i
September 10th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Business accounts and personal accounts are two very different things
September 10th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Bulldump… boring. You’ve done that one before. The shock value just isn’t there any more………. especially the stuff from those of you who think you’re ‘lads’.
all this personal stuff is daft.
How can Justine McGuiness be a ‘guttersnipe’ for doing the job she is paid to do? I may disagree with Philomena’s constant vocalising but thats got nothing to do with what she looks like. Murat with his creepy looks and squinty eye. And the prison innuendo is quite chav. Skeletor? eurk. Nasty.
And of course the obsession with the money. Did any of you contribute? if you didn’t then its none of your business!!
Can’t we be just a little civilised in the discussion? Nope? thought not!
September 10th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
(664) bulldump
Yes we need to identify “Lard Man” anybody??
September 10th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
664
The lawyer?
September 10th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
moderation- C&G reserve account with bonuses.
£4,734.24gross monthly interest.
£3,789.04net.
Not sure with status of fund if it would be gross or net but put it in the childrens names and I think it would be tax free. Questions may be asked as to how the children are that rich!
September 10th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Hey Bulldump, you say she worked in McDonalds. It wasn’t Aunty Phil was it?
September 10th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Ah yes christoph and watch that waistline
September 10th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
who is that big fat lump of lard i kept seeing with the mccanns he was wearing shorts when she attended the police station, and i don’t mean aunti philadelphia
September 10th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
657
I take it that Harry Potter is now at the number 2 slot of W.M.F.C.
I had a scenario that I put forward, not much hope of it being real, but a slim possibility!
Madeleine may have wandered off and be, even now, living with a reclusive peasant goatherd, on a hill somewhere, and said goatherd has no electricity, hence no TV or radio, nor can s/he read to know that Madeleine is missing.
September 10th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
correct, Java!
September 10th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
stars?????? she enjoyed being spanked so I gave her stripes
September 10th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
(657) K-9
“The World’s Most Famous Child” shall duly be added in the next update as will “The Griffin” for the abductor (a mythical creature….)
September 10th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
As always, very astute m.e. 650. I hope everyone digests your comment.
With hot salsa, yumm. Still need to get my burrito.
September 10th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
(653) bulldump
How many stars did she have?
Also how many stars would you have given her?
September 10th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Two thoughts:
1. Regarding the “We should be looking for Madeleine” cries:
Who honestly believes that, if she is alive, Madeleine could be found?
Does the daft abductor regularly go to the park with The World’s Most Famous Child (this should be a new nickname for the list)? Do we expect to find them at the local supermarket aisle shopping for breakfast cereals?
If she is alive, she is locked up in some secret cubby hole in somebody’s house.
We can count on the fingers of one hand the number of abducted children who eventually turned up months later (notice I said “turned up”, not “were found”): Natascha Kampusch, Elizabeth Smart, the Japanese girl, the American boy who turned up when the FBI was looking for *another* kid.
Apart from these cases, children who are missing this long (even if they were abducted) are usually long dead. It’s a harsh fact, but it’s a fact.
(Wikipedia category “Murdered British Children” has a number of missing children who were found months to years later. Which actually also helps to bring into perspective the comments regarding the PJ, doesn’t it?)
Unless we search every nook and cranny of every house in Europe (and Morocco, and wherever else sightings were reported), how can we in good conscience expect to find her alive?
2. Regarding the “charges” and what the PJ “thinks”:
Let’s not forget that all we know is what the British Press says the Portuguese Press says that unnamed sources say.
All we know is that they are arguidos over SOMETHING. For all we know, they could be suspected of illegal busking or of taking part in street-races.
September 10th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Blimey. If the fund is earning that much with that account then I have all my money in the wrong place.
Sure you’ve got the sums right?????????
September 10th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
But they will SSS 649 even if they have to replace the administrator.
September 10th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
653
September 10th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
i caught a sexually transmitted disease from someone that looked the spitting image of kate (when she looked worth a rogering). But she was not a come and go as you like locum, she was just a lowly mcdonalds worker.
I discovered after some months that she had a daughter that lived with her mother and neither me or none of my friends knew about it.
September 10th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
(650) me
Very well put
September 10th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
635, Matty, good point, re the interest on the account.
September 10th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Scenario:
My daughter has been missing for 4 months. With logic you assume probably but not certainly that she is dead.
The police then interview me and at the very least indicate that she is dead. With logic you assume her to be almost certainly dead.
Taking this new and almost certain realisation I then proceed to emphasise the continued need to search for my ‘lovely’ and ‘live’ daughter. Do you suspect I am embarking on self preservation and possibly hiding something?
Surely I would be in a state of grief and asking the police to please tell me where she is.
But I cant do that can I? because I or my ‘friends’ already know where she is.
And the police cant ask me because I shall deny any involvement.
Please carry on the search for my lovely daughter and please dont question why my emotions havent changed in spite of what the police have told me.
September 10th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
644
We have to hope that Esther McVey will hold firm and refuse to allow the funds to be used unless in the meantime, Madeleine turns up, alive and kicking, and then they can use them to pay off their debts!
Mind you, they wouldn’t be in this position had they not have neglected her in the first place, so NO THEY MUST NOT USE THOSE FUNDS.