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
Comments
September 10th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
I has
spellinkspelling and grammatical errors constantly.September 10th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
The car was hired by the McCanns 25 days after Madeline disappeared. At no time was the same car used by any other member of the Tapas 9 or Murat.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Me too, Angry, me too.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Well I meant for a long long time not necessarily all along. You be careful not to upset me or I’ll resume my quest to spot your occasional grammatical error
September 10th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
My big concern at this point is she’ll be convicted for a relatively minor crime when a more serious crime was committed and not everyone involved will be convicted.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
The Jon Bonet Ramsay case is the perfect example of trial by media. I felt so sorry for the parents in that case.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Ok, in light of the new reports about DNA match does anyone have a complete timeline for the McCann’s hire car?
I’ve read/heard that one of the other couples originally had the car and that the McCanns took over the rental when the other couple returned to the UK. Has this been proven?
What about when the McCanns were flying about around the world, where was the car then? Did anyone else have access to it? Did anyone else drive it?
What about the times when the couple were apart? I seem to recall that he flew off a couple of times without her, did she use the car then?
September 10th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I suspected so early, but not all along, m.e.
I am usually reluctant to conclude someone’s guilt early. For example, the Jon Bonet Ramsay case here in North America I never, at any point, thought they had anything to do with it.
But the facts in this case were different.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
America’s largest cable network, Fox News, is reporting that there’s a possibility Kate McCann’s father could be charged as an accomplice.
Tentative. Very tentative.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Sorry …. 875 should say IF they are proven to be NOT guilty!
September 10th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
des 874
I accept what you say but he’s been too compliant with the pro line to speak about him in glowing terms…
September 10th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
It makes no difference whether you use small numbers, (which give higher percentages, or higher number that give lower percentages. The truth in any country is that only a minority of sex crimes are actually reported so you will never get a true figure.
I would also add that there are far more female peadophiles than authorities care to admit. If I remember rightly, in the UK women were not even thought capable of being sex predetors until the 1970’s, when they too have been around for ever.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Christoph 867…
…because you knew all along like me they were likely guilty. Just that we disagree on WHAT actually happened……
September 10th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Angry, at the risk of being called the B of the site again … I really don’t think they would’ve strapped the body into the baby seat of the car. And to try and parade down the street with it would certainly have attracted a lot of unwanted attention!
But anyway I’ll repeat what I’ve said from the word GO …. I’ve got my salt and pepper ready and I’m prepared to eat every single word I’ve said on this forum, IF they are proven to be guilty (and I don’t buy the “being framed” part though).
Although somehow, I don’t think I’m going to end up chomping my computer screen!
September 10th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
m.e. (871)
He most certainly hasn’t towed the pro-McCann line that many of his colleagues have.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
847. Angry. Did you not read this part?
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91210-1283359,00.html
“The evidence came in blood samples returned from the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham.”
or this?
“He continued: “The evidence suggests very strongly that it was not that her DNA had been transferred from clothing or from a cuddly toy.
“The allegation is that the DNA shows a full match of 99%. According to police, it shows the presence of Madeleine’s body in the boot of the family’s hire car five weeks after she disappeared.”
He said the sample of blood sent to the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham carried three matches of Madeleine’s DNA.
Two were partial matches that came from the car and the windowsill of the family’s holiday apartment.
The third was the full match from the boot of the car.”
September 10th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Angry (869)
Most crime that isn’t greed related makes very little sense in the cold light of day.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
des 866
Martin Brunt has also towed the pro McCann line up to now. Great crime journalist my arse…
September 10th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Angry Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
846 - How can your figures be fair if you ignore any group. A percentage of illegal aliens conmit sex offences just like any other group. Its true what they say, you can get statistics to say what you want
You are missing the point. I am trying to ERR on the side of caution. If I threw inthe illegal alien #’s too, the statistics would be astounding, as in overwhelmingly male. I was saying it would not be fair to do that since they are not U.S. Citizens. And they will make the % skew MORE in favor to my original claims of 99.99%. .
If what you are trying to say is that statistics lie, yes, they can be manipulated. In this case, I am shifting down on the clutch and making the #’s smaller rather than larger. Do you see what I’m saying here??
September 10th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
A forensic expert said yesterday the blood in the boot was a trace amount of DNA, therefore could have belonged to any one of the McCanns.
As for the DNA in the car, it would be suicidal to carry a dead body inside the car, and if they did, why would they have transferred it to the boot? It makes no sense.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Angry,
I understand your scepticism (847) but do you really think the police haven’t considered all these things before going public. Some people have said they want a quick resolution to save their tourist industry, but going after the Teflon 2 and risking the wrath of the British press they must have built a watertight case because being proven wrong would be catastrophic for them.
And again … we really don’t know the entire case that’s been prepared just a bunch of leaks (which might be true , and might come from either camp).
September 10th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
The McCann’s are definitely going down. Why don’t I feel sorry for them?
September 10th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Martin Brunt (Sky) is a great crime journalist. He has criticised the British media from the start accusing them of ‘adopting the language of the McCanns’. Check out his profile on wikipedia - top journalist.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
864 - no comment.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
ropes???? what do you think i’m some kindaa pervert?
lol
September 10th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
858 - you said that yesterday too. You said “blunt” the blade. Isn’t that the same thing as don’t bother sharpening the blade?
Are you a 17th Century Frenchman reincarnated on here?? Or do you just get off on knives and guillotines. Any preference for ropes?
September 10th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
WHY IS THE BOGUS CONFESSION DEAL STILL ON SKY NEWS’S WEBSITE?
September 10th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
696 ~ Blunger - You get the vote for most informed and rational commentary of the day. Take a bow.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30000-1283507,00.html
September 10th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
856 - meant to type it refers to dm’s post 844. Sorry!!