Madeleine McCann: Torture, A Witness, Robert Murat’s Innocence And Richard Branson Investigates
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
SUNDAY MAIL front page: “MADDIE POLICE TORTURE TRIAL.”
As reported by Anorak on June 11 (see Madeleine McCann And Amaral Policing): “Chief Inspector Goncalo Amaral has been accused of concealing evidence that the mother of eight-year-old Joana Cipriano, who disappeared in the Algarve three years ago, was tortured by police into confessing she had killed her daughter, whose body was never found.”
Is this the British Press discrediting the Portuguese police? Should they leave our Kate and Gerry alone? (Do the Portuguese police have a PR?)
“Lies, beatings, secret trials: the dark side of police handling Madeleine case” – If the Portuguese police do have a PR, they should get a new one.
“Madeleine: Hair in McCann Renault: ‘It could be anyone’s’” - British forensic experts have concluded the fragments said to be Madeleine’s could belong to any number of people who had come into contact with the silver Renault Scenic.
THE OBSERVER: “Maddy police: we blundered.” Remember Robert Murat?
Says a source said to be from within the Portuguese police force: “British police and crime experts also suggested that Murat fitted the profile to have been behind a kidnapping. But the Lisbon investigators were from the start unsettled about the lack of any motive. Months later, there is nothing to suggest he was involved.”
But, er, Robert Murat remains a suspect.
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: “Hope for McCanns as law on secrecy is eased.”
Plans are afoot to change the rules in Portugal. The “new law means that all suspects and third parties, including the media, will have access to police documents in any investigation - unless the public prosecutor decides that secrecy will benefit the inquiry or protect the rights of the accused.”
And the police can make their views known to the public, too.
And: the McCanns have announced an £80,000 advertising campaign to help find Madeleine.
SUNDAY EXPRESS: “MADELEINE MYSTERY - POLICE TO ACT OUT MADDIE TRAGEDY”.
No longer a criminal case. It is now a tragedy. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says a tragedy is a “branch of drama that treats in a serious and dignified style the sorrowful or terrible events encountered or caused by a heroic individual.”
Yes, dignified. Who knew?
DAILY STAR ON SUNDAY front page: “MADDIE. The missing journey.”
Where did she go?
SUNDAY TIMES front page: “Branson gives cash to defend McCanns.”
Sir Richard Branson is giving £100,000 to create a “fighting fund” to help the parents of Madeleine McCann to clear their names.
A source close to Branson says: “Sir Richard wants to ensure the McCanns get access to the best legal advice. He has a good instinct on these things.”
The Virgin Sniffer will crack the case. Or will his PR and marketing departments get there first.
But is Branson right? Let’s take a look at the survey…
“According to a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times, only 20% of respondents believe that the McCanns are completely innocent. Nearly half (48%) believe that they could have been responsible for their daughter’s death, even if it was an accident; 32% were unsure. A total of 40% said that the McCanns’ high-profile campaign had made them suspicious, but 50% said that it had not.”
Tasteful stuff. But we need another poll to find out what happened to Madeleine McCann.
Times Columnist India Knight is a McCann junkie. “I want to stop reading, listening, watching, Googling, amateur sleuthing; I nauseate myself with my own prurience. My appetite for commentary – which is all that’s left, in the absence of hard facts – has been sated many times over. But I can’t stop.”
She craves information. But there isn’t any. Unless you listen to sources”…
“Police leaks, gossip and a clash of cultures close in on McCanns” - Yesterday the police spokesman Olegario de Sousa quit “in dismay” at the daily leaks to the press.
Those Portuguese police leaks only add to the speculation and the pain. Thanks goodness for the clarity and sensitivity provided by the Times.
As the Times notes: “Maria do Sameiro Oliveira, a psychologist who does criminal profiling for the police, said she found it strange ‘how they function so much as a unit, always holding hands rigidly’ and pointed out that normally in cases of child disappearances, ‘the mother and father start to diverge, one wants to continue the search, the other not’. She added: “They show little evidence of suffering. They are very formal.”
You should not be influence by Ms Oliveria’s words. When responding to the Times’ survey, make your judgement. Make up your own survey.
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: “The McCanns: Unbelievable truth or unimaginable nightmare?”
The human interest angle and a time to look back over week of speculation.
NEWS OF THE WORLD: “MADDIE: THE SECRET WITNESS – TV boss holds vital clue to mystery.”
Jeremy Wilkins is the man whose “bombshell testimony could clear the McCanns”.
And: “Jeremy Wilkins’ evidence blows holes in the police theory that Gerry and Kate killed four-year-old Madeleine.”
Wilkins is said to be the man who spoke to Gerry McCann for up to 15 minutes outside the holiday apartments — “moments after checking on his children for the last time.”
A pal says: “He is entirely convinced of Kate and Gerry’s innocence. He believes they are a decent family caught up in an unimaginable nightmare.”
With Wilkin’s certainly and Richard Branson’s sense of smell, the McCanns may be placed once more above suspicion.
All the Madeleine McCann Faction Here…
Posted: 16th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (655) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
- Anorak on Peter Andre ‘Begs’ Katie Price To Come Home
- June on Peter Andre ‘Begs’ Katie Price To Come Home
- eggman on Madeleine McCann: Kevin Halligen Becomes The ‘Maddie Faudster’
- Trismegistus on Madeleine McCann: Kevin Halligen Becomes The ‘Maddie Faudster’
- Bernie Morgan on Peter Andre ‘Begs’ Katie Price To Come Home
September 16th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Have just read (184) Susanna. Who is Alastar Clark, whom you report Mr. McCann phoned after the alleged abduction?
September 16th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Abductor in the gaps. Such evidence as there is - or appears to be - suggests foul play of some sort. Only if you systematically ignore every shred of evidence as being ‘irrelevent’ are you left with “oh well, even though there is no evidence, it must have been an abduction then”. And yet - all the UK media seem happy to do this. It seems a bit delusional to me.
September 16th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
The ‘Mail on Sunday’/'Daily Mail’ website has just put up this story:
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/dailymail/home.html?in_page_id=1766
There are no comments on the story yet. Despite my earlier rebuff, I have ventured this public comment:
“If she has nothing to hide, then she should be able to answer honestly all the questions put to her by the Portuguese police”.
Might I suggest that other McCann-sceptics might also like to post their reservations about the McCanns’ version of events
September 16th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
mod and admin can you please delelet my last post.
————-
Mods and Admin
Do you mean the one with the Petition link?
September 16th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
161..Anonymous……
I note that my own carefully non combative ,logical queries in comment sections of many papers ..tabloid or Broadsheets have been ignored and not printed with the other ” God Bless This Poor family ” normal ones they routinely print.
I did read that this is the result of consultations between press and team McCann PR Agents.. no negative comments to be run..under the ” Innocent Until Proven Guilty ” theory of UK legal system. Ergo the only query of suspicion are from those independent columnists who contribute weekly or daily to papers,and even they are being very careful not to be accusatory byu asking all those difficult questions we all want McCann’s to answer..
September 16th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Judith
I think that you are thinking of Jack McCann-Labour MP and other posts- -no relation to Gerry McCann as far I can see from checking.
September 16th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Didn’t I read on this excellent forum somewhere that Mr. McCann’s father, now deceased, had been a Labour MP? There are also the facts, which I may have in the wrong order but believe are the case, that the blonde PR woman whom Mrs. McCann knew from old (I forget her name for the moment) - the one who worked for GMTV - lives in the same street as Kirsty Wark whose sister is Penny Wark who wrote a grovelling sycophantic article for “The Times” who knows Des Browne who knows (of course) Gordon Brown who knows the British Ambassador in Portugal and also knows just about everyone else worth knowing who can pull all the strings to get the McCanns off the hook. Why these influential people want to save the McCanns’ skins I’m not sure. Could it be that possibly having been hoodwinked at the beginning they want to continue the charade? Could it be that there is something more sinister under the surface which has touched some of these people in high places? Could it be as simple as Hunk McCann is a Glaswegian, a Scot, like the rather familiar looking “new” bloke on the block Brown, and “we Mccanna no support our bro”? And then there’s the Liverpool angle. Mrs M. is surely well supported in that most partisan of places, and don’t they all vote Labour? Might lose the present incumbent a few votes if he looks as if he isn’t pro the Pool, or there might be a riot. It is obvious that there are wheels within wheels within wheels otherwise the McCann bandwagon would never had got rolling. What’s going on?
—————-
Mods and Admin
Judith I think you mean Esther McVey.
September 16th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Do you find his response in this interview odd (and her body language)? I cannot decide myself…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMUdynuECbE
September 16th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
And the relevence of the Ylenia case to this one would be…?
September 16th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Rosemary, I found a link to it… wonder why its been disregarded?
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/15806/Madeleine-lookalike-snatched-by-pervert
September 16th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I think Wilkins,Tanner, O’Brien and the McCann’s are all lying to some degree hence all the conflicting stories.
Unless McCann’s had some pre- idea that someone was attempting to abduct their child there is noways the first thought would be that “they had taken her”… but that too is conflicted by either Pro- McCann or Anti -MacCann reports….For the Pro -Mac’s ones her 1st words were that she could not find Madeline. But they have never indicated they had any reason to think their kids were in danger..and had they been concerned about such an event would they have left them alone ????? There is no evidence whatsoever, as far as anyone can see, there was any abduction.
IF they have zero to hide, and are in fact innocent of anything, other than neglecting to provide adequate care for the 6 nights for the children, why do they need all the PR teams. high flying lawyers, Murdoch/Sky, Branson ( Mail said others big hitters had removed their support by the way… they printed their photos but I cannot remember them all…..) Why do they simply not go either to UK CPU or back to Portugal and answer those 40 questions.. instead of trying to shift attention to PJ and Murat and anyone else they can dream up. ? These are hardly the actions of distraught parents, but rather the actions of self preservation from people who have a huge reluctance it seems to assist inquiries , now they have been named suspects.It being normal in case of missing children for parents to be suspect numeo uno, so why are they creating such a fuss.? Murat did not create such a fuss over his startling status as suspect.
Our Govt and diplomats have a duty of care to protect the rights of its UK citizens in other countries..that does NOT extend to blanket support, and in this case active actions it seems, of those UK citizens who may be guilty of crimes.Nobody has in fact trampled upon the rights of McCann’s either, though they are trying their level best to make it appear thus. They have not been jailed for months without a trial or refused exit from Portugal which they could have legally been.They have not been tortured physically or emotionally, except by their own endless outbursts and drive to stay foremost in media. . They have merely been questioned under caution and told to shut up ( for once) they have not shut up.. they use their F&F as their mouthpieces to repeat their accusations and beefs with PJ , the GBP and the press and internet blogs like this who have the nerve to be “ludicrous” enough to dare to question just what on earth they have done and what on earth they are up to.
None of which should bother them if they are guiltless.They have not been charged with any crime after all. Neither positive nor negative reaction from either press or public would in any event effect the outcome of a trail.
I accept every individual reacts to tragic events differently ,but their actions, and behavior, I find extraordinary and beyond normal comprehension.If one’s child goes missing one does not hire PR team to start a shop online and keep a blog of trivia daily. One goes on TV to alert the world to keep a look out..and then hires PI or FBI or other experts in field to go on hunt quietly, without media fuss to alert the abductors. They though went out of their way to create a huge PR diversion from actually finding her since nobody has been in fact searching, for her except the PJ.who have believed since about week 3 the poor child is dead.
I fear unless she is found..dead or alive we may never find out…. unless somebody knows something , and finally rolls over and says so.
September 16th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
A report on the discovery on Ylenia from Swissinfo, in English:
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/Body_of_missing_girl_believed_found.html?siteSect=105&sid=8221344&cKey=1189886121000&ty=st
September 16th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
183, Miss Match,
Perhaps 179 muller is watching the kids.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Have just read Gazeta Digital that the car was hired in two names : one Gerry Mccann and the other his brother in law.
The first phone call he made after the “abduction” was to Alistar Clark.
I wonder what on earth makes them think it is all going to go away.
Its a bit like an exploding universe.14
September 16th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
178 Sorry I’m getting mixed up with the bottles.
Swiss police allways sayed that the man has nothing to do with von Aesch or the crime.A woman has seen von Aesch at that wood at that time with a blond man and another in the back of the van. Ylenia was there. The men were arguing and told Ylenia to go to the back of the van. The Swiss police sayed they don’t believe the woman.
http://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/hatte-von-aesch-komplizen-70702
http://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/so-erinnere-ich-mich-an-den-mann-neben-von-aesch-70783
September 16th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
179 muller - does your mummy know that you are playing with the computer and being very rude? Now go and confess to her and go back to watching kids TV.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Link to the witness:
http://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/hatte-von-aesch-komplizen-70702
September 16th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
178, Moderation
The man who was shot and taken to hospital was said to have been an innocent bystander.
Later on a witness said she saw von Aesch in his van with Ylenia and two other men - a drawing of one of them was released. I have never read a report which quotes anyone as having seen von Aesch in PDL around 3rd May, just reports of white van near the apartment.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Hey muller, can’t you spell ‘you’ using u is baby talk. Grow up.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
who cares
September 16th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Does anyone know if Von Aesch’s possible accomplice is still thought to be the man who was shot just before Von Aesch killed himself?
And wasn’t Von Aesch allegedly in Praia (or nearby) around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance?
I’ll look it up later if no-one knows…. Rosemary? jacqueline?
September 16th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
get a life u losers
September 16th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
51 65 104 129 136 16 bottles of wine and 14 bottles of whisky (or gin…). 7 to fill her and 9 to wet the blanket.She wouldn’t smell for months and dogs don’t like prunes layed in brandy.
Or is Google behind all this?
September 16th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Mystery surrounds the discovery of the body of Ylenia Lenhard, (missing since 31st July, presumed kidnapped by Urs Hans von Aesch), in a Swiss forest which had already been searched several times by police AND cadaver dogs. Her remains were found uncovered by a 28-year-old Zurich man who organised a private search, based on information about the case that he got from the media and the internet. How Ylenia died has not yet been revealed by the police, who await the results of DNA tests.
http://www.lematin.ch/pages/home/actu/suisse/actu_suisse__1?contenu=298971
Von Aesch, who lived in Benimantel, Alicante, was ruled out of the Madeleine investigation early on, despite the fact that a white van, similar to his had been spotted near the McCann’s apartment, and it is known that he previously visited the Algarve. It is believed von Aesch had at least one accomplice.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
sorry she remembers a man carrying a child in pyjamas
September 16th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I don’t like this Jane Tanner, she remembers a man in pyjamas weeks after it happened. When came back with the famous “They’ve (plural) taken her”, Jane seemed to have amnesia for a good few weeks. It would surely have jogged her memory. “Gee I think I seen a man carrying a small child earlier, he was headed That Way >>>>>>>>>” Nope she remembers a few weeks later.
When Kate said “They’ve (plural) taken her” how come no one questioned which her. There were 2 girls and a boy in that room.
Also can someone explain just for the record, are they born again christians or just good old “everything’s a sin” catholics.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
In the view of this Australian Coroner, all missing persons cases should be reported to the Coroner after the person has been missing for one year. Now an inquest into Madeleine’s disappearance could be very interesting indeed:
————————————————-
Missing man case criticised
A Townsville coroner has criticised a police investigation into the disappearance of a Perth hitchiker who vanished from NQ almost 20 years ago.
In handing down his findings from a coronial inquest into the 1982 disappearance of Anthony “Tony” John Jones, Coroner Ian Fisher yesterday said police should have treated the investigation with more urgency in the period immediately after Mr Jones was reported missing.
He recommended guidelines be put in place to ensure the investigation of missing person cases similar to Mr Jones’s were treated with more urgency in the future.
It was noted such guidelines may have already been established in the lengthy period since the case started. Mr Fisher said he was satisfied Mr Jones, 20, was murdered on or about Nov 3, 1982. He ordered police continue their investigations into the disappearance.
The inquest heard Mr Jones phoned his family from a Bowen Rd public phone in Townsville about 7.30pm on Nov 3 and told them he would hitchhike to Mt Isa within the next two days to meet up with his brother, Tim.
Tim Jones, who was the only family member at the inquest, said his brother “vanished off the face of the earth” after the call. Yesterday he said he was pleased with the coroner’s findings. He said some family members would be happy to know the investigation would continue.
He said the family’s refusal to let police dismiss Tony’s disappearance helped highlight flaws in the missing person investigation procedures and paved the way for improvements to be made. Tim said some family members had also helped establish Missing Persons Week, which had helped locate many missing people.
Coroner Fisher said all missing person cases should be lodged with a coroner after they remained unsolved for one year. He said the Coroners Act stipulated that procedure and it should be upheld.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Hello All,
I find it completely appaling, that every publication about Ylenia is linked to Madeleine. Couldn’t this poor girl have a moment just for herself, does everything have to be overshadowed by Madeleine?
I’ve been reading Polish site today http://www.gazeta.pl and there is an article about the plane crash in Phuket. The article starts ‘no Poles among the victims!’ and continues in the tone ‘for what we know, there were no Polish names on the passengers’ list’. Bugger, how stupid people can be? That’s the same selfish attitude as in Ylenia case - does not matter the girl has been abducted, murdered - no, the most important thing is she ‘bore a resemblance to Madeleine’. You get the impression, that the ONLY reason her story has been mentioned it’s because it ‘might be connected with Maddie’.
This is so distasteful.
I have much more compassion to Ylenia’s parents for that - their daughter’s death became a shadow in Madeleine’s case. But I doubt they care about bad or good publicity right now; what I am not able to tell about the McCanns.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
164, 167 Tony. By the way, I thought your comments to the on line newspapers were very fair.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
167 Tony - I think Maicen hit the nail on the head in post 157 about why the media are not willing to publish anything suggesting alternative views, questions that need answering, let alone negative with regards to the McCanns and their story of what happened.