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
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September 16th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
242, Wanderer,
I should think an abductor would know their movements over the week. Their guard was probably down at the end of the week when they’d established a routine.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
242 - Wanderer
It makes no sense does it? If an abductor had been casing the place for the previous week and saw a pattern, he/she would also notice that the McCann’s came back regularly to check on their kids (yeah right!).
If so, the abductor would have such a tiny amount of time to snatch her and would risk being caught. There’d have to be a getaway car etc.
I keep repeating my theory but I don’t believe Madeleine was even in the room that night.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Three reasons may have caused Richard Branson to take the McCanns side against the police on this:
1. He is a Freemason and they have all decided that they are going to help the McCanns clear their names instead of facing the public humiliation of admitting they gave money and fell for a couple involved with criminal acts - in which case they are already free to go!
2. He has many books on PR and has decided to lend them a PR person. He can see that he can make money from them if they lose or win.
If they win he can make films and books of their story.
If they lose he can make films and book about their story.
3. It is free publicity for him and makes him look compassionate.
Either way it is a good business deal - unless this is the biggest mistake of his career - after all I would have thought more of him if he had chosen not to take a side on this !!!
September 16th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
242 - quite different the way the Swiss media handled that case - I can’t find a single thing about this man shot in the chest. Simple questions like whether he saw something that made someone want to shoot him, or was it a stray bullet. All I ever found was that he claimed to have been taking a nap in the forest and was shot, but with a different gun than the one used to kill Von Aesch (suicide or murder?)
September 16th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
241, Stevo,
I don’t know what the parents have told the police. Many so-called police leaks have turned out to be false. I’ve had various theories about what might have been going on over the last week, but have no way of knowing.
Are you somebody with total faith in the cadaver dogs?
What do you make of their failure to find Ylenia’s body after several searches?
Do you think she was left there last night? That’s what I would guess, meaning accomplices brazen enough to go back to the woods, in spite of all the police activity.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Nothing wrong with a bit of shelter, if mad dogs and Englishmen preferred it, we may have adverted this occasion.
For those of you that do believe it was an abduction (and those that don’t believe it, if they’d like to play along), I’m curious to know if people believe the abductor was following the family or do you believe it was down to chance?
Thankfully, I don’t have the mindset of a child abductor but I just think if someone was watching them, it would be odd for an abductor to wait the entire vacation, as I’m assuming the McCanns did secure child care for their children the previous nights of their holiday. Surely this would have deterred the abductor? And if the abductor was watching them, wouldn’t he have taken the child’s comforting, stuffed toy? Don’t abductors usually do that, in order to pacify the children later on?
I read someone’s theory that Madeleine may have woken up and went to the door and an abductor, who was just walking by, took her then. But that still wouldn’t resolve the fact the toy was up on a high shelf, I just don’t understand how an abductor would have the consideration to “put away” a stuffed animal gone awry, but not have the consideration to take the toy for the child. On top of that, I imagine the abductor wanted to flee quickly.
Does the fact that the abductor, if there is one, didn’t take the stuffed toy a sign that they didn’t intend to “keep” Madeleine long?
Is it possible Mrs. McCann put the toy up on the shelf before she left for dinner and that is why it was found there? Then, with all the confusion and drama of having a missing child, she simply forgot?
Of course, anything is possible at this stage as few people on this Earth truly know what happened that night.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Hello again -seem to be having trouble getting my comments on the blog
September 16th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
239, Rest,
Never saw a statement. He was described as a local and it was said he recovered and left hospital…..how true this is I wouldn’t know.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
238 - Rosemary
That’s what I mean about bad luck where abductions are concerned. James Bulger was walking beside his mother on CCTV and his mother was distracted momentarily. He was clearly abducted before being killed.
Suzy Lamplugh went to visit a client and was never seen again. In that case, there were no 3rd parties involved so either she was abducted or else she did a Lord Lucan and didn’t want to be found.
What makes the Madeleine case so compelling is that there are way too many simple, unanswered questions and the parents shy away from answering them. They hide behind the Portuguese secrecy laws when it suits them but then Kate McCann goes and tells her family that the police wanted her to confess for a plea deal. That makes no sense. Why say one thing and do another? I don’t believe there ever was a plea deal.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Moriarty, bloody hell, you DID set your site! I’ve just seen it.
he he he
September 16th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
234, Stevo,
Someone pointed out that the Algarve is a very popular destination for people from Exeter, because of the cheap flights to Faro.
There are several links back to the Leicester area. (For instance, the woman who “spotted” Madeleine in Morocco used to live near the McCanns. She was a social worker, and possible knew of them through work in the Health Service. I’m just going by what has been reported.)
I’m not sure why that should be. Are there cheap flights to Faro from the Leicester area as well?
Any ideas?
September 16th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Rosemary - do you know if a statement was ever published by the man who was shot in the chest in the Ylenia case?
September 16th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Evening all
September 16th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
A quote from a GNR policeman called out on the night Madeleine disappeared:
“The thing we found really weird was the twins not waking up,” he continued. “We couldn’t believe it, there were maybe 20 people coming in and out of the apartment, there was crying and lights going on and off. We kept looking at them. They must have been sedated.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2461258.ece
Well if that was the case, why did the police not insist on testing the twins to see if they had been sedated. A kidnapper could have sedated all three children, and might have intended to come back for the twins. Perhaps there was not another opportunity to take the others as the parents came back to check and discovered Madeleine was gone. It takes a few seconds to snatch a child, and in this case it was obviouse to any observer that children were alone. Think of the two boys who took James Bulger.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I think a lot of people miss one big point about abductions.
Usually an abduction occurs because of some painfully bad piece of bad luck.
Abductions DO NOT usually occur because of neglect.
If you left your car unlocked and it was stolen, you’d have a hard time getting compensation from your car insurance company. If your house was burgled and you’d left the doors and windows open, the insurance company would laugh at you.
In this case, even if Madeleine was abducted, the parents left it all on a plate for a would-be abductor. They didn’t do it one time in a fluke accident, they did it more than once and played Russian Roulette with poor Madeleine’s (and the twins) lives.
They are 100% guilty of that!
September 16th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
185 Rosemary - Your comment made me laugh. Hey, looks as though I was right though. Sorry for the delay in answering. I have been catching up on all the things I was supposed to do today but didn’t as was reading this forum. I think everyone is making excellent points.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
230 - Moderation
The McCann’s ARE involved. They failed to look after their kids responsibly.
Not only that but they say the kids were left on previous nights to May 3. They and the rest of the Tapas 9 want locking up for that alone.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I was in Florida just over a week ago and 7 days later a salesman knocked on my door when I was back home, 1000 miles from there. It turned out that by chance this salesman lived in Florida only 2 miles from where I stayed the previous week. I didn’t think it was spooky or weird. It was a pure coincidence - the same type of coincidence that can happen any time or any day. Just because Murat was in Exeter and O’Brien is from there means nothing. Coincidences like that happen more often than you think.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Moderation (230) What on earth are you talking about? You said that I had written Des Browne was a relative of Gordon Brown. I pointed out that I had not written that. Is that, in your book, impolite? If so you must have led a very sheltered life.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
222, Moderation,
Oops, what a blunder, re Gerrys “father”.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Evening Spudgun!
September 16th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
I think that the abductor/s have tried to set up the McCanns and their friends by getting them all to possibly drink too much, rush around and confusing them so they get their statements all mixed up.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Judith… is it simply not possible for you to put your point politely?
We are all entitled to our own opinions and mine is that McCanns are not involved.
Your opinion is that they are…
Neither of us knows anything so neither point of view is more or less valid than the other.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
*metaphysical not material aaagh.
Going nuts.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Evenin all………….
tempers fraying already…..??
September 16th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Was it ever revealed who the man was who accompanied Robert Murat from Exeter, to Faro before they went their separate ways, does anyone know?
September 16th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
*Lilac shIrt!
September 16th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Stevo, you’re right. I can’t tell either on careful looking.
But my very first feeling when I saw this picture was that it was a man (with a lilac short) crouching with a camera (for some reason). And his feet were obscured by what looks like a slide…
Different ways of looking at the same thing I guess. Material subjectivism. aaagh.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Maicen
I don’t need to heed my savvy to you or anyone else. But when I read pathetic comments like this one…..
‘Next wild theory…….I reckon press are clutching at any straw to deflect form middle class doctors./parents nobody wants to believe may have been up to no legal good’
……amongst many, I just may have a little say. IF you don’t like the retort…BOG OFF!
September 16th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Moderation (212). Esther McVey may be a Conservative , so what? So was Blair and Brown’s going that way too, think about his recent love-in with Mrs. T. Ms. McVey is still a good friend of the McCs and has the right connections. Now, put your glasses on and re-read what I wrote at (190): I never said that Des Browne was related to Gordon Brown.