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
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September 17th, 2007 at 6:43 am
580. Ian WIllis Says:
September 17th, 2007 at 2:48 am
“they can spend millions on criminal defence lawyers and PR agents, but they cant spend about £10,000 on a translater to put their daughters search website in Spanish and Portugese, or for that matter, German and Dutch (who are popular tourists to the Algarve).”
Close sources to me, Mr. Common Sense and Ms. Critical Thinker, have told me the reason the Madeleine site is in English only is because the Madeleine Company was established to generate money whilst exploiting a little girl who disappeared as their silent cult-of-personality-symbol.
The McCann and PR Firm felt the only people who would be gullible enough to actually contribute to such a bogus company are English speaking people. Mostly Brits and Americans. Both cultures suffer heavily from do-gooder syndrome and according to other unnamed media sources tend to adore blonde blue-eyed symbols.
September 17th, 2007 at 5:41 am
591 - Who the hell do they think they are?
Members of the same exclusive club that OJ also thinks he’s part of…it’s called,
“The Invincibles”
September 17th, 2007 at 5:28 am
Well said Wanderer. However I think this pair will feel no remorse in taking all they can, and rest assured that the fund will not have the limitations on it that the Madeleine fund has had .
I am still amazed at their self absorption and how they professionally milk the public. Who the hell do they think they are? ; why the hell are they any different in our eyes from any other accused ? It says a lot of Britain today and our little island mentality and xenophobia.
The whole episode is quite remarkable and if they don’t get rich on this one, then the book deals will keep them in a tidy sum for many years to come.Assuming the case folds - which I am sure it will unfortunately.
September 17th, 2007 at 5:22 am
These posts are all getting too long. Rambling man disease - makes me want to say “Yackety Yack, don’t come back”. Who has time to read this? It’s like reading War and Peace - part 2 (The Speculation).
People are just running out of things to say so they are doing the old analysis by paralysis. I wonder if the Portuguese police or the British Police have put this must time into the investigation as posters on the forum?
I wonder if people will feel very let down if the Mccans walk away scott free? Then what? You’re left with nothing. Absolutely nothing as all this speculation isn’t worth the pot you pissed in here. Sure go ahead and post comments and speculation but just think about the possibility of injustice. This could become the reality here.
It’s “chow” time!
September 17th, 2007 at 5:16 am
I wish Kate and Gerry would stop trying to convince us that they’re the world’s best parents.
They probably are great parents - but those of us who think it’s wrong to leave 3 small children alone in an apartment, for even 20 minutes, while eating in a tapas bar, are never going to change our minds, no matter how many cheesy and fake-looking photo-ops the couple stage.
Thier P.R. machine is making them look desperate, guilty and like something out of a woman’s magazine cira 1950. If this continues David Lynch will have to make the movie; if they tone it down they might get Ron Howard.
September 17th, 2007 at 5:10 am
I’m sorry but why do they need more legal funds at this time? With the Richard Branson thing just being announced?
I hope they put on a cap on the limit they want to raise, as I don’t think it is that fair that they are setting up another fund (who’s pot-of-gold may reap what the Madeleine fund collected) as there are many charities in need of money, many hard-working families in need of money, many more missing children who’s families are quite poor (whom the Find Madeleine funds could be helping). I know legal fees cost a lot, and I know they have a mortgage, expenses, friends are taking time off work, and their children to support. All of this, on top of travel costs.
Saying that, they’ve just had a huge gift from Richard Branson, and if anyone out of the normal, average working professionals would be able to pay off a loan to pay any good lawyers they’re hiring, it would be a pair of doctors. (And yes, I know, these aren’t just “any” good lawyers that they’ve hired, but that was their choice).
I understand the lawyers are important as this case is taking place in two countries, but the McCanns have a good chunk of the world on their side and if they ever are charged for anything, it will probably be for a lesser offence.
This isn’t even taking into account the amount of money the family (including/excluding the McCanns if they were ever involved) may receive in the future, guilty or not guilty/if Madeleine if found alive or not. Can’t you see the headlines now?
I’m sure I’m coming off incredibly insensitive for thinking this way, but I just think it would be kind of the family to put a cap on the amount of money they receive for such a personal, direct fund.
September 17th, 2007 at 4:41 am
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2469329.ece
From The Times
September 17, 2007
Kate and Gerry McCann send to US for help against evidence of sniffer dogs
‘Can the public support Kate and Gerry McCann’s legal battle?
A fighting fund to help to pay their legal costs is expected to be announced within the next few days. A source close to the family told The Times: “It will be getting set up and formalised as a proper fund. It has to be meticulously thought through.”’
Hmmmmm…..”It has be be meticulously thought through?” Wow! What a concept!
September 17th, 2007 at 4:24 am
Sorry Billy, I’m new and don’t really know how the polls work.
I’ve just discovered the whole Mod/Admin thing, I think, how odd…it is like Dorothy clicks her heels and they magically appear to help or taunt you. Perhaps not like Dorothy and the ruby shoes, more like some cranky little leprechaun or genie who has had enough at times. It’s an interesting, cute set-up, that I’m not sure I understand fully at this time.
Anyway, I’m still learning the ropes/constructing my noose.
September 17th, 2007 at 4:07 am
We have had various polls on the guilt /innocence of the teflon2.
Wouldnt it be interesting to see where these pollsters live.
To see if there is any influence by the British media to swing their decisions.
I see there are many posters from all around the world.
It may well be that there is no correllation to whether we think them guilty or innocent however there may be.
Just thought it would be interesting.
September 17th, 2007 at 4:04 am
(580) Ian WIllis:
“they can spend millions on criminal defense lawyers and PR agents, but they cant spend about £10,000 on a translator to put their daughters search website in Spanish and Portuguese, or for that matter, German and Dutch (who are popular tourists to the Algarve).”
That is a really good idea, I’m surprised no one hasn’t suggested this yet. It could have been quite helpful to them in the past, not only allowing the Portuguese to personally connect (as a lot of British people have), but also in the unlikely case of any sound leads from the site. That was a very astute observation you made.
Although, I suppose we know one translator is off of their list.
September 17th, 2007 at 3:41 am
I have posted previously on GMC sociopathic personality and glad to see ( an excellent and lucid description) that posters today have backed up my concern. The traits are there and his activity to date backs up my concerns. I live in Aus so read what I need to read and not bombarded by the press here on the issue. I am still amazed talking to family in UK how supportive they are of the McCanns and the whole middle class, religious, respectful family thing is working well with the UK public. My concern now is that with Branson ( who rarely backs a losing horse !)involved ,this will give added impetus and respectability to their campaign.
What an operator you are GMC.
September 17th, 2007 at 3:17 am
463. Angelo Says:
September 16th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Quote: When the McCanns said under no circumstances would they touch the Find Madeleine Fund and mentioned they would sell their house, Richard felt he had to do something. He is a father and there is a missing child out there.
Richard Branson should have studied this more carefully.
The spokesperson for the FindMaddieFund said on national TV that the funds could legally be used to pay for the McCanns legal costs.
Only - if they LOSE they will have to PAY IT ALL BACK!!!!
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Curiouser and curiouser this sad tale gets.
I could not agree with you more Angelo.
Someone please enlighten me: If the McCanns really did not have the money for legal counsel would they not by law as UK citizens granted one?
If Sir Virgin is really as compassionate as he claims to be and there is not another motive behind his magnanimous gesture why isn’t Sir Virgin offering resources (money, planes, top notch private investigators etc….) to the families of other missing children who aren’t affluent or so charmingly connected to high level officials and the media?
September 17th, 2007 at 3:10 am
416 Ian Willis wrote:
i know some ppl will argue that “Portugese law does not permit someone to hire a private investigator” while a police enquiry is going on. Let me tell you something, if someone kidnapped MY DAUGHTHER, it would be f**k the law, i’m gonna use everything i got to find her, arrest me if you want.
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EXACTLY! Since when did breaking the law concern them before? After all wasn’t leaving their young children unsupervised so they could go out socializing breaking the law as well? Even if they were the perfect parents they desire everyone to believe them to be wouldn’t they do everything humanly possible to find their little girl? Regardless of a countries’ laws and regulations? Would the PJ actually stop them, the McCanns, from searching for Madeleine on their own? Especially when that ex-pat Brit’s wife, who is strangely enough (like all the other incestuous connections in this bizarre case) an acquaintence of theirs, made the claim she saw Madeleine in Marrakech?
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Reported in May by The Telegraph:
Meanwhile, a Norwegian woman said today she saw a young blonde girl who she was “very sure” was Madeleine in Morocco last week.
Marie Olli, who lives in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol and once lived in Leicestershire, contacted police after returning home to Spain and hearing about the young girl’s disappearance.
She was on holiday with her husband in Marrakech on May 9 when she saw the blonde girl, who initially appeared to be standing on her own in a petrol station.
Then a man came over and the girl asked him: “Can I see mummy soon?”
Mrs Olli said: “I am very sure it was Madeleine.”
The girl was wearing pale blue pyjamas with a small pattern on the top.
The man was in his late 30s and “anonymous looking”, wearing baggy clothes and carried an empty-looking rucksack with a camouflage pattern.
Mrs Olli said: “She looked sad. When the man saw me looking at them he turned away, so I couldn’t see his face. It’s very strange to see a small girl in a petrol station in Marrakech.”
Also reported in May by The Sunday Herald:
Marie Olli, 45, said the blonde girl was with an “anonymous” man who could be from Britain. She claimed the pair didn’t seem related and she became suspicious when the child asked the man: “Can I see mummy soon?”
However, it wasn’t until she returned home to Fuengirola in Spain after the May 9 sighting, six days after Madeleine was snatched from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve, that she saw TV coverage of her disappearance. She reported the sighting to police in Leicestershire, where her British husband is from. The British force said an officer from the investigation had visited them, while a source close to the Portuguese inquiry said: “I can confirm there are some searches inside and outside of Portugal - in England, for instance.
Marrakech can be easily reached in less than a day from the Algarve via Tarifa in southern Spain. There, two ferries an hour make the trip to Tangier, Morocco, across the Strait of Gibraltar.
************************************************************
Olli delayed reporting this sighting until she returned home? Doesn’t anyone have mobile phones in Europe?
Tanner also delayed her alleged mystery-man-on-narrow-pathway story until weeks after May 3rd? Is Tanner showing early signs of Alzheimer’s?
I deeply hope Madeleine is found soon. Along with Sara Morales and Yeremi Vargas missing from Gran Canaria. And all the other missing kids I have yet to even hear about!
I also wish the McShams and Co would stop pissing on my leg and telling me it’s only raining.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:48 am
578. Murder,
Yes! I too have asked this same question on the forum but not many thought it important. Why was their child vomiting? And why did they still choose to leave her unatteded to go to the tapas bar?
579. Ian,
EXCELLENT point that I hadn’t thought of nor have I heard any one else make mention of this. Why is their site in English only?
September 17th, 2007 at 2:48 am
they can spend millions on criminal defence lawyers and PR agents, but they cant spend about £10,000 on a translater to put their daughters search website in Spanish and Portugese, or for that matter, German and Dutch (who are popular tourists to the Algarve).
September 17th, 2007 at 2:43 am
take a look at:
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=www.findmadeleine.com&url=www.findmadeleine.com/
if M was “abducted” in Portugal…. why set up an ENGLISH website where the majority of visitors will be in the UK/USA?
if they really thought she was abducted, you would think they would have setup a SPANISH and PORTUGESE language edition, and rather than making GERRY’S BLOG the centre-piece on the home page, they would have a big link in English / Spanish / Portugese that said “REPORT SIGHTINGS OF MADELEINE”
If the Mccans didnt do it (and I dont believe they did not), then lets hope someone has the brain to make sure the £80,000 of posters and adverts are in the local language!
unless of course they want to aim them at the british press to help them raise even more funds to travel around Europe meeting popes, addressing film festivals and dressing up for TV chat shows.
Its usually the little details like that where the criminals screw up and get caught out.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Why was Dr O’Briens’ daughter vomiting on 3 May?
In fact, was Dr O’Brien’s daughter vomiting on 3 May?
Dr O’Brien is a clinical pharmacologist: he spends all day developing and testing drugs.
How long, currently, is the hair of the twins and the O’Brien children (the only children left alone, several nights in succession, without baby monitor or babysitter)?
HAIR TESTING is quite accurate and can go back normally 3 months (6 months or longer possible with specialty tests), showing any drugs of abuse used in the detection window. As hair grows out, any drugs used are encased in the hair shaft, so the longer the hair, the longer back in the individual’s drug history the lab can detect. Accredited hair drug testing labs, however, only use hair within about 2.5–4 cm of the scalp, and discard the rest. With head hair each 0.5 inch (1.27 cm) corresponds to about 30 days. This limits the detection history to about 90 days, depending upon the rate at which the individual’s hair grows. Some people attempt to circumvent this through shaving their heads. In the absence of the required amount of hair on the scalp, body hair can be used as an acceptable substitute. (Wikipedia)
September 17th, 2007 at 2:19 am
And made a million in the process.
Not bad for a nights work.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:16 am
and a picture of parents who are loving all the media attention and smugly smiling at the thought that they’ve got away with fooling everyone:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=456348&in_page_id=1770
September 17th, 2007 at 2:15 am
picture of parents who’s daughter has been ‘abducted’:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=456348&in_page_id=1770
September 17th, 2007 at 2:12 am
So the Mccanns made up an abduction theory to hide the fact she died .
How did she die.
Smothered by cuddle cat or strangled.
Why? See Kathleen Folbigg( killed 4 of her own over 10 yrs ) no one knew. Managed to keep up the pretence all that time. Did have any emotion.
Why oh why cant any one even think that maybe just maybe KM has the same tendency. Its not impossible.
And GM is covering up for her. Or they did it together.
I have read somewher that (psychic) says the neck is involved.
And blood on the walls of the apartment could suggest something more than just sedation.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:07 am
the suggestion of “abduction” has only ever been put forward by the Mccans themselves. even on Google, they use a paid advertisement to say “Madeleine was abducted”.
ever since their claim, everyone has taken on that phrase and wholly assumed that she was abducted.
i believe she was not abducted. i really hope I am wrong and M is alive and well but I suspect she was killed at home or nearby - accidently or otherwise - and then disposed of.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:04 am
Wanderer, you’re too generous!
BTW, todays Telegraph says
“The McCanns have appointed top lawyers in Portugal and Britain to clear “the cloud of suspicion” enveloping them.
A source close to them said: “Any so-called evidence can be explained. There are wholly innocent reasons for everything that the police may have found which gives them cause for suspicion.”
In an unprecedented move, the investigating judge, Pedro Daniel dos Anjos Frias, is understood to want to speak publicly about the case.”
It would have been good if they had appointed top lawyers at the start to help steer the bungling Portugese police investigation, but if they are involved, those errors have most likely worked in their favour - the re-letting of the apartment, the return of the hire car, the slow follow-up in reported sightings.
The most incredible thing is the Mccans ignored reports of potentially credible sightings of Madeleine - obviously they know something we dont…
September 17th, 2007 at 2:02 am
If they are complicit in abduction, can anyone say what the motive for that would be?
Would it be abduction to eventually get their daughter back some day?
Or complicit in an abduction where they would never see their daughter again? (Hard to believe). Anyone?
September 17th, 2007 at 1:56 am
(596) I suppose an optimistic way to look at it would be, people unconsciously look for her as they are so familiar with her face now. If you had a girl that looked a lot like little Madeleine McCann walk by you, you’d probably recognize her and report her (as far-fetched as that situation is). I suppose that is better than nothing, or better than the girl being whisked away to some other country where no one has even heard of her and no one will recognize her.
September 17th, 2007 at 1:49 am
569 Ian - But he says “Most importantly the search for Madeleine carries on and our family have not given up hope of finding her.”
Team McCann have said that as Mr and Mrs McCann are suspectsand the focus of this case, their main concern is that nobody is searching for Madeleine. So, who is searching for Madeleine according to Gerry McCann. Someone obviously. Or else is he just in La-La Gezza land as usual?
September 17th, 2007 at 1:36 am
Mccan has updated his blog again with the usual irrelvance.
But he says “Most importantly the search for Madeleine carries on and our family have not given up hope of finding her.”
Errmmm… apart from some posters and ads which will start in 2 weeks time, what specifically is he doing to “search for Madeleine” while he sits at home in Leicestershire consulting his criminal defence lawyers and PR agents and making calls to newspaper editors?
September 17th, 2007 at 1:19 am
558 - Very funny about the dog! Sleep well.
Regarding the sedative theory with Madeleine - I feel it unlikely that a sudden death would occur as a result of chronic liver/kidney damage due to long term medicinal abuse by her parents. Chronic liver/kidney damage is usually a fairly slow, certainly visible and horrible way to die. Certainly, the last alleged photo of Madeleine shows no indication of jaundice which would indicate liver failure, nor dies she look swollen/puffy which would indicate kidney failure. Had a one off overdose been given of a sedative, the most probable cause of death would be a respiratory depression, ie, stopping breathing.
The blood splatter in the appartment and the subsequent alleged clean up make me think of possible physical trauma which occured to this unfortunate little girl.
September 17th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Hi tuscany 418. I am so sad about Ylenia, afraid her death might not have been quick and that Madeleine did not have any better fate.
Who has ever heard of a body buried deep in the ground and popped back up in six weeks?
Eaten by wild animals in a Swiss forest or snuff movie?
What wild animal can scratch the ground better then a spade?
Are their many wolves in Swiss forests?
What sort of wolves can dig the ground like that?
Poor little baby is in heaven, in the light of God, but her mother is living hell on earth.
September 17th, 2007 at 1:12 am
(559) “Why with all the funds that the McCanns have do they not search for any child missing from Portugal and surrounding areas? Wouldn’t the search for other abducted children possibly lead them to Madeleine? Wouldn’t communicating with the parents of other missing children be empowering and consoling? After all these other parents, most without the resources and connections that the McCanns have at their immediate disposal, know exactly what they are going through - don’t they? Or are these other suffering parents searching for their missing kids the real deal and the McCanns know that being around the real deal will shake them out? Will expose them for what they really are?”
I’m not sure the McCanns or the family of other missing children in the area can hire a private investigator while the cases of their children are still “active”. As it is illegal in that country, and I imagine the fund/company would have something about not being able to use the funds for illegal activities.
But I do agree with you about it being good to take action and reach out to these other parties, whom, if Madeleine was abducted, could have information to share and an understanding. I think it would also be good to try and help out other missing children with the money (as it is stated the fund can be used for that).
Your post had some interesting observations, thanks for sharing.