Madeleine McCann: Missing Hours, Found Again And A PR Disaster
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
THE SUN front page: “MADDIE DAD AGONY. Fiend hid from Gerry. He was already in room he tells cops.”
A source close to the family says: “When Gerry went to check on Madeleine at 9.05pm he realised the bedroom door was open. Gerry is firmly of the view the abductor was already in the apartment.”
It’s another theory.
“When he went in he saw Madeleine was asleep but the bedroom door was slightly open. He thought, ‘That’s odd’ because he had left it firmly closed. But all the children were asleep. So he just went in and closed the door again and came out about 9.10pm.”
Good to hear Gerry McCann joining in the mood of speculation?
“Gerry is convinced the man must have been hiding, and once Gerry went through the patio doors the only way out was through the window. The front door was locked so the kidnapper took Madeleine and climbed out the window.”
DAILY MIRROR front page: “HOW SHE WAS TAKEN. The McCanns’ story.”
“Stolen to order after being spied on for days
Abductor hid in flat as Gerry looked in on kids
He got in through patio doors and out by window”
Gerry is a “heart specialist”.
Says a source: “When Gerry leaves, the man realises he has only a few minutes. He thinks the only way to get out without being seen is through the window.”
And: “Initially he thought Madeleine might have got up and gone to the toilet, or to get a drink or something.”
So what has changed? Why a new theory now, with a new spokesman on hand and the McCanns named as suspects?
DAILY STAR front page: “SEVEN HOURS TO KLILL MADDIE. Police probe her ‘lost’ final afternoon”
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE: THE MISSING SEVEN HOURS.”
Police sources reveal that “despite exhaustive inquiries they cannot confirm the whereabouts of part-time GP Kate, 39, and her daughter after 1.29pm on May 3”. A source said Kate’s movements were “unaccounted for until she sat down to have dinner with friends at a tapas restaurant within their holiday complex at around 8.40pm”.
The last photograph of Madeleine was said to have been taken by Kate at 2.29pm on May 3.
DAILY MAIL: “McCanns: What we really did in the missing six hours.”
“Madeleine had high tea at 5.30pm with staff at the Kids Club. She was picked up shortly before 6pm by Kate and Gerry.”
The friend insisted: “Kate was never alone with Madeleine that afternoon. There were always other witnesses present. These details were all given to detectives during police interviews, so they know what Kate and Gerry said happened that day.”
So no missing hours, then?
THE TIMES front page: “MADELEINE McCANN: Matthew Parris laments a PR disaster.
“The fatal flaw of David Cameron and Kate and Gerry McCann” - Our correspondent looks at the baleful influence of the marketing men.
“Look what they’ve done to Kate and Gerry McCann. Here were two people deserving of the most intense public sympathy. On a superficial level they got it – by the media bucketload. Yet did you not sense from an early stage an undertone of irritation at the couple? I’ve sensed it everywhere I go: not a sign of doubt about their innocence, which most of us take for granted, but a feeling, nevertheless, that they in some way invited trouble – though we banish the thought as brutal and wrong.
“Which it is. So why the ungenerosity? I believe it is because Kate and Gerry McCann have allowed an impression to arise that they and their advisers are marketing their own tragedy. Where we would have expected to see parents distracted and disorganised by grief, we have seen a professionally run campaign to find out what the media want, and give it to them.
“This has been done for a most defensible reason: to enlist the entire European public as amateur detectives in the search for Madeleine. But now her parents have ended up looking like film stars in a Hollywood weepy.”
“Put up or shut up, Madeleine McCann police told” - Friend of McCanns counters claims of ‘lost’ six hours before girl vanished
DAILY TELEGRPAH: “Madeleine McCann: Gerry certain he was in bedroom with kidnapper”
THE GUARDIAN: “From prime suspects to hounded victims - how parents turned the media tide”
Posted: 22nd, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,536) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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September 23rd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
A LIST OF SOURCES QUOTED BY TODAY’S SUNDAY YIMES ARTICLE
Verbatim extracts (in the order i nwhich they appear) from the main ‘Sunday Times’ article on the McCann saga follow:
————————–
1. A friend said… “Gerry wants to co-operate with the police but Kate does not trust them…”
2. The McCanns’ lawyers believe…
3. Last week, however, a senior police source told a Portuguese newspaper…
Sources close to the family say that David Payne, one of the holiday party, saw…
4. Kate and Gerry McCann believe…
5. A source close to the legal team said: “If they were responsible for killing their daughter, how would they have have done so and hidden the body in that time?
6. A friend revealed that the McCanns feel they are…
7. The friend said…
8. Gerry McCann is now considering..
9. A source close to the legal team said…
10. Friends of Robert Murat yesterday played down…
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:55 pm
1072 Andy
It’s Ok Andy - The recent EU ruling means we don’t have to use metres, we can use yards…
O I see what you mean: 200 yards isn’t really a “few”. yes but in their fragrances’ defence, it’s all relative old boy.
200 grand to most people is a “lot” but in McCannLand people carry that sort of loose change around in their Cuddle Cats to cover up the pills…
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:54 pm
1069.
And where, in that story, is the revelation about Mr Payne seeing Madeleine being put into bed at 7pm?
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
1069 Andy, I don’t think we disagree on an awful lot here. One of my frustrations has always been how little effort appears to have been put into findign Madeleine, on all sides.
Robert Murat’s has chosen to say nothing, probably hoping the fuss surrounding him will gradually die down. I think that makes sense. His name is still mentioned occasionally but his life will hopefully (assuming he is innocent) get back to normal
The McCanns are differnet. They need the ongoing media interest cos they have a child to find. They are leakign informaiton cos they have to..
Your comment ‘why is it important what people beleive?’ How are they supposed to live their life with the label ’suspect’ over their heads? Whatever happens to Maddie, they have to clear their names somehow. That’s life!
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
There are so many good points on this forum - from both those who think there is something decidedly fishy about the whole thing, and those who think the McCanns should be pitied and left alone.
The sad thing is that I am beginning to believe that because of all the ‘big boys’ who have rowed in, the McCanns will never be charged and will never stand trial. Like the tragic JonBenet Ramsay case - I fear we will never really know what happened to Madeleine McCann.
This will be very sad because the little girl at the very heart of this
Madeleine McCann, aged only 3, left, with her twin siblings, alone, in an unlocked apartment, at night, in a foreign country, by her parents - will never receive justice.
I can actually understand those who cling to the belief that the McCanns are ‘100% innocent’. Why? Because to doubt them would shake our basic beliefs in all that is good, honest and decent in society. How could any parent be guilty of ANY of the things we doubters suggest?
It is easier to accept that maybe they ‘made a mistake’ by leaving their children unattended - but to suggest that they KNOW anything is simply inconcievable to many decent and kind human beings.
The ‘big boys’ have come on board. For reasons of their own, the media have chosen to back the McCanns to the end. No matter what good, relevant and important questions are raised - the answers which will be published and ‘grow legs’ are those which favour the McCanns total uninvolvement with this little girl’s disappearance.
I, along with my fellow doubters, will be labelled as cranks, sad sickos, etc. because we are asking questions the answers to which may - and I stress - may - be too difficult for a civilized society to bear.
It is sadness and despondence I feel today because the parents of Madeleine McCann and their avid supporters can still not bring themselves to admit at least one small truth - they left their children alone. They are responsible for the whole ball starting to roll.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Anybody heard of anyone named McCann changing their name lately?
I remember reading several years ago about a Rosemary West who changed her name shortly after they put Fred away…
just a thought
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
1069.
I see from that story that we are back to just yards away.
“The McCanns, both 39, were dining with friends only yards from their Algarve apartment in Praia da Luz when Gerry went to check on the children on the night of May 3.”
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:48 pm
As Moderation put it so eloquently earlier today, this may seem like “nit-picking on every little irrelevancy”, but being a big Dylan fan, I can’t stand by and say nothing here.
Post # 1038: It’s Knock, Knock, Knocking on Heaven’s door”
Hey, whadda ya know, it’s on my iPod this morn’.
Mama, take this badge off of me
I can’t use it anymore.
It’s gettin’ dark, too dark for me to see
I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door.
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can’t shoot them anymore.
That long black cloud is comin’ down
I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door.
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
1066 - They are suspect status cos the Police rolled the dice and lost.
Innocent until proven guilty.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Just put http:// in front of this
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/09/22/mccanns-how-madeleine-was-taken-89520-19829472/
and up comes the one they are trying to block
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:45 pm
1060. Simon.
No offence to you but I don’t buy it. Yes they are suspects but so is Robert Murat and he has managed perfectly well without releasing “information” every day in an attempt to prove his innocence lately.
As for the leaks from PJ, why do the McCanns feel the need to refute anything? Why is it important for them what people believe? They believe they are innocent, their circus is being paid to believe they are innocent, so what does it matter what you or I or the man on the Claham Omnibus thinks?
The only decent course of action now would be to sideline the circus, save the explanations for the court room and do something to Find Madeleine.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:43 pm
1065 - It isn’t clear, unfortnately.
I have seen the layout of the village and the apartment.
Something that concerns me is why Tanner wasn’t seen by Jeremy Wilkins? Possibly they were on different sides of the apartment, but it just isn’t clear.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
seeing as the pjs dont even need to question them again and still have loads of evidence , i bet they put cuddlecat in their gobs now!!!!
The lady protesteth me thinks!!
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:41 pm
So with all this powerful friends, media control, paid posters on Anorak etc. how come after 4 months they are the ONLY suspects? You’d expect them to have got away with it in a couple of weeks. So why?
erm… maybe they are simple guilty as sin.
Well that’s sorted that one out then…
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Gerry says the intruder must have got out of the window because the door was locked.
Person carrying child was seen by Tanner heading in the direction of Murat’s / the beach.
I do not know the layout of the holiday village but would the intruders route from the window to Murat’s take them past where Tanner was? I thought the window was on the outside of the complex near the road. Was Tanner on the road?
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm
1061 Judge Dread
Please can you add “leave no arsehole unquestioned” or their fragrances would just go into no comment mode (if they were involved in any way, of course)
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:37 pm
1049 bc
Interestingly in the suddenly all-important Morocco sighting the blonde girl was wearing blue pyjamas.
blanket-white pyjamas-pink pyjamas-blue pyjamas. Good job I’m just a colour-blind simple male…
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:33 pm
1052 Nicely put Andy
I’d like to add another angle to this. Despite the friends in high places, complete control of the pleb press, the best lawyers, money to pay people to post on Anorak - they are still the ONLY SUSPECTS. And after over 4 months - very strange!
Now I have been trying for days to think of a reason for this. You would expect with all that corruption and clot they would have their statutes in the Vatican and Free Cayman Island by now. But no…
So what can the reason be????
erm… they are guilty as sin. Well that’s all right then.
cue: stiglet, simon, modders and just-met-a-girl-called
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:33 pm
1046 - How can we be certain you are Puzzled. (S)he may have been abducted and you are the abductor.
I’m starting a fund. ‘findpuzzled.com’, we’ll leave no stone unturned, (although we won’t start looking until we’ve got over £1.5m in the fund, and a few mugs to pay our legal bills).
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:31 pm
1052 Andy, they are mounting a defence becuse they have to. They are suspects. From what we can glean from the papers, the are suspected of sedating their daughter to death. Anyone in their position would be well advised to seek legal advice.
The question about what is happening to find Madeleine is harder to answer. I haven’t been convinced by anyone’s commitment to find Madeleine to be honest.
They are leaking information about 3rd of May because they have to. They have been silenced by the police, who continually leak information to the press. Result. McCanns look very bad. It is high time they did find a way to release information into the public domain. I’m pleased it’s happenning.
On your pont abou the McCanns turning their attention onto us, I doubt that the many comments on the many forums about them gve the McCanns a moments concern. hey have far more important things on thier minds.
I guess the McCanns would dearly love to take a back seat while the Police try and find Maddie. Seeing and the police have shown little interest in that from day one, the McCanns have to do something. Whether you agree with there approach or not, they have used the media well to keep Maddie in focus.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:29 pm
1049 BC
Wasnt he the fella that listened/never checked last one known to go there before kate?
If she was entirely innocent wouldnt she be pointing the finger at him or Gerry?
Why didnt she lay into them when they admitted not seeing maddie?
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:26 pm
1053 lilith
Oooo errrr missus. I wonder who the father is. Father O’Brien has been visiting Craggy Island lately according to Father Larry Duff.
Ni innuendo please, we’re British…
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:26 pm
i said that last week lillith
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Sorry for double post. I thought my first hadn’t appeared.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:25 pm
PLEASE COULD SOMEONE POINT ME IN THE DIRECTION OF THE POLL URL REGARDING WETHER THE SOCIAL SERVICES SHOULD REMOVE THE TWINS FROM THE MCCANNS.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Mirror Mirror on the wall
Do a google search on this number and the Mirror story comes up
89520-19829472
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Could Kate be pregnant?
She definite looks bigger on recent photo’s
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Ade, you need to take the sugar out of your diet mate. You are out of control.
Even your fellow hatemongers will be embarassed by your current form.
It isn’t kate that’s losing the plot. Go standing your garden in the rain for a while. You need to cool off.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Ok the McCanns are not and may never face any charges. This week they heard that they will not be called back for further questioning anytime soon.
So, Moderation, The Real Stig, Simon, Maria et al, answer me this. Why are they still mounting a defence instead of doing anything to Find Madeleine?
I have not heard of any “leaks” from the PJ that the McCanns could think require answering lately but still they are releasing information about what supposedly happened on May 3rd. Why?
Of course, you all know the answer. It’s because they’ve turned their attention onto us. People who post in forums or people who post comments on newspaper sites. Why do they feel the need to do this? If they ever do face charges it will be in Portugal (unless the UK’s pathetic government refuse extradition) and in front of Judges, not a jury of their peers. Why do they care so much that newspaper readers and internet bloggers and forum posters and YouTube viewers believe them to be innocent?
I’ve asked these questions 3 times since I heard that they wouldn’t be called back for further questioning?
Why won’t the McCanns shut up now? When will they take a back seat to their daughter in the news? Why aren’t they doing something to Find Madeleine?
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:18 pm
From Mods and Admin
For all of those who feel that being pro or anti McCann is the point here, it is NOT.
Kindly keep your post either factual, and off the personal attack and if it is speculation say so.
People are not necessarily evil for saying they disbelieve the McCanns, nor is it saintly. It IS just opinion.
From my understanding the Vatican have dropped the link to the MCCanns site , that is the Vatican’s perogative, and can be discussed, but remember the Church is mankind and not Deity.
But any more personal attacks on any poster and that poster making the attacks shall have their account closed, this goes for either PRO or ANTI