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 9:10 pm
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM McUnnilingus. Tongue in Cheek, so to speak.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
1337
Ade is a Brummie who supports the Baggies and Paulette isn’t.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
1338 the sheep
“As they say…….This will not be over until the fat lady sings…..”
jesus dont you think we’ve heard enough from auntie phil
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
What’s in a name?
I did this earlier as a way of rooting out the McCanns amongst us see 940 stig and 944 Garth
The stig/garth defence of child neglect stinks of McCannClan. This is the achilles heel of the whole PR circus because the McCons know there is widespread condemnation of their parenting attitude among the public and it goes against government policy. This will really stuff their fragrances if the murder charges don’t stick.
So PRMcCann have to concentrate on this one big time - cue stig/garth.
Interestingly I included Carmen in the clan suspects too, which she was offended by - because she dislikes child neglect. This didn’t surprise me. However Stig/garth didn’t complain about me branding them part of team McCann but stared getting personal against me and claiming my hypocricy for getting personal about gerrykins and katiepoo. gerrykins and katiepoo are fair game for anything in my opinion and I will do evertything I can to get them nailed good and proper. If that means personal then it’s personal.
So let me introduce stig McCann and Garth McCann. Just watch what they post from now on and see how it links to the main PRMcCann strategy. Should be a bit of a laugh for us all…
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
The Moroccan ’sightings’ have suddenly become prominent again in the media today.
Why an abductor would be in the lobby, with an abducted child, (according to Yorkshireman in hotel) of the Ibis Marrakesh is strange - far too many potential foreign witnesses - newspapers with photos of Madeleine on the front.
Who knows? Several months have now gone by with no new sightings in Morocco.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:01 pm
1330 garth
what exactly are you saying garth? is it ok to go off and get pissed night after night and leave your kids to fend for themselves? got any kids have you?
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:59 pm
2.29pm: The McCanns take the last picture of Madeleine at the resort’s swimming pool. They say the camera’s timer - which reads 1.29pm - is wrong.
5.30pm: Madeleine has dinner at the resort’s kids’ club.
6pm: Her parents pick her up and return to their apartment.
5-6pm: Staff at the Paraiso restaurant insist the McCanns dined there with their children.
The account is at odds with those given by the McCanns and their friends.
Waiters insist Kate and Glaswegian Gerry were there with Madeleine and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
They have handed CCTV footage of Gerry allegedly dancing with Madeleine on the beach in front of the restaurant to Portuguese police.
The family’s spokesman also claimed that reports of the video footage were “inaccurate”.
Critics claimed that no mother would leave her other two children at risk if she believed her daughter had been snatched.
But last night an unnamed waiter at the tapas bar shattered the claim, telling the Correio da Manha newspaper: “What surprised me most was how she never left the flat.
“We looked right round the area. We searched everywhere for that girl and her mum stayed indoors.
“It’s clear she was upset but she didn’t look for Madeleine.”
But he went on to claim:? “The only thing I am certain about is they weren’t going to check up on the children every 15 minutes.”
Importantly, the waiter recalled seeing Kate McCann next to her apartment with another woman as she cried for help around 10pm.
So to believe the McCanns story we have to believe that any witnesses apart from the McCanns and their friends are incorrect.
And any CCTV footage or Camera timer evidence is also incorrect.
As they say…….This will not be over until the fat lady sings…..
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:59 pm
does anyone think Ade sounds like Paulette? What about Judge Judy?? She’s been missing for a while too.
Ade says she can’t do the split personality thing. But I would beg to differ.
Not that I care, but let’s not be hypocrites.
Pot calling the kettle black, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones….Puzzled called her on it, but she denied it vehemently. Funny thing that Paulette. Ade…at least she’s toned down her meteors…errm..rhetoric.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:54 pm
blunger 1307
Are you saying they should of been strapped down?!
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:54 pm
1308 deeper throat.
dont forget the other danger of maybe drowning in the friggin swimming pool that was between the tapas bar and the appartment and the possibility of getting bloody run over on the main road next to the appartment. Of course the mcbloody digbats thought of these things i suppose and thought its not really any great risk!
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Brian Kennedy who is supporting the McCanns is no relation to the family. That was emphasised by him in the papers this morning.
But then reading newspapers seems a little too indepth for the chattering old women on here!
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:49 pm
1308 blunger
Well i tend to agree. I’ve had two kids. I remember them at two and three. The bit that worries me is the swimming pool and unlocked door. OK the pool has a fence but safety gates get left open (e.g. by pissed up doctors skinny dipping as they stagger towards the tapas bar or their next swingers session). Kids that small do not get up and go for a drink of water. They shout very loud for it. They can’t reach the cupboard and if they tried to stand on a chair they’d probably fall off or bring glass down on them and get cut to pieces.
That may be what poor maddie did… Lots of blood to scrub up afterwards too…
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:47 pm
1307
ooo, I’m learning things again!
i’d never heard of that phrase, but I intend to use it very soon.
thanks!
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Oh - it’s Garth now is it, saying that having such tiny children out of sight/earshot for 30 minutes is ok ?
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:44 pm
1307 - blunger
Hear bloody hear.
When I read Stig’s mad post I could not be bothered to explain that children vomit, choke, fall, climb, cry, scream etc. To say nothing of the milder terrors of waking alone after a bad dream.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:40 pm
To those who minimise the neglect:
Ever had a two-year old of your own ? I’ve cared for six. One was with me all afternoon today. Leave her awake out of earshot and not strapped down for 30 minutes - I guarantee she’d need a trip the hospital, and could easily be dead. With three in a strange place the probability of one waking up distressed is very high - result - all awake - mayhem - REAL DANGER of harm.
The neglect criticism is NOT about the danger of abduction, so Stigs repudiation of it is utterly invalid.
___________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:40 pm
1302 swannie
Very good stuff - might take till Tuesday though. thinks happen faster here than in the papers…
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Re: The Real Stig and “Perception of Risk”
Don’t be silly.
The child neglect accusation is NOT just because of the children’s danger FROM STRANGERS.
By far the biggest danger is FROM THEMSELVES.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Pixie. Thank you for posting the Strongwood links. I have found them very useful as I had previously only read the summary of the investigation and kept on meaning to look at the report.
980 Susannah thank you for your post. Your thoughts in the second para echo many of my own.
Judge Dread - thank you for answering point by point Simon’s statements. You say what I think as I read his repeated postings.
Talking of Simon, interesting how quickly he was able to post exactly how another Brian Kennedy was related to MM.
There is a minute’s time difference between posts 1084 and 1085 (ie between someone asking who the Brian Kennedy MM fund person is and getting the answer from Simon).
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:34 pm
1301
Blimey………..another leak!
You just don’t know what to believe.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:32 pm
m.e. Says:
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:48 am
938 Garth
But I assume you could see your chalet door? If not then you’re as believable as the McCanns…………………………
Well I could see the chalet door but I have to admit that I needed to turn around. Helped the sun tan anyway!
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:31 pm
TOMORROW’S HEADLINES?
‘Kate and Gerry in custody battle over twins’
Gerry McCann was interviewed today and put forward the strong argument that he couldn’t possibly have the twins, as it would interfere with his tennis and drinking sessions. He stressed that Kate had already made it perfectly clear how useless he is with the kids, unless someone else happened to be observing his behaviour towards them.
Kate McCann has put forward her own argument that, although everyone knows she’s very good at putting them to sleep, they also know that she can’t cope when they go ‘hysterical’. She is worried about how she can be expected to go jogging and searching for new outfits with the twins in tow, and stressed that she already has all on looking after ‘Cuddle Cat’.
A source of a friend of a friend of the family has said that “a compromise has been reached and the twins will be donated to the creche at Mark Warners in Portugal and each parent will visit every 12 months, because, after all, they are their children and neither would want anything untoward to happen to them.”
(If anyone would like to donate to the twins upkeep, please phone R Branson via VirginMedia.)
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 pm
1297 slyfox
Interesting to say the least… Taking leaflets in Portuguese only to Spain with all that new house - sorry find maddy - money in the bank. They could have paid for a propaganda leaflet air drop - you know Hitler WWII style before the Stukas arrive. But no…
Note to PRMcCann: achtung/achtung/new story required/new story required
This is wonderful stuff and I’m enjoying every minute of the unfolding disaster…
Anyone seen katiepoo lately live on the TV actually speaking compus mentis? Has gerrykins been seen with a slightly larger suitcase lately? All will be revealed in the next episode.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
One plus from this Madeleine media vacuum is we’re getting a good idea of McCann’s defence story. PJ, FSS and Leicester Police will interested too.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:15 pm
1295 He saw her being got ready for bed so she wasn’t in bed at the time, and must have been wide awake.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:14 pm
1295 carmen
Yup i would have gone to morocco too especially if I really though that was the real one - but that night and not 4 weeks later.
Of course she really didn’t think anything of the sort at the time. PRMcCann made it up a couple of days ago because it suits their ever-changing alibis.
the thing that makes me laugh is that PJ are writing all of this down and will be asking some tricky questions at some time. gerrykins/katiepoo have mouth shut status but the others in tapas 9 junta do not. I love watching them squirm.
Beats Corrie any day. All that happened was Gail kicked out that prat Martin. Now if katiepoo had kicked out jaffa gerrykins a few years ago and shacked up with O’Brien none of this would have happened. Take note from Corrie scripts I say to PRMcCann. They have talented writers who can hold together a credible storyline.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Can anyone make any sense out of this? - investigation in Spain - two lost hours.
http://gazetadigitalmadeleinecase.blogspot.com/2007/09/police-is-checking-kate-and-gerry-trips.html
Cheers
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
1253 Madeleine was seen at 7pm in the apartment by a friend. (David Payne), She was in the process of being put to bed. (Source NOTW interview).
In addition to reducing the period between when she was last sighted and the McCanns arriving at the Tapas bar, it also destorys any notion of Madeleine being killed in the apartment and her body being dumped somewhere.
As I said earlier, its amazing how friends suddenly remember facts when new issues are brought up. If its not a defence to order I don’t know what is.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
1292 stiggers
Well katiepoo has recently claimed that Morocco was the one and how she was so sure. Od course this fits into their current attempts to fill holes in their alibis. And of course the egg head man looks a bit darkish.
Days before the recent Morocco scam and her complaints that PJ were not doing enough - as a defence to questions about why she didn’t go following up sightings - she said they were leaving that to the local professional (the police). In other words the complete opposite. She obviously doesn’t realise that PJ is not the Moroccan police.
Same old stuff: they say whatever is needed to plug a hole in their flimsy lies and alibis.
The reason why they don’t follow up and why they don’t spend the slush fund money is ‘cos they know first-hand she’s dead and well disposed of…
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:53 pm
1282 puzzled
With supposedly at least 300 sighting reports - which ones should they have pursued personally?
I gave my view of this in detail at 713