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 10:35 pm
Everyone has probably seen these pics before but just to remind you of the distance and visual obstacles that there are between the tapas bar and the apartment - remember its getting darker by 9pm on 3 May.
http://gazetadigitalarquivo.blogspot.com/2007/09/pictures-from-ocean-club.html
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:33 pm
1214 bc
I hope to address your 9.00pm to 10.00pm timeline on another occasion, but in the meantime I thought I would re-post this article from the ‘Sunday Times’ of just two weeks ago (9 September), with a few comments interleaved. Apologies if it’s been posted before. As always, the source is important. Once again, it’s ‘a source close to the McCann family’:
=========================================================
A SOURCE SAYS WHAY REALLY REALLY HAPPENED ON 3RD MAY
9 September - SUNDAY TIMES
To appreciate the McCanns’ extraordinary predicament, you have to go back to the night in question, Thursday, May 3, and in particular the three hours between when Madeleine was last seen by a nonfamily member and when she was reported missing.
[COMMENT: Putting Madeleine being seen by someone else around 7pm]
What happened in this period is regarded by police as the key to solving the mystery.
AFTER a series of interviews in Praia da Luz in recent weeks, The Sunday Times has established new details of what happened that night and how the police inquiry took its dramatic twist this weekend.
The McCanns had travelled to the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz with a group of friends, predominantly doctors like them. Altogether, four families, comprising nine adults and eight children, set out.
[COMMENT: The McCanns had three, O'Brien & Tanner one, I think; I'm not sure about the others - two each?]
At the Ocean Club all four families had apartments in Waterside Gardens Block 5, which overlooked one of two pool and restaurant areas on the resort. It was not a gated site and Gerry’s and Kate’s ground floor apartment, 5a, was on a street corner.
[COMMENT: Vulnerable to theft if you leave your patio door open by mistake]
The group occupied two of the neighbouring apartments, 5b and 5d, and another on the floor above. On the first night, Saturday, April 28, the adults and children all ate together at the Ocean Club’s other location, some 10 minutes away, the Millennium Restaurant and Terrace.
But the next night, and for all the nights thereafter, all four families settled the children in their apartments and then walked down to the nearby Tapas restaurant with its open air tables offering a clear line of sight to the apartments, about 50 metres away.
[COMMENT: What with the 'clear line of sight'? They were all looking in that direction, were they? And what would they see if one of their chlidren tumbled out of bed in the dark and hurt him/herself?]
You could see the rear of the apartments where french windows opened out of the lounge and kitchen area.
[COMMENT: It would be harder to see into the first floor apartment, though]
In the McCanns’ apartment there was a master bedroom next to the lounge, a bathroom and, furthest away from the Tapas restaurant, at the front, next to the front door, the second bedroom where the three children were put to sleep every night.
[COMMENT: So what really is the relevance of the 'line of sight'? The children were in the room furthest away from the Tapas bar]
Each evening the group followed a pattern of giving the children tea together and then playing with them for an hour before putting them to bed. The children, worn out, were soon asleep.
[COMMENT: By what time? The source doesn't give the times of 'giving tea' and 'putting them to bed'. Incidentally, it is clear that the source must in effect be one of the Tapas 9 or someone simply regurgitating their account]
For the adults, the evenings were fun, although not excessive, despite some of the more excitable reporting. The Portuguese magazine Sol, for example, claimed 14 bottles of wine were consumed on the night of May 3 - adding the supposedly persuasive details of eight bottles of red and six of white. In fact, according to Gerry…
[COMMENT: A reliable source]
…,the group had drunk only four bottles; another two stood barely touched on the table.
[COMMENT: 'Stood barely touched'. Brilliant! You just can't question that, can you? So now it's six bottles on the table - two up from four]
Each set of parents took responsibility for checking on their own children…
[COMMENT: Definitely not what the McCanns said originally]
…, so there was fairly constant traffic up and down from the table, the parents often crossing paths.
[COMMENT: 'Hi Gerry'. 'Hi Dave, see you in a mo'. 'Oh hi, Mike'. 'Why, hi Gerry - see you in a couple of minutes'. 'Have you seen O'Brien about, by the way?']
Gerry and Kate took turns to check every half hour.
[COMMENT: 'Gosh! 9.31! You're late, Kate (hic). Come on, up there and check them]
On the evening of May 3, the last moment when Madeleine was definitely seen alive by anybody other than the McCanns was at about 7pm as the group put their children to bed.
[COMMENT: And who was that? We are not told. Was it the elusive David Payne? If so, obviously he wasn't putting his children to bed ay 7pm]
As the adults dined…
[COMMENT: Wait a minute, what happened next? Acording to the previous script, Gerry and Kate arrive at the Tapas bar at 8.30pm - the 'first to arrive' - though one witness, not one of the Tapas 9, insists it was at 8.58pm (source: 'Daily Mail' last week)]
…,Gerry went to check on Madeleine and the twins Sean and Amelie at just after 9pm, perhaps at 9.05pm. He says all the children were safely asleep.
[COMMENT: His accounts of this visit (if it was ever made, that is) are not all the same. Now he says he saw an open door which he thought was strange and he now thinks that there might have been an abductor lurking behind the door who had snuck in through the open patio door. But it was a passing thought, just a momentary suspicion that something was 'not quite right'. Still, must rush back to the table, they need me at the quiz. By the way, just how open was the door?]
As he was returning to the table he encountered Jeremy Wilkins, an English fellow holidaymaker whom Gerry had befriended at the resort’s tennis courts. They chatted for a few minutes in the street outside the McCanns’ apartment.
[COMMENT: Jeremy Wilkins' account is probably true. But was Gerry on his way back to the Tapas bar?]
One of the party, Russell O’Brien, was away from the table for much of the evening, caring for his sick child.
[COMMENT: Sick as in vomiting. Sick as in ill?]
At about 9.15pm Jane Tanner, his girlfriend, went to their apartment to see how things were.
[COMMENT: Maybe. Maybe not]
As she did so she passed, right on the street corner by the McCanns’ apartment, a man carrying a child wrapped in a blanket.
[COMMENT: Right, this places her up the alley, past the swimming pool, near the main road at the boundary edge of the apartments. To get there, there is only one way from the Tapas bar (see countless photos in the papers) - the alley way - despite claims some have made of a 'maze of alleyways'. But neither Gerry McCann nor Jeremy Wilkins remember seeing her. Has Jane Tanner invented the whole scenario?]
The man was crossing the road, walking away from the apartment complex. At the time Tanner thought nothing of it; it seemed a perfectly normal spectacle in a family resort.
[COMMENT: "...crossing the road, with a child in a blanket, walking away from the apartment complex" - a perfectly normal spectacle?]
At 9.30pm Kate was due to check on her children, but another of the party, believed to be Matt Oldfield, was getting up from the table to make his own check.
[COMMENT: Now here's a point. This statement claims that they were each checking on their children 'every half-hour'. Let's look at it a little more closely. Was it like this:
McCanns - 9.00
Paynes - 9.08
O'Brien & Tanner - 9.15
Oldfields - 9.22
McCanns - 9.30
Paynes - 9.38
and so on?
Or maybe it was:
McCanns and Oldfields - 9.00
Paynes, O'Brien & Tanner - 9.15
McCanns and Oldfields - 9.30
Paynes, O'Brien & Tanner - 9.45
and so on?
The more you consider this, the odder it seems. And the more you are driven to the conclusion that this was probably an out-and-out lie]
Oldfield said he would look in on the McCanns’ children, according to a source close to the McCanns.
[COMMENT: Oldfield?]
When Oldfield reached the corner apartment…
[COMMENTS: Let's just have a 'rain check' on who's in the Tapas bar at this stage?
O'Brien? - No, been away all the time.
Tanner? - No, gone up to see O'Brien and the sick child
Oldfield - No, gone up to check on two lots of children (did he volunteer to check on anyone else's children, or just the McCanns btw?)
There were therefore, according to this version, six of the 'Tapas 9' left in the bar - the Paynes, Mrs Oldfield, the McCanns - and Diana Webster]
…he entered through the closed but unlocked french windows…
[COMMENTS: Did he *know* in advance that the patio doors were unlocked? Some reports suggest that you could not open them with a key, even if 'unlocked'. What kind of closing/locking mechanism do the patio doors have?]
…and checked on the sleeping children. Afterwards, with the terrible agony of hindsight, he could clearly recall seeing the twins lying there, but could not say for sure that he had seen Madeleine. But that was afterwards. The evening went on.
[COMMENT: Pull the other one, Oldfield. It's got bells on]
O’Brien rejoined the table shortly before 10pm.
[COMMENT: O'Brien. Or Oldfield? Surely they mean *Oldfield* returned with the news that the children were OK? Or are they inventing their stories to such an extent that they just can't work out whether to say it was Oldfield or O'Brien that came back 'just before 10'?]
Not long afterwards Kate got up to make the next check on her three children. The walk must have taken her less than a minute. Madeleine was not in her bed. Left behind was Cuddle Cat, Madeleine’s comfort toy.
[COMMENT: Where? High ledge (version 1) or in the bed (version2)].
She was never separated from it, especially at night.
[COMMENT: It was clearly vital to her sense of well-being]
According to Kate, the bedroom window was open and the shutter up, yet they had been closed and down when Gerry checked at 9pm.
[COMMENT: I've just realised something very important. Isn't the real reason why Gerry McCcann has suddenly 'remebered' that there might have been an intruder behind an open door is that he has to account for the inconvenient fact that the evidence clearly points to the windows and shutters having been opened from the INSIDE? (no doubt by the Mccanns and/or other members of the Tapas 9). The only theory they can come up with, faced with this serious problem for their incredible version of events, is this:
a) abductor comes in through patio door which is unlocked.
b) he's just about to lift Madeleine out of the bed when he hears Gerry at the door.
c) he hides behind the door and Gerry doesn't notice him (Phew!)
d) then for some reason he decides not to go out by the patio doors and instead climbs through the window, at the same time taking a few extra seconds to place Cuddle Cat on a high ledge/shelf.
The McCanns and the 'Tapas 9' must take the Portuguese police and the rest of the world for fools]
Kate searched the apartment and the area immediately outside.
[COMMENT: Oh no she didn't. Elsewhere she has told us repeatedly that she 'instantly' knew that Madeleine had been the victim of an abduction. It was 'obvious' from the 'state the apartment was left in' - as both Kate and Gerry have said repeatdly. Stop lying, Kate]
She ran down the hill and into the restaurant, where Gerry recalls her shouting or screaming either “Madeleine has gone. Somebody has taken her” or “Madeleine has gone. Someone has taken her”.
[COMMENT: Repetiton]
Other reports suggest she shouted, “They’ve taken her.” Gerry thought “that can’t be right, that can’t be right”. He went running up to the apartment with Kate…
[COMMENT: What about the other members of the 'Tapas 9'?]
…and checked everywhere she had already looked, and made a quick run around the apartment block. They decided straight away to call the police but had no idea what the emergency numbers were and, anyway, could not speak Portuguese.
[COMMENT: According to reports, a neighbour offered to call the police and Kate said: 'No']
They asked one of their friends in the group to go down to the main reception, which is manned 24 hours, and call the police. The call was made at 10.14pm or 10.15pm, according to the McCanns.
[COMMENT: I think the police has said elsewhere that the first call to them came later, about 10.40pm to 10.50pm]
Two officers from the GNR local police arrived at 11.10pm, nearly an hour after the call. They could not speak English and a member of the Ocean Club staff had to translate. The immediate assumption was that Madeleine must have wandered off, but Gerry and Kate were adamant that this could not have happened. Besides there were, apparently, obvious signs that an intruder had been there. What they were, however, is not clear.
[COMMENT: Why? Can the 'source close to the McCanns' not tell us, after all this time? (4 months)]
Apart from the open window and shutter, neither the McCanns nor the police have confirmed any other evidence of a break-in.
[COMMENT: The police found NO evidence of a break-in whatsoever but merely observed that the window and shuttres had been opened from the inside]
At midnight the local police called the Policia Judiciaria, the PJ, who investigate serious crimes. The PJ arrived at 1am, according to the McCanns. There was substantial searching involving tourists and locals for some hours. Kate remained in the apartment hoping for news, while Gerry went out and looked. By 3.30am the police had packed it in for the night. The searching was pretty much over. Gerry and Kate were frustrated and desperate. Gerry went out at about 4am with David Payne, another of their group, hoping to find something. Later, at about 6am, the McCanns went out alone and walked around the scrubland on the outskirts of the village, holding hands and calling Madeleine’s name. There was nobody else around and they felt utterly alone.
[COMMENT: Other reports stated that they (the McCanns) abandoned their search around 4.30am and then retired to their apartment]
FROM the beginning the McCanns felt that they must keep faith with the Portuguese detectives who were investigating their daughter’s disappearance. Others around them were ready to criticise but, in public at least, the McCanns expressed their support…
[REPORT SNIPPED HERE]
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:31 pm
1402 Gods Law
Judge during McCanns trial - “Father you will answer the question otherwise I will find you in contempt”
Priest - I’m sorry but anything said during confession is said in confidence and I cannot repeat it.”
Judge - “Then you leave me no alternative, you will go to prison until such time as you decide to answer the question. Officer take him away.”
Judge - “Mr and Mrs McCann, you will be remanded until such time as the priest answers the question. Officer take them away.”
In prison the Priest goes to see the prison chaplain.
Chaplin - “You cannot repat anything said during confession.”
Priest - “But Chaplin, that means the McCanns and I will spend the rest of our lives in prison.”
Chaplain - “God works in mysterious ways my son”.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:28 pm
1401
I agree, but I dont think that they realise, its not really the evidence that makes us think thier guilty, its their own behaviour.
Maybe they should start be putting the fund proceeds into a trust with an independent trustee. Stop targetting the rich and famous. Stop shredding every little bit of evidence that found against them. Get their stories straight.
Put some of their own money into the fund.
Stop trying to deceive the public.
Appoint an independent private detective to investigate these sightings and to find out what really happened.
Co-operate with the police, answer the 40 questions.
Stop trying to prove their innocence and concentrate on finding the child.
If Maddie is found there is no case against them.
And finally give up the flipping cuddle cat.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Whenever I come back to this forum there’s either a spat going on or a lot of cute ‘in-talk’ which I can’t by privy to (unless I read every single one or two-liner to get back to the first poster which really isn’t worth the effort). There’s been a great deal of focused humour, insight, and armchair detection on this site which has been greatly appreciated so, with all due respect, don’t you think we should keep this sort of hissy-fit thing and elitist stuff out of this sort of forum and just concentrate on the Madeleine case?
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:24 pm
1398 ben
Only 4 - you are having a laugh! Ever been drinking with the medical profession? Cihrrosis (sp) is only for other people…
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 pm
1402 - Carmen - since the vatican has removed the findmaddie page from their site the day before K became a suspect I was wondering if the Pope has made a phonecall to the priest that the McCanns may have confessed to.
Officially priests are not allowed to say what is confessed to them but I am sure that they can if the Pope has a quiet word - although I doubt if it will be revealed in a court - and I doubt that he knows anything more than the police already do!
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Defense attorneys know whether their client is guilty or innocent and they are not allowed to divulge that information. The priest would have the same kind of job related immunity.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:18 pm
1395 carmen
Nah dahn the Vic when Phiwll gets pissed up see, Peggy an’ Ronnie an’ Roxy look aftah liiaaal Ben. ‘Cos that’s wot bein’ a good paren’ iss abaaht.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I think that the video clip on 1379 is the reason parents never bonded with the couple. From the start there was no remorse and no begging of other parents not to make the same mistake as them.
If they had shown remorse and blamed themselves for not being responsible parents that night they would have earned sympathy and even a little respect.
Emotions aside - the words they spoke told us enough!
They are and will always be bad role models because of this no matter how much spin and PR they spend money on!
No remorse made people suspect them from the start - it is not such a leap for people to accept that they may have been involved in Maddies death!
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
1394 well thank you
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
I dont know much about this church but was there a chapel of rest? The Mcons spent alot of time there, alone.
If they had “Accidently” killed Maddie, they would have been upset and have wanted a proper burial. Just a thought, but the body may have been burried along with another (hidden in the casket). I cant imagine that they would have disposed of her any other way. Selfish and deceitful as they are I cannot see them being so cold and callous as to throw her into an incinerator or drop her into the sea.
This may explain the fact that initially they wanted to settle in Portugal, to be close to her and why they spent so much time in that church.
As for the priest, yes he has a vow of silence but this is murder case for gods sake. Make him speak, the rest of us would have too.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
1396-
that sure is damning evidence-4 to 14
what if it was just 4?
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
1393-
gud n!
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
1386 ben
the bar bill is with PJ. tapas 9 admit to between 4 and 14 bottles between 9 at the tapas bar. Social tennis beforehand and who knows what else.
In my book looking after 2 and 3 year olds is like driving a car: Zero is the only acceptable answer.
I expect they will produce new evidence in the form of private breath tests to prove they drank nothing.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
1388-
you are a very empty soul
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Hear hear
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
sorry i mean ‘hear’
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:06 pm
1385-mike
i didnt mean having a right way to laugh at a missing child-
i meant being on a forum where its good to here peoples thoughts and feelings also new news
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I was posting an opinion on a satire site
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:04 pm
1374 carmen
No worries mine’s a doom. Gloom is available already.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:03 pm
1373 ben
1 She’s dead.
2 And in unimaginable circumstances
3 And her parents are indirectly or directly involved
4 They must not be allowed to get away with it
5 Nor should anyone else
If it takes smartarse vocabulary to achieve 4 and 5 then smartarse it shall be…
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
In case anyone hasn’t seen these, here’s a bit of light reading for debate while I go off to work.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/16154/The-only-suspects-/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=483478&in_page_id=1770
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:01 pm
ade 1371-
how pised where they?
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Whats the right way Ben?
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
1371 well do you? that’s a yes or no really…
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:54 pm
carmen -if you are clever enough you can use satire in the right way,
when children are concerned you have to avenue your context in the right way.
i love having a banter and a crack on this forum but its a bit under the belt sometimes
thats all i am saying
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:54 pm
1376 carmen
I have been known to bite the chalk too as you might say…
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:54 pm
1347 Blunger. I totally agree with what you say when you’re in charge of very young children. Anything could happen within a short time–fire, accident, choking, abduction, death. This has gone on enough. Charge the McCanns with gross neglect. I think people are sympathetic towards Madeline and what happened to her, but sick of this long-running McCann saga and want results.
When the term ‘team McCann’ was first coined I thought it was done in very bad taste…’We’ve lost our daughter through our neglect..’ ‘I know what we’ll do, Kate, we’ll team up and call ourselves ‘team McCann’ to find Madeline’. ‘What a jolly good idea’. Anything to cover up their own blunders and mistakes in child ‘care’!
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Carmen Says:
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:49 pm
1375 Mike
Well said? What is ‘well said’ about someone complaining of finding humour on a satire site?
Read what you said, Read what i said, again, and try and keep up.