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
Comments
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:45 pm
303
thats because she’s a scottish television personality.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
i was watching a film about male-menopausal bikers the other day, called hot dog’s or something.
there was a bit in the wilderness with a vulture walking behind someone because of the smell of death, which made me giggle a bit.
it would have lloked so much better if one had been walking behind kate on the way to mass last week.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Why did they even bother taking the kids on holiday with them if they just bundled them off to kids club? Dont the kids like to go for walks too?
Im sure i read that the McCanns had a nanny at home, but she hasnt made any statement whatsoever about their abilities (or lack of them) as parents and she would be the one to know.
If they have got one then why didnt they take her with them or leave the kids with her while they went on holiday.
Why these type of people have kids is beyond me,its not hard to seem happy to see anyone (never mind your own kids) if you know they are going to be looked after by someone else in a short while. i bet they were all due to be bundled off to boarding school when they got older too,then university halls of residence.
Also is the interest on the money in the fund under the same restrictions as the actual fund money its-self? if you donated a pound then your pound is still there but is the interest it has earned? on ht e kind of money we are talking then its quite alot,that is of course assuming that it is in an acount that earns interest,leaves it wide open for skimming a liitle from the top if it is though,even if people found out the people who make the descisions about the money could really spin their way out of that one easily,”your money is still there” kind of thing.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
294 297
Lorraine Kelly has strong Scots and media connections
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRjLgSkBOGU
sorry this made me laugh nothing to do with madeleine though
dont click if only interested in madeleine mc cann
i am not trying to mislead anyone ok
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:40 pm
299
and we found portugal a bit smelly
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:40 pm
299 Puzzled LOL (hysterically)
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
On legging it home 48 hours after being declared suspects. ‘We ran out of bin liners’.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:38 pm
On not using the babysitting service.
Those poor people in the Mark Warner resort work hard night and day to keep everyone happy. We were a group of friends on hols and thought - ‘why not give these people a well earned break?’ So we selflessly agreed to check on each others children at regular intervals.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:36 pm
294
i quite like her, but there are times in that video i felt like thumping my monitor, i agree.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
if people can’t even decide what happened to cuddlecat after all this time,
what chance has the girl got?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I’m sure this has been discussed before, but does anyone feel that the secrecy laws have hurt the McCanns public image (not that they need a public image)?
I wonder if there is this much backlash in Portugal, as they are used to the secrecy thing, while the UK really isn’t…
Saying that, it doesn’t seem anyone is paying much attention to these so called secrecy laws. As both the police “source” and the McCann clan seem to blab when it suits them…
That was a very good point that Brenda had earlier. If the abductor did try to get Madeleine through the window (with him), how did he do so without waking her up? He could have drugged her or she could have already been drugged, I suppose. Hmm…it would seem that would waste quite a bit of time as well, if the abductor did try to run away with Madeleine right after Gerry left.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Firestar … thank you kindly for that link to the debate!
John Gaunt …. lift up your feet, I’d like to kiss your toes! Lorraine Kelly …. on which payroll are you?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Washing Cuddle Cat was a real mistake and one that KM feels gutted about. Cuddle Cat fell into the laundry basket and was washed with other things. When KM realised what had happened she was inconsolable.
She is only now able to bring herself to admit she made a terrible mistake (not checking the laundry basked). But she knows that the whole world will sympathise and support her in this. After all she has the Pope’s blessing.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Andy 204 asks:
“Anyone here think that there’s lipstick in that pictur?”
Andy I know which picture you mean without checking it out because I noticed the lipstick straight away and it bothered me for a while; then I thought “what the heck there’s nothing in it, otherwise they wouldn’t have supplied the picture”
The motive for the child wearing lipstick may be totally innocent but she’s definitely wearing it and if I remember correctly clutching a shawl. I think in that picture she was quite a bit younger and as I say it quite bothered me at the time. As I say it could be a totally innocent picture taken at “playing grown ups with mum” or something along those lines.
The other alternative is too awful to contemplate, but at this stage who knows??
Nothing adds up.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:32 pm
289
lol
i can just see that.
well m’lud here’s exhibit A
(man in wig wheels out telly with ‘mrs doubtfire’ playing)
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Just caught Eddie the sniffer dog peeing on my compost heap…
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Oh and that Wilkins guy not seeing the abductor is because he has a dodgy eye.
And because of all his jogging Gerry is very fit and CAN be in two places at once - dancing with M, quick change into tennis gear and back to his tennis party etc. etc. Anyone who has seen Mrs. Doubtfire knows that this is a plausible explanation.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
we should change the forum title to
Confess. Murdering Murderers. Confess.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
(204 & 214)
I don’t think that looks like lipstick on Madeleine. When I had that same complexion, hair color, etc. as a child, and in pictures my lips can look that red.
If they aren’t normally that red in some lights, there is always the possibility she had a popsicle or something (as children do). Also, it looks like she’s aged a bit since that picture or that it was taken in a different season, as her coloring is a bit different in the holiday photos (which would explain the complexion, but not her hair getting darker). Just my opinion, of course.
JonBenet’s case was a bit different, they really did put lots of makeup on that child and did the hair and outfit thing quite frequently. Most pictures we’ve seen of Madeleine, she appears to be a normal child, not overly posing or overly “made-up”.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Is it known if the PJ are getting any help from other areas.
If any of my children went missing I think public awareness is the way to go.
I think unfortunately for any unfortunate parents in a future situation the McCanns have just ruined it for all who could utilise it to find a child.
I also think that they have just increased the jaded ratio on the planet to above healthy levels.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Am now just waiting for the McCann PR to propose that all the Scent of Death and DNA stuff was because the abductor may have harmed M and used the Renault to get rid of her body.
Same abductor then thought it would be wise to sell the car and it was coincidentally sold to a car rental company and - yes - the very same one given to the McCanns to use as a refuse carrier.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Bloody hell, I hope they confess soon as this is getting silly. I was going to do lots of garden things in the lovely sunshine and it’s 20 past 2!!!!
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Close to the bone
But for the sake of madeleine justice and balancing the syrup licking UK reporters worth a decko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9spzFFbM_pc
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:17 pm
277
Sorry, that’s: 5. Fragrant K’s dose will have to be increased again.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Max Clifford must be rubbing his hands in glee right now. Hope Murat ends up taking them all to the cleaners.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:16 pm
if there was the scent of death on cuddle cat and the apartment why would someone abduct a dead child?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Thx Firestar (274) … BRB!
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:16 pm
245 255
I reckon this is a deliberate wind-up by PJ. A clear snub for all the pro-McCanns to see and one that will rattle a very shaky cage.
That idiot PR man Mitchell will make a bad choice and the pressure will be on.
We now have a big story for tomorrow’s Sunday papers (something I was referring to earlier, although I was not expecting it to be this). they will do big features on the history of Murat as a suspect. This will have interesting repercussions:
1. It will take the limelight away from the fragrant couple
2. It will go over old news and by definition remind the (pro-McCann) reader just how much the McCann PR machine has changed the storylines
3. It will divert efforts of the pro-McCann journalist away from their cause and make them use their time focus on Murat
4. It will really piss Gerry off and he will lose his temper, show his real colours and may say something stupid
%. Fragrant K’s doe will have to be increased again.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Andy (273) to be honest I really don’t know?