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 2:58 pm
322
their memories
cctv footage
creche sign in and out sheet
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
325 I wouldn’t like to be (thought of as) KM either come to think of it…
I didn’t really think her state of mind would make her up to contributing here anyway.
But I was right - direct “source” material as I suspected.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
(304) Dean:
“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.”
I’m not sure if the McCanns were that type of couple, as I don’t know them. I think people that do that have kids as a bit of an ego thing, you know…leaving a legacy and all of that. Some people consider boarding school a good option because they are away so much (lack of stability for the child) or a good, sturdy (strict!) education for the child…some parents just can’t be bothered though. And when they get out of university residence, mummy and daddy will buy them a nice penthouse until they find a suitable mate the parents can brag about. (you can’t shame the family, after all!)
(307) Andy:
Those are good questions! I think most people would want to find and return a missing child, even without a reward. But no doubt the sightings peaked when the reward and publicity came up!
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Help! I am missing a piece of the jigsaw. Excuse my total ignorance but what do you all mean the ‘hired car’ is missing.
In a couple of lines someone please explain. I think I am going to need tranquillizers with all this excitement.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Have any of you listened to the interview on Woman`s Hour in August? I had no suspicions about the family when I heard it, but I was very surprised by the response to two questions:
Do you feel guilty about leaving the children alone?
Wouldnt the normal response of a parent be : “I will never be able to stop thinking about this and blaming myself. Never a moment goes by when I don`t say to myself,”If only I hadnt left them in the apartment alone. This will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
The actual response was a little about guilt but more about all the support that had been received from other parents who had done something similar and how she mustnt blame herself.
The other question was: “What was your last memory of M?”
The response was this vague statment about how happy M had been on holiday and how her last day had been the best day of all. Wouldnt a more normal response be: “When I kissed her goodnight when I put her to bed. The way her arms were around me, hugging me. etc. etc. ” ??
I apologise if my memory of the interview is not strictly accurate. It is possible to listen to it on the BBC Radio 4 website.
I keep thinking about that interview now. I was struck by the control shown.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
327
if you register you can have algebra in yours instead.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Firestar … I believe the “all-telling” till slip from that evening is in the safe clutches of the PJ ……. (I wonder who paid the bill)
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
322. Julie
12. The blanket
13. Wilkins specs
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
well i’m going to make a cup of tea.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
sorry couldnt resist.
why are the spam protection sums easier??
is it so all us council estate scroats can have a say?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 pm
323
you’d sort of expect the police to have it though, wouldn’t you.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 pm
310 - Ade. I find it ‘ludicrous’ that you think I am Kate. It is also ‘hurtful and unhelpful’. Clearly my source must remain disclosed because I am not allowed say anything. But I can tell you it was ‘a friend of the McCann’s new Portuguese laywers wife’s sister-inlaw’
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 pm
321
lol
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
316 As I think I mentioned before, the receipt may still be on the till, or at least stored for accounting purposes (electronically and on paper potentially)
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
MISSING :
1. Madeleine (Julie)
2. The nanny (Julie)
3. The priest (Julie)
4. The real Cuddle Cat (Julie)
5. Parental responsibility (Julie)
6. THE TRUTH! (Julie)
7. The Vulture (Firestar)
8. The car (Brandon flowers)
9. An abductor (Brandon flowers)
10. The rotting meat (Firestar)
11. The crappy nappies (Julie)
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
319.
Texture like sun.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
i suppose he comes under politics.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm
317
gordon brown?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I feel the PJ know a lot more than they have ever let on and the information given by them to the media is very calculated.
The whirl of spin from the McCanns only shows they are running scared from something…if they truely believed the evidence was rubbish then there would be no need to shout it from the roof tops.
The real tragedy here is Madeleine, missing, almost certainly dead, and the truth, whatever that is, was the most awful for her.
Her parents are responsible for whatever happened, they should never have left the children, and are equally responsible for the situation they find themselves in now.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:51 pm
306 Yup, she sure is. One of many Scots personalities (influential, media, politics etc) that the McCanns have in their entourage, perchance?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:51 pm
and the receipt for the wine.
did that ever turn up?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:50 pm
the rotting meat
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
311
the car
an abductor
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
8.the vulture
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
blonde 3 year old girls all look like madeliene
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
There’s really a whole lot of “missing” in this case! :
1. Madeleine
2. The nanny
3. The priest
4. The real Cuddle Cat
5. Parental responsibility
6. THE TRUTH!
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
293 puzzled
On reading your statement it sounds like fragrant Kate just told you this. Was it on the phone (landline of course) or over a cuppa?
What kind of washing machine has she got? Must be a top loader because on my front-loader the opening is so much smaller than the laundry basket that you can’t tip the washing in. You have to put it in by hand. Also I sort the whites and non-whites - like everyone else apart from KM. Then again KM is probably the only person who goes on holiday in dirty work clothes with stains from the morgue…
Your name isn’t Kate as well is it, by chance?
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
307
in england, most people are scared of looking at female children for fear of being either arrested or blugeoned to death by a parent.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm
305 lol
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Quick question.
Since the McCanns were made suspects how many of you look at female children when you’re out and wonder if it’s Madeleine?
Is it more than before the arguido/a status? Less than? The same?
Also did the Find Maddie publicity campaign make you actively look for Madeleine in the female children you came across?
I’m just wondering because I cannot remember the last time there was a reported sighting. Was it a long time before the parents became suspects or have there been any since?