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 6:06 pm
I reckon Cuddle Cat was put up on that shelf coz Madeleine wasn’t around. She disappeared/was disposed of/was abducted/ was misplaced way before bed time!
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:06 pm
469 ooh what could i get? my very own cuddle cat or a full medical from drs mccann?
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:06 pm
THE NET’S CLOSING IN
Sunday Mirror, May 6, 2007 by LORI CAMPBELL, KATE MANSEY
DETECTIVES were last night closing in on a man they suspect of snatching little Maddy McCann from her holiday apartment.
They said they believed she was being held within three miles of the complex where she had been staying at Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve.
Guilhermino Encarnacao, chief of police in the region, said he had an artist’s impression of the abductor but he feared that releasing it may put the three-year-old’s life in danger.
He said he believed that Maddy had been taken by a sex offender, but there was also a possibility she had been kidnapped for a ransom - Maddy’s parents are both doctors, her father a highly-paid heart specialist.
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Mr Encarnacao said: “We have a prime suspect. A man has been seen acting strangely and we have a sketch, but we are not releasing it yet. We do not want to put the girl at risk.
“We believe the girl is still in Portugal, and probably nearby. I cannot rule out it was a paedophile who took her.”
Police raised the hope that Maddy could be found as her anguished parents spent a second night waiting for news of their daughter.
Gerry and Kate McCann, both 38, of Rothley, Leics, are staying two doors down from the apartment that Maddy was taken from between 9pm and 10pm on Thursday.
Yesterday Gerry went into the apartment and emerged carrying a suitcase and a bucket and spade for younger twins Amelie and Sean, two.
The couple were later seen walking between apartment blocks in the resort with the twins, accompanied by friends.
witness 2 under their bleeding noses
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:05 pm
(482) Blunger:
That isn’t really fair, I wasn’t twisting anything. I’ve spoke with people about how the cat could have been explained as “on the shelf” to give weight to the abductor theory before and automatically expel any suspicion on the McCanns, you may have even been part of such discussions.
I merely brought up the point because if they are going back to the abductor theory, that is an oddity that doesn’t make sense to me. I personally don’t understand why an abductor would ever do that, that is why I am curious about it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:02 pm
481 - Like (3) am trying to remember the Somerset accent. Would it come out to sound like ‘don’t trust no one’? Wasn’t this the slogan for the X-Files?
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Imagine if M were found? Doubtless she would be ‘reunited’ with her parents. Eeeek.
The poor twins will grow up and learn all about this - and no matter what the outcome, will be tainted. THEY are 100% innocent. God Bless them. And anyone who watched the Sky interview with KMs father will have been touched - no matter what they think of KM herself.
Even if they are proven to be not guilty of the final part of Ms disappearance, the McCanns have royally b*ggered up a lot of people’s lives by their narcissistic and uncooperative behaviour.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:58 pm
“I wonder if the placement and worry over the cat, when you are stealing someone’s child, gives any insight into the mindset of the abductor? (For those professionals that would be able to profile such people)”
What a remarkable demonstration of how (probably all of us) twist things to our own point of view.
What if there was evidence that someone had cleaned M’s teeth for her just before she disappeared. Or cooked a meal ? Would that point at it not being a stranger, or could it be taken as maybe providing “insight into the mindset of the abductor” ?
Fascinating. How many other pieces of evidence putting doubt on the abductor theory could be explained away thus ? What does it take to raise even just a little uncertainty ?
I am uncertain about everything except the serious child neglect.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:57 pm
I have risen to the challenge posed earlier on making anagrams from NO STONE UNTURNED. As follows:-
1) UNTRUE NON STONED
2) NO ONE RUN STUDENT
3) DUNE N TRUST NO ONE.
3) is my favourite because if you write it DUN EN TRUST NO ONE and say it, sort of, with a Somerset accent (don’t be offended people from Somerset, you have to be so careful these days in case they sue)…then, as I said, if you say it like that you get a macabre take on the sentence. Otherwise — Portuguese police, have any of the sand dunes got letters to mark them????
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:53 pm
464 maria
Yes maria I too wander how the parents of other missing children feel watching this circus. At first their hearts would have gone out to the maccans, they may have even fleetingly wandered if they should have done the same(engage the media)to look for their own children, probably felt that it was unfair that one child commanded such a response while their own tragedy is quickly forgotten, yet they’d hope as any decent human being would, that at least this child is returned safely, wistfully wishing that they’d had the same means to look for their own missing child.
Now they probably think this is mockery
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:50 pm
475 - Ade. Boom-boom!!
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:49 pm
I am slightly concerned. We are all trying to find holes in GM’s new twist regarding abduction. There has never been any evidence of abduction and the only new ‘evidence’ is from GM himself. By even discussing it is giving it weight. This is what Team McCann want.
I for one would not trust ANYTHING that this couple says anymore. Anyone in any doubt about GMs ability to be less than honest need only look at the U-Tube clip of him with the Portuguese reporter regarding sedatives.
Without any real evidence, then the only possible abduction was alien.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:48 pm
oops that’s 469 not 463
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:48 pm
This dates back to 6 May - Sunday Mirror
Paula Jones, 34, who manages the apartments where the McCann family were staying said the properties were a hot spot for burglaries.
She said: “We have a real problem with break-ins at the apartments because lots of holiday makers don’t double lock the patio doors.
“Burglars wait and watch the apartments so they know who is coming and going and they strike when tourists are out at the beach or in the restaurants.”
Do you think that the occupiers had been warned? Some people don’t even lock the patio doors.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
463 puzzled
Have spoken to Dr Watson and the explanation could centre on one of the Heinz variety. He assures me that haute cuisine in the Algrave for middle class Brit visitors comprises tins of cooked beans in a tomato concoction. Apparently, consumption of same is often associated with a distinctive smell and a sudden noise, which can offend when in mixed company. he assures me that opening the tin is a silent activity.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
forgotten*
I wonder if the placement and worry over the cat, when you are stealing someone’s child, gives any insight into the mindset of the abductor? (For those professionals that would be able to profile such people)
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Sorry if this has been quoted before, but:
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we set out to deceive” - Shakespeare
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Going back in time - who heard the interview with Kate McCann on Woman`s Hour in August? What were your impressions?
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:40 pm
(466) Blunger:
I think that is one odd fact about the whole thing. If we are to go along with Gerry, then the abductor would be in haste and not bother to put Cuddle Cat on the shelf…
I still think there is always the possibility that Kate may have forget to give Madeleine Cuddle Cat.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:39 pm
466 Well blunger I believe there was no abductor for the very reason that Cuddles was left behind. If it was an abductor I assume she was alive (you can’t abduct a corpse). If she was alive she would be less trouble if she could take comfort by holding her favourite comfort toy while being abducted.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:38 pm
463 - Ah yes, it was a strange smell. A little fishy and oily. Sort of smell that someone who handles boat engines would have on their clothes.
And yes! Now that Jane Tanner has sobered up she too remembers that the man she saw had an anchor tattoo and was wearing boat shoes.
The abductor was clearly heading for the high seas…………..
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:38 pm
blunger 456
When I said that paedophiles target children from a lower economic bracket I certainly did not mean that these children come from homes of uncaring parents,quite the contrary. None more uncaring than the high and mighty mccans.
I’m saying that a paedophile is more likely to take the easy way out rather than the highly unlikely: go into a room into which a parent can walk in at any minute,wait in the bathroom or behind the door while the parent checks on the children, take himself and a child through a window, by the way with the child wrapped in a blanket provided by himself for just such a purpose, as no blanket reported missing from the room, yet friend of parents saw a man carrying a child wrapped up in blanket, (although later the blanket gave way to pyjamas the same as the missing girl’s).
Have you seen the reaction of parents of other abducted children?? No matter from what walk of life or what nationality they behave quite differently from this couple, and no I don’t expect them to be tearing at their hair and such and am of the opinion that everyone reacts differently faced with tragedy, but the reaction of these parents is very, very suspect indeed
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
#446 Good point. In the Elizabeth Smart case, the father was so distraught that after a few days of searching for his daughter, he was hospitalized for exhaustion.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Is it only me who funds “abductor put CuddleCat on high shelf” very hard to believe, even supposing there was an abductor ?
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 pm
460 Maria
I reckon the Murat off-the-hook story will go ahead. So far McCannlLand have not bleated on about it. they are obviously taking our advice. Probably calling in some favours/paying out from the slush fund with their per journalists to get something into tomorrow’s press, while keeping their mouths shut for a change. They are clearly taking all their key leads from us now.
Prat Mitchell has probably been sacked - twice in one week is quite an achievement. I’ll put a word in for him at the Queen Vic with Peggy and Phiwwll doin’ cella’ work or sumfin’…
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:34 pm
439 lunlunera
Not sure about now but a few weeks ago there were extracts in the press of supportive letter they’d sent to the McCanns. Very sympathetic.
Similarly the mother of Ben Needham who, admittedly relatively early on in the campaign, said she sympathised totally and wished them every success whilst saying that she and her family did not have the resources to do the same for their child when he disappeared. It didn’t seem to embitter her that they had the incredible support network and modern technology. (I remember thinking that, in her shoes, I WOULD have been bitter. I was very impressed by her.) I suppose if you’ve lost a child yourself you can appreciate the situation in a way that nobody else can. Possibly when once you’ve lost a child, nothing else can ever make you bitter.
Of course, I don’t know what she thinks now, or Jeremy’s parents. It would be interesting to know.
Wonder exactly what the Sol report about Murat means?
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:34 pm
462 - Ade
Despair not! It is still early days. This time yesterday we were all blissfully unaware that Gerrypops was actually in the apartment with the abductor!!
Maybe this evening he will remember that there was a strange sound too - or an unusual smell. I can hardly wait.
Hope he and Jeffrey Archer end up in adjoining cells.
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Looks like the Sunday papers will have the Murat off-the-hook story after all boo hoo…
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:25 pm
458 puzzled
Awww bugger no you are not but I am. I saw the date on the top and thought it was a new one.
So desperate to get this over with in the next 24 hours so I can get my life back
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:25 pm
457 Ade
How does that fit with “report” that Murat is about to be cleared? Or do we assume that, as so often before, a leak from the PJ one day turns into the opposite the next day?
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Ade 457 - This article was first posted on 10th Sept. Am I missing something? Please help fellow sleuth.