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 22nd, 2007 at 7:21 pm
From the Channel 4 report of Murat being declared innocent:
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ press spokesman, said the couple had no comment to make on the reports. “We cannot and will not comment on anything that goes to the heart of the investigation,”
Er… what about the comments about ‘what Kate really said’, or ’someone was already in the apartment’, or ‘we wuz playing tennis’ etc etc etc. What a tw@t!
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:20 pm
“533 - QUOTE FROM YESTERDAY’S TELEGRAPH:
It is understood the McCanns will have separate lawyers to deal with the allegations which have been put to them by Portuguese police”
Any one know why they’d have two separate lawyers? Is this common for parents or does this raise some suspicion levels? Could Gerry and Kate be diverging in their alibi’s and one is going to frame the other? If so, which one comes out on top and cuts a deal?
I would suspect that Gerry decided to do it this way. This way, if Kate goes to jail, Gerry can plea bargain a deal for himself and stay home and raise the twins.
All speculation, all in due time.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:17 pm
521 - Emilie. I have no idea if KMs father knows anything. All I know is that he seemed to speak from the heart. It was the day KM was declared a suspect. He was quite obviously denying her involvement. As a parent, I would find it almost impossible to imagine either of my kids could do anything as awful as was being suggested at that stage.
In fact if it turned out that he did know and was just acting - then I will be really disappointed in my gullibility and gut reactions.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:16 pm
OK Kate. This is a get-out for you.
Gerry came back from playing tennis and I said, “Did you win then?” Outraged, Gerry yelled, “That’s the last time I take Cuddle Cat for good luck,” and he tossed it violently onto a high shelf. Poor Madeleine made the mistake of asking, “Are you having a good holiday, Daddy. I think this has been the best day ever.” Then he completely lost it and HE killed our Madeleine!
I was distraught but he made me cover the killing up. He said that if he went to jail then we’d lose our nice big house and that I wouldn’t be able to afford a new outfit for every day of the year. He said “You can always have ten more,” - children that is, not outfits. He told me not to cry because it would make my mascara run and leave all smudgy black marks under my eyes.
He then went and told Jane Tanner what he’d done. I knew he was having an affair with her, though I don’t know why. She hasn’t got a tenth of the nice outfits that I’ve got and her hair always looks so untidy! She told O’Brien and, because it was his idea to drug the children and his sedatives, and because he didn’t want any more scandals, they agreed to remove the body for Gerry, if he came up with a plan about an abduction.
I didn’t want to go through with it, but he’s a control freak; you can ask anybody. He said just pretend that Cuddle Cat is Madeleine and carry it around with you everywhere.
I so wanted to bring Auntie Philomena on this holiday with us, so she could babysit while we were getting drunk and swinging, but Gerry refused to pay for the extra two plane seats. If only we had, then none of this would have happened and Gerry’s wallet - and Madeleine of course, might still be with us. (Controlled sob.)
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:16 pm
529. Interesting. Ludicriously or tragically enough, not much in their behavior and statements is impying they actually are innocent. One petition (or has it been removed?) is claimig that GM lost it and hit the little girl in the eye and the forehead and that Kate held her body. Something to do the discovered scent of death in her clothes? For sure I woudn’t argue is the sniffer dog’s findings nor the forensic evidence laboratory results. For the rest, this case is still processing and hopefully the truth will come out.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:15 pm
529 - maddie got killed by mistake sedative overdose
they are covering something up and it’s big
bigger than just about maddie probably organised crime probably paedophilia
Ade, can you explain this for me? I’m a bit confused by your post 529…
Would you be suggesting that “they are covering something up and it’s bigger” than Maddie’s death through overdose? That there is something much bigger at stake here such as an organised paedophilia ring which involves the McCanns and the Tapas 9 group?
I have not heard the McCanns might be linked to Paedophilia, only rumours about Murat, Malinka and/or the Portuguese Government officials, including the PJ. So what you’ve stated is a new twist for me. Can you expand upon this theory for me?
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:14 pm
539 Yes but wanderer if I’m right that Cuddle Cat is the drugs cabinet, that explains why she always has it in her bacg. God knows what she’s on but and an anaesthetist you can bet it’s not sherbert. And who is goind to take Cuddles away from her to check for drugs?
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:14 pm
which reports are accurate? did gerry go play tennis without kate at 5.30pm or were K & G playing tennis together with the pro and at what time? it was reported that he was playing in a social event (from 5.30pm)so i doubt it would only last 30 mins (could be wrong). Also reading this report by waiters in the daily mail all the family and another 3 couples were at the restaurant from 5pm til after 6pm and they claim to have cctv footage while the mccanns friends claim that the kids were at the day care til 6pm very confusing. Though surely either of these two versions could easily be corroborated by records/cctv. It also mentions that Mr McCann was frantically searching a patch of wasteland by the Praia da Luz beach suspect? could be a good place to stash a suitcase?
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
538 Julie
Well I for one will be looking out for the zip that ets into the drugs cabinet.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
I know she claimed to wash it because it had gotten sand and suntan lotion on it…which is fine. But if that happened before Madeleine had disappeared, it would have been fine for Madeleine to sleep with like that, but not fine enough to keep unwashed after she goes missing?
And if the cat went for a twirl on the beach after Madeleine disappeared, I have to ask why? If it was so precious then it wouldn’t seem that it’d have a chance to get sullied.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:10 pm
534 & 524 …. tomorrow (miraculously) photos of Madeleine holding Cuddle Cat should appear in most newspapers … that’s if they can get there in time for tonights printing!
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:08 pm
I think Cuddle Cat is central to this whole charade. That’s why she washed it to destroy the forensic evidence it held. Maybe Cuddles, being the drugs cabinet was never left with Maddie but out of reach on the shelf in case the little girl came round and ate some pills while they were on the piss.
Maybe that night Maddie did get hold of Cuddles and did eat some pills and overdose.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:06 pm
(522) Blunger:
And I hope that didn’t teach you the folly of ever replying to one person. We didn’t threaten to have one another kicked off, personally insult the intelligence or morals of one another, etc. which is pretty good for this forum!
Anyway, I admitted I was wrong in not connecting the two and you apologized (although you didn’t need to really, that was nice though). I’m sorry if that encounter put you off replying to others, it really shouldn’t, I just wanted to make sure what I was trying to get across (with the whole comment in question), got across the way I intended it to. Anyway, I’m going to stop discussing it now, as you’re right, the forum doesn’t need it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:06 pm
532 - was referring to post 528’s listing.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
524 Andy
Yep no evidence of Cuddles and Maddie in the same photo..
Maybe they were worried about people seeing the syringes or sedative pills or whatever Katiepoo needs to get her through the day hidden in Cuddle Cat.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
WHERE’S MUMMY AND DADDY?
Yet another day (Thursday) when the twins are without their parents. Just as when they were globetrotting and the McCanns met the Pope, went to Washington for three days etc. etc. And plonking the twins in the creche in Praia da Luz whilst they ‘campaigned’ for Madeleine’s return.
I do wonder about their emotional well-being, their parents being away from them so often. Why did the McCanns have children? -
QUOTE FROM YESTERDAY’S TELEGRAPH:
It is understood the McCanns will have separate lawyers to deal with the allegations which have been put to them by Portuguese police.
Detectives in the Algarve are apparently working on the theory that Mrs McCann may have accidentally killed Madeleine and relied on her husband to help cover it up. The McCanns have vehemently denied the allegation.
The appointment of the two leading lawyers is thought to be one of Portugal’s most expensive defence teams for people who are only arguidos, or suspects.
***Mr and Mrs McCann spent the day in discussions with the two men and their British lawyers in London yesterday***.
UNQUOTE
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:04 pm
328 - and so many others you’ve left off here who have contributed in one way or another to finding Maddy:
The Grandparents
Justine McGuiness
Philomena McCann
Some of Anorak’s posters
The British Media
The American Media
The Murat Family
JK Rowling and Harry Potter fans
David Beckham and entourage
Bryan Adams
The Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Millions of people looking for Madeleine around the world
This will out do any Houdini illusion tricks if we have all been fooled by this one couple and their seven other friends.
If you believe in numerology, there a lot of numeric consistencies in this case.
The numbers 3, 5, 7, 9 keep popping up.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
528 Tony
I was typing at the same time. yep I agree with all of yours except I think you can change some of the “hoodwinked” to “involved via freemasonry”
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:59 pm
(522) Blunger:
Ahh, the 466 quote is mine, I was copying and pasting my two comments (which were separated) to try and explain the quote (as the comments were meant to be taken together).
The original comment (482) didn’t mention my name, but it quoted me directly. I didn’t want to engage in a little “you said, and then I said, and this..” nonsense. But I felt you took my comment out of context (which is a fault of my own, I’ve already admitted that) and then you used it to show how things can be twisted, so naturally I did want to point out that it wasn’t intended in such a way. It wasn’t anything personal against you and I imagine the same is true for your original comment.
The whole quote thing is over with, I doubt if the whole cat on shelf mystery will ever be worked out.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:57 pm
C’mon folks get real.
there’s never been an intruder - just a smokescreen
maddie got killed by mistake sedative overdose
they are covering something up and it’s big
bigger than just about maddie probably organised crime probably paedophilia
the priest has disappeared
the catholic church is riddled with corruption
they are clearly freemasons who are probably part of the ring
O’Brien is already under the cloud of an investigation for negligence
O’Brien and Katiepoos were an item
Gerrypops is a miseryguts
the tapas 9 are all in it together up to their necks
they are all congenital liars
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:54 pm
IF Gerry and Kate McCann were, shall we say, ‘involved’ in Madeleine’s disappearance,
THEN:
1. The Pope has been hoodwinked
2. Gordon Brown has been hoodwinked
3. Richard Branson has been hoodwinked
4. Clarence Mitchell has been hoodwinked
5. The word’s media have been hoodwinked
6. Millions worldwide have been hoodwinked
7. In fact this could be regarded as one of the greatest deliberate hoaxes of all time
8. Gerry McCann would be in line to win a competition for ‘Most Convincing Liar of All Time’
9. The ‘Find Madeleine’ campaign was a cruel waste of time and money
10. People have bought yellow and green bangles and ribbons for nothing
11. The McCanns have wilfully and knowingly set up a private company, controlled by family members and friends, by deception, persuading thousands to donate generously to find a missing girl possibly abducted by a vile paedophile - surely a crime known to British law of ‘obtaining money by false pretences/deception’
12. The McCanns should be prosecuted, on the basis of whatever evidence is available or forthcoming, for whatever degree of ‘involvement’ in Madeleine’s disappearance can be proved
13. (Provided he too is not in some way also ‘involved’) Father Jose Pacheco can come out of his hiding place
14. and…
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
What about the Daily Express post from this morning where the tabloid states that there are seven hours of time unaccounted for on 3/5/07 leading up to the 10:00 PM discovery of Maddy’s disappearance that night?
Have they reported accurately in this case? Are there any discrepencies or sightings to discredit this (other than from the Tapas 9)?
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
This story is just getting so lunatic! I’m going to sign some petitions now.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:52 pm
(520)
“It would be interesting to know where the shelf is as well, if we are to believe she checked the room with the lights off, it would be hard to see the cat. And then, after yelling for Madeleine (thinking she wandered off, maybe had opened a window? Not sure how high up it was), why wouldn’t you run to get Gerry before seeing the cat?”
I mention this because it was widely reported (not sure how factual that is!), that when Kate saw the cat on the shelf, she automatically knew her daughter had been abducted. So for that to be the case, it seems the shelf would have to be highly visible from the doorway. And I say that because, afterwards I imagine her focus was squarely on finding Madeleine, so it would seem more likely that the shelf would be in a highly visible area from the doorway.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:50 pm
If cuddle cat was Madeleine’s favourite toy why hasn’t there been one picture of her holding the cat? Or at least one picture with Madeleine and the cat in the same shot?
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:50 pm
tony bennet 514
Interesting thoughts. I wonder
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Wanderer
I don’t know where you got that alleged blunger 466 quote from but if you look back you will see you have made some sort of mistake.
This is the correct version
_____
(466)blunger Says:
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 ?
_____
Teaches me the folly of ever replying to one individual in a forum like this. If you look you will see that my original comment deliberately didn’t mention your name.
I have obviously upset you rather a lot - that was never my intention - I apologise for having done so. The word “twist” was ill chosen, even though I carefully said we all do it.
Can we leave it now ? Too much of this person-to-person stuff clogs up the discussion of issues, and irritates me when I see others doing it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
(506) - Interesting. So you don’t think the grandparents of Maddy know the truth or what really happened (allegedly)? The stakes are so high, it would be too big of a risk I reckon.
(507) - That’s so true about the Volkswagen. My first car, I was so proud of it until I realized everyone else is driving the same car. The novelty wore off soon afterwards.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:45 pm
And I suggest a female would be more likely to do that because of the stereotypical qualities of such a thing, also, it would seem that a female would be more likely to provide toys for the child afterwards. While a male who was just after the girl for sexual purposes, wouldn’t think about her welfare as much, especially if he didn’t plan on keeping her, of course, if that was the case, I doubt he’d bother putting the toy on the shelf either.
I just wonder if the toy issue points to a more specific kidnapping purpose or gender, if there was an abductor (which once again, I’m talking about because that is apparently what the police are giving weight to now).
(514) Tony Bennet:
That is a good point about Cuddle Cat, Madeleine may have found solace in the toy.
(515 & 517 ) JT & Luna:
That’s another good point. There is always the possibility that it was a ransom type set up.
It would be interesting to know where the shelf is as well, if we are to believe she checked the room with the lights off, it would be hard to see the cat. And then, after yelling for Madeleine (thinking she wandered off, maybe had opened a window? Not sure how high up it was), why wouldn’t you run to get Gerry before seeing the cat? And if you were sure the abductor did touch the cat, why didn’t the police take it and examine it/why did you touch it? (people could say she was upset and clutched at it, I realize).
There are just far too many odd little things, even if an abductor did take her, it just feels like there has to be something else going on (which may be some silly pride thing for all we know, but it doesn’t make sense).
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Has anyone checked the kids club? Madeleine might still be in there as she and the twins spent so much of their holiday in the creche.
Kate and Gerry and the rest of Team McCann seemed more intent on enjoying themselves without the kids. Most of us go on holiday to spend a bit more time as a family and have ‘quality time’ with our children.