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 10:20 pm
Puzzled Says:
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
120 - Re coincidences etc.
Some questions which are still unresolved – which highlight the number of coincidences and inconsistencies.
Why not use the babysitting service on offer?
[Don't know. It seems bizarre as they were ok using the creche during the day.}
Why leave a door unlocked?
[Negligence, if indeed it was unlocked]
Why not actually physically check kids during the ‘regular checks’?
[We are not really sure if they did or not. The McCanns have been bound to silence by the police on activities of the evening of May 3rd. Friends are now starting to leak information, which bearing in lind the police leak information, seems only fair]
Was the window/door shut/open?
[I beleive it was closed when tey left to go to the Tapas bar and open at the end of the evening after Maddie was found to be missing]
Was Cuddle Cat on the shelf on in M’s bed?
[On the shelf]
Why refuse neighbours offer to phone police?
[Can you provide a source for that piece of information?]
What was really called out ‘they’ve taken her’ or ‘M’s gone’?
[we will never know and it is a huge red herring, waste of time, etc trying to work it out or discuss it]
Why leave twins in apartment alone after M ‘abducted?
[I wouldn't. Seemed a bit risky]
Why contact UK media so quickly?
[Because they had friends in the media. Seemed like a very rational thing to do at a time when you needed to publicise a disappearance]
What happened to the missing hours?
[We do not know what happened to Maddie after 6/6.30. If we did, we probably wouldn't be on here theorising. We'd probably all be down the pub getting a life or something]
Why are all the timelines constantly shifting?
[They aren't. Timelines have always been interpretations by the media etc, in the absence of facts, which the police are blocking]
Why do the Tapas timelines not match at all?
[Again, the timelines that we receive are coming from third parties to the event and are 'best guesses' based on a lack of information, which is being supressed by the Police]
Where was GM between 5.00 – 6.00pm?
[At least part of the time he was playing tennis. Part of the time he was eating with his family]
(At the moment, it seems he was in 3 places at once)
[That's because we are making the best of what we can with a lack of real information]
Why does Jane Tanner’s story keep changing?
[It doesn't]
Why did that Wilkins guy not see this man carrying child?
[Who knows.]
Why did Wilkins not see Jane Tanner?
[Again, who knows]
Why set up fund as a private company?
[Because they were not allowedto set it up as a charity as the fundwas not considered to be for the public good]
Why not use it to find other missing children?
[That is one of the objecties of the fund]
Why not demonstrate how fund has been used to help find M?
[What do you want to see?]
Why visit the Pope without bring the twins to be blessed too?
[I'm not sure. I probably would have taken them. They could have been a very good reason that we don't know about]
Why go to certain cities and not others?
[Judgement call]
Why claim reports of sighting were ‘hurtful and unhelpful’?
[Because fake reports are hurtful and unhelpful]
Why bore the world to death with ‘Gerry’s blog’?
[now you're just being sily]
Why not use the website to keep people uptodate with search for M?
[I am disturbed by the commercial nature of the site. The best example is the 'About Madeleine' page.]
Why the ‘lying’ body language in Portugese interview re sedating the kids?
[because he was lying]
Why not accept responsibility for any of this?
[Some people just don't. Sad but true]
Why refuse to give forensic samples, eg. twins urine?
[What source do you have for this?]
Why wash Cuddle Cat?
[Because it was dirty?]
Why leg it back to the UK within 48 hours of being declared suspects?
[The lease was up on the property they were staying in and the plan to leave had been in place for some weeks]
Why be surprised that people think you have something to hide?
[Perhaps they thought people would be more supportive, seeing as they are innocent until proven guilty and there seems to be no case against them]
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:18 pm
719: Stevo - I remembered a girl I knew at University who was a medical student. She gave a terminally ill patient an overdose by mistake and he died. She only reduced his life by about 24 hours but technically she killed him. She was crying her eyes out when the consultant came. She explained what had happened. His response?: “Don’t worry about it, this happens all the time.” And she soon got used to people dying, very occasionally as a result of her own errors. Whether that explains the McCanns is another matter.
Perhaps one reason why they don’t cry on camera is that they have convinced themselves she is still alive. This is how many of us cope with our own tragedies, never admitting that the relative with cancer is about to die until it finally happens.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
(720) Holme:
“pressure was imposed on the Portuguese police.”
I don’t agree with that at all, I think they messed up and should have done things differently, but by looking at the McCanns they were effectively starting at square one. I don’t think any government should put pressure on a foreign police crew unless that crew is hurting or bullying someone and taking their rights away. With the lawyers and such the McCanns have, that wasn’t happening or was sorted out quickly if it was. I don’t think highly important members of the government need to get involved at this stage, just my opinion of course.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Didn’t I read that Gerry is not a surgeon? That he does the investigations, then refers patients to a surgeon ? Doesn’t sound likely fromk my experience, but that’s what I read.
Also, he cannot be a fully fledged consultant can he ? Wouldn’t he then be called “Mr McCann” ?
Crazy, but that’s how it works. From Mr. to Dr., and finally back to Mr.
And what’s this talk about O’Brien being investigated ? Does anyone have a link, please ? Or is it an invention ?
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:15 pm
677 fketepe
I like your input, you sound unbiased. Not all white, not all black..rather shades of grey
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:15 pm
718 - Lunalunera
Thank you. You obviously understand the subtleties of what I’m saying.
To have a designer child is one thing - but, you have to be prepared to accept what comes out. Perhaps G&K didn’t like what they got served up.
Fragile X is a case in point. A woman with Fragile X may have many miscarriages because of the nature of the defect on the X chromosome. It is quite feasible that Kate couldn’t conceive because she had a chromosomal disorder herself. For instance, Turner’s girls will never conceive without IVF and hormonal therapy.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 pm
It’s not that we are just nasty Fiona, but the developments (what?!) of the case are growing less and less encouraging. The shortage of real developments has raised a mountain of doubts and questions. Many have just run out of support, I guess.
A little child is still missing. Any changes (really) she’s alive and well? If it was my child I would have told the world in addition to that “she’s our beautiful daughter” and “she has a brother and a sister called so and so”, every detail that could have helped to find her. To mention - if the fact is - that she has autism or is suspicious of people our doesn’t understand a word, or she can’t swim goes without saying! Instead in my opinion we have got something else. Dynamism in conferences and PR.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 pm
ELECTION: With an election in the air Gordon Brown will ensure that the Portuguese drop all allegations and rescind the arguido status of the McCanns before polling day at the end of October.
Personally - although I don’t support Brown in the least - I think the McCanns are innocent and it’s high time some pressure was imposed on the Portuguese police. Clearly their mission is now to find the body - and about time too.
Meanwhile there’s just an outside chance (- say 5%) that some woman somewhere is bringing up Madeleine as her own
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
709 - FeketeP
I don’t think as a doctor you receive specific “bottle your emotions” training. In any case, that would apply to other people - not your own flesh and blood.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
688 stevo
Those of us who know children with congenital disorders know what your talking about here.
But then there are those who would have a child-a-la-carte.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Re: “No Stone Unturned”
I found a nice appropriate quote in my Dictionary of Quotations: “under every stone lurks a politician” - Aristophanes.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
(709) FeketeP:
I don’t think Gerry is an actual surgeon? My mother was in a career that dealt with such things before moving onto a related but different career, when my grandfather died she was still a wreck. And my mother’s work found her around lots of people dealing with death, people being ready to die, and I remember when I was little she would sometimes have to go assist in some things like plane accidents and such. To each their own I suppose, but when it is your family, it is different, in my opinion. But I suppose I’m just as emotional as my mum!
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
707 - Wanderer
I’m not sure which way you are on this. I know the Royals (and military) are trained to keep the stiff upper lip, but my point was that even the best and most highty trained of us do show signs of emotion. Diana Spencer’s brother was a case in point.
I was at a funeral a few years ago. It was a boy aged 9 who was in my son’s class. This boy had slipped into the river and drowned one morning before school. It was like the whole village couldn’t contain themselves and you’d meet people with tears welling up all the time for weeks.
No matter how hard you try, there’d be some tiny sign that you were grieving. I see none of that from Kate and Gerry. Just more and more arrogance and the same old rhetoric with the same vocabulary over and over.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
711 No blunger
Flicking human bits at people is called body contact
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
607 Spudgun
I kept reading insinuations that the speedy setting up of the McCann website is in itself a suspicious thing.
This is the 21st century and I didn’t think it that suspicious a thing, so I looked into it.
What I found doesn’t seem very suspicious to me. The site was not ‘commissioned’ - as in paying someone to set it up for them. Well meaning friends and volunteers did it for them.
I think that no matter what you might think about the McCanns, their relatives and friends are an admirable bunch of resourceful and steadfast people. I could only dream that if I was in trouble that I had a bunch like that behind me.
Their website seems to largely be the work of a young computer whiz, Calum McCrae, who was a former student of Philomena’s - so whatever you might think of her, she obviously left a favourable impression on at least one of her students. Good on him I say.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91210-1266968,00.html
“for me, it wasn’t the strangeness of launching a high drive ‘Media and PR campaign’ within 48 hours”
The story I have read in several places was that the McCanns insisted to the Police that they thought Madeleine had been abducted. The Police did not believe that - they thought she had wandered off. It is a holiday resort, little kids are probably being mislaid on a weekly basis so the Police probably get lots of hysterical parents panicking about children that really have just wandered off.
The McCanns did not believe that. They say they just knew from subtle clues that someone had taken her, so they became very frustrated that the Police seemed to not be taking them seriously about an abduction. You know, doing useful things like sealing off the apartment, sending out calls for roadblocks to be set up on main roads, for police at the Spanish border to be notified, for the Motorway authority to turn on the CCTV full time.
So they were distraught and horrified that their abduction fears were not being taken seriously so they had the idea to alert the media in the hope they could help. They probably realised that Spain and Portugal are awash with British Expats with their satellite dishes pointing to the Astra satellites getting their news from the BBC and SKY. At least those expats could keep an eye out.
Why is this suspicious? It seems like a very reasonable thing to think of and do if you are desperate. Stroke of genius if you ask me.
“They were being FORCED down our necks”
Spudgun - you know that long flat black box with all the colourful buttons on it that came with your TV? Well its a neck protector - thats right - if you feel something coming out of the TV and making its way down your neck in an uncomfortable way - just press some of the colourful buttons and whatever it was will go away as if by magic. Handy, huh?
“when the alledged sightings of Maddy started to appear…”
I read there were over 300 such sightings. No doubt if they had criss-crossed Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa to investigate 150 of them, you and others would point the finger of doubt and say ‘why didn’t they investigate the other 150′
But do you know, they did something better and cleverer than that - they got the police forces in those countries where the sightings had taken place to do the looking and investigating for them. Have you ever tried to do even something trivial and simple in a country where you don’t speak the language? Yet you think the McCanns, as well as being doctors, are multi, multi lingual and seasoned private investigators as well. Do you speak Dutch for example? how could you investigate that sighting if you did not speak Dutch - how would you talk to people and ask questions?
The local Police forces speak the local languages, know how to investigate the sightings, have the resources and manpower, It’s their job, and they have the necessary legal powers behind them.
Of course if you think the McCanns could have investigated those 300 sightings better than the local police could - with the twins in tow of course - well thats good, because it means you must think them the most extraordinarily multi talented two people on Earth.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:06 pm
698 vera
I reckon Jurassic Park fits the bill best - Tucked away in a remote big hoose with a few wee drams hairy hands, kilts and lights ooot
feck arse girls drink
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:06 pm
On the suspiciousness of the bodylanguage/wordchoice - my heart is with those of you it disturbs. But my head tells me that we cannot really know how everyone would react, or how 7 years training amongst disease and death, involving cutting up many corpses, would alter ones responses.
I remember a medical student friend of mine laughing about how he and his friends would deliberately freak out the more sensitive girls by flicking bits of human fat at them across the room. This was in the dissection room when the supervisers were away.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:05 pm
(679) Fiona. Why have you posted on this forum if it is simply to declare your holier-than-thou credentials? We know there are loads of people like you out there that’s why many bad people don’t get the punishment they deserve because they have been ‘forgiven’before they’ve even been tried. Of course we can’t be sure the McCanns did what many people here think they did because they are refusing to prove their innocence by refusing to answer legitimate questions. But the key word is ‘legitimate’. They started the worldwide Madeleine McCann Show (now the Kate and Gerry McCann Show)and having done that they are now public property. So if public debate, speculation, theory, humour and diagnosis offend you, perhaps you would be better off not reading it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Is the whole of Gerry’s blog still available online? I found some entries on findmadelaine.com but only very recent ones.
As to the self control issue: don’t you think being doctors, they have rather more experience keeping emotions under control? Gerry opens up chest cavities for a living, not all of them survive. So they work in an environment where they are used to breaking bad news to relatives which requires a (to us) chilling level of detachment. I’m suggesting this to aid the discussion, not because I necessarily believe it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:04 pm
704 - Simon
I respect that Simon. I think you’re probably thinking like that now because it hasn’t happened and God forbid it ever does. But I think you’d be in a minority to contain your emotions on telly for 5 months and act like you’d lost a family pet.
705 - Ade
I’m no scientist on body language but I know from when I’ve done business deals, I always like to be face to face with my client and not use the phone because you detect and pick up vibes from that. I think you are quite right though. He seems very dominant, arrogant and assured while she is meek and mild and seems to be his faithful sheep - a follower to the end.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
(701) Stevo:
Some people tend to bottle things up a bit, then when something small happens, the flood gates open. That still means that emotion does eventually come out though…and I think however strong you were on camera, in an event like this with constant talk of your daughter, it would be extra hard not to cry.
I know people say professionals, etc. but professionals react sometimes too, especially when it is their own family. And the whole royal family thing…well, they are trained from an early age.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
688
And Stevo – if Madeleine did have a medical problem then they would know more about it than other parents in similar situation.
I’m sure someone has posted this clip here before, but what I find strange is when Gerry talks about that at least the twins haven’t been taken away. I’m sure it’s only natural to feel grateful that at least they’re OK, but I still find his words strange:
“We cannot grieve one – we do grieve, of course we grieve”
See it from 2:12 – he says it around 2:25
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N44SSvIcDvA
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:01 pm
695 Stevo
I know nothing about body language from an educational point of view but my instincts are usually ok and I can pick up some of the signs. I reckon he’s very dodgy and an arrogant, congenital liar. She seems to be dominated by him and seems scared of him even. She’s lying as well though to back him up. She has no choice.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:00 pm
692 - Stevo, you and I sound like very similar family men. Similar ages, similar families.
I am very confident that if this had happened to me, I would bottle my emotions on camera. It’s just how I am.
I would break down privately. Some folks are like that.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:00 pm
696 - Ade
Thanks…reading it now.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:00 pm
just checking if I can post.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 pm
…and to doubters of the body language, for Christ’s sake, we see people in tears at far less than having a child abducted.
We witness road rage. We witness all kinds of emotional displays on a daily basis. But…not from the McCanns. That frankly, is impossible unless you didn’t really lose the child.
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 pm
just checking if I have access to this site
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
The interview was on Woman`s Hour in August, before all the “suspicions”. I don`t remember hearing about cuddle cat on a shelf, but no-one was talking about cc at that time.
I thought some of KMs answers to questions were very strange and unnatural.
When asked, “Do you feel guilty for having left the children?”, there was a slight admission of guilt but KM then spoke about the letters and support and understanding she`d had from people who had done similar things and that she mustn`t blame herself. As a parent, I`m sure I would have said that I was consumed with guilt; that I would never stop saying, “If only I hadnt left her alone this would never have happened. I think about this every moment of every day and I will do as long as I live if M is never found.”
When asked, “What was your last memory of M?” she spoke about how happy she had been on the holiday, that she had said that her last day was the best. I find this very strange. Surely a mother would say how she remembered her last physical contact with her child, tucking her up in bed, kissing and cuddling her, not some vague comment about happiness.
I was also surprised when she said that she was sleeping well. I would imagine being tortured by nightmares and dreams of M being alive and there and being heartbroken yet again when I woke to find she really wasnt.
I was struck at the time by the control of KM.
I apologise if I have not recorded the answers and questions as accurately as my memory serves, but the interview can be listened to on the BBC Radio 4 website.
What does anyone else think?
September 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
683 Ade:
perhaps Castle Craig is another ‘Craggy Island’….I wonder how many priests and others they’ve got holed up there?