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
- leesmith on Michelle Obama Is A Monkey And Other Offensive Google Images
- magnetite on Church Gives Soul Tattoos To Worshippers
- Evie Walton on Peter Andre ‘Begs’ Katie Price To Come Home
- yampster on The Chilcot Inquiry Into The Iraq War, In Pictures
- yampster on Join The Campaign For Straight Gay Marriages
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:58 pm
(754) Trismegistus:
The poor Portuguese police won’t know what to do…they’ll all be sacked.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:52 pm
So most of you have probably already heard this joke, but here’s to sharing…
After being sacked from Chelsea, the Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho was quoted as saying “Right now, I’d really just like to go back to Portugal and disappear.”
Kate McCann was subsequently quoted as saying “I think I can help with that…”
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:47 pm
One of the amusing things that is going on right now is watching the spin occasionally go wrong.
Trying to make heads or tails out of the truth seems impossible. So, one may as well be amused by…
The statement by Friend Gerry in all the UK papers that “it’s terrible that we’ve raised over 1 million pounds and can’t use it now that we are under suspicion.” (Not an exact quote.) Followed within 24 hours, after the board of the “Buy Kate a posh house fund”… oh, I mean the “Find Madeleine Fund”… said no, by the statement that “of course we would never seek to use that money for these purposes.”
Riiiiight.
Another amusing one: The whole lie detector thing. It’s painfully obvious that Team McCann is monitoring the Internet forums and trying to address some of the things that are turning public opinion against the poor dear McCanns. Many people have said that they should volunteer to take lie dectector tests. Such tests are only pseudoscience and are not admissible in any court of law that I am aware of… but never mind this is PR that we’re talking about. So Thursday morning all the papers were carrying stories that “The McCanns are willing to take lie detector tests” and by Thursday afternoon the backpedalling was palpable… “we won’t pander to such ludicrous demands.”
Then the wonderful revisionist history of … did KateTheYummyMummy actually shout “They’ve taken her”, like her sister said at the time? Or was it “Madeleine’s gone” as the spin doctors would now like us to believe?
I do believe that Madeleine is beyond help– almost certainly dead, poor wee girl — so I feel free to find the wrigglings of her reptilian parents amusing.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Anyone think Clarence Mitchell was actually sacked from the MMU for exceeding his brief ? Didn’t seem to work out his notice, did he ? Surely as Director, he’d be on three months ? Resign - work notice while they search for a successor. Sack - clear your desk, straight out.
Unless of course he hasn’t really left at all ?
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:46 pm
On http://www.sic.pt you can watch a video tape(news) Tese homicídio”é a mais forte” (Thesis homocide “ïs the strongest”), in which the Briton Anglican priest of Praia da Luz talks, believing the innocence of the Mccanns.
You can observe that that priest does not dare to look at the camera and he avoids any eye contact.
a) he does not believe his own words
or
b)he knows more than he is telling
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
I meant of course one Anorak FREE day. Doh.
I know I don’t have to pay to post here.
Or do I.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
699 newtothis
I feel exactly as you do. At least on this we are on the same wavelength.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:44 pm
710 judith c
“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”
This bogus 40 questions not answered story came from a Portuguese newspaper I believe and their leaks seem more than a bit unreliable. Ever wondered why those leaks are so dodgy? Well, one of the people writing about this case for one Portuguese newspaper (newspapers never get ideas from other newspapers do they?) turns out to be a ‘recently’ retired chief inspector from the area. He just also happens to be under investigation for involvement in the case of the mother who was jailed for the murder of her 9 year old daughter (no body found). The mother always said she was beaten up and tortured into confessing. There are 5 police officers and detectives being investigated about this alleged beating, torture and fabrication of evidence case, and one of the is none other than this bloke who now writes about the Madeline case.
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,22429011-401,00.html
He wouldn’t want to stir up the Madeline story with made up leaks supposedly from his former colleagues, to deflect attention from the story involving himself would he?
The Judge who reviewed ALL the evidence the police submitted to him on the case decided there was no evidence against the McCanns and that it was theirfore not neccessary to ask them any further questions.
So which questions were the ones they haven’t answered again?
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:44 pm
594 Ade - Loved the post, grrrreat analogy
I really am only dropping by tonight as this became something of a fixation for me in recent days and I was hoping for one free Anorak day at least. One day at a time and all that.
I am so weak.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Re the “Pending investigation for medical negligence” thing.
I searched. Seems it is alleged against Matthew Oldfield, thus :
“Matthew met Gerry McCann when both doctors worked together at a hospital in Leicester. Matt has a pending accusation for medical negligence in that hospital, after a late diagnosis resulted in the death of a patient”
But I can only find this one form of words, repeated in many places, but only in connection with the McCann case.
I can find no reference from unconnected media, which I would expect if it was true. For the time being I regard it as an invention. A good link could prove me wrong.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:40 pm
i was watching that billy piper victorian thing earlier on uk gold.
made me think of victorian scousers when someone said
‘watch that bloke, if you turn your back he’ll have the shoes off your horse’
things dont change much do they
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:38 pm
731 holme
I’m not so sure. Who says the PJ is going to wait for Gordo’s election anyway? Public opinion in Portugal is pretty anti the “Armada” I believe, so why should their govt make themselves unpopular for Gordo? Also, I expect he has been advised of the risk of something smelly coming out of the woodwork that he would not like to be associated with. They got their fingers burnt already with prat Mitchell.
Safer to let the McManianics stew until after the election…
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:37 pm
has the tv news mentioned murat yet?
they hadn’t earlier.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:36 pm
stevo
I agree with you completely, something is so blatantly wrong with their body language that I spotted a fake the first time I saw them. When at first I said this at work no one could believe what I was saying, specially as I’m known to be a very caring, sympathetic person,but their body language and continence is a dead give away. I know that everyone reacts differently and that someone crying and screaming does not feel more pain than someone who conceals their feelings, but this is so obvious I can’t believe others can’t see it.
One thing bothers me though, what kind of people are they? I know that had I lost a child through no fault of my own I would be devastated, had it been through my own negligence I’d want to die but if I’d actually caused the death myself(not as in a car accident or such or some domestic accident, that can happen to anyone)Rather like what seems to have happened in this case I’d be such a wreck I’d probably have to be locked up.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:35 pm
738 Ade - That’s the best laugh I’ve had all day! xx
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:34 pm
740 firestar - I’ve felt a need for a bucket and a shovel ever since this dodgy case hit the headlines!
So WHAT– or WHO — was in that suitcase?
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:32 pm
(737) FeketeP:
I wasn’t talking about the trainee doctor as much (that must have been horrible for your friend), more pointing out what the other doctor said to her. That doesn’t mean they killed their daughter or that they are involved, but they obviously make mistakes as well.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:31 pm
405
thanks for that gem earlier.
i’m still laughing.
McCann returned alone to the apartment, emerging with a suitcase and a bucket and spade for the twins.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:31 pm
735 wanderer
Yep it’s been censored - I looked as well. Clearly the wrong “image” coming up to the court case… I bet PJ have a copy though
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:29 pm
732 trismegistus
mmmm tricky one. He’s a shortarse but it’s the rufty tufty Columbo look, dirty mac and cross-eyes I’d like. Cuddles is a bit prettier but I don’t want to end up getting left on the shelf - especially with a syringe up my arse…
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Wanderer 726 - the girl who gave the overdose was a trainee doctor in her first week of practise, who was then working a 120 hour week. I can understand why patients are misdosed in those circumstances. I find it harder to understand how it could happen in the (rented) family home. But you are right, doctors are not infallible.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Anyone found the missing video interview yet? The one of Kate saying near the end that Madeleine knows we love her?
It seems to have vanished off every website that ever showed it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:25 pm
(731) Holme:
I would hope Gordon Brown isn’t elected for basic compassion for this case (as I think everyone here would like to be more helpful). I hope he doesn’t win on such a weak PR set-up, his job entails more than that.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:24 pm
726 - FeketeP
I think the fact that the pair of them are in the same emotional frame of mind is also suspicious. For one to have the stiff upper lip is one thing - to have two act like it is so incredible. It really does seem like they are emotionless because 1) they KNOW she is alive, and/or 2) they had something to do with however she disappeared. To me, that would explain why they don’t get emotional. Because, why would you get emotional if you REALLY knew she wasn’t dead? In that case it would be virtually impossible to show emotions because you’d have to fake it 100%
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:24 pm
729 726
C’mon chaps it’s well known that doctors can’t do maths and regularly get doses wrong by factors of ten or worse. That’s why we have those nurse thingies who actually know what they are doing…
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:24 pm
608 Ade - do you want to be good-looking like Columbo or like Cuddle Cat?
Either is cause for worry!
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:22 pm
WANDERER: I understand what you say. …and indeed agree with you partially.
However the McCann’s are now a wronged high profile British couple being falsely accused and maligned by the Portuguese Police. Gordon Brown thinks that the art of being Prime Minister is to bring off one PR coup after another and thinks that digging the McCanns out of their situation will help him win the election.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:21 pm
717 Judith C
There’s a quote from Fiji about walking under coconut trees:
“Watch out for rolling stones”
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:21 pm
(726) FeketeP:
But didn’t you say earlier that it is quite unlikely that two highly trained doctors would mess and overdose their own child? (if sedatives were involved)
That’s the thing, doctors make big mistakes sometimes…that’s why you always hear about those lawsuits…
I don’t think never admitting a relative is going to die before they die is a very effective way to deal with such an issue, but yes, I know people that do it.
I’m not sure we’ll ever know, we haven’t seen the couple away from this whole situation.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Real Stig
I didn’t get a chance to reply to your post the other day about your brother in a hospice and the way you and your mother grieved in private about that. First, I’m sorry to hear your story and trust you didn’t have to grieve too much about that.
What I was going to say was that a relation in a hospice is a different scenario to having a 3 yr old abducted. Right now, my dad has cancer and it’s only a matter of time before it gets him. He’s a pain in the butt and to our family, he’s alienated himself for years so there’s very little emotion towards him. I went to see him in the hospital as soon as he was diagnosed and rushed in. Days after I saw him he had to have a kidney removed and half a lung. I hadn’t seen him for a few years but went out of compassion and humanitarian reasons. He started up some of the crap that alienated himself from us all and I have no emotions towards him at all.
That’s my point - if you have a 3 yr old child that you love and dote on, you would be significantly emotional to have that child disappear. It is a unique relationship you have with a toddler and it is unlike any other relationship in your life.