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 11:43 pm
Are we made to understand that R Murat is getting his name cleared now? On what ground, hon? I gather the DNA is playing a role here - the LACK of (DNA) evidence of Murat’s involvement. The DNA identification works equally effectively when the evidence and suspects are getting matched. I mean, if we accept that Murat is innocent basing on forensic tests, we also accept that we find the one(s) who is guilty basing on forensic tests. It is rather cheap and suspicious fight against every proof and piece of evidence, isn’t it?
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Pixie
This is getting ridiculous.
And Kate and Gerry are divided on helping the police?
Someone posted something about Kate and Gerry getting different legal help (in a jokey kind of way). Poster, ( I don’t recall your name, sorry) , you are a mindreader!
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:40 pm
WTF & Ade
When I said “you” I didn’t mean you guys. I looked at my last posting and it sounded wrong. I typed it too fast and didn’t check it read right before clicking submit…
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:40 pm
774 trismegistus
I think Cuddles first appeared when they started the PR silent walks to the beach and the church. And at the many TV promos. First she carried it ostentatiously in her hand so the hacks wanted to know the storyline behind it. Then later she carefully had it poking out of her bag - always facing photographer side.
There was a day early on when it had to dry our after accidently jumping from the laundry basket into the washing machine - kinda Cuddles reverse tombstone stunt in aid of CEDNAE (Campaign for the Eradication of DNA Evidence) and the rest is history…
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:38 pm
776 - Real Stig
Here’s a video from May: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N44SSvIcDvA&NR=1
Kate doesn’t look like she’s grief stricken at all.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:38 pm
770 brandon flowers: ok, if they do snap and kill the twins like the person in this story…
I can think of it as nothing other than evolution in action.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:36 pm
772 - WTF
773 - Ade
For some reason, you post opinions about this and those who don’t believe the body language arguments post silly replies with crazy interpretations of what they see - or rather choose to see.
I agree Ade that Kate looks rougher now than she did in the beginning. Look at the early interviews and there’s lots of make-up, hairdo, ear-rings etc. Nowadays her hair looks quite straggly and she’s lost interest in dolling herself up for the cameras.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Did you lot read that very interesting link that Vera posted way back on 622 (I think)! Someone did their homework and it makes for very interesting reading! You know some people have connections, and then others HAVE connections!
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Here we go again – sources close to the family:
Sources close to the family say that David Payne, one of the holiday party, saw Madeleine being put to bed when he visited the McCann apartment at 7pm. Previously the last confirmed sighting of Madeleine was at 2.29pm when a photograph of her and Gerry was taken at the swimming pool.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2511985.ece
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:32 pm
761 Blunger
Evidence is not necessarily something which casts suspicion on someone, it can be for, against, or neutral. evidence is just relevant/pertinent information.
I said “evidence against” I did not say there was no evidence at all. What the judge actually said was:
“Since the police have not collected any elements of proof after the parents became arguidos on September 7 that justifies any new actions, I have not requested any new interviews.”
I interpret ‘elements of proof’ as implying negativity.
But you are right to pull me up on it, I could have worded it better - mea culpa.
However, I think you and I would both agree that the unanswered questions hypothesis is myth. Nice to see someone around here actually reads things carefully, I just wish more people would.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:30 pm
I just wish they’d get it over with. It’s not like it’s going to come as a big surprise…
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:30 pm
It’s a bit quiet on here now…
So what do people think about the transformation of the pink comfort blanket into the pink Cuddle Cat?
(As an aside, it really does say “Cuddle Cat” on the label… you can see it in some of the pictures. I thought it was just a baby-talk thing.)
In the times article from May 6, 2007…
“At 9.30pm Gerry McCann checked his children and they were sound asleep, with Madeleine lying with her comfort blanket. [...] She [Kate] recalled that the twins were still asleep in their two cots and there was the small, bright pink wool blanket that Madeleine likes to hold when she sleeps.”
No Cuddle Cat yet.
Does anyone know when exactly Cuddle Cat stepped into a starring role?
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
767 762
I reckon she looks better in the early vids. She looks terrible now - probably the prozac or whatever she’s taking, lack of sleep and having to live with gerrykins
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
767 - Stevo - yes. We all have YouTube + brains = not having to believe in fairy stories such as “I heard that a journalist said that Kate completely broke down and I mean cried yes really after an interview. No of course the journalist never published this amazing scoop they just told a friend of a friend who told me so I could post it here you know like the man in the rain coat who told a friend of a guy I work with not to travel on 9//11″.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:26 pm
744 - lunalunera
Couldn’t agree more and I’d be the same if anything happened to my kids.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:26 pm
http://portugalresident.com/portugalresident/showstory.asp?ID=21334
i posted this earlier
and i am worried for the twins
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I would like to see a nice simple, quick investigation/prosecution for child neglect. ie leaving such small children alone for so long.
While the very complex main investigation takes it’s steady and difficult course. This would calm things down and reduce all the spin.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:23 pm
763 momo
yup they have been taking note of our advice rather than prat Mitchell. And they are on the backfoot of course as they are now the main suspects fair and square… And they have run aot of new fairy stories, new witnesses and new evidence following the post amnesia phase of 4 months
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:22 pm
762 - Real Stig
The early interviews are there and Kate doesn’t look any different. Have a look on Youtube yourself.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:22 pm
761 blunger - I agree entirely. The decisions not to reinterview them have nothing to do with giving up the case, just with the likelihood of getting new and/or useful information out of them.
I entirely disagree with the jingoistic attitude that the PJ must be incompetent because they aren’t English. I think that they are playing a complex psychological game. I keep thinking of Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.”
The PJ are completely aware of the PR and spin doctoring being done on the part of Team McCann. They are probably - thankfully - somewhat inexperienced in dealing with the scale of it. However, they seem to be doing the right things… lay low, keep quiet and give them enough rope to hang themselves.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Apartment floor plan layout
Someone was asking for this and I stumbled on it… the window was unlocked m’lud
http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/09/21/fall-madeleine/imagemap/imagemap,geo=2533040.html
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I read the mcCann’s are challenging the police to put up or shut up. Yet they have stated they are not going to answer questions any more (=they are not helping the investigation). Now what kind of bull is that?
The mcCann’s reluctance to answer the questions is causing this apparent pause in the investigation. The police are instead collecting more evidence to find out what happened to Madeleine. They have also said that it may take a long time until the inquiry is finished - because of the complexity of the case and the attitude of the parents.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:14 pm
The McCanns are rather quiet today, don’t you think?
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:13 pm
744 lunalunera
In the first week this all happened, especially the first day or two. There was TV footage, particularly of Kate, that I can only describe as harrowing. I actually thought to myself - and this is the literal truth - that I now had a new personal benchmark for how a person could show grief - and I have a few years behind me!. I thought she was grief personified.
I fervently wish that early footage were available on Youtube, even though in a way it would be a terrible invasion of her privacy so maybe it is better it isn’t.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:11 pm
“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.”
This is a popular misconception amongst people who don’t read carefully, and perhaps want to believe it.
I followed the wording very carefully. It was not said that there was no evidence, but that there was no NEW evidence since they were LAST QUESTIONED, and hence no need at present for further questioning.
I take that to mean that there was no need for more questioning for the time being. ie there were no new questions until more evidence had been assembled.
This isn’t an interrogation, where they ask the same questions over and over again. They ask you, you get a chance to reply, it is recorded.
At no time did they say there was NO evidence. That is obviously nonsense. They have thousands of pages of it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:11 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBXB_cvdxME&mode=related&search=
Gerry and kate talking to a camcorder
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:10 pm
753 - Trismegistus “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”. Yes it is painfully obvious. But understandable I suppose. What I cannot understand is their need to actually come in to these forums and siddle up to people who hold completely contrary views as to what happened on that night and say “we are very alike you and I”. I thought people only did that in rubbish films. Follow the posts from that siddler through and you will see what I mean. (You will also pick up his alternate voices riding side sadle). The giving a little ground, the questioning key bits of the different theories, before stating once again that the abduction theory is a good one. I mean, what a nerve. In here all of all places.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:07 pm
The video with Kate staring down and saying they love Madeleine was posted on this site. Wouldn’t it still be in the archives?
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:59 pm
752 blunger
er… yup I reckon they realised he was a plonker all along. Mind you look like they want him to scupper the McManus bout by letting him run the blue corner bucket and towel. McManusClan may have cottoned on by now too that he’s plonk material, so we could well see him being “let go” for the second time in a week. Nice.
The “Put up or shut up” and lie detector offer ruses were damp squibs fer sure begorrah and he’ll struggle to cope with the off-the hook status of the boy-next door suspect back in sunny Portugal. And the fragrant ones seem all set to be off the front pages for tomorrow’s press bash.
Foot and mouth is becoming interesting again, after all and the Neasden-on-Sea paint-drying watch-off is set to be a showstopper…
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:59 pm
726 FeketeP
That is very perceptive of you - yes, you haven’t given up hope so you don’t grieve!