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
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September 23rd, 2007 at 1:00 am
868 Stevo - UK. Tricky to be more precise on here!
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:59 am
860 momo :
Team McCann are quiet today because they are reloading.
Wait for it.
Good night, all!
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:59 am
Well folks I’m also off to bed. Here in Spain it’s 2:00 am and I must admit I’ve spent a good part of my day here with you, time well spent I may add but it’s time to hit the sack.
Good night all….
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:58 am
854 Stevo, and on the subject of the flight in general…
There is a big difference between business travel and holiday travel in the UK. Bigger than there is in the US. I am an expat American in the UK- formerly frequent business and holiday traveler in the US, now occasionally go on holidays in UK. The sorts of flights and package holidays that US people think are far beneath them (only if you’re over 70) are normal in the UK. The culture is different. The fact that their plane was a charter/low cost flight is perfectly normal here for a holiday flight. Many people do it and there is no stigma here like there is in the US.
I still think it’s weird to take videos on the plane, but maybe I’m the weird one in that.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:57 am
867 - blunger
Me too…very hard to believe there’s parents out there like that or sympathetic to the McCanns.
Off to eat now…cheers…
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:55 am
864 - WTF
Goodnight…you too. Where shall I send a card to?
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:54 am
I have to accept it, but I still find it hard to believe that there are honest, thoughtful people here who are asserting that it is acceptable parenting to leave three such young children out of earshot for 30 minutes.
Are any of them parents ?
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:53 am
858 blunger
Expressed exactly how I feel it. They’ve done themselves no favours by being more concerned with putting themselves in the clear when it comes to assuming some responsibility for the whole affair.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:53 am
855 lol
dont forget rosemary and thyme and jessica fletcher
my bet its all on the texts when they thought they were safe
ie
GM —–rome to OB (has it been dealt with?)
OB —– portugal seaside/sea ( the stones are turned, car washed returned keys in CC 1st)
GM ——rome to OB ( the pope blessed m s photo , will continue to fight, thanks mate)
OB portugal to GM ( never mention this again are we quits yet?)
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:52 am
Stevo. Nice chatting tonight but am off to bed now. Keep up the good work.
Never did get that postcard…
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:51 am
I know that young boy murdered in Liverpool (Rhys) supported Everton. Did Everton FC do anything special for Madeleine like they did for Rhys?
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:51 am
860 - momo
It’s hard work thinking up spin stories…give them a break!
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:47 am
858 - Blunger
Agree with that. But it goes beyond the child neglect. It’s the spin stories like the “bleeding leg while boarding plane” stories and others that aggravate people who find their testimony incredible.
I wouldn’t have the nerve to use that story about the bleeding leg but they have an immediate answer to anything that looks to discredit them. In fact, their answers are proving to be totally daft.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:46 am
I just find it strange that the McCanns are keeping themselves so quiet today.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:45 am
846 innocenttilproveninnocent Says:
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:34 am
Why didn’t the abductor take cute little baby Amelie or cute little baby Sean instead? Sorry at this stage I only can assume an accident and panic theory.
On an earlier post I mentioned this.I believe if a woman had wanted a child to look after, she’d have taken one of the twins because of mother-child bonding, a child that age if given physical comfort and care would much more quickly forget parents, With a four year old you’d always wonder how much she remembered, at what stage some flashback to early child hood may start her asking questions.
However someone kidnapping a child for other reasons, even ramson would probably opt for the older child, no nappy changing etc.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:45 am
Empathy for the McCanns:
The problem many of us have when asked for McCann-empathy is that we can’t get away from the child neglect. Amongst all the rumours/leaks/uncertainty, that is the one constant certainty, because we all saw them admit it out of their own mouths in television interviews.
If we just heard one good clear admission that what they did was wrong in principle, and that if they hadn’t done it Maddy would be with them now, maybe that would help. But they just won’t do it.
They choose very careful words, similar to regretting that you couldn’t accompany your daughter to a dental appointment because you couldn’t get the time off work. “We know we are responsible parents” etc etc.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:44 am
851 - WTF
Thanks. I find more and more McCann fans are the ones who want to believe so they distort everything to “fit” their own beliefs.
Personally, I like to check and re-check everything and I never accept what I’m told by the press. Isn’t it dangerous when you look at how bad the stories are and when you check for yourself, 99% of it is riddled with holes.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 am
Here’s a direct question to Real Stig:
Please tell us here why you think the press thought Madeleine cut her leg and bled on her shoe when the video clearly shows her falling onto her hands and certainly not in a way likely to cause bleeding?
You’re a McCann fan - go on, tell us all…
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:41 am
Famous people watching..
Trevor Eve
Lorraine Kelly
The Pope
Stig (Of the dump)
McManus (Mick)
Columbo
Gordon Brown
Aristophanes.
judge judy
Judge Dread
Freddie Starr
Jeffrey Archer
Miss Marple
Lorraine Kelly
Mulder and Scully
Paul Newman and Robert Redford
Richard Branson
Awaiting..
John craven, David vine, Spike Milligan, Pol Pot and John Nettles.
585 concise
302/321 funny
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:40 am
848 - Trismegistus
850 - Andy
I don’t think you’re wrong. I’m a frequent flyer. I know some airlines are more picky about using cellphones. What the Madeleine video tells us is that the McCanns are using a low-cost airline. Proper scheduled flights use a pier instead of steps. It’s more likely a low-cost or charter flight is less stringent on phone usage. Here in the USA we all use our phones right up to almost taxying.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:38 am
827
I would’nt wear them, but hey, who am I?
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:37 am
This is the sort of BS we are fed:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=481124&in_page_id=1811&ct=5
In this article they say that Madeleine bled on her shoe as she tripped and fell on those steps boarding the plane. That’s weird…isn’t she wearing trousers?
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:37 am
Stevo 836 - I have noticed that. There’s no subtlety in it, and it can only lead to one conclusion really.
Stevo 839 -I thought that myself when I watched that vid earlier today. Thank you for posting your observation here for the record. The more crap I read in the form of planted anecdotes and misleading readings of things which are already out there for all to see, the more I feel there is a need to HAVE an actual record.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 am
845. Stevo.
I must be the strange one then
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 am
839
840
maybe to see how doped they were to work out the correct dose
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 am
840 Andy -
Yes I’m with you on that one. It contributes to the case for a premeditated crime. Why were they filming their kids coming off the plane? Most people wouldn’t have the cameras out until they got themselves properly stuck in to their holiday…
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 am
844 - Julie
Yes, I know. It’s plain to see that Madeleine doesn’t cut anything in that fall.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:34 am
Why didn’t the abductor take cute little baby Amelie or cute little baby Sean instead? Sorry at this stage I only can assume an accident and panic theory.
The “Strongwood” article was a lot longer than just a couple of lines, by the way.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:34 am
840 - Andy
I was on the tarmac at Glasgow on a plane bound for the USA earlier this month. I booked a rental car while I sat in the plane prior to take off. It’s not unusual to use your phone up to the time the Captain tells you not to. From what I see, quite a lot of people take photos or video of the plane they’re about to board.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:33 am
839 … quite right there, if I remember correctly they said that she’d cut her knee … huh? … she’d at least have had to fall on the knee for it to be cut! Nothing they have said makes sense …. they’re clawing at thin air …. and running out of excuses … not going to last for much longer!