Madeleine McCann: Blonde Child Seen In Morocco
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
DAILY MAIL front page: “Could this be Maddie?”
Readers see a picture of a child being carried on a woman’s back - “The intriguing picture being probed by Interpol.”
Pages 10 and 11: “Could this really be Maddie?”
This is the picture of a girl “in the clutches of a group of Moroccans”. The picture was taken four weeks ago near Tangiers by Spaniard Clara Torres.
DAILY MIRROR front page: “MADDY IN MOROCCO?”
Readers see the same picture. The Full “astonishing story” is on pages 4 and 5.
Pages 4 and 5: “COULD IT BE?” Less the full story than another question.
“GERRY: I KNOW WE WILL BE CLEARED” – Gerry McCann says he and his wife “wanted to be eliminated from the enquiry as quickly as possible”. Some news.
THE SUN front page: “MOROCCO PHOTO SENSATION. IS THIS MADDIE?”
The picture is “sensational”. It has been described as “convincing”, but by whom is not said.
Pages 4 and 5: “GERRY & KATE: IT COULD BE HER – MADDIE PARENTS HOPE AT SIGHTING SENSATION.”
Clara Torres is talking on Spanish radio. She looks at the photo. Says she: “It sent shivers down my spine.”
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “NOW A ‘PHOTO’ OF MADELEINE IN MOROCCO.”
‘Photo’ is placed in quotes lest readers mistake the picture for a ‘SNAP’ or a ‘SHOT’.
Spanish Government official Jose Herrero Arcas says: “The National Police received a photograph by email taken by a young Spanish couple who believe it shows Madeleine McCann. The quality of the photograph is not very clear and it was taken from around 200 metres away. However, the National Police are taking the claim seriously enough to have sent it on to their colleagues at Interpol. I cannot give any more information than that.”
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE – AMAZING PHOTO IN MOROCCO.”
Pages 4 and 5: “MADDIE SEEN IN MOROCCO – Bombshell new photo is probed by Interpol.”
THE TIMES front page: “Police start investigation into ‘picture in Morocco of Madeleine McCann’.”
Page 5: “New photograph shows child like Madeleine on African woman’s back.”
A source close to the McCanns tells one and all: “The McCanns are not going to get their hopes up until the photograph has been sent for forensic examination.” And, dare it be said, a DNA test.
DAILY TELEGRAPH front page: “Is this Madeleine in Morocco?” The search for the missing child has taken a “dramatic turn”.
Page 9: “Gerry McCann is “confident” he and his wife will be cleared. A source tells us: “It is very unlikely that British police would question the McCanns on behalf of the Portuguese now.”
Robert Murat responds to claims by nanny Charlotte Pennington that on the night of Madeleine’s disappearance he was by the McCann family apartment: “I certainly was not there that night. At no point was I there.”
THE GUARDIAN & THE INDEPENDENT no Maddy news today.
Posted: 26th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,153) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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September 26th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
looking at the photo in general wether its madeleine or not, i definatly dont think its been tampered with
September 26th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
If this is Madeleine in the picture then one has to
Are these people part of a community?
If so..Have they been forced to keep moving (hence all the luggage) in order not to become part of one and raise alarm bells.
Why is the little blonde girl being carried? is it?
For fear of running away?
To protect what they might be viewing as their mealticket?
and what I am intrigued by is, where are they going?
Maybe to meet someone with the little girl.
Maybe they were to meet before this and they just didnt show up in light of all the publicity the campaign generated.
Hence these people are on the run but realise that they are dealing with dangerous people and a very lucritive bundle but have acted illegally in an abduction and are protecting themselves and their golden egg in case.
I dont understand why they would be walking on a public road.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
On BBC Heaven and Earth show did Mr C not say it was Kate who is so religious.And that he was not ..until after Madeline went “missing”…so if he demanded a Priest in first hour.. he sure found his lost faith in a hurry. ? Honestly they change their lines so often I am finding it hard to know which, if any, to actually believe.
I remain on fence as I have yet to find an acceptable reason for them doing harm to their harm to their own child, but am finding this position a hard place to be given lack of proof the poor wee girl was abducted. Also fence sitting is not place I tend to be in life. I dislike the indeterminate who have no definitive place .
Every day the relentless onslaught of contradictory spin from the team and Co to press/media avenues, makes it more confusing, not more enlightening.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
363 jon
Dont ruin it….
September 26th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
359 jon
Funny how you responded to my other post that called your post pathetic (which was easy to respond to) and now you wont respond to a serious debating point (which is more difficult) because I’ve said jonny boy. A bit sensitive, no?
Nevertheless….
I apologise for my partial insult. I genuinely get frustrated by what I see as people who are maybe too trusting of the McCanns motives without what I believe are justified arguments.
You might end up right about this and maybe I’m a little too far down the unthinkable conspiracy theory for my own good. But I cant help it based on what I see.
I think it would be good if for one day we all arranged to put pro or anti McCANN at the top of our posts and then gave theories why the opposite view to our own could be correct. Peace might break out. Some hope with my temper. lol
Do you not see anything suspicious at all that might make you question what you believe during these 4 months?
Er…jon
September 26th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
BBC news says that the photograph was handed to the McCanns lawyers first before being given to the police.
If this is true technically the evidence could have been tgampered with by the suspects for a crime - especially since this can be used as evidence to get them off the hook.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
The mass media coverage of this photo shows one thing at least : there is no clear editorial line on the Madeleine case from any of the papers or broadcast media.
After all, as 253 m.e. above points out, all the outlets focussing on a photo of a random blonde child are the same outlets which reported the forensic report leaked to France Soir which shows bodily fluids from a corpse with DNA matching McCann markers were in the boot of the McCann hire car.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
it was only when i was making the picture i noticed that i could transform the girl in orange to a greater extent than anything else
September 26th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
SSS said: A child abuser dislikes children and wants to hurt them….a paedophile thinks it is showing its love for that child and the child in question likes what it is doing.
Absolutely and completely wrong and its statements like this that infer that Paedophilia is not so bad.
It is child abuse pure and simple and if you’d ever had to sit through hours of footage of paedophiles raping and murdering children and babies as I have then you’d know how dangerous that statement is.
I can’t believe you said that.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/15770/Maddie-priest-has-vanished/
This was posted 19th Sept in papers so no wonder people thought he was missing. Especially this part;
Last night one regular worshipper said: “He has not been seen for days. It is very worrying. He has appeared troubled.
“He told us he’d talked to police informally but was expecting to be seen again.
“It seems he finds himself tormented – in a very difficult position.” Susan Hubbard, wife of Father Pacheco’s Anglican colleague Fr Haynes Hubbard, said: “We have not seen him for a few days. We don’t know where he has gone.”
- did the papers make up the statments by these people? Surely that is libelous.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
360 firestar
my mistake, sorry.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Are you serious The Real stig. Slipped her mind, the most photographed child on the planet and a million pound reward. It seems most unlikely. What most people want is for Madeleine to be returned to her family. That’s not something that just slips your mind. Sorry but with respect I fail to see how yourcomments can be classed as an opinion. No I stick by my comments, I want it to be Madeleine but I doubt the motives of this woman. I think Kate and Gerry are right to be cautious. This would be another disappointment to have to endure.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
ujdge dreade, although i agree that the photo should be blurred, it is taken as frontal shot, which means the motion blur would not be amplified as if it was accelerated.
the image has certainly been cropped, and further more during manipulating the image, i noticed that the girl in orange in the photo is equidistant to the suppossed maddie, but far more detail is available. suggesting some photo layered intervention
http://bullmonkey.co.uk/morroccans.jpg
September 26th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
The problem with being able to type emails and comments is that it is done so quickly that there is little time for reflection on what you have written. This has the habit of opinions being a little “knee-jerk” and harsh.
Also, the safety provided by not having to say it to someone’s face (especially when anonymous) often leads to more aggressive and inflammatory writings.
Although, having said all that, some of the rabid foaming at the mouth emotion masquerading as reasoned debate is quite amusing. I also like the employment of the “Caps Lock”. Do you think Stephen Hawking uses Caps Lock when he is debating the big bang theory?
That makes me think: I wouldn’t be surprised if the McCanns’ starting explaining possible evidence through multi-verses and quantum physics. Maybe that is how they will explain Gerry supposedly playing social tennis and being at high tea at the same.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
A Ceop spokesman could not confirm that it had been given the photo, but he added: “We do have experts who are specialists at analysing photographs and video material.”
The latest development follows a report from another Spanish woman who is convinced that she saw Madeleine in the town of Zaio in northern Morocco at the end of May.
The woman said she saw a girl she believed was Madeleine being led by a Moroccan woman in Muslim dress across a street.
It is reported that a gust of wind blew the child’s hat off, revealing her blonde hair underneath.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
would going 35mph or so really blurt the picture though?
September 26th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
378, doesnt matter what paper it is in they got the story from somewhere and dont under estimate SSS she has definately got the power and the backing of 7 little powers and partner power
September 26th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I might add a line to the photo conversation. Luckily, the photo was taken weeks ago so that by now it has been examined and ruled out (or in) so what we have here are old waves. For the sake of the investigation it is a good tactic to keep evidence and secrets as secrets. Today this picture has been published in every corner of the world. If this is not Madeleine, who is responsible for the show again and what is the point? They want a Berber family to open their home doors and tell their “story” to the media?
September 26th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
There must be about ten million (at least) kids in the world who look like Madeleine. It is the McCann word “ludicrous” to claim that this is her. Why on earth would a child smuggling gang, as this implies, go to all that trouble and expense and risk and everything in order to get a child for what looks like a gaggle of itinerant gypsies? Apart from which, in any case, there are fair-haired children in Morocco. Not everyone is dark haired and swarthy. Come on, get real!
September 26th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
373
I wasn’t aware that ONE person carrying ONE child comprised a gang!
Paedophiles have been known to marry each other and have children in order to abuse them, so they often are in family units. The “loner” image of the paedophile is stereotypical. There is a big (psychological) difference between a child abuser and a paedophile. A child abuser dislikes children and wants to hurt them….a paedophile thinks it is showing its love for that child and the child in question likes what it is doing.
Secondly, I assumed that the “folk dancer” outfit was perhaps typical of that region, rather than fancy dress. Is it more likely that folk dancers would kidnap a child than paedophiles?
Third and fourth, there is no proof that this child has been abducted by paedophiles OR folk dancers, so no reason why this person shouldn’t be walking around with the child in broad daylight, with the face and hair uncovered.
Lastly, if the child isn’t one who has been brought to the attention of the world’s media by being kidnapped, there is no reason for said folk dancer NOT to be walking along a busy road.
I wasn’t having a “pop” at you, merely pointing out that you don’t know what a paedophile looks like - I assume you do not “hang out” with them very often?
September 26th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
If you look at the wider picture it was taken through the front window of the vehicle. If the vehicle was moving the picture would be blurred because even the best cameras don’t have instant auto focus that moves with the speed the vehicle is alleged to have been going.
If the vehicle slowed, then unless it was to walking speed at most, there might be limited blurring, but it would still be there.
If you then isolate the woman carrying the child, it shows a perfectly normal scenario of a woman carrying a child in a sling type holdal with the child’s left leg hanging down the left side of the woman. (You can see the bend of the child’s knee).
As already stated the child’s fring is different to Madeleine and parted on the opposite side. That actually denotes a boys parting not a girls. In fact if you look at any picture of Madeleine she has no parting.
The child’s facial features although similar, are not the same. The child in the picture has rounded cheeks where as Madeline’s cheeks are straight.
All in all there is little to identify the child as Madeleine.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
345 Caroline
The girl who took it says she and her partner thought it might be M at the time but that the incident slipped their mind, while I presume they got on with enjoying the rest of their holiday. Perfectly understandable IMO.
http://tinyurl.com/27rajx
September 26th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
maybe its his miraculous image thats been saying mass in Praia!
(Note that the story was in the Star!)
SSS said:
I asked about 3 weeks ago for the name calling and swearing to stop, and to be fair, it took a while but the majority of it DID stop, but as more new posters have come on, the regulars aren’t so prominent anymore.
Yes SSS, but June has the POWER. You don’t!
September 26th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
SSS well moderation seems to think he was never missing it was just a rumour, so now I really dont know,
also regarding the calling for the priest within an hour, I think it is odd too, normally calling a priest so urgently would to be read the last rites ???
September 26th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Caroline I agree with your comments about the new photograph sighting. It would be so nice that it were true and then there would be a real chance that Madeleine could be found and returned to her family. But it’s a sad reflection of our society that people are prepared to lie about a 3 year old little girl just to get themselves in the news. It may be that it wasn’t a lie and the lady really believes that she saw Madeleine just like the Belgium lady you mentioned. If that is the case then it just goes to show how wrong people can be when they report about what they think they saw. But at least this means whilst there is hope there I still the chance Madeleine will be found, and as you say the experts may give hope to this latest sighting.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
372
LOL
September 26th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
348
I’m not a religious type, but any discussion by the priest on the subject of confessions, even a statement tht no confession was made, compromises his commitment to confidentiality.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
362 - I would have thought that a gang of paedophiles would not :
a) appear in the form of a family with man, women and children
b) walk around dressed as a folk dancer
c) carrying an abducted child that has been subject to worldwide media attention,
d) with the child face and hair uncovered
e) and near a busy road.
But hey, that’s just me. Maybe I’m not as deductive as I thought…
September 26th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
362-sss
like this?
http://images.contactmusic.com/images/artist/garyglitterap.jpg
September 26th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
365
Has the priest since been found Toni?