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
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September 26th, 2007 at 9:40 am
40
there’s probably a large one on the apple of death.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Wouldn’t the child be higher up the body of the person carrying her? The position the child is in there would pull the adult back surely? Surely if you thought the child was Madeleine McCann you’d have been over there like a shot, you’d have alerted as many people nearby as possible and you’d be sat on a cool 2 million now.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:38 am
It doesn’t take a genius to see that the girl in the picture has rounded cheeks while Maddy’s are straight.
Is there anywhere where a large copy of the picture can be found?
September 26th, 2007 at 9:38 am
36
if that’s the case, i think it’s bollocks.
if a bus was going at 40 mph ish past them, someone would be looking towards the bus to see what was going on.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Sherlock, that’s the wrong incident. There was a social worker on holiday in Morocco with her husband who spotted a child that looked like Madeleine with a man at a petrol station. the little girl asked when she would see mummy….no one followed up with that person.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:37 am
32
After you left, @rse was just continuing being an @rsehole!
The M7 are ok - all doing well - I am hopeful of making it the Enormous Eight soon
September 26th, 2007 at 9:36 am
#20 - apparently some report say . The “photographers” were on a bus travelling 60km ph and they were taking photos of everything on the side of the road and when driving past saw the “family” with a young blonde child on the back of one of the woman!! - would explain why they never stopped to check - I would have checked too if possible.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:35 am
as someone’s aleady said it looks odd.
if u can’t enlarge the pic, right click on it and press ’set as background’.
the child is staring at the camera, as if her head was snipped from a pic where she is looking forwards, even though she is moving in the opposite direction.
i reckon, to look like that in real life, she would have to be laid in a sack at about 45 degrees.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:35 am
I wouldn’t consider Madeleine “blond” in the sense were have blonde children here up North. For the colours, I think the girl in the picture could be European or North African.
The parents may show an interesting reaction here, let’s sit back and observe. In the worst case they already know if the child can be Maddie. Their statements seem merely to insist they are going to be cleared. What about finding the child?
September 26th, 2007 at 9:35 am
A new photo of a new sighting. It’s believed that she’s under the blood coloured anorak.
http://www.ereoh.com/2up/?p=865
September 26th, 2007 at 9:34 am
SSS, was waiting for a sensible poster to appear, yesterday was so distressing hows the M 7 doing
September 26th, 2007 at 9:33 am
I thought the photo was a fake when it came on the news last night, but this morning on Sky news they managed to wheel out the Spanish tourist who took
the pic. She seemed genuine enough, and she was cute. I wonder if the PR machine has decided to get more fit birds involved in a bid to get the blokes on side? Current eye candy related to this case:-
Hot Lips Healey - Someone said MILF, sounds about right
McNanny - Looks like a good sort
Spanish Tourist - Muy guapa
Aunty Phil - Lardarse Magazine woman of the year
September 26th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Oh Susanna, I just can’t imagine that two doctors are also two sociopaths and no one has figured this out yet. It really takes a sociopath to pull something like this off. To be so convincing. Yeah, i’m not convinced that the McCanns are that mental. They do lack common sense as is often the case with people who are too linear in their thinking, too book smart, too in their own heads, too full of themselves, but I doubt they are sociopaths….I’m sure someone will suggest that they have a psycholgical and possibly a lie detctor tests sooner or later. Seems like things move really slow where they are.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:31 am
23
Morning Toni, didn’t see you there
September 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
at that you may as well toss a coin
September 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
IF it is Maddie, and it was taken three weeks ago, we are back at square 1. Because in this photo the “family” are on the move!!!!!
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/09/26/1190486347755.html?from=top5
let move it G & K
September 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Morning all
This girl looks like her hair has a natural “kisscurl” to it, if you look carefully you can see it. Madeleine doesn’t have a kisscurl.
I would doubt it’s her, but then its good for me if it is her, as I DID say I think she will be “found” on Day 150, which is drawing ever closer!
September 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
17
A study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology found a 43 per cent failure rate for pictures of the same person taken 1 1/2 years apart.
(although it may get better)
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0102/0102facerecog.htm
September 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
just me…apparantly the photo was taken from 200 meters away. They handed it in to police but heard nothing so emailed it to the english police. Or so the media report i read said..
September 26th, 2007 at 9:29 am
morning, I hope it is Madeleine, has anyone checked the credibilty of the person who took the photo, that would eliminate if it is a fake or not the young child in front looks like a child that was also abducted Denise Pipitone
September 26th, 2007 at 9:29 am
5 just_me
I do a bit of photography and use photoshop a bit also. Enlarging that photo and doing anything to it will tell you nothing. The image is far to low a resolution to do anything meaningful with it. All you are doing is magnifying a blur - so you can’t tell one way or another.
I have read that the photo is in the hands of Interpol so hopefully someone will actually find these people and have a close look. I doubt very much it will turn out to be Madeleine, unfortunately
September 26th, 2007 at 9:28 am
13 Jan - the sighting in Belgium was followed-up by Portuguese and Belgian Police. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6953380.stm
It’s not up to Portuguese, British or Spanish police to investigate in Morocco. It’s up to Moroccan police - upon instructions of Interpol.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:26 am
I told my husband that if i had been the one taking the photo i would of at least gone up toi the child to look in her eyes or appraoch the people with her, hubby said i would be more likely to get killed myself if i did that. why then did the group of people not attack the person taking the photo if they are worried about maddie being photographed, unless of course they have no idea themselves its maddie. maybe they brought her from the abductor not knowing where she came from.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:25 am
The face of the person carrying the child has not been blurred out. I just copied it to my photo program and I can see it. I can’t see details but I can see a face. The more I enlarge it, the more blurred it gets, but not becasue it’s been blurred out.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Jan,
Why do you think it was made public?
With technology today, anything can be manipulated. Anything for Gods sake.
No charges will ever be brought against this couple as long as there are sightings.
We will be having sightings for the next three years.
A team of mercenaries can easily pull it off.
I would love to believe it was Madeleine, but have been fed so many blatant lies by this couple and their team that if the truth had to slap me in the face like a pap snoek I would not be able to believe.
Cry wolf once, cry wolf twice.
Time to go back to the mountains.
In the interim let us pray that the march in Burma today be peaceful.
Somewhere at some time, beauty and justice have to shine.
Let it be now.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:24 am
firestar…10 Is that true?? I should stop watching too much tv. I thought that was why the police wanted peoples holiday snaps taken around the time madeleine went missing. So they could scan them and see if the computer could pick up known paedophiles….
September 26th, 2007 at 9:23 am
13
wonder who made it public?
September 26th, 2007 at 9:23 am
12 Sherlock - as i said im no expert, but when i zoom in sharpen end enhance the photo there is a clear gap between the shoulder of the moroccan woman and the side of ‘madeleine’s’ face. i dont know if its been doctored, i wouldnt like to say, but it seems very odd to me. also where are the childs legs? surely they would wrap around the waist because a four year old with legs dangling down behind the person carrying them would make it very hard to walk.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:22 am
just_me- blog 144 is definitely there, quite a long blog about their defence and getting life back to normal!! I didn’t realise that the photograph is from 26days ago. Have the police had it before it went to press? The person who has taken it must have taken it thinking it looked like Madeleine,not a random tourist snap. If that is the case then would they not have given it to the authorities first, unless they are after making a bundle. Would the photo be published before being investigated if they think it is a valid sighting? Once made public the lady with Madeleine, if it is her, would be long gone.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:20 am
I’ve had my suspicions about Madeleine being in Morocco espcially since no one bothered to follow up with the report of a sighting reported earlier by the social worker from……Belgium was it?
The PG police are useless. They wanted the McCanns out of their country. They tried to make themselves look good by turning all the attention away from their lack of investigating and their incompetence(sp).
The McCanns should have hired PI’s much earlier…and before some knuckle head chimes in….yes, they should not have left Madeleine alone…uh-duh.
I hope it’s Madeleine. The photo really should not have been made public until all was investigated.