Madeleine McCann: People Smugglers, A Small Fridge And Child Alerts
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE - STOLEN BY PEOPLE SMUGGLERS.”
“Missing Madeleine McCann may be in the hands of North African people smugglers. Police in Morocco, investigating a reported sighting, believe they have identified a link with a ruthless gang of traffickers.”
Remember when Madeleine was in “the clutches” of Moroccans, and how the gang turned out to be a couple of farmers and their daughter?
Now: “The breakthrough came a few weeks after Madeleine went missing when a Spanish tourist reported seeing a blonde girl matching her description being dragged along by a scruffy, Arab-looking woman in the town of Zaio.”
Spanish tourist Isabel Gonzalez has told the world how she saw a blonde toddler in Morocco. Not Bouchra Benaissa. Another blonde Moroccan.
“The alarm was raised in May by 60-year-old Spanish tourist Isabel Gonzalez who said: ‘The girl I saw was blonde, with pale skin, whereas everyone else in the area is dark-skinned and dark-haired.”
Well, not everyone. Remember Bouchra Benaissa..?
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE BODY KEPT IN FREEZER.”
THE SUN front page: “MADDIE COPS IN SICK SLUR.”
“COPS MOST SICKENING SLUR YET” – “MADDIE’S BODY KEPT IN FRIDGE.”
“Maddie parents mark 150 days”
“McCann’s gagged by cops” – “A friend of the McCanns said: ‘It is madness. We are being forced to inhabit a fantasy world in which we can increase public awareness of Madeleine’s disappearance and urge the public’s help through a poster campaign, but her own parents cannot help in this because of the legal status attached to them. It is so frustrating - Madeleine’s own mum and dad are not allowed to speak about her.’”
So they have anything to say that is not said through their spokesman, Gerry’s blog and friends, and to the police?
DAILY MIRROR front page: “MADELEINE SENSATION – NEW SUSPECT IN STAIRWELL.”
“A British tourist seen ‘hiding’ in a stairwell outside Madeleine McCann’s apartment on the night she disappeared was being investigated last night.
“The new suspect, stocky and wearing two-tone glasses, was spotted by an Ocean Club worker just 12 metres from the flat. The employee, who did not want to be named, exclusively told the Mirror: ‘I’ll never forget him.’”
DAILY MAIL: “McCanns gagged from answering claims they dumped Madeleine’s body in Spain.”
•Portuguese papers claim Kate McCann killed Madeleine while Gerry played tennis
•Couple ‘then hid the child’s body in a fridge and later disposed of it in Spain’
•McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the reports were ‘utterly ludicrous’
These are the “latest lurid allegations”.
“A family friend ridiculed the suggestion that Madeleine’s body could have been stored in a fridge, saying: ‘Have you seen the size of the fridges in those apartments? Of course they did not stuff her in a fridge.’”
THE TIMES: “Kate and Gerry McCann’s friends refute ‘missing hours’ claim as smears continue.”
“The parents of Madeleine McCann have pleaded for an end to the distressing smear campaign that has suggested that they may have killed their missing daughter…
“It was claimed yesterday that police in Portugal believe that Kate McCann killed Madeleine while putting her to bed at their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz between 7pm and 8.30pm on May 3 and then hid her corpse in a fridge, with the help of friends.
“The respected Diario de Noticias newspaper said that officers believed that Mrs McCann accidentally killed Madeleine while her husband was playing tennis.”
Stop the smears. But read all about them first.
THE GUARDIAN: “EU plan for missing child alerts.”
Oh?
“Portugal will next week call for the creation of an EU-wide alert system for missing children, five months after Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday resort in the south of the country. The move has been welcomed by the McCann family.”
So she was taken across boarders?
“In a statement released through Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, Madeleine’s father, Gerry, said: ‘If this is true, we would very much welcome it as it would be a major step in the right direction. We feel it would be vital in protecting other children and their families. Kate and I have consistently campaigned to effect change throughout the EU to help protect children.’”
But Madeleine McCann might not have been stolen. Is this just another instance of people jumping on story to promote their pet cause?
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Madeleine McCann’s parents may face jail.”
No, not for child neglect.
“Kate and Gerry McCann could face 12 months in prison if they speak out to defend themselves against a slur campaign in Portugal because of the country’s strict secrecy laws, it is claimed.”
Says Clarence Mitchell: “Each and every one of these nonsensical allegations causes real pain and hurt for both Gerry and Kate.
“We just hope that everyone can see these ridiculous rumours for what they are.”
Posted: 29th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (573) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
September 29th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
294 at “9:00 p.m.”
wot no Blackadder???
This site’s clock is wrong by 2 hours…
September 29th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I hope that I am wrong, but Gerry and Kate are guilty and will go to hell! If they are innocent, they have done everything possible to make themselves look guilty. This site should be commended on letting people put forward arguments for both side. Unfortunately for the McCanns, most of the general public feel that their actions and body language do not stack up to people that are innocent.
I really hope that things can be resolved quickly so that genuine missing children can have the necessary resourses given to them. I feel so sorry for Madeleine, as their parents actions have diverted everyones attentions awy from her and onto them. With all the support Kate and Gerry are receiving, it seems that they are losing the battle. All of the responses that they are giving look so pathetic and make them look more guilty. All they had to say was that they had nothing to do with Madeleine’s dissapearance and then to actively look for their daughter, rather than to spend all their time defending themselves back in England.
Again, I really hope that they were not involved, but based on what I have been able to see, they are guilty at the very least of leaving that poor girl in a room with her younger siblings. That alone is ludicrous.
September 29th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
EmmaV …. would you like to question God on that one?
September 29th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
colombo your opus day theory is beginning to intrigue me.
September 29th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
colombo your opus dei theory is beginning to intrigue me.
September 29th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
ah, but Emma V, Mary didn’t get much choice did she?
it’s Joseph I felt sorry for having to go along with it….
September 29th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
‘yet they were prepared to defy nature to have their children!’
But it was alright for Mary then?
September 29th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
316. Yes I know Firestar and appreciate your insights on the matter. I agree that anyone “normal” going through the experience of having their child missing would look directly into the camera and be much more demonstrative of their love for their child.
I might feel more confident judging Kate in this interview If I had professional training in body language. Maybe on this beautiful evening I am being too easy on them?
However, I will say this: All other parents of missing children who have made appeals to the public for assistance in finding their child have also sent heartfelt messages directly to their children. This goes for poor and uneducated parents, as well as affluent. They managed to send messages of love and support to their children in hopes their child might be near a tv or radio and hear them.
Also, psychologically the act of “speaking” to one’s child even if only in an imaginative hopeful way is a normal response/action dealing with such deep pain and desparation. Other parents send messages directly to their missing children all the time and they aren’t even in such a nice controlled setting as the McCanns always seeem to be. Frequently, these distraught parents are out in a field or walking along a beach or in an old abandoned building and they are physically searching for their child when a reporter pops a microphone in front of their face and starts asking them questions. Yet even in this chaos the parents manage to think of their kid and have an immediate desire at some point in the interview to say a few loving words to their missing child. They don’t even need a set up segway by the reporter.
Yes Judith C and Firestar and all the others who have talked about this interview I agree it is a very weird way of reacting. Her reaction is odd - like everything else she and Gerry say and do. I just don’t know if it’s as dark or obvious as the reports I read described it to be. Maybe I’ve just become acclimated to their weirdness?!
The other thing I think is weird is how (like others on this thread have mentioned) they fancy themselves as child protection ambassadors yet have never shown much remorse (if any) for their poor judgement in leaving their children alone to begin with. Why the media doesn’t call them on their hypocrisy is just amazing to me. Is the media blind t othis hypocrisy or do they just feel it’s like “The shoemaker’s children have no shoes”?
Kate makes a comment to the effect, “If there’s just a small change we can make in the safety of children….” Well one “small” change they could easily initiate would be to publicly admit to their awful childcare practices and emphasise the importance of NOT leaving children without proper supervision. Instead of shouting LUDICROUS! My vote is on INCREDULOUS!
September 29th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
EmmaV … ANOTHER pathetic response!
September 29th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
And lets not even get into the conception story !
September 29th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
327 are you making a formal complaint lady,police time is valuable and there may be no living witnesses to your claim,that is unless Highlander was in the vicinity in that particular era,stick to knitting and car mechanics.
September 29th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
EmmaV …. pathetic response!
September 29th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Well God didn’t do a very good job of looking after his son did he Julie ?
September 29th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
The police were “slow off the mark” because the Mc’s were “slow off the mark” in contacting them in the first place!
September 29th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Sammy J … clock’s definitely wrong … !
September 29th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Have you seen this?
have read in other posts about SKY being informed before the PJ but have seen nothing to back up this fact.
However in the Times on 24 August KIRSTY WARK is acknowledged to have been contacted on May 3 to get the story of the abduction out!
This is the same Kirst Wark that was to interview Gerry McCann at the Edingburgh festival.
She compares the McCanns to being like the producers of Newsnight.
A neighbour in Glasgow who is a close friend of Kate McCann rang her doorbell. “She was very upset,” Wark wrote. “She told my husband that Madeleine had disappeared and Kate and Gerry were frantic because the police had been slow off the mark. They were desperate to get the story out and could I help?”
Fet the abduction theory on the front page and force the investigation to follow the least likely track, this is why the PJ did not have a chance to investigate K&G as would normally would be the case without the media circus that sprang into action before the PJ had a chance to act
September 29th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
erm, is the clock wrong on this forum today or have I lost a couple of hours??
September 29th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
EmmaV, Actually I’m a very logical thinker! They were NOT meant to have children. God intended children to be conceived naturally, NOT via alternative methods! As far as I’m concerned, if they were so desperate to have children, they should have been prepared to parent them properly, something which they obviously were not going to do. They were not prepared to give up the freedom they had as a childless couple, yet they were prepared to defy nature to have their children!
September 29th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
312 Lilith
Say what you really think
September 29th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Think about that logically Julie. They were ‘meant’ to have children because they did, and plenty of IVF babies do not get struck down by Mother Nature do they?
September 29th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
IMHO the Mc’s messed with nature! They were NOT meant to have children, but they had them by alternative methods …. and look what happened. Just goes to show … don’t mess with Mother Nature!
September 29th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
316 you are one serious investigative video expert,any idea who shot Liberty Vallance ……….
September 29th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
301. Bulldump,
I somewhat agree I did say it was silly. However I think it’s interesting to hear about all different modes of investigative. I don’t know about UK murders and crimes but as I mentioned before several criminal investigations where greatly helped by a psychic. I don’t believe skeptical seasoned detectives would say so if it weren’t true.
Anyway, it’s really no different than the various theories Anorak posters have listed here.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
anyone normal would have looked straight at the camera and said something like ‘don’t worry sweetheart, we’re looking and we’re going to find you, we love you lots and lots’.
dont forget, she was asked what she’d say to madeline, not ‘does madeline think you love her’
September 29th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
i thought they looked like 2 doctors being interviewed about child abduction.
just not their child.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
312
they’re not ludicrous anymore.
they’ve suddenly all gone ‘nonsensical’
September 29th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Judith C,
Thanks very much for the video link. Kate actually does say, “I love you.” Then adding “She knows that.” Kind of strange but not nearly as sinister as it was reported imho.
Million_Quid,
Thanks for the blog info. I read through some of the articles and they’re well written and interesting.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
I can’t understand why SUSPECTED CHILD KILLERS are pampered like rock stars, are lunching at the White House and have Gordon Brown personally involved.
Why Gordon Brown wants to be associated with people who for a FACT are guilty of criminal neglect and are MURDER SUSPECTS is beyond me.
The whole media circus is designed to halter the good cooperation between the British and Portugese police and trouble the investigation.
They want to cause a diplomatic crisis to avoid extradiction.
THEIR constant SMEARS at the Portugese police are LUDICROUS.
Without a doubt the police knows what they are doing as all procedures are carried out following European standards.
How can they accuse the police of doing nothing while 35 senior officers are on the case 24/7 for the past 5 months. The outcome of their work is just not convenient for the McKillers as they wanted to spent the rest of their lives as icons of robbed parenthood traveling around the world, giving interviews etc. while suching the Madeleine Fund dry.
They are DISGUSTING, should just shut up and let justice take it’s course.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Opus Dei anyone ?
September 29th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
i think he looks like rimmer out of red dwarf