Madeleine McCann: The Nanny Suspect, Amaral Policing And Jail
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
SUNDAY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE MYSTERY. BRING IT ON.”
The Sunday Express is not the Express, which has form some weeks led with the front-page banner “MADELEINE”. The Sundays Express goes its own way.
“McCanns remain defiant as they face 40 questions from UK police this week”
“Kate and Gerry’s fury as new sighting in Morocco by businessman is ignored”
SUNDAY MIRROR front page: “MADDIE HUNT: THE TRUTH.”
The truth… At last…
“DISGRACE.”
A picture of Madeleine McCann (on the right). A picture of Portuguese copper Goncarlo Amaral (left).
“Police have ignored 250 sightings of her” – and have investigated how many?
“Cop leading police probe works four hours a day” – Amaral’s not overworked and fresh.
“He has three-hour boozy lunches with pals” – Amaral holds lengthy meetings to discuss and masticate over the case with team.
“Puffing on a cigarette and knocking back beers, the man leading the world’s biggest missing child inquiry enjoys yet another long, boozy lunch.”
Good to know that the Mirror is not wasting its time and watching him.
STAR ON SUNDAY: “THREATS TO McCANNS.”
“Friends say the couple are ‘extremely concerned’ by the nature of the threats and are considering hiring extra security.
Last night a spokeswoman for the McCanns, both 39, confirmed that they had been sent what she described as ‘negative letters and fear mail’.”
INDEPENDENT: “Maddie ‘kidnapped by maid’, says email.”
“The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said they were ‘encouraged’ by the development.”
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Kate McCann will risk jail to find Madeleine
Kate McCann has been told by her legal team that she faces jail sentence if she flouts Portuguese law to discuss details of the four-year-old’s disappearance in a high-profile television interview.
She tells a “close friend”: “I will do what I must. What does any of it matter if it helps find Madeleine?”
“It is what Kate thinks will help,” a close friend tells the paper. “What choice does she have? Unless Kate and Gerry ignore the law and speak out, their chances of finding Madeleine will dwindle further. Better to risk prison if it helps find her.
“Will the Portuguese police really prosecute a mother whose sole aim is to find her daughter or at least, God forbid, discover the whereabouts of her body? Kate, most of all, believes risking a jail sentence is nothing compared to finding Madeleine.”
Who needs an interview with Kate with friends like that?
THE OBSERVER: “This limbo that lasts a lifetime,” writes Carol Sarler.
“The McCanns are said to be devastated by dashed hopes; if so, they must get used to it, for there will be more sightings, more dashing and, to add to their misery, more harassment of more innocent families. I know this because, having investigated the disappearance of Ben Needham on Kos in 1991, the unfolding of the McCann case has felt like one long, wretched, groundhog summer.
“Ben, recapped in a nutshell: his grandparents, Eddie and Chris Needham, moved from Sheffield to Kos with their teenage son Stephen, daughter Kerry and her boyfriend and their son, Ben…
“…The singular difference between the Needhams and the McCanns is, crudely, class. Eddie has homemade tattoos on his knuckles, Chris was a grandmother at 38, Kerry and her boyfriend - a man known, as they say, to the police - lived in a council block. Perhaps this explains why, throughout their ordeal, nobody from the British consulate in Athens once got off their butt or went to Kos to help or support; surgeon Gerry McCann, by contrast, mobilised the world.”
“Arabic adverts aid Madeleine hunt”… “Despite the disappointment of last week’s misleading sighting of a blonde girl in the Moroccan town of Zaio, the McCanns believe that their daughter might be somewhere in the country.”
TIMES: No Madeleine news today.
Posted: 30th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,108) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
September 30th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
121 Mary
K and G are consulting top pyschics(G a tad sceptical) in hope that the spirit world will come up trumps while PJ - BOO - stuff their fat faces and think up new ways to turn the knife.
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I G&K are so devoutly aligned to their religion, they would not put an ounce of credence or faith in seer’s or clairvoyants. This is the work of charlatans?
September 30th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Madeleine’s fund is a non charitable not-for-profit company, which has been established to help find Madeleine McCann and to support her family and bring her abductors to justice etc.
Then specifically under the objectives are:
1.1.3 To provide support, including financial assistance, to Madeleine’s family.
To provide support, including financial assistance is, I think, much wider than merely covering their expenses.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Can I start a third petition along these lines?
To: UK Social Services
We, the undersigned, recognise the two recent and growing petitions you will be receiving with regards to the Madeleine McCann disappearance. The first as stated by the second, espouses the opinions of those who wish to blame the parents for this terrible situation. The main objective of the second petition is to make it known that the pro-McCann supporters are against any petition wishing to proclaim that the parents were to blame in Madeleine’s abduction. They claim that the person(s) to blame are the criminal(s) who took Madeleine from her bed that evening. In addition, the second petition asks that while the Leicestershire Social Services have no jurisdiction in this case that they block any attempt at prosecuting the McCann family due to any petitions received requesting such action.
We the undersigned, being of sound mind and body, recognise the need for the second petition to exonerate the McCanns by pass the buck.
If in the event that an abduction is proven to have taken place, justice will be served in that respect when the abductor is caught and prosecuted. However that does not ensure the remaining children’s future safety.
There is no factual evidence of an abduction having taken place, merely the fact that Madeleine McCanns is missing. If Madeleine was in the apartment at all on the night of May 3rd 2007, she is missing because she was left with her siblings in an unlocked apartment where anyone could gain access. That is negligence on the part of the parents who had a duty of care to their children.
We the undersigned therefore urge the Leicestershire Social Services to become involved in the day to day safety and nurturing of the remaining McCann children.
Sincerely, The Undersigned
September 30th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
208, Slyfox
The key is the piece of evidence - it was supposed to have a smell of death on it - and these keys were returned to the couple who continued to use the car? Surely this cannot have been the case. The actual car with the evidence must surely have been retained by the police and an identical one given back in its place, otherwise the PJ might as well simply give up and drop the case.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
No.197 I see you are one of these people who are just plain indifferent to any opinion but your own,a waste of space and ink,get a life broaden your self indulgent horizons.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
209 Moderation,
There was another hire car available to the group, hired by one, also examined, but no reports of what was found leaked or released, as yet.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
207, Andy
Nobody from Birmingham FSS has been quoted saying anything much.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
The car thing is compounded by the company saying it sin’t going to rent it out anymore, it’s going t be sold at auction as soon as they get it back!!!!!!!!!!! I’m also stunned the PJ haven’t impounded it…
September 30th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Re the car. How is it that a key piece of evidence can be witheld by the McCanns? AND by a sympathetic wealthy - seems to be a lot of them about - friend? Don’t get it.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/2309_maddie_car.shtml
September 30th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Also from the link in 194.
“British scientists have also carried out official tests on the car and questioned some interpretations by Portuguese police of the findings, the paper (News of the World) said.”
–
Does anyone have a link to a quote given by anyone from the Birmingham FSS saying they were unhappy with the interpretation of the findings by the Portuguese police? Not a source or somebody close to but an actual name of a person working on this case at the B FSS.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
194, Ade,
If the story about the hire car, as it has been reported, it true, then it is the most LUDICROUS case of police bungling that I’ve ever heard of. That car was left unattended at an airport while the McCanns jetted off to see the Pope on Sir Philip Greene’s private jet. Anyone could have used it or tampered with it.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Only read to 76 so if I repeat then apologies.
The list of celebrities aligned with this issue now includes royalty.
The Mirror piece on the PJ 3rd in charge will only heighten their (PJ) determination to find something concrete against the Mc’s.
Claranece Mitchell has certainly switched things around.(His career change will see A listers queuing up for his services)
The Sky report is good, but haven’t their always been amicable relations with Sky? After all, they got the initial exclusive.
What did Virgin media get?.. diddly, and there’s thanks for you..
September 30th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
194.
The Renault Scenic at the centre of the Portuguese police investigation into Madeline’s disappearance in May was examined in a clandestine operation near the holiday resort of Praia de Luz by a British team which took samples for analysis, the News Of The World reported on Sunday.
“The experts basically stripped the vehicle and took it apart so they could take as many samples as possible,” an unnamed source told the British newspaper.
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If this is the case and the British team can be traced back to the McCanns then they should be arrested immediately for tampering with evidence and trying to pervert the course of justice.
According to Portuguese law, if the McCanns are charged then they and their defenders will be allowed to examine and refute any evidence presented by the prosecution.
Any evidence gathered by a clandestine team of undercover scientists would not be allowable as evidence, except in the court of the British media.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Carmen - you’re welcome.
Here is the whole interview with Calum:
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1691768.0.0.php
Calum became involved after Madeleine’s aunt, Philomena McCann, his former schoolteacher in Ullapool, approached him four days after the girl disappeared on May 3.
Calum said: “We stopped every other thing we were doing that day and put the Find Madeleine site straight on. It’s pretty much full-time doing the website and bands. We just invoice the fund, but it’s not expensive compared with what other companies would charge. We have to account for how many hours are worked. It’s not for us to decide what we are paid, but the fund insist we are.”
Calum also revealed how Kate checks Gerry’s blog before it is emailed to the site. However, Gerry has only posted one message since his return to Britain last week. Calum added: “It has got crazy at times, we’ve even got people going on in places such as Kurdistan.”
Another worker on the site, Rona Eddington, 18, the daughter of a senior police inspector in Ross-shire, said: “We’ve had people saying in emails we killed her and taken her away’ and we hate you.’ We don’t know if they are genuine, but they are passed to the police, who chase them all up. We’ve had so many like that and have to filter them. The website is about supporting the family.”
September 30th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
201 - Moderation - I did hear the same a Tony from friend of the Nanny….
September 30th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Tony Bennett 190.
Trust me… Social Services have taken no action other than to ensure the twins care in the event of the mcCanns going back to Portugal without them and/or their being jailed.
The ’someone staying overnight’ is completely untrue.
Making your post look legal / formal while including ‘it is believed’ & ‘are thought to be’, is deceitful. Exactly what you accuse the mcCanns of.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
188
Mods and Admin - I doth protest.
The Rock is British.
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Mods and Admin
But not Portuguese,and anyway what happened to the Armada……
September 30th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
90 - Horse from the North
If you do an AOL search for “web-appeal-over-missing-madeleine” you should turn it up. I may have got the link slightly wrong - let’s try again.
http://news.aol.co.uk/web-appeal-over-missing-madeleine/article/20070510063809990001.
If any of the McCann camp are looking in, I’ll make a pact with you. If Kate and Gerry answer all police questions from now on, I’ll accept their innocence. But any more “no comment” stuff and I’ll go the other way. Did Sarah Payne’s parents and the Soham parents keep saying “no comment” to the police who were trying to help them? NO THEY DIDN’T! Come on, Team McCann, you must know how this “no comment” routine looks to simple souls like me. I know Branson thinks they’re innocent but he thought his hot air balloon could get round the world and look what happened to that.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
184 - The best a dog handler could say whould be
“I know the dog found something but I can’t say what because there was no physical evidence”.
Kind of pointless cross examining him then.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
About the guy maintaining the Find Madeleine web site:
“Calum is already working on new ventures after spotting a market in missing-person websites. Last week he contacted the family of missing schoolgirl Rosemary Edwards, from Hampshire, after her father made an emotional TV appeal. He said: “I don’t think we should be making money out of it, but I would love to do more stuff like this. We phoned up to see if they wanted a website for that missing girl, but they haven’t called back.”
http://trannyfattyacid.blogspot.com/2007/09/mccann-website-revealed-as-sham.html
September 30th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
andy (167)
Good point. This has become the accepted version of why they have not yet been called beck to Portugal.
The truth is rather different. There is little point in dragging them back when they are observing their right not to answer the questions-and they are.
PJ know where they are and will await firm new evidence before any more questions.
They are not likely to disappear (I wish). I guess they will carry on doing what they have become so good at-bluffing, denying, remaining silent etc, while the British press fawn at their feet and the great and the good close ranks to shield them.
Have a look at todays headlines- now that is what I’d call LUDICROUS.
September 30th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Someone asked why so long for the forensics…
Looks like there’s moves afoot on the forensics front with the car being stripped down…
http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=423144
So are these scientists on the McCannBank payroll?
Must admit when I first saw the headline I thought is was McCann’s HEAD examined by Experts…
September 30th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
186: Not really – the people maintaining the web site and administering the orders of the bands do get paid.
… Calum, who has designed websites “since he was 10″ is paid out of the global donations to the fund, which won’t be contributing to the McCanns’ legal costs.
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1691768.0.0.php
September 30th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
182 Thanks for the update pixie
September 30th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
187 - interesting the bit about living costs - as the McC’s are still employing their full time nanny - does that mean that the generous (but somewhat mis-lead) british public are paying for their childcare?
Two things spring to mind -
If they are so set on having good childcare why not on holiday - then this whole farce would not have happened.
Why do they need childcare at the moment - twins in nursery - mum & dad off work - uncle living in (press on doorstep would probably help out if they weren’t coping…)
September 30th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
================================
MCCANNS START COUNTER-PETITION
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The petition started by those concerned with the McCanns’ neglect in leaving three children under 4 alone night after night on holiday while they went out drinking - and are asking Leicestershire Social Services to do something about it - has now reached 19,455 signatures (1.30pm today). It’s at: Petitiononline DOT com
This was the one that ran for several weeks on the Prime Minister’s website but was then pulled due to protests from Team McCann:
QUOTE
To: Leicestershire Social Services
“We the undersigned request that Leicestershire Social Services fulfil their statutory obligation to investigate the circumstances which led to 3 year old Madeleine McCann and her younger siblings being left unattended in an unlocked, ground floor hotel room.
We ask that they do this to reflect an evenhanded approach to the important issue of child protection.
We also wish to ensure that no parent will ever be able to evade responsibility for the safety and welfare of their children by citing the example of Mr and Mrs McCann, whose negligence is unreasonably being discounted in the tidal wave of sympathy brought about as a consequence of their media campaign”.
Sincerely, The Undersigned
UNQUOTE
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But Team McCann has now hit back by launching this counter-petition on: Ipetitions DOT com
I haven’t signed this one - and I disagree with the petition-creators’ claim that there is no jurisdiction to prosecute them for child neglect:
TEAM MCCANN PETITION - QUOTE
To: UK Social Services
We, the undersigned, recognise the recent and growing petition you will be receiving with regards to the Madeleine McCann disappearance. That petition espouses the opinions of those who wish to blame the parents for this terrible situation. The main objective of the petition you have before you now is to make it known that we are against any petition wishing to proclaim that the parents were to blame in Madeleine’s abduction. The person(s) to blame are the criminal(s) who took Madeleine from her bed that evening, and who have so far not returned her to her rightful place with her family.
In addition, we, the undersigned, petition the Leicestershire Social Services to block any attempt at prosecuting the McCann family due to any petitions received requesting such action.
The Leicestershire Social Services has no jurisdiction in this case and any attempt to prosecute the McCann family is not only unlawful–as the abduction of Madeleine McCann happened in a foreign country–but also without any merit or reasonable foundation.
Sincerely, The Undersigned
TEAM MCCANN PETITION - UNQUOTE
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P.S. It is believed that a multidisciplinary prefessionals’ meeting was convened by Leicestershire Social Services several weeks ago - and that as a result of that meeting, Leicesterhsire Social Services have insisted that the McCanns are never left alone for any significant period of time with the twins. One or more relatives are thought to have been staying overnight to fulfil this condition. The McCanns, it will be recalled, boldly announced on their return to England that they had invited Social Services to their house ‘because we are responsible parents’. But the Team McCann publicity machine has kept strangely quiet about what action Leicestershire Social Services have decided to take - and Gerry McCann does not cover the issue in his blog
September 30th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
163, man on the hill,
No, I don’t want to denounce you at all. Of course, I see reasons to suspect them as well, but also see other possibilities. I only became interested in finding out more about the case after I read that the police suspected the parents. Before that I believed it was a straightforward kidnapping by people who’d observed the family and knew the children were left alone a lot.
I am on the fence.
Why are you so touchy?
September 30th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
167 175 et al.
I have often wondered what the Portuguese angle is on this. Not the PJ as what they think is pretty obvious. Early on it was the Armada stuff and anti-British (press) feeling. So what’s the mood now amongst the general population? Holiday re-booking is not surprising, after all - this bloody pantomime may still be rolling next year - but what else has happened as a result?…
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Mods and Admin
Come on Ade , it was the Spanish Armada!! even the Rock is Spanish
September 30th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
178:
The exact figures for what the donations are spent on will not be disclosed until the end of the financial year when the accounts are made public, said director Esther McVey. But the board did reveal that nearly a third of the money collected has been used. With hospital consultant Mr McCann, the family’s main earner, on unpaid leave, part of the Fund has been used to meet their living costs.
Other costs incurred include the launch of the Find Madeleine campaign, advertising, legal fees and the employment of former campaign manager Justine McGuinness. Private investigators, said to be ex-military personnel, are being employed to search for the youngster outside Portugal.
http://madeleinemccann.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
September 30th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
178 - There are no administration charges. It is being done on a voluntary basis. No friends flights were paid for out of the fund. It can only be used to assist family members expenses.