Madeleine McCann: ‘Bad Dad’ Gerry McCann, The Psychic Barber And Drugs
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “Madeleine was drugged but it was by kidnapper says her grandmother.”
Page 9: “Madeleine’s family: She was drugged…but not by parents.”
Eileen McCann, Gerry’s mother – says: “I really believe they [whoever took her] gave her a drug. There is no way they carried her out of there without her waking. If she was taken when she was sleeping by somebody she did not know, she would have screamed the place down.”
Alternatively, she was taken by someone she did know? Or Mrs McCann is just speculating.
“’BAD DAD’ GERRY” – Carlos Anjos, head of the Portuguese Police Federation, says Gerry, “a heart consultant”, is a “negligent father”. This is his “astonishing rant”.
THE SUN front page: “Mystics hunt for Maddie.”
Around 150 leads provided by mystics have been followed up.
Page 6: “ASK PSYCHIC BARBER TO HELP FIND MADDIE” – Clairvoyant Gordon Smith has been contacted by the family. Smith hosts TV’s Most Haunted show. He says he can tell if Madeleine is alive or dead. Mick is nicknamed “THE PSYCHIC BARBER”.
DAILY MIRROR front page: “McCANNS: SHE WAS DRUGGED.”
Page 5: “‘Madeleine must have been drugged..she would have screamed place down’” – GRANDMOTHER EILEEN McCANN YESTERDAY.”
“Couple call on psychic to help” – Ex-hairdresser Smith is a “wacky medium”.
Says he: “In order for it to work I need to sit with the closest relatives who would be the parents. Then I’d tune in and see what I can pick up. But I would always warn them that there’s a possibility nothing might happen.”
Best to warn them of that first…
DAILY MAIL page 5: “Now police leader mocks ‘negligent’ Gerry McCann over his fears that an abductor was in Maddie’s room.”
“Call for the ‘psychic barber’” – “Despite both being strict Roman Catholics, the couple have already made contact” with Gordon Smith.
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE I’LL FIND BODY IN DAYS. Parents call in psychic.”
Page 7: “MADDIE’S PARENTS CALL FOR PSYCHIC BARBER” – “I have offered my help for free,” says Smith. “I never charge for private readings. I have already assured them I will say nothing to the press.” Indeed, not. Best save it for the book.
DAILY TELEGRAPH page 15: “Police chief accuses McCanns of hindering inquiry” – Carlos Anjos accuses McCanns of using “diversion tactics”.
THE TIMES page 27: “McCanns ‘considering psychic help’”
THE GUARDIAN no Maddie new today.
Madeleine McCann: A Life In Headlines
Posted: 2nd, October 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,268) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Well time to clean my toilet. You all have a good day!
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Well Fiona,
There is a bit more evidence leaking that supports that the child is dead than supports an abduction. Unfortunately.
How’s the organ donor theory going today?
Jessica
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
657
what time 1.30, 2.30, 6.7.8.9.10pm?
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
617
I didn’t know it had been removed from anything? It was in the newspapers and I read it, along with every other sensationalist story!
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
655. I like your thinking. Play cards much?
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Ian, but you are still suggesting that Kate (or Gerry) ACTIVELY did something to cause Madeleine’s death — ie, overdose, or an accidental killing — and then covered it up (which would have to involve weird manipulations on her body, ie, freezing it most likely). That is NOT the same as the “Crime” of neglect/negligence. Those are two different animals, entirely!! One does not lead to the other! Neglect is the very most common form of child abuse, everywhere. Most of the time it does not lead to the child’s death.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:04 pm
629 - Brandonflours
I like Hutch. I used to think I’d have liked to have been a cross between him and Huggy Bear.
Hey…my minute’s silence idea fell on deaf ears. Tomorrow - OCTOBER 3rd is the 5th month since Madeleine went missing. I think tomorrow is more poignant than these stupid 50 day multiples we keep hearing.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
649. No as the bodies deteriorated the fetus separated from the mother. I rarely watch tv in the afternoon but remember being home early from work and putting the tv on and seeing the Breaking News. Very sad. I still get the creeps when I think about how “perfect” the Peterson’s looked to the outside world.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
644
Theres most likely a vast amount of evidence. Just not in the public domain. I agree with the ace theory, Its just important that the playing of that ace is timed correctly.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
555. Judge Dread Says:
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:15 pm
I think its time for an unbias fact.
My uncle was head dog warden at Durham High Security Prison. He purchased and trained the dogs for over 20 years. Each dog is given to a handler immediately, and they become part of the handlers family. (Yes they do go home with them).
One of my uncles dogs Max, was brilliant. On the job he was formidable. At home he was as soft as they come.
However good the dog, they do make mistakes. However, no handler would ever admit to it because its a slur on their handling ability.
That is fact.
When dogs are trained to smell, and the prison had drug dogs, they turned up many things that were nothing to do with drugs. The reason is simple, someone who had touched drugs had touched the item.
Tranference of scent is common, and it also applies to death and blood. As I have said, but certain people don’t seem able to grasp, without the factual evidence, they could be smelling a transferred scent.
If you take the smell of death that everyone is so keyed up about, the car could have been hired by an undertaker, or a friend of an undertaker who gave the undertaker a lift, prior to the McCanns hiring it. The smell of death would therefore be there legitimately.
Without evidence to prove where the smell came from, there is no evidence of a crime. Its as simple as that.
************************************************************
An unexpectedly excellent post for this thread/website.
I read an interview with a sniffer dog handler who said that the dogs will go wild over a variety of scents some of which are nothing to do with corpses, and it’s up the the handlers & the police to *interpret* what the dogs are indicating.
In the UK the dogs are used simply to inform lines of inquiry, not as proof of anything, as they are, after all dogs, and they can’t say “Well here I smelt blood & there I smelt a rabbit/sock/lemon.”
The posters who want the McCanns to be murderers are the same who bashed them intially for leaving their children before the enquiry took this ludicrous turn. The McCanns are young, good-looking, well-off, have good jobs & beautiful children. There are many jealous, unhappy, ill, poor, not very bright people who post on here - who simply want to kick the McCanns for receiving the kind of attention they can only dream of, but will never get, for the simple fact that they’re not really worth it. Oh - and these posters apparently can’t tell the difference between *celebrities* & *parents involved in child-abduction case*.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:02 pm
613 Judge Dread
and this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/17/wmaddy117.xml
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Wow. I fail to see how what I’m saying is even vaguely similar to what your Fiona is saying. I don’t feel sorry for the McCanns in particular. I mean, I do, but they did put themselves in the public eye, so now they are seeing the down side of that (as other “celebrities” of various types have experienced… Look at poor Britney Spears!)
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:02 pm
629 Krissie.
You made that leap not me.
I think they sedated, I think they abandoned, I think they were nervous (hence not using local babysitters). I think that the fact of nervousnss was why Kate shouted ‘Theyve taken her’ (initially reported from the mouth of no less than her sister) why that HAD to be altered later, because to escape a neglect charge (in the UK) you have to have no reason to believe there was a risk.
I dont think they murdered - and I dont think that has actually been suggested by anyone. Accidental and unintentional death- involuntary manslaughter it would be in the UK - is the police view.
No, there crime is neglect - failure to deliver their duty of care.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:01 pm
644. In fact, there is almost no evidence, either way.
That’s your opinion based on?
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
618. I thought the body of the child was in better shape than that from being in the mother? Just trying to remember.
Yes, statistics are very helpful.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
626 - You must be joking
Nothing in that report is fact.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
641. Thank you so very much Harry Hiind Sight. If you weren’t here on Anorak at all hours of the day and night (but especially frisky between 9 & 5) I would never know what to do, where to go or what to believe. God bless you Harry Hind Sight!
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
640
Oooh, Am i being cultivated??? LOL
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:59 pm
637 Garth
Good evening
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Vera, yes, it’s all speculation and rumour from BOTH sides. As I’ve said, many times, there is only the thinnest shreds of evidence (as Don’t Blink says) to indicate Madeleine was abducted. There is only the thinnest shred of evidence (that we know about) that Madeleine was killed by her parents. In fact, there is almost no evidence, either way.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
631 she’s on uk breakfast tv and quite biased to say the least……………
STOP THIS POISON & PRAY THAT MADELEINE GETS HOME
Fiona Phillips
I FEEL sickened by the venomous whispering campaign surrounding Kate and Gerry McCann.
More and more people seem to be joining in now and it turns my stomach. If it was one of my children missing, I’d sell my soul to get them back.
Kate and Gerry McCann are attractive, middle class and earn decent livings as doctors. This seems to provoke a dreadful envy among some people.
I’ve heard rubbish about how there wouldn’t have been the publicity had Madeleine been the daughter of a single mum from a council estate.
Of course there would. Class does not come into it. Regardless of class, money or status, we all feel the most incredible amount of love for our children.
I’ve had floods of letters from Mirror readers slamming the McCanns for leaving their children alone.
People claim they would never have done the same. Apart from being utterly insensitive and unhelpful, that smacks of smugness.
Believe me, Kate and Gerry will be beating themselves up enough about what happened. They don’t need the rest of us to join in.
I’ve even had letters saying that Gerry should stop wasting the taxpayers’ money and get back to work.
I was listening to a radio discussion and people were arguing that there was more than one little girl missing in the world. That isn’t the McCanns’ fault. This tragedy could have happened to anyone.
I can’t imagine the pain the McCanns are going through. If I was in their position I’d be tempted to lock myself away and weep.
But every day, out of sheer desperation to get their little girl back, the McCanns have somehow gathered the strength to face the cameras. They’ve done so with such dignity. They do it to keep Madeleine in the public eye.
The McCanns should be applauded, not condemned.
Anyone with a soul should feel nothing but overwhelming compassion and sadness for Kate and Gerry.
Please, let’s stop this poison and focus on what’s important. Bringing Madeleine back home.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
618. Don’t forget Lacey’s body was so badly decomposed they could NOT determine cause of death even with her physical body. The first body to be found were the skeletal remains of their unborn child. The bodies were not found in the bay until 4 or 5 months after the murder. What a tragedy. The same uproar over Peterson’s obvious guilt was in the public. Pregnant women in the United States is a dangerous combination. The stats on murdered/missing pregnant women in the States is staggering.
Peterson still proclaims his innocense and is appealing last I heard.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
PJ have ace in pocket
——————————-
The plod in charge has been removed from the investigation - does not sound like an ace in the pocket to me - more like a kick up the @arse.
The show is over folks, go back to your lives - as depressing as that thought will be for many of you.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Mike, you definitely get the prize for funny. You’re one of my favorites on here.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:57 pm
There is nothing else to go on right now - except the McCanns. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Nitch. Zilth. Empty. Zero. Nothing.
So we must accept what seems so unacceptable, what does not make sense, me must accept the irrational - the hard leap.
No one wants a mother and father to be guiltiy of this, accident or whatever, no one.
Reality is difficult. It is harsh. It is hard for even me to keep coming back to the thin shreds of evidence.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:57 pm
573 .Krissie…..sorry, I mean’t to say that isn’t all of it rumour and speculation from BOTH sides?
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:56 pm
krissie
Whatever you do……………..don’t go!
Nice to read some rational remarks.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:55 pm
600 Krissie.
Dont tell me what I can and cannot debate here please, thats a bit ‘Mccann’.
The one thing I agree with the Mccanns about is that the focus must be on Maddie.
That begins with not only was she snatched, but even before that, how was she able to be snatched. You, like they, see opportunity in any debate which leads away from accusations of neglect. I actually believe their only crime was failure to deliver their duty of care to her and to the twins. I think that needs to be the focus. They have no right to try to stand alongside people who care for children and seek to protect them for abuse and from people smuggling and the like - they are a cause, not a solution.
The are a type, a type who would have designer children if they could. They are hypocrtical too, if their God wanted them to have children, why did he not bless them? incidentally, who is the Father, the doner. Has that been ascertained?
Sorry - digressed!
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Don’t Blink - I sure hope the PJ have an ace in their pocket!! I would be absolutely DELIGHTED for this to all be over and for all of us to have our answers about what happened (YES, even if it meant the McCanns came out guilty). Right now, it doesn’t look like anyone’s not much more than a pair of 2s in their pocket, however.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:55 pm
(624) Anonymous
I was going to say that I have just read the same thing in the Spanish press. It is not, however, clear whether they have thrown him out of the police force or just removed him from the investigation.