Madeleine McCann: Kate McCann Becomes Mum
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE – I CRY EVERY DAY SAYS KATE”
“For the first time she reveals her torment” – Kate gives the papers what they want: tears
Pages 6 and 7: “Madleine’s mum: I can’t stop crying” – Kate McCann is no longer Kate McCann; she is above all things Madeleine’s mum
“Obviously nothing can compare with the night Madeleine went missing,” says mum. And Gerry – dad’s – worst moment? “I think when we were made suspects in our own daughter’s disappearance – when the inference was that Madeleine was dead and that, somehow, we were involved…”
Yes…
“But, no it can’t get any worse than that first night…”
DAILY MAIL page 7: “Some days I just can’t stop the tears, says Maddie’s mother”
“Second police chief quits the case” – Tavares Almeida has followed his boss Goncarlo Amaral and left the business of Madeleine McCann to another lucky Portuguese cop
DAILY MIRROR front page: “KATE McCANN SPEAKS AS NEVER BEFORE..Every day felt like a week”
Page 5: “Being named suspects, the idea that we were involved, was terrible. But NOTHING can compare to the trauma of the first night our Madeleine went missing”
Kate is a “locum GP”. Gerry is a “heart specialist”. These are the facts. And they remain unaltered
The couple give an interview as they visit the offices of the Leicester Mercury newspaper, where they are presented with a cheque for £57,000 from the sales of the Madeleine wristbands
THE SUN front page: “KATE’S MADDIE ORDEAL – NOTHING’S AS BAD AS THAT NIGHT. Mum tells of torment”
Page 6: “I weep for Maddie…but we still have hope”
Says Kate McCann: “I’ve had days when if I wasn’t crying for Madeleine, I was crying from the messages people have sent us”
The McCanns “say their lowest point…was when Portuguese police declared them ‘arguidos’ – formal suspects over their daughter’s disappearance”. So not the night Madeleine disappeared, as the Express says?
Gerry is a “cardiologist”
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE – Kate: I cry for my daughter every day”
Page 8 and 9: “Finding Maddie had gone was far worse than being named suspect in killing”
THE TIMES page 14: “The twins are the only part of our lives that are normal”
Kate McCann says: “There is a semblance of normality returning. It’s more normal than it was three weeks ago, Amelie and Sean can see that. But really how can it be normal without Madeleine?”
THE INDEPENDENT page 8: “Second officer steps own from Madeleine inquiry” – Tavares Almeida. Bad Times, as Tavares were wont to say
THE GUARDIAN page 15: “Sacked Madeleine detective’s deputy seeks leave” – Senor Tavares. (Heaven Must be Missing An Angel)
DAILY TELEGRAPH front page: “KATE McCANN: THE DAILY TORMENT OF LIFE WITHOUT MADELEINE”
Page 3: “The McCanns have kept Madeleine’s room the same as it was. The twins are allowed in for a few minutes - “Otherwise, the door remains closed most of the time”
Detectives make notes.
Posted: 5th, October 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (855) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
- pete on In Photos: Susan Boyle Sings Rockefeller Center Plaza In New York City
- eggman on Daily Mail Scuppers BBC’s Wrong Shipping Forecast
- agw on Daily Mail Scuppers BBC’s Wrong Shipping Forecast
- Bat E Bird on I’m A Celebrity: Samantha Fox Is Shrinking As ‘Lesbian’ Lover Katie Price Quits
- Bat E Bird on In Photos: Susan Boyle Sings Rockefeller Center Plaza In New York City
October 5th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
308. If Team McCann reads all of our pratter, they must be real worried about the “holes” in their story. Too late to plug them - just a guess. One really never knows the mind of clever people or scared people either for that matter.
October 5th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
302 - Jerrilyn
I can see how some normal daily activities are ok and would appear “alright”. But the McCanns seem to go overboard on the normal daily activities to the extent that makes you think they are trying too hard. And then they occasionally lapse into being too “normal” considering they’ve supposed to have lost a toddler. For instance…Gerry going for his hair cut on May 4.
Wouldn’t you be totally shattered emotionally and physically if you’d lost your child and was up till 4:30am looking for them? Wouldn’t you want to resume the search the next day? Their behaviour is so weird, it’s one of the big indicators that something isn’t as it seems.
October 5th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Had to post this before the boozers pulls me in,Aardvarko I am laughing my head off at your holier than thou know all persona,as for Susan and as you have found out she can stick up for herself,being some wee lassie pretending to be grown up,suffice to say she has forgotten more about law than you will ever know,specifically criminal law,have a really shit week-end.
October 5th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
303 Roger
Try this, covers quite a bit
http://www.bullyonline.org/
October 5th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
I was always suspicious that the first thought was abduction……why couldn’t Maddie have just wandered off trying to find her mum?
October 5th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
All this talk of Gerry’s comment “…the guilt we felt at not being there AT THE MOMENT MADELEINE WAS TAKEN.” reminds me of one of the interviews they
did in their appt soon after May 3rd.
Kate said almost the exact same words and sort of rolled her eyes afterwards
as if to say “what a bummer”.
I think she said “I wish we had been there at the moment Madeleine was taken”.
I’ve tried to find the video clip on youtube but can’t. It was either Sky or BBC
news doing the interview.
I thought at the time that her words and facial expressions were very strange.
I wish I could find the clip again.
Anyone else remember it?
October 5th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
302 JerriLyn
One thing I’m sure of is Team McCann reads this and other forums to get a feel for the what the public is thinking and then try to sway their opinion, if need be.
It is interesting to see how they address so many of the issues discussed here, as if they’ve got a long checklist and each day, with appropriate news releases, they are able to tick off one or two items on the list.
Let’s see if they’ll be smart enough to stop the publicity whirlwind and lay low for a while. I doubt it–how will Mr. Mitchell earn his salary then? He has a vested interest in helping the McCanns continue to put spin into the public venue.
October 5th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Viewer 290 - Are you an iridologist?
If so, correct me if I am wrong, but is the marking in the region of the uterus, ovaries?
October 5th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
303 Roger
Sam Vaknin is regarded as one of the best experts in the field of NPD.
Here is his site: http://samvak.tripod.com/faq1.html
October 5th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Garth I will tell you what has happened. Child gone missing through criminal neglect. Parents scream abduction - no one else did. Public believed it. Tide turned on new evidence (I speculate) which now points the finger at the parents. They have skirted around and refused to answer questions and done themselves and more importantly the missing child no favours by recruiting campaign managers, tour managers and lawyers to protect brand McCann.
October 5th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
301. Very self centered people believe whatever “they” do is right even if society says it is wrong. I suppose this even applies to murderous outrages. Something akin to, she made me do it. She should have stopped crying….etc.
October 5th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Batman Any good refs for NPD? Also from a child’s point of view?
October 5th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
As to the McCanns jogging - jogging can be a good a coping mechanism, especially when one is upset or depressed. The increased heart rate etc. makes you feel better (endorphins) and actually helps. I know many people that have jogged their way through tradgedy. I think their mistake is making all of this public. What is wrong with leading a private life, away from the spotlight, and having one spokesperson - a family member. The Gerry Diary needs to stop. It hints of insincerity. I think they would be wise to go into seculsion.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
291 Judith C
That is so right. If Kate’s stoism were just honest control of her emotions, she would not feel the need to have the press report on her habits of crying when alone.
She always looked so put together for the weeks immediately following Madeleine’s disapppearance but only now, when she and her husband are suspects, does she publicly show any grief and emotion (from everything I’ve seen that’s available online). Anyone who has any links to video of her crying or tearing up in previous months, prior to their arguido status, please feel free to post here to challenge this assumption.
The McCann team have made gross errors in judgement in trying to correct course so obviously. Too much, too late, I say. They are just digging themselves deeper.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Brandflour
Im Impressed,
I am a victim of a NPD. This went on for two years at least before i even realised that this disorder even existed. When i found out about it i read books by Martha Stout and Tim Fields and read the website Bullyonline. I went through absolute hell and it was only when i read these that i realised what was happening and began to feel much better.
Since having done that, i feel that many, many people may be suffering in the same way and are totally oblivious to the power of the NPD.
I am very impressed that you know so much about this condition and I feel that someone like you ought to share your knowledge with the rest of the world.
It would make a lot of lives easier if someone were to stand up in public and expose these people, they may be not murderers, but thats only because theyre afraid of getting caught, but they are emotional vampires.
I am sure that the normal people of the world would be very grateful to the one who exposes these creeps for what they are.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
294. susannah.
Glad I could help. I wish I could have been on a bike ride, or even a walk, but I have broken my toe. (A direct result of my being left alone in my apartment
) hence the unhealthy amount of time I have been spending on here lately.
I have given up on the car thing, it just really annoyed me that simple facts, which can be easily checked, are not being and thus we end up with things like “DNA soup” sloshing around in the McCanns hire car.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
297 Judith Cynical
Well you seem to know what happened! You tell us……………..know all!
October 5th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
(131)
Maicen Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Tears aside.. and big fat cheques aside.
The more important story is that both UK police and PJ believe Madeleine was killed inside that unlocked apartment. Why would any abductor kill a child they wanted to kidnap. ?”
Comments.?
And then bother to take the body away if they did accidentally kill her..oh, and clean up..and place Cuddle Cat on a high shelf, and…what else did they do - the washing up perhaps, take down the curtains and clean them. Busy little abductors weren’t they?
October 5th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
11
I don’t like the sound of you. From your post those words are more akin to the person who wrote them. How I wish I could get me hands on you.
Smug twat!
October 5th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Oh well, if that’s the way it’s to be.
Susan, you don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about; you claim to be posting your bosses’ thoughts as though they were gospel. Your boss may be “in the trade” but he knows as much about this particular case as you or I, and that’s not much!
I am not a pro-McCanner - I am sure they have something to answer for besides being criminally negligent. Many of the posters here post worthwhile sensibly thought-out posts. Yours do not fall into that category, and I am serious about the NPD - you seem to fit the profile.
And no, I am not the kn***nd who was posting yesterday - I’m just someone else who is not particulary impressed at a wee girl pretending to be grown up and clever (and failing quite miserably), and finally made his first post today.
Other posters are actually worse than you; it was unfortunately your comment which finally made me post. What did you expect? - Well done, it’s all so clear now?
October 5th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Andy 229
I have been on a bike ride, made supper, poured a class of wine (in the middle of the wine lands hence not vodka) and now I know how to post a link nothing can stop me.
thanking you.
any more joy with the car and spare wheel scenario.
I have really enjoyed finding out the most basic information about posters.
I don’t know why but to be Brandonflours and Slyfox were males, no idea why, just a conclusion.
Which just goes to show conclusions can be way out.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Portia… if you wish to be fundamentalist about then do so, but the majority of Priests and Bishops accept it as a progression in science.
This has been discussed here many time with many links… it does of course depend on which country you live in. (Yes I am a Catholic)
October 5th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Maicen. Thanks. A terrible thing to happen but fortunately, thank God, not tragic. I see the point, its very difficult to judge from the public portrayal of emotions.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Maria Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
117 brnadonflours
If KM stages it, as you say, she does it very badly doesn’t she? You’d think she’d wear sackcloth and ashes, never wear make-up or wash her hair, wear tatty old clothes, redden her eyes, tell everyone she can’t sleep and never ever go jogging.
I wonder why she doesn’t do these things to satisfy public demand?”
She is now doing these things, viz the latest headlines, not verbatim: ‘Kate weeps non-stop’, ‘Kate is very fragile and under strain’, etc. As for tatty old clothes…yeah, well…I’ve given better than what she wears to the charity shop. Hair? Doesn’t look too good to me lately, and a virtual total absence of make-up on a gaunt face with red-rimmed eyes. Look at the papers on-line for the past few days and you’ll see what I mean.
Now, Maura, get this. It’s not ‘to satisfy public demand’ because the public, or the major proportion of it, has already decided this shifty couple have something to hide. It is to satisfy the perception that Clarence Mitchell (her shifty advisor) has of public demand, i.e. weeping, frail, uncaring about herself, blah, blah, blah. In other words, just the opposite that she was immediately after “the worst day of my life” (or words to that effect) when her eldest child was ‘abducted’? No, let’s make that ‘taken’ because ‘abducted’ is a bit too strong now.
But, unfortunately for the arrogant McCanns, arrogant Mr. Mitchell has got it wrong and the more they try together to stage things to court public opinion, the more they create a bad smell - almost as bad as the rotting meat and dirty nappies, bodily fluids and heaven knows what else in the back of their car.
Sorry, I called you Maura, you’re Maria aren’t you? Perhaps one and the same? You come out with the same stuff. Oh, and by the way, I know this is nothing to do with me but ‘brnadonflours’?? If you’re continually taking people to task then it helps to spell correctly.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
This is relevant as it might bring to light how Madeleine has been treated by her parents since she was born:
People have speculated here on whether Maddie had or not Colomba syndrome or Charge syndrome. Impossible to tell only by viewing the fotos.
On the other hand, what is possible to say by only looking at her fotos is that she had a syndrome: heterochromia iridis.
And, what is more amazingly is that she had heterochromia iridis and sectorial heterochromia iridis at the same time.
Most cases of heterochromia are hereditary, caused by a disease or syndrome, or due to an injury. Sometimes one eye may change color following certain diseases or injuries.
Heterochromia iridis has two classifications: 1 - congenital (DNA related) or 2 - acquired (got it after born, at any time in line)
Heterochromia iridium is the term used when the eyes are different colours, such as having one blue and one brown. There are several different causes of heterochromia: an inherited trait, a disease/disorder or a physical accident.
Does anyone know any information whether Madeleine suffered an accident in the past or, was she born with that?
October 5th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
#281
You need to check your facts. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Check it out on the Vatican web page), IVF is never acceptable for any reason at all. It is always a gravely immoral sin for Catholics to buy into it. This is the official teaching of the Catholic Church.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
re 1148 Maria (yesterday’s thread)
=============
REPLIES TO MARIA
=============
Maria said (October 5th, 2007 at 8:50am)
1139 Tony Bennett: Maria said: “You say the motives of those who will benefit from covering up the McCanns’ guilt are “mixed”. I think that goes a long way to explaining why I seriously doubt the guilty theory. I can’t see how any of the people you mention could possibly benefit apart, of course, from the tapas bar friends if they are involved. To suggest that the British police, press, PM, polititical establishment, capitalists, socialists, the Home Secretary, Govt, Catholic church etc. etc. will also all benefit, in different ways, by a cover up of the McCanns’ guilt seems to me to be entering the realms of an absurd Dan Brown-like fantasy-thriller world”.
REPLY: Maria, you have very significantly altered the list of people I said
‘benefited in some way’ from the Madeleine McCann case.
I am sure you did this unintentionally, but look below at the list I gave you in my posting and you’ll see, very clearly, that you have put words into my month. I never mentioned – as you have done - the ‘politcal establisment’, or
‘capitalists’, or ‘socialists’, did I?
Did I mention ‘the British police’? No. You must be very careful not to misrepresent someone’s argument, as you have manifestly done here, e.g. by badly misquoting them.
In fact I mentioned: ‘The Tapas 9, at least 4 lawyers, Clarence Mitchell, Mark Williams-Thomas, other media advisers, most members of the McCanns’ extended family, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith (”We must resume the search for Madeleine”), Sir Richard Branson, Gordon Brown, possibly Father Pacheco’.
Let me go through these one by one and carefully explain how they benefit:
The Tapas 9
ANS> Probably covering up their own involvement e.g. in sedating their children or possibly covering up certain other activities they were involved in, which they don’t want people knowing about. It could even have been a grossly misguided sense of loyalty
at least 4 lawyers
ANS> Money. Lots of it.
Clarence Mitchell
ANS> Loads of money
Mark Williams-Thomas,
ANS> Lots of money
other media advisers
ANS> Lots of money
most members of the McCanns’ extended family
ANS> Embarrassment at family members possibly being involved in a serious crime, and/or a sense of loyalty
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith (”We must resume the search for Madeleine”),
ANS> She’s stated on the record that it is an abduction and has forgotten, I seems, that the McCanns are currently criminal suspects, possibly of murdrer or manslaughter or perverting the course of justice. She’s interfered significantly with judicial process. She wants there to be no charges against the McCanns
Sir Richard Branson
ANS> Free publicity
Gordon Brown
ANS> Committed himself way back in May to backing the McCanns and had ‘several private telephone conversations’ with Gerry McCancn. Very embarrassing for him if the McCanns are charged with serious crimes
possibly Father Pacheco.
ANS> If he knows more than he is letting on about why the McCanns went to see him within hours of Madeleine ‘disappearing’, then he too would hope that the whole thing goes away.
=======================================
Maria said: “Naturally, IF any of their friends risked their whole lives to help hide and move the body, then they would benefit from such a cover-up. But why would they do that?”
REPLY: See above
=======================================
Marai said: “The only possible way there could be guilt is if the group were united in some seriously criminal activity BEFORE Madeleine’s disappearance. Otherwise it would have been logistically impossible”.
REPLY: Not sure if your word ‘logistically’ is correct’; I think you meant ‘logically’. See above for the possible reasons that the Tapas 9 might know more than they are letting on
=======================================
Maria said: “Even the gaps in O’B’s and Tanner’s separate absences from the table don’t give them the time to hire a boat etc. etc. etc.”
REPLY: 1. Do you think they are all telling the ‘God’s honest truth’ about their times away from the table that night? 2. Who said ‘hired a boat’? All they needed to hid a child’s body on a boat was to know someone who had a boat, perhaps one amongst their group of friends
=======================================
Maria said: “and hide a body so it can’t be found and get back coool and calm to the restaurant”.
REPLY: Many people have been remarkably cool after committing a serious crime
=======================================
Maria said: “Tony, it is simply these points, together with the universally held good opinion of the Mccanns held by everyone who knows them
REPLY: Whoa! We have heard half-hearted snippets of support from one or two people. But there are an awful lot of people who know the McCanns we have not yet heard from. Their main friends appear to be others in the Tapas 9! Leaving three children under four on their own night after night when they went out drinking and yet you say people ‘universally hold a good opinion about them’? There’s an inconsistency there. I suspect that the McCanns are not quite as universally popular amongs those who know them as you claim
========================================
Maria said: “from different times in their lives, which make me doubt the guilt theory”.
REPLY: Lots of peeople thought that Dr Harold Shipman was a nice, kind doctor
========================================
Maria said: “All the reporters who have got to know them are also convinced of their innocence”.
REPLY: How many reporters have ‘got to know them’? I know of journalists who are highly sceptical of the McCanns’ version of events. But their editors are being very careful about what they print about this story. They know the McCann libel lawyers are peering ove their collective shoulders – even watching Anorak – ready to pounce. It seems they’ve already forced some papers to ‘correct’ or even withdraw online reports about the McCanns, if they were considered adverse by Team McCann
=======================================
Maria said: “I don’t know what questions were not answered, if any. I’ve tried to answer that accusation. I believe they would now answer any questions put to them, either here or in Portugal”.
REPLY: Now? Why not then? Sorry, Maria, it’s dead simple. The innocent have nothing to hide. Especially if their daughter’s been abducted
========================================
Maria said: “Hopefully the new detective(s) leading the investigation will now ensure that all the necessary interviews (if the ARE necessary) will now take place. Or are the Portuguese police also too afraid of Britain to go ahead with the investigation?? I can’t believe it. Why, IF they had evidence, would they not simply go ahead, complete the investigation and charge the McCanns?
REPLY: I suspect they are still completing theer file of evidence. Most of all, they need if possible to find Madeleine’s body, that is unless it has been burnt or otherwise destroyed or placed where it is never likely to be found. I think the McCanns know where it is, which is why tyhnbey publicly challenged the PJ a couple of weeks ago: ‘Find the body – put up or shut up’
=========================================
Maria said: “I hope you are not suggesting that anyone should base a charge, or even an accusation of guilt without a formal charge, on an ABSENCE of evidence?”
REPLY: Let the evidence be led in court - ASAP. But in the meantime I and others can form our views on their involvement based on evidence we have seen, heard, and assessed outside court.
=======================================
Maria said: “The ‘witch-hunt’ (apologies for any offence) refers to the fact that many people use a medieval gathering of meaningless titbits on which to base their accusation.
REPLY: The McCanns’ bizarre and incredible responses to leaks – like soiled nappies and rotting meat being taken to the dump - are not ‘meaningless titbits’. They provide significant evidential clues
========================================
Maria said: “(The jogged too early, they never smile, they were seem smiling, KM changed her earrings, KM had nice clothes and obviously showered, GM had a hair-cut, KM shook her head, KM appears emtionless, KM feigned emotion etc etc. etc.)”
REPLY: Some of the above are IMO significant, especially (1) GM had a hair-cut within 18 hours of Madeleine ‘disappearing’, and (2) M shook her head several times when asked if she thought Madeleine was still alive )
========================================
Maria said: “Incidentally, if the McCanns were acting this whole thing, they would studiously have AVOIDED things like jogging, doing their hair etc. which might appear heartless to a public gaping at their grief. As it was, I think the most likely explanation is that they simply acted ‘naturally’, whatever that might mean if you’ve had your child snatched. KM didn’t even have the wit to say she wasn’t sleeping when asked nby Jenny Murray in the Woman’s Hour intervew! She just answered honestly. I may of course be completely wrong but I don’t see what ‘evidence’ I’ve ignored so far”
REPLY: Then you have not carefully read the posts of people like ‘Stevo’ and ‘Murder’ and many others who have clearly explained the evidence they rely on. Alternatively, you come to a different conclusion despite all the evidence available to you
=======================================
nor do I see for one moment why anyone in Portugal or the UK would benefit from a cover-up of the truth behind this crime.
REPLY: I’ve explained above
October 5th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
To Tony Bennett in reply to post 1126 on 3rd October.
Hi Tony, just wanted to address the points you made to me as a result of my post 1082 of the 2nd October. Haven’t much time for blogging so this rather long one might be my second and last.
From Tony:
All that you say about Kate Mccann’s emotions is perfectly consistent with Kate McCann holding a terrible guilty secret and not with having genuinely lost an abducted child. Have you seen the video of her interview in Morocco, for example, where the McCanns are asked if they think Madeleine is still alive, and Kate silently shakes her head several times, probably without realising she is doing it? (Gerry of course answers the question).
My reply:
Yes, I agree it could be construed as such but my interpretation is also valid and reasonable as at this moment in time there is no evidence in the public domain to back up a ‘terrible guilty secret’ and Kate McCann has not been arrested. However, it is a known fact that her child is missing. I can’t imagine how I would react if I was asked to give an opinion as to whether my child was still alive. I really don’t know but there is the possibility that she is shaking her head silently in despair at having to confront the fear that her child may be dead, or perhaps because of the insensitivity of the question. That’s just my opinion in the absence of any evidence to the contrary.
From Tony:
Your point about the effect all this writing might have on the twins one day as they grow up is an interesting one and I see your point clearly.
My reply:
Yes, I think the effect it has on those children is of paramount importance. People peddling these wild, unsupported theories are not thinking of the twins in the slightest, even though they purport to care so much about Madeleine. It will be made worse when the inevitable rash of sensationalist books are published by unscrupulous people wanting to profit on the back of this tragedy, whatever the outcome. What then for the twins – I find it very sad to look at their little faces knowing what’s in store for them.
From Tony:
However, I believe the McCanns have shown signs of being poor parents - leaving the children alone for hours at a time while they go partying and drinking for example.
My reply:
They made a serious error of judgement in leaving their children even though they thought it was a safe environment. As for ‘partying’ I thought (although it’s obviously only what I’ve read) that they were just eating tapas in a restaurant. Also the amount of drinking done that evening appears to vary wildly depending on which tabloid you read. I did notice that Kate McCann ruffled the hair of her little boy affectionately in the video made on the bus journey to the aeroplane and it looked like the natural, unaffected gesture of a caring mother.
From Tony:
I noted that after Madeleine ‘disappeared’, they spent huge amounts of time ‘campaiging’ and globetrotting - but not much time with their 2-year-old twins.
My reply:
We knew nothing about the McCann’s family life, before this happened, until it became ‘public property’. We know about the ‘campaigning’ and ‘globetrotting’ but when you say ‘huge’ amounts of time, how much is ‘huge’ and how much is ‘not much’? It’s a bit vague. Their behaviour may be at odds with how we think we may react but then I honestly don’t know what lengths I’d go to if I were faced with that nightmare situation. As trainee doctors they will have been taught to use problem solving skills and strategies in difficult circumstances and they may be turning to these as a way of coping with the fear. Not everyone’s way of coping, I’d agree, but we are all unique.
From Tony:
I think that Madeleine died in their apartment and that they are deliberately covering it up, including having disposed of, or arranged the disposal of, Madeleine’s body. I see signs of the parents being manipulative - and even at times lying. I see that they constantly minimise the gravity of leaving their children at around 7pm/8pm and going out partying. I perceive that they are in denial about many things.
My reply:
It will be interesting to see how the evidence stacks up in court, particularly in the light of recent events in the Polícia Judiciária, as to whether your ‘perceptions’ are true or false.
From Tony:
If I were Social Services, there would be very big question marks in my mind about whether the twins’ welfare would be served by their remaining with their parents. I would also have in mind that the PJ are not inventing 4,000 pages of evidence and that on what we have learnt so far, the possibilty of Madeleine having died by the deliberate actions of her parents (drug overdose and/or temper loss) is quite possible.
Maybe there is a caring relative who could step in and bring up the twins?
My reply:
If they are found guilty then the care of the twins would obviously be advised by Social Services and they may be placed in the care of a relative. If they are innocent I don’t think they will be taken into care. Social Services will do everything in their power to keep families together – providing they are satisfied the children are not at risk. Maybe the twins really love their parents and would want to stay with them and perhaps the McCann’s have learned a very hard lesson. I have witnessed, as an assistant in an educational environment, shocking neglect. I have seen children of five with severe nappy rash and reeking of ammonia through lying in filthy, wet nappies all night, a child who when her socks were removed for P.E. her toes were swarming with body lice, children who can’t string a sentence together verbally because they have never been spoken to, only shouted at, and so never learned how to speak properly. Children who couldn’t recognise a piece of fruit because they had never been given fruit and lived on a diet of oven chips So many of the children had problems of one kind or another and we did our best to address these in school, with the input of Social Services, the school clinic and the child psychologist. I’m sure Social Services will have looked very carefully at the McCann case, and the police will have made them aware of the details. They chose not to act based on that knowledge so that tells us something. Petitions or campaigns by smug, self-righteous Internet bloggers will not influence Social Services in the slightest. They will not be interested in punishing the McCann’s; their only concern and priority will be the welfare, safety and well being of the twins. In consideration of the twins at least, but also of their parents who may be innocent, I intend to keep a balanced view of the situation unless hard evidence proves otherwise.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Aardvarko 278 if you think thats abusive just stay awhile and watch and learn! I’ve been called far worse than that, as have many others!
And I am only called moderation, (stupid I know….) I’m nothing to do with mods and admin just in case you think I am!
October 5th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Aardvarko - running to the teacher like a complete tell tale, you are hilarious