Madeleine McCann: Ben Needham Is Missing, Operation Predator And Maddie’s Cops
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “McCanns warn: We’ll sue over claims we drugged our children”
Page 7: “Madeleine parents: We have never sedated our children” – The “slurs” are “outrageous” and “hurtful”.
The theory that they sedated all of their children is a “wild theory”. It appears in Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas, a source for “some of the more outlandish reporting”. The Express reproduces the outlandish reporting for its readers to digest and marvel at
“Grim hunt for images as child-porn ring is smashed” – Operation Predator is a clamp down on child porn in Portugal. A friend of the McCanns says: “This shows the scale of the problem in Portugal and appears to show that the Portuguese police seem to be looking in the right direction. It may provide vital leads”
But the raids were not directly connected with the Madeleine case. Operation Predator was six months in the planning
THE SUN front page: “Maddie: cop raid on pervs”
Page 7: “McCANNS’ DELIGHT AT PAEDO SWOOP” – Kate and Gerry McCann are “encouraged” that 300 Portuguese police “smashed” a 80-strong paedophile ring
“’FIND OUR KIDS TV’” – Kate and Gerry have backed a TV channel that features the 150,000 UK children that go missing each year. Pictures of missing children will be shown at GP surgeries, shopping malls and hospitals
Page 37: “MISSING BEN AGONY – We were too working class to get help like Maddie’s family” – The mother of Ben Needham, who disappeared 16 years ago on the Greek island of Kos – sees haves and have nots
“I was 19,” says Kerry Grist. “Just an ordinary girl from a council estate and people thought, ‘She will just go away in a few months, have another child and forget about it…I don’t think people thought Ben was important enough.” Or the media didn’t…
Kate McCann is a doctor. Gerry McCann is a heart specialist. Both Madeleine and Ben are blonde
DAILY MAIL page 5: “Huge porn swoop offers hope of a Maddie clue”
“Could Ben still be alive?” – Ben Needham disappeared from near his grandparents’ farm house
Says Mrs Grist, Ben’s mum: “Madeleine’s parents are middle class people with important jobs and seemed to have had a publicity machine behind them straight away”
DAILY MIRROR page 15: “WHY STAY IF SHE HAD SOMETHING TO HIDE?”
A pal of Kate McCann says: “She could not tear herself away [from Portugal]. What mother could leave the place where her daughter vanished? …If she had something to hide why would she hang around in Praia da Luz waiting for the police to come knocking on the door?”
We don’t know. Why?
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE POLICE ARREST 80 PAEDOS”
Madeleine McCann does not have her own police force – not yet. But the police working on one case are Portuguese, like the police in her case. It’s an “EXCLUSIVE”
Page 7: “MADDIE COPS RAID PAEDOS” – The Star sees Gerry McCann leaving his home in a car. “STRAIN” reads the caption
DAILY TELEGRAPH page 17: “Madeleine police turn spotlight back on paedophiles”
“Missing children TV hopes to jog patients’ memories” – Ben Needham is missing. Xiao Xiao is missing. Lee Thomas Wedge is missing. Leanna Petrenko is missing. Abigaile Sommerville is missing. Andrew Paul Gosden is missing
THE INDEPENDENT page 24: “Mother in plea to missing son” – Ben Needham is missing
THE TIMES page 11: “Madeleine police return to kidnap theory”
German and Dutch police are believed to have been asked to trace and interview guests staying at the Ocean Club when Madeleine went missing
THE GUARDIAN: No Madeleine news today
Posted: 11th, October 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,683) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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October 11th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
BTW, “As a parent” is first line of McCannic defense, as if that would dispell all argument.
Second line is the Xenophobic bungling portugese one.
Third line is the innocent until proven Guilty, when really they are just as biased and twisting the facts around, usually resorting to one and two
October 11th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Ramon - on the vatican story:
a week or a few days in my view makes little difference.
I read somewhere that Gerry & Kate were called in for further questionning exactly a week before the interview took place. Some time ago I read that Gerry received a phone call from police asking them to come over for further questionning and specifying that they wanted Kate to be the first. It sounds like the week before they were made arguidos, the PJ would have had already enough comfort to suspect they were somehow, somewhere involved.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
412 Stevo
Exactly.
And it is EXACTLY because of this, that I withdraw from this forum when things start getting too wild and the speculation out of hand. I personally feels that this in turn then demeans Madeleine and brings this whole thing down to the level of some sort of make believe “soap opera” type joke, which is cruel and disrespectful to Madeleine and to every child who has ever disappeared, whether in similar circumstances or not.
I try not to show too much that I feel the Mccanns are guilty of anything other than that which is FACT as I feel that to be blamed for something you haven’t done is wrong but it’s difficult when they SEEM not to care, jogging along, going to barbecues
October 11th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Salomon ES,
So you believe swinger lifestyle or drugs taken by the parents? Or do you think physical abuse? Not sure what you’re trying to say.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
411 Salomon, it is possible that they only sedated Madeleine, and they did this because she was over-active. This may have been a routine occurrence or just happened on that particular night when Madeleine was being particularly difficult.
I am not suggesting this did happen, just that there is a possible reason for sedation other than something far more obscure than going out for dinner, as you put it.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
“Results of crucial DNA tests, carried out by the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham, are expected to arrive in Portugal as early as tomorrow.
The tests will help determine whether police obtain permission from a judge to reinterview the McCanns, who are back at home in Rothley in Leicestershire. ”
–
Is the postal strike still on in the UK? Hope the BFSS have allowed for it. Perhaps that’ll be the excuse for these results never turning up. Lost in the post.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
“As a parent”
They do not look bonded. Being bonded to my son meant not leaving him with strangers aall the time. Going on holiday was supposed to be to get closer to them, not further away.
I would never abandon my children day after day and night after night on said holiday to “socialise”, neither woul any other parent I know personally.
I would not start an international media campaign, forgetting about my own two existing and left children to go galavanting around Europe, again without the children left behind, again abandoning them at every opportunity to “give good face” (or surly/frozen face, rather) to the Cameras as and when.
I would not then all of a sudden after beeing declared a suspect ABSCOND the country (after Vowing to stay there), citing my suddenly remembered left over children and their “welfare” as reasons to return. Ie the Children are a political shield, there is extremely little evidence to suggest that they EVER think of their children first, EVER.
I would not keep criticising the police, right from the start about how they are doing things, I would not keep telling them to keep searching while I conspicuously am not.
Bonded, lol, only in a finacial sense.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
411-
why dont you e mail russell obrien as he did suggest that he would explain how sedetives work.
just a thought
October 11th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
SSS,
Thank you for the vatican information. If it was a full week prior to their being named arguidos it has less allure for me as evidence the church was informed in advance. If it was a day or 2 prior for some reason that feels stronger to me.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
404 - SSS
Same here. I was just looking at pictures of Madeleine and I have to stop because I know I’d start to well up thinking of all the possible things that could have happened to her. That’s why I am adamant that her parents lack of what I perceive to be real grief is disturbing. If I have to stop myself looking at the photos because it’ll bring tears to my eyes then I know there’s something wrong with the stories we’ve heard from the beginning.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
The sedation to sleep theory does not add up either.
I’ve never known anyone who would sedate the children to sleep and have a night out. Even less plausible when they could have gone out anyway by simply calling in the babysitting services. The relation between wanting to go out and sedating the children does not make sense.
From here you can deduct two very simple things:
Either they did not sedate Madeleine and you’re back on step 1. ie What happened to Madeleine? Abduction? Accidental death?
Or they did sedate Madeleine - I fear for purposes far more obscure than going out for dinner.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
352 Rosemary Says:
328, Peter O,
Anyone who’s had children knows they sometimes wake up. No excuse for ever leaving them.
+++++++
I wasn’t making excuses…. Stevo was being sarcastic in his original post, I was playing devils advocate. I’m one of those who is frankly flabbergasted that anyone would leave two two year olds and a three year olds alone in an unlocked room whilst they dined some distance away.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
True Rab and sometimes in clutches of my very own hand.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
McCanns are still prime suspects in Madeleine hunt, says Portuguese police chief
Mr Ribeiro’s insistence that the McCanns remain suspects will come as a blow to the couple who had hoped that police had shifted the investigation following the sacking of Goncalo Amaral for briefing journalists against them.
Souce: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23416232-details/McCanns+are+still+prime+suspects+in+Madeleine+hunt,+says+Portuguese+police+chief/article.do
October 11th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Although this is an intriguing theory I don’t believe it to be true. Yet like a British journalist - I feel compelled to play along.
If one of the Tapas females was the donor I suspect Fiona Payne. She is petite, blonde and has a pixie-like face.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
gerry mccann is the father he has made a statement
October 11th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
383 Will, but you’ve surely forgotten that cadaver dogs and DNA evidence are meaningless and inaccurate.
I often notice that when I have lost something I find it in a jacket pocket that I don’t usually wear. Has anyone investigated this possibility?
October 11th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Stevo 394
I can only speak for myself. I have yet to meet a child that I have spent considerable time with and NOT fallen in love with.
Many years ago, a good friend of mine was childminding a baby boy, and I used to go and visit with her 3 times a week JUST to see the baby. He was a complete delight. When he was 2, the parents emigrated to Spain and I was absolutely devastated by it. Much more upset than she was.
I could bond with a child that wasn’t mine but not everyone is like me (unfortunately).
October 11th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
In the Mirror:
Kate finally agreed to go home to Rothley, Leics, only after she and Gerry were formally named suspects.
They are still trying to challenge that status. The friend added: “It was they who asked for more searches and why dogs were brought over from the UK.
“Why would they have done that if they were guilty?”
________________________________________________________
So the cadaver dogs were brought to Portugal because the McCanns asked for them?
October 11th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
334 Stevo Says:
I’ve seen what you described in Majorca and other places too…it’s not good is it?
COMMENT – Terrifying! My wife wouldn’t leave our room after dinner in the evening!
Edit…. I just can’t get past the mentality of going on a “family” holiday and then leaving your kids out of the evening entertainment.
COMMENT – I certainly wouldn’t leave our children unattended anywhere, at home. On holiday, anywhere. Ours sleep early in the evening, 7.00 PM usually, so one or both of us are always in the room/apartment with them.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Steve says (October 11th, 2007 at 2:02 pm) re 387 - SSS
“When you get into all this donor egg/sperm situation there’s many combinations. I suggested a combination where the mother and the father weren’t the biological parents. I wonder how that would make one bond (or not) with the child?”
REPLY: The question of whether Kate ever truly ‘bonded’ with Madeleine is open. She said, I think, that Madeleine cried every day for 18 hours (?) for the first few months of her life, but that this ‘helped her to bond with Madeleine’. I wonder?
October 11th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I think we need to calm down and think sensibly.
When a man donates his sperm it could be used at any time within XYZ amount of years, so it would be extremely hard for ANY man to say with 100% certainty that a child was his, made with his donated sperm.
I know a man who is a kind and loving step parent to 3 boys. I often have to stop myself from peeing with laughter when I hear people say to him and his wife how much the boys take after him, in looks, character etc etc.
People see what they want to see, not necessarily what is there.
If KM was not the biological mother, but a donor egg was used, unless they knew the donor, it is a similar story.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
re: ““For the record, Gerry is the biological father of his daughter Madeleine. A newspaper report in the 24 Horas newspaper suggesting otherwise is nothing short of lies. It is indeed an absolute fabrication. Gerry and Kate’s lawyers in both Britain and Portugal would remind editors in both countries that they are monitoring coverage very closely and will not hesitate from taking action at the appropriate stage in either country when and wherever it’s felt necessary.”
REPLY: OK, we must accept that. Is it possible, however, that the egg was not Kate’s? And if Gerry is right, then the lie apparently published by ‘24 Horas’ and their sources is a serious one
October 11th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Kate is blonde, maybe she is not the mother lol,
yes SSS that could be the point OR he thinks he is the father but kate knows different
October 11th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
If the biological Maddie’s father knows she was his daughter and is following the media right now, I expect him to process the Mccanns.
She was also his child and he is responsible for her existence.
I”m not very much in favor of donating sperma or eggs to other people.
It remains your child.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
325# Rosemary Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
274, MikeSA,
Amazing. We might as well submit to microchipping, what’s the difference?!
Reply:
I certainly don’t view this as a welcome development myself.
Apparently it gets worse, colour laser printers and a few other devices have something similar:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005371.php
If you know what you’re doing, you can apparently get rid of it or alter it, but I would imagine that the McC’s would not have been that competent in this particular regard.
For me, that would be a minus on any premeditation theories regarding post exposure tampering.
However, if the time was wrong (and the time difference does not seem to correlate with discrepencies re: daylight savings, it’s in the wrong direction), then the date could also be wrong.
Whether that was by accident or design, who knows?
October 11th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Kates in the loo
October 11th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
387 - SSS
When you get into all this donor egg/sperm situation there’s many combinations. I suggested a combination where the mother and the father weren’t the biological parents. I wonder how that would make one bond (or not) with the child?
October 11th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Is there illegal IVF farmers?
October 11th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
301 Dave Says:
270 I am puzzled as to why you start of on one tangent then end on another by agreeing with what Rhona had posted as being possible,I think it is right on the money,and the PJ need the body to nail the suspects,as already stated by the Portuguese prosecutor.
+++++++
I can’t find the alleged comment you refer to about the Portuguese Prosecutor saying they need a body… However, I’d be willing to bet that it’s another of those “A source close to whomever alleges……” type of report. i.e. While it’s not an unlikely thing to have been said, there is no official statement to that effect in the public domain. You are quite right of course, whatever was allegedly said by whomever, the case would be considerably easier to solve if Madeleine turned up somewhere.
Apologies for my seemingly confusing post (270) – I was really just trying to make the point that a lot stuff that has been reported about this case can in fact be interpreted in many ways, some innocent, some not. We tend to see the motives in people actions that support our own particular prejudices and beliefs. The seeing the priest so soon after Madeleine’s alleged disappearance is one of those things that could be completely innocent, odd I agree, but possibly innocent. My RC conspiracy theory is completely made up by myself without access to one shred of supporting evidence, just because a theory is feasible it doesn’t mean it’s true – nor that it’s false!