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
Comments
October 11th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
I really think in the very near future, just after New Year’s we will hear of Kate landing a tv deal - some kind of programme about protecting children and child safety. Gerry I am certain is in the works with Richard Branson and perhaps his ex-cop now media guru friend Mark Williams-Thomas on childid/locator microchips and a child finder system using mobile phones.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
500 - DeeDeeDee
Is there any way he could be mistaken? I think when you get into the murky world of test tube babies, anything is possible isn’t it?
October 11th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Stevo Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Abuse? click date link above, then copy the URL/web address from your browser & email it here
Diamond in the rough
I agree. The fact of leaving a baby alone just amplifies the neglect - especially an 11 month old with a toddler there as well. Like you say, why only describe one child in that Friends Reunited blog? Although, what if she had a child from a previous relationship? She wasn’t married after all…
OK - then this leads me to my next question - Are we sure this is the SAME Jane Tanner??? I thought she was an MD?? This one in the Friends Reunited Blog is a web designer. You say she lives in Exeter - this one is in Leicestershire? Are we sure it’s the same chick we’re talking about? Jane Tanner is a common name….isn’t it??
October 11th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Once you start to throw confusion who knows where it will end….
October 11th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
stan;…I think your right,they still havnt realy got anything on the princess diana accident 10years on,if a good cover up has been planned it could take years and years,and she was a royal for god sake,and it happened in front of a lot of people….
October 11th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Stevo says:
“But…I thought this couple lived in Exeter? It says she was born there but they lived in the Midlands. Leicester is in the Midlands. The more you look at this lot, they all live/work there. Is Exeter a red-herring?”
I don’t….is Exeter in the midlands? where the hell is Exeter?? I don’t live in the UK so I don’t know how far Exeter is from Leicester. Do you know?? Are they not close at all??
October 11th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Diamond in the rough
I agree. The fact of leaving a baby alone just amplifies the neglect - especially an 11 month old with a toddler there as well. Like you say, why only describe one child in that Friends Reunited blog? Although, what if she had a child from a previous relationship? She wasn’t married after all…
October 11th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Seem to remember something about the older child being Russell’s? From another relationship? Honestly can’t remember for sure. So little in the press about the other Tapas people which is extremely strange.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
So he has said he IS M’s father!!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=487063&in_page_id=1811
Apologies if this has already been posted - in catch up mode.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
491 - Observer
Not necessarily. A fall from that height isn’t like falling from 2-3 or more storey’s high where you know there’d be a lot of blood. It would be possible to fall and receive a fatal blow but not blood…initially. Depending on the fall, you could have a wound that blocked itself and clotted in situ. That would only make a small blood stain where it happened but could produce more blood back in the apartment once it was exposed and possibly cleaned.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Just popped my head in again to see what is happening. Once again, as soon as the school bell rings to mark the end of the day, we get the usual pranksters coming on the site.
I wonder if Phil Amin is any relation to Idi? I wonder if Phil Amin has the wit about him/her to even know WHOM I am talking about!
October 11th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
I have finally realised that this will just go on forever..the full truth will never come out…nobody will be brought to justice for it and it will just go away in a very long time…whoever did it has gotten away with it i think..too much time has elapsed. Im very happy to hear about the peado ring being taken down though…something good has come out of all this at least..it disturbs me to hear about how much stuff was confiscated..i get the feeling people are getting away with abusing kids a LOT more than we realise..yes that peado ring is being brought to justice but think of the damage these psychos have already done..lives are ruined..
put them all in the general population in whatever prison they go to and just turn a blind eye to whatever happens next i say..
October 11th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Tony Bennett Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Abuse? click date link above, then copy the URL/web address from your browser & email it here
Diamond in the rough
Jane Tanner (and presumably her partner Russell O’Brien) between them have *two* children. I think the older one was sick and vomiting? - not sure
OK - to my point, in Jane’s own words the younger of the two was not even one year old on May 3rd - her post said that child would be one in June.
That means she and O’brien left their 11 month old baby ALONE - while the other one, the 4 yr old was in the next bed getting sick??
This gets more and more outrageous!!!! Who would leave an 11 month old baby alone???????
Also - Tony, are you sure that Jane has two kids? Her post mentioned she had only one - why would she not mention the other one if she had 2 in her profile?? Again, I think facts are missing here - and I am not sure we know for a fact that she had two kids. I had only heard of one - and in her own words, that one was not yet one years old until June 2007. One month after being left alone.
Again, facts are not there - and conflict with Jane’s profile post. Other than the tabloids, where is it documented that Jane and Russell had 2 kids?? I’ve not seen it confirmed. I think it is only one child they have and that “baby” was not even ONE YEARS OLD on May 3rd. She was going to be 1 in June ‘07 - read her profile again…
October 11th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Stickler,
I’m not learned…but if your supposition is;
negative reports (later proved untrue) and negative comments could lead to a eventual defamation suits,
then not much would get written …. and the portuguese will be equally able to claim massive defamation suits shortly.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
488 - just_me
I’ve said many times that usually things have a simple solution. I think falling down stairs is feasible but less likely to cause death. Falling out of that arch is almost certain to cause a really nasty injury if not death. You know how kids like to climb on the most perilous of places because they don’t perceive danger.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
‘24 HORAS’ (PORTUGUESE NEWSPAPER): “IT’S POSSIBLE WE WERE WRONG”, “IF SO, WE WILL APOLOGISE”:
DECLARATION
[Quote]
I want to declare here: the news making the headlines in today’s cover is really relevant. The fact that it has been proven — according to sources this newspaper has in the PJ and in the Instituto de Medicina Legal [National Forensics Institute] — that Gerry is not Maddie’s biological father explains a big part of the problems that this investigation has been facing, namely that, by doing DNA testing, it found contradictory results. While this fact was not cleared, given the testimonies and the other evidence gathered so far, the police could not, in any way, ever find out what really happened.
I also want to declare here that we considered the possibility that who gave us is this information might in any way be instrumentalizing 24horas to defend its own interests. After we made that consideration, we came to the conclusion that the the main issue — the veracity of the news — was not in any way put in doubt, not least because our journalists checked it with two different, unrelated sources. These are things that we do every day. But today, given the sensitivity of the issue, I want to declare that, as usual (and as we are the only newspaper that does it systematically and not only when that can avoid us a legal suit), if we find out we were fooled by someone or that we made a mistake, we’ll be here to correct it in the headlines.
Pedro Tadeu
[Unquote]
October 11th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Stickler,
I’m certain the press is censoring especially when it comes to comments on their forums. I tried several times to post to different British online papers and my restrained but critical comments of ther McCanns and their PR machine were never published. My wife’s never were either. That’s actually how I found Anorak. I was researching press and media information and trying to establish if any media outlets were monitoring what was going on in GB. I cannot find any evidence of foreign reporters following the story within the story which is for me what exactly is the British press and electronic media outles doing and why? So perehaps the press, even foreign, are just like doctors and stick together.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
A fall in the open would produce blood -difficult to clean up etc, passers by etc. I think that whatever happenend was behind closed doors. The McCann suppoerters amaze me. They are clearly lying and evading questions. Full stop. Hindering the investigation. Full stop. Putting themselves 1st. Full stop. Do the pro McCanns think that we want to blacken their names for the fun of it? Perhaps, just perhaps, we care more about their little child than they do.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
482 - just_me
You wrote:
“Like yourself, just writing here makes me have to take a few deep breaths and swallow the lump in my throat as i think of my little girl.”
I get a lump in my throat thinking about yours and Toni’s situation. For me, it’s the helplessness that I hate the most. I hate not being able to prevent things going wrong to children or to reverse what happened. Thank you both for being able to share your stories.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Rab - I agree with you - the pattern of behaviour is not normal and that could include use of sedatives.
I’m not necessarily contesting the use of sedatives. I’m more questionning the use of sedatives simply to go out for dinner or to control an hyperactive child. And I’m also questionning the use of sedatives as the reason behind Madeleine’s death - as I think that two qualified doctors would not overdose a 3 year old accidentaly, and death by fatal accident as a result of taking drugs would come as a shock to the parents… and their appearances after the disappearance have shown just about every human feeling except shock.
If they used sedatives, the purpose is possibly grimmer than we think. But still I don’t think that will be the reason for Madeleine’s death and I don’t think it will be derived from them wanting a night out.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
stevo - the arch is very interesting, how easy for her to topple over from there, just by simply leaning over to see if she can see mummy and daddy
October 11th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
With respect to displays of grief, I don’t think anecdotal evidence is particularly important; everyone responds differently.
As it has been said many times, it is far too simplistic to say that the McCanns are guilty/innocent because they didn’t/did cry. To reduce it to this is a good technique of dismissing the argument about body-language.
The understanding of their demeanors is complex and mainly undertaken on a subconscious level, which further complicates the matter of trying to explain it.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
478 - Salomon ES
Yesterday there was talk of a storage place under the apartment.
Personally I have a tough time thinking that you could be faced with a dead child and then be able to function properly within minutes and hatch a plan to firstly hide the body and then to almost immediately come up with an abduction story.
I’m just thinking about some catastrophic accident like falling out of that archway onto the pavement because to me, that’s catastrophic enough to warrant feeling that you’d be accused of neglect by saying it was an accident. Let’s face it, if you said you left your kid alone while you were out drinking and they walked out and fell like that, you know you’d get canned for it.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Will ya all f*ckorf ma brothers inocent,I am a big woman an al kick yer brains out, yerv no proof of ana thing…ok!!
October 11th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
“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?” - from Anorak today.
That’s easy - they stayed for two reasons: First to keep up appearances and launch a full blown campaign in Portugal, the last place Madeleiene was seen, and to stage a big media circus and hunt for her so as to make it look “real” which it has for so many people/believers out there.
Secondly, because they had not finished transporting the body to the final “resting” place - which is obviously what they were doing racking up all the miles on their rental car and storing the body in the trunk of the car - hence the DNA was found there.
The fact that they stayed in Portugal means nothing with regard to their innocence. They knew that if they left too soon, it would certainly raise serious suspicions as to why they were not out there searching for their daughter where she was last seen alive.
Hmmmm….now that I think of it……why AREN’T they searching for their daughter anymore?? Sort of reminds me of when OJ stopped searching for Nicole’s killer soon after he was arrested and charged with her killing. He swore to spend the rest of his life searching for her killer - like Madeleine’s parents have sworn to do - declaring they’ll never stop searching for Madeleiene - last time I checked this has not happened in months. They are searching as hard for Madeleine’s “abductor” or body as OJ searched for Nicole’s killler. On the golf course, for OJ, on the jogging streets of their hometown for the McCanns. There is no massive man hunt underway for Madeleine - the Police and the McCanns both know she is not alive - Now, they have their sights set on law suits - libel suits against the media, or individuals if need be- anyone to pay towards their fund - the fund for the negligent parents who have decided it’s easier and more advantageous not to mention profitable, to collect money off weathly tycoons and big media outlets then to go out and earn their keep as M.D.’s.
Can you imagine what their patient roster list will look like? Would you want to have your heart evaluated by Gerry McConn today?? He who has no heart towards his own daughter’s life is going to diagnose another patient’s?? LOL! NOW - there is a true contradiction in terms: The cardiology consultant has no heart of his own…….he is heartless.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Salomon ES their bogus timeline is enough to make me question exactly what kind of dinner party that was. I never heard of a more ridiculous idea of “dinner” or “babysitting” in my life.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Toni - So sorry to hear you lost your child, and i totally agree with you, the pain never goes away. When my daughter died, I was in a state of shock for the first few days, I couldnt function, I didnt get dressed,I didnt know what day it was, I didnt think about eating, I didnt think about anything, in fact those first few days are a blur even now, 10 years on. Im sure you loved your child and she was and is the most precious creation in the world, as I feel the same about my daughter. Can you understand Kate? as a mother, of a such wanted baby as Madeleine was? how the hell does she stay so cold, calm collected and emotionless. Like yourself, just writing here makes me have to take a few deep breaths and swallow the lump in my throat as i think of my little girl. Would you have been able to go jogging? hold interviews? speak so frankly? have fun? etcetc in the first few months? I know for sure I couldnt. I wanted to feel sympathy for Kate, but i find it impossible, I simply cannot relate to her., and as Stevo said, I feel compassion for you, someone ive never met and never spoken to. I honestly understand the emotion you have even 10 years on somedays it seems like it was only yesterday. Kate wants to get back to normal? well sorry life will never be normal again for us parents who lost our most precious children. xx
October 11th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Anonymous the 1st (452):
I noticed today that the first comments on the Daily Mail website were all along “Portuguese bad, McCanns good” lines.
I wondered whether either (a) these were actually posted by the Daily Mail, or (b) any critical comments were actively suppressed by the Daily Mail, in either case for the same reason, which is that an essential component of defamation is that the untrue statement has caused the complainant (the McCanns in the case) to be “shunned and avoided” or his reputation damaged in the eyes of right-thinking people.
Now, on the one hand, if a publication’s own website contains critical comment from people which demonstrate how the McCanns have fallen in the esteem of those people, then the newspaper has a more difficult position to defend if it turns out that the report complained of is indeed untrue.
On the other hand, however, if the comment section is full of statements that demonstrate that, despite having read the report , these people regard the report as a false and scandalous slur on two people whose reputations remain unimpeachable, it strikes me that, even if the report is untrue, it is much easier for the publication in question to refute the allegation that the report was libellous.
If this is right, this would explain the “pro-McCann” line apparent in the comments section.Would any of our learned friends care to comment?
October 11th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
473 - Tony Bennett
I remember reading somewhere that Gerry had recruited some solicitors from the UK back in June/July. I know I read it but can’t recall where. Do you remember it?
October 11th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Tanner and O’brien have 2 daughters?
One is Madeleine’s age and the other is now 16 months?
Was it tever reported which child was ill? Not that it makes much difference in my view.