Madeleine McCann: A Bedroom, A bed And A Blanket
MADDY WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MIRROR front page: “FIRST PIC OF SNATCH SCENE – INSIDE MADDY’S BEDROOM”
A picture of the holiday bedroom from where Madeleine McCann vanished. Useful. Perhaps seeing it will jog your memory…
The Mirror highlights three areas of the room:
DOOR: “LAST LOOK. Dad Gerry last saw his daughter form this door”
BED: “HER BED - “Rumpled covers and pillow on mattress”
WALLS: “UNTOUCHED – Room is as it was after police forensic team finished work”
We commend to your attention the shards of sardine roll, cigarette ash dropping and big footprints
The picture is an “EXCLUSIVE”
MADDY COPS WANTS McCANNS SILENCED” – A plan to do harm to Kate and Gerry McCann?
Almost as bad: “Portuguese police may gag Madeleine McCann’s parents by keeping them suspects for the next 15 years.” So too Robert Murat. This one has along way to run
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE – THE HUNT SWITCHES TO BOSNIA AFTER NEW SIGHTING”
Page 9: “Tourist spotted Madeleine – I heard her yell: ‘I want my daddy’”
The Express hears news from Medugorje, Bosnia, the site of a Catholic shrine. As reported on Anorak, the man sees a girl who looks like Madeleine. He reports it to local police. Police shrug. He tells the McCanns’ private detective firm. They check the expense account. They respond
The “father of six”, from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, who asked not to be named, says: “From the minute I saw them, there seemed to be something odd going on. They both had a very swarthy complexion and the toddler with them was a blonde, fair child.” Dark, you say?
“She was wearing a little pink coat and was very agitated and sobbing. The instant I saw her my heart skipped a beat because it struck me that she looked like Madeleine McCann. I felt sure there was something wrong and started to move towards them. As they saw me coming, they started walking faster away from me. I was sure the child they had was not theirs. I got right up beside them, and was about to speak to the child when the man put his hand over her mouth and shoved her into the car. He was pushing her into the back seat and was yelling in a language I didn’t understand.”
“First look at bedroom” – Unless you have already seen the Mirror that is
“New nightmare as McCanns could be suspects for 15 years” – Says Francisco Pagarete, Robert Murat’s lawyer: “The problem is that in Portugal a suspect can remain an arguido for 15 years without any need for police to reapply or extend the status”
No problem for the press
THE SUN page 11: “MADDIE;S BEDROOM.” This is the “FIRST PICTURE” of “Inside the McCann holiday flat”
For those readers unfamiliar with the contents of a “bedroom”, the Sun uses an arrow pointing towards a box-shaped presence and tells us: “Bed she was in before she went missing.” A second arrow points to a “Blanket”
Clarence Mitchell hears of the sighting in Bosnia. Says he:”We are not dismissing it. The witness was 99.9 per cent certain the child was not with her natural parents”
DAILY MAIL page 19: “First photo of Maddie flat as hunt switches to Bosnia”
“Its narrow beds have been stripped of their sheets so they can be analysed for evidence”
And in Bosnia, the “very swarthy” people are with Madeleine. Like the man in Belgian, perhaps…
DAILY STAR page 9: “BOMBSHELL BOOK POINTS FINGER AT MADDIE PARENTS”
Hernani Carvalho and Luis Maia have written Maddie 129. the Star says the book claims some of the Tapas Seven “had already given up searching for Madeleine and were in their own flats 90 minutes after the alarm was raised because ‘they already knew where she was’”
An American artist has been employed by the Star to make Madeleine’s hair from blonde to dark. (Non-experts can use a felt tip or boot polish)
DAILY TELEGRAPH front page: “MADELEINE DETECTIVES CHECK NEW SIGHTING AT BOSNIAN SHRINE”
Page 7: Says Clarence Mitchell: “But as with all these reports, the McCanns refuse to raise their hopes until it has been investigated fully”
NEW YORK TIMES: “European Tabloids Still Agog Months After Child Vanishes”
“Six months after Madeleine McCann, then 3 years old, disappeared from her family’s vacation apartment in Portugal, no development in the case seems too small to merit a banner headline — even the news that her father had returned to his job as a doctor. Similarly, no story is too speculative”
THE GUARDIAN, THE INDEPENDENT and THE TIMES: No Madeleine news
Posted: 12th, November 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (950) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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November 12th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
221
snakeplissken Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Is it conceivable (in my opinion allegedly) that drugs companies could be involved in buying non-medical opium - perhaps with the help of/under the cover of the military in Afghanistan?
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I agree but why the need f or secrecy?
November 12th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Thea - what would be the relation between EU funds and Madeleine mcCann?
It’s not like Gordon Brown (of all prime ministers) has a lot to say about how much money is allocated to each of the EU member states. The Council of Ministers (EU Member States) adopts the total package (of EU funds) and the Commission allocates the funds to the different countries according to priority areas (you should know that the UK also gets a lot of funding for objective 1 deprived areas in London, Liverpool, Glasgow and Greater Manchester).
This particular package was initially adopted well before Madeleine went missing (announced recently to make a splash in Portugal since Portugal is now holding the EU rotating presidency).
I’m sure there’ll be a lot that we don’t know about political interference with this case, but EU funds I don’t think so.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Tony b
This may have no significance but on the drawing of madeleine on gerry’s blog their are symbols on her t-shirt, one of them looks like an eye. Can’t give a link at the mo I’m at work.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
just like to say welldone to whoever spotted the door business……ok mccann suporters give an explanation for that one
November 12th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
57 Batman Says:
39 tonyb
Edit..
I thought we were told the PJ said that they were no longer considering Murat as being involved - if so will they not just allow his initial arguido status to lapse.
+++++++++++++
Possibly not if he, through questioning, been made aware of timelines, events, people?
November 12th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Julie, we went for a jog, that was TRUE, we went for a walk on the beach, that was TRUE, the rest ………uurrrgh debatable
November 12th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
219
Julie Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Is anyone here able to recall ANYTHING that has come from Gerry, that has been a TRUE statement of fact?
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I believe Gerry, like all psychopaths, believes all he says. Especially his comments about his desire to get involved in politics and his deep thanks to those in Leicester who collected £75,000. I think he really truly desires political and media power and that he was very grateful for that nice chunk of change.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
217 Pat
I think you’ll find that her original statement - issued sometime after May 3rd - referred to a man carrying something large in a blanket that, on reflection, could have been a child.
This was then subsequently changed to a child wearing Maddie’s pyjamas.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Will
I think it’s pretty shitty of you not to tell me what you meant when you jumped all over me for making an assumption you objected to.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Julie 219 - Thats a hard one! eerrrrrrm, nope cant think of anything lol
November 12th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Is it conceivable (in my opinion allegedly) that drugs companies could be involved in buying non-medical opium - perhaps with the help of/under the cover of the military in Afghanistan?
November 12th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
218
Rockhopper Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
209
I agree that from what we have seen it would be impossible for an abductor to be hiding in the bedroom or behind the door.What about elsewhere in the apartment though?
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Maybe the predator was hiding ‘within’ Gerry. And what he meant by “door” was the ‘door to his conscious mind’?
November 12th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Is anyone here able to recall ANYTHING that has come from Gerry, that has been a TRUE statement of fact?
If so, please could you remind me, as I’m beginning to think that the man is a pathological liar! (IMHO of course!)
November 12th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
209
I agree that from what we have seen it would be impossible for an abductor to be hiding in the bedroom or behind the door.What about elsewhere in the apartment though?
November 12th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
The Express
He said: “From the minute I saw them, there seemed to be something odd going on. They both had a very swarthy complexion and the toddler with them was a blonde, fair child.
Ludicrous IMO
Which brings me back to the thought that why didn’t Tanner think it odd when she saw someone holding her close friends child in said pyjamas outside friends appartment
November 12th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
http://portugalresident.com/portugalresident/showstory.asp?ID=22336
25 October 2007
Portugal to receive 20 billion euros from European Union
OVER THE next six years, Portugal is to get 20 billion euros from European Union community funds.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Thea
I could believe that. I think our government would put pressure on any country where a high profile case involving Brits was taking place.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
169 hanassus
Perhaps there is an opium connection. Apparently there is a shortage of medical opium. This Spectator article (June 26, 2007) about opium might be of interest:
“Dangerous poppycock from Blair
Fraser Nelson 12:12pm
Today’s news that Afghanistan’s opium production is soaring takes me back to perhaps the biggest lie Tony Blair has uttered during the war on terror. He told the 2001 Labour conference that “90% of the heroin on British streets originates in Afghanistan. The arms the Taliban are buying today are paid for with the lives of young British people buying their drugs on British streets.” In fact, he knew that the Taliban psychos had virtually extinguished the poppy trade declaring it “un-Islamic”. Fearing limb amputation, farmers obeyed. The UN said crops dropped by 91% - info that was available well before his speech. So our intervention in Afghanistan was only ever going to increase world opium supply, as well he knew.
Two important points here:
1. Blair’s opium lie was a bigger lie than Saddam’s weapons. In Iraq, Blair exaggerated a threat he believed to be true. But he’d have known what he said about the Taliban and opium was a damned lie. Strange thing is that even now, this lie is believed and repeated by the more intelligent ministers and used to justify our troop presence (see Jim Murphy’s recent pamphlet).
2. The Taliban’s last act was to prove to the world that stamping out opium farming in Afghanistan doesn’t impact the UK . The UK street price of heroin went down from £74 a gram in 1997 to £61 in 2002 and £55 a gram in 2004. Rival opium producers, like Myanmar, simply grew more. So the UK drugs problem lies with the collapse of British border control, not impoverished Afghan farmers.
In Mr Murphy’s pamphlet, he says “the case for our continued engagement in Afghanistan can be made by a progressive self-interest that 90% of the heroin in the UK traditionally comes from Afghan poppy fields.” If this Blair poppy lie is behind our troop deployment in Afghanistan, it’s worth correcting soon. Lives of our servicemen are literally at stake.
As Americans know, you can’t win a drugs war at gunpoint. Much Taliban support is fuelled by locals thinking the Brits will take away their sole source of income. I propose buying their opium, European Union style, and using it to address the shortage of medical opium. The Times’ Camilla Cavendish explains it all superbly here. If Gordon Brown or the Conservatives want an intelligent way to pursue peace in Afghanistan, here it is.”
November 12th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Sherlock how about because he was spinning a story.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
158 soothsayer
I do think that all possible evidence is now with the PJ (except for a body or any confessions). If it is down to one prosecutor to decide whether or not to arrest anyone, then maybe he/she is just going to give the PJ more time to either find the body (fat chance!) or hope that someone will ‘crack’ and thus confess.
The waiting game cannot hurt the PJ at all, their reputation has already been greatly insulted by the British media. However, the waiting game is definitely making the McCs life much more difficult.
You insist there is no cover-up or grand conspiracy. But yet Gordon Brown does seem to have ‘had a word’ in Socretes ear and it was then that things seemed to have ground to a halt in terms of the Portuguese taking things further. There is no further suggestion of the PJ coming to the UK to question the other Tapas etc. This kind of intervention does seem unusual in such a case.
I am interested to know if you think the prosecutor’s delay is due to Portuguese political pressure or simply due to lack of enough evidence.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
207. Karen, I’m not saying that M was abducted by paedophiles but that blackmailing is going on between UK and Portuguese politicans and/or the wealthy elite.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
toni.b
There’s only ever been Will who has accused me of that in all the time I’ve posted here.
I’m not trying to annoy anyone.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
THanks Rosemary - 202
I just went back to check what exactly Gerry McCann said at the time.
From the Telegraph 23 september
Gerry believes there was certainly something odd,” the friend said. “The bedroom door was ajar when he got in and he thought: ‘That’s strange’. “He went into the room, checked that Madeleine was still asleep in bed; she was and he came out, closed the door.” “Initially he thought she might have got up and gone to the toilet or gone to get a drink or something but now he thinks that the abductor must have been in there hiding.”
This statement was later re-confirmed by Clarence Mitchell.
The fact that door opens towards the outside makes - as far as i can see -any presence of an abductor in the apartment impossible.
Can anyone find any explanation as to why Gerry said this?
November 12th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
how many of these posts begin with, Karen I never said that ……
I think it would be wise just to ignore her posts as she is trying to wind everyone up. and we are raising to the bait
November 12th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Thea
I’m sure there are some rich paedophiles. And if there’s a court case then there’s a court case. I just don’t think it applies in this case, because there are easier ways of getting access to Madeleine, never mind any other pretty 3 year old.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Back to the abductor theory or just Mr Brunt’s opinion?
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1292453,00.html?f=vg
“The current thinking of the Portuguese police is that an abductor probably got in through the patio doors by the swimming pool and took Madeleine out the same way, said Brunt.”
November 12th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
201
hannasus Says:
Thank you for the kind words. Not sure about “applying balm”? You mean when I dared suggest that everyone; McCann believers and non should be permitted to voice their opinions freely?
Maybe this case will be solved when the Mayan calendar is ending?!
November 12th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Will
Then what did it mean? Give me the right interpretation.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
151
Rosemary Says:
“I think a big mistake is being made if the McCann’s PR people are judging press comment by what they are reading in the news forums, the Mirror forum being the one most Brits would read, I suppose.”
I think I have missed your point in this passage.
“It was also a big PR mistake to attempt to justify leaving children in hotel rooms and holiday apartments without an adult present. They tried to do this from the start, with the help of celebrities who said they did the same with their kids and that it was perfectly acceptable practice for British parents to do this.”
This established the McCanns as pro-child-neglect and they have steadfastly maintained this stance. Their supporters are, in effect, people who think that child neglect should be decriminalized, or not enforced. Any normal person would not want to join such a group.
“Well I am a British mother and I demand that the practice of leaving children alone in hotels is made illegal. I would never do this, but I know people who do.”
I would think it IS illegal to leave toddlers alone. I’m not familiar with Europe, but I imagine there are two sets of laws, EU laws, and national laws. Surely under each , leaving toddlers alone is illegal.
I travel, and never once left my children alone when they were toddlers. It is unthinkable, no matter the circumstances. There is absolutely no reason to give the McCanns an iota of sympathy. I have never heard of such despicable people. The media may have portrayed their utter lack of parental love and concern as “normal” for Britons, but I doubt this is true. And surely they have done much to create an undeserved worldwide abhorrence of British child-rearing practices.
Again, anyone who supports the McCanns in any way is also supporting this view that it is alright to neglect and abuse children. JMO
November 12th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
190,
Sherlock,
The door opening outwards was the only reason I could think of for the photo being published, but then I’m a bit cynical.