Madeleine McCann: 20 Years Of Fury, Kate And Gerry McCann Prime Suspects, Robert Murat Says Nothing
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MIRROR front page: “YOU’RE STILL PRIME SUSPECTS – McCanns’ fury at police chief warning”
“Kate and Gerry McCann were furious last night after learning they are still prime suspects in daughter Madeleine’s disappearance”
It is now the 105th time Kate and Gerry have reacted with fury of been furious in a tabloid setting
“The couple’s hopes of being cleared today were crushed when police chief Paulo Rebelo asked a judge to extend their arguido status because detectives are sticking to their belief that they accidentally killed the four-year-old”
This was predictable. Robert Murat also remains a suspect
Says McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell: “They are frustrated and angry. Frustrated because, yet again, there appears to be no movement in the case when they know they are innocent. They will continue to push for their arguido status to be lifted”
The Correio da Manha newspaper “claimed Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leics, could be charged with perjury and wasting police time”
But don’t the police waste enough of that themselves?
“They have been warned by their legal team they may have to go to the European Court of Human Rights to get their arguido status lifted”
Human rights? What of Madeleine’s rights?
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE - McCANNS ARE MAIN SUSPECTS SAY POLICE”
“Kate and Gerry McCann were dealt a crushing blow last night when a police report accused them of killing their daughter Madeleine”
Says a friend: “They are not the prime suspects. As we understand it, the report talks about the police’s continued belief that Madeleine died accidentally in the apartment and that is why Kate and Gerry remain arguidos. It also talks about Robert Murat remaining an arguido and it discusses the possibility of her being abducted. Well, they can’t have it both ways”
No..?
Says Clarence Mitchell: “Throughout 2007 we have declined to comment on speculation in the Portuguese press. We will follow the same policy in 2008. If this report is true, however, and this interim police report exists, then we believe it contains nothing new. It is simply a restatement of the current position of the police. And we note that it not only discusses Kate and Gerry as arguidos, but also continues to name Mr Murat as an arguido. Crucially it also accepts the possibility that abduction took place”
The green shoots of hope…
THE SUN front page: “McCANN AGONY GOES ON – 246 after Maddie vanished, cops name Kate and Gerry as…PRIME SUSPECTS”
“ANGUISHED Kate and Gerry McCann are facing up to living as suspects over their daughter’s disappearance for another TWENTY years, it emerged yesterday”
Maybe…
Kate and Gerry are “both 39-year-old doctors”
Fact!
DAILY MAIL: “Police ’still think McCanns killed Madeleine by accident’ - and they will be suspects for 20 years”
“A secret police dossier has accused Kate and Gerry McCann of accidentally killing their daughter and hiding her body, it was claimed yesterday. The couple faked four-year-old Madeleine’s abduction, according to a leaked report on the eight-month police investigation”
Lawyer Edward Smethurst, who is co-ordinating the McCanns’ defence, says: “Any report about the leaked document we believe is completely without substance. We think it arises out of pure speculation on the part of the Portuguese papers”
Kate and Gerry McCann are “doctors”
THE SCOTSMAN: “Madeleine’s parents could be under suspicion for 20 years, says judge”
“The prospect of the case dragging on for years was reinforced yesterday by the president of the National Union of Portuguese Judges, Antonio Martins, who said: ‘No-one knows what type of crime was committed. If it was homicide, the investigation can only be shelved after 20 years; if it was kidnap, 15 years’”
On we go…
THE OBSERVER: “After a year in which the torment of Madeleine McCann’s family has dominated the British media, the trials of the Lees - and the hope the new image has given them - seem particularly acute”
The story: “Katrice disappeared on her second birthday from a supermarket in Germany, where her father was serving as a soldier. Her mother turned away for a few moments to fetch a pack of crisps for the girl’s party and when she looked back Katrice was gone”
Twenty six years ago…
FOX NEWS: “Missing Madeleine McCann: Irish Witness ‘Clears’ Murat”
Says Martin Smith, who was on holiday in Praia da Luz: “I told police it was definitely not him because the man wasn’t as big as Murat - I think I would have recognised him because I’d met him several times previously. He was wearing beige trousers and a darker top. We all put him in his early 40s and I didn’t think he was Portuguese”
The Speculation Commented Upon
Posted: 4th, January 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,150) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
- susan jones on Susan Boyle Weeps As The Press Set About Destroying Her
- The Real Stig on The Great Cathay Pacific Blocked Toilet Mystery
- SoDak-GhostDog on Interview With Survior Of James Arthur Ray’s Sedona Sweat Lodge
- Katie Norman on I’m A Celebrity: Joe Bugner’s Career In Pictures
- HOTWATER on Madeleine McCann: The Media Creates A New Maddie Monster And Twists The Facts
January 4th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
299
Karen
January 4th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
297
Matt
I totally agree with you.
New Labour are a joke!
Bring on polling day, lets see how funny they find it when they get their backsides kicked.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
301 Karen
Hurrah!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
300…Stevo
-3 here last night. Wind chill factor included…about -6/8.
Brrrrrrrr.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
298 Stevo
Well lets be honets, jonny foreigner can barely speak English in a lot of cases…..:)
January 4th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
296…Maria
Re Mrs Healy’s “My daughter’s husband” quote.
What connotations would that bring to your mind regarding
son-in-law and mother-in-law relationship and closeness ?
January 4th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
286 Sledgie!
Remember, there are many crimes involved here which the McCanns had the potential to have committed.
It now seems that the friends of the McCanns appreciate that some crimes might be better to be charged with than others.
They apparently say that although Kate and Gerry remain as suspsects, it is because Maddy might have died in the apartment and that Rober Murat is still a ssuspect as he might have been involved somehow.
In short, this is a very complex investigation involving possible involvement of third parties (body disposal services?).
Remeber also that the Portuguese is, like many European contries, not an adversarial one. A judge oversees the investigation.
Dont worry, I’m sure they will be charged with something in the end!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Dunno how cold it is over there in Europe. This morning here in the eastern USA it was -14C (7F) in my neck of the woods. Enough to put hairs on your chest.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Hurrah, now I know how to do 3 types of smiley!!!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
January 4th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
259 coco Says:
January 4th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
What is it about ‘Brits abroad’. How much damage is this doing in the eyes of the Portuguese police and people. Scary! Spooky!
____________________________
I’m a Brit but sadly, the two words “Brit” and “abroad” are often shrouded in controversy. It’s not Scary or spooky - it’s a very sad and embarrassing fact. For some bizarre reason, when a Brit gets into trouble abroad (far too often IMO), they cry wolf. It usually stems from disrespect of the other country’s laws and customs. I don’t know if it’s a carry over from the Imperial days but whatever it is, it’s totally embarrassing that the decent Brits get tarred with the wrong kind of brush.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
293…Annie_m
New Labour…….The old Labour Party is not of the same ilk.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Karen
Have to disagree!
The McCanns have a an apparently very loving and suppportive family and circle of friends. If a terrible accident occurred which they then “had to” cover up (What sort? Why?) it would be simply unpardonable to allow all these people to go through the agony they’ve been through, waste police time and huge amounts of money, fraudulently collect the fund money, waste it on what they knew was a fruitless search etc. etc.
There are several points at which they could have jumped off this merry-go-round earlier, even if an initial accident and lie occurred but they had no idea how the publicity circus and the money thing would spiral out of control
Don’t get me wrong. You’re right to an extent. None of us is ever really in a position to look into someone’s heart and mind and judge. BUT, I personally would feel the McCanns’ ACTIONS had been wicked in the extreme, whatever the state of their “souls” if it turns out they are guilty.
How could either of them look their mothers in the face if they are guilty?
But of course, they may not be.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
287…chenier
The Portuguese seem to have a much less charitable view of Mr B’s
involvement in the case.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Chenier
I think the politicians thought they were onto a great, easy foolproof bandwagon to get in the media with.
I’ve helped out in election campaigns (Labour - sorry
) and lots of time is spent thinking up stunts to get the press interested. A missing child, ribbons, public sympathy - it would have been a gift.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Can’t say No
267
Chloe Spain
I won’t be voting Labour.
Give your aunt my best wishes. What a sensible lady.
It’s OUTRAGIOUS that the government should behave in the way it has done.
I’m so angry, the way the media has decieved the general public.
There is no excuse for it.
What sort of world do we live in?
January 4th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
280 Ian They have all the ingredients of nightmares. As poor Madeleine found out.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
ALADDIN
From Wikipedia:
“When he rubs his hands in despair, he inadvertently rubs the ring, and a djinni appears, who takes him home to his mother”.
Clarence Mitchell?
“Aladdin is still carrying the lamp, and when his mother tries to clean it, a second, far more powerful djinni appears…”
Gordon Brown?
“…who is bound to do the bidding of the person holding the lamp”
January 4th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Ian
They are quite up-their-own-backsides.
I remember when it started Kate’s Aunt saying ‘Kate and Gerry were always special’ (which is an odd thing to say when they’re in the press for a crime) - so I think they’ve had that sense of perfection drummed into them.
Maybe they’re the most successful members of their respective families?
January 4th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
do the mc canns only frequent places where no one has cameras?
January 4th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
286
Sledgehammer
NO
January 4th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
#
271
Matt. Says:
January 4th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
264…Tony Bennett
Has already been requested…nil info rendered.
As regards Miliband…FOI…has also been requested…he is useing delaying
tactics re info.
Miliband aslo had telephone calls to and from the McCann’s. Several.
————————————————————-
I would think that the original impetus for all of this came from Tony Blair, whose views on people blind in one eye are less than wholly charitable.
Clarence is Tony’s hack, not Gordon’s, and has no career left under Gordon Brown’s administration.
And I suggest that there was a great deal of ‘who will rid me of this turbulent priest’ activity at much lower levels than PM and Cabinet Ministers at the outset.
Much as I love conspiracies, anyone who has ever seen the amount of information which goes over, say, a Chancellor’s desk knows that there just isn’t time to embark in much in the way of skullduggery over one missing child.
It just doesn’t work that way.
Of course, GB is a sucker for small children, so he was initially sympathetic. But by the same token, once it became clear that the McCanns had been lying,
January 4th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
What a strange comment Cant say no, the Police say they know what happend, but the fact that they have not charged anyone does not mean that a crime has not been comitted.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
279…Tony Bennett
Yes…I pointed out re that Saudi cancellation etc to you late last year.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
281 Tony
++++
I believe so Tony
January 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
279 So his wife is on the fiddle huh?
January 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
MR BENNETT.
Per Transfattyacid’s Blog 17/12/07
“”"”Milliband, the McCanns and Public Affairs
I have had a second reply with regard to my Freedom of Information request,
this time from the office of David Milliband.
You will recall that Gordon Brown did not wish it to become public knowledge
the extent of the involvement he has had in matters relating to the McCann case.
Indeed choose not answer the question I had asked but instead choose the typical
Gordon Brown tactic of answering a different question.
However Mr Milliband takes a different and more honest line:
“Under the FOIA we are obliged to respond to your request promptly, and in
any case no later than 20 working days after receiving it. However, when a
qualified exemption applies to the information and the public interest test is
engaged, we are able to extend the time for response by a reasonable period.
The following specific exemption in the FOIA is being considered for your request:
Section 36 – Information which would, or would be likely to, prejudice the effective
conduct of public affairs.
In this case we have not yet completed our assessment of whether the public interest
in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it. We are
now aiming to provide a full response to your FOIA request by 17 January. If we need
to extend the deadline further to allow us to complete our assessment we will let you
know.”
The reply also gave me the name and contact details of the person to whom one should complain if they are not satisfied with the answer. I may use this information to complain about the reply from Gordon Brown’s office.
The obvious question is, how precisely does knowing how often, between the named dates
(i.e pre arguido and post arguido), the Foreign Secretary communicated with the McCanns, or their representatives, prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs?
My request did not seek to find out what was said during these discussions. Indeed it could
be justifiably argued that such a request would be quite wrong: unless of course those discussions in anyway jeopardised the criminal aspects of the investigation, or that Mr Milliband had sought to pervert the course of justice by infering in the legal system of a sovereign nation by means of diplomatic pressure or threats.
But given that both the McCanns and the government have been happy to use news of
these contacts for their narrow political (in the wider sense) purposes, it is only right
that the facts of the number of times a senior government minister has been in contact
with the McCann’s, and their representatives, is established.
Especially as the ‘facts’ in the this case have so often been changed or been subjected to
spin.”"”"
End.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
276 dcb says (January 4th, 2008 at 1:18 pm): “So in a week of quiet Christmas with family, Gerry has been to Skipton, Glasgow, Southport and Edinburgh”.
REPLY: In that order?
January 4th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
It makes your skin crawl.
Imagine you booked your seats in good faith and find yourself sitting next to the two horrors!
Presumably they were wearing masks.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
271 Matt.
DAVID MILIBAND
One to watch, cetainly, but we know little about him.
This report from 29 October 2007 about him caught my attention. It had occurred to me at one point that Madeleine might have been adopted:
====================
QUOTE
The state visit by the King of Saudi Arabia was marred today by the last-minute cancellation of a high-profile engagement between David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, and the Saudi Foreign Minister.
The Foreign Office announced this morning that the Foreign Secretary was calling off the meeting, which had been scheduled months in advance, citing the arrival of his newly adopted son.
Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister, then also withdrew from the meeting because Mr Miliband’s deputy, Kim Howells, was considered too junior to meet him according to diplomatic protocol.
The cancellation coincided with a troubled start to the major diplomatic visit to London by Mr al-Faisal and King Abdullah II. This morning, the King told the BBC that UK intelligence agencies had failed to act on information passed on by Saudi authorities that might have averted the 2005 London bombings.
[QUOTE - Ceremony and protocol are hugely important. That is why officials on both sides looked so alarmed - Richard Beeston]
The Foreign Office denied that Mr Miliband’s cancellation had anything to do with the statements by King Abdullah. It added that the Foreign Secretary had taken a leave of absence because of the adoption.
“David and Louise Miliband are pleased to announce the adoption of their second son, Jacob. They are delighted by the new arrival and Mr Miliband will now be taking a period of leave,” a statement said.
“They ask the media to respect their privacy during this time.”
Mr Miliband’s wife, who is a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra, has dual British and American citizenship and is thus able to take advantage of American adoption laws, which are less strict than in Britain. The couple previously adopted a son, Isaac, and were present at his birth on December 13, 2004.
Mr Miliband has refused to comment on the details of either adoption including whether there was a financial settlement. Fees can be as high as £20,000.
UNQUOTE - REST OF ARTICLE SNIPPED