Madeleine McCann: Gerry McCann Talks With Vanity Fair
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MIRROR front page: “MADELEINE: THE BIG INTERVIEW”
“Our regret”
“GERRY: I wish we have never gone to the tapas bar”
“KATE: I wish I’d seen the stranger watching us”
“READ THEIR HEARTBREAKING WORDS INSIDE”
Voyeurs, campaigners, police and handwringers come see the pain, the suffering the agony. Prepare to be heartbroken!
“Riddled with guilt, the distraught” Gerry will tell all to the Mirror. Well, not to the Mirror, rather to Vanity Fair magazine. Journalist Judy Bachrach spoke with Gerry in October near the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire
And the interview is not with Gerry and Kate. Only Gerry McCann was interviewed, says the Mail. Kate McCann’s words come via friends and family
Pages 4 and 5: “I WISH”.
It reads very much like a prayer, or a camping speech by Barack Obama. Says Gerry McCann:
“I wish I hadn’t gone to the tapas bar.
“I wish I’d have stayed in the apartment that night
“I wish I’d stayed in the room when I checked on her five minutes longer”
A wish…
Says Gerry McCann: “”At the time we did it, it was not irresponsible. Of course we feel guilty about not having been there and that is just something we have to deal with for the rest of our lives. You are not asking anything we don’t think about on a daily basis. We live this 24 hours a day”
Gerry says his world went “all black, with maybe tiny points of light” in the days after Madeleine vanished. “We can’t cry our eyes out every day because that’s not helping. So after three days I picked myself up…quicker than Kate could. Grief washes over you. It’s like a big wave, mostly I was able to beat it back”
And the Madeleine ‘Look into my eyes’ campaign? Says Gerry: “We thought it was possible this could hurt her. Her abductor might do something to her eye. But in marketing terms it was a good ploy”
THE SUN: “Life’s bleak but I cling to hope”
Says Gerry McCann: “People can support you in your darkest hours and in our case the darkest hour was of course when Madeleine went missing. Now it is just bleak”
In next month’s Vanity Fair: “The interview with Gerry came as it emerged GORDON BROWN has snubbed the McCanns’ request for a meeting; furious Kate EXPLODED when cops first told her she was a suspect; and family spokesman Clarence Mitchell has given a university SPEECH on the topic Missing Maddie McCann — the perfect PR campaign
“A pal of the McCanns said Kate, 39, believes the family were STALKED by Maddie’s kidnapper in the days before she went missing”. WOW
COUPLE hit back on film. Says Clarence Mitchell, the spokesperson: “It is not us being greedy. It is us being needy“
DAILY MAIL: “It’s all my fault, admits Maddie’s father”
Well, not quite. Gerry McCann is making no confession. He maintains that the fault lies with a kidnapper. Says the Mail: “Gerry McCann is tortured by guilt that Madeleine’s disappearance is his fault”
Will he tell all? Mr McCann tells Vanity Fair’s Judy Bachrach: “I can’t talk to you about the details of what happened. I live under threat from the Portuguese - if I do talk - of two years’ imprisonment”
“THIRD POLICE SUSPECT BREAKS HIS SILENCE” – Says Robert Murat to Vanity Fair: “All I can say is that I am innocent”
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE - MOTHER IS SHUNNED BY PRIEST”
Page 9: “KATE’S SCREAMS AS POLICE TOLD HER: YOU’RE A SUSPECT – KATE McCann screamed when told by police that she was a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance, it emerged yesterday. Opening the door of her rented villa to a Portuguese officer the family had come to know, Kate, 39, shouted: ‘Do you honestly believe that I would murder my own child?’”
Gerry McCann is a “39-year-old cardiologist”. Facts!
On the speculation: “Gerry says bitterly: ‘Yes, yes, I know. Kate killed her in a frenzy, Madeleine was sedated by us, she fell down the stairs – in which case you would have thought they’d have found her body. I’ve heard all of that. There are a huge number of theories in the media. But what I want to know is, who told them all that?’”
DAILY STAR: “Anguished and painfully thin, his wife Kate was too upset to answer even a single question during the interview with glossy US magazine Vanity Fair. Gerry revealed in the 7,500-word magazine article he had to be coaxed by a counsellor into talking publicly about his daughter in the days after she disappeared”
DAILY RECORD: “Maddie’s Dad: Slim Chance Of Getting Her Back”
“Distraught Gerry McCann has admitted the chances of him seeing his missing daughter Madeleine again are ‘slim’”
VANITY FAIR: “Unanswered Prayers”
“After three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared on a family vacation in Portugal, her parents pursued a high-stakes strategy: media saturation. It succeeded beyond their wildest imaginings—winning the aid of everyone from J. K. Rowling to the Pope—and failed miserably. Getting the first in-depth interview with Gerry McCann since he and his wife, Kate, were declared suspects, the author re-traces their footsteps to their daughter’s empty bed”
And then a policeman appeared. His name Ricardo. “Because for months they used to have regular weekly meetings with the Portuguese police, and then they stopped,” recalls Gerry’s older sister Trish Cameron
“Do you have something to tell us?” Ricardo asked.
“No,” Kate replied. “Do you have something to tell us?”
“He nodded. “Yes. You are being made arguidos”…
Eight months of talking - read it all…
Posted: 10th, January 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,344) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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January 10th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
186
They are lucky to be allowed to serve their jail term in France. In Tchad it is not prison only, it is what we call “Travaux Forcés”. Hard Labour, and you don’t have a chance to say no.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
If the McCanns are using their Catholic faith it’s just to look more respectable and innocent and responsible - and it only seems to be working on the British press (who only use God as a prop for the Victorian moral outrage they fake to make sex and crime more titillating).
Empathising with someone’s grief and torment is actually just as enjoyable as slagging them off for being idiots (but you can’t do both at the same time).
January 10th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
379
DuncanR Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
343 - Rockhopper
Did you mean to type OOPS between the two colons in your post?
———————————
I certainly did! 
January 10th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
“He has demonstrated great personal qualities that we know he possesses,” said Dr Skehan
Blimey, where do we get our ‘leaders’!
January 10th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
414…Joanie
Don’t ever say that in the Shankill Road area of Belfast.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
406 Matt
I always thought catholics were like everyone else.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
408 Logic.
Thanks, Im doing a year 2 law course (just about to start it anyway!) so I’ll be doing a lot of research - will keep this in mind to check too.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
399 Chloe
They should say ‘We wish we hadnt left the children regularly every night at the same times so that the abductor couldnt ‘write down’ our movements and then sneak back in just at the time Gerry was due to check Madeleine’ …hold on a minute, that was a bit stupid of the abductor wasnt it?
January 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Ian
Definitely a joke.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
395
Ade Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
361 chenier
he may be clinical director but Skehan seem to be yet another gullible arsehole with absolutely no judgement. another beardie even…
i wonder if this little episode buggers up Skehan’s glittering career
i do hope so - that would be such fun
———————————-
It has long been my belief that if you are looking for someone to do a really, really stupid thing then picking someone really intelligent is a good place to start.
It reminds me of the diplomat who announced that there was nothing wrong with taking bribes.
He was posted to Afghanistan, a place in which 93% of the population believe that the majority of government officials have to be bribed…
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,2108871,00.html
January 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
06
Matt. Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
402..Slyfox
there are ways and means other than actually “saying anything”.
Actions speak louder than any words.
I daresay that many Catholics are very cynical too.
************************************************
True.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Ian 327
Section 1 Infanticide Act 1938. That is how I’ve always understood it and I don’t think there’s been any change. May be some in the pipeline. Let me know if you find anything different. Am willing to be proved wrong.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Ferdinand
You would have to see it to believe it; school kids were doing projects about Madeleine - it was like a Royal Wedding.
Logic
You’re right - I don’t deeply deeply hate them - I’m not psychotic.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
402..Slyfox
there are ways and means other than actually “saying anything”.
Actions speak louder than any words.
I daresay that many Catholics are very cynical too.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
383
can’t say no Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Guys ,i asked today ,to a woman who works for me
She told me
MM … sea
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ve always said her body is under concrete or rock, then I heard just a few months ago the main road by the resort was being paved right around the same time = Lot’s of cement and rocks.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
397
Salomon ES Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Jo 389 - the key word here is “Tapas”.
If some in these forum and beyond are correct in their assumptions Gerry McCann would be closer to the truth had he said “I wish I hadn’t gone to Chaplin’s”.
But somehow I don’t think it would sound all too well from a PR point of view.
**************
Do you know the meaning of “tapa” in spanish? ironically it means: cover….jeje
January 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
391…Chloe Spain
Has always been a thought of mine that Dr K may well be the “patsy” eventually.
If I were her parents, I would be advising her…”Watch out, someone may be
“setting you up”.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
310
Matt. Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
296…Slyfox
The Pope and Father Jose don’t seem too impressed.
************************************************
But they can’t actually “say” anything can they.
IMO that picture with the pope is worth a fortune in catholic dollars/pounds/escudos et. etc. Money and prayers…..
January 10th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
362 Rosemary
There are some strange people in the world.
Look a this post from the link you provided…
WallyVan Riper Jan 9, 2008 7:37:03 PM
Their daughter just needed discipline. When my kid was 4 years old he had a bad habit of talking to strangers. Here’s how I solved the problem: One day I had a friend form work drive by the house. He lured my kid to his car with the old “Wanna see a puppy?” story. Then he threw him in the back seat and drove him around for a couple of hours. The whole time he screamed at him things like “You’ll never see your Mommy & Daddy again!”. He dropped him off at a 7-11. I just “happened” to be driving by and picked him up. Since then he never talks to anyone. He has a slight twitch on the right side of his face but that’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.
***************************************************************************************
Oh dear. I hope this post was just a ‘joke’.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
391
Chloe Spain Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
384 Chenier
I was wondering about that aspect. Perhaps, if they feel they’re inevitably going to be charged, they are setting up KM as the actual killer. If GM were found to be involved only in disposing of the body, the sentence would probably be much lighter and he probably wouldn’t even have to go to prison.
———————————————————
Not sure that G would get off entirely from charges of peverting the cause of justice, but I can see that G’s family would think that way.
Certainly they have done her no favours with 2 pointed references to her being incandescent with rage…
January 10th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
389 Jo
“Saying “It is all my fault… I wish we hadn’t gone to the tapas bar” is not the point.”
I agree. A person who has a car accident might say “I wish I hadn’t decided to use the car on that day”. It doesn’t mean that he thinks there’s any real reason for not doing it - simply that, if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have had the accident.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
394…brandon flours
Heck…No…..am never abusive.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Jo 389 - the key word here is “Tapas”.
If some in these forum and beyond are correct in their assumptions Gerry McCann would be closer to the truth had he said “I wish I hadn’t gone to Chaplin’s”.
But somehow I don’t think it would sound all too well from a PR point of view.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
sounds like kate on there now
with the window of opportunity
January 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
361 chenier
he may be clinical director but Skehan seem to be yet another gullible arsehole with absolutely no judgement. another beardie even…
i wonder if this little episode buggers up Skehan’s glittering career
i do hope so - that would be such fun
January 10th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
matt
was that your email he just read out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 10th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
372
Matt. Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
366…chenier
I sure hope for Skehan’s sake, and even more importantly, for the Patient’s
sake….that Dr G P doesn’t get distracted, or in one of his frequent furies,
during a delicate heart examination.
Now that would put the cat among the pigeons.
——————————————
Oh dear, the patient’s dropped dead and I seem not to have noticed this hideous flaw with the MRI scan.
But we all make mistakes, don’t we?
Lots of other doctors don’t notice hideous flaws with the MRI scan, either.
I can see that, with hindsight, someone would notice this hideous flaw, but it seemed so right to me at the time.
The nurse and I were really into each other…
January 10th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
376
can’t say no Says:
January 10th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Caller saying why did Kate shout “They’ve taken her” then went on to leave the twins
***********************
Correcto! apparently the twins did not even wake up with the hush-hush provoked by Madeleine”s search and all….where they in the room in the first place?
January 10th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
384 Chenier
I was wondering about that aspect. Perhaps, if they feel they’re inevitably going to be charged, they are setting up KM as the actual killer. If GM were found to be involved only in disposing of the body, the sentence would probably be much lighter and he probably wouldn’t even have to go to prison.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
320 Karen
I know exactly what you meant when you said you hate them. You were using the word in a way that most of us use it all the time - with no deep meaning and not with any deep emotion. I wonder if all your critics are so precise all the time with their language - I rather doubt it! Plus you are young and the young, as I know from my own children, use that term quite lightly. My daughter say, “I H-A-T-E you” to her younger brother, with a smile on her face, then goes and buys him a bar of chocolate.