Madeleine McCann: ‘Screaming Contradictions’, Scotland Yard And Francisco Marco Interviewed
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
SUNDAY EXPRESS (front page): “MADELEINE – News call for Scotland Yard probe”
Are Scotland Yard for hire? Benazir Bhutto. And McCann? Have the discovered who killed Rhys Jones yet?
“Retired Chief Superintendent Dai Davies, former head of the Yard’s Royal Protection unit, says that if the Yard can send detectives to probe the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, then they should also fly to Portugal to try and solve the Madeleine mystery”
He says:
“The Portuguese investigation has quite simply not solved the crime and it is now looking increasingly likely that it will be shelved. I would suggest that this is the time to call on the Yard to take the lead and to get them to form a team of detectives to work on the case”
Retired copper suggests his old boys are the best – Read all about it!
GLASGOW SUNDAY MAIL: “Police Ready To Clear McCanns Over Maddie”
“Police in Portugal are set to clear Kate and Gerry McCann as suspects, it was claimed last night”
A fact claimed by “insiders” who say “officers did not have a shred of evidence against the 39-year-old couple”
The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, says: “This report is extremely encouraging”
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “Kate and Gerry ‘in the clear’”
“Police do not have a shred of evidence against Gerry and Kate McCann and they are set to be cleared as suspects, it was claimed yesterday. The couple’s status as ‘arguidos’ in the case of missing daughter Maddie, four, will be lifted unless they make ‘screaming contradictions’ in a new police quiz, said Portugal paper Expresso”
How does Expresso know? The paper does not say
SUNDAY MIRROR: “McCann cops: No evidence”
“A review of the case by homicide experts from the Judicial Police has turned up no proof that Kate and Gerry McCann played a part in four-year-old Madeleine’s disappearance.
“Attorney General Fernando Pinto Montiero told respected Portuguese newspaper Expresso: ‘The couple’s legal status will be considered at the appropriate moment, depending on various elements still to be obtained’”
Says Expresso: “They will only remain arguidos (suspects) if there are screaming contradictions revealed in the answers to the letters sent to England”
DAILY STAR ON SUNDAY: “MCCANNS TO BE CLEARED”
“Last night the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the sooner they are questioned the better”
He says: “There won’t be any screaming contradictions and hopefully the emphasis can then be put on finding Madeleine, who we believe is still alive”
Says the paper: “Legal letters outlining the 40 questions are to be sent to the Home Office this week. Interviews are then likely to be carried out by detectives from Leicestershire police, the McCanns’ local force”
Says Gerry McCann’s brother John McCann: “Any sensible person realises Madeleine was abducted. We didn’t anticipate being in this position after nine months”
THE SUNDAY TIMES: “Madeleine McCann and Metodo 3: Private eyes, public lies”
“Paid £50,000 a month to find Madeleine McCann, the Spanish detective Francisco Marco said he hoped to have her home for Christmas. He issued this photofit of a suspect last month; it set off a media frenzy, but Portuguese police say it has ‘no credibility’. Christine Toomey turns the tables on a private eye who is anything but…
An interview with Francisco Marco. His company is being paid £50,000 a month by the McCann’s fighting fund
“We won’t answer any questions about Maddie. Maddie is off limits – is that understood?” Marco’s cousin Jose Luis, another of the agency’s employees, warns me sternly”
But they are not the police. What can they not talk about the big case? It was Mr Franciso who told he’d find Madeleine by Christmas – last Christmas
“I cannot ask him to clarify what he did say, or whether talking about an ongoing investigation is potentially detrimental. Instead, I am left to discuss the matter with a handful of other private detective agencies in Barcelona, the private-eye capital of Spain. What they tell me is disturbing”
Marco walks in. Does he bring his Maddy dolly? And:
“Marco slaps on the table a 144-page pre-prepared dossier of articles written in the Spanish press about himself and M-3. He goes on to list some of those in the city he says I have already been speaking to about his company. Had my movements been monitored? If so, why would a private detective agency be interested in this at a time when they were supposed to be tirelessly searching for the most famous missing child in the world?”
Fame.
“In most of the many pictures of himself included in the material he hands me”
Metodo 3 is the most famous private detective agency in Europe
“He seems eager to please. He summons a female assistant on several occasions to bring me material, including a book he has recently written, to illustrate what he is talking about. Even when I make it clear this is not necessary – aware that these distractions eat into the time we have to talk – he insists, partly showing off”
Then:
“When I ask about his background, Marco summons her [secretary] to photocopy the first pages of his doctoral thesis on private investigation: he has a master’s degree and a PhD in penal law”
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “McCanns to be cleared as no evidence found”
Attorney General Fernando Pinto Montiero told Expresso: “The couple’s legal status will be considered at the appropriate moment, depending on various elements still to be obtained.”
Madeleine McCann: Money. Speculation. Sensation. A child is missing…
Posted: 10th, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (926) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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February 10th, 2008 at 11:24 am
79 coolandcalm
Don’t think so. Remember that some of the police allegedly wanted to arrest and charge Kate directly, without making her an arguida first.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Continuing with the subject of nannies (don’t know why I got on to this), I would think that one of the things that might have done most damage to MW as a family resort (and maybe not in PdL) is the antics of the nannies, the photos that have been published, etc. CAn’t be bothered to look for the links because its not that important, but I think some people might not consider they were suitable run a children’s creche.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:22 am
75…val
Good win by Wales yesterday.
Good win by France yesterday.
England should win today…but you never can tell.
Baker worked for MW.
Re Wright…..all hands to the wheel i guess…..lots of driving to be done…things
moved about….some things dumped. Very tiring for one driver. IMO
As far as I can gauge…Mr Rebello continues his thorough investigation.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Thanks Matt. I love the Pakistani theory of accident and now backed by Scotland Yard?
Bhutto may have been killed by banging her head ‘accidentally’ on the roof but if she hadn’t been shot at three times by a suicide bomber who then exploded himself beside her car she might not have banged it…..
…………………………………
Does someone have to be an Arguido to be charged? Say I was involved in an incident and they knew without doubt it was me, would I be made an Arguido first and then charged or could I just be charged? I would think just charged but I don’t know. Anyone here know?
February 10th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Actually, thinking about the nanny subject, it’s possible that the police want to re-interview Baker because she would have been the nanny in charge of Madeleine’s group at the creche in the afternoon of 3 May.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:16 am
75 Val
Baker was a nanny at the Ocean Club. She wasn’t the McCanns nanny.
The McCanns nanny in England was, apparently, Canadian. She was suppposed to accompany them to PdL but had to leave for Canada just before the holiday for some reason (I also heard a version ages ago that she actually went to PdL at the beginning and had to leave urgently for Canada.)
February 10th, 2008 at 11:13 am
The reason number 22 seems to be:
Insisting (via their spokesman) that they are “in the clear”, when they are obviously not, as their status has not been lifted. A parent looking for a lost child will not bother doing such stunts.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am
58 Matt
Good Morning Matt, no I won”t mention how Wales are doing in the Rugby matches!!!
Thanks for the Info, why would the McCanns need a Driver/ Helper and their U.K. Nanny
Baker was not with them in Portugal was she? Don”t think any of us thought beyond the
Tapas9 so it is interesting and I just hope we get to know some real information.
Interesting The Times has chosen now to write about the McCanns, they have said very little
all along. Seems as though the McCanns will have their Arguido status lifted, but as I suggested jokingly yesterday, what if a warrant for their arrest was issued simultaneously
for child neglect?
February 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Saturn 33
Some more intersting biog on Sir Tom McKillop from Wikipedia:
Sir Thomas Fulton Wilson McKillop, born March 19, 1943, is a chemist, pharmaceutical company CEO and chairman of NatWest.
McKillop was born in Dreghorn, a small village near the town or Irvine in Ayrshire and educated at Irvine Royal Academy and then Glasgow University, where he took a BSc Hons and PhD in Chemistry. He joined ICI’s Corporate Research Laboratory at Runcorn in 1969 after post-doctoral research work in Paris. He moved to ICI Pharmaceuticals Division in 1975 and, having held a number of positions in Research, in 1989 he was appointed Technical Director of ICI Pharmaceuticals with international responsibility for research, development and production.
In 1993, ICI Pharmaceuticals demerged to become Zeneca, and in 1994 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the new company. In April 1999, Zeneca merged with Astra to form AstraZeneca PLC and McKillop became Chief Executive of the merged company. He retired on the 1st January 2006, when David Brennan took over the role of AstraZeneca CEO.
McKillop is Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland and a was a non-executive director of Lloyds TSB Group plc from 1999-2004. He is also Chairman of the British Pharma Group, Pro-Chancellor of the University of Leicester, Vice-President of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and Chairman of the North West Science Council. He was awarded the Society of Chemical Industry’s annual Centenary Medal in 2005. In January 2007 he took up the post of President of the Science Council.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
22…coolandcalm
“”"”On a slightly different topic why was The Yard involved in the death of Benazir
Bhutto? I’m a little bewildered by that.”"”"
To try to give credence re death due to accident rather than assassination.
Which was exactly the reason given by the Pakistani Authorities a couple
of days after her death.
Musharraf requested the involvement of Scot. Yard….not the family.
The family requested, and still are requesting, the involvement of the
UN in the investigation of her death.
The Scot. Yard investigation had no post mortem evidence…no proper
“scene of incident” evidence…the area was hosed and cleaned before they
arrived to investigate.
They did have an x-ray of the head to look at.
But then, that x-ray could have been a pic of any dead head handy
which had a type of wound consistent with the Authorities version of
cause of death.
Am surprised that Scot Yard even took up the request to “investigate” at all.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:55 am
“….the whore of Rome knows……”
I’ll interview them !
February 10th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Madeleine will have her justice, those as ancient as time itself shall make this come to pass. But you will not have that, which you perceive to be your justice, there is only the guilty, and the whore of Rome knows, where darkness conceals the light that is the truth.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
65 lilith
Your the light at the end of my tunnel today, i hope your right.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
56 dcb
I don’t doubt it.
Just drawing attention to the fact that it isn’t new.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:52 am
65
lilith Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 10:47 am
++++++++++++++
As Chloe correctly points out - it is a rehash of old news.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:50 am
64 TB
Always shake my head with disbelief when i read that list.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:48 am
welcome back, Tony Benett.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:47 am
From the Express
Looks like the Child Neglectors of the Year are desperate now that Retardo3 is completely ridiculed.
IMO they are NOT to be cleared at all.
On the contary it seems.
Why else would they again be whining for info from the Leicester police?
Also it seems to me they are trying to send a message to the Tapas7: shut up and tell them exactly what we rehearsed at Masonic Headquarters and we’ll live merrily after.
The police should tap Pinky’s phones and ransack his office.
Mr Davies has drawn up a document for the McCanns based on how he believes the investigation should now be conducted. The couple, who live in Rothley, Leicestershire, were initially offered the support of two liaison officers from their local police force who flew out to Portugal in the early part of the inquiry.
But Leicestershire detectives also assisted Portuguese officers in their investigations into the McCanns.
Mr Davies said: “I am rather concerned about this because you have a force initially offering support to the McCanns and then apparently working with the Portuguese detectives investigating them. You can’t do it both ways. I think we need a clear statement from Leicestershire about what exactly they are doing now.”
February 10th, 2008 at 10:41 am
18 LaMisty says (February 10th, 2008 at 8:34 am):
“I did see the link to the 21 reasons a while back. Do you have a link to it so I can read it again please?”
REPLY: Am not sure where they have been posted publicly (there was a separate thread on ‘21 Reasons’ on the now-closed Mirror Forum section ‘The Hunt for Maddy’ which attracted thousands of ‘reads’), but here they are again.
Whilst acknowledging personal responsibility for the way these ‘21 Reasons’ are phrased, I should say (a) that they are based in part on other people’s thoughts and ideas on the case and (b) I acknowledge the help of ‘Anonymous’ on this Forum with some of the wording
I am revising them slightly and will place them up on The Madeleine Foundation website in due course which I expect will go live later this month:
===========================================================
The Theory of the Abduction of Madeleine McCann.
An Unproven Hypothesis, and Twenty-one Reasons It Cannot Stand.
==============================
1. The Implausibility of “Stranger” Abduction.
==============================
Statistics on alleged ‘stranger’ abduction from a person’s home show that a member of the ‘abducted’ child’s family is usually the perpetrator, and that the child usually dies. An overwhelming proportion of all claimed ‘abductions’ from a home turn out to be intra-family murder. There have been two high profile cases in the last few weeks - ‘Baby Grace’, found battered and decomposing in a plastic box on sand dunes near Galveston, and the ‘dead baby in the attic’. Both were claimed abductions - and both were hoaxes.
The Children’s Commissioner recently said: “We are concerned that a version of Megan’s Law could detract from the fact that ****children are actually most at risk from people known to them****.
====================================
2. Refusal to Answer the Policia Judiciaria’s Questions.
====================================
The McCanns did not answer the P.J.’s questions – it is reported that there were forty such unanswered questions. These are the not actions of innocent parents, who would do all they could to assist the police in every way possible.
=======================================
3. Ignoring Advice not to Highlight Madeleine’s Eye Defect.
=======================================
The parents ignored the clearest possible P.J. advice not to highlight Madeleine’s eye defect, the coloboma (an iris defect). If Madeleine were still alive, this would have put Madeleine at much greater risk of death. The parents’ conduct suggests they knew she was already dead. They deliberately ignored sound advice not to make Madeleine so recognisable that the abductors (if she was abducted) would have to kill her. All the publicity posters emphasising the coloboma, the announcement of all the sightings, and claims of being “right on the kidnappers” trail…all these actions put Madeleine at greater risk.
========================================
4. The Impossibility of the Abduction Happening as Claimed.
========================================
The sheer impossibility of the abduction – so many intractable questions: e.g., why did the abductor wait for thirty-five minutes after the McCanns sauntered down to the Tapas bar? Was the abductor/predator hiding behind the door as Gerry McCann checked the children? (That’s what he claims). Did the abductor/predator really walk in through open patio doors, and why then did he climb out through the window and shutters with Madeleine under his arm? And so on…
======================================
5. The Changing Stories of What the Abductor Looked Like.
======================================
Jane Tanner’s often changed story of what the abductor looked like: initially “His head was egg-shaped, he had some short hair, and was carrying a bundle, maybe a blanket”, then, a full three weeks later - and to make sure that the P.J. issued a description - “I definitely saw him carrying a girl in pink pyjamas”. Then, after SIX months, we are given an artist’s impression of the abductor and we are now told: “Head not egg-shaped, hair long, sleek, black and shiny, abductor was not ‘white’ but ‘swarthy and Mediterranean’” etc.
============================================================
6. The Parents’ Absolute Insistence that Abduction was the Only Explanation for Madeleine’s Disappearance.
============================================================
The parents’ immediate and insistent cry of abduction - excluding all other possibilities.
==============================================
7. Claiming the Abductor was the Man Allegedly Seen by Jane Tanner.
==============================================
Gerry McCann proceeded, after three weeks, to issue a description of the abductor based SOLELY on Jane Tanner’s dubious sighting - against P.J. advice and only after Gordon Brown had intervened by phoning the P.J.
====================
8. The Tapas 9 Pact of Silence.
====================
The “Pact or Conspiracy of Silence” - the notorious agreement between them all to keep silent about the events of that night.
================
9 Changes to the Story.
================
Changes to the story, as for example:
Day 1: “Shutters jemmied open, windows open, patio doors locked, abductor must have forced his way in”.
Days 2 and 3: P.J. and Mark Warners say: “No way shutters and window were forced from outside”.
Several days later: McCanns - “Oh, we left the patio doors open, so abductor must have walked in through the patio doors and then opened the shutters and climbed out of the window with Madeleine”.
================================
10. The Hiring of Dubious Private Investigators.
================================
Hiring a dubious British private investigation agency and a dubious Spanish ‘detective agency’ (Metodo 3) at cost of several hundred thousand pounds, all for no obvious benefit or results.
==================================
11. The Hiring of Britain’s Top Extradition Lawyer.
==================================
The McCanns rushed to hire the U.K.’s top extradition lawyer – one Michael Caplan Q.C. (who represented General Pinochet) - at the very moment they became formal suspects.
==============================================
12. Publicly Agreeing to Take a Lie Detector Test - And Then Refusing.
==============================================
After initial boasting of their willingness to take the test, the McCanns refused to do so.
==================================================
13. Strange and Irrational Excuses for “Blood, DNA, and the Smell of Death”.
==================================================
The extraordinary excuses offered by the McCanns in response to the forensic findings of blood, DNA, and cadaverine smell included these six examples:
(a) I took Cuddle Cat to work - that’s why the smell of death is on Cuddle Cat.
(b) I dealt with 6 corpses in the last fortnight at work, that’s why the smell of death is on my clothes
c) We’ll get on to lawyers in Ireland/America who say these cadaver dogs’ evidence is useless.
(d) The DNA was the children’s dirty nappies in the boot.
(e) The ‘smell of death’ was rotting meat that Gerry was taking to the dump.
(f) The blood in the flat (found underneath the tiles in the children’s bedroom) might have been from Madeleine grazing her leg when she boarded the plane, or perhaps a nosebleed.
====================================================
14. Not Staying Protectively Close to the Twins after Madeleine’s Disappearance.
====================================================
The parents left their twins at the creche within days of Madeleine disappearing and spent as much time as possible visiting the Pope, the White House, and “campaigning” - no parents whose child had truly been ‘abducted by a stranger’ would let those twins out of their sight; they would cling to the precious two they had left.
==========================
15. Refusing a Urine Test on the Twins.
==========================
The McCanns, both doctors, refused urine tests for their two-year-old twins, although they later admitted that the children “could have been drugged by the abductor”. The parents then waited for five months before engaging an agency to carry out “independent” tests. The results of these tests have never been publicly disclosed and it is not known for what drugs the agency tested.
===================================================
16. Only Answering Press Questions with At Least Two Hours Advance Notice.
===================================================
The McCanns stipulated that for all interviews, the press had to present all questions to them at least two hours in advance of the interview, and that they would only answer those questions, and no others.
====================================================
17. The McCanns Attempt to Explain that the “Abductor” Drugged the Children.
====================================================
The McCanns explained away the fact that the twins didn’t wake up, amidst all the shouting when the alarm was raised about Madeleine, by hinting that the twins must have been drugged by the abductor. The McCanns came up with this theory while being filmed by close family friend Jon Corner in August, and after leaks from the Portuguese police suggested that the children had been sedated.
=========================================================
18. The Startling Failure of the McCanns’ Friends to Search for Madeleine the Night She
Disappeared.
=========================================================
According to a number of reports which have never been contradicted, while hundreds of people, including staff of Mark Warners and many local people, searched the area around the Ocean Club apartments for hours after Madeleine went missing, not one of the McCanns’ friends, known as the ‘Tapas 9’, bothered to do so. They all went to bed. That is as clear an indication as you could get that they knew it would be pointless searching for Madeleine. It is entirely consistent with them knowing that Madeleine was already dead.
===========================================================
19. The McCanns’ Failure to Talk to Jane Tanner for Two Whole Days About Her Sighting of the “Alleged” Abductor.
===========================================================
According to many reports, and confirmed in an article by David Smith, in ‘The Times’ of late December 2007, the McCanns did not bother to talk to Jane Tanner for two whole days about what she claimed to have seen at 9.15pm that night - namely a person walking off with a child looking like Madeleine. This is despite the McCanns’ absolute insistence that an abduction had taken place. According to David Smith’s article, which included an exclusive and extended interview with Gerry McCann, he and Jane Tanner did not speak to each other because they were ‘too busy’. If there really had been an abduction, the McCanns and Jane Tanner would have spoken to each other about what she saw without a moment’s delay.
===================================
20. Apprehension about Phone Calls being Monitored.
===================================
The McCanns expressed anxiety about their phone calls and e-mails being intercepted. What innocent parent would worry about that?
=================================
21. Concealing Records of their Mobile Phone Calls.
=================================
The McCanns refused to supply their mobile phone accounts to the P.J.
===========================================================
February 10th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Tanners ass must be twitching!
February 10th, 2008 at 10:40 am
59 Ferdinand Says:
“They are closing in on the abductor.”
———————–
The police are? Who? where? I thought there was no evidence for abduction theory?
February 10th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Might all this talk of “screaming inconsistencies” etc not be a way to confuse the, what must by now be surely well rehearsed statement s …. “does that mean we should leave our statements the same” and not contradict anything we previously said or does it mean we all say the same thing leaving no inconsistency in what we say…
February 10th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Chloe / dcb
here’s the link to todays article
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/34466/Yard-should-take-Maddy-case-
February 10th, 2008 at 10:35 am
57
val Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am
“[...] ”who told her the PJ will be interviewing 12 people”
****
We cannot take this at face value, but I always thought [hoped?] that they would be interviewing more than 9…
February 10th, 2008 at 10:35 am
47 man on a hill Says:
“Ferdinand
Please answer my post 38 and tell us how this case will be solved.”
How should I know?
The case has been stalled for months now. It was pretty obvious that the authorities were playing for time re: the letters.
But now I notice some haste in having the McCanns cleared. Suddenly we have portugese sources stating the questioning is more or less a formality, as is the lifting of the arguido status.
They are closing in on the abductor.
They want to avoid the impression that the portugese police still regards the McCanns as prime suspects at the time the real perpetrator will be found. You know, Keystone cops and all that…
February 10th, 2008 at 10:34 am
57…val
Baker……….Catriona Baker…Nanny
Wright……..Michael Wright..Related to the McCann’s…Driver and general helper.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am
54 Val
Correction………”who told her the PJ will be interviewing 12 people”
February 10th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Chloe - for some reason I can’t post the link to todays article - but it is in the Sunday Express today
February 10th, 2008 at 10:27 am
53 Chloe
++++++
And today http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/34466/Yard-should-take-Maddy-case-
February 10th, 2008 at 10:27 am
20…LaMisty
He’s only doing what he’s told…..(source Mr Hogan).