Madeleine McCann: Melissa Fiering Sees, An Algerian And Waldo
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
THE SUN (front page): “MADDIE SEEN IN FRANCE”
“Eye-defect girl in cafe” – Why do they stare, daddy?
DAILY MIRROR: “I SPOTTED MADDY AT CAFE IN FRANCE”
A picture of Melissa.
“’This is so significant because the girl noticed the blemish in the eye and it’s on CCTV for first time’ - McCANN FAMILY SPOKESMAN CLARENCE MITCHELL LAST NIGHT”
This is the Mirror’s “EXCLUSIVE THE HUNT FOR MADELEINE”
To France:
“The little girl was spotted in a motorway service station cafe by student Melissa Fiering, 18, who insists she clearly saw the distinctive flaw in her right iris”
Says Melissa: “My friend and I had music playing loudly out of our mobile phones and this little girl was dancing to it. It was only when I looked closely at her I realised it was Madeleine. She had a very thin face and her blonde hair had been cut much shorter, down to her jaw. But it was her”
Why so certain?
“I looked in her eye because I’d seen on TV that Madeleine’s got a defect in her right iris and I saw this girl had it. I could hardly believe my eyes but I knew for sure it was Madeleine. I called out her name and she looked up at me - she obviously recognised it”
Obviously. Dancing with a small child and then you shout out a name and she looks at you…
“But when I called out ‘Madeleine’ the man she was with got worried and started dragging her away from the queue”
The man with Madeleine is described as a “dark-skinned man, who was possibly Algerian”. Blonde girl with dark-skinned man. Like her?
What did Melissa do when he was spotted, this swarthy man?
“As he dragged the girl away he threw a white coat over her and pulled a woollen hat from his pocket and jammed it on her head. Melissa adds: ‘He didn’t say a word but as they got to the door he prodded the girl in the back. I tried to take pictures on my phone but I only got one and it was all blurred. I ran outside after them but they’d vanished”
Vanished?
“WE HAVE THE GUN THAT KILLED RHYS”
Rhys Jones was killed in Liverpool, shot by a youth on a bike
“Rhys’s mum Melanie, 42, and dad Stephen, 45, who have received a message of sympathy from Madeleine McCann’s family, issued a statement for tomorrow’s six-month anniversary of the shooting”
Why do we know this?
The message says: “We are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of our beautiful son Rhys. The pain we have had to face every day has been magnified by the poignancy of occasions like Christmas and Rhys’s 12th birthday. The last six months have been a living nightmare. All we want is justice for our son”
Rhys Jones is murdered in Liverpool. Rhys Jones was 11 years old. His parents are not suspects
DAILY EXPRESS: “MADELEINE IN NEW ‘SIGHTING’ AT RESTAURANT”
Dutch woman. A restaurant? Not a therapist. A student
The Dutch student is “100 per cent certain” she saw Madeleine McCann in a roadside restaurant in southern France
Says Melissa: “I called out ‘Madeleine’ and she looked up. The man with her was about six feet tall, with black hair, a black leather jacket and several days growth of stubble. He put on her coat and hat and bundled her away”
She adds: “I can’t stop thinking about it. I wish I had stopped that man. I wanted to pick her up, I am sorry I didn’t do that”
LIVERPOOL DAILY POST: “Madeleine McCann ’spotted’ in Southern France”
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: “Student claims to have sighted Madeleine McCann in France”
A reader comments: “Is this kid going to replace Waldo?”
ASSOCIATED PRESS: “French police investigating an alleged sighting of Madeleine McCann in southern France have determined it was not the missing British girl.
A police official says a Dutch tourist reported that she may have seen McCann at a roadside restaurant. Examining closed-circuit video footage, the investigators spotted a man and a young girl who resembled McCann, but determined it was not her.
Posted: 21st, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,234) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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February 22nd, 2008 at 4:05 am
Veritable
It’s a really famous old murder case.
Maria Marten was a young woman murdered by her lover William Corder in 1827. She was pregnant and he promised to marry her but instead he killed her, buried her beneath the floor of the Red Barn and ran off to become a school teacher.
Maria’s mother had a dream in which Maria told her she had been murdered and where to find her, the police were called in and Maria was dug up. William was tracked down, hanged and his skin was used to cover a book about the case - it also went on to be a hit stage play and a popular subject of Penny Dreadfuls.
It’s also a great folk ballad sung by Shirley Collins and the Albion Band.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 am
1057 Karen
I have a drama class as part of my English class and we studied ‘Maria and the Red Barn’ - a brilliant old English Melodrama. \
–
N0t familiar, PLEASE tell me more.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:53 am
1059
Pray For Little Soul Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 am
stick all that in a couple of sentences please.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:52 am
1052 Jolie Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:35 am
… 1047 Pray for Little Soul - Excellent point that hasn’t yet been mentioned on this forum. If I remember to, I will check to see if you repost it on tomorrow’s forum. If it’s not there, if you don’t mind, I’ll cut and paste your entire post and carry it there. …
——–
Jolie,
go ahead and paste it on tomorrow’s thread if you wish. nite nite!
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 am
1050
Karen Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:34 am
Pray For Little Soul
I think I’d react to anyone shouting anything near me. It’s normal to look round if someone shouts.
It’s always the same pattern though :
1. See ‘Madeleine’
2. Call out her name.
3. A man or a couple bundles her hurriedly away - sometimes she looks scared.
4. They go to the police - it’s not taken massively seriously.
5. They appear in the press and say they’re 100% certain it’s Madeleine and they now regret they didn’t grab her.
6. The McCanns say the sighting is encouraging but do nothing.
7. The police announce it’s not Madeleine.
8. Madeleine look-a-like appears in the press, her family express sympathy for the McCanns’ ordeal - little girl looks almost nothing like Madeleine.
A pattern is the hallmark of an Urban Myth - so I’ll disbelieve all of them till the press conference announcing she’s found.
———–
Karen,
well done! it’s tragic, and it’s laughable all of this - which is a shame, seeing as the subject is a child. and all those who think they’re spotting Madeleine must think real hard and examine their convictions that it is her because no one, no one, who was not familiar with Madeleine McCann can say with ANY certainty that they would recognise her on the basis of the VARIOUS likenesses of her that have appeared in the press since her disappearance.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 am
Jolie
Well, I tried.
I hope your kid’s better.
Night everyone.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 am
Veritable
I have a drama class as part of my English class and we studied ‘Maria and the Red Barn’ - a brilliant old English Melodrama.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 am
Night all!
Karen - Shout out Whoosh Clunk! during the show that would be really freaky.
It’d make a good night out of a nonearner for me!
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 am
Jolie
I hope you haven’t got any hard feelings. I wasn’t trying to be mean.
I’ve been a conspiracy theory nut since I was little - but I class it as folklore (which a lot of it is).
Friends???
I will never mention the subject again.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:39 am
1044 Karen Says:
Now wouldn’t that be terrible if your birth Dad married you and your birth Mum dismembered you?
–
lordy that would be terrible! omigod! are you a theatre major?
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:39 am
1048 markskidd,
i think they’re just dreaming of madeleine…or Madeleine…..
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:35 am
Ian - Thanks for the information you provided tonight. Your last post was particularly eloquent, imo.
Brandon — I’m sorry for the pain you are feeling.
1047 Pray for Little Soul - Excellent point that hasn’t yet been mentioned on this forum. If I remember to, I will check to see if you repost it on tomorrow’s forum. If it’s not there, if you don’t mind, I’ll cut and paste your entire post and carry it there.
If I’ve forgotten to respond to someone, forgive me, but I did read this evening’s postings before going to bed.
Good night and sleep well.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:35 am
glad I’m not a normal, there’s a guy on tv who is scared of brocolli, right now!
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:34 am
Pray For Little Soul
I think I’d react to anyone shouting anything near me. It’s normal to look round if someone shouts.
It’s always the same pattern though :
1. See ‘Madeleine’
2. Call out her name.
3. A man or a couple bundles her hurriedly away - sometimes she looks scared.
4. They go to the police - it’s not taken massively seriously.
5. They appear in the press and say they’re 100% certain it’s Madeleine and they now regret they didn’t grab her.
6. The McCanns say the sighting is encouraging but do nothing.
7. The police announce it’s not Madeleine.
8. Madeleine look-a-like appears in the press, her family express sympathy for the McCanns’ ordeal - little girl looks almost nothing like Madeleine.
A pattern is the hallmark of an Urban Myth - so I’ll disbelieve all of them till the press conference announcing she’s found.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:32 am
The normals THINK they have moved on.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:30 am
1046
Pray For Little Soul Says:
****************************
well, seems to have ended all posts
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 am
Markskidd
I can’t get anyone to talk about it, bar the odd - ‘how stupid to leave the doors unlocked’.
The normals have moved on.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 am
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF A LITTLE GIRL - IN FRANCE - RECOGNISING THE WORD “MADELEINE”?
Dictionary: mad·e·leine (măd’ə-lĕn’)
n.
A small rich cake, baked in a shell-shaped mold.
[After Madeleine Paulmier, 19th-century French pastry cook.]
Food Lover’s Companion: madeleine
[MAD-l-ihn; mad-LEHN] Exalted by Proust in his Remembrance of Things Past, the madeleine is a small, buttery sponge cake that’s eaten as a cookie, often dipped in coffee or tea. These feather-light cakes are baked in a special madeleine pan (or plaque), which has 12 indentations that resemble an elongated scallop shell. Madeleines are best eaten fresh from the oven, while the inside is moist and warm and the exterior exquisitely crisp.
…well, not unusual for a little girl, in France, to react to the word “madeleine”. A bit like the connection between “Amelie” and “Chocolat”. I rest my weary case.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:19 am
ho ho dont worry I’m not scary but my girlfriend thinks I’m somewhat strange for having an interest in this, the Maddie, case. Never taken much interest before, but this McShite thing is just so revealing as to how the british press and tv works, Ijust cant stop.
Anyway, would be great to meet you. Enjoy the festival!
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:14 am
Veritable
Now wouldn’t that be terrible if your birth Dad married you and your birth Mum dismembered you?
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:13 am
Karen
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:11 am
Markskidd
I will clunk whoosh and run if you’re scary.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:06 am
Karen
well, all my binbags are silver with ‘no dna to be found in here, thanks’ printed on them.
I’ll be the one with the beard for the first half of the show.
just say “whoosh - Clunk” and I’ll know you!
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:05 am
1038 Karen
I find the idea of meeting posters weird - I might end in bin bags all over Manchester or married to an American and living in Ohio.
–
Probably a bit like meeting the birth parents.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:02 am
Brandon
Yes, I love you.
I fancy all 3.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:00 am
Markskidd
Really - they met up at the London Lecture?
I find the idea of meeting posters weird - I might end in bin bags all over Manchester or married to an American and living in Ohio.
I’m going to quite a lot of the Magners stuff, so we’re bound to pass each other at some point - I’m a blonde, I’ll leave you to guess which one.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:00 am
Karen
Do you love me?
BTW do you fancy this fella?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BieVgyrfglQ
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 am
Karen: It’s part of Magner’s Comedy Festival. In it’s 4th year now (under various titles).
Dinna worry hen.
I’m not hitting on you!
My fiance will be there!
Would be great to meet a poster! Missed out on that London lecture with Clarrie where a lot met up.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 am
Brandon
I call my GBF Old Greg - he’s not amused.
esp. as he loved the Mighty Boosh when I was still slagging it off (I was young and foolish once
)
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 am
nite
nosey , RR , karen
marks kidd scroll it back
I earnt my kate adie points all bloody day !!!