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 21st, 2008 at 4:31 pm
1834 coolandcalm, 20Feb
1836 yampster, 20Feb
Thanks for your kind remarks.
Unfortunately the only other responses I’ve had (1910, 1940 Ian, 20 Feb) seem to completely miss the point of what I was saying. It feels like I’m hitting a brick wall on this one! A case of never the twain shall meet (with the much-to-be-admired exception of Garth and the way he seems to be successfully winning posters over to a more rational approach in his recent ongoing debate with them)??
At any rate I just wonder what the point of this all is? “Better than an Aldwych farce”—OK, true enough! But then, is entertainment really what we are looking for in this saga? To my mind, the event is quite simply too poignantly tragic for that. Too horrible. Which is why I question the whole idea of this subject having become the (major) topic for a satirical blog-site.
As I said I felt in my previous post and still feel, I think it is time for me to take permanent leave of the board. That is, if I can resist the temptation against getting sucked in once again (already failed that test once—it’s like trying to withdraw from nicotine!!! Lol).
It’s a personal decision, but probably the right one for me. That is, if I can keep to it…
February 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
334
Grande Finale
Bloody ell
Well spotted
GOLD STAR !!!!!
February 21st, 2008 at 4:29 pm
BREAKING NEWS………..in the Mirror
British 3 year old girl has been WOOooosh clunked! in the Algarve portugal.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:28 pm
332…brandon flours
Naughty.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:27 pm
328
Moriarty
Now we are Seven! Pity you’re not mexican though
Vamos Muchachos, Let’s ride!
February 21st, 2008 at 4:27 pm
309
brandon flours Says:
February 21st, 2008 at 3:59 pm
How common is Madeleine’s eye defect?
*******************************
Not really to do with this post, rather about the 10th June Blog.
Check the following day 11th June the only one of two sentences between question marks……..
-madeleine back home?
I wonder if this means she/body ? was returned to UK ??
February 21st, 2008 at 4:24 pm
317 Denzylle
Thanks for that, reading through Eurojust seems to have a lot of power,
“speedy and clear resolutions to mutual legal assistance and extradition problems”
Further down the page, they can chivvy up responses to their requests, so let”s hope they have contacted the Home Office again.
GB and JS have their hands full at the moment but should have responded by
now.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:23 pm
matt
I wasnt talking about a drink
but thanks any way
February 21st, 2008 at 4:23 pm
326 Thank you for the compliment , Jolie.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:23 pm
329…brandon flours
Large S C on it’s way.
+ pint of water.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Matt
Give us a large one
I have a head ache!
February 21st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
324
RedRooster
oh god look what the cat dragged in……………… pot and kettle
*************
Is it ‘cos I’s black?
February 21st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Dr Watson
Coolandcalm had to change her name because someone started bombarding her with nasty emails.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
307 Aardvarko
I think you are a wise and sensible person. Glad to know that you are encouraging open debate to get others interested in considering other points of view and being curious to find out the truth. It is quite a puzzle to try to work out.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:13 pm
284 Val
Very funny. My memory sucks so bad that I forgot the ‘punchline’ to this story and fell for it all over again.
I’d rather be a sucker for a joke than have to worry about my personal identity info. available online to any and all to steal, though, so the end result is that I am relieved.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:12 pm
321
pot and kettle
Moriarty Says:
*************
oh god look what the cat dragged in………………
February 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
319
yampster Says:
February 21st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
******************************
February 21st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
321
Moriarty
Not Professor Moriarty. Wobbler will be quaking in his boots
February 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
305
Dr. Watson
I do not debate with multiposters
****************
You don’t debate. Full stop.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
314
REPORTER
*************
GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
February 21st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
318
RedRooster
You still haven’t really got the hang of this ’scroll the troll’ have you?
February 21st, 2008 at 4:07 pm
310
yampster
**********
did someone say something NO ok
February 21st, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Val
312
I posted this document a while back:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldselect/ldeucom/138/4051903.htm
It sheds some light on what Eurojust does.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:05 pm
314
REPORTER
Hang on I thought I was you?
February 21st, 2008 at 4:05 pm
312…val
http://www.ydt.gr/main/Article.jsp?ArticleID=78060&LanguageID=2
February 21st, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Dr Watson 305.
PPhew. thank heavens I didn’t answer!
February 21st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
281 Jo
Thanks Jo, I was asking earlier, why the delay and couldn”t Eurojust complain.
We don”t seem to know exactly what powers Eurojust has, and what exactly
is their role in Europe…….. can you explain?
February 21st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
309…brandon flours
I hope that Ms Fiering never takes to gambling….her “certainties”
are very dodgy it would seem.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
308
RedRooster
You haven’t really got the hang of this ’scroll the troll’ have you?
February 21st, 2008 at 3:59 pm
How common is Madeleine’s eye defect?
WHO, WHAT, WHY?
The Magazine answers…
Thursday, 21 February 2008, 15:38 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7256513.stm
Called a coloboma, the defect can appear as a keyhole shape
A girl resembling Madeleine McCann has been spotted in France by a woman who says she had the same eye blemish as the missing girl’s. Police have dismissed the sighting, but how common is the defect?
Referred to as the “mark of Madeleine” the blemish on the four-year-old’s right eye has played a key part in the campaign to highlight her disappearance, emphasised in posters and videos.
It’s was at the centre of the latest possible sighting of her. Dutch student Melissa Fiering says she saw a girl who looked like Madeleine McCann at a service station in the South of France.
She believed it was the youngster, who went missing from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz last May, because she had a dark smudge on her right iris. However, police examining CCTV evidence have determined it was not the missing girl.
THE ANSWER
Colobomas are extremely rare - no more than 0.007% per head of population
It’s not the first reported sighting of Madeleine, but a spokesman for the McCann family said it was “more worthy than most” because of the eye defect.
The blemish is called a coloboma of the iris. Its precise incidence is not recorded in the UK, although it is no more common than 0.007% per head of population.
Cases of coloboma are lumped in with two other congenital eye defects - microphthalmia and anophthalmia - says the Micro and Anophthalmic Children’s Society.
“There are about three to seven babies every 100,000 live births, born with any one of these defects,” says a spokeswoman for the society, although “colomboa is more common than the other two conditions.”
A coloboma occurs when the eye fails to develop fully while the baby is in the womb. It leaves part of the structure missing, creating a gap.
Keyhole
Colobomas can occur in several parts of the eye - the word itself means an absence or defect of tissue. When a coloboma is in the iris - like Madeleine’s - it can give the appearance of a keyhole. In very rare cases a person can get one in each eye.
“They’re pretty uncommon,” says Iain Anderson, chairman of the Eyecare Trust. “In my patient base of 5,000 just one person has one. It is a significant distinguishing feature in identifying someone.”
It’s not known why colobomas occur but there appears to be a strong hereditary factor.
WHO, WHAT, WHY?
A regular part of the BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer some of the questions behind the headlines
Having a coloboma can cause sight problems but it depends on which part of the eye is affected and to what extent, according to Dr Trisha Macnair.
“If the iris is affected, the pupil may be oval or keyhole-shaped rather than round, and central vision may be affected,” she says.
While French police have ruled out the latest “sighting” of Madeleine, given the rareness of the eye defect it’s perhaps not surprising Ms Fiering believed she had seen the missing girl.
“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,” she told the Daily Mirror. “I could hardly believe my eyes, but I knew for sure it was her.”
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Clarries on a roll