
Madeleine McCann In A Taxi ‘With Murat’, Denied And Shannon Matthews
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
THE SUN: “Maddie & Murat ‘in a cab’”
Portuguese taxi driver claims Madeleine McCann was in his cab the night she vanished — with Robert Murat. “Antonio Cardoso, 67, insisted he took the little girl and four adults on a short journey to a hotel where they all switched to a Jeep with foreign plates.”
Says he:
“I later recognised him on television. I am sure it was him…She was awake but silent. She was just staring ahead with big owlish eyes. I noticed her eye because my son was born with a defect much the same. I saw her kind of twist her chin a few times in my rear-view mirror. I remember she was in pink pyjamas and wondered why they hadn’t dressed her.”
Says McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell: “We are dismissing this primarily because the timings are entirely wrong.”
IRISH EXAMINER: “Taxi driver claims he picked up Madeleine”
Antonio Castela, 67, said he dropped off the missing girl and her English-speaking mystery companions at an Algarve hotel and watched them drive off in a blue jeep. He insisted he was “100% sure” his passengers included Madeleine.
The McCanns and Robert Murat — the third official suspect in the Madeleine McCann case — all deny wrongdoing”
Kate Mccann is a “GP” Kate and husband Gerry a “heart specialist”
TIMES: “Forget Happy Meals, let’s focus on happy families”
Sandra Parsons looks at “The greatest gift of all”:
It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday, and those of us lucky enough to have children can expect to be given cards and flowers. But with Madeleine McCann and the schoolgirl Shannon Matthews still missing, Milly Dowler’s stricken parents making a heartrending appeal for information about their daughter’s murder, and the reminders again of the brutal killing of young women by Steve Wright and Levi Bellfield, I rather think it should be the other way round.
DAILY MIRROR: “Mother vows never to give up in the search for missing Shannon Matthews”
Shannon Matthews’s mum yesterday said she would never stop searching for her daughter. Karen, 32, fighting back tears, said: “We will never give up on her. It is more than a week and we are desperate to have Shannon back. Our message to people is never give up because we won’t”
Adding:
“We’ve shed a lot of tears. “It was really emotional seeing people walking through the streets with us to support our family. I was overwhelmed by the turnout. Now we just want Shannon found. We just pray she will be found safe.
YORKSHIRE POST: “Police quiz 1,500 drivers in hunt for missing Shannon”
A reward. Like Madeleine:
As the investigation enters its second week, Joseph Furniture, based in Bradley, Huddersfield, has put up a £5,000 reward for any information that leads to Shannon’s safe return.
In a statement the firm said: “As a company that was founded in Dewsbury and a former employer of Shannon’s uncle, Neil Hyett, we feel a social and moral responsibility to aid with reuniting Shannon Matthews with her beloved family.”
DAILY STAR: “SHANNON HUNT AT MUM’S ‘DIGS’ - HOME OF FAMILY FRIEND SCOURED”
The house where missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews’ mum is staying was searched by police yesterday. Officers with sniffer dogs trained to find human remains were sent in to track down clues to the nine-year-old’s disappearance.
The house in Dewsbury, West Yorks, belongs to family friend Peter “Scouser” Brown, 34, who lives just a few doors from Shannon’s mum Karen and her boyfriend Craig Meehan, 22.
Shannons’ parents are not doctors. There is no media feeeding frenzy.
Posted: 28th, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,311) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments





February 28th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
OMG I just cannot believe it, I just cruised over to Sky News site, practically every single story is about Prince Harry fighting in Afghanistan!! How sick is that when there’s a nine-year old kid who desperately needs news headlines to help find her. Hope is fading fast for Shannon, there’s no multi-media highly funded campaign to help find her, but she needs to be found, before she’s another body found in the woods in a couple of years time, and it takes another couple of years to find out who did it to her. OMG I’m sick to the stomach!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
There was a time when people were pilloried for any thought that didn’t glorify the McCanns
This was very much what i experienced too. I have only recently started to post here, at the start of this case i was posting on the GMTV forum, i was one of the very few that were against the McC’s and all that they were saying and doing. One of my users was banned immediately and all i did was question them and their motives, so i opened up another user name, and almost everything i posted did not appear on the forum.
This is why i find Anorak very refreshing indeed and the M & A allow as much freedom of speech as they legally can.
————
Mods and Admin
Dee,
This is the thing , no one has any wish to stop the parents trying to prove their non involvement and or innocence, but it was the compulsory hero worship of the parents.
Meanwhile what about the child? She, and they never get a look in , unless its an ‘anti McC’ speaking.
And there are other children , and other parents…..
February 28th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
394 Fair
364 Peter Mac
”And unfortunately there are well documented cases where the alleged victim has been ‘proved’ to have made up all or significant parts of the story. I had several examples in my own professional life.”
—————————————————————————
With this in mind would you be happy for a (truthful) child of yours to go through the police, court process & take what the prosecution may throw at them, possibly coming away more scarred than when they went in?
- - -
Firstly I think you may mean “what the defence may throw at them”. The prosecution will draw out as much as they can to show the case beyond a reasonable doubt, and will have a duty to close off possible lines of defence.
The defence are another animal altogether. Their duty is to get their client off - sorry, to raise sufficient doubt about the prosecution’s case that the charge is not proved and no conviction is obtained, and their client walks free. That is what they do. For money.
But what other system can we put up which would allow us to explore the evidence. Continental Inquisitorial systems certainly involve very detailed examination and cross examination of all parties, by lawyers and then by the judges. I am on record as having said that if I were guilty I would want to be tried in England. If innocent, in Germany.
Other more benighted regimes in states further East under a different legal and religious system seem to rely on a lynch mob mentality, where rumour alone seems to be sufficient.
All of which essentially dodges the point you make.
Parliament keeps saying that not enough people are convicted of rape, which itself does nothing more than beg the question.
The whole business of ‘normal’ human sexual action/attraction/re-action/ and so on is so personal and private that there will probably never be a good way of sorting out what actually happened, what was understood to be happening by each of the parties, and what the law should do about it, if anything, many months after the events.
Outside this sphere there are obviously cases involving young children, extreme violence, drugging into insensibility and so on, where the case for the prosecution is more clear.
The answer to your question is therefore itself a fudge. It really would depend on the circumstances, and on whether I felt that the prosecution case could be significantly dented by the defence.
Sorry not to be able to do better.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Brandon, what I find particularly sad is that Katie’s father would most likely have opted to raise his little girl himself, rather than have her murdered by her own mother (sorry I know these are strong words, but that’s what she did). Katie had a right to live, her mother had no right to take it away from her, no matter what her condition was!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
A Taxi Driver Story and The Rogatory Letter Saga
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2008/02/taxi-driver-story-and-rogatory-letter.html
300 DAYS. The round date, on Maddie’s disappearance, marked yesterday, did not deserve to Gerry and Kate any special mention in the site FindMadeleine.com, not even in the blog written by the father.
The last entry is of 22.
TAXI-DRIVER IS SURE THAT HE TOOK MADDIE IN HIS CAR IN THE NIGHT OF THE GIRL DISAPPEARANCE
“I transported that girl”
The driver remembers that he transported them in the night of the disappearance, in the 3rd of May, from the square of taxis of Monte Gordo for the Hotel Apolo, in em Vila Real de Santo Antonio. The passengers went then to a jeep. António contacted the PJ, but, as he says, no one took notice of his story.
A taxi-driver of Vila Real de Santo Antonio, in the Algarve, guarantees to have transported Maddie, Kate McCann and three men – one of them similar to Murat – in the night of the disappearance of the English girl, in the 3rd of May of last year. António Castela Cardoso, 67 years, does not forget the hour or the details of the passengers. He regrets that after having communicated the Judiciary Police of Portimão, he never received a follow up call to explain his statement. Taxi-driver, with 17 years in that profession, António Castela has the habit of memorizing the face of his clients. That one particularly, “She was a girl with very pretty eyes and she called my attention because of the sign that she had in one eye and the twitch that she was doing with the chin”, he remembered. In the beginning of that night, António was in the square of taxis of Monte Gordo, four kilometres of Vila Real de Santo Antonio, was ready to stop the cab service. “It was 20h10 and I like seeing the television news”, he remembers.
Man was similar to Murat
The clients approached and asked him to transport them to the Hotel Apolo, in Vila Real de Santo Antonio. The driver did not refuse. On his side a man seated who was using “fine glasses”. “He was similar with the one that appears in the television like the third suspect”, says António, concerning Robert Murat – who is arguido in the case. In the seat behind, a woman “like Kate” sat down, between two men. The girl that the taxi-driver says to be Maddie sat down to the lap of one of them.
“She was wearing pink pyjamas. The mother had the hair tied and a yellow coat”, he remembers, with exactness. It was a silent journey. The passengers did not exchange one word; they did not show any emotions. On the arrival to the journey destiny, António pulled out the baby’s chair of the luggage car. “It was the same as what the couple usually uses”, he affirms. The customers asked him, in English language, how much the cab journey was. “I said that there were 3, 25 euros and they gave me five and then I thanked them”, he says.
Top-of-the-line Jeep
The taxi-driver saw three men, the woman and the child move towards a metallic-blue, top-of-the-line Jeep “ I do not know if it would be a BMW, but I remember that the license plate was yellow and therefore was not a Portuguese one ”, he affirms. The vehicle was parked in the Hotel Apolo parking. António returned to his house with the image of the girl in the head. It reminded him of his son, now with 37 years. “My son was operated to his eyes because he had a similar eye defect. He also did that twitch with the chin. They even looked like brothers”, he observed.
The next day, António was watching the television news besides his son and his granddaughter, with the same age of Maddie. With astonishment he saw that the blond girl of light eyes had disappeared. “I immediately told my son: ‘ I transported that girl yesterday! ’ ”.
The son, a police officer of the GNR, advised the father to phone to the Judiciary Police of Portimão. “ He (the son) dialled the number and I said what I am telling you (to the journalist of 24 Horas newspaper)”, he remembers to 24horas.
The inspector who answered then asked him if in the hotel there was a system of video vigilance. The taxi-driver did not know.
Up to today, António waits the police contact to give declarations personally. “I defend the girl as I would defend my granddaughter”, he affirms.
Some days later, out of curiosity, António still asked for informations to some of his acquaintances, at the service of the Hotel Apolo. He was told that there was not any reservation for that evening. They also told him that the Hotel had not been contacted by the Judiciary Police. Even worse. The system of video vigilance was damaged two years ago and was not catching any image. “Also I do not know if they did enter in the hotel”, says the taxi-driver.
Since then, António Castela has been accompanying the news on Maddie. When the telephone rings, he still thinks that it will be someone who investigates the case that want to speak with him. When he knew that a certain period of time was still to be explained in the investigation, António Castela immediately thought that this might be the explanation. “In two hours you can travel from Aldeia da Luz to in Vila Real de Santo Antonio and return. Someone can be lying. They should establish if Kate did not go away during this period”, says António. The taxi-driver has been telling this history in public establishments and to clients whom he transports. Only this week a journalist of the “Jornal do Algarve” contacted him to publish what the driver affirms to have seen. “Now they do not leave me alone. Tomorrow [today] there is a team coming from England on purpose to interview me”, he says.
Madeleine McCann disappeared mysteriously from the Ocean Club, in Aldeia da Luz, in the 3rd of May. 300 days already have passed since. The parents are still arguidos in the process, but up to now nobody managed to know what it went on that night.
Madeleine has no Twitches
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, reacted yesterday with amazement at the declarations of the taxi-driver. “The declarations of Mr. Castela are false. They are a perfect nonsense. He can only be mistaken when he says that at that time he transported Kate and Madeleine with three men”, he said, underlining the fact of being several independent witnesses who place Madeleine’s parents in a completely different place. “How is that possible, if at 20h35 several witnesses say that Kate and Gerry were sitting down on a table of the Tapas restaurant”, he questioned. Clarence doubts of the intentions of the taxi-driver. “It astonishes me that only now, ten months later, he talks about this. These are declarations that only cause pain to Kate and Gerry”, he said, advancing that that the McCann’s daughter has no facial twitches.
“The only sign to report is the one she has in the eye.”
THEY TOOK FIVE MONTHS TO READ A LETTER
The Inspectors of the Judiciary Police are already preparing the suitcases to travel again to Leiceister, where the McCanns and the friends with whom they had dinner with will be questioned again. The team led by Paulo Rebelo finally received green light from England.
English speak again with the Judiciary Police
With the suitcases done, the Judiciary Police is already finalizing with the English authorities the details for, five months after the sending to Great Britain of a rogatory letter, their return to question the McCanns and the friends with whom they had dinner with when Madeleine disappeared, on the 3rd of May, in the Praia da Luz, in Lagos, Algarve.
“The rogatory letter was returned in January to the Public Prosecution Office, for lack of completion of some bureaucratic proceedings. It was remade and then returned to the English Home Office in the beginning of this month. Finally, the letter it’s already in the possession of the Police of Leicester and we are finalizing the details to give completion to the solicitations done by the British authorities”, it explained to 24horas a judicial person in charge connected with the investigations. According to the same source, everything left done is now a mere “schedulement in order that the interrogations are prepared to the friends of the McCann and to the parents of the lost girl themselves, an organized plan that will have to be ended during next week.
In ten days a team of Portuguese investigators will travel to England, they will attend the interrogations, as the interrogations themselves will be done by the police officers of Leicester. “We can only hear, analyse the expressions of the persons and suggest some questions that do not appear in the rogatory letter”. The first persons to be questioned
will be Jane Tanner, David Paine and Russel O’Brien, whose lawyers revealed the intention of their clients to alter their first statements.
Source: Jornal 24 horas
page 22
page 23
February 28th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
noseycow
Its very deep on here today
Can i make a point about our friend LOOK.?? (and others past present and future)
While i agree with anoraks decision, the whole situation has me a touch worried.
Although we have often joked about paid posters, i didn’t really believe it until M&A confirmed it today.
LOOK did not come on here to debate, to chat, or to change our minds, IMO her reason for coming on here was to get banned.
So i ask why would a paid poster come to a site to get banned from it. Perhaps its because she is wanting ‘evidence’ to back up her claim that this is an anti mccann site, full of ludicrous and hurtful posts which should be shut down (remember the MF).
It is just a thought.
But i do think that, while LOOK’s arrival was a good laugh particularly yesterday, we as posters can do a lot to help the administrator avoid having to ban someone.
It may take some discipline, but we all say scroll the troll and then we answer their posts (in many and varied ways) often giving them the excuse they need to become particularly abusive, while seeing themselves as on the high moral ground.
Just a thought!
probably a silly one - but how awful it would be if there were no MM thread to race to each morning… (or afternoon if anorak is ‘otherwise occupied ‘ )
***************************************************************************************
Noseycow, sorry had to copy the whole post about your reference to Look.
Well she is an old hand on here , just a change of user name, and she knows the score.
In the past as well as recently her posts were very aggressive, there is no obvious sign of her wishing to debate, just to flatten.
You could be a nice as pie and still get kicked in the teeth/nuts depending on the sex. Because you do not support her view.
But you are right , people of that manner do come to get banned, but the option is always open for them to return and debate. They choose not to. The only way they could remain without aggression would be if we closed the site, and why should we do that?
There was a time when people were pilloried for any thought that didn’t glorify the McCanns, in fact at one time there were a quartet of posters who were anti, Julie and I were two of them, we didn’t convert anyone, the McCanns’ themselves did that. And the pro McC’s are professional posters - speaks volumes.
Thanks for posting your thoughts.
Anorak always welcomes FREE speech
February 28th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Julie
OMG How sad
Poor man!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
It doesn’t say Brandon, except that she faces 100 years in prison (probably hasn’t been sentenced yet). Read these very sad words from the little girls father :
“In a statement Paul McCarron, Katie’s father said: “I ask all parents especially those of children with disabilities to ALWAYS love your children and be proud of them. Cherish every moment you have with them. Love, patience and tender efforts are the best therapies.”
From : http://www.hoinews.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=85936
February 28th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Noseycow commented:
Can i make a point about our friend LOOK.?? (and others past present and future)
While i agree with anoraks decision, the whole situation has me a touch worried.
Although we have often joked about paid posters, i didn’t really believe it until M&A confirmed it today.
LOOK did not come on here to debate, to chat, or to change our minds, IMO her reason for coming on here was to get banned.
So i ask why would a paid poster come to a site to get banned from it. Perhaps its because she is wanting ‘evidence’ to back up her claim that this is an anti mccann site, full of ludicrous and hurtful posts which should be shut down (remember the MF).
It is just a thought.
But i do think that, while LOOK’s arrival was a good laugh particularly yesterday, we as posters can do a lot to help the administrator avoid having to ban someone.
It may take some discipline, but we all say scroll the troll and then we answer their posts (in many and varied ways) often giving them the excuse they need to become particularly abusive, while seeing themselves as on the high moral ground.
Just a thought!
probably a silly one - but how awful it would be if there were no MM thread to race to each morning… (or afternoon if anorak is ‘otherwise occupied
‘ )
Administrator:Anorak is not going away. This is no flash-in-the-pan site and has been around since 1995.
What disturbs me, slightly, is not the extraordinary interest paid to the minutiae of a 300-day-old story, it is the sole interest factor which is worrying.
There are many stories every day and you are all good, some even cracking, debaters.
There other breaking, current, stories and areas of this site which would welcome your comment with open arms.
The Forum has many contributors who wearied of debate here.
Without thinking about this.
Name the parents, jobs, siblings and pets of Shannon Matthews.
No? Well shouldn’t there be debate on that!!
The McCann thread will not close until there is a resolution and the Moderators will continue to spend a great deal of their (freely given) time to adjudicate and be criticised, even attacked, for their decisions. The Moderators will continue to take part in the debate when they wish.
The problem for all of us is not the McCann child’s story…the lack of information and the treacle pace of the inquiry stultifies debate.
We remain, as always, ready to comment on the coverage of the news. -agw
February 28th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Julie
How long did she get?
February 28th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Hmm Carmen, very interesting (haven’t seen it before)
Found this on the same case now :
Karen McCarron is an Illinois physician who has admitted to smothering her autistic daughter Katherine ‘Katie’ McCarron to death.[1] A grand jury indicted her on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death.[2] McCarron went to trial on January 7, 2008 and after a week long trial, was convicted of first degree murder, obstruction of justice, and concealing a homicidal death on January 17, 2008.[
(from Wikipedia)
So she was obviously found “mentally fit” to stand trial! Very, very interesting indeed! Thanks Carmen!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
847 brandon flours
Bugging devices? We can only hope.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
845 Justlooking
An undercover policeman would be allowed to smoke some weed, do pot, etc., and perhaps even a regular policeman directed to befriend the McCanns would do the same.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Night everyone for now!
Might be on for afters later!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
845
Justlooking Says:
February 28th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Ian
Remigius
Remember in Panorama KM said a policeman from the PJ had befriended the family ( even had dinner with them) and wondered how he dared look her in the eye during the questioning in Sept.
Could the PJ have planted him as a mole to get forensic info, eg, twins’ hair samples? GM is v worried about the sedatives issue with the twins, isn’t he?
________________________
I mentioned this a few days ago!
Glad someone else remembered it!
Or he might have planted the bugging devises!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
840
It might also explain why one would take a vacation in Portugal when it’s still very cold. Perhaps the Tapas 9 were all shopping, and tripping….
I don’t know much about the Portuguese illicit drug scene. Perhaps someone else does.
Vicodin. Opiates.
Heath Ledger was an adult when he died from combining these in an overdose. It would not take much to kill a very young child. And these are certainly meds that almost any doc could easily get.
But if you could produce a prescription or some kind of need for it, then why hide the fact that Madeleine died from these? It is just a tragic accident, and children do die regularly from ingesting quite harmless drugs.
But if it was something illicit….they might feel they could not report it.
An interesting hypothesis.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Carmen
I saw that back in Oct or Nov. It was very interesting!
Very sad!
But very similar !
February 28th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Ian
Remigius
Remember in Panorama KM said a policeman from the PJ had befriended the family ( even had dinner with them) and wondered how he dared look her in the eye during the questioning in Sept.
Could the PJ have planted him as a mole to get forensic info, eg, twins’ hair samples? GM is v worried about the sedatives issue with the twins, isn’t he?
February 28th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
#
841
Ian Says:
February 28th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Got to go too, dinner then …reading! AAARRRGGGHHHH!
——————————
WHAT? The dinner … your wife will clip you around the earhole
February 28th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
835,val thanks, go to her link read that,anyone who hasnt seen it……..c..u
February 28th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Got to go too, dinner then …reading! AAARRRGGGHHHH!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
813 Batman
That they might have left coke or heroin lying around for the child to ingest is an interesting idea, and would also motivate them to hide and destroy Madeleine’s body. This would also account for how they seem so “technically” assured of their own “innocence,” although the law would hardly agree.
Wonder whether Gerry/Kate undergo drug checks at work. Perhaps this is the main reason why they decided to stay in Portugal as long as they did–avoid the drug checks at the workplace…. Perhaps this is why Kate never went back to work at all.
Perhaps this is why, even though she worked only two days a week prior to the vacation, Kate had a nanny and a housekeeper. Perhaps she has a substance abuse problem and simply can’t keep anything together. This scenario is certainly possible. But it is only a scenario, one of many to be simply considered. it is pure opinion only.
But it would explain the jogging, the haircuts, the overstaying in Portugal, the failure to return to work….It might even explain why Gerry barked out “No Comment!” when questioned about Murat at his press conference.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
820 noseycow
Well done! Personally I thought that as it interested me anyway, I might as well study law properly.
Also it helps understand some of the crap you hear about which goes on. With Europe of increasing importance to the UK, its vital to understand what is fact and what is fiction about the power of the ECJ and ECtHR etc.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
well yet again been nice talking to you all,have to go do fatherly bit now,cook clean wash up, bath kids go shopping, oh a dads work is never done,please the wife again,see if we can have another earth moving experience,I convinced her that there was no earthquake just me being a dam good lover………………………………………………………………………………..yeah right! of caurse she didnt believe me.. see you later…
February 28th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
829
brandon flours Says:
February 28th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Dee
Are you the old Dee or Dee Dee or a newish one?
Well i’m not sure how ‘old’ i am on here, but i’ve been posting for about a month
February 28th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
808 Delboy
Don”t know if you have already seen this, I printed it a couple of months ago
and don”t know how old it is…….no doubt the sleuths here will find out.
I”m starving, so catch up with you all later.
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/alleged_pedophiles.html
February 28th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
828 nosey
Oooohh! Interesting. Things afoot?
February 28th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
823 brandon
And the Woman’s Hour interview. ‘Was M asleep when you left?’
four second pause, then……mumblings……
February 28th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
814
just_me Says:
February 28th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
If that earthquake could be felt all the way down to ashford, I suggest, when all that McCann shit hits the fan we better all be wearing our anoraks!
Lmao, very good
February 28th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Remigius … you pressed a wrongish key
I’m seeing double, and I’ve only had ONE cider