Shannon Matthews: Ripper Yarn And Not In McCanns’ Class
SHANNON Watch: Anorak’s look at Shannon Matthews in the media
DAILY MIRROR: “Hunt for Shannon Matthews is the biggest since the Yorkshire Ripper”
Is it?
The search is the biggest since the one for Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe who murdered 13 women in the 70s and 80s.
DAILY STAR (front page): “SHANNON: BIGGEST MANHUNT SINCE RIPPER”
DAILY EXPRESS: “SHANNON: HUNT IS ON SCALE OF RIPPER”
Chief Inspector Graham Armitage said: “It’s certainly the biggest missing persons inquiry since the Yorkshire Ripper, which I also worked on.”
Ripper. Ripper. Ripper. Is this a new context to place the disappearance of a child in? Is comparison with Madeleine McCann no longer apt?
DAILY MAIL: “Someone I know abducted missing Shannon just to hurt me, says mother”
Her comments came as her partner drew a sharp line between Shannon’s family and the parents of missing Madeleine McCann.
Craig Meehan, said: “It’s two families from two different backgrounds which shouldn’t really get compared - basically, a poor family and a rich family.”
Mr Meehan, 22, went on: “To me, they [the McCanns] are like celebrities in other people’s eyes. They’ve got money, they know celebrities and all that, so they can afford to do everything they do, everything they can.
“We’re trying to do what we can with the money we’ve got, with the resources we’ve got.”
It’s the biggest manhunt since The Yorkshire Ripper. Or is a private detective firm now also required?
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Shannon Matthews ‘abducted to hurt mother’”
Asked if she thought the abductor was someone she knew, Mrs Matthews, a mother of seven, said: “It seems that way because there’s no trace of her at all. There’s no trace of her swimming costume, her towel or anything like that that she’s taken with her.”
Mrs Matthews told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme she believed the reason someone had taken her daughter was to get at her.
Asked why someone would do it, Mrs Matthews replied: “Just to hurt me, really.”
When pressed on who might be behind the abduction, she said: “No idea at all. All my friends and family have all been checked and there are no sightings of her things there at all.”
Posted: 12th, March 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (255) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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March 13th, 2008 at 10:35 am
94 catkidd
I read earlier this week that
- 14 people were included in the list for interviews (not clear if Kate and Gerry McCann were included at the end of the 14 list or not)
- For each interview to be carried out the PJ detailed questions, time and date of the interview
Allegedly only once these 12 or 14 interviews are carried out, will the investigators decide if Kate and Gerry McCann should be re-interviewed.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Brandon
By different I meant not T9.
Salomon
So everyone has been watching the skies for the PJ’s arrival, and this was never the intention? Not sure about this - didn’t Ripeiro say back in October that the intention was for people from Portugal to come over? The main developments since that time seem to be a falling out between the FSS and the PJ and then this recent taxi story.
Ferdinand
Not quite sure what you are driving at. Do you think Coldwater’s posts are guesswork, or genuine, or deliberate disinformation?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Val 91 - that being the case, and the results being as conclusive as suggested by the poster… what is preventing the PJ from closing the investigation and the prosecutor from pressing charges against Gerry and Kate McCann?
There could be a few explanations:
1) Evidence that Madeleine died in the room and was transported in the car does not per se indicate that she was killed as a result of an act perpetrated by Kate and or Gerry McCann. In that respect, the suggested interviews with the other tapas will be designed to exclude them from the place where she died at the estimated time of her death. Other people may have had access to the apartment and may have had access to the car. These need to be excluded through interviews. They were not excluded at the time of the initial interviews, because by that time the FSS had not concluded its work and there was still no evidence that Madeleine was dead. This also explains the lack of urgency in carrying out the interviews. If any portuguese or british authorities truly believed that Madeleine was being held hostage by an abductor these interviews would have been carried out at the end of last year.
2) The FSS results are not as conclusive as suggested by the poster and will not stand in a portuguese court. The interviews come as the last motion of the investigation. It is designed to confirm inconsistencies in the statements of the tapas, possibly naming a couple of them official suspects before closing the investigation. The prosecutor will then archive the process maintaining all 3-5 individuals as “official suspects” until further evidence arises that would justify a re-opening of the proceedings. It would then be possible to formalise accusation / charges against some or all of the suspects.
Maybe there are other explanations - but IMO these are the most obvious / likely.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:31 am
yes
March 13th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Dave
I thought you’d gone off me
March 13th, 2008 at 10:30 am
BF - this is an old thread isn’t it?
It started yesterday
March 13th, 2008 at 10:29 am
BF - why has your button come off?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:29 am
sorry false alarm
Are we all to be flitting from 3 different threads today?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:26 am
new thread
March 13th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Has anyone seen the transcript on Anorak of the interview with Shannon’s Mum?
Iwish the media were minded to ask tough questions of all parents of abducted children.
You would have thought that the British police - being so superior of course to any foreign police force - would have investigated any allegation of child abuse by the step-father and done something about if the suspected anything.
Now they may be waiting or still gathering evidence I don’t know but if they think he is a nasty man letting it be known that they knew might just entice a little a girl out of hiding if that is what she is doing…
March 13th, 2008 at 10:23 am
salomon e s;14 people?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:21 am
80 Abraham Zapruder Says:
“(plus the musings of Coldwater and co).
But maybe the request has a different purpose, concerning a different suspect.”
Do you think he reads internet forums?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Val
I remember that, and thats why I am here!
March 13th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Morning all,
Thought this might interest you,if true of course!!!!! It”s from this morning”s posts
on Justice for Madeleine on Sky discussions.
I found this too from a portuguese poster:
FSS information released on 7 September is not forgotten by Police or the public.
BBC despatched Jane Hill (BBC News 24 reporter) to Luz for live coverage of breaking news - outside the Police Station after the parents were interviewed and named ‘arguidos’ as follows:
“An early forensic report is alleged to have mentioned a certain blood spray …. commensurate with a certain type of broken larynx … some DNA samples found related to cerebal fluids indicates a broken neck or fractured skull.” Also “Sousa himself told of this very fine mist of spray that was found in the apartment.” This piece of information was released only once that night.
Since then, several articles in DE report findings of spinal fluid (aka cereba) blood on bedroom wall and curtain (reportedly scrubbed with cleaning fluid), plus syringe in bedside cabinet.
Pinpointed by cadavers following scent of death found on mother’s clothing, bible, car keys and cuddle cat. Cadavers pinpointed corpse specimens in vehicle wheel well with a reported 100% DNA match to Madeleine’s hairs & 88% bodily fluid match. More recently, blood found in vehicle matches Madeleine along with reports of towel fibres/blood in wheel well.
No-one has forgotten, especially the McCanns who fled Portugal when presented with the above FSS information at interview. The information broadcast on 7 September on BBC 6 o’clock new was a ‘wake up’ call to the public - £1.3 m had been taken under false pretences -there was no abduction - Madeleine died in her parents’ apartment on or around 3 May.
The cost of the ‘cover up’ is being paid by Portuguese & British taxpayers. PJ’s costs alone are close to £1.5 m euros and the British Government, at taxpayers expense, is delaying Police procedures, specifically with Rogatory letters.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:11 am
80 AZ
The request for Mutual Legal Assistance (as far as I’m aware) was made under the auspices of EuroJust. This was confirmed by the President of EuroJust Jose Luis Lopes da Mota himself. Eurojust stimulates and improves the co-ordination of investigations and prosecutions between competent authorities in the Member States.
A Mututal Legal Assistance request is not designed with the main objective of allowing the PJ to fly to the UK . The request for mutual legal assistance is a request form the Portuguese authorities (not only the PJ) for the British authorities to interview a list of (14?) british citizens that may be able to provide information about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. These interviews (carried out by another country’s authorities) will then have to be translated and certified before being used in judicial proceedings in Portugal.
Perhaps the request has indeed a different purpose, concerning a different suspect as you say. However, the sense of urgency (or absence of one) for carrying out these interviews (both by Portuguese and British authorities) suggests that they are not seen as instrumental to save Madeleine’s live.
Many interpretations could be given to this - but it does look like there’s a waiting-game being played both by suspects and the authorities.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:10 am
88
Abraham Zapruder
I thought that was payne or murat?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Brandon.
He who was reportedly in the taxi.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Going to the local swimming baths after school is what a lot of kids do. Lots of kids walk to and from school every day and don’t go missing without trace! A child goes to get sweets down the corner shop - gone, found in a river. Kids ride bikes around. Visit other kid’s homes. A 15 yr old is still irresponsible in many ways, but can find their way home to an empty home while mother is out shopping. It will always be wondered about why Shannon was sitting on the wall sobbing. What happened in that swimming pool. Was there a predator inside and she was waiting for him.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:06 am
salomon
I still think M3 may be a double agent for the Pj.
March 13th, 2008 at 10:03 am
80
Abraham Zapruder
Who?
March 13th, 2008 at 10:01 am
79
Salomon ES
Agreed (a)- (e). Especially a & e!
Or maybe this-
-MCs need everyone to believe Maddie is alive
-M3 is blackmailing them
-Hence lake search to show how is boss
-MCs furious
-Hence driven to take on Des for £4m blackmail money….
?!
March 13th, 2008 at 9:59 am
sorry that was taken from here not me talking
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/03/13/ftscarlett113.xml
March 13th, 2008 at 9:55 am
‘Why I, as a parent, refuse to condemn Scarlett Keeling’s mother’
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 13/03/2008
You have to trust youngsters at some point, says Cassandra Jardine, who has two teenage girls of her own
In my teenage years, I got into several situations that could easily have gone horribly wrong.
Easy target: Scarlett’s mother Fiona MacKeown
More than once, I was lured into lonely buildings by men whose intentions were far from honourable. The occasion that really scared me, though, was when I accepted the offer of a free pair of black velvet jeans in return for modelling them. I found myself, aged 14, driven to a remote suburban location where half a dozen men were assembled, eager to watch.
I was lucky. I managed to escape, running through unknown streets looking for a Tube station. I never told my mother because there was no point. What could she have done: make me stay indoors? I certainly didn’t think back then that she should have prevented me from wandering around London on my own, though more talks about stranger danger might have helped. But people didn’t talk about that back in the late Sixties or early Seventies. It wasn’t nice.
They do now, of course, and children are much safer as a result. CCTV helps, too. But children will never be absolutely safe unless they are monitored every second of the day and night, ferried everywhere and never left to learn essential lessons in fending for themselves. In normal life, there is always a remote possibility of running up against someone mad or devious who will take advantage of someone young and unprotected.
We’ve had two shocking examples of this recently: 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling, who was raped and murdered on a beach in Goa, and Shannon Matthews, the nine-year-old who has been missing for more than three weeks in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
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In both cases, initial sympathy for their grieving mothers turned to blame, just as it did after Madeleine McCann disappeared. Their mothers stand accused of being too pleasure-seeking (in Scarlett’s case) or feckless (in Shannon’s) to keep their children safe. I won’t join in.
Fiona MacKeown, Scarlett’s mother, and Karen Matthews, Shannon’s, are soft targets for opprobrium because they preside over families that are shockingly fractured, even by contemporary standards. Scarlett was one of nine children with several different fathers; Shannon one of seven by five different fathers.
As single mothers, with so many to care for, they were even less able to keep tabs on their children than most. But there the resemblance ends.
MacKeown’s long, grey hair and New-Age lifestyle - she left stall-holding at London’s Camden Market to live on a no-electricity smallholding in Devon - make her seem alien to conventional, upright citizens who don’t home-school and would never go on a six-month adventure in Goa when there is GCSE coursework to be done. But it doesn’t follow that Fiona MacKeown was wrong to leave her 15-year-old in the care of a 25-year-old guide and his aunt when she took the family travelling. I can imagine doing so myself.
No one had mentioned other recent sex attacks in the area so she thought her daughter was safe. The plan was that Scarlett helped the young man with his tourist business - not that she stayed up until 4am in the local bar. There’s no suggestion that the host family were involved in her murder. Nor was Scarlett out of touch with her own family. She spoke to her mother regularly and joined up with the rest of the party on several occasions; she was due to do so again the day after she died.
Tough though MacKeown appears in her demands for action from the Indian police, I sympathise with her refusal to wallow in her own guilt. I have daughters of 14 and 16 myself. It’s difficult to get them to tag along with the younger children. They need to take what seem to be safe risks, using public transport rather than the parental taxi service, going shopping on their own, staying behind when others are out.
Nor do I grill the adults hosting sleepovers to make sure that my girls are supervised. Somewhere along the line, you have to trust teenagers, and other people. Scarlett was unlucky.
The case of Shannon Matthews is more confusing. She was a much younger child who, we now know from her grandparents, neighbours and school friends, was deeply unhappy.
We’ve heard allegations that Craig Meehan, her mother’s 22-year-old boyfriend, was violent towards Shannon and her siblings - though he denied those charges on yesterday’s Today programme and Karen backed him up, saying, “I wouldn’t be with a man who put my kids in danger.” Yet she also said that “someone we knew took her”.
As hope fades for finding her daughter alive, part of her grief now must be regret at not having gone to the bus stop to meet her daughter on her return from swimming - but she was collecting her son. Presumably other kids were dropped off at the estate to walk home. It was nothing unusual.
What is haunting is the idea that Shannon may have been last seen sitting on a wall sobbing - yet no one did anything. Were they frightened of interfering? Why didn’t those who suspected something was wrong in the family tell someone? They were probably worried that Shannon might be put straight into care.
We can blame these girls’ mothers if it helps us feel more confident that such a fate could never befall one of our own children. But we won’t learn anything about keeping children safe unless we look more closely at individual circumstances.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:54 am
79
Salomon ES
“Mr Aragao and M3 have many things in common. Especially an unexplicable desire to lie and look stupid”.
Or to make money!
March 13th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Hi, all.
I have received further communication from my MP. Have to say it sounds quite positive, in terms of the request for Mutual Legal Assistance and the case moving ahead.
What I don’t know is why the Mutual Legal Assistance request has been made. Many of us are assuming that it is to do with the PJ flying over to interview the T9, this based on something Ripeiro said months ago that came to nothing (plus the musings of Coldwater and co).
But maybe the request has a different purpose, concerning a different suspect. I’m just speculating here, but I wonder how much Reporter, Gandolf and co would be prepared to bet against this possibility.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Any news on the interviews of the tapas gang?
My views on reservoir search and M3:
The role of M3 from day one was:
a) to look stupid
b) to create enough events that would distract public opinion / waste investigation resources
c) to create enough events that could strenghten the theory that an abduction may have occurred
d) to create enough events that could later be used to suggest that not all possible routes of an abduction were adequately investigated
e) to look stupid again
So, when you think about it, the reservoir search fits exactly what they are trying to achieve and takes them a step further. Think about this:
> Mr Aragao says that Madeleine was raped and killed within 2 days of going missing.
> He says that he was informed by the underworld (in a letter) a few days later… but the firts time the PJ received information from him about this issue was many weeks (months) after Madeleine was reported missing.
> Before questions were asked about why he did not immediately communicate with the PJ, he alleged that he had sent a letter to the PJ but that letter was never delivered (!!!).
> He then went on to sue the Portuguese Post Office - and guess what… he lost because there was no evidence that his letter was ever posted.
> He then alleged that the PJ did not properly search the reservoir and therefore ignored his information. The PJ said that all leads were being / had been investigated. Not good enough…
>He decides to carry out his own searches - financed by a construction and property development company…but after a week of searches he clearly is not able to create the media frenzy that was expected…
> Two weeks later he charges again… but this time, to make it more credible (and appealing to the media) he suddenly finds rope and socks… that could have belonged to Madeleine (they could also have belonged to anyone else with at least 1 foot - but that’s not the point of creating news events).
Mr Aragao and M3 have many things in common. Especially an unexplicable desire to lie and look stupid.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:30 am
He donated to MM fund in a blaze of glory - not a peep re Shannon so I am sure he hasnt
Clearly not got the guts to say why either - cretin! Alegedly of course
March 13th, 2008 at 9:28 am
72 Cheshire Set
What do you suppose Mr Branson would have said in his reply. I would have thought he could have donated.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:28 am
74 - Just me
Exactly - they probablt hadnt been offered money for a story then
March 13th, 2008 at 9:27 am
BATMAN
ST GEORGES ‘S other name is COCO hehehe, she slayed the LIZARD in his LAIr hehehe se you later