Madleine McCann: Rachel Oldfield Knows, Doctors And Gerry McCann
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MAIL: “Stop the carnival”
It’s Richard Littlejohn:
I’ve always been uneasy about the media carnival, but figured if that’s what got her parents through the night, what business was it of mine.
However, one year on, there’s something distasteful about the continuing round of claim and counter-claim, blame and counter-blame.
Gerry and Kate McCann should be left alone with their demons, with our sympathy, and not live out their guilt in public any longer. The police and the private detectives should be left to get on with their job.
The Tapas Seven, the McCanns’ PR man, the professional ghouls should all keep their theories to themselves.
And their opinions?
DAILY MIRROR: “Rachael Oldfield of the Tapas Seven breaks her silence over McCann’s torment”
Tapas Seven? And why speak now?
Rachael Oldfield, a 36-year-old recruitment consultant, said: “I was there on the night. I spent time with Gerry and Kate during the week before May 3 and after.
What happened?
“Their emotions and their reactions were just agonising. There’s just no way they were involved in anything to do with Madeleine’s disappearance.
“If you take the common sense approach and look at timings and the fact they are medics and there are four other medics in the group, they would know what to do to resuscitate a child.
Common sense? Doctors. Such are the facts.
“Anyone with an ounce of common sense would be able to see they couldn’t have done it. And I was there and I know they didn’t do it.”
DAILY STAR: “OUTRAGEOUS”
Rachel Oldfield has a pop at the Portuguese police, and complains about being bound by law to, er, keep quiet.
GLASGOW DAILY RECORD: “McCanns’ Anger At Being Kept In The Dark”
Says Gerry McCann: “I think it’s safe to say we’re getting very little information. We haven’t had any communication in terms of what’s been done in the investigation.”
“We would like to know what is being done to find Madeleine. We’ve always said we want to leave no stone unturned and to do that we need to know which stones have already been overturned.”
THE SUN: “Stop shifting blame, Kate”
IS it just me or are the McCanns getting on your nerves too?
It’s you. It’s them. It might be all of you.
Now, in a new TV documentary, Kate says that she wanted a baby monitor but the resort didn’t have one. So instead she, Gerry and the Tapas Seven made the bizarre decision to eat out every night and leave three young children home alone. I’m sorry, in any language that’s child neglect.
Sorry? Why is Gaunt sorry?
And, by the way, I’m not being heartless, just honest.
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Madeleine McCann’s father: police gave up”
Mr McCann tells BBC Radio 4 interviewer Steve Kingstone: “We would like to know what is being done to find Madeleine. We’d like know who has been eliminated from the inquiry and on what grounds and what leads are still being followed.”
No news is news
Posted: 25th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, TV & Radio, Tabloids Comments (1,828) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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April 27th, 2008 at 3:45 am
Passing Through,
As far as I know and understood, a sniffer dog that barks at scent of cadaver has to be specially trained to do so.
It does not bark at the scent of a person who is, was alive.
He is only capable to recognize the scent of death.
Or at least he knows he is expected to bark only at the scent of death.
About the dogs on May days:the Pj told nothing about the results
April 27th, 2008 at 3:36 am
1255 Passing Through,
your are communicating with us in your own words.Keep it like that.
On Anatomy of a Mistery there is an Englishman, speaking English, who talks about those training dogs.What you can not forget is the fact Maddie was no longer in the apartment when the dogs started to search for her.Besides the McCanns took few things with them that same night, to live somewhere else.They left the rest in 5A.Of course the Portuguese dogs musty have smelt her, clothes, bed, toys but they were not trained to only to bark when they would smell a cadaver.I seems tha t it takes very long time to teach a dog to react only in case of a cadaver scent.
We really don’t know much about this.The PJ did not tell any details if those investigations either.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:42 am
1239
Thanks Maravilha,
I thought so. However I think I remember it being said that the trail ran cold.Acar perhaps was suggested in the early days? Anyway would a dog, any dog not be spooked and react to the scent of death,if there was one in the apartment, barking etc?
April 27th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Hi,
I was just having a last look in and saw what you were saying about a 6-month limit. Most laws have a “statute of limitations”, which, in simplified terms, is the length of time after the offence that charges can be brought. It depends on the offence and the laws of the specific country but 6 months seems rather short for any offence. The periods tend to be from four or five years upward as far as I know. Much longer in, for example, the case of murder.
Anyway, I’m off again now. Goodnight,
April 27th, 2008 at 2:03 am
Maravilha
I hope Justice for Madeleine will be seen to be done.
I”m off to bed now, good morning to you, sleep well
April 27th, 2008 at 1:59 am
1250, Val
I don’t know if it is too late to charge the parents with child neglect.
I don’t understand about laws, and I never read about that (6 months limit).
The child disappeared and it is their irresponsibility.
They can’t get away with this without a process, I hope.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Maravilha
I believe there would be public anger in Portugal if the McCanns get off scot free. The
Portugese people and PJ have been insulted by the U.K. Press quite undeserved IMO.
Admittedly, the initial investigation was flawed, but this was a small resort where the
local Police had very little knowledge of Forensics. the interference from British
Representatives did not help either. Both the Portugese and U.K. Police have spent
too much time and money on this case for their efforts to be wasted.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Maravilha
I want the McCanns to be punished for negligence if nothing else, but Iread somewhere
this should have been the charge within the first six months and it is now too late to
make this charge, is this true?
April 27th, 2008 at 1:42 am
When somebody gets in shock, many times he can react very calmly, with lucidity.
I have experience this in my family and with friends.
Probably adrenaline.
If the Mccanns badly felt the necessity of surviving, they could have managed it out of instinct.
Adrenaline and instinct can help a lot.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:40 am
IK don”t think Amaral has done the PJ investigation any good by letting it be known
he is writing a book. He could have kept quiet until the PJ decided what they were
going to do. Apparently, the middle of May is the time they have to decide, this must
be when the extension expires. The Prosecutor would have to make a final decision
on whether there is a case to answer at some time.
I don”t believe in the McCanns total innocence, but without a body it is hard to prove, whether she is dead and if so ,how she died. What other evidence could they have I
wonder that is still being investigated?
April 27th, 2008 at 1:32 am
1244,
The media in Brazil know as much as the media in Portugal or UK.Shelved next week?
How many times I’ve read that on news papers.
Don’t forget the PJ ever said that 90% of the news about Maddie were untruths.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:30 am
If the case is shelved this could prove a turning point. Could be a ploy by the PJ too as one the pressure is off, hopefully someone will talk. Preferably to the wrong person.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Once a police detective said to me: “A secret remains a secret when you keep it to yourself. When you share it with another person, it is not a secret anymore.”
I think that Madeleine’s case was not a secret from the first moment.Each of Tapas 9 have parents, brothers, sisters, in laws, best friends,
The best friends of the brothers, sisters, in laws and of the best friends have also brothers, sisters, etc,etc.
This will come out, very soon.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:24 am
1243 Maravilha
The whole McCann/ Tapas 7/ CM circus is going to prove the opposite of what they
expect, the Press and public have had enough!!!!! why should Gerry know what the PJ
are doing when he and Kate are still arguidos?
there is a rumour that the Press in Brazil, of all placesare saying the case will be shelved next week through lack of evidence. I would be sorry to see this happen, but at least the files would be opened and we would know more of the facts.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:14 am
1221 Chenier,
the fact that Rachael Oldfield was ready to talk to BBC4 makes me think dat she and Matthew know more than I thought before.
She was also ready to go to P d L, to identify Murat, which she did.
They probably know much more.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:12 am
chenier
You refer to post 1231 which is Andrea’s. I assume your accusation that I am “spamming” is a joke, a suggestion that Andrea and I are the same person?!
I assume it’s a joke because i think you probably know it’s not the case!
On the other hand, I’m not sure why you should call it “spamming” if I post a newspaper article? People do it all the time.
Ah well!
Good night all.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:06 am
1237 Lurker
It seems everyone is making money from Madeleine, poor innocent child. Justine
McGuiness has written a load of bulls…, this was the woman who was supposedly in
the Police station with Kate when she was being questioned and made calls on her
Mobile phone. The same woman who”s salary and expenses totalled £59,000 the
Press revealed, while she was their PR, and was replaced by CM.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:02 am
lurker
Interesting but devastatingly painful article by Justine McG. Thanks for posting it.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:01 am
1224 Passing Through,
yes I remember the dogs. you can watch Anatomy of a Mistery and see them. McCannfiles.com
Those dogs are trained to smell scent of an alive person, not specialized in cadavers. They brought the police to an apartment of an older British couple who was staying at the resort. They have been quizzed by the police and freed.
The police certainly used dogs on their search for Madaleine. Even o that night, the days after, etc.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Is anybody out there?
Just popped in and it looks as though everyone has gone to bed. All I wanted to say
was, the Maria post quoting Emma Loach seems to be yet another fawning homage
to the McCanns. this from the daughter of Ken Loach who I respect for his honest,
down to earth Film making.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:50 am
daily mail piece by Justine McGuiness
feel desperately for Kate McCann - her life has been ruined, she loathes the spotlight
By JUSTINE MCGUINESS - More by this author »
Last updated at 23:51pm on 26th April 2008
Comments
I will never forget the pain that registered across their faces: primordial pain that no actor, however skilled, could reproduce.
Kate McCann didn’t make a sound, her husband Gerry sat upright in his seat.
“You realise that if you get your daughter back you might not know her,” warned the Portuguese child-welfare expert.
“What she will have experienced will have changed her beyond recognition.”
It was the moment, I suspect, that Kate and Gerry began to realise that there would be no truly happy ending, whatever the outcome of their daughter Madeleine’s disappearance.
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Devastated: An emotional Kate with Madeleine’s toy Cuddle Cat, a permanent reminder of her daughter
It was mid-summer last year and the meeting was held in a second-floor apartment, my make-shift office, incongruously decorated, it seemed, with primary colours, like the set of a breakfast TV programme.
Sunshine streamed through the open window and the sound of children playing outside filled the room.
The warning came without preamble and jolted our senses. I’m sure it was not meant to be delivered quite so insensitively; the fact that English was not the woman’s first language must have accounted, in part at least, for its bluntness.
Afterwards, Gerry told me how deeply upset it had made Kate. I didn’t need to be told. Kate’s emotions at such times weren’t difficult to read.
For four extraordinary months I was at her side. At first hand, I witnessed her despair and devastation, the times, as well, when her spirits lifted – however fleetingly – with every scrap of positive information.
And once she was made a suspect, amid ceaseless media speculation, I watched her life fall apart.
Almost every morning she and Gerry would come to see me, usually armed with croissants which they bought in Baptista’s, the village store, after dropping off their then two-year-old twins Amelie and Sean at kids’ club.
I could tell instantly if Kate had had a good night or not.
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Support: Justine McGuiness with Kate and Gerry McCann in Portugal last year
If she was upset, possibly because of what had been in the papers or because of the approach of a poignant anniversary, I would know better than to offer a trite: “What’s wrong?”
Instead I’d ask her to sit down and let her know that I was making tea. We always drank tea, endlessly, it seemed.
And if Kate wanted to talk about what was on her mind, she would do so. I just let her come out with it.
I began acting as their Press spokeswoman in June, having been interviewed by Gerry in London. They struck me as a couple deeply committed to each other.
They treated each other with care and great respect. And as well as displaying affection, they communicated constantly.
If they were physically apart they would be on the phone, all the time, and not just because of their extraordinary situation – I imagine they were always like that.
They are both intelligent. Kate is sharp and witty and self-deprecating; she is naturally shy but is the sort of woman you can sit down with and have a decent conversation.
Gerry is presentable and single-minded, an alpha male to his fingertips. Indeed, I expect even he would admit that his manner may have rubbed some of the Portuguese police up the wrong way at times.
On the first day I met Kate, they were waiting for me at Faro airport, and greeted me with a friendly: “Hello, Justine.”
In the car on the way to Praia da Luz we set to work straight away, finalising plans to release balloons on the beach later that day to mark the 50th day since Madeleine’s disappearance.
When the balloon launch was over, I watched as Portuguese women touched and hugged Kate, offering their support and telling her to have courage. It was deeply moving.
Later, Kate took me on a tour of the village. “That’s the apartment,” she whispered, nodding towards the place from where Madeleine had disappeared.
She also pointed out the home of Robert Murat, a suspect in the case, and the church that provided so much support to her.
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Justine says that on the flight home she remembers thinking that unless Madeleine was found, the McCanns would never be able to fully rebut speculation and rebuild their lives
Meal times were always a family affair. At supper, it occurred to me just how ordinary this scene would have appeared to an outsider. A normal family, passing the salad around the table and laughing with their children.
There were quite a few light moments: I remember how Kate was frequently teased about her intense dislike of sweetcorn.
There might also be talk about relatives coming out to join them, or other practical matters, but rarely during meal times, because of the children, talk of Madeleine.
Sometimes the twins, who began learning to talk in Praia, mentioned Madeleine themselves, however.
I remember Amelie saying: “That’s Madeleine’s” as she pointed at Cuddle Cat, the toy Kate carried with her at all times because it reminded her of the daughter she loved and missed.
Once, I remember Gerry’s sister Trish saying to Kate with a smile: “Don’t you think it’s time Cuddle Cat had a bath?~” And on about Day 71 she finally did, a fact not lost on the photographers.
During the many conversations I had with the couple we spoke of many things, not just Madeleine.
They were interested in my voluntary work with the Liberal Democrats (I contested West Dorset in 2005 for the Lib Dems at the General Election) and I remember how we laughed about the story of Charles Kennedy, the party’s former leader, being ticked off by police for smoking out of a train window.
And even though Madeleine dominated the news coverage – and, it goes without saying, the couple’s thoughts – there were times when they expressed interest in other news from back home.
We spoke, for instance, of the terror attack on Glasgow airport in July. I remember Gerry, a doctor, on hearing the description of the burns one of the suspects suffered when his Jeep struck the terminal and burst into flames, saying straight away that the man would not live. It turned out he was right.
It didn’t take long for me to get to know the routine the couple established as a means of getting through each day.
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Justine says that if Kate and Gerry were physically apart they would be on the phone, all the time, and not just because of their extraordinary situation
The first thing Kate did every morning was to say a prayer for Madeleine.
She then got the twins showered and dressed. After getting ready themselves, Kate and Gerry would take the children to kids’ club, before stopping off at my apartment to discuss plans for the day.
The twins were a great distraction. They helped give Kate the will to get out of bed each morning.
Several times a week, Kate would go to the Catholic church in Praia. Her faith gave her hope and strength.
And both of them, particularly Gerry, kept themselves busy as a way of dealing with their trauma.
Gerry would work on the computer, sending and answering emails, in one of their rented villa’s spare bedrooms which he had converted into an office.
Kate would sit on the veranda outside going through the mountain of letters. If any appeared to contain possible information they were passed straight to the police.
Every letter, even the strangest ones, were read with care. There were often toys for the twins and presents for Madeleine, which remained in their wrapping paper, awaiting her safe return.
The villa was cool and quite dark, and stood at the end of a short private drive. I remember thinking that it offered the McCanns a kind of sanctuary, and I think they felt that way, too.
Any donations were given straight away to the ‘Find Madeleine’ fund administrator, including all the cheques made out to Kate and Gerry, rather than the fund.
Naturally, Kate and Gerry were also contacted by people who thought they could help find Madeleine. One was Danny Kruegel, a South African former policeman who had invented a machine that, he said, could help locate people by testing a sample of their hair.
It sounds far-fetched. But he had apparently been successful in South Africa. He was very clear that the process was based on science, which appealed to the McCanns.
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Justine says that family was the most important thing to Kate and leaving Madeleine alone was her biggest regret
More recently, Mr Kruegel has been portrayed as something of a crank, but I can only say that at the time he was taken seriously.
After protracted negotiations with the authorities, he came to Portugal. Using samples of hair found on a brush Madeleine used, he set about working out where a search area should be concentrated.
After he left Portugal, Kate told me that Mr Kruegel had taken different readings, none of which really varied, implying that over the days he was in Praia da Luz, Madeleine’s position had not changed or she had not moved.
I think the word that was used to describe the readings was “cold”. I had the impression Mr Kruegel’s machine had indicated where a body might be found.
The police warned Kate and Gerry when they would start the new search. They told me and I contacted the people I liaised with at the Foreign Office, British Embassy in Lisbon and Leicestershire Police.
Everyone was on stand-by, ready and hoping for a breakthrough.
Kate, Gerry and I thought that the reporters in Praia da Luz would spot the police searching, so we were prepared for the inevitable questions and comments.
One morning while I was working, I saw a military-style helicopter circling for what seemed like hours over Praia da Luz.
I thought I would be bombarded with questions about it when I went to see the media later, but not one was forthcoming.
In the event, the search sadly wasn’t successful, of course. Once more the hope of a breakthrough had evaporated.
On August 3, we made the 55-mile journey to Huelva, the closest Spanish city to Praia da Luz, to distribute Find Madeleine posters and talk to locals.
It was a visit that would later assume significance, for all the wrong reasons. For it would be later suggested that Madeleine’s body was disposed of at this point. How this could be thought possible, I have no idea.
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Happy family: A young Madeleine with her parents Kate and Gerry
Kate and Gerry were, after all, accompanied by a cameraman, who was filming a documentary, and Kate’s old friend Jon Corner.
And as always their every move was shadowed by reporters and photographers. If they had dumped Madeleine’s body, someone surely would have witnessed something.
The allegations would come later. Up until that point, at least, the couple’s relationship with the police was good.
There were once-a-week meetings to discuss progress and, by and large, the detectives were receptive to ideas from Kate and Gerry, who were careful not to air their impatience at the slow pace of the investigation.
The relationship, which had been characterised by its informality (one weekend Kate and Gerry even went to a barbecue at the home of one of the officers) cooled significantly in mid August.
The meetings all but ended. And the phone calls, once unfailingly cordial, suddenly seemed aggressive and much less frequent.
When the police did ring, I think the detectives did little to disguise their suspicions.
At the same time, stories, apparently leaked by the police, began to appear in the Portuguese Press about the possible involvement of the McCanns in Madeleine’s disappearance.
To the British Press I described the couple’s relationship with the police during this period as having become more “formal”. In truth, it had become downright hostile.
It must have been a few weeks later when, on a Monday afternoon, the McCanns received a call that triggered the second nightmarish phase of Kate’s ordeal.
A police officer said that they wanted to question Kate later in the week. And he ended the conversation with a firm, devastating warning: “Kate should expect to be made an ‘arguida’ [formal suspect].”
Kate screamed in disbelief when she heard she was going to be declared a suspect in her daughter’s case.
Everyone said the same thing – it was unbelievable.
So when Kate was interviewed on Thursday and again the following day, when she was indeed made an ‘arguida’, she was fully aware what was coming.
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Kate and Gerry opened every letter they received from well wishers and passed any piece of information on to the police
That did not make it any easier, of course. While Kate was being questioned on Friday morning Gerry was very agitated. He paced around on the phone, speaking to lawyers.
The police seemed to be working on the theory that Kate killed Madeleine, accidentally or otherwise, and that Gerry was instrumental in covering up the death.
After the relentless questioning ended, it was announced publicly that Kate had been made a formal suspect.
Afterwards, I drove Kate away from the police station and was struck by how she appeared both stoical and devastated.
And I got the distinct impression that the police had offered her a deal, or put considerable pressure on her to admit that she harmed Madeleine.
Amazingly, I was also given the impression that her lawyer initially seemed to think she should take the deal and admit she harmed her daughter.
Perhaps he was doing this to test her. I don’t know. Either way, Kate was absolutely adamant that she would not be going along with any plea bargaining.
After all, this is a woman with a ‘black and white’ understanding of the truth.
I told Kate that the twins were being looked after by the wife of Father Haynes Hubbard, parish priest for Praia da Luz, whom Kate and Gerry had come to know well and regard as a much-valued friend.
I said I could take her there or straight to the villa. She wanted to see her children immediately. That was typical of her. Her family was the most important thing in her life.
During the journey back to Praia I reflected on the incredible events of the past week. I was absolutely clear in my own mind about Kate and Gerry’s innocence.
While no one is perfect, I simply could not believe that the woman next to me had harmed Madeleine. And I did not believe, as was being suggested, that Gerry masterminded some kind of cover-up.
At the time, I described the allegations publicly as ludicrous. Nothing has happened to change that view. Had I been in any doubt I would have left the campaign immediately and gone to the British police.
But I never understood why they did not take the children with them for supper at the tapas bar on the evening Madeleine disappeared.
My two sisters, one a mother of four, the other a mother of five, have told me that is what they would do, as have plenty of other friends.
But then I don’t have three children under the age of four. I, like many others, am hardly in a position to judge. I know it was a decision Kate has always deeply regretted.
A few weeks before Gerry and Kate were made suspects, friends and family had urged Kate to return to Britain with Gerry and the twins.
Gerry believed it was time to go back. But, having come to the Algarve as a family of five, Kate did not want to leave as a family of four.
In her mind it would represent an admission, symbolically perhaps, that she had given up hope, that it was the end.
In the end, she did agree – only for the sake of the twins – that they would leave Portugal in early September, when the lease on the villa ended.
When the time came we hugged at the airport and said our goodbyes. I watched Kate and Gerry walk away, up the
I then went back to Praia to brief the British Press for a final time, before packing. I caught a flight later that day and I was glad to be going home.
On the flight home I remember thinking that unless Madeleine was found, the McCanns would never be able to fully rebut speculation and rebuild their lives.
I feel desperately for Kate McCann. Her life has been ruined by the constant speculation and the continuing mystery surrounding her daughter’s disappearance. She loathes the media spotlight.
She has to live with the knowledge that she and Gerry were not there when their daughter needed them most, something I know she deeply regrets.
Gerry has to live with the knowledge that he failed as a father and a husband in a basic duty, to protect his family. That, surely, is a terrible burden to carry, for any man.
One year after Madeleine’s disappearance, I hope for Kate, Gerry and the sake of their two remaining children the media interest now ends.
I hope Madeleine is found, but I fear that will never happen. I hope the McCanns can find some sort of resolution, in private, to this hideous set of events.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:50 am
chenier
??? It’s an article from tomorrow’s Sunday Times.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Andrea
Thank you. Ditto.
I try to keep an open mind but some theories appear very far-fetched! I find it difficult to think they would have felt they could get away with the suitcase business. Saving their grief and panic until 10.00pm would also have been difficult, probably, IMO.
Good night!
April 27th, 2008 at 12:36 am
I must get to bed, as well; night all…
April 27th, 2008 at 12:34 am
1231
Maria Says:
April 27th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Spamming again, Isee,Marie…
April 27th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Oh, Hi Maria
Always enjoy reading your posts. Very logical, they make a lot of sense.
last thing and now am off to bed
April 27th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Sunday Times
April 27, 2008
Sharing the McCanns’ hell
This Saturday marks the first anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance. How have the McCanns coped?
Emma Loach
Sitting at Kate and Gerry McCann’s kitchen table, watching their three-year-old twins Sean and Amelie playing on the floor, you could be observing any normal family scene. There are no histrionics. No weeping or wailing.
In the general melee of a family of four, it takes a few hours before the absence of their daughter hits you. But when it does, it is overwhelming. The crime that someone has committed against this family is colossal. Someone, somewhere, took Madeleine and in doing so they have come as close as anyone can to destroying the fabric of this family.
Until Madeleine is found, or someone comes forward to tell the McCanns what happened to their four-year-old daughter, they will be forever stuck just after 10pm on Thursday, May 3, 2007. It is a potential life sentence.
When I was initially asked to make a film about the McCanns, I didn’t immediately jump at the chance. I’d found it almost impossible to watch the news bulletins after Madeleine went missing and I didn’t want to make a film that merely indulged in witnessing at first hand her parents’ misery. And what could I say that hadn’t already been said?
RELATED LINKS
Exhaustion takes its toll on McCanns
I needn’t have worried. The McCanns, too, were uninterested in taking part in a “schlock doc”. They had a different agenda. For eight months they had been trying to ride the media train, with only one aim in mind – finding Madeleine – and every decision they had taken had had that goal at its heart. Now they had decided to add another one.
At our first meeting they talked about how much they had learnt about child abduction, how horrified they were and how they wanted to use their knowledge to try to make Europe a safer place for children. It seemed clear to me that they needed to find a more positive narrative for their lives. This new campaign, however long it might take, had the advantage of being both inextricably connected to finding Madeleine but different enough to provide some respite from the relentless pain.
Kate and Gerry were also well aware that the first anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance on Saturday would rekindle media interest. And they decided it might be productive to try to channel that interest into a campaign that could benefit others.
There were numerous areas that they felt needed attention. Many European countries, they had discovered, do not require Criminal Records Bureau checks on people who want to work with children; many do not have a sex offenders’ register and many do not even have an organisation that deals with missing people, let alone missing children.
Two areas stood out. Soon after Madeleine had gone missing, they had been shocked to find there were no data collected on how many children are abducted each year. The figures simply don’t exist. And it’s not just mainland Europe that doesn’t bother collating them; no one can say for sure how many children are abducted in the UK. Part of the reason is that cases of abduction that end in murder or rape are logged only under the more serious category headings, which means the scale of the problem isn’t recognised.
The McCanns became convinced of the need for “child-rescue alert” – a system that is used with great success in America. There, as soon as a child is abducted, police issue radio and television station alerts. Even more impressively, they can also text-message mobile phone users in the area where the child was last seen with descriptions they may have of the victim and abductor, car registration numbers and other pertinent information.
The first few hours after an abduction are known as the “golden hours” because they are so crucial. Of those children who are ultimately killed after being snatched, 74% are murdered in the first three hours. And 91% are killed in the first 24 hours.
However, only four out of the 27 countries in Europe have a US-style system in place. There is no “child-rescue alert” in Portugal, where Madeleine was taken. In Britain, where we do have an alert system, it has been used only three times since it was introduced in 1997.
Once we started researching alert systems with the McCanns, it quickly became clear that they serve little purpose unless those police officers who are first at the scene of a child abduction are properly trained.
We followed the McCanns as they spoke to experts in London, Brussels and Washington about the mechanics of child-rescue alerts. After each meeting in America, the couple were visibly buoyed. First there was Ed Smart, father of Elizabeth Smart. Six years ago Elizabeth – then 14 – had been snatched from her bed. Her family had then worked tirelessly to keep her photograph in the papers and her story in the news. And for them it paid off: nine months later a passer-by spotted her with her abductor in the street.
She was reunited with her family – a living and breathing vindication of the tactic of keeping press attention high – for which the McCanns themselves have been criticised.
Some have even suggested that if Madeleine’s parents weren’t involved in her death, they probably killed her with the coverage – the implication being that their daughter’s abductor may have panicked at the attention the case was receiving and quickly disposed of her. So it was important to the McCanns to discover that Ed Smart had used the same strategy as they had; and in his case it had worked.
In Washington we also visited the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children – an impressive place, full of committed people who have the proper level of resources to combat child abduction. Since 1997, 393 children have been returned safely to their families because of a child-rescue alerts. And, in 33% of cases, the abductor actually gave up the child after seeing the alert himself.
There is no doubt in Kate’s and Gerry’s minds: these alerts save lives.
Crucially, the National Center has undertaken research that has given them fresh hope that Madeleine may still be alive. Even in the worst kind of kidnappings, just 40%-50% of children are murdered. The younger the child, the less likely that they will be seriously harmed.
The message from the statistics was loud and clear – until we know why Madeleine was taken and who took her, it cannot be assumed that she is dead. It was heartrending to see the McCanns’ hopes rising.
Over the course of four months we followed the couple as they researched child abduction issues and then launched their campaign at the European parliament in Brussels. There were many diversions along the way: more apparent sightings of Madeleine; venomous letters that dropped on the doormat and the leak of their first witness statements.
The McCanns have remained committed. Observing them has been a sobering experience. They live at the edge of human endurance, yet manage to survive. In fact they do more than survive. They are living. Their twins are almost obscenely happy, filling the house with love and laughter.
Kate and Gerry also remain strong. I was struck by how kind and generous they are and how they refuse to be defined by their tragedy. So as well as documenting their campaign for child-rescue alerts, I also wanted to show them as I found them – intelligent and brave but flawed, like everyone else I know. People who made a mistake – parents who made the wrong call.
Before Madeleine was taken, leaving your sleeping children while you ate dinner 50 yards away would have been a question of judgment. Some of us would have made the same decision as the McCanns, some of us wouldn’t. Thankfully, for the most part, our choices don’t lead to catastrophic events and so our parenting goes unscrutinised. For Kate and Gerry McCann, it did. And they are paying for that every second of every day.
I would not have thought it possible to survive the year that Kate and Gerry have just lived through. They have. I’m sure that friends who knew them before miss the people they were. But they resist being victims.
For now, they are determined to build something positive out of the hell of the past year. And they will never give up looking for Madeleine.
Madeleine, One Year
April 27th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Me too, nite all. Think these theories of hiding bodies only work if we forget that her parents are human and not machines.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:25 am
….me too nite nite…
April 27th, 2008 at 12:24 am
This is getting a tad silly now…………. im off to bed!