Madeleine McCann: Antoinette McGuckin, Drunk Parents In Portugal And Three Maddies
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MIRROR: “DRUNK HOLIDAY BRITS’ CHILDREN TAKEN INTO CARE”
A British couple on holiday in Portugal got so drunk their three children were taken into care. Hotel staff called the authorities when the pair seemed unable to look after the two boys, aged six and one, and a girl of two.
Bit judgemental?
Sources said the parents came back in a “drunken stupor” from a “euro-apint” bar in Vilamoura.
But what has it to do with Madeleine McCann?
The town is a 45-minute drive from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine McCann vanished a year ago.
DAILY EXPRESS: “DRUNKEN HOLIDAY BRITONS HAVE CHILDREN PUT IN CARE”
The alleged incident took place on Friday evening at the Mourabel Apartments in the resort of Vilamoura, 40 miles away from where Madeleine McCann disappeared last May.
THE HERALD: “British children taken into custody in Portugal as parents too drunk”
Hotel staff in Vilamoura, in the Algarve, called police after Eamon McGuckin, 34, and his wife Antoinette, 32, collapsed while on holiday on Friday night. The couple, believed to be from Magherafelt, Northern Ireland, were taken to a health centre in nearby Loule while their children, one-year-old Adam, two-year-old Amy and Aaron, six, were taken to the Refugio Aboim Ascensao children’s home in Faro.
Allegedly, of course. It’s shocking. And worse:
The incident happened on the eve of the first anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who went missing from her family’s Algarve holiday flat while her parents dined nearby.
DAILY MAIL: “Three British children taken into care after parents ‘drank themselves into a stupor’ on Algarve holiday”
The manager of the Mourabel hotel in Vilamoura, where the family were staying, said: “Fortunately the children were safe - otherwise it might have been not one Maddie, but three Maddies.”
THE SCOTSMAN: “Family in care after parents collapse drunk”
The incident happened on the eve of the first anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who went missing from her family’s Algarve holiday flat while her parents dined nearby. Referring to the McCann case, Dr Villas-Boas said: “The press were not around – they were very fortunate in that there was very heavy news from Great Britain that day.”
THE SUN: “McCanns in legal boost”
MADDIE McCann’s parents were boosted last night by a law chief’s hints they may soon be cleared of involvement in her disappearance.
May…
Portugal’s attorney-general appeared to pave the way for the search to be shelved by saying cops should feel “no shame” if they fail to find Maddie.
Appeared…
The comments follow claims the McCanns’ arguido – official suspect – status may soon be lifted.
Claims. May…
GLASGOW DAILY RECORD: Letter to the editor:
I AGREE with Mrs M. Stewart that Madeleine McCann T-shirts should carry a picture of her parents in case the little girl sees one. I’ve tried several times on the internet, etc, to buy a Madeleine T-shirt but they’re always sold out. I will be visiting Australia and Dubai soon and I wanted one to wear when I’m there.
As well as showing support, Maddie could be around the next corner. Every little counts.
THE TIMES: “For endurance, Myleene’s in a different Klass”
Amid the terrible stories from Tibet, Austria and Zimbabwe, and the agonising search for Madeleine McCann, we sincerely hope, reader, that your well of sympathy has not run dry. Dig deep and find some pity, won’t you, for Myleene Klass, M&S model, classical pianist, TV presenter and former member of Hear’Say, whose spirit in adversity should be an example to us all.
Myleene, you see, has had a baby. And she has made the unique discovery that this can sometimes involve stuff that isn’t at all like pouting in a bikini.
Madeldine McCann: A point of reference for all news stories
Posted: 5th, May 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (621) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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May 7th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
correction
630 comment was in response to Simon 629. Not 626.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
simon/626
This writer is not on trial…do not try to circumvent the obvious…..those who committ a crime against innocent children should be punished…NO EXCUSES
May 6th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
624
How many children do you have?
May 6th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
The drunken Irish fekkers have done a runner ………BBC news, never appeared at court…..
May 6th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
THE (so called) PARENTS are responsible what happened to their child Madeleine McCann. They are reeping the benefits of her misfortune. This whole scenerio is a disgrace to humanity. This is where the similarities begin and end with the McGurkin drunken fiasco, in a foreign country no less. How audacious is that. It is morally wrong to neglect your children….NO EXCUSES.
May 6th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
607
Marie Nicholas Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am
“It isn’t because plenty of people do something wrong that it isn’t wrong.”
“Don’t forget that children have to look happy, for their parents to think that they are good parents,and not resent them.”
———————————————–
Hi.
First, I didn’t ever say that what they did was right. It was wrong. However many people do it, it was wrong, most unwise parenting, IMO. I think you know I’ve said this many, many times?
It was not all that unusual, that’s all. It is formalised into a recognised system wherever baby-listening services are in place. I don’t think there such formalised, recognised systems for facilitating the beating of women etc?
It was also not QUITE the same as an addictive habit which is difficult to change, for physical and psychological reasons, like drugs, alcohol etc. I think the Mcs will find it only too easy not to do it again. Whether or not other parents will forget quickly and go back to old and easy ways is another matter, and not for me to comment on, but it’s not really like alcoholism. Same with parents who feed their kids junk food all the time. They know it’s bad for them but it’s easy, keeps the kids quiet, kids know no better etc. But it should be very possible to break the pattern with a little will power and determination. Drug addiction and alcoholism are different.
Secondly, I really think it would be difficult for children of the twins’ age to hide their sorrow and act happy or as if they felt loved!! We saw the video of the Christmas before last, for example…… No, I think they hadn’t yet developed ways of dissimulating! That might have to come later, of course, when they learn all the details of this dreadful case, whatever the outcome. I don’t deny that it can’t be long before anxiety creeps into their psyche anyway, if it hasn’t already, but there is no reason, I think, to believe it was there before. I expect the Mcs want to cut down public appearances, certainly with the twins, for that very reason. Even recently, it’s been mainly when going to church that they’ve been seen, isn’t it? They probably do that a lot anyway, I guess, so maybe doesn’t feel too different when they are filmed. They probably don’t notice much. They’ve seen cameras around on and off for a year now.
Certainly, if they are taken away from their parents, if the Mcs are charged and convicted, either for infanticide, disposing of a corpse, defrauding the public, or abandonment of their children, the twins will have one horrific type of trauma to deal with. It could well be a family member who brought them up, as they seem such a united extended family, but it would still be a desperate situation. If they stay with their parents, it will be traumatic too, in a different way, when they read all about the case, not to mention the blog archives, depending to an extent on whether or not there is ever a resolution to the case and depending on what that is.
I wish them very well, whatever happens to them and their parents.
Back from hospital and going to enjoy a spot of gardening now. Lovely day! Enjoy your day too.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
621
Cheryl Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
541
Noseycow Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 8:32 am
____________
It was posted on there the day y0u asked for it as I had been asked for the link to back up what I said - so if you it want go back and look for it. Second time I had posted that article that week.
————————————————————–
But as Andrew Anthony pointed out:
‘ Instead the misleading statistic was quoted that around ‘100,000′ children go missing in Britain each year. Are the McCanns arguing for border alerts on all of these cases? We didn’t find out. Nor were we told that nearly all of the missing children are found almost immediately and that the rest, with a handful of exceptions, are runaway teenagers.’
So we know that statistic is misleading, and we also know that people continue to cite it knowing it to be known.
As I see it, this isn’t an unknown unknown…
May 6th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
541
Noseycow Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 8:32 am
____________
It was posted on there the day y0u asked for it as I had been asked for the link to back up what I said - so if you it want go back and look for it. Second time I had posted that article that week.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:59 am
605 Salomon ES
Interesting changes in the political context in both Portugal and UK. Portugal can take heart from tourism continuing to do well despite xenophobia in British press. The alleged poorer overall performance in the PJ’s conviction record due to deployment of resources on the McCann case, poor morale and brain drain from the PJ suggests that PJ will be under pressure to bring closure. But the investigation has presumably cost both PJ and UK police a fortune and may (if you read Carmen’s posts) cover several interlocking levels of investigation. In the UK the poor performance of the government in recent elections has changed the political context, with many questions forming about competence, finance, not completely irrelevant to questions about the government involvement in the McCann case.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:44 am
600 Maria Says:
‘No idea who Larry was!! Obviously a merry soul though. Must research it!’
Any chance of a satirical summary to put your views more succinctly?
Happy Larry was an Auzzi boxer who never lost a fight. Perhaps he had the Eye of the Tiger? I get your drift.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:32 am
615/616
Marie Nicholas, good morning and goodbye, apparently there”s another thread, but I
have to go out.
Gandolf, I agree with you, Justice will not be served in this instance , maybe the McCanns will find it embarassing to have the files opened so the public will see just how
often they did check on the children, I don”t think the Media blitz did them any favours.
Must go, the sun is shining and I have shopping to do. Catch up with you later.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:27 am
616 Gandolf
Then I agree with you. Justice would make me happy too.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:26 am
What would make me happy is Justice, something that we will never know in this case.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Gandolf
Does it make you happy if the case is shelved?
Why? Whar do you fear?
May 6th, 2008 at 11:21 am
604 Brandon Flours
Like a Mother you feel you want to love him whatever he does or is, but part of you
thinks you could give him a good shake and say GET A LIFE!!!!!!
Unless ha learns a lesson I fear he will fall by the wayside , isn”t it awful what drugs and
drink if not taken in moderation can do to you. Trouble is, he knows it but doesn”t
seem to care.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:19 am
New thread, people.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:19 am
new thread upstairs in the good room.
Wipe your feet
May 6th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Ah still tilting at windmills I see, now that Ribeiro is on his bike the case is definitely for the shelve.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:17 am
BF 606
Ok - let me try something else.
The PJ are about to deliver the conclusions of the investigation to the MP (Ministerio Publico) or prosecutor. Some mentioned the 15 May already - although this date is naturally not confirmed.
In these files there will be sufficient evidence to charge the McCanns with at least one crime. The files will also contain sufficient evidence to charge others.
The idea of a reconstruction repeated recently is not key to the inquiry. Although recognised as a useful tool - the primary intention of the proposal was to assess the McCanns willingness to travel to portugal. Some have asked behind close doors… “will we do it the easy way… or will we have to follow the hard-way?”. It now seems clear to everyone that it’ll be the hard way and by choice of the McCanns lawyers in the UK (to the great desperation of their solicitor in portugal).
Finally, nothing new is likely to emerge in the coming weeks - indeed months. Not even news about new books
Was that better BF?
May 6th, 2008 at 11:17 am
607
Marie Nicholas Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am
—————————————-
I think that perhaps, as you have noted, the worst burden of all for little children to carry is having to act as parents to their parents.
That reversal of roles is huge stressful, often exacerbated still further by the maudlin self-pity of the drunk claiming, yet again, that they really will do better next time.
Of course, they never do…
May 6th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Salomon ES
Maybe that is what the authorities hope for, and try to engineer.
But the public interest will not fade, IMO.
Or if it does, anything (like a book, or a press article, in England or abroad), will revive it at once.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Maria 520
You say that plenty of people leave their children alone at night to go out. OK, maybe. Plenty of people drive with plenty of alcohol in their blood, and plenty of people get killed on the road, among which plenty of children. Plenty of people do plenty of very wrong things.
The fact that they cry after having done the wrong thing doesn’t alter the fact that what they did was wrong. It is a well known fact that husbands who beat their wives are torn with anguish the day after, try to make up for it by offering them flowers and tell her tender things -Which, by the way, makes it worse for the wife, as she has to comfort him for beating her.
It is a well known fact that drunkards are very sentimental, and cry easily. Which is what we are told the parents did in the latest case in Algarve. They caused dreadful anguish to their children, put them at risk, then, when they were sober, they wept, which for the children is dreadful, as the parents become the children, and the children become the parents, when the children have to understand how irresponsible their parents are, and have to make them feel better about themselves. In sick families, the children keep worrying about the state of mind of their parents, about their happiness, they keep reassuring them tabout being good parents.
Don’t tell me they are sensible people. They can be sensible in their job, with their money, but they are not sensible parents. They look sensible to you. They looke nice and the children look happy and healthy. The children’s sorrow is hidden.
Don’t forget that children have to look happy, for their parents to think that they are good parents,and not resent them. Children engratiate who takes care of them, they have to. And parents need their children to look happy, especially when they aren’t so sure of being good parents. The child will engratiate his parents all the more if he feels he is a burden for them.
Actually, if you are concerned with the parents, you try an estimation of their guilt, you want to understand them and find them excuses, and you think the fact they suffer -which they certainly do - due to their own behaviour, is relevant. But if you are concerned about the child, the fact that their parents suffer from their bad behaviour is not relevant. It could even be said it makes it worse, as ithe child has to cope with ambiguous grown ups. The parents’s guilt, their regrets, their tears, their excuses, nothing is relevant, but their behaviour, and the wrong which the children endure, and which should stop.
There is a character in Dostoievski’s The Karamazov Brothers, who is a good actor and easily weeps, the father. At a time in the book, he talks about life, and himself, and whatnot, and, then he starts weeping. And the author says, “he started weeping - because he was sentimental. Sentimental and mean”.
It isn’t because plenty of people do something wrong that it isn’t wrong.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Saloman
You no longer excite me !
May 6th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Morning everyone.
Nothing new on this case… yet again.
Question: Are we to experience a slow down in news about the McCanns (let’s face it we
never really had any news about Madeleine) between now and September?
IMO - yes, very possibly. This will be convenient to all parties. My view of what will happen next is below.
As (mis) information stops pouring in through newspapers, posters will lose interest and sites like this and others will be virtually empty by June-July.
Newspapers already seem to have stopped a lot of the mis information about the case. Some exception to recycled old-news. I reckon that as soon as Clarence leaves sometime next week or the week after we’ll be empty of any news sources.
Any thoughts of undue and questionnable involvement of Gordo and the British govt or institutions will be forgotten by most people sometime in mid June.
By July nobody will even remember that Brian Kennedy is financing the McCanns and has flown out to the Algarve to offer Murat a job
The links between the virgin and the McCanns will also have been forgotten by early July.
August is a great month to the McCanns because there are judicial holidays in Portugal and legal proceedings will virtually come to a standstill.
By September the prosecutor will close the case for lack of evidence - and maybe send a letter telling the McCanns to be more careful next time they go on holidays.
Done and over with.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Val
It seems they have missed a certain part of growing up, the bit where your mum says
‘ Right if you do that, then that’s , I will wash my hands with you!!!!!’
………followed by that look that mothers and wives do
That makes your toes curl and a little bit of wind to escape …………….
which ends up with most people behaving themselves and becoming sensible.
I would love to be his minder!
May 6th, 2008 at 10:53 am
601
coolandcalm Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I rather like James Wale. I admire anyone in the media who says what they really think instead of just toeing the line. He was told not to say what he did but he did anyway!
IMO its a hame there aren’t more in the media with the courage of their convinctions.
——————————————-
Those would, of course, be criminal convictions…
May 6th, 2008 at 10:52 am
592 Steve T
Hi Steve, what”s the betting you will have disappeared by the time I type this Post!!!!!!! Are you in work or something and it”s interrupting your time on Anorak?
I only heard PD once, not really my kind of Music, but I fear he will go the way of
others before him, shame really.
Is it true the recon is 14th May?
May 6th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I rather like James Wale. I admire anyone in the media who says what they really think instead of just toeing the line. He was told not to say what he did but he did anyway!
IMO its a hame there aren’t more in the media with the courage of their convinctions.
……………………………
BF… there is definitely something louche and dangerous about Pete Docherty that is very attractive tho I personally prefer Russell Brand and of course the love of my life, Keef Richards! You can’t beat a good bad boy! Sadly they don’t go for bad old women…
May 6th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Agenda Wide
No idea who Larry was!! Obviously a merry soul though. Must research it!
I’m glad you admit that you have met people since Madeleine who say they have left their children as the tapas people did. Any names we might know??!! Like you, I met a few people who said that, and heard of a couple more, including people upset to think they’d done the same thing and it could have led to what happened to Madeleine. (Of course, that’s not true if the Mcs killed Madeleine. If they did kill her, they MAY have actually been with her at the time. Depends on what actually happened.) I also once had the experience in the campsite. Weird what people think is OK!
I do NOT say that the habit of putting your children to bed early equals negligence or bad parenting. Most people who do this simply stay with their kids. They may think little kids need their sleep but they don’t leave them!
I do NOT believe the British are worse parents than parents anywhere else. I also said you can’t generalise. But I think one of the things I’ve always liked about being with Spanish families, for example, is those lovely long family evenings around the table! Everyone talks about it as a difference with English life. I think it is just a tendency, not something which always happens, for English people to put their children to bed earlier. I don’t think that means they are bad parents.
Anyway, I would think those people who were in the habit of taking calculated risks with this sort of thing won’t be doing so any more. Far fewer anyway. I guess a lot more sites may follow MW’s example and get rid of the baby-listening services which just amount to what the Mcs did anyway, assuming they did check the kids regularly.
BTW, I also get the impression that English customs are changing in that respect (putting kids to bed early), regardless of the Madeleine issue.
These are just impressions. I have no statistics! But I think we have the right to express opinions and impressions, provided we say that’s all they are? After all, there are lies, damned lies and statistics! Quoting statistics nicked from some internet site doesn’t count for much anyway. Unless one is a genuine expert and can direct a full, sound, academic discussion on something, quoting a set of stats out of context can be very misleading. Not sure what studies have been done on this topic, nor how sound they are. Bet there are some, though! Yesterday I read of one study which reported, effectively, that good teachers are more effective than bad teachers! Bound to be someone who’s researched children’s bed times across Europe!
So my impressions may be wrong. That’s just in case you think I’m being deliberately misleading!!
I love Italy and Spain and have lots of friends there. I also have lots of English friends with little kids. Sometimes, if they phone me in the evening, they have to keep their voices low so the kids don’t wake up!
Must go to hospital appointment now. Appointments come every blue moon or every Preston Guild! (?????!!!!!) Can’t afford to be late and miss it!
May 6th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Brandon,
-Minder, Are you the next Terry McCann (Denis Waterman)?
-No, I dont want to!
May 6th, 2008 at 10:47 am
stevet