Our Madeleine McCann: Colin Stagg, Mad Dogs And Lucy Cavendish, And Amaral’s True Lies
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “We’ll savage bungling cops on Oprah [Winfrey] show - CLEARED McCANNS VOW TV ONSLAUGHT”
Cleared?
“At noon tomorrow a judge will formally lift the cloud of suspicion.”
Is that a fact?
The couple are likely to focus their fury on top cop Goncalo Amaral, who was kicked off the Madeleine case last October following allegations of incompetence and attacks on his British police counterparts.
“I’LL NEVER HAVE MY LIFE BACK – MURAT” - ‘I don’t know if I will ever be able to shake off the stigma of being ‘that Maddie man‘.”
“People say there is no smoke without fire and there may always be some who still doubt me. I have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
Let’s play a game of word association: Colin Stagg.
He’s the one set up by those bungling UK cops. Colin Stagg was accused of murdering Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common. Colin Stagg is innocent.
There being no forensic evidence, they were forced to look for likely suspects, and in Colin Stagg they found a man who ideally suited the tabloid agenda. He was runtish and rat-like, and yet also into body-building. He lived on his own. He was given to wearing dodgy-looking singlets and he was a devotee of the ancient pagan religion called Wicca. He had a picture of the Cerne Abbas giant inscribed on a black-painted wall in his flat.
Someone said that they had seen him, or a man very like him, on the common on the morning of the murder - and that was enough.
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY: “After 445 days of missing Maddie, cloud of suspicion over parents lifts”
Tomorrow Kate and Gerry McCann hope the suspicion that they played a role in her disappearance from a Portuguese beach resort will finally – and officially – be lifted.
Hope? But in The People it’s a fact?
The Portuguese authorities are believed to be ready to remove the official arguido – suspect – status from the couple and clear them of any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance from Praia de Luz in May last year.
Believed.
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: “Madeleine McCann abduction leaves family holidays haunted by fear”
The exodus to the sun starts this weekend - but since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, parents are feeling paranoid about the safety of their offspring. Foreigners think we are mad, reports Lucy Cavendish from Mallorca
Mad pervs and Englishmen…
Says Lucy Cavendish:
You can always spot the English abroad. Not by the way they dress or their sunburnt skin but by how protective they are of their children.
Always!
“I feel I can’t leave my children alone for a second,” says Joanne Brown as she sits in a café next to the beach at Port de Soller in Mallorca. “It’s a nightmare. I’ve always been conscious of where my children are on holiday, but now I feel much more aware of them. If I shut my eyes for a moment, I feel terrified that they won’t be there when I open them.
Abracadabra. Fish ‘n’ chips. Poof!
But ever since last May, when three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bedroom in Praia da Luz, Portugal, there is an almost tangible parental fear that underlies family holidays: that someone will take our children and we will never see them again.
Matchsticks in the eyes. Don’t dare to look away.
Post-Maddie, holidaying abroad has become a minefield. The parameters have shifted. Where once parents might have left children in a play area/on the beach/in a café while they quickly whipped off to go to the loo/order a meal/get some drinks, now we dare not. We reappraise all the time, scan people’s faces on beaches, by the swimming pool, in the play area. We are constantly asking ourselves: who is safe? What is safe? Are kids’ clubs fine? Are the staff vetted properly?
Anorak advocates the CoZee Reins – modelled on the penal system of Alabama, these handy chains with optional heavy ball attachment ensure the kidz are kept within shouting distance.
Tell Armani to “come ‘ere or I‘m, gonna kill yer”, and see her find no way of escape”.
On holiday with the Lucy Cavendishes:
One night, my 11-year-old son asked if he and his brothers, aged five and three, could sleep in this separate room. “Of course!” I replied.
Later on, when they were asleep, I got myself into a terrible panic. My eldest son had said he didn’t want to lock the door in case any of them needed to go to the loo in the night. This seemed to make sense.
At 2am, I woke up in a hot sweat. I imagined nameless, faceless marauders creeping up from the beach, slipping into the place and making off with one of them.
I woke my husband up. “The boys are ALONE!” I screamed. “It’s not going to happen here,” he said, immediately knowing what I was referring to. “This is Devon.”
But, as every parent now knows, it doesn’t matter if it’s Devon or Praia da Luz. Everyone is afraid of the stranger, the person out there who, in our minds, wants to steal and harm our children.
Was that her husband screaming?
THE GUARDIAN: “Madeleine police chief to launch ‘explosive’ book”
Gonçalo Amaral, who was chief of the criminal investigation police for the Algarve region, has scheduled a news conference in Lisbon on Thursday to launch the book, just three days after the widely expected announcement tomorrow that the case is being shelved by prosecutors for lack of evidence.
In the book, provisionally entitled True Lies, Amaral is also likely to reopen his assault on the role of the British police in the investigation. He has publicly suggested that they were influenced throughout by the leads which Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, wanted pursued.
He is said to be convinced that Madeleine is dead, while the McCanns have continued to press investigators to follow the trail of potential kidnappers and ensure their daughter’s safe return.
THE SUNDAY TIMES: “Murder most modern- Kate Summerscale’s prize-winning account of an 1860 killing shows how little we’ve changed”
Ed Caesar looks at the 1860 murder of Saville Kent in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
What is most striking about her account (and this, perhaps, is what won the judges’ favour) is that it echoes contemporary culture. The huge interest in, and continual theorising about, the disappearance of an infant; the castigation of detectives for their incompetence; the swings of compassion towards or against suspects — all mirror the case of our own missing child, Madeleine McCann.
Our Maddie.
SUNDAY HERALD: “Courts make editors think hard before delving into private lives - Judiciary increasingly taking the view that public interest must be stronger than potential harm”
Although Madeleine McCann “aguido” Robert Murat’s £600,000 payout last week from 11 newspapers after successfully suing for the separate offence of defamation, editors are being forcefully reminded to think longer and harder about what stories papers can and should run.
Indeed. A current story in Correio da Manha has not repeated in the UK press about the case.
Posted: 20th, July 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (431) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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July 20th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
jo Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Cheryl
Too bad for him.I believe the biggest mistake was to steal you fathers purple hearts.Did he know what they were?have you got them back?
I very much dislike this kind of story.
POOR bloke,really,young and stupid.Does he face jail?
I feel sorry for you because what you did was out of your heart and you have not been “rewarded”,all the contrary.I know you were not expecting a “reward” but surely you did not expect that sad happening either
Well..keep away from sharks.For ever
_________-
When inventoring everything they found with me and values I asked them why did he ever take my Dad’s Purple Heart - the police told me that in this area there is a collector of WWII medals, papers, etc. who advertises he’ll pay top dollar for anything brought to him from WWII. So, that is the answer why he took it. All but one judge in our criminal court are old and seasoned the one that is not is in the reserves and has gone over to Iraq twice thus far. I look at this way,the taking that Purple Heart alone will do him even though it has no real value - except that one can’t put a price on Valour nor the memories. No matter what judge he gets the old ones are patriotic and if he gets the young one he’ll throw away the key.
I think it is 2 to 5 years he is facing - I want the maximum! The police told me that the Prosecuting Attorney will ask me what I want before we go into court and I’ll have the opportunity as the ‘victim’ to address the Court. I know darn well his attorney he has now is trying to cut a deal but a deal can’t be cut without my agreeing to it and I am not agreeing to any deals. He is not some poor bloke, Jo, he comes from a fine home with well known parents and had a life growing up many would envy.
July 20th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Chenier,
And whilst most of us would also not wish to see the sort of vile allegations that were so depressingly read out in Court on Thursday launched against yet another target, the issue of whether the British police failed to forward information timeously to their Portuguese counterparts is a different matter. That really is a question of public interest…
It certainly is.
July 20th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
We have a little way to go before we get Justice Eady’s Judgment in the Mosley invasion of privacy case, noted by Anorak above, but if Mosley wins then the bill for fees and damages may be a great deal higher than it was in the McCann case, or the Murat case.
Mosley is claiming punitive damages, and it looks as if he will get them; not only did the news of the screws star witness fail to turn up but also its journo was reduced to claiming that the story was in the public interest because a criminal offence had been committed.
Presumably Rupert Murdoch’s News International feels that the world must be made safe for people who might otherwise end up with a sticking plaster on their rear ends, but the High Court might not see it that way.
Equally, Mosley can honestly claim that he is not a public figure, and that he has never made any attempt to step into the limelight. Robert Murat could say the same thing, though the McCanns would have a great deal of difficulty on that point.
It is easy to defend the rights of journos to expose the wrongdoings of the great and the not so good; less easy to define freedom of speech as the inalienable right of the news of the screws to stick a camera in a dominatrix’s corset so that the world may become aware that if you whip someone’s ass it may injure him. Most of us had worked that one out for ourselves…
And whilst most of us would also not wish to see the sort of vile allegations that were so depressingly read out in Court on Thursday launched against yet another target, the issue of whether the British police failed to forward information timeously to their Portuguese counterparts is a different matter. That really is a question of public interest…
July 20th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Vot about zee passports herr clueless, der dobermans are der dobbers und dumbkoffs……..
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yE6zn2JBayg
July 20th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Gandy
you must be Von smallhousen me finks
July 20th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Prinz ‘arry is allowed to dress as ze nazi cos he has oodles of german blood in ees veins.
I vill sey ziz onlee wunce, do you neffer watch Allo! Allo!
July 20th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Am I stuck in a Time Warp? Is it Boxing Day?
The Great Escape is on TV right now.
Prophetic maybe?
July 20th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
PeterMac
Surely Cheryl must be firm.On the other hand…phew…jail could well aggravate him.
This is always the danger with young convicts,dont you think?I agree that social civic work for an undetermined length of time would do him an awful lot of good….and his parents would be obliged to revise their parenting code as well
What do you think will happen tomorrow?
July 20th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
PeterMac Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Cheryl Says:
[...]
Happened to me last month, I took a young man in I’ve known for years several months ago who was trying to turn his life around and helped him find a job, gave him a room in my house and treated him like one of my sons. I was friends with his parents.”
—–
Crucial for me is that “he was trying to turn his life around”.
In ther words this is not a first incident / offence / crime . he has already been given chances, and has messed them up. And this was yet another one. [...] But he has to learn.
Don’t lose sleep over what you did. You were right. And that is what matters.
*****
I also hurtfully see that Cheryl writes she WAS friends with his parents. Obviously this boy has ruined this relation too?
July 20th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I see Flight Lt. Sandy MacDonald “Intelligence” , AKA DuncanR can be seen on BBC2 at the moment.
(anything except for Bloody Golf)
July 20th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Cheryl Says:
Coco, thanks for the kind words and you are correct I do prefer to see the good in people until they prove me wrong. But once they’ve proved me wrong they are on my shit list for life!
Happened to me last month, I took a young man in I’ve known for years several months ago who was trying to turn his life around and helped him find a job, gave him a room in my house and treated him like one of my sons. I was friends with his parents.”
Crucial for me is that “he was trying to turn his life around”.
In ther words this is not a first incident / offence / crime . he has already been given chances, and has messed them up. And this was yet another one.
Your are absolutely right in what you have done. He has not understood his parents’ way of dealing with his actions - let him off, be kind etc and in fact has shown that he despises that way.
So now he has to discover the harsh reality that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And that he alone is responsible for his actions. No one else, not ’society’, not his ‘upbringing’, not his inadequate x, y, or z. All those may be very intersting, but he is responsible. And he must pay.
He can then re-pay society by being good, doing good works, charitable actions, helping the needy and so on, as many before him have done.
But he has to learn.
Don’t lose sleep over what you did. You were right. And that is what matters.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Noseycow Says:
Can someone tell me why Prince Harry dresses as a Nazi and gets away with an apology, but Max Beasley ends up in court?
Never stop the questions Nosey, never.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Cheryl
Too bad for him.I believe the biggest mistake was to steal you fathers purple hearts.Did he know what they were?have you got them back?
I very much dislike this kind of story.
POOR bloke,really,young and stupid.Does he face jail?
I feel sorry for you because what you did was out of your heart and you have not been “rewarded”,all the contrary.I know you were not expecting a “reward” but surely you did not expect that sad happening either
Well..keep away from sharks.For ever
July 20th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
coco Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
The Cheryl Doll sees the good in everybody but cannot qualify or quantify obvious pertinent observations.
I think she was in Naked Gun! However, when she sees sharks - she swims in the water - and this is not sensible!
The Afghan hound does not go out in the snow! Roger! Over and out! XXXX
_______
Coco, thanks for the kind words and you are correct I do prefer to see the good in people until they prove me wrong. But once they’ve proved me wrong they are on my shit list for life!
Happened to me last month, I took a young man in I’ve known for years several months ago who was trying to turn his life around and helped him find a job, gave him a room in my house and treated him like one of my sons. I was friends with his parents. Went to the store for 15 mins., last month, came home and he had burglarized my home while I was gone. Extent of what he took brought down two grand larceny charges against him by police and he was picked up the next day on the run. His parents who are very prominent people called and asked me what it would take to drop the charges , he even called me begging - my answer to both was - tell it to the Judge this month! He bit the hand of kindness I offered him and no second chances with me. I’ll be honest it has bothered me somewhat to think a young man at 20 would have to now face his life with two felony convictions on his record as an adult and should I request lesser charges from the prosecuting attorney and leniency from the Judge in sentence. BUT the fatal mistake he made in all he stole was he also took one of my father’s purple hearts he was awarded in WWII. Thus, if I have any say so they can throw away the f’ng key to the jail cell once he is locked in it.
Coco, I don’t swim in waters that have sharks in them - I respect how deadly sharks can be. However, I have gone out on charter boats fishing for sharks and caught a few.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Cheryl
Hi, Coco and Jo, nope no gun for me. Totally against those as people use them to kill other people
*****
Cheryl,Coco and I have a mental problem as she would say.
We are being very very silly,naughty and only joking but I can see you take it as a joke.I am well aware you dont like gun as all of us do here on anorak (I hope to be right so!)
Ok,then….no gun, any suggestion…..? ouch,that hurts
July 20th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
VQ and W
I have no idea whether the McCanns knew Murat; what is interesting is that if the case really is to be archived tomorrow then the lawyers have a scant 3 weeks to work their magic before Joe Public gets his hands on the material.
The LP have obviously been making a number of applications; the one that we know about is the DNA but I assume that there were plenty of others.
Our courts can, of course, order that none of the material be published within our jurisdiction; what it can’t do is order it elsewhere.
As agw has noted the old rules don’t work anymore.
The Press here have spent over 14 months screaming the place down about the secretiveness of the Portuguese system; it will be amusing, if nothing else, to see it writhe under the lash of lots and lots of juicy stuff which it can’t report
And there’s always lots and lots of juicy stuff wherever human beings are involved…
July 20th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
jo Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
coco
What about our Cheryl?
Any idea?
The Cheryl doll could be holding a miniature gun.I heard she worked for Intelligence Service
MUST go now before I am smacked around the neck.Just had a call from M3
See ya…. xxxxx
_______
Hi, Coco and Jo, nope no gun for me. Totally against those as people use them to kill other people.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
whoops
Maybe he’d seen Murat about and couldn’t say he knew him, but then didn’t completely not know him either???
July 20th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Do you think Gerry really didn’t know Murat but was just giving no comment answers on the advice of his brief-over to you Chenier.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Would be nice to know what Murat knows.
If and how he knows Gerry comes to mind.
What dots is able to connect as a result of being privy to the interviews in his role as translator.
m and a
VQ Wasn’t that the reason he was made arguido, the translating?
July 20th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Chenier,
Perhaps that can’t sort out the direction of the wind.
It is a bit puzzling, to all appearances.
The book is a safe topic.
“What puzzles me is that there’s no story on the tragic duo’s imminent sanctification tomorrow; the headline is all about the ‘Explosive revelations’ of the Amaral book.
Does the Mail scent a change in the wind?
Or is it simply that it is descending so rapidly into the News of the Screws category that explosive revelations are mandatory?”
July 20th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Saul, I can see you are going for magic realism; everybody knows that no-one in their right minds would leave a valuable whippet in a creche.
Much better to leave it outside the bookies and hope to find it impregnated by tuffnuts the third on your return…
M and A
Chenier
NARP provide a list of reliable dog creches
July 20th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Noseycow-they’re a bugger to post as well.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Don’t believe in creches-just leave him untied preferably within sniffin’ distance of a butchers. he’ll still be there when you get back. If not sue someone, anyone really.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Whoops, do you mean to say that bookies in your area don’t have a whippet creche at the entrance?
July 20th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Whoops
No joy selling the children though - that would get me even more space
July 20th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Noseycow-but look on the bright side you’ve sold your car and your 3 piece suite-think of all that extra room you will have.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Saul-not beingpedantic-but do they let dogs into bookies? You haven’t said Anish was blind or visually impaired-please take more care-or your story will lose all credibilty.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Chenier
What do you mean descending?
Have sold my first two ebay items - Dell fund stands at £7.11 (minus selling fees, postage costs and paypal costs)… mm might have to rethink this strategy.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Anish Kapoor was last seen wearing a flat cap, with a nipped fag behind his ear and a whippet on a piece of string, heading into Ladbrokes to put £5 EW on the second favourite at Redcar.