Madeleine McCann’s Kidnapper Calls Police
TO mark the two-year anniversay of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, the media is cranking up its coverage. It’s all about the hunt for Our Maddie, isn’t it?
Well, no. After much chatter, lives ruined and censure in the courtroom the single-thread story that spun out of control is once more invites us to watch the parents and speculate.
Sky News: “Madeleine: ‘Major Flaws In Police Probe’”
Madeleine McCann may never be found due to major flaws in the police investigation into her disappearance, according to a leading child protection expert.
Let’s have the facts:
The report claims the police strategy could have led to major evidence being lost
Says..?
Mark Williams-Thomas, a former police detective, has written a damning report, which highlights several police failings in the hours after Madeleine went missing.
Can this be the same Mark William-Thomas who back in October 2007, opined:
Mark Williams-Thomas, a former Surrey Police child protection officer who worked on the Sarah Payne murder inquiry, says the new approach was ‘textbook’. Says he: “For a long time now the investigation has lacked direction and impetus and [Paulo] Rebelo has brought that back. You wonder why they didn’t bring him in earlier”
Now, with new report to write:
There was no perimeter set up around the crime scene and no immediate search of the surrounding area which could mean vital evidence was lost.
Mr Williams-Thomas is sticking to the facts.
“Crime scene analysis and a finger-tip search would have revealed significant clues. They may not have ended up finding her but these factors would have had a major impact on the situation.”
Whjat is new about this report, other than the date. Much has already been said on the failings of the Portuguese police.
And then the best bit:
“The media plays a significant role because it’s the best way to communicate information to a mass audience. The police rarely solve cases on their own, they rely on public information to piece it together.”
Who knew that after two years of media sensation and the McCanns speaking through a PR, the media had a role to play? And has the medai helped find the child they called “Our Maddie”?
The Sun: “Maddie ‘seized looking for parents’”
Now this is progress. At last a lead. A fact:
MADELEINE McCann was probably abducted as she went looking for her parents, an expert claimed yesterday.
Claimed? What happened to that opening statement of fact?
Criminologist Mark Williams-Thomas said it was unlikely that an abductor entered Maddie’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Such are the facts.
Belfast Telegraph: “Questions still unanswered two years after Madeleine’s disappearance”
Two years after Madeleine McCann vanished, the world is hardly any closer to learning the truth about what happened to her on the night of May 3 2007.
But what about what Williams-Thomas just told us?
Despite a massive police investigation that spanned the globe and huge media and public interest, the fate of the little girl who disappeared while on holiday with her family in the Algarve remains unknown.
More facts…
Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, treat this lack of concrete evidence positively and insist they have not given up hope of finding their daughter alive.
They say they take strength from cases like that of Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian woman who was kidnapped aged 10 and held hostage for eight years before escaping in 2006.
Chat-show host Natascha Kampusch? She went missing in Austria, land of celllars.
This is followed by two paragraphs that highlight those headline-making questions:
As the McCanns mark the sad anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance, to be followed by her sixth birthday nine days later, there are still many unanswered questions.
Such as?
It remains to be seen whether the next 12 months will bring any more answers.
That report was brought to by Maddie Industries – keeping hacks in work since 2007!
Sky News – Martin Brunt: “A Statement Of The Obvious?”
Madeleine McCann’s parents had nothing to do with her disappearance, she was probably abducted after she left the apartment, the Portuguese police did a poor investigation and the dogs’ evidence was dodgy.
Martin Brunt has the facts:
No, not my conclusions, but those of British criminologist and ex-cop Mark Williams-Thomas.
So the part about Kate and Gerry McCann’s innocence is not your conclusion, Martin?
His findings, on the second anniversay of her disappearance, are based on the translation of 10,000 police documents, including witness statements, DNA reports and photographs.
Findings? Since when is an opinion a “finding”?
He says he was helped in his review by criminal profiler Professor David Wilson and a woman who speaks Portuguese.
Impressed? Hard not to be. Martin Brunt thinks on:
Is this:
a) Critical analysis which “throws new light on the disappearance”, as Mark claims?
Or
b) A statement of the bleedin’ obvious?
Please discuss.
New lows in journalism: Module 546b.
Daily Star: “COPS FAILED TO PROBE £1M MADDIE RANSOM”
Police hunting Madeleine McCann ignored a £1million ransom demand from a man who said he had her, a shock report claimed last night.
Maybe he was lying?
The man asked for the money in a call to a staff member at the Portuguese holiday apartment where the four-year-old was last seen nearly two years ago.
He left the message on a phone belonging to a worker at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz – with a child’s voice speaking English in the background.
And?
Police put a trace on the phone but the caller never rang back.
…because he lost all interest in money?
The bombshell was revealed yesterday in a new report by criminologist Mark Williams-Thomas, a former UK detective who has worked on the case since Maddie vanished on May 3, 2007. “The demand was received via a voicemail,” he said. “Although an intercept was placed on the line, no further calls were received.”
How many other false leads were there that were follwoed up?
Remember the letter to a Dutch newspaper. And a map showing where her body can be found. It was credible. And what about her, she who saw Our Maddie in Morocco? And the “hoax“? And this hoax? And tabloid journalists pointing the finger at innocent men.
Mr Williams-Thomas believes Madeleine was snatched after waking in the apartment and going to look for her parents. But his report concludes that the girl is probably now dead.
Who needs the Portuguese police when we have a ritired British copper with such facts at his fingertips?
Metro: “Ex-Maddie officer launches own hunt”
A detective who was sacked from the hunt for Madeleine McCann is launching his own investigation into the youngster’s disappearance. Goncalo Amaral said he wanted justice for the missing girl.
Says he who believes the child died in the family flat:
“This investigation is not aimed at finding evidence against (parents) Gerry and Kate McCann or persecuting anyone. We want to help make sure the truth comes out and justice is done. The criminal investigation ended prematurely and there’s a lot that still needs to be investigated.”
Well, yes. Much to be investigated. For instance – where is the child?
The father of three has written a book which claimed Madeleine died in a ‘tragic accident’ at the McCanns’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, the day she was last seen in May 2007.
And after two years of speculation and libel the media is still speculating…
Posted: 1st, May 2009 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Reviews Comments (41) | TrackBack | Permalink
