MADDYWATCH: A Day Of Madeleine McCann
MADDYWATCH
Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY EXPRESS: Front page, plus pages 4 and 5, with logo (“THE HUNT FOR MADELEINE: Day 116”).
The paper reports that “the campaign of slurs against Kate and Gerry McCann continued last night after it was claimed the scent of a corpse had been detected on their car keys.”
The allegations, from a Portuguese paper were “the latest in a long line of lurid and hurtful stories hinting that the couple were somehow to blame for their daughter’s disappearance”.
The Express also announces (in a prominent headline): “Madeleine’s father loses faith in police”. Close reading of the article reveals this to be the paper’s own interpretation of Gerry McCann’s comments to the press that “obviously there is no sign of a breakthrough” and that “the only way I’ll be happy is when Madeleine is found”.
THE SUN: Small column on page 9 (“Maddie father in cop rap”). The paper infers that Mr McCann “hinted that he had lost faith in the police investigation”.
THE DAILY MIRROR: A third of page 11. “MADDY: IT’S OVER” – headline confusingly placed above a picture of Kylie “showing off her new look”. The paper confidently states that Mr McCann has lost faith in the police and “plans to wind down the media campaign”
DAILY STAR: Two-thirds of page 19. “We just can’t take much more of this” reads the headline, referring to the smear stories about the car keys. The story also refers to Mr McCann’s appearance at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, at which he said of the media coverage: “I don’t think it’s necessary in terms of bombarding people on a daily basis with Madeleine’s image.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH: One twentieth of page 6: “Father’s frustration over Maddy inquiry”. Notable only for the use of the tabloid-style “Maddy” in the headline – a name the McCanns have never used. Quotes Mr McCann as wanting to “get to the bottom of things”.
THE INDEPENDENT: One third of page 12 (media section): “Madeleine’s father in attack on media pack”. The paper says that Mr McCann told the Edinburgh audience that the levels of sensationalism in some of the news reporting had been unbelievable. He also TV for “saturation coverage with nothing to report.” The paper says that “some of TV’s news executives shifted uncomfortably in their seats”. Whether through embarrassment or physical discomfort after a long lunch is not explained.
THE GUARDIAN: No Madeleine news today.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
WAAH! We whipped up the media to cover this vacuous story and now they’ve turned on us, how did that happen?!!! WAAH! It’s not FAIR!!!! WAAAH! Where is our private jet?
August 27th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Never mind… I’m sure they can find a more suitable medication for you. Dickhead!
August 27th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Don’t cry, dear, we have £1M in the bank thanks to Maddy, we won’t ever have to work again. We’re going to look for Maddy on the beaches! All the beaches! All the time, in between catching rays. And we’ll look for her in some other nice places too.
So how shall we get rid of the twins?
August 27th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
We’ll send the twins to boarding school. After all, we’re rich now; isn’t that what rich people do? They never have to be bothered with their offspring. Poor, poor Maddy. I hope we find her soon. I’m sure she must be hiding somewhere on the beach at Barbados. WAAAH.
They can’t extradite us from there, can they?
August 27th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Just be careful with the dosage on that medication ‘Dickhead’.
It could be lethal !!!!…lol
August 27th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
It just strikes me as very odd that Gerry now wants the media to drop Maddy just as people in the UK, and perhaps the media, are starting to ask questions more forcefully.
My guess is that Gerry now doesn’t want any coverage whatoever about the case, so that we and the authorities, hopefully forget about it all… Unlikely I would say
August 27th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
QUOTE………. While in Britain over the weekend, Gerry McCann offered his sympathy to the parents of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, who was killed in Liverpool last week.
“Kate and I were incredibly shocked to hear the news,” he said. “It is a terrible waste of a young life. They, of course, have our sympathy.”
He continued: “Both sets of parents are in the middle of terrible traumas. They, however, will have closure. We don’t.”
++++ Unbelievable that bit about closure… so the poor parents of Rhys Jones will have closure Gerry because someone needlessly shot their son? And I am assuming that you won’t have closure because your fund is still growing - possibly at a slower rate than you hoped - and your fairly hefty prison sentence, which is looming, will mean this whole case drags on for a long, long time??? No closure for you then…..
August 27th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Are you convinced that Gerry could have killed its small daughter? Many state this, some believe in a kidnapping! Are the proofs only speculations, or definite? Is Robert Murat still suspicious? If parents killed their baby, it was accused of to injustice! Do you believe that the British friend of the McCanns was involved? It was nevertheless at the mentioned time not in the Tapasbar! In Germany the information is very little! Absloluter report stop! What has it with the DNA on itself? Could the results over-drive the author? Does the break-through come or never???
August 27th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Well, the parents of the little boy who was shot are far more fortunate than us, because they will have closure. That means they know what happened to their kid- he was shot dead. Aren’t they lucky?
We don’t know what happened to our one. Honest, no we don’t.
We do know to the last penny the size of the fund though. It’s bigger than theirs. They won’t be able to raise as much money as us.
Nyah, nyah, nyah! We are most miserable, and most wealthy too. Not that money matters at all– we’d rather have our little girl back! Truly!
August 27th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Reading these posts it springs to mind that just 3 changes to world could make it a much safer, better place.
1 Parenting lessons for the middle class types who sod off for a booze up and leave 3 kids under 4 to ferd for themselves
2 Banning Hand guns
3 Banning the name Gerry.
Brian told us it is not a holy name like his (Life of Brian) and is linked to bad vibes whenever it is uttered
i.e. Gerry Springer(TV)
Gerry Adams (IRA)
Gerry Mccann(HMP)
August 27th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Stefanie (9)
I, for one, do not believe that they murdered their daughter. I do believe however that there is credibility to the claim that they sedated their children when they went out at night. I believe that if this is the scenario, then Madeleine may have been given, inadvertently, an overdose of sedative - or even perhaps a drug that was mistaken for a sedative. This I believe would have happened before 10pm - perhaps 2 hours before - if the story that the police dogs picked up the scent of a dead body, which would have had to have been lying there for at least 2 hours, is correct.
It is my belief that panic set in amongst the various “responsible” doctors and that a cover-up ensued. This is when the “abduction” story was invented. Remember there are huge inconsistencies in everybodys timings, and at least one independent witness who claims that Jane Tanner did not pass him in the street as he was chatting to Gerry McCann at around 9.15ish… Something she claims to the contrary, and this is when Tanner says she saw a man carrying a child, which they want the world to believe was Madeleine.
The bottom line is that in my opinion they are guilty of child negligence and abuse, perverting the course of justice, fraud on a grand scale and I assume when it all does get to court you could then add perjury.
This whole thing stinks to high heaven. And I just hope that the Portuguese police are playing a clever game, as I assume our boys are too, and that they are just awaiting the right time to make arrests.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
I see that the Jornal de Noticias is suggesting that blood samples found in the boot of the McCanns hire car are indicative of the fact that Maddie had been in there. Nothing to PROVE that as yet, of course, but Jornal de Noticias is NOT a trashy tabloid rag, but a respected newspaper.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Moriarty
Stop being so picky! You sure you’re not the alias of Gerry and Kate? You seem very bitter towards them. And do you honestly think that Mr McCann is comparing the loss of young Rhys Jones to his own loss to gain pity. Pathetic.
To be honest if it was my daughter I’d be making a lot more noise than what he is. For me, the Portuguese police (although appear to be doing a lot) have bungled this from the start. And for that reason, with no answers, people and the press will continue to speculate and blow out proportion anything which makes good gossip. And that Moriarty is exactly what your doing. The McCanns have been negligent in mho but they’re paying the price aren’t they? So for the time being brush all your gripes aside and have a bit of compassion.
Lets hope we get a quick resolve with the british police to find the murderer of Rhys Jones before that turns into a witch hunt!
August 27th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Moriarty, you have just summed up my opinion in a nutshell.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
GARTH.
Not one of those Saint Gerry & Kate cheerleaders are we? Moriarty’s listing is pretty good, based on the available evidence. I’m at a loss as to the purpose of your listing. Compassion? Bit tricky to find any of that I’m afraid, beacause the VERY, VERY least charge that can be levied at ther McCanns is that they are guilty of systematic and regular CHILD ABANDONMENT. Big difference between that and ‘negligence’.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
garth (13)… wake up and smell the coffee
Chloe (14)… that’s good. And I can bet that we are not the only ones who have that opinion….
August 27th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Of course McCann is using the murder of Rhys Jones to suit his own ends, ie to show how compassionate he is and to use the current wave of public concern and sympathy for his own cause.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Yes, he contacted the parents, apparently, of Rhys Jones by telephone. Right after he’d made a press statement saying that he was ‘drawing back and winding down’ his publicity escapades. And then he flew off to Edinburgh to a festival for more publicity to…… erm…. complain about the Press.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I agree that the whole thing stinks, but timewise I just don’t see how it could have been managed.
Madeleine was reportedly out for tea at 6.30 with her parents, so she couldn’t conceivably have died any earlier than 7.15/7.30.
Then her body would have remained in the apartment for 2 hours (re alleged scent for cadaver dogs), taking us to 9.15 at the earliest.
So she would have had to have been moved after 9.15pm-as its unlikely that they would have left her body concealed in the apartment while claiming she had been abducted, and conducting a search inside and outside the apartment- too risky.
The Mccanns have a fairly sound alibi (being at the restaurant fairly constantly, other than gerry’s brief check of the children, where he met a friend- not of the mccann group), from 8.40 onwards, so it has to have been a friend who moved her after 9.15.
The mccanns would have had to hatch the concealment and dumping of the body plan. If they decided to hide her in their boot, why not do it themselves before dinner, why leave her in the apartment for 2 hours instead, and then involve a third party to put her in the boot? Had they decided that it would be neccessary to involve a friend at this point (which alleged evidence seems to point to) they would have had to tell the friend about Madeleine’s death and convince this friend to help them conceal it. All of this would have had to be done between 7.30 and 8.40.
I just think it is really stretching the laws of probability a bit far to consider that (1) the mccanns accidentally or otherwise killed their daughter, then (2) hatched a plan within an hour- rather than try to get help for her, and (3) managed to involve a willing helper within an hour- to put her in the boot of their car . And (4) why not just hide her in the boot themselves and not involve someone else?
I am not saying it isn’t possible, but I think there are more likely explanations.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Are you sure he wasn’t in Edinburgh to meet Midge Ure? Perhaps he is planning McCann Aid at the new Wembley Stadium? Kate could be the new Queen Of Hearts too
August 27th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Moriarty and all
So what do u think happened afterwards?? If lets say that they found her dead ,so where did they kept her all the time as we know by now that they rented the car after 5 weeks or is it 5 days.?? Where did they kept the corps?? Does it make sense at all??
August 27th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
May (21)
I am not sure if they “kept the corps” because I am not sure there were any military people there - perhaps Gerry will tell us in his blog? But if, as I suspect, you meant the corpse then I would assume that it was wrapped up, weighed down and transported to the bottom of the briney sea….
What do you think?
August 27th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Moriarty, thanks for your opinion! This theory could be correct! For the first time these considerations could convince me that Maddie could be dead! Perhaps by own parents, perhaps by the friend of the McCanns! The theory of the overdose could be legitimate! If this terrible accident should be reality, it is UNBELIEVABLE!!! They would have to mourn nevertheless around their small girl, withdraw themselves! Their small body buried want and not like that a show to organize! Can someone lie so long and persistent?
August 27th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Spudgun
Firstly you’re right…..I’m not a Saint Gerry and Kate cheerleader.
Secondly……….where is all the available evidence? Or is it evidence or just pure speculation. Have we heard this from the Pj. No.
I think, although good reading, Moriartys suspicion of the McCanns makes my point quite clear!
Of course I can only speak of how I would react if Moriarys theory is right? But of course its Obsurd! Would I get someone to dispose of her body?………..my daughter, who we’ve brought up for the last four years so as just to get me off the hook?
I would be at my wits end! Okay I would be convicted of negligence and even the manslaughter of my daughter. Thats a far higher price to pay than the loss of my job or a couple of years in nick.
Think I’m naive?
Kate McCanns a bloody good actress aint she?
August 27th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Stefanie (23)
I really don’t know if someone could lie so long and not give anything away. I know I couldn’t and if it was my child I would want to be dead too.
Remember Stefanie this is just my theory (and of course the theory of others who have reached the same conclusion) and may not be true at all. But from the evidence that so far has reached the outside world, this is the most credible. The abduction thing is definitely rubbish
August 27th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Garth (24)
I suggest that you look for the evidence in anything other than the UK press and media. Try the Portuguese press, the US press, the Aussie press
August 27th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Moriarty
So the Portuguese, US and Aussie press have concrete evidence do they? And if not fact……..what makes their reports any more credible than the british press’?
August 27th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
I can’t believe you are all so ignorant what’s the bet none of you are parents!! If i should loose my child no money in the world could buy him back, obviously you guys are not seeing the pain on their faces, poor kate you can see in her face look at her face you can see she hasn’t had a good nights rest in ages, as for the comment on the boy that was shot dead, it’s horrible what happened and it’s true they know what happened their pain is not less but at least they don’t have to lie awake at night wondering who has him what are they doing to him etc. Why don’t you people in stead of judging go and look online for human trafficking child trafficking and make your friends, family and colleagues aware so that can stop do something good with your time instead of pointing fingers, shame on you sad lot!
August 27th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
This theory makes fear for me!!! If my child were dead, all consequences would be completely all the same to me! Can someone adjust itself in such a way??? Over four months? Couldn’t the theories be wrong? Although, the corpse smell on the autokey gives me to think! Did the dogs fasten also IN the car? Did the dogs at the beach not also fasten? I find it rather confusing!Sorry for my wrong English ;o)
August 27th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Angel (28)
Yes, you are still caught up in the sympathy honey-trap.
“Pain on their faces”, “A good nights rest”… Yes I would be worried and feeling very guilty too