MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann

DAILY EXPRESS front page: “Intruder tried to break in to Madeleine apartment”

Page 5: “I SAW INTRUDER TRY TO GET INTO MCCANN FLAT - British holidaymaker Paul Gordon confronted a man trying to get in through the patio doors of flat 5A at the Ocean Club Resort in Praia da Luz where his two young children were sleeping”

Dramatic stuff. Was the have-a-go hero hurt?

Says the British man: “I find it incredible that no one has tried to work out who this person was who came to the apartment unannounced just days before Madeleine McCann went missing”

How does he know the police have not tried to work it out? But tell us what happened? How was this “intruder” trying to get in? Was he armed?

Says Gordon: “I came across someone at the flat. I now believe he was suspicious. He said he was collecting donations for an orphanage in the mountains. But he did not come to the front door. And it happened in the middle of the day when most people are out. He must have been staking out the property, or worse”

Must have been…

Says the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell: “Mr Gordon has spoken to the police about his time in the apartment. And our investigative team has spoken with him. He said somebody came round to the apartment 5A asking for a charity donation and said it was suspicious”

ROBERT MURAT: “Suspect Murat ‘was given a false alibi by his friend’” – Murat says he was at home with his mother the night Madeleine disappeared. “The witness said Murat left the bar drunk,” says a police source. “This was the statement that put Murat in trouble”

Not his being “creepy”?

“Police ‘have no evidence to charge Kate and Gerry’” – Which given that the McCanns have not been charged with any crime, seems to be a statement of fact

DAILY MAIL: “Man lurked by Maddie’s patio doors’”

“British holiday-maker Paul Gordon told police he spotted the man outside the two-bedroom flat’s patio doors while his own two children were sleeping inside. Kate and Gerry McCann believe their daughter’s abductor crept into the apartment through the same patio doors, which they left unlocked so they and their friends could check on their sleeping children during their now infamous dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant”

Unlocked doors… Abroad… Children… No key?

“The man claimed to be collecting money for an orphanage in the mountains and Mr Gordon told detectives he left him alone near the doors while he went to find money to give him. In those few minutes the stranger could have studied the lay-out of the apartment and even checked on locks and security arrangements inside, police fear”

Or not… But Metodo 3 are investigating. And then there is Karen Sixsmith, who opened her door to Jehovah’s witnesses. Read about her brush with danger here

THE SUN: “PAL LIED FOR MURAT”

Murat’s lawyer says: “The friend was caught by surprise and tried to defend Robert. He ended up prejudicing him, because this fact is not true”

And: “Meanwhile it emerged a family who rented the flat before the McCanns told police a creepy man posing as a charity collector appeared on their patio”

Creepy?

So he was not collecting for charity, only pretending to? The other fact is that Kate and Gerry McCann are “doctors”

DAILY MIRROR: “I SAW ‘STALKER’ BY MADDY APARTMENT – Tourist raises paedo fears”

Paul Gordon is pictured. Or at least his back is. And the hood brought up over his head. He is made to look less like a witness than a suspect. Why show this picture?

He gave his statement “several times”, including one sworn statement. He gave his fingerprints and DNA samples. So maybe the police did look closely at his statement, after all?

DAILY STAR: “MURAT’S DOUBLE – Pal is mistaken for Madeleine suspect”

Was it Robert Murat those nine (Sun) witnesses saw the night Madeleine McCann disappeared? Or was it David Payne, the McCanns’ medical friend? The Star has a picture of both men. Add some more hair to Mr Payne’s head and you have a likeness.

Says a source: “What is baffling is that Mr Payne’s own wife and two of his friends are among those who claim to have seen Mr Murat outside the McCanns’ apartment that night. Mrs Payne may not have known Mr Murat well but you’d think a wife would recognise her own husband”

So when she says she saw Murat, it would be unlikely she actually saw her husband?

Madeleine McCann: The endless speculation 

Posted: 7th, January 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann. Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0