| Madeleine McCann: Robert Murat ‘Cleared’, Maddy’s Bedroom And ‘No Case’ Against McCanns

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

SUNDAY PEOPLE: “IT’S NOT HIM! - EXCLUSIVE MADDIE DETECTIVES FORCED TO ADMIT THEY’VE NO CASE”

Portuguese cops hand back Murat’s seized computers Arguido status set to be dropped Family demands apology for ‘unfair’ smears against dad

Robert Murat is no longer a suspect. Robert Murat is longer a suspect?

Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat was last night sensationally CLEARED of snatching the four-year-old. The ex-pat Brit has suffered ten months of torment after being named an arguido by Portuguese police.

Robert Murat is no longer a suspect. The Sunday People has the facts.

Only: “Last night relatives called on investigators to formally lift his arguido status.”

Robert Murat is still a suspect. Read all about it.

Murat’s ex-wife Dawn says: “There are a lot of weird people out there and if something happens to one innocent child they think ‘An eye for an eye’. They want to hurt another innocent child - my daughter. I’m constantly on the lookout for anything suspicious or anyone paying her attention.”

It’s “every parent’s worst nightmare”, says she. It’s not at all pleasant. But scream “paedo” and this is how people who care deeply for children react.

Dawn told how the “worst moment” came when a newspaper compared him to Soham murderer Ian Huntley. School caretaker Huntley, 33, openly joined the hunt for missing ten-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in 2002.

EXPRESS: “Kidnapping has weird echoes of Soham case - MADDY SUSPECT BEHAVED JUST LIKE HUNTLEY.”

BBC: Says Robert Murat:

“It is a very positive sign, there’s no doubt about that whatsoever. Why would they return something if it was in the middle of being investigated in any way, shape or form? We are very happy to have the computers back, and I hope I will have my arguido status dropped very shortly.”

SUNDAY EXPRESS: “Kate and Gerry MCann Sorry”

Another day, and another front-page apology. How many times can the Express say sorry to the McCanns? And does saying sorry lead to an increase in sales?

SUNDAY PEOPLE: “Tapas 7: new quiz - EXCLUSIVE MADDIE DETECTIVES FORCED TO ADMIT THEY’VE NO CASE ‘LAST HOPE ‘ FOR COPS”

What a day it is for The Sunday People: Murat no longer a suspect; case against McCann dropped. The People scoops the rest.

The Tapas Seven face fresh questioning next month as cops launch a last ditch attempt to solve the Madeleine McCann mystery.

No longer the newspapers’ “Tapas Nine”.

Portuguese detectives will fly to Britain on April 7 after winning permission from public prosecutors to quiz the seven pals who were at a tapas bar with Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry when the four-year-old disappeared.

But what of the headline that police have “no case”?

A source revealed: “Police had prepared various questions they wanted to ask Kate and Gerry. “But the prosecutors felt it was a waste of time because the McCanns would refuse to answer the questions - a right that Portuguese law grants official suspects.”

And the exclusive about the headline about there being “no case”?

Kate and Gerry, both 39, of Rothley, Leics, deny involvement in the disappearance and believe the new move will show they have no case to answer.

Such are the facts. No speculation in the Sunday People. No room for a libel payout.

Comfort of the room that’s frozen in time

Madeleine McCann’s parents have kept their daughter’s bedroom exactly as it was before she disappeared…Kate still sits quietly there every night and prays. And they have vowed never to move from the house in Rothley, Leics, until they know what happened to Maddie.

And we’re back to being voyeurs, peeking inside the room of a missing child. Voyeurs.

Her bed sheets and patterned duvet remaining unchanged and her clothes are still hanging in the wardrobe and neatly folded in a chest of drawers. Kate has refused to hand down the clothes to Maddie’s three-year-old sister Amelie who bears a striking resemblance to her.

But this is not speculation. This is fact.

Gerry’s mum Eileen McCann said: “At one time the door to Madeleine’s room remained closed. But now the twins go in and play. Kate and Gerry don’t want to shut them out. The whole family feels closer to Madeleine by being in her bedroom.”

As do tabloid readers.

DAILY MIRROR: “Maddie cops fly to Britain”

By Lori Campbell – the hack who fingered Murat as creepy and then told everyone about her scoop.

Portuguese police are set to fly to the UK on April 7 in a bid to solve the Madeleine McCann mystery. Detectives have agreed the date with British police and are prepared to spend up to two months in Britain.

And on it goes…

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY: “Dani Garavelli: End of the paper trial”

We seem to hold a patrician view of newspaper editors as custodians of public morality when they are in fact businessmen trying to supply the needs of their market. Of course, they have a duty to uphold the law, but they cannot help but be influenced by the prevailing mood, and the prevailing mood last autumn was spiteful. Indeed the vitriol heaped on the McCanns by the Express group paled in comparison to that expressed in internet threads devoted to the subject. It’s a cliche, but like most cliches, it has a kernel of truth: we get the press we deserve.

Indeed. But the prevailing mood was not universally spiteful. It was also mawkish, ghoulish and voyeuristic. And it still is.

GUARDIAN: “Liverpool heeds ‘boycott Express’ call”

Roy Greenslade writes:

I also came across an Echo story filed the day before, Madeleine McCann family: Thank you to everyone for your support, in which Kate’s mother, Sue Healy, registered her disapproval of “most sensational and the most ridiculous” stories run by the Express and the Star.

She said: “Terrible things were written… I know journalists are under pressure but we need to take a stand now. Editors need to sit down and think, ‘If this was my family, would I print this? Is there any truth in it?… I always think of the [Liverpool] Echo as in a different league to the others. You’re our sort of people. I don’t think anything I’ve ever said to the Echo has been misquoted and I don’t think it ever will be.”

Says Greenslade: “As so often, local and regional papers treat people considerably better than the national titles.”

Less competition for sales…

THE INDEPENDENT: “Why, in the world of newspapers, sorry seems to be the largest word”

By guest editor Elton John, compiled by Joy Lo Dico

Amazing as it may seem, given the events of the past week, libel was much bigger business in the last century. Now actions are on the wane, says media lawyer Mark Stephens. “A lot of celebrities who realised the repetition of and longevity of trials weren’t worth it.” But even when there isn’t a libel case to scare the papers, a few straight facts can have a similar effect – as we show here.

In “SEVEN BIG CLIMBDOWNS” - including:

‘The Observer’ – MMR, front page, 8 July 2007

The paper claimed a Cambridge research team had supposedly found a rise in the prevalence of autism to one in every 58 people, and claimed two of the researchers had linked this to the MMR jab. Unfortunately, it ran the story off a study that had yet to analyse its data or reach formal conclusions. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, head of the study, said The Observer had been “irresponsible” and and no link between MMR and autism had been verified. The paper has removed the article from its archive.

George Galloway v ‘The Daily Telegraph’ – 22 April 2003

In the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, the paper’s foreign correspondent, David Blair, found documents apparently from the office of the head of Iraqi intelligence saying that the then Labour MP had received money from Saddam Hussein’s regime through the oil-for-food programme. Galloway denied this, questioned the documents’ authenticity and sued. The Daily Telegraph argued that publishing the documents was in the public interest, but was criticised by the judge for not merely adopting the allegations but for having “embraced them with relish and fervour”. Galloway was awarded damages of £150,000.

The ‘Daily Star’ v Materazzi, July 2007

In the 2006 World Cup final, French captain Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italian defender Marco Materazzi. The Daily Star ran a front-page picture with a speech bubble, showing Materazzi calling Zidane’s mother a “terrorist whore”. The Italian sued successfully over the implication he was racist, winning undisclosed damages and an apology from the paper.

The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann - Read All About It

Share and Enjoy:

Posted: 23rd, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann. Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0

276 Responses to “Madeleine McCann: Robert Murat ‘Cleared’, Maddy’s Bedroom And ‘No Case’ Against McCanns”

âde Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:05 am
up early…
âde Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 am
two
âde Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 am
and three
âde Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 am
no comment from the comical one
interesting
is he on holiday?
we should be told
Chloe Spain Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
Morning âde.

Can’t stay - have to work.

Maybe I’m not reading right but I can’t for the life of me see why returning Murat’s computers means that the PJ have no case against the McCanns.
âde Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 am
mornin’ chloe
i’m busy today too so can’t stay too long
agreed - it’s like the mcconns live in a parallel universe where everything has a direct connection with their fantasies
very amusing
Chloe Spain Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:23 am
And why does the headine say that the PJ say they have no case when the text apparently says that the McCanns say there is no case?

The prosecutor’s reasons for not allowing the McCanns to be questioned -that they would probably refuse to answer- appears to suggest that they certainly do have a case.

A different question, of course, is that they can make it stick in court.

And, furthermore, if they have no case, what are they going to ask the Tapas 7?

Ridiculous - and amusing if we weren’t talking about a missing child.
âde Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Dani Garavelli: End of the paper trial
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/12700/Dani-Garavelli-End-of-the.3906433.jp

this is quite interesting to read and brings up some good points about the appalling standards of reporting from the uk gutter press in this circus
seems to me some of the hacks have been sickened by the blatant mcconn tabloid support as much as the bloggers - including garavelli
seems like it has been the editors applying the pro-mcconn pressure
well it’s all getting out of control now anyway…
excellent sport
âde Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
7 Chloe Spain
Ridiculous - and amusing if we weren’t talking about a missing child.

agreed about having a case…
is there a missing child?
i’d almost forgotten.
do we know her name?
is her name mentioned much any more, apart from in the past (or is that passed) tense?
it seems now to be just about making money and “clearing names”
so sad…
âde Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:32 am
lift arriving
off out to get a blister on me little finger… (dire straits)
have fun
Chloe Spain Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:33 am
Bye âde.

Yes, I agree. Madeleine herself has paled into insignificance.
coolandcalm Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 am
Happy Easter to Everyone. Wishing you all lots of eggs but no chucking up!! It’s snowing hard and fast here in Essex and cats are bewildered. I don’t mind either way as I have to closet myself away and work.
……………….
Back to MMC.

Why would the Portugese Police need to spend two months in Britain?
Blimey… it’s just a hop away, hardly across the world. What’s wrong with commuting? weird!
Though maybe they’ve heard about the Easyjet cattle trucks!

I do sincerely hope that Murat sues the press etc. Some of the stuff about him was quite vile and based on complete bigotry and innuendo. How dare someone have a wonky eye and live with his mother??

Rumour has it (sorry Will!) that they will all be cleared before the summer.
Tourism has been badly affected in PDL. Maybe the residents (locals and ex-pats) don’t mind not having the invasion but the business people and hoteliers are tearing their hair out.
Friends of mine who have a villa near Robert Murat’s (!!) say that this is the first time in 15 years they have no paid bookings for the summer. (They live there in the winter).

I guess it will remain a mystery until a body is found (IMO)
jo Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
I do hope Murat s the mccanns

Mods and Admin

Why?
Maria Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:47 am
coolandcalm

Happy Easter!

Like you, I hope Murat sues. He was made an arguido several months before the McCanns so I suppose the time for review is due.

Odd that they are not going to reinterview the McCanns, in my view. Do they assume the friends will tell the truth but the McCanns would rely on their right to refuse to answer?! Or is it simply, as Ferdinand suggested yesterday, that the McCanns have already been interviewed to death? Is it even true that the public prosecutor said it would be a waste of time to reinterview them?!!

Did you read the Scotsman article (link from ade)? Excellent from all sorts of points of view.

Enjoy work!
Gandolf Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:51 am
It’s a bit like when they hang an innocent man or bang someone up for ever, who is innocent, it means the guilty party is still out there. But that probably wont matter to the pea brains, whose only goal in life is to get the McCanns, guilty or not. Strange sad people. I just hope that justice prevails and the guilty get their come uppance, who ever they are.
just_me Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:52 am
for anyone who missed this last night……
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj15/just_meme5/easter.jpg
jo Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:52 am
“But legal experts warned the former property consultant, who has a daughter who lives with his ex-wife in Britain, will not be cleared while her parents remain arguidos”

oh yes?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=505826&in_page_id=1770
jo Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:52 am
I hope Murat sues them

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=505443&in_page_id=1770
jo Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 am
16
just_me
Morning Just

Excellent!!!
Cant find anything in the news about Murat
coolandcalm Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 am
Yes maria… I read the features. Very interesting.
I remember reading ages ago that the PJ were not interested in the McCanns going back to PDL. Said they had nothing more to ask them. PJ leak? don’t know. That was when the leaks were coming thisck and fast.

Jo… why would Murat sue the mcCanns? they never said any of that stuff about him… a lot of the rumours were started in the very beginning by the PJ and also some of his friends who gave endless interviews to Sky back last May.
coolandcalm Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
Gandolph 15… agree absolutely. well said.
just_me Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:57 am
Hi Jo, All I can find online is this - http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXWwc-fidEq3vihNZdKFUatwiT4g
DCB Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
“…As the Portuguese police pointed an accusatory finger at Kate and Gerry, the papers published damning ‘revelations’ as if they were the fruits of their journalistic endeavour rather than round-the-watercooler gossip. So long as someone, somewhere had said it – even if that someone was a blogger regurgitating the thoughts of other bloggers – it was deemed worthy of publication. The consequence was the repetition of false allegations and a raft of irreconcilable reports (Maddie was snatched to order/ Maddie died of a drugs overdose/ Maddie woke up and fell down stairs) on the front pages of rival newspapers on the same day, or in the same newspaper on consecutive days….”
jo Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:17 am
About the car blow

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Des méthodes criminelles

L’incendie de la voiture de Sergey Malinka et les mouchards GPS sous les voitures de Robert Murat et Michaela Walczuch sont pris très au sérieux par la Police Judiciaire qu’y voit des méthodes criminelles et à ouvert deux enquêtes parallèles au dossier Madeleine McCann.

Ce n’est pas la premiére fois que les inspecteurs ont connaissance de l’existence de pressions, intimidations et menaces à l’encontre de plusieurs témoins.
Les journalistes ne sont pas exception et divers professionnels ont été la cible de méthodes similaires.
Selon une source de la police, les mouchards GPS placés sous les voitures de Robert Murat et de Michaela Walczuch, n’ont pas été placées par aucun service ou departement des autorités portugaises et les appareils ont été achetés au départ de l’Espagne.

“Sergey Malinka”s car blow up and the GPS under R.Murat and M.Walczuch are taken very seriously by the PJ who see CRIMINAL METHOD and has opened 2 parallel investigations to the Madeleine McCann”s case
This is not the first time the PJ has been made aware of pressure against witnesses.
Journalists are no exception and various professionals have been the trarget of similar methods
According to a police source,the GPS put under R.MUrat and M.Walczuch have not been installed by the PJ and have been bought in spain”
PeterMac Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
Perhaps one his ‘arguido’ status is lifted a decent journalist can ask Mr Murat whether he knew Gerry.
That might be very interesting.
As might a whole lot of other questions to which Mr Murat clearly knows some of the answers from his position so close to the PJ in the early stages.

I hope Max C is writing the exclusive at this moment.
coolandcalm Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
Petermac 25………………. But Murat’s lawyer said at a press conference that Robert Murat denied categorically that he had ever met, or had anything to do with either of the McCanns or any of the witnesses before May 4th. (it was on TV etc but I’m not one of the manic clip savers!)
Surely Murat wouldn’t take a chance on saying that and then being proved to be lying? would that put his arguido status back on?

Another rumour in PDL is that Malinka is also an arguido as is Murat’s girl-friend.
Apparently the PJ do not give this information out… it has to come from the Arguido as it did from the McCanns family and Murats mother.

Who knows? all very bewildering.
jo Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
just_me
Thanks for the link

23
DCB
I found a similar article in the spanish media EL pais newspaper -02-10-2007-which I translated along with others.

It says ” The tension between PJ and mccanns continues to be fed through the media.
The PJ reminded the media,yesterday,that Madeleine”s parents are SUSPECTS in the death and occultation of Madeleine”s body as well as simulation of kidnapping,a crime punished by 1 year of jail accordingly to portuguese law.
The PJ insist on saying the abduction theory is discarded but admit they still do not know how Madeleine died”

Why would they come to the uk?to have an english breakfast?
can't say no Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:32 am
I hope Murat now ,talk everything
Even with all the threats
They have scared the witnesses against them ,and Murat making a move against the Mcc ,would be a good exemple
can't say no Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
And I hope he sues the Brits papers ,that called him all those weird names
jo Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:38 am
PeterMac

I think Murat has been made arguido to stop him to talk etc…just a preventive measure as I am sure he knows “too much” about the mccanns
Speculating