Madeleine McCann: The First Robert Murat, McCanns’ Neglect Charge And Old Portugal
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “MCCANNS FACE NEW CHARGE
EXCLUSIVE SCANDAL OF PLAN TO CHARGE MADDIE MUM ‘KEYSTONE COP’ FURY”
A shock new plan to charge Kate McCann over daughter Maddie’s kidnap was last night condemned as “spiteful and shameful”. British legal experts branded bungling Portuguese detectives “Keystone Cops” for considering neglect charges.
But are these comedy cops the only ones who think the McCanns erred?
One lawyer said: “After an inquiry costing millions and unprecedented international help, these Keystone Cops still haven’t got a clue what happened to Madeleine. The investigation was a mess from Day One.”
Says McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell: “We haven’t heard through official channels if they are considering this charge. But you’d have to ask yourself, ‘Why now?’”
Or why not now?
MAIL ON SUNDAY: “Madeleine special investigation: The damning case against the Portuguese police - and how Kate and Gerry are coping one year on”
At the holiday home where Madeleine was last seen:
The apartment gate was padlocked, but in the little paved front yard, a purple hibiscus and some dusty geraniums were coming into bloom. The Algarve spring is finally coming.”
Such are the facts in this special investigation.
“It’s a new season,” said a British woman who works in a local restaurant. “It’s tragic they haven’t found Maddie. But the time has come to move on.”
Moving on:
Of course, moving on is one thing Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, cannot do. They remain arguidos, official suspects, - as does Robert Murat, a British expat living in Praia da Luz who has strenuously protested his innocence - still supposedly being investigated on the grounds that they may have caused her death or disappearance.
“Intellectually, they have grasped what has happened,” said Gerry’s elder brother, John. “Emotionally, they have learnt, to an extent, to cope: one’s psychology adapts. But they haven’t really come to terms with it. There are times when they can seem cheerful, but then the devastation bursts through. Madeleine’s disappearance is a cataclysm that is horrendous for them, and horrendous for all of us close to them.”
“It’s an intense, full-on existence for both of them,” said the McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell. “Gerry is back at work [as a cardiologist] full-time, but when he gets home the campaign to find Madeleine is like having a second job.”
And what of Portugal, Britain’s oldest ally?
“You have to remember: until 1974 Portugal was a dictatorship,” said a veteran Algarve journalist, who asked not to be named. “That was the climate in which the PJ was created. Their methods were pretty rough.”
Rough?
Brutal treatment of suspects was routine. One expatriate British woman told me how a friend of her mother had been arrested in the late Eighties on suspicion of breaking and entering a house - only to be savagely beaten in custody.
“She was bruised all over her body. Of course, the police said they hadn’t done anything, and were never called to account,” the woman said.
Rough. Very rough:
“This is Heartbeat country,” another expat said.
Heartbeat, Why do you miss when my baby kisses me? Greengrass - take him to the ‘pit’
“People talk to the police, and so often they think they know who’s guilty, but can’t prove it. So they make an arrest and turn up the pressure in the hope of getting a confession.”
Portugal. A place of rare dangers:
Thirty miles east of Praia da Luz lies the resort of Albufeira, where a collection of clifftop villas known as Val Novio was once a thriving development, favoured by British expats. Now largely abandoned, it was there, on November 19, 1990, that Rachel Charles, aged nine, went missing.
Neil McKay, a Bafta-winning TV scriptwriter who has specialised in factual dramas about crime, was on holiday nearby with his father at the time. “We were sitting in a bar having a beer one evening,” he recalled.
“This English guy came in, saying a little girl had disappeared two days earlier but the police were refusing to mount a proper search. He said her family wanted every British tourist or expat to meet on the beach at seven next morning to try to find her.
“So we went. There must have been more than 200 of us. Tragically, it didn’t take long to find her body, hidden among some pines.”
Those Portuguese police:
Len Port, now an Algarve publisher who covered the case for The Portugal News, said: “The police search was highly inefficient, as, frankly, was everything else about the case. The way the police handled it was desperately amateurish - and ultimately, a travesty of justice.”
Just as they would later do with the McCanns, the PJ soon hit on a suspect who knew the victim and her family. But according to Port, who attended his trial, it had “no real evidence. It was an unjust trial”.
Robert Murat:
The defendant was Michael Cook, a British expat businessman who had taken part in the search, and in 1992 he was convicted and sentenced to 19 years. Having protested his innocence, he was released in 2002. Last week, he told of his ordeal for the first time.
“This has ruined my life,” he said. “I still carry the scars from the six times I was stabbed in prison; as for the times I had the s*** kicked out of me, I long ago lost count.”
Posted: 20th, April 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,270) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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April 23rd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Why are we hearing, after a full year, that there was no monitor service at the hotel?
Strikes me as self serving justification for leaving Madeleine and her siblings alone.
And if, as they insist, that they checked on Madeleine every 30 minutes and if Gerry was outside talking after 9:15, that there was no easy way to abduct Madeleine and then also to abduct her quietly. And strangely enough, I feel that the McCanns are truly innocent and are doing as much as they can to find her. Sooo I can’t help but think that– Madeleine left with someone she knew. If she was crying the previous night it would be easy to promise her to take her to her parents. So it could be anyone who heard the cries the night before. So let’s look at nearby residents or the Tapas group of friends closely.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:11 am
I would like to know how putting the Mccann’s in prison and away from the other 2 children, (without any evidence) is going to help… This child is still missing and I feel the Mccanns have put a great amount of effort in, to try and find her, much more than the Shannon Matthews fiasco.
Plus this did not happen in England but Portugal so why should this be compared to the Shannon Matthews case, and why her mother is being charged. I think you will find that she would be safer inside as the public would like to show her what they think of her. I know some of you just write stupid comments on this site to get a bite, but some are just really silly.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:37 pm
1266 Watcher
For all her sins, at least Karen had the decency to admit to her crime and show remorse. IMO, the Mccons covered their wrong doings so well, probably in a way the Karen wouldnt even dream of. Dont worry, their day will come,i am sure of that.
April 21st, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Everyone can see that the McCanns were not holidaying with their children, but in spite of their children. They were all too eager to please themselves, which necessitated the dumping of their children at the care points in the day time, and leaving their children to cry at evening meal & drinking times so that they could be unencumbered by their offspring. Why is everyone so sorry for them? They should not have had children if they saw children as an encumbrance. Even now they are travelling around without their remaining children. They have received a lot of money for their carelessness and negligence.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Karen Mathews is in prison for neglecting her child.
the McCanns are not !!!!
Why ???????
April 21st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
we live in a spoilt lazy society.
people are quite happy to sit back watching ‘reality’ tv and ignore the real reality.
we are happy to believe that our way of life is at threat from muslims/ terrorists /immigrants /teenagers because the media feed this to us every day.
but how many of you have had problems with any of the above?
have you been the victim of the terrorists they tell us are all around us ?
is your next door neighbor really a pedophile?
Is there a major crime wave in your town due to eastern European immigrants?
NO
you are being lied to every day by the tabloids..
the mirror
the star
the mail
the express
the sun
the telegraph
the sport
all these papers are full of racist lies and hatred .
not news.
what is worrying is that the opinions promoted in these papers are nothing more than propaganda. the sort of thing you would expect to read in a bnp pamphlet.
but this is not a bnp pamphlet it is the popular press!
this is very worrying.
we need to wake up before its too late!
April 21st, 2008 at 11:21 am
1255 Matt
Nothing would surprise me! I would be surprised if the David Cameron is accepting much from Archer these days - but then again, as I keep saying, nothing surprises me! Archer certainly does not come from a similar background to Cameron - I doubt they have much in common. Neither does Archer’s wife impress me. In my opinion, no political party should want to associate with them. I am somewhat horrified that Cameron has decided to embrace Aitken and I have been meaning to write to him on this subject. However, on balance, I think a shift of government to a Conservative one would benefit most of us more than many people realise at the moment. And I do hope that Boris Johnson gets a chance to change London a bit. Am I living in cloud cuckoo land? Maybe, but things are not good at the moment with the present lot.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:20 am
Logic
I remember having read that crimes are proportionnally inverse to the level of studies, according to statistics. In short, stretching one’s intelligence prevents you from being a criminal.
That is how class can be related to crime. It isn’t so much the money. It is the ability to solve problems, which requires an aptitude to take a certain number of data -variable data- into consideration.
What adds to the problem, is that in poorer areas, children aren’t taught to deal with frustration in the same way. Peter Mac explained it very well in some of his posts. The pleasure principle (I must get what I want now), is prevailing over the principle of reality (If I accept not to have it now, I’ll get something better later). It doesn’t prepare children to become successfull in life by accepting frustrations, like working instead of playing, studying instead of watching TV etc…
It is a vicious circle, and of course, the victims are inflicting it upon themselves, but out of control over their own life rather than willingly, IMO.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:18 am
I don’t understand why so many people have such a hard time accepting that there is good and bad in all classes and creeds. This is a fact which cannot be denied
YES
but the poor burn at the stake while the wealthy get away with murder
April 21st, 2008 at 11:13 am
JuneJohnson 1247
Thank you for that information which I do find reassuring.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:10 am
Karen Mathews jailed
McCans free
Can anyone give me a reason for this?????
They left 3 children - babies - alone night after night and then returned to the uk minus one child.
nothing has been done
why???
April 21st, 2008 at 11:08 am
1239 Gandolf
Very good answer I must say.
Yet I think it was his duty to give the green light or not. In those times, there was no separation of justice and government. So, as he put the problem in a philosophical way : “What is truth?, he washed his hands off his reponsibility, knowing that the man was innocent. He didn’t fight for the truth to prevail, he turned it into a philosophical debate. A nihilist before his time, in a way.
If truth can be seen in different ways, it is no longer the truth, IMO. What can be seen in different ways, is the interpretation of the truth.
I know our little discussion has little to do with the present case. I just wanted to point out that there are some indisputable facts in it, and that the local police are entitled to examine them in the light of the local law. A trial would decide if the charges are relevant.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:06 am
1245 Marie Nicholas
I totally agree - there are still great inequalities between the sexes. And of course, money will always harness power, and people of lesser intelligence and inferior education will usually have a harder time achieving what they deserve. But many posters are simply equating money with the middle/upper classes and lack of it with the working classes, when this is often clearly not the case. People in council housing often have more disposable income than those struggling to pay a mortgage. Likewise, criminals who gain wealth by their criminal activities do not become upper class.
I don’t understand why so many people have such a hard time accepting that there is good and bad in all classes and creeds. This is a fact which cannot be denied.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:04 am
1244…Logic
I think it was a Conservative Party Fund Raising bash.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:01 am
1244…Logic
Class distinction is operated also by none other than the Inland Revenue.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:57 am
new thread
April 21st, 2008 at 10:56 am
hello SC46
April 21st, 2008 at 10:55 am
Sc46
HI !
by hand or by drugs?
April 21st, 2008 at 10:54 am
HI Nosey - hope you are feeling better
April 21st, 2008 at 10:54 am
1244..Logic
No…I was concerned that you seemed to consider her guilty without evidence
….and at the time there was nothing to actually suggest that she may have been complicit. The fact that it has turned out that she may be complicit…is neither here
nor there….her life-style itself did not necessarily suggest that she was actually guilty.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:53 am
1212 BF
Manslaughter `
April 21st, 2008 at 10:53 am
Lyn and Logic
I worked with a small animal charity for a number of years, and it was very obvious if children suffered neglect and cruelty so did the pets and vice versa.
Its now customary for the SS to call animal charities in to rescue pets if the SS have had to rescue children.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:53 am
1139 the watcher
“…I do not think Karen Mathews will enjoy the same love from the public. because she is an ordinary person with no money.”
Sorry, but I disagree.
She is not an ordinary person. She is an example of the very worst in our society. She does/did no work, but she had huge amounts of money given to her by you and by me, via the state. £400 a week was quoted. She also was living with a man who was in employment. £16.000 was quoted. So she was in receipt of over £36.000 p.a Much of it tax free.
And at the same time she was being given computers, again by a benevolent state
This is the sort of thing which angers decent hard working people.
what angers me is that the british public are so quick to believe the rubbish they read in the tabloids,
Look at Karen Mathews
does she look like a wealthy person?
is she an example of the very worst of our society?
No
she is a victim of tabloid journalism and has no way of fighting back.
the stories about people scrounging off the state are told to you by papers owned by millionaires who’s papers are full of rubbish about how your existence is threatened by immigrants and terrorists.
You dont know the truth.
the rich are making a fortune out of the very things they tell you in the papers.
then they demonise the people they have created.
WAKE UP
April 21st, 2008 at 10:52 am
Logic 1233
Of course K M isn’t representative of her class.
But it is true people are better treated when they are handsome, and when they are articulate, and when they have clout. They are more easily given the benefit of doubt. And their sins are considered less ugly than the sins of ugly people.
I stil have a very old Penguin Book about psychology explaining that experiments show how easier it is to have good ethics if you are handsome.
Yet, since a better behaviour is unconsciously expected form women, they will be criticised for things they do which just seem normal for a man. According to statistics, women are much less criminal (in numbers) than men, their accidents on the roads are less lethal, the criminal population is more male than female. So a criminal woman is considered a monster when a man doing the same thing is just considered an ordinary criminal.
Things might change, and the amount of criminal women rise!
April 21st, 2008 at 10:50 am
1237 Matt
I don’t know about Archer attending Shirley’s dinner party. Wouldn’t surprise me. Maybe it was her farewell party before she escaped from the country for allegedly embezzling millions of pounds from Westminster Council!
However, I think these people looked after their children in an OK manner. Apart from the stress of having their parents in trouble with the law!
I despise these people more than I can tell you.
You accused me of being “against” Karen Matthews right from the beginning, yet any fair-minded person could see quite well what the likely scenario was. How unfair for children like Shannon that they have to suffer because people choose to believe that their parents are lovely people because they are poor. Remember all the other abused children in the care homes and religious establishments, who complained but weren’t believed.
Class distinction is truly alive and well in the UK, well and truly perpetuated by the so-called “working” classes themselves.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:40 am
1242
agw
Since you appear to be deliberately misunderstanding CSN let me repeat:
—————
Sorry i wasn’t deliberately misunderstanding
I really didn’t know
Administrator. Well, that’s cleared that up then. -agw
April 21st, 2008 at 10:38 am
Since you appear to be deliberately misunderstanding CSN let me repeat:
Suggestions needed?
Here’s one which may help. Get on with the debate within the site and leave others to their own. We couldn’t care less about the views expressed or the trial and tribulations in other places. We have enough to do here. If you clutter our table, it will be cleared. Otherwise, welcome back to the fold.
In other words, leave other sites to get on with their own affairs…we are not and do not wish to be associated with them.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:38 am
1235 Lyn
April 21st, 2008 at 10:37 am
1231
Garth
Maybe …
Let’s trust the Brits police
April 21st, 2008 at 10:37 am
Marie Nicholas, as I stated, truth is perceived in many different ways, Pilate washing his hands was in fact him putting the problem where it belonged, no political interference so to speak.
Rather like history is written by the victors, but even that is not strictly true anymore, the PC mob must see that it does not offend the vanquished.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:37 am
Brandon
I can’ t see the logic of the mcc’s admitting to leaving the children to cover up for an accidental death while they weren’t there.
so if they are covering something up it is more likely to be Brandon’s scenario…