Madeleine McCann Gets Cracker Princess Diana Treatment
MORE news on Madeleine McCann. No, she’s not been found. No, someone has not been charged with her kidnap.
The Express will not let something so recherché as news impact upon its coverage of the missing child.
“MADELEINE,” says the headline across its front page:
Specially trained British police fly in
Portuguese detectives have cancelled all leave
Investigation at critical stage.
Madeleine McCann is getting the Princess Diana treatment. Each day brings more speculation and the promise of something different, or at least a new theory and with it a reason to show Madeleine.
Readers can deal with each point in turn. First up, “Cracker-style” psychologists are heading over to the Algarve. They will try to establish a likely “psychological profile” for Madeleine’s “kidnapper”. Cracker is, of course, the obese, sweaty-necked TV cop. The Express thinks nothing of merging true crime with TV drama. Both sell newspapers.
Of course, British police have already been in Portugal. Back in May, the Sun cheered as British coppers journeyed to the Algarve, including Detective Superintendent Graham Hill, attached to the Child Exploitation and Protection Centre. Hill was on the case. The Portuguese cops, branded as bungling, were ignorant of paedophile-panic. Hill and the British tabloid press would teach them.
And British police have helped the investigation. They have interviewed 490 holidaymakers who were in the resort of Praia da Luz when “the kidnap” took place. More than 2,500 inquires have been processed.
These new Crackers are “experts in the predatory behaviour of paedophiles and child abusers.” They have helped police catch “serious sex offenders”.
And now they are over there. But with paedo-panic cranked right up, British defences are depleted.
(The Times brings news: “Rise in number of sex offenders ‘is swamping supervision service’.” The story is accompanied by a picture of a man watching a child on a swing. Police officers have lost track of 322 registered sex offenders. The sex offender watchlist has been amended to include: outraging public decency, theft, burglary with intent, child abduction and harassment where it could be proved that the crime was sexually motivated.)
The Parents
But the McCann investigation is at a critical stage, says the Express, something it has been telling us for weeks. We should let them go. The McCanns need them more than we do, for now.
And here come Kate and Gerry McCann, living what we are told is every parent’s worst nightmare – a nightmare the British press feed.
The Express hears reports that the McCanns’ relationship is under strain. But it says this is not so. “Gerry adores Kate, and she adores him,” says Madeleine’s grandmother, Eileen McCann.
Gerry McCann is dropping his sister Trisha off at the airport. It is an “emotional farewell”. Eileen McCann says Kate McCann is “really down”.
The Express watches her pass. It shows readers her face. Is she cracking up? The Express zooms in. It cares about the McCanns. It wants to show readers the truth.
So we look. But we see no change…
Posted: 31st, July 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (188) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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August 5th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Do they expect to find her up in a tree for goodness sake ?!?
August 4th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
And now this search of Murat’s garden, cutting trees down…this sounds ominous. They’re planning to do this for four days, and the result of the Belgian DNA test will be back next week, so it sounds like something is going to come to light very soon. Just pray that the sighting in Belgium was her and that she’ll be found asap, and not that this search of Murat’s garden will have a terrible result.
August 4th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
It’s because the suspicion grows only gradually, and there are literally millions and millions of little blonde girls out there in cafes with their parents and you could be considered a paedophile yourself if you start haranguing people about their children.
On the other hand, with the prevalence of mobile phones with cameras, why not unobtrusively take a picture? But then you still have to do something..
I would have thought the absolute best thing to do would be watch them, following them in necessary, until you see them get into a car. Then, being really careful not to arouse suspicion, take the reg number and only then call the police, because you don’t want to lose precious time when you might lose sight of them. Once the police have the car reg, and the owners of the car have no idea the police have the car reg, it should be a fairly simple matter to find out who they are, if not where they are.
Now it’s all over the news, if it is her all the people have to do is dump the car, get another one, dye Madeleine’s hair and disappear to another country. It’s so frustrating when it could have been so easy to catch them.
I read one report that said the couple basically ran off once they realised they were being checked out, which makes it sound as if it really was Madeleine. So now the mistake of not doing the above becomes even more tragic.
August 4th, 2007 at 12:39 am
Hi guys, great comments on here lately but please forgive my ignorance when I say I just don’t GET people out there who say they’re sure they’ve seen Madeleine. She was in a restaurant obviously sitting down and from what people are saying, it was a waitress that suspected it was her? All anybody has to do is get close enough to the child to see if she has that thing in her eye. That would not be difficult for any waitress to do seeing as they can make the excuse to go to the people’s table and somehow just get the child to look up at them for goodness sake. If a kidnapper still has her out there in public then sure they can change her outward appearance but the one thing they cannot do anything about is the mark that clearly runs through one of her eyes. I’ve stood a few feet away from children in shopping malls for example and have had them look at me and you can see directly into their eyes no problem. I don’t see why people aren’t doing that at the moment they think they see her. They’re obviously able to get close enough to her to suspect it’s her so what the ?!?
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Yes you’d think they could get the result quicker than that, unless there’s a queue they have to legally stick to no matter what the circumstances. But you’d think if the queue consisted of paternity cases or anything else less urgent, they could make this one a priority. I don’t know how it works. Does anyone here know?
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:35 pm
I read the results will be in next week. Next week? Do they have to simmer it in a crock pot for a week? I know with the technology there is today, there is no way DNA results would take a week to conclude. At least not if it were made priority. My hope is that they are pacifying the “audience” in saying a week to buy time if it does result it is her so they do not have to reveal the results and can try to recover her.
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Yes, maybe it really is her because they’ve noted striking similarities with the other possible sighting in Belgium? On the other hand it could be two sightings of the same girl who strongly resembles Madeleine but isn’t her. I wish DNA test results could come out quicker; lets hope they’re quickly checking all the cars with that reg.
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Also, the waitress was fairly young (21?) and nothing against young people but if Madeleine is mature acting, (and in some pictures she does not look as young as 4), the waitress may have mistaken her age. Even with my own 3 soon to be 4 year old daughter, I have received suprised looks from strangers when I tell them that she is 3, she just speaks so clearly and has such a vocabulary that people assume that she is older.
August 3rd, 2007 at 3:56 pm
I completely agree with you Anna. As much as I like to know the updates on this case and as often as I look to the news for any glimmer of hope, I would much rather wait it out than to have any potential harm come to her for the sake of my curiosity.
I am hoping that it is her though, this is the first real sign of a breakthrough in a long while.
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I take it back, they got the first 3 letters of the number plate. I wonder if the Belgian police will have the wherewithal to research every single Belgian car with those three letters in the number plate? Not being a mathematician I haven’t a clue how many cars this would realistically be.
Also, the child resembling Madeleine and previously seen in Belgium was in Liege, which is in the same part of Belgium.
However, the waitress thought the child looked 5 or 6 - was Madeleine tall for her age?
Lets hope and pray it was her and that she can be tracked down. You do wonder about the wisdom of publicising part of the car reg and the danger this could pose to Madeleine if it was her.
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:45 pm
this recent supposed sighting of Madeleine - I’m afraid to say I think it’s highly unlikely to be her. For a start, surely if whoever was looking after her was going to go out and about they’d dye her hair a different colour? No one’s going to look twice at a dark-haired child or suspect it’s Madeleine, so if these people are clever enough to evade detection for this long, they’d be clever enough to disguise her.
Also, how come yet another supposed sighting involves yet another missed number plate? This is extraordinary! Surely if you thought you’d seen Madeleine you wouldn’t get up to ring the police and risk them disappearing - you’d hover about till you saw which car they got into and get the number plate down!!! One big aaarrrgh…..
The McCanns should get the message out: if you think you’ve seen her, follow them. Keep them in your sight whatever you do while discreetly phoning the police on your mobile. If they get into a car, take the number.
It isn’t rocket science.
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:08 am
I don’t think that it is a matter for prosecution as such, but it should be investigated in terms of neglect and a very clear message sent by all Child Protection Agencies that such behaviour is NOT ‘within the bounds of responsible parenting’.
Being charitable I can understand that the McCanns would prefer to think that leaving the children was ‘normal’ and that they did not contribute in any way to Madeleine’s disappearance. Denial under these circumstances is somewhat understandable… but since when does a whole Country, and official sources have to collude in maintaining one couple’s illusions? This is PC gone mad - it is quite patently irresponsible behaviour to leave young children alone and without supervision in such a manner, and it is time that the ‘Powers that be’ stood up and said so. Such a statement should be seen in terms of protecting other vulnerable children rather than villifying the McCanns… they made their bed and will have to lie on it… and the protection of other children MUST be put before the feelings of parents who wish to have their illusions validated.
Perhaps one good thing could come out of this tragic case in that UK laws specifying an age at which it is OK to leave children alone could be lobbied for and brought into being. One thing which Madeleine’s disappearance has brought sharply into focus is the woeful inadequacy of our Child Protection Laws in this area.
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:50 am
Yes, Midge, I fully agree with you.
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:30 am
I agree Anna, I think they are doing a great job keeping her profile high but leaving kids alone like that is unthinkable. I commend them for the effort for Madeleine and other missing kids but the arrogance is coming through isn’t it.
Why have the PJ said that the “cracker” team is too late? Do they mean too late to find any trace of her alive or dead? Do they know something or have they given up? Or too late to be reviewing evidence at the scene?
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:15 am
There has just been a report that Madeleine was spotted in Belgium, with a man and a woman. I pray that this is the breakthrough that they need and not just another false sighting, you can read it on SOS Madeleine.
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:08 am
I think Jeeves if you are going to prosecute parents you have to take into consideration the history of their parenting skills. Sometimes people can be lulled into a false sense of security and of course later realise that it was a bad judgement call. I live in a large Metroplis and not in the best of areas so I am overly protective as I see the potential for crime everyday. My parents on the other hand live in a remote area and rarely lock their doors. I have never been to the resort that the McCanns were on holiday at but apparently it is geared toward children. Perhaps to them it felt okay because it felt very very safe, with lots parents and kids about. Hindsight is 20/20 and I am sure the McCanns will forever regret their actions and no amount of prosecution will ever match the pain of losing their eldest daughter.
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:46 pm
I wrote a post above and it says,
midge says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
tough talk whoever edits anorak. Because people don’t agree with the slant on your news report you can choose to moderate. I haven’t seen the editors moderate any of the slanderous remarks from the posts. Pretty sad double standards.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Action speaks louder than words. If Madeleine was indeed abducted, then the McCanns have done and are continuing to do everything in their power to find her. Hindsight is 20/20. Admitting to mistakes might open the Ms up to prosecution. Their lawyers have probably advised them not to admit any liability for that reason.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Jamie Bulger’s mum took her eye off him for long enough for two boys to lead him so far away that she tragically couldn’t see him when she started looking for him. This could have been called irresponsible but nobody ever, ever criticised her for failure of duty of care.
I’m sorry but if I’d been on holiday with the McCanns and their friends I would have been the ‘wimpish’ mum who said: sorry but I can’t do it - I’m babysitting my lot. I just can’t get my head round the fact they all left their little kids like that, and have talked to people I know about it and they’ve all said the same thing. I don’t know anybody who would leave little kids alone in an apartment and go out of sight, least of all with the door open.
There was a report linked above which featured an interview with the family who stayed in the apartment before the McCanns. They said they felt insecure in the flat because it was on the end and on the ground floor, so this makes it even stranger that the McCanns didn’t feel any danger when they went out and left Madeleine and the other two.
It took me a long time to start feeling negative about the McCanns and actually I feel it more towards Gerry McCann than Kate. I just don’t like the way he’s said that what they did was normal and thousands of people would do it - well actually no they wouldn’t. Why not just come clean and say ‘we just don’t know how we could have been so stupid’? For a start, his constant justifications give out the wrong message to other parents, especially as he describes it as a one-in-a-million chance of happening. Well perhaps if more people left their babies and young children alone like that it would happen more often? He even said it could have happened if they’d been in the apartment with the children, which I think is an astonishing thing to say. If it really was an abduction by a stranger, then it’s highly likely they were being watched and their movements recorded; the abductor then pounced when they knew they could get away with it. Far too much of a coincidence to imagine the predator just struck any old apartment with children in it whether there were adults there or not.
So I think Gerry McCann has brought some of the criticism on himself by some of his attitudes, and certainly his self-justifications since Madeleine’s disappearance. Arrogance is an extremely unusual stance to take when a parent has lost a child, and the whole affair has a very strange flavour.
All you can hope is that Madeleine is safe and well somewhere and that she will be returned to her family. It’s beginning to fade from the news so is looking tragically less likely, as no new leads are coming to light, unless the long silence from the PJ signals intensive and conclusive investigations behind the scenes. Lets hope so and that there is somehow a happy outcome.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Kat, did you see my post to you further up?
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Kat says,
“It is sad, Jimmy. Terribly, terribly sad for so many reasons. And if your sadness dictates to you that you need to move away from this, then do what you need to.”
Talk about soap opera language. Kat honestly go seek help.
Kat also says,
“Disclaimer:
I am posting opinions, theories and links to information (*Kat looks up at big bold words - Opinion? What do you think! - and mutters, ’some people think they must have sole rights to expressing opinions’).”
Are you for real! I think your rantings hog 70% of the posts. And your disclaimers are a bit too late. All of a sudden you think you need to protect yourself because you know perfectly well that you have written slanderous statements all along. Really I advise you to seek help now and take Jimmy with you - you are the absolute nutcase!!!
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Oh Anna, I agree with you absolutely, they should not have done it. Definitely not. They shouldn’t have done it, I wouldn’t have done it but I can also see how it happened. Three couples all in the same block… ‘let’s take it in turns’ etc etc etc.
Wrong decision definitely, but that doesn’t mean I agree with the villification of the McCanns. Their punishment is the guilt they will have to live with forever, whatever the outcome. Even if charging them / convicting them was a possibility (which it isn’t) I doubt they would feel any more punished than they are already.
I hope it will be resolved soon. I fear Madeleine is already dead and probably was killed within a day or so although I really hope I’m wrong.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:14 pm
As for leaving children on their own, I once put a piece of metal into a socket when my mum left a room I was in for a few minutes. I had a nasty electric shock and would have been petrified if she hadn’t been to hand. I was 8 at the time, and still fail to see how 2 doctors could have left three under-4’s on their own like that and gone somewhere where they couldn’t even see the door!
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Regarding Murat, some people have said he was weird, but other people have said he’s a fantastic guy who would do anything for anyone. His ex wife looks pretty normal and if she was really upset when they split up he probably isn’t that bad - no more or less than anyone else. Without knowing him ourselves no one can really guess at what he’s like. He’s probably just a pretty regular guy.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Kat said:
Broken records declaring same will, in all future instances, be pointed in the direction of this disclaimer. Nattering midges will merely be ignored - no matter how handy they are with a Thesaurus.
Oh my… been promoted to senior dictator have you?
It would be lovely to think that when someone supports the McCanns or even Robert Murat you will keep quiet…. but is that possible? Can we now say what we like?
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:49 pm
On the new ‘Cracker’ team:
http://functionpix.com/index.php/article/Madeleine_McCann_Cracker_detectives_in_too_late_say_police/1543/
Yet another McCann comment to fuel the fire which enrages all parents who truly are responsible (from the article linked above):
“Both parents have come under increasing criticism for having left the child alone unattended for any length of time, but the parents say that they were justified in doing so because they felt that they ‘also needed a holiday’.”
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
*snerk*
Bzzzzzzzz.
Searching out singular pieces of evidence to support a rather questionable opinion is not providing a full picture.
Disclaimer:
I am posting opinions, theories and links to information (*Kat looks up at big bold words - Opinion? What do you think! - and mutters, ’some people think they must have sole rights to expressing opinions’).
I have not entirely, in my own opinion, ruled out abduction although it rates low on a scale of 1 - 10 (in my own opinion).
I do not deem it necessary for anyone at all to agree with me. I provide thoughts (sometimes known as opinions) and links so that people may consider the information and do what they wish with it in order to form their own opinions.
I do not discount other people’s opinions with single mindedness and blind disregard.
The only opinion(s) voiced which I will vehemently disagree with - no matter the outcome of poor Madeleine’s disappearance - is that it is perfectly alright, or merely an understandable mistake, to leave such young children alone at any distance.
Broken records declaring same will, in all future instances, be pointed in the direction of this disclaimer. Nattering midges will merely be ignored - no matter how handy they are with a Thesaurus.
Kat
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Jimmy,
Sorry to see you go. I do, however, completely understand. I have often thought to myself that I should just drop this, let it slip away and move on to other things (US politics being my former passion).
Something about this just won’t let me go. There are just too many unanswered questions. Madeleine’s face haunts me, awake and in my sleep. All I can do is search for answers - if there are any - in the tens of thousands of reports regarding Madeleine. All I can do is try to offer a tempered voice in among the loud and generally obnoxious McCann ’supporters’ in order to provide those who are new to the case, or uncertain about it, with something to think about other than “Poor Kate, poor Gerry”. Poor Madeleine is my call. And the only other thing I can do, that I feel is necessary, is host and point way to an unspoilable petition calling for the circumstances under which Madeleine went missing to be investigated by social services.
As in here:
http://justiceformadeleine.blogspot.com/
It is sad, Jimmy. Terribly, terribly sad for so many reasons. And if your sadness dictates to you that you need to move away from this, then do what you need to.
Best,
Kat
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Oh kat, you are so irritatingly childlike in your hectoring. why should everyone agree with you? are you the oracle?
Soooo boring.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Chopper,
Yes, all but one of the McCanns travel companions are doctors. Just another thought about those trying to justify the distance from the tapas bar - where were the apartments of the travelling companions in which five other young children (all of them younger than Madeleine) were also left to their own devices? Did they have just as ‘clear’ a line of sight?
What is truly nauseating is that a small child has suffered or is possibly suffering and that the parents reprehensible actions are perversely defended as being a ‘mistake’ or as being completely justified and ‘normal’.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Another view from McCann apartment to the tapas restaurant….
http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/picture_gallery/0,,30000-1264993-9,00.html
Clearly, one can see that the balcony to the apartment is raised. The picture taken from the balcony looking toward the tapas bar provides a relatively clean line of sight. However, because the pool area and restaurant itself are much lower at ground level - there would be no clean line of sight from the tapas bar TO the apartment.
As the crow flies, from the picture taken from the balcony, it certainly does not look like an enormous distance. The entire point is that it was too far away for humans to cover the distance by foot (as the McCanns are not crows). The remaining points are, the children should never have been left alone, for any length of time, let alone regularly so the parents could have the holiday they ‘deserved’ (more on that later).
If one was to look at all the photos with the hope of gleaning useful information, instead of just looking for a singular photograph to support their (flawed) argument, one might be better able to see exactly how the decision to leave those small, helpless babies alone was an invitation to disaster. No - I am not referring solely to ‘abduction’ - I am referring to all manner of disaster; kids accidentally lighting a fire, sticking a tiny finger into an electrical socket, wandering off, slipping while on the potty and falling into the toilet and scaring themselves, falling and cracking open a head, waking up from a bad dream and being even more terrified that mom and dad are not to be found and on and on and on.
The link, which was posted earlier, of the travelblog shows ground/person perspective but for some reason the entire ‘Europe’ section is unavailable at the moment or I’d link to a couple of singular photos. Also go look at the Operation Find a Child link - scroll down to ‘Crime Scene Photographs’ for perspective as to the walls separating the apartments from the Ocean Club.
I simply cannot understand why anybody with a grain of reason in their soul would attempt to justify the distance the McCanns were from their children, let alone justify that they left them at all.