Madeleine McCann, Malta Fever And Seeing Is Believing
MADELEINE McCann has been seen.
“MADELEINE IS SPOTTED 5 TIMES IN MALTA,” says the Express’s front-page headline.
It’s a sighting confirmed by the Star (“MADDIE’S SPOTTED 5 TIMES IN MALTA”), and heralded by the front pages of the Sun (“5 ‘MADDIE’ SIGHTINGS IN MALTA”) and the Mirror (“MADELEINE ‘SPOTTED 5 TIMES’ IN MALTA”).
Look And See
The only differences between the papers are grammatical. While the Express reports the sightings as a statement of fact and the Sun continues to use its pet name for the missing girl, the Mirror is more circumspect.
It knows that any news of Madeleine is of interest to its readers but recognises that it is all far from being established truth. The Mirror also knows that it was one its journalists who told the Portuguese police that she found Robert Murat, suspect number one, creepy.
Said Lori Campbell of the Sunday Mirror: “When he was talking to me he was vague about his background.”
Campbell did the right thing in going to the police. But in telling the world she put herself in the story and exposed Murat. He and not the search for Madeleine became news.
The Night Jar
Over in Malta, a series of witnesses claim to have seen Madeleine in the company of two adults. A police source on the island tells us of a “full-scale inquiry us taking place”. The Sun calls it a “HUGE SEARCH”.
All the island’s policeman have been equipped with posters of Madeleine. Posters have been stuck to buildings. Questions are being asked of locals and tourists.
The Sun hears from Ray Roberts, a British tourist. It is late at night. He sees a girl with an Arabic-looking man in his 40s and a younger women. The child appears to be wearing a black wig. She trips. “Get up, little girl,” says the man in broken English. “They were strange,” says Roberts, “it just jarred.”
This was not the first sighting. That was back last weekend, when another British couple were certain they had seen the blonde child in the island’s capital Valletta. They agreed to make a sworn statement to a magistrate, thus allowing an official investigation.
The Mail says the story made it to front page of a Maltese newspaper, triggering another four people to call the police and say they had seen Madeleine.
Seeing Things
So was it her? As the Mail notes, sighting of the girl have been made in Spain, Morocco and even Wales. The Star talks of “hundreds of reports of sightings”.
But are any of them her? All of them? Only last week, we were reading that Madeleine’s body was located a few miles from Praia da Luz, the resort from where she had gone missing. A Spanish journalist was telling us how he knew who had taken her. Robert Murat was talking on the phone late at night. He was using a rented car and bouncing on bouncy castles. Sergey Malinka was a Russian geek.
But for all the talk and the sightings and the finger pointing, there has been no confirmed report of Madeleine. There remains only one suspect.
Everyone wants Madeleine found. Some will want to find her themselves, to claim the reward and achieve no little fame. Some may even fabricate sightings to keep Madeleine’s name in the news. They are on the parents’ side, doing their bit.
But knowing all this serves no purpose. It will not help to solve the crime. In reading of such things, any criminal able to smuggle a child from Portugal to Malta would have moved the girl or worse.
In the mystery of Madeleine McCann, the story has become the news…
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:03 am
if people think they see madeliene, go up and grab her, take a good look into the eyes, and run with her. if it is her nobody will stop you, people will help. dont let her walk on by when she may move to another country, or even worse, be taken back to a room and abused. people must be more proactive now, and take back, the ‘property’ i.e. madeliene, who has been stolen, and take back to the rightful owners. if i saw her i would do this. i wouldnt be scared of who she was with, i would shout at the top of my voice, and attACK THEM IF I HAD TO, ALL TO GET THIS POOR LITTLE GIRL BACK. COME ON PUBLIC GRAB HER AND RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, DONT LET HER WALK AWAY.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:15 am
Wait a minute. I thought only sex beasts grabbed children and ran away with them?
Try that technique is most European countries this weekend and you (and probably the child too) WILL be shot.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:25 am
I am a Maltese living in Malta - I have my doubts whether there is any truth to Madeleine having been sighted her in Malta - after all, barring the colomba in her eye (which is only visible if one can look at close proximity), Madeleine looks like the average British girl. If she however is here in Malta, I hope the authorities make sure they greatly step-up the surveilance and checks at ports and at the airport. If she really is here, there is a good chance that her alleged kidnappers would try to ship her away on a boat, and in actual fact, that would be quite easy to do - you just need to get ahold of a boat and you can leave from any seaside location. It’s impossible to surveil the entire coast of Malta - so I suspect that an escape from Malta would be of little difficulty.
However the Maltese police authorities are many times rather incompetent!
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:30 am
I agree with Lisa. If people think it is Madeleine, call out her name and see what the child’s reaction is. If she responds, try and get as much attention to the situation as possible. If she is with child traffickers, they will most likely run for their lives in the fear of being caught. It will not help to watch quietly and not do anything and then wonder if it was her or not. Reporting it several days later just gives them more time to move her around.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:42 am
I’m morr or less with Lisa as well. Go up, have a look at her and even strike up a conversation with the people she is with.
Why havent any of these people done that? why didnt they follow them to see where they took her? why didnt they call the police, while following her, giving the police the prceise location and the direction she is travelling?
And above all, why contact the paper when you get home? To get your name in?
I can’t believe people ’spot’ her, and donlt do anything about it.
I dont agree you should pick her up and run! I have a little blond daughter and wouldnt be too pleased if soemone grabbed her and ran off with her. Going over to get as close a look as possible, into the eyes, is probably the most sensible followed by a quick call to the cops is still suspicious.
Five sightings in the last week is still quite promising though. It’s either her, or she has a little double wandering around on her holidays in malta this week.
If I thought that my daughter was so much like her, I would probably contact the authorities myself, to see if the people could identify my daughter and my family as the people they have been ’sighting’.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:17 pm
With the huge reward, I’m surprised these ’spotters’ didn’t approach those with the child to make 100% sure. The equivalent of a lottery win and all these people can do is ‘think’ they saw her…
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:00 pm
not her
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Gander, what are you on?? If I was sure it was Madeleine, I wouldn’t think twice about grabbing her and if nessecary, dealing with the consequences later. Isn’t it more important that the girl is taken from the abductors?
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I never even thought about the money side of things. I’m not sure it would have occurred to me either if i saw her on holiday.
That said, money is a very big incentive for people and you are right Phil, it is suprising that the spotters didn’t chase her down the street like a winning lottery ticket.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I agree with Lisa, if you see a girl matching Madeleine’s discription go up and look into her eyes or ask the girl if her name is Madeleine. Take action. I would far rather make an mistaken identity than not do anything. I can’t believe that people say they might have spotted Madeleine, but then they don’t do anything.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Grab Madeleine? And add to her trauma? I’m with Gander. Any sudden moves may provoke her captors. They could easily be armed and/or use force. Better to chat the captors up, put them at ease, and proceed with caution from there. People, don’t you even watch crime programs? James Bond wouldn’t be so successful as a secret agent if he just let his instincts dictate his actions. Sometimes a little planning and circumspection is required.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I am of Maltese background living in Australia. Most Maltese children do not have blue or light eyes and blonde straight hair so Madeleine would stand out to some extent if she was not disguised.
As for the black wig comment - certain Maltese children certainly do have thick black hair - so hard to say - but I could see how the witness could imagine it was Madeliene - it was late at night so you might assume the adultswere avoiding being seen, she was being spoken to in English which would suggest she was certainly English and not Maltese. The man was Arabic looking - but alot of Maltese look Arabic.
Its a shame that the witness could not discern whether the man was Maltese or Arabic, and if it was late at night how was it that they were able to see the girls face clearly enough to be sure it was her ?
However, it is now coming to peak tourist season in Malta and very many English and northern European tourists are descending on Malta at this minute. Alot of tourist children could resemble Madeleine.
If it were true that she was seen in Morroco, it certainly is not too far from Malta.
Iagree with what has been said above that if someone really thought they were sure it was Madeleine they have no choice but to strike up a conversation with the adults, or her, get a good look at her eyes, mention Madeleine’s name and the parents names in conversation, and see if anything suspicious results. Grabbing the child and running away might not be the best answer.
Most Maltese are extremely family and child oriented - they love children and would seriously be on the lookout if it was believed she really was on the island.
The comment about the fact she could be taken away by boat from the island to someplace else is unfortunately true - the entire coastline could not be monitored - it is impossible.
I am praying like many others that Madeleine will be reunited with her parents urgently.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:57 pm
The day after Madeleine disappeared, a boat left the local marina after being moored there for 2 years. Neither the boat nor its British owner have been seen since. Has anyone bothered checking if it moored in Malta in the last 50 days?
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
my theory - naive as it may be.. is that this was all planned along time before madeleine was snatched. whether someone who saw a chance of 2 doctors staying at the resort and thought “money” - lets kidnap this girl.. or a hideous paedophile ring. they covered their tracks so well there’s no way it was a spontaneous act. it was always going to be a big uk media story and they would know this so… someone has been paid alot of money to take her to wherever her destination is. and i really do believe in my heart that she is still alive. it could well be her in malta, but if not she is out there somewhere - every place she has been spotted is just a boat ride away and talking of boats - what happened to the guy who disappeared after 2 years of mooring his boat in portugal? lets just hope she is found safe and well soon - karma will play its part with the captor somday, they may think they have got away with it but they cannot avoid that.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
This is really a ray of hope. All of the above are good suggestions, but we must keep in mind that the most important thing, is Maddy’s safety. As Freda said we do not want Maddy’s experiencing much more trauma than she already has
Let us all pray that it leads to the safe return of dear Maddy.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I very much hope that she is there and that they get her back safe now.i got a strange feeling when someone saw her(or maybe they didnt) in morocco! i looked on a map and thought if it is true where are they taking her?
i felt they were taking her across north africa! so then malta could be the place. i mean five people seeing a possible maddie!! either it is hysteria or it is her.
but bloody WHY are police only checking things days after sigtings!
i think that police are involved and governments take children i know this.
it is so weird this whole case.does anyone else think there is something strange
now if she was abused and murdered then they would have probobly found her.
if she has been taken and is alive -well they must have taken her by helicopter or plane or in a very high profile planned way!!
THINK ABOUT IT something isnt right!
who else feels like me on this??
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:24 pm
BOAT??
A MAN LEFT PORUGAL DID HE IN A BOAT??
any one know anything about this -if they caught up with the guy to rule it out??
god this case has hit us all .
i am so sad about it an dpray and even cry about it. i dont have a tv but i look online at the news. i really hope they get her back. lets all pray even if we dont believe much i think prayer works because it is and energy together as one.pray for all captive childen.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
I am just so puzzled
If someone sees Madeliene or think they see her .
Why let her out of their sight .
Why not try to get a look into her eyes
Let as many people around them as possible know that you have spotted her .
Get someone to get a policeman or if you are definately certain that it is Madeleine - Why not get as many people as possible to help you make sure that at least one person is able to pick her up swiftly before alerting the person who has her .
I just really cannot understand these people who are supposed to have seen her .
If I thought I had seen her - I really couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do anything about it straight away to make sure that she was back with her parents with in the following 24 hours .
I just don’t know anymore
I really don’t
I would pick her up and wouldn’t let go of her for no one until I pysically saw her back in the arms of hr parents .
.
P.S - before any of you start - I pay no attention to the people on this sight who pick up spelling mistakes and let us all know that team Mccann make them sick - All I am interested in - Is news that this little angel is nearer to being found - We all know that the outcome may not be good so i don’t need anyone telling me that either . All we can do is hope beyond hope that by some miracle she will be found safe and unharmed- And please - no jibes about God being included . Thanks . Gail
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I’ve been torn a little whether to cover the story any more, unless there is hard news. It seems to go on and on. Massimo is right - she looks like pretty much any blonde British child. The ghouls will always see her…
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:26 pm
The man who left portugal in a boat has links to robert murat, according to media sources.
Apparently, murats had sent emails to the man, who has now disappeared with said boat.
Piecing it together, a man was seen walking away carrying a child. A man was also seen walking with a girl towards the marina. A british man, along with his boat checked out of the marina the next day and hasnt been seen since. The man was known to murat, who, despite the lack of dna evidence and ‘enough evidence to charge him’, is still being regarded as a suspect by Portuguese police. Not sure if Malinka has any involvement with this missing guy, but malinka runs boat trips to north africa, so he has connections at the marina.
In addition to this police lne of enquiry there are the psychics, the hoaxes, toscano and the worldwide sightings.
it’s all very messy, but if you step back, there is a fairly clear line of enquiry, which the PJs are on with.
I wonder if the missing german guy ’stumbled’ upon someting he shouldn’t have. Who on earth would want to kidnap a 68 year old man with 300 quid on him in the Algarve? Is not as though he was walking through mountains in afghanistan or iraq. The police are treating his case as a kidnapping.
On the point of grabbing her and running off. I would only pick her up if I had looked into her eyes and seen the mark.
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Anorak, if you are going to keep covering, it needs a different slant.
It seems as if you roll your eyes every time the tabloid prints anything, as though you expect that any second now they wil all lose interest…but then they don;t and you have to write about it again.
http://www.anorak.co.uk/news/tabloids/173476.html
This article back in mid may was about the press losing interest. You pointed out that they were rapidly losing interest and predicted that the mirror would carry on when all the others werenlt bothered anymore.
The media interest is as strong as ever, even Anorak is publishing a couple of articles a day.
I wonder what it is about this particular incident that has brought about such a huge interest.
I am aware that this infuriates some forum posters, who are taking their fury out on the McCanns and will stop at nothing to punish them mfor the attention they are receiving, even to the point of accusing Gerry McCann of murdering her and dumping the body.
It’s very strange. I’ve never known anything like it.
Let’s jusy hope and pray that madeleine and parents are reunited soon and put out of this horrendous misery.
June 22nd, 2007 at 4:10 pm
I’m sure Anorak just like the press will continue reporting whilst these threads continue to be the busiest on here !
June 22nd, 2007 at 4:44 pm
No news is good news as they say.
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:07 pm
The portuguese police haven’t given a lot away. But after all this time and speculation one thing is for sure - Murat is still a suspect..
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Why are people doing this for attention!? theres no point saying you seen her, if you see her grab her and shout this is maddie then her captors will obviously run away! How thick can people get..Maddy is 4 years old, wasnt even with her paretns for her birthday. Think of maddy and if anyone sees maddy then grab her and run to thr police or tell people around you!
thanks
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
but actually no! if the kidnappers know that there are thousands of people looking for her..why would they take her out in public?
June 22nd, 2007 at 7:09 pm
I want to invite anyone interested in joining my caravan to find madeleine- loginto MADCAPcaravan@yahoogroups.com, Also … check out my travelblog about Maddy : Google : Robin Denton
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Wouldn’t it be much better if, when it was reported to the police that someone has seen the child, if the police tried to make sure it didn’t reach the papers? As soon as it reaches the papers then the perpetrator will leave. Or would it be impossible to keep out of the papers?
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:30 pm
What does it matter now? The police have already stopped looking in Malta. Kate and Gerry went back to the balloon launch.
This is pure insanity. How can they just walk away from not one, but FOUR DIFFERENT SIGHTINGS?? These people have agreed to come forward and testify. Yet nothing is done…
If this keeps up - eventually, no one will bother reporting anything anymore. So what if they see Madeleine? No one will believe them anyway.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Apparently there have been a total of 11 reported sightings in Malta.
The Maltese police haven’t stopped looking. They are in the throes of a full scale investigation. All the latest news articles are saying they are still looking. What have you read that contradicts that?
Only one of the sightings has been ruled out. Someone took a photo on their camera and it has been confirmed that the girl in the pic is not madeleine.
I can’t understand why people report sightings and don;t do anything abou it. It makes me doubt them. Why on earth they dont just go over and check it out is beyond me.
Ringing the police every time you see a girl with blond hair is just ridiculous. It needs to be more substantial that that.
If the McCanns got excited over every sighting their lives would be even worse than they are now. Let down after let down is not a good approach. It is better to assume that these will come to nothing, until they appear to look promising.