Shannon Matthews: Craig Meehan Denies, Roy Greenslade Writes And Whispers
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews
DAILY MIRROR: “SHANNON STEPDAD HITS BACK - I NEVER LAID A FINGER ON HER.”
The media carries much news of how missing Shannon Matthews is being ignored. A smaller reward. Just one celebrity friend. The picture of a missing child. A child not there.
She is not Madeleine McCann, say the papers. Her stepfather Craig Meehan is not erudite Gerry McCann. But he is “beleaguered”. Fingers are being pointed. Speculation. Whispers. If not Gerry McCann, is Craig Meehan the Mirror’s “creepy” Robert Murat?
“I THINK HE’S A DECENT GUY..Missing Shannon’s real dad backs under-fire stepfather.”
Says Leon Rose: “I’ve always thought he was a decent guy. Whenever I went to pick up Shannon he’d be around. It was obvious she looked up to him. If she’s got time for him, then so have I.”
Whisper: “Shannon’s grandmother June Matthews claimed at the weekend that he was a sinister presence in the family home.”
Whisper: “Worried uncle Martin Matthews said Shannon told him that Craig hit her and begged to stay at his house the day before she disappeared.”
Says Craig Meehan, who has lived with “mum of seven Karen” for four years: “I’ve never laid a finger on Shannon. To tell the truth, these allegations say more about Karen’s mother than they do about me. She’s never liked any of Karen’s ex-partners and is always trying to make trouble for us. She wants to rule Karen’s life.”
Says Uncle Martin Matthews: “Shannon came here at teatime. She said to me ‘Please can I stay here tonight? I can’t go home as I’m in trouble’.
Says Uncle Martin: “Shannon has shown me bruises on her arms and told me Craig lashed out at her.”
Says “Grandmum” June: “Karen was a great mum before she took Craig in. Those kids were loved and cared for. Since he arrived, they’ve had a terrible time.”
Karen Matthews says “Rubbish”.
Fingers are pointed. Whispers. One fact: Shannon Matthews is missing. But no yellow ribbon in the Mirror’s masthead. No solidarity. Just introducing the family. One by one. No yellow ribbon. Not yet…
GLASGOW DAILY RECORD: “I Never Hit Shannon Matthews, Claims Her Stepdad.”
THIS IS LONDON: “Missing Shannon pleaded to uncle the night before she disappeared: ‘Please let me stay’”
Martin Matthews is pictured. He is sat on a sofa. He says the missing nine-year-old told him: “Please can I stay here tonight - I can’t go home because I’m in trouble.”
Martin Matthews. He is sat on a sofa. He is sat between his parents. June and Gordon Matthews. Karen Matthews mum and dad. Arms around one another. Pictures being taken. Says Uncle Martin Matthews: “She sobbed all the way home because she was frightened. But I told her to go back. I regret it now. The next day she vanished.”
June Matthews. She is sat on a sofa. She is sat with her husband, Gordon, and son, Martin. Arms around one another. Pictures being taken. Says June Matthews: “We’re not saying this lightly, we know how serious these allegations are, but Karen needs to tell him to leave. We’re doing this for her sake and the children’s sake.”
Martin Matthews tells the reporter: “She came here at tea time the day before. She is good friends with my kids, Tyler and Levi and often comes here to play. But this time it was different. She was upset and kept asking to stay the night. For some reason she didn’t want to go home.”
He tells how sobbing Shannon pleaded: “Please let me stay here. I don’t want to go home. I’m in trouble.” He continued: “She said she had an argument with Craig and swore at him. As a result she was grounded. I told her she really shouldn’t stay and she should go home, especially if she was grounded…”
GUARDIAN: “Shannon: portrait of a mother’s anguish”
Roy Greenslade writes: The media’s continuing concern about its differing reactions to the disappearances of four year-old Madeleine McCann and nine-year-old Shannon Matthews has been explored yet again in the Sunday Telegraph in a fine piece by Olga Craig. Just as the Independent on Sunday asked the week before, she wonders why Shannon’s disappearance has not been at the forefront of national attention…
But what distinguishes the Craig article is the way in which she paints a poignant portrait of Mrs Matthews’s obvious anguish. Three weeks on from the day her daughter failed to arrive home, it is one of the most sympathetic description of Shannon’s mother to appear in print.
Madeleine McCann and how to tell a grim story
March 10th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Morning.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:46 am
morning steve.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:59 am
mornin’ all
i love ths bit above:
“Her stepfather Craig Meehan is not erudite Gerry McCann”
erudite?
wot with that blog?
by the way where’s the new set of blog words of wisdom?
cuddlecat got yer tongue?
such fun
March 10th, 2008 at 9:00 am
going out today
see yas later
have fun
March 10th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Morning mk, see you later Ade
March 10th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Morning all
Already 3 weeks since Shannon disappeared?
Whats going on there? why do people lie?or tell tales? why dont they just say the bloody truth? is lying a british national sport nowadays? sorry guys but…
Poor kid(s)!
March 10th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Jo - did you get the link from the last thread?
March 10th, 2008 at 9:15 am
7
just_me
Sorry yes I did thank you
Also I found the link in which it is said :Clarence Mitchell,a family friend……but I wont post it here because “some” are looking for it and I wont facilitate it
Look at past posts from ysterday link if you are really interested
March 10th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Sunday Telegraph in a fine piece by Olga Craig…..
the link has gone
March 10th, 2008 at 9:31 am
mccanns appeal to the fai ,in hope the irish football team can help find, maddie,so far fai have made no response,kate must really be feeling the lack of support at home,in yesterdays star she claims, were all irish you know except for gerry,and big fans of the irish football team,well if the fai do support them they will lose a few fans
March 10th, 2008 at 9:35 am
change of plan
staying in
bloody wet in the lower field - jetski blown away…
jo - olga craig article:
http://tinyurl.com/2o8eep
March 10th, 2008 at 9:38 am
looks like the broadsheets are using the shannon story and the normal, emotional reactions of a normal, emotional parent to have a sideways swipe at the odious ones
brilliant fun
March 10th, 2008 at 9:39 am
11
Ade
Thank you.
Change of plans? are you going to stay in with sleepers on and have tea with clotted cream and scones the whooooole day listening to music and all? awww…
I love Devon and the little horses and the fairylike woods and everything.Lucky you
March 10th, 2008 at 9:40 am
10 ….and gain a few others.
Is this the best we can hope for on the news front …..(yawn)
March 10th, 2008 at 9:42 am
10 catkidd
irish my arse
she’s a scouser and he’s scottish
lies lies lies
March 10th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Sue and be damned.
The mcKraken appears to have taken the Express bait - hook, line and sinker. As the line snaps taut, we may soon see the loathsome creature reeled in and dissected before a British court.
To prove their case, any case, the parents will have to prove Abduction Theory, which holds, you will recall, that a phantasmagorical predator, having stalked, or not, for days; having logged comings and goings, or not, for days; at last, or at a moment’s inspiration, obtained entry to the apartment through the locked or unlocked window, shutters or door, within a time-frame of minuscule proportions. He skilfully sedated three children, hooked his thumbs, so to speak, under the armpits of the eldest, whisked her out of bed without a ruffling of bedclothes, and carried her off silently and without a child’s whimper into the night, making his exit the same or different way, whichever that was. The very stuff of legend, when often enough repeated.
This must be so, some cry, for without abduction to explain the disappearance, with what then are we left? What indeed.
However, there are twenty or so notorious reasons why abduction theory cannot stand. I have never believed it, and was long ago impelled to alternative conclusions.
And neither it seems did the parents believe it, retiring promptly to their bed and leaving others to search, having first lit up the airwaves with innumerable, high-level, self-preserving telecommunications.
One child’s loss is the Spaniards’ gain.
Administrator: I do not wish to be a damp squib but that’s not quite true Sniff N Snort. The burden of proof is on the publisher to prove what he is alleged to have disseminated is the truth. The person being (allegedly) libelled has NO burden of proof. The law is weighed very heavily against the publisher….and The Carter Rucks of this world make a lot of money by exploiting that very fact. -agw
March 10th, 2008 at 9:52 am
13 jo
it’s not all chocolate box really;-)
no public transport, post offices closed, second homes empty most of the year, farmers going bust, extortionate water rates to clean up beaches for other people…
show of hands’ steve knightley sums it up nicely ‘ere:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt2Svy-e0×4
March 10th, 2008 at 9:54 am
ade;her words not mine,i would love to know if ireland is still really neutral or not,is there more going on,i know if we are it would take longer to extradite,and impossible if there are political reasons not to,has they been questioned
March 10th, 2008 at 9:55 am
16 Sniff n Snort
good points
i don’t think they will go through with a suit case
just like they will have to be dragged screaming back to portugal
they are just a bunch of shites
March 10th, 2008 at 9:56 am
16
Sniff n Snort Says:
March 10th, 2008 at 9:51 am
************************
Good post, Sniff n Snort (and love the user name!) but unfortunately, in a libel case the law is reversed, it is for the alleged libeler to prove that his statements are correct, not for the alleged ‘victim’ to prove that his version of events is true.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:57 am
18 catkidd
no worries - i knew it was their spin-words
they did an interview for irish rte tv channel some time ago and put on the blarney
pathetic losers te be sure te be sure
March 10th, 2008 at 10:02 am
this is no good
i’m supposed to be in hippie town but i’m flooded in - gotta laugh really
it’s peeing down with rain
time to make up a song
got it - laughter in the rain
sod it - someone’s already done that one…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uec35ppYLIc
greatfun
March 10th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Morning all. We seem light on posters today. Everyone caught up in the bad weather?
Have the Express stopped printing McC stories?
March 10th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Sniff n Snort, try the weed man, all that snortin has addled your brain.
Eire the McCanns are all yours…. “”"”"”"”Madeleine’s aunt, Philomena McCann, revealed last year that 46 family and friends enjoyed the holiday in Donegal where she was also born.
The McCanns left Donegal in 1967, and Maddy’s father Gerry was born later in England, but the family still have relatives and friends in the county.
People in St Johnston stood firm behind the family after Maddy’s parents were named as suspects in September.”"”"”"”"”"
It’s called the Bad Luck of the Oirish, hit that with your shelalagh.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:07 am
where’s me brolly?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxMUiZzWy78
March 10th, 2008 at 10:15 am
17
âde
I know
At least its not full of stoopid careless tourists the whole year round! Only retired hippies not bad not bad
Thank for the link
March 10th, 2008 at 10:17 am
gandolf;you fail to see the total population of johnstown at that time was probably 46
March 10th, 2008 at 10:24 am
24
Gandolf
I am haunted by persistant thoughts : why have the mcBigots disobeyed their god? Why did they force nature and had tube kids and NOT look after afterwards ?
Do you think they have called the wrath of god upon them?
March 10th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Sniff n Snort said in a very nice opening shot:
Sue and be damned.
The mcKraken appears to have taken the Express bait - hook, line and sinker. As the line snaps taut, we may soon see the loathsome creature reeled in and dissected before a British court.
To prove their case, any case, the parents will have to prove Abduction Theory, which holds, you will recall, that a phantasmagorical predator, having stalked, or not, for days; having logged comings and goings, or not, for days; at last, or at a moment’s inspiration, obtained entry to the apartment through the locked or unlocked window, shutters or door, within a time-frame of minuscule proportions. He skilfully sedated three children, hooked his thumbs, so to speak, under the armpits of the eldest, whisked her out of bed without a ruffling of bedclothes, and carried her off silently and without a child’s whimper into the night, making his exit the same or different way, whichever that was. The very stuff of legend, when often enough repeated.
This must be so, some cry, for without abduction to explain the disappearance, with what then are we left? What indeed.
However, there are twenty or so notorious reasons why abduction theory cannot stand. I have never believed it, and was long ago impelled to alternative conclusions.
And neither it seems did the parents believe it, retiring promptly to their bed and leaving others to search, having first lit up the airwaves with innumerable, high-level, self-preserving telecommunications.
One child’s loss is the Spaniards’ gain.
Administrator: I do not wish to be a damp squib but that’s not quite true Sniff n Snort. The burden of proof is on the publisher to prove what he is alleged to have disseminated is the truth. The person being (allegedly) libelled has NO burden of proof. The law is weighed very heavily against the publisher….and The Carter Rucks of this world make a lot of money by exploiting that very fact. -agw
Hell! I hate to be repetitive and have just spotted Carmen has made the same point. I apologise (yes, make the best of it, that was a sorry)
March 10th, 2008 at 10:28 am
HELLO everyone
Where’s Duncan, I’m worried about his wind chimes