Our Madeleine McCann: Colin Stagg, Mad Dogs And Lucy Cavendish, And Amaral’s True Lies
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “We’ll savage bungling cops on Oprah [Winfrey] show - CLEARED McCANNS VOW TV ONSLAUGHT”
Cleared?
“At noon tomorrow a judge will formally lift the cloud of suspicion.”
Is that a fact?
The couple are likely to focus their fury on top cop Goncalo Amaral, who was kicked off the Madeleine case last October following allegations of incompetence and attacks on his British police counterparts.
“I’LL NEVER HAVE MY LIFE BACK – MURAT” - ‘I don’t know if I will ever be able to shake off the stigma of being ‘that Maddie man‘.”
“People say there is no smoke without fire and there may always be some who still doubt me. I have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
Let’s play a game of word association: Colin Stagg.
He’s the one set up by those bungling UK cops. Colin Stagg was accused of murdering Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common. Colin Stagg is innocent.
There being no forensic evidence, they were forced to look for likely suspects, and in Colin Stagg they found a man who ideally suited the tabloid agenda. He was runtish and rat-like, and yet also into body-building. He lived on his own. He was given to wearing dodgy-looking singlets and he was a devotee of the ancient pagan religion called Wicca. He had a picture of the Cerne Abbas giant inscribed on a black-painted wall in his flat.
Someone said that they had seen him, or a man very like him, on the common on the morning of the murder - and that was enough.
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY: “After 445 days of missing Maddie, cloud of suspicion over parents lifts”
Tomorrow Kate and Gerry McCann hope the suspicion that they played a role in her disappearance from a Portuguese beach resort will finally – and officially – be lifted.
Hope? But in The People it’s a fact?
The Portuguese authorities are believed to be ready to remove the official arguido – suspect – status from the couple and clear them of any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance from Praia de Luz in May last year.
Believed.
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: “Madeleine McCann abduction leaves family holidays haunted by fear”
The exodus to the sun starts this weekend - but since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, parents are feeling paranoid about the safety of their offspring. Foreigners think we are mad, reports Lucy Cavendish from Mallorca
Mad pervs and Englishmen…
Says Lucy Cavendish:
You can always spot the English abroad. Not by the way they dress or their sunburnt skin but by how protective they are of their children.
Always!
“I feel I can’t leave my children alone for a second,” says Joanne Brown as she sits in a café next to the beach at Port de Soller in Mallorca. “It’s a nightmare. I’ve always been conscious of where my children are on holiday, but now I feel much more aware of them. If I shut my eyes for a moment, I feel terrified that they won’t be there when I open them.
Abracadabra. Fish ‘n’ chips. Poof!
But ever since last May, when three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bedroom in Praia da Luz, Portugal, there is an almost tangible parental fear that underlies family holidays: that someone will take our children and we will never see them again.
Matchsticks in the eyes. Don’t dare to look away.
Post-Maddie, holidaying abroad has become a minefield. The parameters have shifted. Where once parents might have left children in a play area/on the beach/in a café while they quickly whipped off to go to the loo/order a meal/get some drinks, now we dare not. We reappraise all the time, scan people’s faces on beaches, by the swimming pool, in the play area. We are constantly asking ourselves: who is safe? What is safe? Are kids’ clubs fine? Are the staff vetted properly?
Anorak advocates the CoZee Reins – modelled on the penal system of Alabama, these handy chains with optional heavy ball attachment ensure the kidz are kept within shouting distance.
Tell Armani to “come ‘ere or I‘m, gonna kill yer”, and see her find no way of escape”.
On holiday with the Lucy Cavendishes:
One night, my 11-year-old son asked if he and his brothers, aged five and three, could sleep in this separate room. “Of course!” I replied.
Later on, when they were asleep, I got myself into a terrible panic. My eldest son had said he didn’t want to lock the door in case any of them needed to go to the loo in the night. This seemed to make sense.
At 2am, I woke up in a hot sweat. I imagined nameless, faceless marauders creeping up from the beach, slipping into the place and making off with one of them.
I woke my husband up. “The boys are ALONE!” I screamed. “It’s not going to happen here,” he said, immediately knowing what I was referring to. “This is Devon.”
But, as every parent now knows, it doesn’t matter if it’s Devon or Praia da Luz. Everyone is afraid of the stranger, the person out there who, in our minds, wants to steal and harm our children.
Was that her husband screaming?
THE GUARDIAN: “Madeleine police chief to launch ‘explosive’ book”
Gonçalo Amaral, who was chief of the criminal investigation police for the Algarve region, has scheduled a news conference in Lisbon on Thursday to launch the book, just three days after the widely expected announcement tomorrow that the case is being shelved by prosecutors for lack of evidence.
In the book, provisionally entitled True Lies, Amaral is also likely to reopen his assault on the role of the British police in the investigation. He has publicly suggested that they were influenced throughout by the leads which Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, wanted pursued.
He is said to be convinced that Madeleine is dead, while the McCanns have continued to press investigators to follow the trail of potential kidnappers and ensure their daughter’s safe return.
THE SUNDAY TIMES: “Murder most modern- Kate Summerscale’s prize-winning account of an 1860 killing shows how little we’ve changed”
Ed Caesar looks at the 1860 murder of Saville Kent in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.
What is most striking about her account (and this, perhaps, is what won the judges’ favour) is that it echoes contemporary culture. The huge interest in, and continual theorising about, the disappearance of an infant; the castigation of detectives for their incompetence; the swings of compassion towards or against suspects — all mirror the case of our own missing child, Madeleine McCann.
Our Maddie.
SUNDAY HERALD: “Courts make editors think hard before delving into private lives - Judiciary increasingly taking the view that public interest must be stronger than potential harm”
Although Madeleine McCann “aguido” Robert Murat’s £600,000 payout last week from 11 newspapers after successfully suing for the separate offence of defamation, editors are being forcefully reminded to think longer and harder about what stories papers can and should run.
Indeed. A current story in Correio da Manha has not repeated in the UK press about the case.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Good morning all.
The most remarkable thing of all about this case that has slapped me in the face
is the final clear cut realization that the media is a whore.
And how two countries press report on complete opposite tracks.
Once again I urge us all today to light a candle for Justice for Madeleine.
May our intentions for truth spread a little light in this dark quagmire.
Candles out everyone.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Seen I am on here playing soilataire will throw out another thing.
If the truth about the FACT that there were no weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq is still unknown to most people in the UK, why do any of us think that
the truth of Madeleine will surface.
Portugal could release all the information they have accumulated on this case
which would be absorbed and assimilated by the rest of the planet but the good old
readers of the The Sun and People will go around cheering the parents innocence.
Beam me up Scotty……I have done my time.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Was writing some captions on GB looking as happy as a sand-flea with a big gun between his legs. Never seen him so fucking happy!
July 20th, 2008 at 9:23 am
hannasus …… Truth will out!
There were WMD in Iraq by the way - but as with the Clan case - officials pissed about for that long trying to do everything by the book that the sly fuckers would not give straight answers and any evidence or clues were lost.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Had to reboot the bleedin pc (Ferdi,thanks for telling me of the new thread.My headache will continue
)
Here is a translation of the CdM
July 20, 2008 - 00:30 am
Traces: Finding the trail of a death changed the course of research
British Police defended the use of dogs
Mark Harrison, the English police assigned to assist the Judicial Police in the search for Madeleine McCann, produced a report in the summer of last year, where he defended the use of dogs specialising in detecting odors, body and blood of waste. The discovery of traces of the flag and a trail of corpse ended then by formally changing the course of an investigation which until then had been limited by the idea of kidnapping.
Know all the details in isolation, in the edition of ‘Morning Post’ this Sunday.
Oh dear…..
TRUTH AND JUSTICE FOR MADELEINE
woof woof
http://www.correiodamanha.pt/Noticia.aspx?channelid=00000009-0000-0000-0000-000000000009&contentid=AC0EE382-4911-4B15-B6CE-4CE60BF59D9E
July 20th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Carmen and Jo! Been lovely to see you both live.
I am off to bed for a few hours because the dog has been wanting to wee every half an hour. His £361 per month tablets seem not to work all day every day all of the time.
XXXX
July 20th, 2008 at 9:39 am
“Police still have NO idea what happened to Madeleine, who disappeared from her bed while her parents were eating out”
Dont they really? OoOoh
What a dangerous game they are playing
http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=we-ll-savage-bungling-cops-on-oprah-show&method=full&objectid=20655974&siteid=93463-name_page.html
July 20th, 2008 at 9:40 am
COCO
Bye…will miss you
Beware of…dogs
July 20th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Let us wait till tomorrow afternoon.
I’m still shocked with what I read in Joana Morais.
I always asked “what is behind the McCanns and behind Maddy’s case”.
We don’t know if more people made statements about the same issue.
Let us wait and see.
edited jj
July 20th, 2008 at 9:44 am
According to the People,the mccanns are going to be very busy
In the case they do what the People is printing, they will have to prove the abduction if they dont want….further problems
We should be told!
July 20th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Maravilha
We are all shocked…err..
It could or not be a coincidence.Remember they are doctors and specialists and they go around giving talks etc….
I believe the best for ALL of us and ANORAk is to leave the other story well out of the way
edited jj
July 20th, 2008 at 9:52 am
mornin’ all
been away for a few days
mcconn-free time
wonderful
i do hope they blab freely on the oprah show
and set themselves up for slander cases
excellent fun
they just can’t help being complete arseholes
every time they open their whiney mouths
what fun we have
July 20th, 2008 at 9:54 am
“At noon tomorrow a judge will formally lift the cloud of suspicion.”
well put!
woof woof
July 20th, 2008 at 9:56 am
i keep getting error 404 when i send a comment
is this a hint?
we should be trolled
M and A
Nick ran out of time to do an update, but we like Error 404, its nice and we have voted to keep it
July 20th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Maravilha Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 9:43 am
It may have been M Oldfield who was in Amsterdam at the time.
http://www.mccannfiles.com/id8.html
(Scroll down to Thursday 7th June)…..
July 20th, 2008 at 9:59 am
âde
this is also my feelings!
lets make a little song shall we?
ah…before I forgot,we need you to tune in the whinning Dolls
Coco says: “Now - my Police-Dolly set has turned out to be a bit of a pain. I can’t get the accent right when you pull the string at the back. And they sound like they are begging every time they speak lol ”
know what I mean?
so please,in your spare muskical time give us a hand….err….without handcuffs
July 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Morning all. I really hope there is some positive movement forward tomorrow.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:01 am
âde
404 is our new anorak style
write the comment,TRY to post it and then….you get 404 and then you refresh and then you are done
As simple as that
Bye for now
July 20th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Correio da Manhã of today
Acoording to this news paper (paper edition, today) British policeman Mark Harrison defends the use of the British dogs in the case.
The dogs changed the direction of the investigations.
He wrote a declaration about it, last year.
Mark Harrison is helping the PJ with the investigations.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:05 am
SteveT Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am
) 
Morning all. I really hope there is some positive movement forward tomorrow.
****
Hi steve
read my earlier post (scroll up,for once
woof woof
July 20th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Hey!
One more question before …I go
Do you think the mccanns will be in portugal tomorrow?
July 20th, 2008 at 10:09 am
how about the 404 blues
to the tune of “what a friend we have in jesus”
by the tapas7 chorus
July 20th, 2008 at 10:10 am
jo Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Nope.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Jo,
If they were in Portugal tomorrow the game would definately be up.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:14 am
is oprah winfrey gonna be in portugal tomorrow?
follow the money…
does she have a passport?
i’d like to go to portugal tomorrow
nice place
July 20th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Rasputin Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Why do the dogs and their use need defending if they are allegedly infallible, it appears not so in this case, or are their handlers incompetent.
When the case is archived tomorrow, I hope that they may announce an inquiry into the handling or rather non handling of the Rene Hasee case, a forlorn hope I know. That is the case which heartless and callous posters dismissed out of hand as a fable, no thought of the little boy or his parents and their annual return to the place of Rene’s disappearance.
http://tinyurl.com/6fpwnd
Keep up Jo.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:15 am
morning all.
error 404 reminds me of ‘The Prisoner’ for some reason. I find it quite acary and very Orwellian… it’s as if someone is saying ‘we are watching you’
Internet neuroses I guess.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:16 am
i wonder what the fee arrangements are for oprah w’s show
the wretches may not even get a fee ‘cos oprah’s a bit upmarket and doesn’t have any tom dick or harry on the sofa
well- maybe exceptions can be made
and where’s the pink-shirted one when ya need him for a script?
July 20th, 2008 at 10:24 am
coolandcalm Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 10:15 am
morning all.
error 404 reminds me of ‘The Prisoner’ for some reason. I find it quite acary and very Orwellian… it’s as if someone is saying ‘we are watching you’
Internet neuroses I guess.
***********************************************************
Get properly dressed, for heaven’s sake.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Off to the golf, remember no matter how much how many wish it, there is not one scintala of evidence against the McCanns to say or show that they physically harmed their daughter.