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Anorak News | Madeleine McCann: Drawing Your Own Conclusions

Madeleine McCann: Drawing Your Own Conclusions

by | 27th, May 2007

madeleine.jpg“KATE, wearing the now-familiar yellow and green ribbons in her hair, pushed as Amelie shouted, ‘Higher, Mummy, higher. Good fun.’”

The News of the World is in playground watching children at play.

Nothing creepy about that. This is Madeleine’s McCann’s mother pushing Madeleine McCann’s sister on a swing. The NOTW is looking on in the spirit of investigative journalism.

“But behind the smiles lurks the continuing heartbreak of Madeleine’s disappearance,” says the paper.

Madeleine’s father Gerry recalls his feelings when he retuned to the UK: “As I drove into the village I was thinking, ‘There should be five of us coming home’. But this is not a time for grieving. We believe she is still alive so grief is not the appropriate emotion.”

But grief is what sells papers. Grief and anxiety. The McCanns put on a brave face. They cannot afford to give up, not with their other children to raise.

“We are absolutely determined to get her back,” says Gerry. “But it could have been worse — we could have lost the twins too. There were three children in the room. That’s the worst nightmare.”

The worst nightmare? “Every parent’s worst nightmare” is now ratcheted up a notch. Readers learn that the McCanns sleep with their children, two-year-olds Sean and Amelie, to ensure they are safe. “Madeleine’s parents clutch to twins,” says the Star. “WE SNUGGLE UP TO OUR TWINS AND MADDIE’S CUDDLE CAT ..THEY HELP US TO GET THROUGH IT,” says the People’s headline.

But behind the McCanns’ fears, commendable resolve and spirit the NOTW sees “tears welled in Gerry’s eyes”.

Such is the state of the McCanns. Such is the state of news from Portugal on the mystery of Madeleine McCann.

Brown’s Man In Beige

But help is on the way. Chancellor Gordon Brown has spoken with Madeleine’s parents. As the Observer reports, the Chancellor has asked the Foreign Office and the Home Office to bring pressure to bear on the Portuguese authorities to allow more information about the inquiry to be made public.

And here are the local police to tell us that a man, described as 35 to 40, 5ft 10ins, medium build, wearing a dark jacket, beige trousers and dark shoes, was spotted carrying a small child.

Sounds vague? Could it be Robert Murat, the prime suspect? “It isn’t me,” says Murat. “But the description is so vague that it won’t put me out of the picture.”

Perhaps Mr Murat can appeal to the Chancellor, get him to help clear his name?

But Gordon Brown is busy with the McCanns. Is it as a direct result of Brown’s involvement that we know of this man in beige? The Observer calls Clarence Mitchell, a Foreign Office spokesman for the McCann family in the Algarve. Is it thanks to Brown that we can read of this figure? “Draw your own conclusions,” says Mitchell.

So let’s speculate some more. We’ve been doing that since Madeline McCann first went missing…



Posted: 27th, May 2007 | In: Tabloids Comments (132) | TrackBack | Permalink