The papers over the past few days have been full of information about Gerry and Kate McCann, the public has said they will not let these parents get away with neglecting their children by leaving them alone while they went out at night.
The McCann's claim that they are the victims of an Internet smear campaign and an attempt to get them arrested, why shouldn't they be? If any other parent was stupid enough (as it was in no way naivety being naive is not thinking 3 children who were at the time all under 3 will be safe, not just from kidnapping, but from falling out of bed and smashing their head open, from trying to make themselves a drink and maybe knocking glasses out of the cupboard and cutting themselves the list is endless, and I'm not even a parent but I'm not stupid enough to think a child under 3 is safe alone for even 5 minutes nevermind a few hours) stupid enough to do this to their child/children, they should surely be prosecuted or be punished in some way.
There was this story in the Manchester Evening News on 19th http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1011/1011651_home_alone_mum_walks_free.html
Luckily her children came to no harm and yes she went free but she was still taken to court and "was given a community order to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months. She was also ordered to pay £50 costs." That in my eyes is better than nothing, so why have the McCanns not even been looked into for their neglect? Is it because they're doctors? because they have friends in "high" places? because their daughter went missing after they left her alone?
I would call their imprisonment, or even a fine and community service, justice for Madeleine. Maybe justice will be served.
Madeleine McCann aged 3 disappeared from her Hotel room in Portugal, where she was left alone while her parents dined in a nearby restaurant on May 3rd. So far police have only one suspect Robert Murat. Friends of the McCanns say they saw him at the search for Madeleine the night she went missing, but Murat claims he was not there until the next day when he went to see if he could help, Murat claims that on the night of 3rd May he was in his mothers house located a short distance from the Hotel.
But now, Portuguese locals have come forward and said they also saw a man meeting Murats description in the vicinity of the McCann hotel room. Police have refused to reveal who the Portuguese witnesses are or how many of them were interviewed.
The police also didn't reveal where on earth these locals have been for the past two and a half months! What was stopping them coming forward before, or what has made them come forward now, and after withholding information for two months can their testimonies be proved??
As many people already know, four people were called in for questioning by the Portuguese police this week. Three of these four were friends of the McCanns who holidayed with them, Fiona Payne, Russell O’Brien and Rachel Oldfield, the fourth was chief suspect Robert Murat.
The McCanns friends have claimed since almost the beginning (in fact it is one of the rare "facts" that hasn't changed) to have seen Robert Murat at the search on the night Madeleine went missing, Murat contrary to their claims says he was in his mothers villa the whole time. The portugeuse law states that when something like this occurs the "witnesses" have to confront the "suspect" A police source said: "It is normal in Portugal for the two sides to be brought together to try and find the truth. This is what happened on Wednesday," Fiona Payne, Russell O’Brien and Rachel Oldfield sat in a room with Robert Murat and said to him "You were there night she vanished" The McCanns friends were only questioned for 2 hours, Murat was questioned for approximately 6-8 hours, and upon leaving the police station announced "I can’t say anything, but yes I am still a suspect"
Gerry McCann wrote about his friends being questioned in his Blog on Wednesday "The Portuguese police interviewed three of our friends again today, to clarify points in their initial statements" But that wasn't his first sentence in the blog.
It started off by saying "This morning got off to a bad start when we were called, even before the twins were awake, by a reputable press agency saying that a body had been found and asking if it was true. It is very disappointing that this person did not check out the source of this rumour before contacting our representatives. Such calls and rumours are distressing even though we know if it does not come through an official source not to place much emphasis on it."
Now if we look further into this paragraph, you can see first he says "we were called" then he says "before contacting our representatives" so which is it? Was he awoken by the press or did the press contact his "representatives" who then contacted him? If the latter why did they not "check out the source of this rumour" ?? Or is this another alleged stunt to get the case back on the front page? If it is, I kinda can't blame him if he has no involvement in it at all of course he wants Madeleines name to be on the front page as much as possible. The Mirror Forums were discussing this entry on wednesday.
Todays blog entry was a little bit better and talks about him thanking the police.
I hope this innocent little girl is found soon and the monster(s) whoever they may be pay dearly!
Channel 4 newsman Alex Thomson said the media coverage of Maddie made him sick. He said "I've been sickened by the way the media have allowed themselves to be taken for a full-scale ride by the McCanns." He added that the parents behaviour of leaving the three children und the age of four alone while they ate was, "a contributory factor in the abduction, was largely downplayed or ignored altogether by sycophantic, gullible blanket coverage."
A Channel 4 News spokesman has apparently told the Sun that Thomson has been reprimanded.
How many of you agree with him? Who thinks he was rightfully reprimanded?
Personally I think he's hit the nail on the head and said what a lot of people should of said sooner. The McCanns conduct just isn't right. It's unfair that they are still raising money and it is in no way being used to help look for Madeleine, it is allegedly being used for their accomodation and media coverage, what about private investigators?
What about going out there and actually looking yourself the way hundreds of parents have after their chilidren have gone missing. Take for example missing toddler Ben Needham, his mother didn't get any public funds, she spent every penny of her own money searching for her son, and had to sell his toys to get a boat home as she didn't have enough money for a flight. She was also questioned as a suspect by Greek police for 5 hours. Was this because she was a young (17) unmarried mother, so it didn't seem as important as the child of two middle class doctors?
Also Alex Meschisvili he has been missing since 3rd February, the Greek media have stopped reporting on his dissapearance as nothing new has appeared.
The McCanns say they want to eventually use the fund to help find other missing children, why don't they start by using it to find their own child?
A user on the Mirror forums has publically accused the McCanns. He says he thinks the McCanns murdered Madeleine, and he says he has proof!
Read the thread in full here (This thread has now been pulled)
Yesterday the McCann's held a press conference. You can read the press conference in full here (The press conference was about Madeleine nothing to do with the accusations on the Mirror forums)
To be honest I found the first sentence to be quite shocking
"Every day is incredibly hard without Madeleine, but there have been a number of plusses as well."
Maybe I'm giving up to easily, but after having nearly 150 readers so far I still have no reocurring readers, which means I have nobody who likes what I have to say enough that they keep coming back. I'm gettin bored of blogging, it's not as easy at it looks to come up with something to say all the time, and up to now I haven't had a single comment left :-(
Anyway I'm going to stop feeling sorry for myself and post something that at least I find interesting ;-)
Firstly I've just read that despite newspapers and an attorney for World Wrestling Entertainment saying that Benoit may of killed his family because of arguements over care for his mentally and physically disabled son, there is no evidence of a disability. Benoit's family knew nothing about it, and Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard refutes these allegations he says that Daniel did not suffer from Dwarf Syndrome or Fragile X Syndrome! An unknown source with access to Daniels medical reports has also said that there was no mention of any mental or physical illness in Daniels medical records. Which brings the question back to what flipped Benoit over the edge causing him to kill his wife and son, if in fact he did do it.
Madeleine's parents made a press appeal yesterday telling her abductors that it is not too late to return her. Kate was quoted as saying "it is not too late to give her back" The hoax theory is still on going on the Mirror forums.
The forums on the Channel 4 website are censoring information as best as they can. An article which has appeared in the Sol a few days ago is being banned from several forums. One user posted the article to the Channel 4 forum twice and got banned by moderators, and recieved the following message.
"The site administrators have removed your access rights for the following reason:
We’re sorry but we do not allow users to re-post topics which we have deleted. Please understand that although it may not be clear to you straight away why a topic was deleted it will have a good reason and should NOT be re-posted. If you would like to dispute this suspension please email chat@channel4.com and include any information related to this issue. Your account will then be reviewed."
Why do the media want to hide this story? Decide for yourself I have posted the article in full below.
published in Sol, on June 30, 2007 an article by Felicia Cabrita and Margarida Davim
Madeleine Case
Pact of Silence
Madeleine’s parents and the friends with whom they spent their holidays in PDL are suspects in the inquiry. There are contradictory versions about the night of the kidnapping, and an assumed pact of silence in the group
The beginning of June is flowing in a strange way in the Algarve. A chilly wind and overhead clouds help to fill the auditorium of Lagos, where a solidarity concert is being held for the missing english girl. It’s been a month since Madeleine McCann vanished without a trace.
A few kilometres from Lagos, in the Ocean Club resort at Praia da Luz, the faint illumination further densifies the climate. At the reception, which leads to the Tapas restaurant, there is nobody. Getting inside is easy.
A portuguese waiter, but with a british ‘behaviour’, strikes the first blow on the journalist’s plan: “We only serve dinner to the club’s clients”. “What about a drink?”. He says yes.
It’s 9.30 p.m. If we were to believe the several members of the McCann’s holiday group, and after several mismatching versions, at this time Madeleine was being carried out of her apartment by a dark-haired man, who would be around 35 years old.
From the same table where the group of nine had dinner on that evening, one tries, in vain, to observe the apartment’s front – a ground floor apartment that faces the restaurant. A linoleum screen on the side of Tapas and the corridor of bushes that follows the limits of the apartment’s back yards prevents any vigilance to that level.
The image of Madeleine – big blue, questioning eyes and an innocent smile, fixed on the photographic films – is always present. It doesn’t leave the conversations of whom passes by. One remembers the words that the mother, Kate Healy, is supposed to have said to a friend (and that the husband, Gerry McCann, did not know): “I had a bad premonition about my children, when I found out the Ocean Club had no baby listening service”.
The choice of Algarve as a holiday destination would come to change their lives. Everything was arranged with three other couples, with whom they used to travel. Some of them had recently been to Greece, with their children, and the Mark Warner agency, the same that prepared their trip to the Algarve, had done their itinerary for the islands. According to their reports, the hotel where they stayed had a baby listening service – a service that is assured by four or five members of staff who would control the children while the adults dined, by listening through doors and windows to confirm that everything inside was quiet.
At the Tapas bar, from bartenders to staff from the Kid Club, criticism is whispered: “We have a creche where they left their children for most part of the day, where they could be until 11.30 p.m. without spending another Euro. They could also have used our baby-sitters, who stay with the children in their rooms until 1 p.m. In this case, they would have to pay an extra fee, but these people looked like they could afford it”, an employee comments, concluding that “this was a very strange group, that never stayed with their children”.
The children’s routine
The story of Madeleine looks like a tangled ball of wool. In the last days of April, Kate and Gerry, both 39 and doctors, arrive with their friends in Praia da Luz. The weather is not very good, but the group makes the best of it. The children seem to exist outside of the adults’ world. In the morning, Kate would take Madeleine, almost 4, and the 2-year old twins, to the Kid Club. The other couples in the group did the same. While the little ones entertained themselves with collages and paintings, the group divides itself between tennis and jogging until lunchtime. In the creche, the girl’s picture is taken: “She was shy and had some difficulty in adapting to the group. She always stayed close to the english children she already knew”.
It is at lunchtime that the families socialize a bit. After a short nap, the children go back to the Kid Club, while the parents use the activities that the club offers. They only get to meet again in the late afternoon, when the children’s dinner is served. Before 8 p.m., Madeleine and her siblings, who seem to function like a clock, are already asleep. Half an hour later, the group of friends meets at Tapas. The staff remember that they only leave at midnight: “They were very lively and drank a bit too much. I didn’t even realize they had children, because I never saw them around”.
Mathew Oldfield, one of the elements of the group, is back in England. He reacts with surprise upon the contact of Sol, but he does not avoid the conversation: “We drank. We were on holidays. So what?”.
And thus the days followed one upon another, at the Ocean Club. The holiday week is almost over and the group’s spirit does not change. Nobody had noticed until then, how the children were kept at a distance.
The most reliable way to undrestand what happened on May 3, when Madeleine disappeared, is to analyze the various versions that emerged.
It would have been 10 p.m. when Kate decided to check the children at the apartment. This is the only moment in the story that gathers consensus. Madeleine had vanished from her bedroom and the twins were sleeping like nothing had happened. The mother was back at the restaurant in one leap. She was disoriented.
PJ called two hours later
In seconds, the resort is in turmoil. The group’s four men and the club’s employees check every corner. They seem to be oblivious of the essential: to call the authorities. GNR is the first to arrive at the scene, but the news only reach Policia Judiciaria (PJ) more than two hours later. The first explanations arise. Where were the parents when the child disappeared? Gerry explains that, inspired in the scheme that some of the friends had used on their holidays in Greece, the nine members of the group took turns in checking on the children with some regularity.
This is the beginning of a story that will change in many chapters. Gerry starts by saying that he first left the table to check on the children around 9.05 p.m. When he entered the apartment the children were fine, he just noticed that the door to their bedroom was partially open. He looked at the window, which was closed, just as the shutters, and relaxed.
Ten minutes later, his friend Jane Tanner, who went around the apartments, crossed ways with a dark-haired man who was walking in the opposite direction, carrying a child. She didn’t make any connections either.
A few minutes later, Mathew Oldfield enters the room, sees the McCann children fast asleep, and notices nothing out of the ordinary. It is at 10 p.m. that Maddie’s mother discovers her daughter has disappeared. The window was wide open and the shutters were up.
To GNR, who is in the area with sniffer dogs to search for the child, this is a highly unlikely scenario. One of the military assures: “This is an extremely silent area, where there are practically no passing cars. That shutter was very difficult to lift from the outside, and would have made a lot of noise. It would have been a lot easier to use the door, but there were no signs of a break-in”.
This was just one of the reasons why the group became suspicious in the eyes of the investigators. Russell O’Brien, Jane Tanner’s husband, is already back in England, but he knows he could be summoned back to Portugal for a deposition anytime. Over the phone with Sol, he tries to keep his british phlegm: “It is normal that we are suspects, and the DNA test is a consequence thereof. We were the closest people involved”.
The conversation always comes back to the same issue: the night of the disappearance. The account of that last dinner has disparate versions among the group’s members. Some swear that someone left the table every half hour to check on the kids; other reduce that time to half of it. Some say control is made window by window; others say the adults entered each other’s apartments.
One of the employees that was on duty that evening does not remember a lot of movement: “I only remember a tall, grey-haired man getting up once from the table”. It was Russell, who, two days earlier, also had attended dinner.
An aerobic instructor from the resort entertains the dinner guests at Tapas with a ‘Quiz’. At 9.30 p.m. the game ends, and Gerry invites her to their table, where she stays for half an hour. During that time, as she later confided to friends, nobody left the table, but one of the chairs was vacant. Najova Chekaya refuses to talk to Sol. And Russell, when the questions start to surround him, loses his sympathy: “I have nothing further to tell you. I am not going to dishonor the compromise I assumed with Kate and Gerry. They want to control all infornation that is disclosed”.
Gerry changes his version several times, but he maintains that the door to his children’s room was open. Mat revokes his first statement: when he entered Madeleine’s room, the door was open and there was more light, as if the shutters had been raised. Here starts to develop the theory that there was already someone inside the apartment. Which reinforces Jane Tanner’s version (that she saw a man carrying a child).
Only Jane saw the man carrying a child
But there is a witness whose deposition contradicts this theory. Jeremy Wilkins – a tv producer who had met Maddie’s father during their holidays and used to play tennis with him – was walking his eight months old son at that time. He met Gerry, who went out through the apartment’s back door after having checked on the children, and the two man exchanged a brief conversation. At that time, if one is to believe the first accounts, Jane would have left Tapas in the direction of the apartment’s main entrance, and would have crossed paths with both of them. “It was a very narrow road and I think it would have been almost impossible to walk by without me taking notice”, Jeremy says, pointing out the fact that he saw no man carrying a child, as Jane states.
But Jane continues to guarantee that, at the top of the street, she saw a man with a child in his arms.
Although the area is scarcely lit, and the situation did not make her suspicious at the time, she describes the beige trousers, the dark thick jacket and the black classic-style shoes in a detailed way. Once again, Jeremy disagrees: “If that happened, I would have likely seen it”.
On the next day, the media circus was fully installed. The first reports are on Sky News first thing in the morning, even before portuguese press takes hold of the story. Journalists and locals dispute the information. Robert Murat, the son of an english mother and a portuguese father, with little luck in business, does not waste the opportunity. He moves from failed businessman into the role of a translator for the press and the police. Some british journalists, after sucking him to the bones, start suspecting his availability.
The Murat contradiction
Contrarily to the GNR elements and the Ocean Club’s staff, who participated in the searches on the night before and assure they did not see Murat around, Gerry and some of his friends guarantee that he was there. And thus he becomes an arguido.
Gerry and Kate’s friends, who are interrogated tightly by the PJ over almost a month, refuse to clarify this contradiction, when asked by Sol. “We have a pact. This is our matter only. It is nobody else’s business”, says David Payne, another element with the group. Minutes after we tried to contact Kate, Gerry, in a fury, calls the Sol journalist: “What do you think you are doing? Do you think you’re better than the portuguese police? I’m going to forward your contact to PJ and you will have to explain yourselves”.
-------
PJ says ‘everybody is a suspect’
The director of the Policia Judiciaria in Faro, Guilhermino da Encarnacao, confirmed with Sol that “we do not discard the possibility to have the family and friends as suspects”. This is always done “without neglecting other clues. Everybody who was at the resort at the time are suspects”.
I have been debating most of the day whether or not to write about this. But after spending more time reading it I thought why not? Just because I write about it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with it, so first I'll give the information then my opinions. Firstly is this forum on the Mirror website. This guy has a hoax theory. A very interesting hoax theory.
Mike Hitchen's Blog bluntly gives the facts! I agree with quite a few of his posts.
It does seem that as more time is going on Madeleine is being thought about less and less as a missing person and more and more as a pawn in a parents fame game. Personally I am undecided, the people who have these conspiracy theories put forward very good arguments and they always back up what they are saying with links to news articles nine times out of ten from a reputable source, and to make their argument even stronger, the people who call them "sick" and say they are lying never seem to be able to prove that they are wrong. It just seems to me that these people with these theories are being proved right more and more often, as for Mike Hitchen, he seems to have the opinion that the “Grubs” as he calls them should be prosecuted for negligence. Although I agree that should happen, as it will teach them and anyone else considering to leave their children alone, I do think that any prosecution should be left at least until Madeleine is found, hopefully alive. I don’t agree with the people who are saying they have had punishment enough in Madeleine going missing, I think they should be treated the way every other person who mistreats their children are.
I just feel sorry for the parents of other children missing either presently or in the past, as the way the McCanns are getting attention is through who they know. It pays to know people in high places. It just goes to show it truly isn't what you know it's who you know.
As sightings continue there is still nothing positive to report about the missing four year old. As of yet over twenty-five separate reports have come in all claiming to of seen Maddy in Malta. In the past few days there has been reports that a girl matching Madeleine's description was seen being taken on board a yacht owned by a wealthy Arabic family. However, The yacht’s name and possibly number would be clearly visible for some distance, but no one has reported seeing these details.
In the past 24 hours two people have been arrested in connection with a scam to receive the 2.6 million pound reward. A police statement has reported the two to be an Italian man and a Portuguese woman. The statement said "Police started to investigate them after learning they tried to contact Madeleine's parents to claim the reward on offer"
Madeleine McCann has today been missing for 53 days. Her parents said on Friday that they never thought they would see the 50th day come and go without Maddy being found. Despite this being the hardest thing they have had to go through they are determined not to give up hope and will keep trying to make Maddy's missing case as high profile as possible, and are not willing to return to the UK without Madeleine
They say on their website that fridays balloon launching event was a huge sucess. "The response to our request for events on the 50th day has been overwhelming" said Gerry and Kate. "This global support gives us both strength and fresh determination to carry on our campaign."
At the weekend it was reported Maddy had been spotted eleven different times in Malta. The McCann's have said they are not getting their hopes up, as there would be nothing worse than getting excited about the information only to find out that it all came to nothing. Police are taking every sighting seriously and Maltese police have locked down on all ports and the airport in Malta in the hope that if she is there she will be found.
One of the most significant sightings have came from Ray Roberts, from Anglesey, North Wales, said he saw a girl in Sliema wearing what he said looked to be a black wig. The girl was of white origin and was walking with an Arab-looking man. Ray said he heard the man shout "Get up little girl" as the girl tripped and fell.
When questioned about the incident Ray Roberts said "It was obviously not his first language so it seemed odd that he had to speak to her in English, As a father, their reaction did not seem natural."
He added: "The more I think about what I saw the more convinced I become that it may well have been Maddie. The oddness of it all played out in my mind until I got home then I realised I had to do something."
I hope sincerely that this comes up with something.
A British newspaper "The News Of The World" has started off a reward to bring Maddy home. This reward includes donations from J.K.Rowling, footballer Wayne Rooney and fiancée Coleen McLoughlin, Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright, Sir Richard Branson, Sir Philip Green, West Ham Chairman Eggert Magnussin, Reading's John Madejski, Anne Summer's boss Jacqueline Gold, TV Star Simon Cowell, England Cricket captain Micheal Vaughan, Sir Tom Hunter, Sir Stelios Hari-Ioannou, and Matalan Chief John Hargreaves. The reward has now reached £ 1.5 million. I and I think joined by many others would like to think all these people for reaching into their own pockets to help get Maddy back. I just hope we hear something about her pretty soon.
Robbie Williams has also tried to raise awareness about Maddy and has been seen at the weekend wearing a t-shirt bearing Madeleines face and name.
On Friday 22nd June Maddy McCann has been missing for 50 days. She was taken on 3rd May 2007 from her bed whilst on holiday with her parents in Praia Da Luz, Portugal.
She also missed her 4th birthday on 12th May. On Friday her parents hope to keep her case as high profile as possible so that there is more of a chance of finding her. To do this they aim to release balloons from at least 50 different countries. These balloons will all have a picture of Maddy on.
Madeleine’s father has a blog on http://bringmadeleinehome.com He has said that “We will be launching green and yellow balloons from at least 50 centres worldwide to mark the fact that we are still searching as are other parents of missing children. Countries that are participating so far are Argentina, El Salvador, USA, Canada, Ireland, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Any other countries that wish to participate can download information from the website.”
I downloaded the banner (to the right) from the website too, to add it to your blog or website just go to the site, or use this code:
Unfortunatly Maddy could be anywhere, a problem with the Portuguese police meant that the airports and seaports were not aware of Madeleine's dissapearance for 12 hours after it was reported. There have been sightings of Maddy in several different countries, this is why we the public need to make sure that as many people as possible will recognise Maddy's face, she could be anywhere. Keep the search for Maddy high profile, make sure everyone knows this little girl is missing.
