WHY PRISON FOR KAREN AND NOT KATE?

Hi All, I see we do have official news reports confirming Tanner and O'Brien were subjected to 10 hour grilling. Obviously not the usual case of the police simply getting their evidence, more a case of them being cross examined upon it.

Whilst I can understand the legal reasons why Karen has been promptly charged with her own child neglect and remanded in custody and Kate has not (because there is a lot more than that still being investigated) , it is clear from reading comments on the web, see the comments below the article also, and my own blog there is growing public resentment at the apparent disparity in treatment of these two women from very different social backgrounds.

There is no doubt Kate and Gerry McCann have had an awful of help in seeking to defend themselves, not available to Karen, but I would just say this, has this actually convinced the public they are innocent and perhaps, more importantly, has it convinced the Police of their innocence? Clearly not, their legal status as arguidos remain and reports emanating from Portugal clearly indicate the only way they will ever get rid of this status is after they have been tried in a court of law.

There is no doubt the McCanns will be charged and this case would not be brought if it was considered that it was likely the McCanns are going to secure an acquittal. Having said that, Portuguese and British authorities have clearly never been under any illusions as to just how much backing the McCanns have and how hard they intend to face the case against them. As Gerry himself said, "we will fight this every step of the way". That is what they are currently doing in Brussels, it is all part of his campaign.

Euro MPs would have to look at the McCanns proposals in an unbiased way, but he figures if they get approved, that will signify approval of him and Kate. Just like he figured extracting the libel settlement from the Daily Express would do. To quote him again, (he does make quite a few Freudian slips or arrogant clues) "we are conducting an aggressive and high risk strategy". It is a very high risk strategy to have taken money from the Daily Express because as he will well know, that is fraud, but he likes to play poker, the potential gains outweigh the risks.

Whether the Daily Express actually settled the claim because they could not prove the truth of their articles i.e. they killed Madeleine etc without access to the police evidence (which of course they could not have), or whether they did it in a contemptuous way, knowing the money they will eventually make, I am not certain. I certainly think the latter.

Maybe also another thing we have learned is the Daily Express also printed what appeared to be scurrilous accusations against Karen, when we did not know anything of the police case against her, but in fact they did turn out to be true.

I have been criticised (albeit by people who even criticise my parrot!) for refusing to suggest Karen was guilty based on these reports. I resent that criticism. It is not open to anyone in my view to simply accuse anyone of a serious criminal offence prior to any official details of them being either "prime police suspects" or having actually been charged.

I always suspected the McCanns but I never once wrote anything at all on the internet to that effect until October 2007 on the Daily Express, AFTER they were made police suspects and details of why, the forensic evidence, were made public.

That is a matter of behaving responsibly and lawfully and not libelling people, you simply cannot just go around pointing the finger at people when the police are not.

How many wicked people accused Mr and Mrs Cortez and were proved to be wrong? This is why I know I am right in saying, every time, until the POLICE let us know they did something, do not accuse people. It is wrong and it is unlawful.

Karen was entitled to the benefit of the doubt, before we knew, just the same as Kate and Gerry were. We may not like their campaign but they are in it to defend themselves. This blog will continue to oppose their campaign, flag up the insidious and disingenuous nature of it, and support justice for little Madeleine McCann. Once the McCanns are charged however, far greater restraint will have to be shown and it will be. I would ask for the same in Karen's case given she is charged and in custody and is entitled to a fair trial. She is already being punished, leave her alone and remember what she did, although extremely serious, pales into almost insignificance by comparison to what Kate and Gerry did who may well have motivated and inspired a family of clearly far lower intellect and means by their wicked behaviour.

Viv x



Police continue to quiz McCann friends

Portuguese detectives are still attending police interviews with friends of Kate and Gerry McCann.
The so-called Tapas Seven are the group who ate with the McCanns on the night their four-year-old daughter Madeleine went missing.
Police said that witnesses and Portuguese detectives had arrived at Leicestershire Constabulary's force headquarters in Enderby to be re-interviewed about the dissaperience of Madeliene from an apartment in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
It is thought 34-year-old Fiona and 41-year-old David Payne from Leicester are the latest witnesses to be questioned.
The interviews are being conducted by British officers as a three-man team of Portuguese detectives, led by Paulo Rebelo, sit in.
On Tuesday, Jane Tanner, 37, and her partner, 36-year-old Russell O'Brien, were quizzed for about ten hours.
But sources said they were allowed a number of breaks and that the interviews had given them the chance to put their point of view across "strongly".
Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs McCann are preparing to travel to Brussels where they plan to lobby MEPs for the introduction of a child alert system that is used in the US in cases where children are victims of a suspected abduction.
The couple will give a presentation on the importance of greater co-ordination between European countries when a child is abducted.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said: "For Kate and Gerry this is an important opportunity to ensure better co-ordination in Europe when a child goes missing to make sure that no other family goes through the anguish that they are continuing to endure."
The McCanns want to launch a dedicated information hotline that will be available across Europe for when police suspect a child has been taken.
Mrs McCann, 40, and 39-year-old Mr McCann, and their team, have already reserved the number - 116 000 - but it has yet to go live.
© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.
ruleSet = "news";
Your comments (15)
15 people have commented so far. Tell us what you think below.
View all comments
Apr 9, 20:17
Dawn from Liverpool says:
As a working class, married mum of two, if i left my children alone on holiday, I would be in prison, and my kids in care. How is this right? Is it because i'm not classed as a professional.The person i feel sorry for is little Maddie.
Report this comment
Apr 9, 19:46
onlooker from From Above says:
Never mind if this happened in Britian, it is also illegal to leave children unattened under a certain age in Portugal why has this not been pursued? We all know the reason!!
Report this comment
Apr 9, 19:36
Raquel from Peterborough says:
Were the parents of Maddie responsible enough to leave their children unattended ?I think so and I sincerely hope that Maddie is still alive and well but I personally condenm the parents who were inresponsable and totally disregard the children wellbeing and their safety .You are a good parent if you spend time with your children , why be a parent when you don't want to be one and be responsible for it ?Soon you are a parent you lose some things like , spending time with your friends dinner out ,disco or even bingo , you can't leave your children alone .I don't feel sympathy for them .
Report this comment
Apr 9, 18:23
bintbabe from merseyside says:
disgusting that they can still get press attention even though they put their bellies before their childrenother children get taken into care under these circumstances but obviously not if they are from middle class parents
Report this comment
Apr 9, 18:22
Peter from Leicester says:
I note that Kate & Jerry are preparing to cut and run yet again!. What is the saying? When the going gets tough the tough get going. No such luxury for Karen Mathews, wrong side of the tracks I suppose.