Kind of conjures up that stereotypical image we all have of a mugshot, sorry did not mean to frighten anyone with this pic xx
So Mitchell starts the press ball rolling as the article at the end of this post shows and then we hear Mr Murat and then we hear Gerry is to go before a Commons Select Committee to explain why he chose to use libel law and cash in to the tune of half a million pounds rather than use the simple expedient of complaining to the Press Complaints Commission about British Media coverage of his own and Kate's involvement in Maddie's disappearance. Seems he was not complaining about the Press giving a completely innocent man a right old bashing though, well of course not. Kate even piped up in the Daily Express, well I think Mr Murat has a case to answer. Of course she has piped up about Goncalo Amaral as well. It is OK when the British Press are printing what she wants them to say, but of course when the News of the World printed her diary, she went for another big payoff, breaching her right to privacy I am sure. She has always wanted that, I know. That is why she went on TV in May 2008 to sit there and explain to us why she just decided to leave her kids alone again, after Maddie complained, mummy me and Sean were crying last night, where were you. Never mind Kate, Gerry can explain it all to the Commons Select Committee, just like all those High Court hearings, I know, you just do not want to go, you like your privacy. Of course. Or are they going to make you turn up as well? I hope so!
xx
McCann to give media evidence to MPs
Last Modified: 05 Mar 2009
Source: ITN
Gerry McCann is to give evidence to MPs next week about how the media reported on the disappearance of his daughter Madeleine, his spokesman has said.
Mr McCann has been invited to answer questions from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday.
He will be joined by his spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, and his lawyer Adam Tudor, a partner in libel firm Carter-Ruck.
Their evidence will form part of the committee's inquiry into press standards, privacy and libel.
The MPs are expected to ask Mr McCann, why he and his wife Kate, chose to sue a number of British newspapers for defamation instead of going through regulatory body the Press Complaints Commission.
In March last year, Express Newspapers agreed to pay the couple £550,000 in libel damages over false allegations that they were responsible for Madeleine's death.
On the same day the committee will also hear evidence from motorsport boss Max Mosley, who last year won £60,000 in privacy damages against the News of the World over a story claiming he took part in a "sick Nazi orgy".
Robert Murat, the first person to be named an "arguido" or formal suspect in Madeleine's disappearance, is taking part in a debate about the tabloid press at Cambridge University.
His arguido status was lifted last July when the Portuguese authorities shelved their investigation into the case.
Mr Mitchell will address the Oxford Union later about whether media coverage helped or hindered the search for the missing little girl.
Madeleine was nearly four when she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, on May 3, 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.
Despite a massive police operation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.
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Murat addresses Cambridge Union
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| Page last updated at 20:43 GMT, Thursday, 5 March 2009 | |
A man who won damages from newspapers after being named a suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has said his life has been scarred by the tabloid press. Robert Murat, who previously lived in Hockering, Norfolk, was a suspect, or arguido, under Portuguese law before being cleared of any involvement. In a Cambridge Union debate, Mr Murat said his "life will be scarred forever" due to "lies" printed in the tabloids. The debate is on whether tabloid newspapers do more harm than good. Three-year-old Madeleine disappeared while her family was on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. Mr Murat, who is in his mid-30s, proposed the motion, "This house believes tabloids do more harm than good" during the debate at the Cambridge Union Society. 'Pack of hounds' "There was never a shred of evidence that I was in any way involved despite eight months of lurid headlines," said Mr Murat. "But could the acres of newsprint devoted to publishing inaccurate and hurtful stories about me have been put to better use in finding Madeleine? "I have dwelt on that a lot, agonised about it and the fact is we'll never know." He said he felt like "a fox being pursued by a pack of hounds", and added: "Often I felt like I was somewhere between a Kafka novel and the Will Smith movie Enemy Of The State." Mr Murat said that after Madeleine disappeared, he, like other locals, felt a natural urge to help. He said since he was fluent in English and Portuguese he "pitched in" by helping police translate British witnesses' statements. He became a suspect after "one particular tabloid journalist" approached police to convince them that he was "acting suspiciously".
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Gerry McCann at Edgeley Park, January 2008, flanked by Clarence Mitchell and Brian Kennedy
kportexpress.co.uk/news/s/1034308_edgeley_park_millionaire_brings_maddies_dad_to_stockport
Tony Bennett says, March 2009, the McCanns backer and payer of Mitchells salary (up to Sept 08 when the Fund started to pay it) "remains a mystery" and yet the serious press, see below, have been consistently telling us, since September 2007, there is no mystery at all, it is Mr Brian Kennedy pictured above entertaining Mitchell and Gerry McCann. Did Mr Kennedy get at you to Mr Bennett or do you just lack the ability to get your facts straight? Still, I suppose whilst everyone is bashing Clarence Mitchell and not quite getting their facts straight, Kate and Gerry will be pretty happy. Could even be said it is Mitchell's job to protect them. Oh what complicated webs some people weave and even have people lapping it up, apparently...note Mr Mitchell does not say he is getting £28,000 p.a. in the Independent either, (article also below) Mr Bennett has real trouble with quoting facts, for some reason.
http://the3arguidos.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=29156&sid=7a0b6207c18584dc4e8e952dbb17c141&start=0
RUBBISH WARNING...
Who has been paying Clarence Mitchell’s salary whilst he has been working for the McCanns?
This remains a mystery. We know that up to September 2007, the British government paid his salary. He left the government that month. Since then, the McCanns and Mitchell have said on the record that the ‘Helping to Find Madeleine Fund’ has not paid any part of his salary. They say that he was paid by ‘an anonymous backer’. But Clarence Mitchell won’t say who that backer is, nor why that backer is giving him so much support. [UPDATE: In an article in the Independent on Sunday, 1 March 2009, Mitchell has contradicted previous claims that his salary was being paid by an anonymous backer. He now says he gets a retainer of £28,000 a year from the Helping to Find Madeleine Fund, donations to which were given to ‘help find Madeleine’, not pay the salaries of PR professionals].
And now for the reality....somehow I prefer The Telegraph etc to Mr Tony Bennett.
Madeleine McCann millionaire donor named
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1563940/Madeleine-McCann-millionaire-donor-named.html
By Caroline Gammell in
Last Updated:
The McCanns face the media
The multi-millionaire behind Kate and Gerry McCann’s bid to clear their names has been revealed as Brian Kennedy, a double-glazing magnate who started life as a window cleaner.
Mr Kennedy has offered to pay for lawyer Ed Smethurst, who works inhouse for the businessman, as well as the McCann’s official spokesman, Clarence Mitchell.
Born in
The McCanns, both 39, are official suspects in their four-year-old daughter’s disappearance and were questioned at length by Portuguese detectives before flying back to the
They said they would go as far as selling their house in Rothley, Leicestershire, to fight claims they might have killed their daughter and would not touch the fund set up to find Madeleine.
But support has come in the form of multi-million pound backers.
Last week, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson put forward £100,000 to kick start their legal fund.
Mr Kennedy said “In light of the quite literally incredible accusations against Gerry and Kate McCann, which are clearly exacerbating their emotional torture, I felt compelled to offer, along with other like-minded businessmen, financial support and the full logistical support of the
Latium Group, which includes the Wilmslow-based business dealing in plastics, glass processing, kitchens and home improvements, is owned by Mr Kennedy.
The owner of Sale Sharks rugby club is worth an estimated £250 million and involved in a number of businesses with an annual turnover of £500 million.
He bought the Everest double glazing business in 1999 for £47 million and then sold his stake in the company for £63 million in 2003.
The father of five was brought up a Jehovah’s witness and divides his time between his house in Congleton in
His support has boosted the McCann’s legal team.
They have employed top lawyers in both
In the
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Metro
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?%A3815,000_spent_in_search_for_Maddie&in_article_id=510316&in_page_id=34
McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said today: "Everyone who has so generously donated money to help find Madeleine can be assured that every penny has been accounted for and has been, entirely appropriately, spent one way or another on the search for Madeleine.
"The accounts have been independently audited and are entirely transparent."
Mr Mitchell's salary was previously paid by the McCanns' millionaire benefactor, Cheshire-based entrepreneur Brian Kennedy.
But it is understood that he has been receiving a monthly retainer from the Madeleine Fund since September last year.
http://www.stockportexpress.co.uk/news/s/1034308_edgeley_park_millionaire_brings_maddies_dad_to_stockport
Edgeley Park millionaire brings Maddie’s dad to Stockport
HEARTBREAK dad Gerry McCann took time out from the frantic search for his missing daughter Madeleine to watch Sale Sharks beat Harlequins at
Mr McCann and his legal adviser Clarence Mitchell were guests of Sharks’ millionaire owner Brian Kennedy.
Mr Kennedy, a previous owner of
The youngster’s disappearance in
It has been widely reported that the McCann family’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell’s £75,000 salary, is being paid by Mr Kennedy and further help is being given by his lawyer Ed Smethurst.
Mr Kennedy told the Stockport Express yesterday: "Gerry McCann came out (to the match) for a couple of hours to help clear his mind. I wouldn’t want this to compromise our campaign to find Madeleine. I remain absolutely committed to the campaign to find Madeleine and my support goes on."
BERLIN PRESS CONFERENCE 2007 KATE, CUDDLECAT AND CLARENCE POSE FOR THE CAMERAS... IT IS ALL DECENT, HONEST STUFF..(not sure where they put Gerry on this occasion)
Now down to just 40% of his original fee for trying to persuade us what great parents the McCanns are, it would seem Clarence is now on a mission, to rescue his own reputation from the personal savaging he has inflicted upon it.
Out of the goodness of his heart, he tells us, he now helps others and does not even ask for a fee. Then why is he still charging his beloved McCanns what my maths tell me would be about £30,000 per annum? Could that be because this couple have a massive fund so they can pay for his services and perhaps are in more dire need of him than any other. Did Goa mum engage on quite such a massive campaign to tell us what a super mom she is? Well hardly!Did Clarence Mitchell demonstrate "professional detachment" when he told us "we will fight to protect our commercial interests". Sorry Clarence but I, for one, am not persuaded you do this just because you wish to help people, I think your commercial interests in Team McCann and peculiar sense of how you will earn a living, speak too loudly to convince us of that.
Fired up by his paymaster Gerry McCann he gives us the same party political broadcast:
"There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever, nothing, to suggest that Madeleine has been harmed, let alone killed".
Could he be speaking about the same little girl, not quite four, who disappeared without trace, almost two years ago? The same little girl whose parents were investigated for her murder or being involved in her kidnapping? Well yes, how perverse. If you want us to believe you are such a nice person, Clarence, maybe you could accept that a little girl who has been away from her family for almost two years, a family who left her to cry alone, they say in an unlocked apartment, a family who say she was taken by a gang of paedophiles, a family who left her alone with dangerous medicines which could clearly have killed her, has, by the very fact of her disappearance, let alone what the police or her family suggest, quite obviously suffered just about the most serious harm any little child could suffer, whether she is dead or alive.
I would like to know why Clarence suddenly feels this overwhelming need to repair his own reputation. Could it be that he realises the game is up for Team McCann. Oh dear Clarence, does that mean you will no longer even get your £30,000 per annum? Well you reap what you sow. I suppose asking the BBC or the government if they would have you back would probably be a bit of a waste of time? HUmmmmm, I guess so...I think I just have to agree with this newspaper article, perhaps the better and more honest way to put things, rather than the Clarence Mitchell or Gerry McCann way is pretty simple, there is no evidence she is still living, Very sad, but very true. I never did get persuaded by all that reverse psychology crap.
xx
Clarence Mitchell:'I am a decent human being. If I can help them, I will'
The ex-BBC journalist built a career on professional detachment. Then, he went to work for the McCanns
Sunday, 1 March 2009
The search goes on. "There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever, nothing, to suggest that Madeleine has been harmed, let alone killed," insists Clarence Mitchell, the former television reporter who speaks for the family of the most famous missing girl in the world. Her face is instantly recognisable. There is no longer any need to use her surname, McCann. And yet, nearly two years since she vanished from the Algarve, there is still no trace.
This is hard to say to Mitchell – who began as a dispassionate adviser and then became a close personal friend of her parents – but there seems no evidence to suggest the three-year-old is still living. "Obviously," he says, "as time goes on, Kate and Gerry are finding it harder and harder. But they are still firmly of the view that Madeleine is alive and out there to be found."
For months now they have turned down interviews, preferring to go through the many files handed over by the Portuguese police. There is another reason for their silence, too. "You reach a saturation point," their spokesman admits. "People would say to us, 'Oh, it's tragic, but we've almost had enough of Madeleine.' That was appalling to hear."
In their silence, Clarence Mitchell is re-emerging as a public figure in his own right. On Friday he will speak at the Oxford Union, following in the footsteps of Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa and Kermit the Frog. Now he is giving his first personal interview since the days when he was a familiar face on the BBC. He is doing it at the West End offices of Freud Communications, which has hired him as a consultant. Dressed as if to broadcast, in a light brown suit and dark blue shirt, he has two BlackBerrys on his desk: one for Kate and Gerry, the other for everyone else.
Lately, he seems to be setting himself up as a public relations guru for families in distress, including that of 16-year-old Jimmy Mizen, who was stabbed to death in south London last year. The trial of Jimmy's alleged killer begins at the Old Bailey a week tomorrow, and Mitchell will be outside, representing the bereaved parents. Once again, he will be on our screens. But despite seeming so familiar, Clarence Mitchell has never really given anything away about himself. Why did he stop reporting and reading the news? What then drove this 46-year-old man to campaign on behalf of the McCanns, a couple he barely knew and who were suspected of murdering their daughter?
"Everything I have seen of them, in all of the pressurised situations, shows me a family who are suffering the loss of their child," he says. "Everything they are doing, behind the scenes, convinces me of that."
So far, so on message for a man who was hired in September 2007 to "salvage their reputations" in the wake of the McCanns being named as arguidos, or suspects, by the Portuguese police. Mitchell had already been with them for a month, as a civil service media expert sent to help the couple to cope with all the attention. But he returned in the pay of a millionaire supporter of the McCanns, leading a publicity campaign "to correct and balance the inaccurate coverage that was coming out and try to get everything back on an even keel ... with a view to helping to get arguido lifted".
It worked, of course: they won £550,000 damages and a front-page apology from the Daily Express, and last summer the police cleared them of all suspicion. But Mitchell could not have known it would turn out that way. "It was," he says, "gut instinct."
It was a life-changing moment. Until then, his entire career had been built on remaining calm and uninvolved in the most trying circumstances: reporting for the Hendon and Finchley Times with the local MP, Margaret Thatcher, bursting into the office; broadcasting from the M1 with the wreckage of the Kegworth air disaster strewn in front of him; covering wars in Northern Ireland, Kuwait, Iraq and the Balkans alongside the likes of Kate Adie. "You see a lot of distressing things, whether that's a war zone or a murder scene, but I have always found it relatively easy to be dispassionate."
He needed that skill most when sent on a story in Fulham in 1999. "There was a rumour that Jill Dando had been in some sort of accident. The area was taped off. There were detectives walking up from the house who told us to ring the press bureau. I said, 'Look, I know Jill.' We were friends. She used to called me Clarenzio. They said, 'She's dead, I'm afraid.' It was dreadful." But he still filed reports from the scene. "You just have to get on with it."
He did breakfast TV and the odd Six O'Clock News – "which nobody remembers" – but by the time he left the BBC in 2005, his career had reached a plateau. "I felt I had more to offer." Recruited by the Cabinet Office to run the Media Monitoring Unit, he had a hard first week. "The Monday was the G8 at Gleneagles. I was just about getting my head round the job on Tuesday, then Wednesday we won the Olympics. Thursday was 7/7." When the Foreign Office sent him to assist the McCanns – as he insists it would have helped any family in that situation – he asked difficult questions. "I was assured that from the perspective of the British authorities, this was a rare case of stranger abduction."
They had left their very young children alone in a holiday apartment while they went to a tapas bar. He doesn't duck that, even if the response has been smoothed by repetition. "They made a mistake at the time; they weren't with her when it happened. They will always regret that, God forbid, possibly for the rest of their lives."
In media terms, he says, Madeleine was "a perfect storm: her age, her appearance, the location, the parents..." Columnists wrote about "people like us". Picture editors loved Kate, to an extraordinary degree. "It would be sad if it wasn't laughable: Kate was finding herself in Nuts or whatever lads' magazine's top 10. You think, 'This is ridiculous.' But they can't help how they look."
There's no truth, then, in the report that he tried to get Kate to be photographed in a swimsuit? "Utter bollocks." Gerry suggested it without realising the implications, he says, and was then persuaded otherwise. "A good example of facts being distorted. Completely, 180-degree wrong."
Mitchell had a home in Bath with his wife and children, two girls and a boy who were aged 10, eight and one at the time. Why go back to Portugal? "We had become friends. There was an emotional drive. I felt they had been the victims of a heinous crime and very badly wronged in the way stories had appeared."
There was also his response as a father. "I have never had to analyse it like this before ... but yes, this was every parent's nightmare, my own included." Didn't he miss his own children? "At night, when I had a few hours to myself, you did miss them more acutely, perhaps, than if it had been a job of a different nature."
These days Mitchell gets 40 per cent of his former salary as a retainer from the Find Madeleine Fund. Kate is said by relatives to spend hours with the files at home in Rothley, Leicestershire, while her twins are at nursery. Gerry, devotes evenings to the case, after days as a consultant at Glenfield Hospital.
"Sadly, the files have not revealed any substantial new leads," says Mitchell. "And sadly, they have confirmed a lot of what Kate and Gerry feared: that things haven't been done properly in certain areas, and certain things hadn't been followed up." The detective agencies they hired are no longer on the case. Have a dozen British former detectives and security service agents been employed instead, as reported? "I can't go into details, because the investigators don't wish me to. The investigation is on a smaller scale, but just as relevant."
There is still a huge amount of material to work through: such as more than 3,000 "psychic tip-offs. Any verifiable fact in them – and some are very detailed – has to be checked".
Meanwhile, his new life involves media training for corporations as well as advising people such as the mother of Scarlett Keeling, who was murdered in Goa, and the Mizens. "I do it pro bono, for free." Why? "Because these people came to me in the direst of situations, with their children dead. I'm not going to say no. Nor am I going to say, 'I'm sorry about your loss. Here's my fee.'" Others would. "It's a non-starter. I am a decent, caring human being. If I can help them, I will."
Yes, but isn't he using this free work to build the kind of reputation that made him attractive to Freud? "Not deliberately so. Honestly." Others have compared the new Clarence Mitchell to a more obviously compassionate Max Clifford, with whom he says he gets on well. "People are entitled to their point of view," he says, as calmly as he says everything, on and off camera. "But I am doing this for what I believe to be honest, genuine, compassionate reasons."
The making of a media expert
From TV to Madeleine, and beyond
1962 Born and educated in north-west London. Tries working in a bank after school but hates it.
1982 Joins Hendon and Finchley Times as a trainee reporter, which brings him into contact with the local MP, Margaret Thatcher. "To see the Prime Minister sweep into the office with Special Branch while you are writing up the latest golden wedding is quite an experience."
1985 Shift work on Sunday Express.
1986 Joins the BBC in Sheffield as a radio reporter, before going on to television in Leeds with Look North.
1989 Breakfast News in London, then "fireman" sent where needed, including extensive war reporting.
1999 Made a BBC News presenter.
2005 Joins Civil Service as director of Downing St Media Monitoring Unit.
May 2007 Sent to Portugal to help with press attention in the McCann case.
september 2007 Quits the Civil Service to become spokesman for McCanns.
2008 Extends help to other families.
207 comments:
1 – 200 of 207 Newer› Newest»I am sure all the attention Tony Bennett has been giving Clarence Mitchell on 3 As of late is just pure coincidence, it could not have been some presage of this article could it? Some Machiavellian machination..surely not! How remiss of me to make such a suggestion or indeed to suggest that Clarence just wanted our names, addresses and email addresses..For just £3 I will post you such a good book, for absolutely nothing, I will email you this fantastic leaflet, oh no, I am just an old cynic, I have admitted it before. Clarence does not really want to track down all these people who attack him and his beloved McCanns, he is a nice person:-)))) Oh, and so is Tony Bennett, one of the best!!
viv
Post subject: Re: CLARENCE MITCHELL Leaflet ready for 6th March
New postPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:31 pm
On Parole
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:58 pm
Posts: 1078
"One of this country's master political manipulators"
Is this not overstating his attributes a little Tony, given he does not work for the government, indeed I would say he got pushed? He did not manage to get a proper job with Freud either apparently, just commission on any business he brought in and is only on a "monthly retainer" for Kate and Gerry? Getting paid on the lecture circuit looks to me like another way this creep could earn some much needed cash, after all, Kennedy does not want to pay him any longer does he?
Would it not be better to just offer your leaflet for upload on your webpage rather than asking for people's email addresses before they can read it? That might put a lot of people off and I am sure you want it distributing as widely as possible? Better still why not just put it on your webpage or on here, Mr Bennett?
I am sure we will all remember that Clarence Mitchell's stated aim is to track down all these bloggers against his esteemed clients.
Hi Viv
Thanks for the above article.
So Clarence can't go into details as to whether former detectives have been employed to search for Madeleine. The investigation is on a smaller scale, but just as relevant.
I would say there are no hired detectives and there is no search.
I would also love to know why you are taking a retainer out of the fund yet are happy to work for other people for free.
Gerry wanted Kate to be photographed in a swimsuit, Sorry, how is this going to help find Madeleine?
Good Morning All,
I remember reading an interview with a former colleague of CM’s who said that CM’s career in television journalism was over. The reason given for this was he did not specialise in any particular area of the news and was a general reporter which was a dying breed – specialisation was required. Also his age did not help. This was why he took the government job.
Mr Mitchell tries to spin differently but the McCann assignment must have been a lifeline to flagging career prospects. He has now set himself up in a new genre of reporting and making a comfortable living out of creative spinning.
He has a wife and 3 kids to support - so necessity makes him creative and creative spin is really the name of his game.
Hi everyone -
I had to laugh at the comment made about CM's forthcoming appearance at the Oxford Union by that reporter - he is in line after Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, and Kermit the Frog!! I think that was mentioned with tongue in cheek! And that reporter suggesting that Madeleine may not be somewhere safe and well must have hit CM where it hurt too!
The man is a blackguard and a hypocrite, because if he was so concerned about finding Maddie he would not still be taking 40% of his former salary, considering he has a new job which presumably pays very well. Surely he wouldn't mind giving that money to help get these wonderful super private detectives a bit further in their search!
I read the Susan and Paul Moyes interviews too - they were the couple who were on holiday for a month in PdeL and stayed in the apartment above Mrs Fenn. She said they got back to the apartment on the night of the 3rd and went to sit on their balcony sipping drinks and watching the party at the tapas bar at about 9.30pm. Doesn't say how long they sat there, but I would have thought that any abductor having seen folk sitting on their balconies that evening would hardly have tried to get in a window in the flat below!! They said they were woken at 11.30 by all the commotion. How come they didn't hear Kate shouting from the terrace at 10 o'clock that Maddie had been 'taken'! Or did she not really shout that out until she got to the tapas bar?
The bit about Gerry suggesting Kate pose in a swimsuit for a photographer just proves to me his mind was on the money he could make not on Maddie's disappearance!
Poor Maddie - the dice were certainly loaded against her!
JUSTICE FOR MADELEINE!
I also take exception to Susan Moyes' comment that 'we've all done it' when asked about the tapas 9 leaving their kids. Well, Susan Moyes, we haven't all done it. In fact, if everyone in the UK was asked that question I'm sure it would perhaps be maybe a very small minority of selfish, ignorant, pleasure loving parents. So don't tar us all with the same brush please.
It appears too from her statement that they wouldn't easily have seen the apartment from where they sat at the tapas bar because of the high wall and plants etc, so that was another porky from the McCann camp!
Clarence dances with words and does it for money. Anyone who walks that path contributes very little to a just and fair society. He is like the small group of bankers who a few years ago didn't stop themselves from what they knew was wrong because of personal profit. Unethical money if you like. The world is full of such types and I dislike them with a vengeance.
They lead their lives looking at the world as it is instead of how they wish it to be. If we all did that and behaved that way we would all be fleecing each other but doing it with a smile and polite words. Disgusting role models for society and there are many prevalent ones for the young to look at who behave this way to earn their money.
Susan Moyes statement I find a little confusing. I thought the resort was quiet at night but first we hear from O’Donnell saying she could usually hear, through the open window in her apartment, Gerry talking and laughing at the Tapis Bar, but Susan Moyes fails to hear KM screaming “they’ve taken her” from the balcony just below her. Well perhaps Moyes is a little deaf because surely she must have been not to hear this.
BT – precisely!
Hi All
Susan Moyes also says she sat on the balcony as it was a lovely evening yet JT says it was cold.
There was also the couple who left the Tapas and the wife heard someone shouting Madeleine 9-15pm or there abouts did Susan not hear this either, very selective hearing I would say.
Hi Wizard
There was also the statement from the Nanny who said she did not enter the apt but she could hear Kate's sreams etc., surely Susan Moyes would have heard all the commotion as we know Mrs Fenn did.
It seems that most of us can see the blaring irregularities and discrepancies in their statements. I hope it won't be too long before they are all faced with their lies in a Court of law!
The law will catch up with them - of that I'm certain! No wonder they are keeping a low profile all of them!
As you say BT, bankers seem to be a breed apart from the rest of us and allowed to get away with their ill gotten gains whereas we would have the tax man at our doors at the first sign of making a bit of extra money on the backs of others!
Off to cook lunch now - may be back later.
Nx
Hi Di,
Susan Moyes comments – at first I thought she said she heard nothing because she didn’t want to get involved and couldn’t add anything. But she gave an interview to the press which rather blows that idea out of the water.
Hiya all and great to see my favourite bloggers posting on this one!
Why does Jane Tanner insist it was so cold that night, when we were told they were all down on the beach because it had been the best day so far. Gerry himself contradicts this when he says that when he checked Madeleine at 9.05 she was still exactly how he left her when putting her to bed. Lying on her left hand side on top of the bed clothes. If it was such a cold night why would you not put your child under the bed clothes?
Later on, by November, Jane is really warming to her task of trying to create an image of one who looks very different to Gerry McCann. Instead of a light jacket it becomes a big heavy jacket, of course this white male with short brown hair has also become a swarthy man with masses of hair by this stage. She thought, apparently, what a bad parent, not covering this child up, well indeed Jane. At least she got the parent bit right.
Susan Moyes is interesting. Sometimes it seems like there are a few other witnesses who may have been got at, apart from the TAPAS 7. That was Mr Jimenez's job and as a former senior police officer armed with masses of cash perhaps he was pretty good at that. There is a witness cannot remember her name who will say she printed out those 6 x 4 pictures on photographic paper with Russell O'Brien. So different to the A4 ones printed out in the reception area on just ordinary paper, I would say, copies of the originals which I am convinced Gerry McCann took with him. The one picture I have seen of Madeleine she looks much younger, we know the McCanns like to produce old pictures of Maddie where she looks cuter and much less like she would actually look at the time of her disappearance.
If Susan Moyes actually did sit out on her patio from 9.15 then surely she would have been aware of Gerry and Wilkins chatting away almost right underneath her. More important still surely she would have been aware of this predator entering those rear patio doors, given we know he could not possibly have got through Maddie's bedroom window at the front. It seems clear to me Maddie was removed from the apartment at the front, through the front door and we know who had the key to be able to do that. If he had exited via the rear there was clearly the risk of being spotted from those above on their patios.
If we can work this out with just one third of the PJH file that has been released, just imagine what LP can work out with all of the PJ file, CEOP's, SOCA's and their own too. I believe this is why Clarence is now stumbling around looking where he goes from here. Gerry said he was going to make several trips to Portugal over the next few months, there clearly are no investigators searching for Maddie. Not of the private type anyway!! So come on Gerry, when are you going again and why. All will be revealed I have no doubt.
JUSTICE FOR MADDIE
AND FAITH IN THE POLICE!!
Wizard
I always thought Brigitte O'Donnell was trying to paint us a subtle picture of what she really thought of the McCanns' conduct and the nature and character of Gerry McCann..a loud mouthed, play acting, liar.
xx
I have just had to re-publish this post because I was getting a completely blank screen and this is not the first time this has happened.
Does anyone know if it is possible for people to mess with google blogs or is it just coincidence?
xx
Hi Viv
I am glad you have asked about people being able to mess with blogs.
Twice whilst trying to post today I have had a crash and windows has had to restart, no solution to the problem was found.
Where is RAT when you need her :o))
Viv
Susan Moyes also states she heard Gerry laughing and talking from the Tapas Restaurant whilst sitting on her balcony, yes a loud mouth without doubt and full of himself imo.
Viv -
Right, of course, they would surely have seen Gezza talking with Jez if they were on the balcony at that time. I should have thought they'd also have seen Mr Swarthy, or whoever JT said she saw carrying a child.
Is it just coincidence that it happened to be JT, one of the McCann's friends who saw Maddie being carried away, and not one of the other hundres of tourists in the vicinity at the time.
The Smiths' saw a man (resembling Gerry), carrying a child - that would be more believable than one of their actual pals coming up with her obviously 'planned abduction' to take the heat of the McCanns!
Di -
You would have thought that Susan Moyes would have heard all the commotion wouldn't you? Who knows, maybe she is a plant, or otherwise has been rewarded for her side of the story.
Nx
Be back tomorrow!
Has Jill forgotten Majorca?
Family friend Jill Renwick said it was the first time they had been away somewhere with the children and that they had chosen the resort with care. "This is the first time they have done this. They are very, very anxious parents and very careful and they chose [the resort] because it is family-friendly," she said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/may/05/world.sandralaville
Hi Nancy
Yes Susan could well be a plant, let's face it many witnesses have been got at so why not Susan.
Money talks.
Just thinking this through Susan Moyes is sitting on the balcony chatting with friend/s. She heard Gerry’s voice over at the tapis(?). I think it’s been established without doubt he’s a loud mouth so why did she not hear him greeting Wilkins which happened a few yards from her balcony? She wouldn’t have been able to see bundleman as she was facing in the wrong direction and if sitting down she would not have seen GM, GW or JT but she should have heard motor mouth. I think she went to bed early (before 10.00pm) and probably the bedroom was situated at the back of the apartment otherwise how could she not have heard Kate screaming on the balcony at 10.00pm. If we give bundleman some credence he must have left via the front door (facing car park) as she would have heard the sliding doors being opened if he left via the patio.
Which poses two questions about timing was she sitting on the balcony at 9.15 or was it slightly later. Or was Gerry’s meeting with Wilkins earlier than he suggested perhaps to cover the amount of time he was away from the table? If we believe Susan Moyes then Gerry’s timing for meeting Wilkins is wrong, if we disbelieve Moyes she must have been got at and chooses to say she saw and heard nothing.
Hi Wizard
Motor Mouth :o))
If we believe Gerry's timing is wrong for meeting JW then we also have to say JW and JT are both wrong with their timings, does that make sense?
Off now
Enjoy your evening everyone.
Hi Di,
I don’t think JT was there at 9.15 at all that’s why Gerry and Jes did not see her - all she’s doing is averting attention from RO who later on did not have an alibi for a crucial period – therefore suggesting that an abductor had already struck before RO had left the tapis.
Jez Wilkins – didn’t he originally say it was earlier? I’ll have to check that.
Hiya Wiz, the master bedroom with the patio door on is situate at the rear of the apt. One would assume Ms Moyes apt above would be the same. So when she went to bed at 10 pm that would have been when all hell was starting to break loose. I just cannot imagine how she did not hear what was going on directly beneath her. We know that Mrs Fenn heard it all and called down to Gerry from her own balcony, do you wish to use the phone? I am finding it impossible to imagine Ms Moyes just slept right through that. Adults would naturally choose the most attractive room with the patio door and the view onto the pool, she must have been there at the rear, surely?
Well guys, you know I think "Motor Mouth" is a great new name for Gezza:-))) He is pretty theatrical, what with prostrating himself on the floor, praying and swearing, just as he approached the GNR arriving at the scene. Then we learn he lay his head on the bed with the lady Kate and pretended to cry with her, he is almost funny, but this is no funny subject. So that makes him pretty sick.
xxx
In light of your posts above, I thought I would go back to Pamalam's and have a look at some of the interviews and found one I have never read before, the previous occupier of 5 A from Glasgow strangely enough.
The police were obviously wanting to know where that blood they obviously found with the help of the dogs came from. No cuts recalled.
It is very interesting what is said about the doors, clearly did not access the apt via the patio doors, they were locked from the inside, always entered via the front door key, just as Gerry originally told the police they did. I just do not think that patio door operated from the outside. I recall the picture of Rebelo and his men trying to do that.
It is also very interesting to have it explained that the shutters came down over the patio door OUTSIDE, I know this is pretty obvious but it had not really occurred to me before. This person explains you would be concerned about security given the area and street light not working, you just would not leave both the shutter open and the patio door too, far too risky!
I think it demonstrates the obvious lies Gerry was telling in saying in his second statement on the 10 May (see previous thread I have recorded both) that is how they were getting in and out. What he said in his first stmt is the truth, they were using their key and the front door. This makes what Mrs Fenn heard on 1 May even more sinister, she heard the patio doors close and Maddie stopped crying. I am afraid what I believe was going on looks even more likely now we carefully think it through. Someone was in that apt with her, making her cry and how did he get in, in the first place? Could it have even been "Daddy", given that is what Maddie repeatedly sobbed or could it have been Payne or O'Brien?
I do not want to believe this is true, but I do feel this is what it looks like and why Gerry tells so many lies about those doors!
What went on in the McCanns bedroom whilst they were at the TAPAS bar and why did the dogs smell what I believe was blood in there? I believe they could not actually locate the blood because it would have been on clothing, bedding etc, which had been removed. Grime points out the dogs were not pinpointing that area, Eddie was scenting with his nose in the air, meaning he could smell something but only in the air. The only place there was a precise fix was behind the sofa, is this a red herring? Blood there from some other occasion. This person points out the sofa was in the same place about two feet from the wall, that blood could have been there for years and when the room was arranged in a different way. I feel the bedroom is the real area of concern.Both dogs were going frantic in that bedroom, Keela only smells blood...there was no visible injury to Maddie when she was carried out IN HER PJS according to the Smith family. Wiz, I do think if JT saw bundleman at all, she saw him much later than she is saying and I still think she WAS probably telling almost the truth in the early stages. Gerry Knew he had been spotted, if it was him carrying Maddie, no doubt about that, but as I have stated before, it could have been Payne, he has a similar description and apparently does wear contact lenses, clearly he would have done so in this instance.
CARTAS ROGATORIAS 5
Pages 40 to 41
LEICESTERSHIRE POLICE SQUAD
WITNESS TESTIMONY OF JUNE HUGHES
Occupation: Surgical Assistant
This statement, consisting of three pages, each signed by me, is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have willfully states in it anything I know to be false or do not believe to be true.
Date: 29 April 2008
Signature:
I am the above referenced person and live at the address previously given to this police.
On the 14th of April of 2007 my partner Carlo A?AMROSIO and I were on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal. We have booked a reservation with Thomas Cook and were to stay in the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort.
Carlo and I travelled to the Glasgow airport directly to Faro.
When we arrived at the resort, we were given apartment 5A. There were still cleaning personnel in there when we arrived. They allowed us to enter. We checked and realized that we had not been given a key to the apartment and Carlo went to the reception to collect one.
I found the apartment very good. We arrived on Saturday and this night noticed that the blinds on the patio side door which gave way to the pool zone did not close. It appeared that someone had lifted them too much and the mechanism did not dislodge in order to shut them (page1). We reported this abnormality to the reception that same night. We reported this immediately because we found that the apartment could be at risk if it was not possible to close the door blinds. The apartment was also vulnerable for the fact that the entryway light (side of the street) was hanging and did not function. This made the entryway very dark. It was off from the street with a small parking zone between the street and the apartment.
Even though we communicated this issue of the blind, we did not expect them to rapidly address the issue. We were surprised when on Sunday morning a functionary came to fix the blind. The patio door blind was on the outside of the patio door. We used the principal entrance (next to the street) and would lock the patio door from the interior.
During our stay I do not remember having cut or hurt myself. It is possible that Carlo cut himself whilst shaving but I don?t remember this.
Nothing was taken from our apartment and I did not notice anything suspect during our stay. I noticed that the gardeners would work on the garden close to the apartment?pool-side?three mornings (page 2) during our stay. The cleaning personnel would come very day.
I remember that the key to the apartment was a bit unusual. It was round and with cut segments. We noticed that the cleaning personnel knocked on the door once and would then enter in the apartment. In this sequence, we left the door always closed with the key in the lock. The next morning, the cleaning woman knocked on the door and entered normally independent of the door being locked with the key in the interior of the lock.
As far as I recall, the living woman sofa (to the right of the entry across the patio door) was slightly removed from the wall, around 60 cm.
We were not accompanied by children to Praia da Luz but noticed that the children seemed to have free access to the restaurant and were always very welcome. We would normally eat in different restaurants when we holidayed but would breakfast in the apartment and if I am not mistaken, lunched in our apartment.
We slept in the principal room where the blind was initially broken. We never took any food in the Tapas Bar. I do not know Gerry or Kate McCann and only heard of them after their daughter went missing. We returned on the 21st of April of 2007.
No dammit I am trying to be reasonable and suggest the carrier the Smiths saw was Payne but I just do not think it was. For one thing Payne has a pretty obvious bald patch at the front of his hair and the witnesses do not mention this but I believe it is something they would have noted.
Where is the rog for Mr Flack who gave a photofit of a man, see right who looks the image of Gerry. A photofit was also given by another of a man who looks the image of OB. So, according to witnesses the only suspicious people who were hanging around that night were two men who looked just like Gerry and Russell, funny that!
xx
I have just been reading another statement from a male solicitor friend of theirs, he says:
"On Friday the 11th of May 2007 we heard rumours that the Portuguese were going to stop the searches. After having passed this information to Kate we met up in the Tapas bar in the resort between 9:30 and 9:45 in the morning. We met for only a half hour to 40 minutes as Kate had to attend a police interview."
So, on 10 May they re-interviewed Gerry and apparently decided they were calling the searches off. After he changed his mind about the doors, in short the police were in no doubt, Gerry was involved. He says Kate had to attend a further interview on 11 May but we have not been given access to this interview. It must be one of the thousands of pages that has been withheld, now why could that be when we have Gerry's second interview with the police? Did she give some vital clue away that the police do not want us to be privy too?
xx
I love the headline of that article:
"..he built his career on professional detachment, then he went to work for the McCanns"
Proof, if ever we needed it, that Clarence can type and email bulletins for the press just as much as he likes, but, at the end of the day, they print just what they want to print, with their own little slant on the article.
Tough luck Clarence, you do not control really do you? You are a hopeless sham of a man who through professional standards out of the window, the day you jumped in bed with Team McCann. That is a position there is no way back from. Ha, the man who tried to pretend he even had the ear of the police, they confidentially advised him this was a rare stranger abduction, sure Clarence, we believe you:-)))
or even threw...I swear this keyboard has a mind of its own and tries to guess what I am trying to say:-)))) Predictive text off to you!
...Did she give some vital clue away that the police do not want us to be privy too?
Or did our Katie go even better than that and give the police something they did not want Rentagob be privy to? You might have sent her half way around the bend Gezzy, but still, you should not underestimate her, like you have underestimated everyone else. That is the biggest mistake..Hey ho, when is he going back to Portugal again, or has he even given up that as a good plan and a quality idea, silly man!
xx
Di, you know I think you are right, this is a barbed attack on Gerry McCann whilst Clarence thinks such a suggestion is "utter bollocks"...Gerry had to be "persuaded otherwise". I think the sh!t really is about to hit the fan...and rentagob Number 2 wants to come out smelling of violets..I have always thought he has a soft spot for Kate.
There's no truth, then, in the report that he tried to get Kate to be photographed in a swimsuit? "Utter bollocks." Gerry suggested it without realising the implications, he says, and was then persuaded otherwise. "A good example of facts being distorted. Completely, 180-degree wrong."
180 degrees is half of 360!
It could even be said Mitchell is mocking the McCanns own investigations:
There is still a huge amount of material to work through: such as more than 3,000 "psychic tip-offs".
I think someone once said, with a friend like him on side, who would need an enemy. Might as well have mentioned how helpful Mr Correia was to the McCanns own investigation..
What Mitchell is saying here that the McCanns have nothing to prove, it is up to the prosecution to prove its case is a purely legal concept and perfectly true. Those suspected by the police do not have to give evidence against themselves and he was pointing out that it was they were refusing to do. They and their friends were not going to Portugal for the reconstruction because it would have made the prosecution of them so much easier. He is wrong to suggest it was to do with negligence though. The police in Portugal could not have charged them with that as the 6 month time limit had already expired. The PJ had much more serious charges in mind and given they are all British citizens so will UK Police, but requiring suspects to attend a reconstruction is not part of our own legal procedure although the evidence it would have yielded would no doubt have been pretty handy. I am sure Stu Prior was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!
xx
http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=976037
McCann and friends were afraid of new allegations
Refusal to participate in the rebuilding was vercom fear of all will be accused of negligence
2008-08-07
ALEXANDRA Serôdio AND RITA JORDÃO
Kate, Gerry and their friends not to come to Portugal for the reconstruction of the night that Madeleine disappeared because they were afraid of being formally charged. The revelation was made this Wednesday by the spokesman of McCann.
Clarence Mitchell explained to JN that McCann and the friends who vacationed with them in Praia da Luz have been advised by lawyers not to return to avoid the formation of new defendants in the case. According to Clarence Mitchell, the police refused Jewish, about a year before a proposal by the BBC's Crimewatch program for making a recovery that would be transmitted by the program.
"The Kate and Gerry put conditions because they are thought to serve as a recovery only for research would be useful. Moreover, the lawyers in Portugal advised the group not to return to the country because the probability of having to face justice Portuguese negligent was high, "said the spokesman.
The "refusal" to participate in rebuilding led the prosecutor of Portimão to consider, in order of filing, that McCann "missed the opportunity to show what since its incorporation as defendants have protested: his innocence to the fateful event" .
Clarence Mitchell disagrees and says that Kate and Gerry that "have nothing to prove." "They are the innocent eyes of the law and not have to prove his innocence. It is the role of the police to prove the guilt of suspects in this case failed," he concluded.
By explaining the reasons were the couple not to answer the questions that researchers find relevant and that led to its establishment as defendants, as well as "the disagreements and lack of harmony, where no differences," found in the analysis of all the evidence provided, which need to be tested and concatenated in the place of occurrence, "said the MP.
The "strange behavior" until the couple were the subject of an information service, made by the researcher responsible for maintaining the link between McCann and PJ. The document made public now, you can read that the inspector saw "a couple of different strange behavior" that "gradually was reacting very negatively to the increasing activity Investigator" of the Judiciary, particularly that arising from the use of dogs for detection of odor English the body and blood.
The document addressed to the coordinator of research, the inspector said that McCann, "several times", said that "the attention of the police should be directed to maintain in the event of abduction," which in his opinion, "was the only scenario that occurred "and that" the police should not forget to continue to investigate Robert Murat. "
And when Kate was delivered to the notification to attend the premises of the PJ, to give evidence, that "immediately reacted negatively." The inspector will even insinuating that the government would press the researchers. "The Portuguese police are being lobbied the government to quickly finish the investigation." This sentence was transcribed by the inspector, advancing Gerry insisted that deliver letters and emails you would receive.
Hi Viv,
Thank you for the new posts very interesting.
Nancy last night you said “Is it just coincidence that it happened to be JT, one of the McCann's friends who saw Maddie being carried away, and not one of the other hundreds of tourists in the vicinity at the time.”
No coincidence at all imo carefully thought out.
Yesterday I said: I don’t think JT was there at 9.15 at all that’s why Gerry and Jes did not see her - all she’s doing is averting attention from RO who later on did not have an alibi for a crucial period – therefore suggesting that an abductor had already struck before RO had left the tapis placing him in the clear. What’s not to be forgotten is the description of bundleman could quite easily have been Gerry, therefore, again to avert from this she places Gerry talking to Wilkins at the same time she sees bundleman therefore he cannot be confused as the abductor in this scenario.
It is quite possible that she did see bundleman later that evening and he was walking probably towards the beach and later being seen by the Smiths. This is what she’s recounting but just giving it a different time to cover for GM and RO.
Remember we also have a witness (Carpenters wife) who says at about 9pm she heard someone calling Maddie. If this is correct it wasn’t a stranger it was someone who knew her. So there appears to be a number of witnesses but exactly what this all means in the grand plan of things is still puzzling.
Wiz
On Leics house prices, having got around to having a look I would not say the house next to the McCanns is on at seriously under market value, this one with the most stunning 30' kitchen (which I would adore!) etc looks superior to me and is on at £495,000. As you say, about £2M in London!
http://details.vebra.com/property/1308/14677619
Prices clearly have dropped pretty dramatically all round.
Wiz thanks for your 10.13 which looks pretty spot on to me! I believe Jane Tanner should be looking at about 4 years in custody for this, quite possibly more. Let us hope she gets what she so richly deserves because she clearly could have solved the whole case. No wonder she looked drugged up on Panorama, if I were her, I would be very afraid too!
xx
Yes Viv, look at Maxine Carr, Huntley’s girl friend, who imo did a lot less that Tanner. I think Carr believed Huntley’s spin on past brushes with the authorities and believed him innocent and unwisely furnishing the police with misleading information. I think it’s very similar to what Tanner is doing.
House prices - so just under £500K is a reasonable price for property in that neck of the woods. Living in London I find house prices so inflated it must be difficult for anyone on a normal salary to get a foothold on the property ladder – they have to move out of the greater London area into places like Hertforshire, Essex and beyond. This is of course one of the reasons why we have an economic downturn, over lending, lose your job and that’s your home gone clunk whoosh….
“You can do it, and you can get away with it.”
The words of Tayana Lokshina, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Moscow, lamenting the acquittal of three suspects in the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Well…….she’s not far wrong there as we can see, so far, in the McCann case.
According to this report, on 10 September the Mcanns returned to their home in a police people carrier and tracked by two police helicopters. This seems a bit OTT to me although I am sure the police were concerned particularly for Sean and Amelie and adverse public reaction to the McCanns which even in Rothley was beginning to surface. No matter what they did, clearly the police have to protect them! Pity they did not protect little Maddie..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1562719/The-McCann-family-homecoming.html
Hiya Wiz
Maxine Carr was recognised to be a vulnerable person under the influence of a controlling and violent pscyhopath who struck when she was not available to be his victim of control due to a weekend away. But she herself did have criminal tendencies and was prone to tell lies. I agree, Tanner's case is probably worse because she was actually there at the time and a crucial witness to events. She actually may have been able to save Maddie, had she promptly told the truth and if Maddie was still alive. Hence I believe she could get a lot more than Maxine who was nowhere near at the time of the killings but still perverted the enquiry and wasted police time. She cleaned up the murder scene with Huntley including a flooded living room and bleaching everywhere. It is hard to imagine she did not know what she was doing. If I recall she was also subsequently convicted for fraud. But I believe the major similarity is you have women who are terrorised and controlled by men. Not that that is any real excuse for failing to protect a child or assist the police in a serious case concerning a child.
ouch! I have just been in the garden, lulled by the lovely sun to peg washing and mess with pots and plants, listen to the birds, but I am absolutely freezing, heating just gone on!
xx
This is a google translation from Diario de Noticas – 2nd March 09 which I picked up on 3A’s I copy below for information.
Spokesperson for the Mc Cann admitted that Madeleine may be dead
FILIPE AMBRÓSIO DE SOUSA
Disappearance. Mitchell assumes that parents of Maddie are losing hope
Spokesperson for the Mc Cann admitted that Madeleine may be dead
The couple now believe that Madeleine McCann is dead. The bubble is Clarence Mitchell, spokesperson for the British parent of the child, disappeared on 3 May 2007, in Praia da Luz, Algarve.
In an interview with The Independent newspaper, published yesterday, the former journalist told the BBC that the search for Madeleine McCann remains. That is, the investigation continues by private detectives hired by the British couple, "but on a smaller scale." Fruit? Apparently none. Everything remains the same.
Although the former journalist to ensure that the search continue, also admits for the first in almost two years since the disappearance of the minor that "there is no evidence that we ensure that Madeleine is alive." But Clarence Mitchell says that the hypothesis of murder is not even considered by the parents of the child. "There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Madeleine has been injured and even less to suggest that has been murdered," said Clarence Mitchell, who finally became a close friend of the couple. "But there is also clear that less and less evidence that the child is alive," said the spokesman. "Each day that passes the hope is diminishing, but Kate and Gerry believe that the daughter is alive and waiting to be found."
Regarding criticism of the Portuguese Judicial Police's investigation, they still remain: "Unfortunately, we had access to the file did not reveal anything very substantial in terms of evidence to follow," says Mitchell. "But we still think that a lot in research was not done properly." A view fully endorsed by the McCann couple.
For now, the little that remains, the couple admits that there are many tracks released by mediums that must be followed. "There is still a very considerable material that must be followed. As there are about 300 tracks given by mediums who, with very few details have to be followed."
The case on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was terminated on 21 July 2008, a year and a half after the start of the investigation. Thus, the Attorney General ordered the case to collect the archives of the Court of Portimão. The reasons? Lack of evidence of crime. However, the process continued to be cataloged by proxy holder, Magalhães e Menezes, as a case of "qualified homicide and concealment of corpse." This despite the fact that McCann had lost their status as defendants. The secret of justice was already raised by the prosecutor on August 14, fourteen months after the Judiciary have been the first suspect, Robert Murat.
Even after the prosecutor had taken the decision to file the case, Pedro do Carmo, deputy director of the National Judicial Police, in May 2008, warned that researchers will continue to be "available to all endeavors." |
Portuguese > English swapTranslate
Hi Wiz and thanks for that.
With respect to Diario I think they completely misconstrue this article. At no stage is Clarence accepting that Maddie is dead although he has done formerly, "if she is dead she is dead but not by their hand". The comment they atttribute to Clarence is not in quotes from him, it is clearly the journalist's own honest observation of the situation and indeed the antithesis of what Clarence is trying to allege - he wants to say there is no evidence she is dead, the journalist points out there is no evidence she is alive, and indeed given the McCanns were investigated for her murder or kidnapping and the time lapse since Maddie was last seen it is quite reasonable to assume she may well be. But it is clearly wrong to make any definitive pronouncement, particularly given the FOI answers we are receiving that British authorities are still actively investigating her disappearance and clearly feel she may still be found alive. Indeed that would be conducive to her being used by paedophiles. As Gerry put it, the situation that Madeleine finds herself in, showing the most sinister detachment from the fate of his own little girl, that he most clearly subjected her to.
Hi Viv and Wiz
Lovely day here today too, but very cold in the shade.
There are so many questions without answers in this infuriatingly mysterious case.
I know it's all be said before, but just why did the McCanns seem so carefree while still in Portugal, both at the birthday of Maddie, standing there with photos smiling their heads off and later smiling while walking the twins in their pushchairs. That's not the actions of desperately worried parents who think their child has been abducted for God knows what purpose!
They still insist there is no evidence she is dead - that may be true, but I tend to think they are insisting on this because they want the Fund to go on collecting cash. If Maddie's body was found then the fund will go whoosh clunk just like Kate's reaction to a question she didn't like.
They are supposed to be leaving no stone unturned to find Madeleine, but just where have they looked? They had a few months in PdeL after Maddie disappeared, but just how far did they look - did they knock on every single door there? No, they were too busy running along the beaches to keep fit and going off round the world to further their media campaign, to take the time to bodily look for their little girl.
But,if they really think she could still be alive and unharmed, just why are they looking to spiritualists to find the answers. Surely they are only able to help if someone is in the spirit world!
I hope your hunches are right Viv and the police are busy working behind the scenes to eventually put those who are seemingly untouchable just where they belong.
Nx
JUSTICE FOR MADELEINE!
Hiya Nancy
Well yes it has been a lovely but very cold day and I think my washing has dried which has saved me a couple of bob! The pots of primulas and little blue iris look gorgeous as does the snowdrops all over the garden. The birds are feasting on Nanday's left over and think it is quite an honour to feast on luxury parrot food. I always try to offer them plenty of grub to make lots of lovely babies. Oh and I have seen frogs in the last few days in a passionate embrace in the pond. I just adore this time of year with so much anticipation of great days in the garden ahead and lovely trips to the farden centre to buy yet more plants:-))) For now I just polished me chairs!
Their bizarre behaviour in PDL, laughing and jogging does suggest a complete detachment from Madeleine, a total lack of empathy and concern, which certainly sets them apart from normal parents. Just why that was we obviously cannot be clear, but it is hard not form the conclusion that on Maddie's birthday, Gerry, most particularly was absolutely overjoyed by the Fund and all that money rolling in.
I do think Clarence was making a few rather unpleasant digs at them in that article including Gerry wanted Kate to pose in a swimsuit and 3000 spiritualists to check out. What he has always previously said is he felt the portuguese police were inadquate and did not properly follow up leads. He was rude and abusive in his criticism of them. But now there is no talk of following up inadequately investigated leads at all, merely talk of leads from spiritualists which any normal person is clearly going to find laughable, unless your name is Correia.
So, on balance, this supports my optimism that I have always had, that this is a devastatingly serious case and there is just no way the police are going to just say to the TAPAS gang OK well done guys you got us beat. I cannot understand people who constantly bleat because it has been a few years now almost that means the Home Office just decided they should get away with it. Just how many cases do they need to hear of where anything up to 30 years later we charge the offender. We have to get satisfactory evidence first and that is what our police and many others are about.
xx
Hi ALL
Viv the Farden Centre havent been to one this year yet!!! :o)
Maxine Carr is a stupid woman as thick as they come and totaly under Huntleys spell... To cover up for him was wrong but she was not a part of his evil Murder as she was away...
I bet she believed everything he told her and she paid for it and is still paying for it as so many people hate her. Yet even the prison guards guarding Huntley have to be changed regulaly as he has a way of getting to them and these are profesional people trained to do a job so Maxine stood no chance (although she should have come forward a lot sooner instead of playing up to the cameras and helped Holly and Jessicas poor parents instead of leaving them in limbo for so long)...
Makes me wonder why a stupid woman like that would get past the door of a school though as a teaching assistant the first time he was on SKY I thought god help children if that is what they have helping them...
JT did not need to give anyone an alibi IMHO a child is missing you tell the truth if she really had been taken it could have cost her life because of all their lies. If she has any sense she and her Husband no matter what the involvement should get their children taken care of their afairs in order then go to the police and se if they can get a deal if they start to tell the truth because when the truth does come out they could be facing years and years in Jail without thier children...
Apart from the fact Madeline is missing which is tragic and sad the 7 people on that holiday are all now involved in a terible crime I know they are all adult and made a decision to act the way they did but I wonder if any of them really believed all Gerry and Kate had to say and only lied to try and help Madeline?
I could not bear to be apart from my girls and would always put them first I just hope they start to put their own children first for a change sorry but if my friends were looking like they had won the lottery on what would have been thier missing childs birthday I would be horrified I had been duped and the next stop would be the police station...
Hiya Hope
I was just feeling sorry for myself my knees and ankles are killing me tonight but came onto the computer and straight away you made me laugh:-)))I have not been to the Farden Centre yet either but I know we both will!!
I do hope things are going OK for you and your family.
I think Maxine was a child like and pretty pathetic creature, I cannot bring it in myself to intensely dislike her, more pity her and the awful man she hooked up with. Her life will never be the same, living with the horror of what Huntley did and how she covered for him. But as you say, she did prolong the agony for Holly and Jessica's parents and I can imagine how they may feel about her.
As you say, it is the same for Jane Tanner and others. If I was them I would not want to live the rest of my life with the thought of Maddie's cute little face forever haunting. I would want to put right the wrong, take the punishment and then move forward with my own life. If they do not do this, it will always be a shadow hanging over them. It is very wicked to cover such a serious crime against child and quite unforgivable IMO.
I am a mom just like you, who has always loved my children so much, they have always come before anyone and anything. They still do, even now they are adults. Sadly, not all parents feel this way. But one thing I do know, if they had done something so terrible I would make sure they faced the truth and took responsibility for their own actions. As much as I love my kids I have always instilled that into them. It is a very important part of being a human being, to respect others, just as much as you respect yourself. Something these parents just never learned.
xxx
Viv -
Sorry to hear your knees and ankles are playing you up - must be the cold weather.
Spring is just round the corner, which is when most of us clear out the cupboards, clean the windows, throw stuff out and start again.
It would be great if the Tapas 9 had a Spring clean of their hearts and minds and told everyone the whole truth and nothing but the truth of the night of the 3rd May 2007.
Madeleine deserves being put first for a change, rather than an afterthought and a way of collecting money to line pockets.
If they really wanted to find out what happened to Maddie, they would have all gone back to PdeL and gave the reconstruction the PJ's wanted, and told their solicitors who advised Kate to say nothing to go to hell!
Then again, innocent parents would never have left PdeL until they'd done everything in their power to find out what happened to Maddie.
What cowards they were, and Kate was right, they really did let their daughter down - big time!
Nx
He put her family through the agony of not knowing whether she was dead or alive... and told elaborate lies but with confronted with the evidence and after four monthy his wife's dumped body. There is a picture of him smirking at the press in handcuffs:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4928001/Spiritualist-minister-David-Chenery-Wickens-sentenced-to-life-for-murdering-BBC-make-up-artist-wife.html
Spiritualist minister David Chenery-Wickens sentenced to life for murdering BBC make-up artist wife
Spiritualist minister David Chenery-Wickens has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering his BBC make-up artist wife Diane after she confronted him over his adulterous double life.
By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 4:07PM GMT 02 Mar 2009
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Spiritualist minister David Chenery-Wickens sentenced to life for murdering BBC make-up artist wife Diane
Diane and David Chenery-Wickens: Police spent four months searching for her body without success after her husband reported her as missing Photo: PA
Spiritualist minister David Chenery-Wickens sentenced to life for murdering BBC make-up artist wife
David Chenery-Wickens was scared his wife would expose him Photo: PA
Chenery-Wickens, 52, showed no reaction as he was sentenced by Mr Justice Cooke to a minimum term of 18 years for the murder of his 48-year-old wife.
Diane's elderly parents Joan and John, her brother Russell, and her sister Caroline clutched each others hands and wept as the jury foreman at Lewes Crown Court read the unanimous verdict after more than 16 hours of deliberation.
Diane's body was found four months after her disappearance in January last year. Chenery-Wickens maintained what the judge called an “elaborate charade” that his wife had run away because she could not cope with the breakdown of their marriage.
In reality, the judge said, Diane had no idea about her husband's string of mistresses and continued to support him financially, believing she had a happy marriage.
For a decade, Mr Chenery-Wickens, 52, managed to convince his wife that he was helping cursed families and ill children when in reality he was juggling at least seven lovers.
Mrs Chenery-Wickens, who won an Emmy award for her work on the film Arabian Nights and a Bafta nomination for comedy Dead Ringers, ignored rumours of his infidelity, telling friends they were "soul mates" and supporting him financially despite mounting debts.
But his deception was revealed when she discovered calls on their phone bill to a mistress and a gay sex chatline. When she confronted him, he lost his temper and she paid with her life.
Mr Justice Cooke said his sentence reflected the “potent” aggravating factors that the defendant refused to admit what he had done and “blackened” his wife's character in court in a bid to escape justice.
He told Chenery-Wickens: “You put her family through the agonies of not knowing whether she was alive or dead but hoping against hope that she was still alive until there worst fears were realised”.
“You have lied to all and sundry with an ever changing story as new evidence came to light and have continued to maintain the most preposterous lies before this jury.”
Philip Katz QC, who prosecuted Chenery-Wickens, told jurors: "If the defendant realised that he was going to be exposed as a liar, a charlatan and a hypocrite with debts up to his nose, this would have been the clearest possible motive to kill Diane. She had to say only two words to him to bring his whole false life down around him in ruins. Those two words were, 'Get out'."
Police spent four months searching for her body without success after her husband reported her as missing on January 24 last year.
He maintained she had vanished after a meeting at the BBC in London, some 40 miles from the £440,000 country cottage they shared in Duddleswell, East Sussex.
But he changed his story when police confronted him with CCTV evidence from East Grinstead train station showing he had made the journey to the capital alone.
He then claimed she had run away, unable to cope with the breakdown of her marriage and the shame of being almost bankrupt, and had made him promise, as a spiritualist minister, not to tell anyone she had gone.
But during his trial, his mistresses gave evidence laying bare his double life.
They claimed he had told them Diane Chenery-Wickens was an alcoholic, had a mental breakdown and was unfaithful to him, and that they were selling their marital home.
Most were wealthy working women who had gone to him for help with depression or broken marriages.
David Chenery-Wickens listened to their woes and preyed on their vulnerabilities, telling them he loved them and could see their futures were bright.
He also fabricated a string of illnesses to earn their pity. One woman, a married opera singer, gave him as much as £18,000 after he told her he was suffering from prostrate cancer. A trawl of his medical records indicated that he was in good health.
Giving evidence himself, David Chenery-Wickens said he only had affairs because Diane "destroyed" their marriage by sleeping with another man.
To the horror of her elderly parents Joan and John and her siblings Russell and Caroline, he painted a picture of his late wife as a control freak who forced him to lie about his son being ill to explain his disappearances and refused to give him a divorce out of pride.
He told jurors Diane knew their marriage was over and that he was in a "loving relationship" with another woman.
But they also heard phone messages he left on her mobile phone after reporting her missing, in which he tearfully told her: "I love you with all my heart."
Knowing she is already dead, he callously says in another message: "I'm trying to tune into you, you seem to be in not a good place. I'm at home, our home, wishing you were here with me now."
Police were suspicious the moment they spotted scratches on his hands after his wife went missing.
They discovered he had called mistress Kerry Lippett days after Diane vanished, asking how to get blood out of a carpet.
His wife's blood-stained jewelry was found hidden in her home – her friends said she never took it off.
He was also caught on CCTV pawning her treasured heirlooms for £100 to keep debtors at bay.
Mobile phone records revealed that within minutes of leaving one message for his wife, he contacted three mistresses, telling one he was "horny" and begging another to meet. Knowing his wife wasn't coming back, he eventually summoned a man he met on a gay sex chatline to his marital home.
Four months after Diane Chenery-Wickens' disappearance, a dog walker reported a strong smell emanating from under a holly tree in woods near the Lavender Line steam railway where the defendant volunteered.
There had been no attempt to bury the body, which had been partially eaten by animals.
Police scientists could not tell exactly how Diane Chenery-Wickens died, but said that she was probably strangled.
Her killer had placed her favourite cowboy boots next to her body to suggest she had taken her own life, but forgot to take out the shoe trees inside.
David Chenery-Wickens was arrested and charged within hours.
Hiya Nancy
Thanks darling, I think it is the cold coupled with doing quite a lot around the house and garden, probably more than I can manage and then at night, I pay for it! Although i am lovely and warm now I felt really cold earlier on and lay on the sofa with the heating full on and a light quilt on top of me as well! Now dosed up with drugs and feeling a bit better.
AS Clarence pointed out they were not prepared to go back to PDL and help the police prove the case against them, that is all they care about. But Metodo 3 are a very weak link in the chain and one of them is in custody and no doubt will be looking to lessen his sentence by being helpful to the police. Clarence Mitchell actually admitted that witnesses were paid. In UK if it comes out at trial that any prosecution witness has been paid this can cause a trial to collapse because it is clearly recognised a witness who has taken money cannot be trusted to give honest evidence. Likewise, the McCanns could never seriously have expected to convince anyone of their innocence by paying witnesses to lie for them, all with the public's money that they defrauded. What has Mr Jimenez got to lose? He is going down for a long time anyway for being involved in a £25M cocaine heist!
I believe if the police can prove fraud they will be prosecuted, but as in all cases what the police are really seeking to do is find the victim as in the above case and another that was mentioned on 3 As earlier:
Husband jailed for dumping wife in French lake in 1999
· Ex-tree surgeon sentenced to 12 years for homicide
· Briton tried to make her death look like an accident
* Thair Shaikh
* The Guardian, Saturday 20 October 2007
* Article history
A British man who killed his wife and then dumped her body in a lake to make it look like an accident was jailed for 12 years by a French court yesterday.
Robert Lund, 55, a former tree surgeon originally from Darwen in Lancashire, was convicted of killing his second wife Evelyn, 52, whose badly decomposed body was found in a lake two years after she went missing.
After a five-day trial in Albi in south-west France, the jury of five men and four women cleared Lund of murder but convicted him of the lesser offence of involuntary homicide, akin to manslaughter, rejecting his claim that his wife had driven into the lake by accident following a bad storm.
Outside court, Gerard Wilkinson, Mrs Lund's brother, said nothing would ever compensate the family for the loss of Evelyn. "However, the family takes some comfort from the verdict," he said. "The family has always believed Mr Lund was responsible for Evelyn's death; we just wish he had it in him to admit this."
The court heard that Lund had subjected his wife to a sustained campaign of mental and physical abuse.
The prosecution argued that Lund killed his wife and tried to make the crime look like an accident so he could live off her life insurance.
The couple were living in the remote village of Rayssac, near Toulouse in south-west France, when Mrs Lund fled to the house of a friend after arguing with her husband. Lund had always claimed that his wife must have taken the wrong turning in the woods because of the stormy conditions and poor visibility on December 29 1999. He did not report her missing for three days.
She was not seen again until 2001, when a horse rider spotted the red roof of a vehicle in the Lac Bancalié, 15 miles from Rayssac. After a hot dry summer, the water level had dropped by about 10 metres (more than 30ft), exposing the 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser. Inside the vehicle police found the badly decomposing body of Mrs Lund along with traces of blood on the front and back seats.
A postmortem failed to establish the cause of death, but a pathologist said Mrs Lund was probably dead when she entered the water.
Lund, who was arrested and charged in 2004 following police tests on the car, maintained his innocence, but during the trial Mr Barthe, the examining magistrate, said that Lund had lied when he told police that his wife had not come home after the argument. Under French law Lund now has 10 days to appeal.
There is also another recent and similar case where the man was tried in the UK as I believe the McCanns and others will be. Again he left relatives and even their children with the agony of not knowing what had happened to Mrs Heard, whilst he tried to insist she just disappeared, it all sounds a bit familiar, I am afraid :
Spanish dream that ended in murder
Jan 14 2009 By Emma Stone
WHEN Patricia and Allen Heard emigrated to Spain from their Warwickshire home in 2004, they were looking forward to a relaxing retirement.
Two years into their new lives, the adventure of a lifetime had gone terribly wrong.
In 2006, Heard – a former car worker at Peugeot’s Ryton plant – told his family his wife had disappeared without trace after an argument.
Until his conscience got the better of him, Allen sat back and watched their family go to great lengths to search for her.
It was only last summer that he admitted he had strangled her with nylon rope after a row over an alleged affair in their villa and had buried her body a day later at a picnic spot they liked to visit.
The couple first bought the villa in Olivia, near Valencia as a holiday home to be enjoyed by their entire family.
But in 2004 they decided to make it their permanent home and left their house, in The Raywoods, Nuneaton.
Family members said the move was very much driven by Pat who they said “wanted more from life”.
The couple, who met in Coventry in 1967 and married two years later in the city, continued to visit their family in the UK on a regular basis and their family also visited them in Spain.
They had two children – Linda and Mark – but soon the children began to witness hostility between them and they were drinking heavily.
Pat’s family described her as a “loving and doting grandmother” and described her disappearance as “totally out of character”.
Lead prosecutor Neil Bannister, of Warwickshire CPS, worked with officers from Warwickshire Police on the case from the beginning and visited Spain three times.
He said: “In August 2006, Allen called Pat’s sister, Marie Stanford, in the UK to see if she had turned up.
“She said no and asked him if she was to expect her.
“He then told her the story of the argument between them, shortly after her 60th birthday.
“Pat’s daughter became quite excited. “She thought her mum was on her way home.
“It was one of her children’s birthdays and it was expected that Pat would be back for that but she didn’t turn up.
“At about the same time, Allen had told Pat’s sister they had had an argument.
“Pat had asked to be driven into Benidorm, which he did the next morning.
“They were in traffic and had stopped at traffic lights. “She had got out with her suitcase with her. He said he turned the car around but he couldn’t find her.”
The revelation prompted Pat’s family in the UK to contact Warwickshire Police and report her missing. In October 2006, Pat’s son travelled to Spain in the search of his mother.
He distributed leaflets and appeared on a Spanish radio show to plea for information.
He would later tell police he began to be suspicious of his father when he failed to help him look for his mother – and was unable to answer questions from the Spanish reporters.
Meanwhile, police in Warwickshire had begun ‘proof of life’ checks on Pat, examining her mobile phone and bank accounts.
Detectives later travelled to Spain and took statements – and seized Allen’s computer from his villa.
In November 2007, Warwickshire detectives travelled to Spain to interview Allen, where he maintained his story that Pat had left following an argument.
Five months later UK officers were granted permission to collect evidence in Spain.
Heard returned to see his family in the UK in July 2008. He was arrested at East Midlands Airport.
Mr Bannister said: “He had the rest of the weekend with his family but something was clearly playing on his mind.
“During the interview, one of the detectives said: ‘Allen, your family needs closure. Think about them’. “Allen would later say that remark made him think long and hard about his position.
“After two to three days he told his children he had killed his wife, he did so by strangulation and he had buried her in a beauty spot 25km away from their Spanish home.”
After confessing to the murder to his children, who had both received counselling following their mother’s disappearance, Allen told his wife’s sister and his best friend of his crime before walking to Nuneaton police station to hand himself in, finally revealing to detectives the real version of events.
Ironically, Heard was pulled over on his way to bury the body by police making routine checks.
The officers asked him some questions and looked over the exterior of the car before waving him on.
After Allen was charged, police searched his new home in Spain, which he was sharing with another woman, and found a statuette of the Virgin Mary.
Inside its base was a plastic bag which contained Patricia’s jewellery, including her wedding and engagement ring.
Mr Bannister returned with police to Spain last year to retrieve Pat’s body.
Just seen this for the first time and posting for those who havent seen it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80KnSHUN1DU
touching and moving and puts Healey in her place IMO
So, it can be seen, these things may take a while but the pattern is similar and they always get arrested, in the end.
Justice for Maddie!
xx
I predict they will be in the hands of the law by Xmas !!
Another classic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rQazjM-bCo&feature=related
beyond belief really
Thanks for the video BT, it is touching and moving and I do not know how the McCanns ever had the audacity to attack him and orchestrate such a wicked campaign against him. But of course, he was not on their side! He just wanted t do his job, for Maddie.
xx
Hiya BT
There are many indicators that things are moving in that direction, the visit to Portugal, British authorities starting to answer FOI Act requests, arrests in Spain, their silence and no longer asking for money, no longer blogging, no longer making any public announcements at all, no longer even telling us of any private investigators. I honestly feel you could well be right, even Clarence is starting the counter attack to save his own rotten neck and "reputation".
The McCanns have the full PJ file and they know where they are going, Gerry was a changed man when we saw him in Portugal and had to keep putting that smile back on his face. He never had that problem in PDL, he could not wipe it off, but now there is a clear underlying problem this man has, the police in toto are just too clever for him!
xx
Hiya BT
Your second video, Kate on coke or just Kate the psycho, I reckon you prefer the second option:-)))
"your right" says Kate, well who knows! Only the police, we will have to wait..
xx
Now a further statement confirming that GERRY MCCANN IS JUST A LIAR, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CLOSE THE PATIO DOORS FROM THE OUTSIDE. ALSO HER HUSBAND BLED QUITE BADLY FROM A SHAVING CUT. The Police were obviously asking previous occupiers about blood to try and found out what the dogs were alerting to rather than just assuming it was from Madeleine. Needless to say she also says about normal parental behaviour on the holiday...(!) KATE KEPT TEXTING HER HUSBAND...it was also Kate who contacted the parents of Mari Luz, OK BT, you have a point, I will grant you that! It is also Kate apparently who spends 3 hours a day poring over the files, that would be typical behaviour of one who is obsessed and fears arrest.
Statement of Saleigh Gordon.
Occupation: Air Hostess
4 pages
Date: 24th April de 2008
Signature_______________________________
I am married to Paul Gordon, we have two children, our son xxxx who is three years old and our who is two.
I planned our holiday last year and from a series of recommendations from family members, I looked at Mark Warner resorts. I found that the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz met with our requirements. Good price, good facilities for the children, I initially made a reservation for apartment T1 which was changed by Mark Warner to apartment T2 before we travelled.
We left Gatwick for Faro on Saturday 21st April 2007 and when we landed we were received by Mark Warner staff and driven to Praia da Luz. We were handed the keys during the journey and given the location of the apartment which was 5ª. The holiday was perfect, the people were kind and friendly. It was a very pleasant break, the area was pretty and relaxing and I would describe it as a sleepy place.
During our stay Paul cut his face whilst shaving and the cut bled for some time. Neither the children nor I injured ourselves and as far as I know nobody died in the apartment. We never noticed that any of our personal objects disappeared or were lost. Nothing strange or worrying to note, just on one occasion I heard Paul speaking to an individual on the patio that looked over the complex’s swimming pool. I can’t say who he was talking to or what they were talking about. I was inside the apartment washing some of the children’s clothes in the kitchen that faced out onto the road. I did not see anyone pass in front of the window or knock on the door.
I remember Paul entering the apartment and asking where the money was, I asked him why and he said something about a collection for charity. I did not go out to see or speak with the man. It was only after the disappearance of Madeleine and when the news broke that we thought we should contact the police, not because we thought there was anything suspicious about this but simply because we thought the police should be informed.
I would like to add that this was the only time that we saw someone asking for money.
The doors, windows and shutters of the apartment were all in good condition. We noticed that it was only possible to close the patio door from the inside of the apartment, not from the outside. The bedroom shutters made a lot of noise and I find it difficult to understand that opening them would go un-noticed. The bedroom overlooked the parking area and was also overlooked by other apartments from which I think that if anyone had opened the shutters from outside, somebody would have noticed. The front door was easy to open from the inside unless it had been locked. We always used the wooden door overlooking the parking area to enter and exit the apartment.
With regard to the sofas, there were two on the right where you entered and another opposite the dining table – there was also a coffee table between the sofas. The sofa on the right when you entered by the patio door was situated against the wall and it does not seem possible to me that anyone could have passed behind the sofa.
The children slept in the bedroom overlooking the parking area and Paul and I slept in the bedroom with the patio overlooking the pool.
We would have breakfast in the Millenium restaurant, lunch in the apartment so that the children could have a siesta. We also dined in the Millenium except for two occasions when we dined at the Tapas Bar. I had the impression that dining at the Tapas was restricted to once during one’s stay, and because of this it surprised me to hear that the McCann group used to dine there every day.
The children would use the club facilities, I think they were called “Ama 1 and 2”.
They would spend the morning or afternoon, I don’t remember them having spent a whole day there. We were always with them when they were not in the children’s club. It was usual to go to the Tapas bar at lunchtime and I know that of 6 occasions they went five times. On one occasion we thought of using the night club and we took the children there with their pyjamas on. When we got there we saw that the club was not for us and we did not leave the children there. We always took the children with us when we went for dinner. We never left them alone.
I remember that at the welcome ceremony we were informed about the “babysitter” services at 15 Euros per hour, but they told us that that the service would have to be booked well in advance. I remember that when we went for dinner there were couple without children and imagined that these services were often requested, but we never used them.
I cannot speak badly of our holiday and this only changed after the disappearance of Madeleine.
I know that Paul received text messages from Kate McCann as well as voice messages, some of them were heartbreaking. We have tried to collaborate with the police as much as possible. We have been visited by the press at home and have had to face cameras and reporters, asking them to leave us alone.
But if there is knowledge or strong belief that Kate killed Maddie, how on earth can SSD permit her to be left alone with the twins? This would just be totally shocking, but certainly not the first time, but there again we do not know that Kate actually is allowed to be left alone with the twins. We do not know what arrangements SSD have insisted on to ensure they are safe. For all we know there may be a nanny working for them..which would no doubt satisfy SSD.
Yet another appalling failure to protect by social workers..
Betrayal of the foster parents: Social workers hid teen's 'sex attacks' from carers... then he raped their son, two
By Luke Salkeld
Last updated at 12:21 AM on 03rd March 2009
* Comments (117)
* Add to My Stories
Nicholas Cooke QC
Nicholas Cooke QC expressed grave concern at how the youth had ended up with the family
A foster couple took in a homeless teenager in the hope that he would be a 'big brother' to their two children.
But social workers failed to tell them that the 18-year-old had a history of alleged sex attacks on youngsters.
He went on to rape their two-year-old son and molest their daughter aged nine.
As the rapist, now 19, began an indefinite sentence last night, there were suspicions that the local authority might have used aspects of the Human Rights Act to prevent the couple from knowing about the teenager's past.
Only last week it emerged that a couple who adopted a child with a high risk of HIV had not been told about the child's potential condition to protect the rights of its natural mother.
MPs and children's charities demanded an inquiry into the astonishing betrayal of the foster parents.
Cardiff Crown Court was told that the teenager:
* Faced a youth court for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in 2008 while she was asleep.
* Was accused of exposing himself and touching another young boy sexually while living at a care hostel in 2005.
* Was forced out of a job in a bowling alley in 2007 after parents discovered he was trying to get young girls' telephone numbers
* Faced allegations five years ago of 'sexually inappropriate behaviour' with a young boy.
The foster parents, from the Vale of Glamorgan, took in the teenager as an emergency case last year because he was homeless as part of a scheme called the Adult Placement Service.
More...
* German paedophile found working as children's nurse in British hospital
* Vigilante neighbour guilty of killing police officer on child porn charges
His attacks were discovered only when their terrified daughter told her parents what was happening.
Prosecutor Richard Evans said: 'The foster parents' daughter told them how he would come into her room, lie on top of her, kiss her and put his hands under her clothing.
'She said that when she called out, he put his hand over her mouth. The girl confided in her parents after her little brother was raped by the teenager. It was a horrific abuse.'
The teenager admitted rape and indecent assault. While he was given an indefinite sentence, he was told he would serve at least six years and be released only when he is 'no longer a risk'. He was ordered to register as a sex offender and banned from working with children for life.
David Pinnel, defending, said of the sex offender: 'He was immature and in need of help to develop into an adult.
Cardiff Crown Court
Cardiff Crown Court: The teenager has admitted rape and indecent assault, and was handed an indefinite sentence
'But through no fault of his own he was placed in an environment – his unfortunate tendencies not having been dealt with – where he was afforded the opportunity to commit these terrible offences.
'The criminal responsibility is his but the point has to be made that it would not have happened if he had not been placed in that position.'
The Recorder of Cardiff, Nicholas Cooke QC, expressed 'grave concern' at how the youth ended up with the family as part of the scheme which, according to the council, 'arranges supported accommodation for vulnerable adults who are unable to live independently and who want to live in a family environment'.
He said: 'In this case a tragedy ensued for a family who only wished to serve the community and who were let down by the system.
'They were unable to protect their own children because of a failure to provide them with information.'
Director of social services at Vale of Glamorgan council, Phil Evans, said an inquiry into what happened would be overseen by the NSPCC.
'The council deeply regrets the distress and harm caused to the family. Senior managers have met them to apologise and to find out what support they may need now and in the future.
'The council has instigated an urgent case-management inquiry into the circumstances of this young man's placement.
'Although the inquiry is at an early stage, it has become clear there was a serious error of judgment.
'Staff are taking this very seriously. We are doing all we can to find out what went wrong and to ensure such events are never repeated.'
Vale of Glamorgan MP John Smith
Vale of Glamorgan MP John Smith called for the Social Services Inspectorate to hold an urgent inquiry into the case
No one at the Conservative-run Vale of Glamorgan council was available to answer questions on whether the family was not informed about the teenager's background because it would have breached his human rights.
Although he has a criminal record from youth courts, a spokesman for the council refused to release any information about his past 'because of data protection regulations'.
A spokesman for the children's charity Kidscape said: 'This case points to an error of judgment of the highest order which led to the horrific sexual abuse of two young children.
'Foster carers perform a vital role in our society, often taking on very challenging cases.
'One would expect thorough risk assessments to be undertaken and pertinent information to be given to the foster carers.
'To place a teenage boy who had already shown dangerous and predatory tendencies into a family with two young children was totally irresponsible as it created an opportunity for him to commit these abhorrent offences.
'This family has been totally let down by the system and this has led to long-term consequences, which no amount of apologies and offers of support can truly alleviate.
'Such circumstances must never be allowed to recur.'
The Labour MP for Vale of Glamorgan, John Smith, called for an urgent inquiry into the case.
He said: 'I'm deeply concerned about this. I will be making representations to the Social Services Inspectorate asking them to look into this as a matter of urgency to make sure this never happens again.'
Hi ALL
If Kate did kill Madeleine I guess there is no concrete evidence to point towards this and how cruel would SS be to remove the twins from a Mother who already had a child missing?
Then again if Kate had been Karen Mathews in PDL and Karen had demonstrated the same pathetic excuse of parenting I expect not only would she now be in Jail for neglect she would have had her children removed instantly...
I must be honest if it was up to me and a child really was missing in these circumstances I would never in a million years want to remove the other children or see the Mother in prison. For the Mother to have to live with the guilt of how her selfish actions allowed her child to be taken would be more Punishment than anything or anyone could inflict...
But then we see Team McCann in action and there is no guilt no tears and after a couple of days they could not even looked distressed anymore just huge joyful smiles and a world tour to look for Madeleine dumping their beloved twins in the Creche once more or with family while they got on private planes to search...
Not a single moment searching for her the second she went missing or the hours or days that followed but the flew for miles to find her?
Just watched BTs Panorama shot again what a hard faced bitch she could be talking about a missing wallet my friend's cat has wandered off after 5 weeks of her taking him in and she is up at 4am every morning calling him and has a poster campaign in place that stretches throught the village and beyond... She is devestated and feels she has let him down she has even camped out near to the place he came from (the owner died) in case he goes home (about 9 miles away)...
When you see normal emotions like this it smacks you in the face all over again that somehthing very evil is going on...
If CM wants to save face and his soul he should suddenly realise that something is not right and solve this evil mess himself enough is enough...
If we want children to be special and have a voice in the world Madeleines should not be silenced because a few people feel they have to be loyal to adults who should know better...
Hi all -
Viv - hope your feeling better now.
I hope the Social Services are keeping a beady eye on the twins. Having said that, they could well afford a Nanny with all the little brown envelopes they have received from gullible people who think they can do no wrong! They may not have been able to afford the MW baby checking services but they have made lots of lovely money since then!
Hope - you are absolutely right about Kate coming across as a hard faced bitch in the Panorama interview as well as in the youtube videos -
BT - thanks for the youtube links!
I find it impossible to believe while watching these videos just how false and unbelievably untouched they both are over Maddie's disappearance. Kate wipes away non existent tears and Gerry looks aghast that anyone could believe they are guilty of anything at all!
Kate, as always, is immaculately made up and dressed ready for the inevitable cameras, hair perfect, which is not what you would expect from a caring mother grieving for her child.
The youtube videos should be compulsive viewing to anyone who disbelieves that these parents had anything to do with their little girl's disappearance. From watching them it becomes patently obvious to anyone that they are hiding something.
All those photos of them laughing and carefree, so heartbroken to be without their Maddie. One particular video that makes me cringe and want to clap handcuffs on Kate McCann is the one is the one where she went whoosh clunk and then talked about the small window of opportunity - so dispassionately that Maddie could have been a pet animal that had gone missing!
It is quite obvious, in my opinion that Gerry was lying when asked about the sedatives - he pulled nervously at his ear and was hardly able to get his words out. It makes me think that is definitely what happened to Maddie - she was overdosed and so were the twins, but they were luckier and survived.
I would love to be proved wrong but it doesn't seem likely from what I've seen of them both in interviews and the contradictory statements from them and the tapas pals.
Nx
Afternoon all
In wet and cold Wales for a view days and here was I thinking spring had arrived.
Viv
Saleigh Gordons statements saying Kate had sent texts to her husband, I wonder how Kate got his mobile phone number?
Another tragic case re: the teenager placed with a foster family only to abuse their two young children. I just cannot imagine what the parents and children are going through.
We live in a very sad world.
BT
Thanks for posting the video links, I had not seen either before.
Nancy
Gerry certainly looks very nervous when asked about the sedatives, and the ear pulling is a classic mannerism for someone not telling the truth. Not forgetting Kate checking the twins were still breathing does make you wonder.
Hi All,
Viv here’s a very heart warming link that I think you might appreciate.
link
Viv you say.
“But if there is knowledge or strong belief that Kate killed Maddie, how on earth can SSD permit her to be left alone with the twins?”
I have no faith in social services at all. I believe at the heart of it is their budget if they acted every time they had doubt their annual budget would be blown. Somewhere in their chain of command it is decided that nothing should be done. The law of averages says that most parents/careers do not kill their children even if social services has them on a ‘at risk register’ so the ss imo do not always act as they should because nothing is likely to happen. But as we have seen it the case of Baby P and many others the law of averages also dictates there will be a tragedy every so often and this is what we read about in the news.
With the Mc’s the law of averages would lengthen significantly as lightning would have to strike twice!
Life sometimes sucks!
Hiya all
Hope, I think there should be equality of treatment before the law and by social workers. Invariably as you say, that is not what we see. If parents pose a risk of serious harm to other children having killed one of them or otherwise disposed of them then I do believe they should be brought before the courts and prior to that social workers should take appropriate action to protect, that is their job. Some parents pose a much greater general risk of neglect in the physical sense than the McCanns, the children are dirty, have no routine, are not bathed, fed and given proper medical treatment. But if parents have psychological or mental health issues that mean they totally lack empathy and an understanding of how to bring up a normal well balanced child they pose just as great a risk and very often the parents who pose a more overt risk in terms of neglect do not actually kill the child, I suppose it a question of the degree of harm such children face.
Wiz, I am sure you are right, it is about budgets and trying to prioritise where the money goes. To take a parent to court, care proceedings and proceed with adopting children etc means the local authority have to incur massive legal costs. There is no doubt lawyers in the UK are very greedy and overpaid and this is something respective governments have just allowed to build without taking any positive steps to try and stop this. Maybe there is some political will now to try and improve the situation but this mainly seems to be in the field of libel which will not impact on every day cases in the family law field, but was no doubt influenced by the way Kate and Gerry have abused the system to attack the press and their right, within reason, to responsibly report on this case.
Thanks for the lovely parrot link and what a wonderful helps these lovely creatures have been to this man. I hope he gets all the tax breaks and help he can for his parrot sanctuary which clearly cuts both ways in his continuing welfare and the birds. They certainly do need cuddling and reassurance just like humans and do provide a lot of pleasure I can certainly say that!
Hiya Nancy and thanks!
I think I need to stay out of the garden for a bit longer and not get freezing cold, that obviously does not help and do feel much better now thanks.
As you say the Mcs could easily afford a nanny with all the unaccounted for money.
Di, what an interesting point you make as ever and a really good one! Just how did Kate get that mobile number to keep texting and phoning a witness with her "heart rending pleas for help and support"? Have you hit on, more precisely what the role of the private detective were because tracing people is one thing they are usually pretty good at. I recall that M3 were said to be working in conjunction with Hogan International, so perhaps M3 did the digging in PDL etc and then passed information on to Hogan to find addresses and phone numbers in the UK. From what Saleigh says they were certainly "got at" in this way and even Mr Smith made a telling comment I hope this helps the McCanns. I think we could interpret that to mean and they now stop bothering us!
Di/Nancy - the nanny point is a very interesting one, I think one nanny was said to have just come back to the UK and the McCanns did not want her details to be released. Could it be that was their way of stopping her from being a hostile witness against them, by employing her?
Hi Viv
Yes several people were certainly got at.
I also find it interesting that MW staff were transferred to locations they did not want to go to. The Priest was removed. Also the Embassy staff were replaced WHY?
I truly hope I am wrong.
IMO something very serious is being covered up, and sadly if our press are unable to speak out it will most likely stay that way.
Hi again Nancy you say:
"It is quite obvious, in my opinion that Gerry was lying when asked about the sedatives - he pulled nervously at his ear and was hardly able to get his words out. It makes me think that is definitely what happened to Maddie - she was overdosed and so were the twins, but they were luckier and survived."
This together with the police and others belief at the time the twins were drugged and Kate keep checking they were breathing leads me to the conclusion we can take drugging as an established fact. There is nothing the least bit normal about drugging your children and then going out and leaving them alone, it is utterly sinister conduct.
I truly hope I am wrong, should have come last.
The Pink one at the Oxford Union on the 6th March being gazumped by Murat at the Cambridge Union on 5th March. Can this be right?
Hiya Di,
I think the Embassy staff were replaced because they were too helpful to Kate and Gerry McCann, I posted about that a few blogs back.
Wiz, how amusing Murat upstaging The Pink One. I was just reading my blog from the early days and found this one, I have a feeling it has the wrong date on and was 2007, not 2008 but is a good reminder of just what a nice guy Clarence is and why we should be very careful about our personal details. Did he get expelled from the NUJ for his conduct?
MCCANN PR MAN UNDER FIRE
by Ann Summers
This Is Glasgow - 08/12/2008
The National Union of Journalists have censured the spokesman for the parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann over his threat to 'shut down' various internet bulletin boards where the case is discussed.
Last night senior NUJ members sat down and passed a motion calling for the body to expel former BBC journalist Clarence Mitchell for 'traducing' the union's founding principles on 'freedom of speech.'
It follows a wide-ranging interview in yesterday's Leicester Mercury in which he stated his intention to 'shut down, close, put of business - whatever - these vicious and irresponsible arenas of cruel conjecture and innuendo.'
Later, in an interview on the BBC's 5live, he went further, promising to obtain the IP addresses of 'every crank and wannabe sleuth who have contributed to these ludicrous discussion groups.'
It is this last statement which has so outraged members of the civil rights group Liberty, who say they will lobby the government strongly to stop this happening.
When contacted last night, Mitchell told this reporter he would not be deterred by this or his expected expulsion from the NUJ.
He also claimed that he was not targeting all internet fora where the case was discussed but specifically the message board of what he described as 'a low brow red top.'
It is believed this refers to the website of the Daily Mirror.
He went on: 'I intend to hunt down and sue every last one of them, I will make it my life's work if I have to, but I will make examples of these people. Of that you can be certain.'
This is not the first time this particular forum has hit the headlines.
Wizard
???
Di, Murat is address Cambridge Uni Students Union on 5 March on the press and Clarence Mitchell is addressing Oxford Uni Students Union on 6 March. Weird or what, check out the Uni's webpages!
Di I was just going to give you the links to 3 As where Tony Bennett is blogging away about it, but it says "doing some maintenance back online in 5 minutes".
Viv
Thanks for the explanation, I must have missed your post, blushes.
Is it just me or is anyone else having problems posting tonight. The blog is very slow and keeps freezing, I have had to restart my laptop three times now:o((
The weather has quickly turned here in North Wales we now have gale force winds.
Keep safe.
Di, I suspect it may be the weather in Wales because it is pretty unpleasant here! Are you on a satellite connection?
Having said that, this blog clearly does get messed with, a certain place likes to keep bragging about my apparent "mole" and the other night, not for the first time, I had to repost this post as I kept getting a completely blank screen for this one. Something that would particularly bother the pink one??
I also notice that Pamalam's site is often very difficult to get onto, I usually just keep on trying and eventually get on, but her blog is clearly not one they would like, listing all of Gerry's blogs, most of the DVD file etc!
xx
Viv
RM is actually going to break his silence but at a Uni!
Clarence also a day later!
What is going on?
Is something about to break, this surely cannot be a coincidence or can it?
Di, I think we have hit a raw spot talking about the nanny, P/Pops posted this old post of mine from the De at 3 this afternoon, clearly we were having these thoughts so long ago, we forgot, lol! How very strange P/Pops has all of my posts from the DE???
LADY FAIRWATERS
25.11.07, 5:32pm
Respec to you again and your observations which are correct. To say she saw a prowler whilst er looking for a rat almost a year previously could not have had much relevance. So now we get a second version, some months later. Like you I am delighted they stoop so low - because if there one thing that discredits a witness and makes them look like a liar, not capable of belief it is to be keep changing your "story",
So if you are reading this little Nanny Lady - they may have paid you loads of cash but, as ever, all these little gals that keep cropping up to support them just expose themselves for what they are.
Do you think any other family would employ a dishonest little liar - you better make some sound investments with your cash and pray you do not get a custodial sentence for perverting the course of justice.
• Posted by: Felicity • Report Comment
Hi Di,
Someone is upping the anti!
Di, I am sure it is no coincidence but the thing is who got in first? Maybe Clarence at Oxford because Tony Bennett posted details of this first on 3 As and then Cambridge have responded but upstaged by listing the previous night? I am not sure what is going on but you know my concerns about TB!
It certainly does look to me like The Pink One is trying to repair his reputation and I do think a break is very possible. If the police have been hounding Kate and Gerry the Pink One would probably know! Having said that, if I were Kate and Gerry I would not trust him again after what he has given to The Independent above! Could this be the end of a beautiful friendship, how Clarence will weep for the lady Kate!!
Viv
An unhealthy attraction comes to mind! Stalker is probably to mild.
Hiya Di, maybe would be The Terminator could be even more apt, good job I do not fold under pressure!
xx
Well ....I have to say CM is a step up for K when you look at motor mouth.
Viv
Too mild :o(
Hi Wizard
I do hope you are right, things do appear to be very odd at the moment. RM now speaking out, Clarence distancing himself from Gerry and now speaking a day after RM. What is happening?
Wiz/Di
Have you noticed the picture I inserted at the top of this thread that accompanied the Indpendent article, clearly they were not meaning to do Clarence and Kate any good!
She stands there with him, not Gerry, and posing Cuddlecat for the cameras!
Things are getting mighty strange at the moment, could that picture even be hinting at another break up?
Di – as Viv suggested it could just be one-upmanship by Cambridge to get RM as a speaker before Clarence at Oxford. However for Murat to speak out for the first time – well interesting times.
Wizard
When you said CM is a step up for K. I immediately thought of Gerry barging onto the train leaving Kate complete with suitecase and a stunned CM watching on the platform.
In conjunction with the posts of Jon Clements at the Daily Mirror it is like our press are waking up again and getting some really below the belt kicks in, but not upsetting the police by being too overt?
Viv, I know this is not what you meant but “another breakup” . Gerry and Kate split. CM comforts Kate in her hour of need. lol
oh dear suitcase I really must read before posting.
Precisely Di – more of a gentleman.
Don't you just love the press.
Bring it on.
Di, I think it is fair to say that when it comes to supporting a damsel in distress CM would do a much better job and women can find that very attractive when they have been accustomed to such a stalking thug. There is something about the body language and I agree the way he stood back with concern for Kate as Gerry barged onto the train was very pointed.
Kate went to New Zealand in 1997, Gerry followed her, the next year they were married. Big mistake Kate!
Di, I think the press will bring it on but it will be very subtle because they will not want to do anything to prejudice and investigation/fair trial.
But after the trial, oh dear, Daily Express, 6 months serialisation and books!
xx
I have to say I am very fortunate to have a very considerate and caring husband and I appreciate everything he does.
Off now
Enjoy your evening all.
I just tried the 3 As again and it is still disabled...
Good night Di and I hope you have a lovely evening in Wales with your hubby and a roaring fire!
xx
She went to the end of the earth, well NZ anyway, and Gerry followed to ensure she did not escape.
Yes Wiz that is what I think but even going to NZ was not enough. Disaster!
xx
popping off for a bit BBLx
Viv
I also thought Kate was on the coca cola :) during that video.
You sure that wasn't coke BT - lol
Message for CM
How bloody dare you...
'I intend to hunt down and sue every last one of them, I will make it my life's work if I have to, but I will make examples of these people. Of that you can be certain.'
You want to start suing people who think that Madeleine deserves some answers?
You want to start suing people for wondering why her parents can laugh and laugh when thier daughter is in the hands of a peadophile ring?
You want to start suing people when Madeleines mother refuses to answer a single question that might find her daughter?
You should take a long look in the mirror you are being paid a small fortune to spin every negative into a positive I am asuming you are an inteligent man and even you must know if they have done no wrong then nothing can touch them...
You have children can you imagine ever looking so happy as they did on her 4th Birthday if you believed one of your own children was in the hands of a peadophile ring? If one of your childen were missing would you call SKY before actually searching the complex in case they had wandered off?
Sue me but I think any parent who leaves a child alone while they sod off to a bar are not fit to have them to then smile and smirk thier way around the world when one of them is missing due to their lack of care deserve nothing but contempt...
You asked people to send money in brown envelopes to their home address and out of the Million spent only 250k was spent on looking for her and again would you trust M3 to look for one of your children? I know I bloody would not trust them to look for a missing puppy let alone one of my girls who are worth a billion times more than I am...
Keep stomping over Madeleine and keep spinning the truth now the DVD files are out there I am surprised you belive a word of it...
Your lifes work should be finding out the truth of what happend to a 3 year old child who was not worth enough to her parents to stay with her even after she complained no one came when she and her little brother cried...
Madeleine Beth McCann is the victim of her parents lack of care and god knows what else!!!!!!!!!!
Now that is sick and unforgivable...
Who nose :)
Hope4truth
Put it this way Hope. I am not exactly quaking that Clarence is going to hunt down us all for THINKING and REFLECTING and QUESTIONING the idea that this couple could be involved.
Furthermore, my father was in the special forces a long time ago but he is still alive and I am sure he would love to track Clarence down.
The man is starting to morph into a Peter Sellers type character. I feel he will struggle for employment in the next few years.
Hi BT
LOL that is a good comparison....
I am not quaking either never have been but how damned arrogant the parents could possibly be responsible for their daughters death they certainly have not done a damn thing to promote the reward or actually look for her!!!!!
xxx
Wiz/BT
I think it has been a long time since coca-cola got you as whizzed up as Kate was on that video!
Huelva, that was the base of Jon Corner who made this film and questions have been asked why he stayed such a long way from the Mcs. I wonder if it is a good area to get one's necessary supplies? That drugs word does seem to keep cropping up, oh and a heck of a lot of coke. I wonder what is happening to poor Mr Jimenez in jail? I really dread to think and no, not just because he is an ex policeman !
Hiya Hopey and what a great message for CM, I know he will love it as word has it he just cannot keep his eyes off this blog!
Waves to the Pink One and when can I expect my writ I have been promised for the last 18 months? Do you think you missed the deadline? Oh I forgot, you do not actually have any legal training do you?
Hi Viv
I wonder if it has sudenly occured to him that his clients are bloody odd and he may never work again?
He could of course be the hero if he has any information that may point in the direction of a missing child...
The only victim in this tragic mess a 3 year old child who should be able to rely on an adult to help her....
xxx
Oh lol, just as the Mcs were doing a runner...
Typically Spanish - Spain News : Madrid
Three Britons arrested as cocaine discovered amongst the bread in Madrid
larger | smaller
By m.p - Sep 11, 2007 - 4:56 PM
Cocaine seized in a previous police operation. Photo - EFE Archives.
Cocaine seized in a previous police operation. Photo - EFE Archives.
enlarge photo
The gang used a bakery in Vallecas to store the drugs
Three British nationals and a Colombian man have been arrested in Madrid, accused of belonging to a gang which trafficked drugs between Spain and the UK.
The Britons have been named as A.C., K.H. and T.J.W., and the Colombian suspect as F.C.
Two hundred kilos of cocaine bound for the UK were seized as part of the operation, together with two vehicles, and cash amounting to close to 12,000 €. Some of it was in pounds Sterling.
The Madrid region newspaper, Madrid press, says the suspects used a bakery in Vallecas to store the drugs, and hid the cocaine in boxes of bread for transport.
The arrests took place at a petrol station on the A-3 motorway, after surveillance officers followed them to the Vallecas bakery owned by the Colombian man where they loaded up the drugs.
The paper says the cocaine was due to be transported to Britain by legally-registered citrus fruit transport companies.
Hopey I am wondering if he is going to just be a nice kind person to Kate and say sod you Gerry? That swimming costume remark was very odd indeed, I would like to see Gerry's face, something like top right, I bet!
If things are as I suspect they may be (although I know I could well be wrong!) then that could see him finishing up OK, perhaps!! He is a slime ball perfectly capable of trying to plot a better ending for himself, has Kate always been the attraction for him?
It is weird, I am not sure, but I do not think Jon Corner's statement on the released part of the PJ file, something a bit confidential about him? Will have a look later. Popping out, no cigs and I am sick of sucking this Niquitin lozenge.. even though I know I should!
BT, we will not succumb to all their silly threats to try and silence us from properly exploring the issues in this case and considering all possibilities. But those comments do not sit too well with him trying to tell us what a nice helpful man he is and nothing explains his altogether personal and emotional involvement with Kate and Gerry. Totally unprofessional, spend his last days tracking us down, for what!
I loved Peter Sellers, not quite as much as Princess Margaret I know but..
Wow, what a stinging rebuke for Kate, Gerry and the Pink One, which seems to say in pretty clear terms there was no abductor. I am sure he has done his own assessment on Kate and Gerry and has a clear view of the situation, it would be great to hear it but of course he cannot do that, because it would prejudice the case. But clearly if he believed in the abductor scenario it would be no prejudice to the investigation at all to say so!
Real Life 'Cracker' To Give Talk At Hertford Heath's Haileybury
15:48 - 03 March 2009
BRITAIN'S foremost real life Cracker, criminologist Professor David Wilson, will be visiting Hertford Heath's Haileybury on Tuesday (March 10).
The event will see the professor give a talk on "murder, serial killers and offender profiling".
Prof Wilson is Professor of Criminology at Birmingham City University, and regularly features on the BBC and other TV channels, both as a presenter and as a contributor. He is also a regular in The Guardian.
Before taking up an academic appointment in 1997, he was a prison governor and at 29 became the youngest governing governor in England. He worked at Grendon, Wormwood Scrubs and at Woodhill in Milton Keynes where he designed and ran the two units for the 12 most violent prisoners in the country, which brought him into contact for virtually every recent serial killer.
His recent television appearances include Newsnight, Election Unspun and Tonight with Trevor MacDonald.
His most recent book, Hunting Evil: Inside the Ipswich Serial Murders, (co-written with Paul Harrison) was published by Sphere on 20 March 2008.
He was responsible for the psychological profiling of the Ipswich serial killer, and was the psychological consultant for Big Brother until resigning on ethical grounds (he found that all of the advice he was giving in order to keep the house as humane as possible was being ignored deliberately to create somewhere inhumane and hostile where people would fall out).
Prof Wilson was also asked to profile the Madeleine McCann abductor but declined.
The talk will take place in Big School at 8pm on March 10, and is open to all pupils, staff, parents and the public. Call 01992 462507 to book a free seat.
Good Morning,
I thought I would share his with you. Big L a few days ago (3A’s) jumped to Gerry McCanns defence. After months of in-depth investigative research and with mind blowing clinical precision he gives a brilliant analysis of GM’s character and behavioural profile. He comments.
“Its not often I stick up for Dr Gerry McCann but I think it’s just a flaw in his character i.e. him being an utter basteward.”
LOL
Wiz!
I do not generally tend to go hysterical with laughter at 8 in the morning but thanks for that!
Big L such a way with words!
xxx
I know I really should not laugh but he is so funny, P/Pops has dredged this one up from the DE days (yea I know, what a sad stalker!) to express outrage and disgust, I think it is well placed and hilarious satire (love the bigs sorries):
CALL CENTRE COMES TO MIND
14.11.07, 9:11pm
nice one docmac lol
sorry for saying this, you all might not like this but imagine its christmas eve and gerrys sitting with the twins on his knee "now children you know who,s coming tonight?" no say the twins "santa "says gerry" now if you got to bed and do,nt make a noise and don,t wake up you know what " the twins" aye ya f_ckin pis_pot we,ll end up like maddie ya C_nt"
sorry SORRY SORRY.
• Posted by: big_L • Report Comment
Hi Viv, yes Big L is very funny.
Off topic here but over the past week I have heard so much about twitters I threw caution to the wind and signed up for a free account a couple of days ago. I notice today that Joana Morias is now twittering. Twitter.com
I haven’t commented on twitters yet but was quite shocked to see I had 20 following and 5 followers.
I was just wondering are you or anyone else on this blog signed up?
Wiz
Forgive my ignorance but I do not know what twitters is!
I only comment on this blog and occasionally on Joana, is it another blog about the maddie case or more general?
Hi Wiz
I just signed up out of curiosity but it does not look like something I could be bothered with and seems a bit invasive.
xx
Why I commented on twitters is because today’s headline from Joana Morais is on the subject of twitters. She gives a good explanation here link Twitters seems to be the ‘in’ networking site to be part of at the moment. It is a general site but is open to any comments and obviously this case would attract comments from others with likewise interests. The site attracts journalists, MP’s and others therefore could prove an interesting site to explore. I must admit I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet but it does seem quite promising.
"oh dammit my stalker just grunted on my twitter"
hummm
Hi Wiz, well I have just put myself down to follow Joana, one step at a time eh!
xxx
Hi Viv re twitters. Well you’ve done better than me I have not been able to post yet – must be doing something wrong! Back to the drawing board.
Hi Viv - success have just chirped my first tweet on twitters!
Hi everyone -
I can't believe it's just a coincidence that both CM and RM are speaking at the two top universities one day after the other and both on the same topic! There is definitely an agenda here.
It could be that RM wanted to upstage the obnoxious CM after all the insults he's received from him and the McCanns since Maddie went missing.
Although, I see that some of them on the 3A's are starting to question whether RM is completely innocent in all this as he has always remained tight lipped, and the fact that Brian Kennedy went off to see him, which some people have put down as a silence pay off, although he said he offered him a job!
And is it just coincidence too that RM knew GM from that Labour Conference in Exeter. Anyway, I think it's worth a debate between us on here.
My own opinion is that there may be something about RM that the public doesn't know, but I certainly don't think he was involved at all in whatever happened to Maddie.
Blimey CM does talk some tosh dosent he (save yourself man write a book about all you know and then go to the police before you have it published)that will keep you in cash if no one will employ you hell you could even be Madeleine's saviour god knows she needs one with the way her family and hired help have booted her out of the picture and put her parents in the roll of victims!!!!!
Your comment "They had left their very young children alone in a holiday apartment while they went to a tapas bar. He doesn't duck that, even if the response has been smoothed by repetition. "They made a mistake at the time; they weren't with her when it happened. They will always regret that, God forbid, possibly for the rest of their lives."
POSSIBLY FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES??? what kind of parent are you if your child dies or is missing you would regret every cross word and every single thing you did would stay with you forever!!! Yet they will regret it regret what? Sodding off and Neglecting 3 small children but you assume they may get over the regret one day (well I see your point they are so happy on her 4th Birthday looks like they have no regrets at all)...
Good god most of what has been Clarified has actually made them look like they have something to hide the comment...There's no truth, then, in the report that he tried to get Kate to be photographed in a swimsuit? "Utter bollocks." Gerry suggested it without realising the implications, he says, and was then persuaded otherwise. "A good example of facts being distorted. Completely, 180-degree wrong."
Oh Gerry suggested it well that makes him look like a grieving father thank god he never posed in his Swimsuit there are enough nausiating pictures of them without that horror...
Or Maybe someone wants to save Kate??? Or just his own soul???
Hiya Nancy
I think the most likely explanation is that Cambridge noticed this fixture and invited Robert to speak to upstage both CM and Oxford Uni where there is naturally a little (friendly) rivalry.
In an way perhaps Murat's feelings of anger at the way he has been treated are being manipulated a bit.
From a public relations point of view for himself, I do not think it is a very good idea for Murat to do this. There is a growing perception that there are many people involved in the demise of Madeleine who are merely out for self publicity, to cash in with books etc and this emulates the conduct of Kate and Gerry McCann. It takes the debate away from the demise of little Madeleine herself which is certainly where I have always wanted it to focus. If people are once again beginning to suspect Murat then I suppose that is a natural reaction from what he has chosen to do, whereas previously he has always maintained a dignified silence. I certainly did not blame him for suing for libel, he was libelled and he did have his reputation destroyed. As to whether he is innocent, I do not believe the TAPAS crew would have tried to point the finger so clearly if he was involved because that could obviously come back on them. I still believe it is more likely he was chosen as the perfect Patsy. Additionally, the police returned all of his property to him in March 2008 but continued to investigate Kate and Gerry, that says it all really!
But, I suppose an open mind is always a good idea!
xx
Hi All
Hope
It could have been worse, Clarry posing in a little pink number :o(
Di
Dont you will put me off my tea lol xxx
Hi Viv
I am glad you asked Wizard what Twitters was, I was thinking it was something to do with birds, and not the legs up to their armpits type LOL.
Nancy, just noticed another point you made, Brian Kennedy went to see him. It is Brian Kennedy who I personally find highly suspect, not Murat. He has paid heavily to interfere with witnesses, he was originally claiming to foot the bill for Metodo 3, although he is currently not claiming to foot the bill for anything.
Brian Kennedy went to see the Portuguese Police with Mr Jimenez (now in custody) and Mr Marco to give them a lot of false trails to work on. Clarence Mitchell has admitted that witnesses for Kate and Gerry were paid. I think if Kennedy was trying to silence Murat it was certainly not because he was involved, it was for the same reason he was using his cash to bribe and corrupt other witnesses and there is a very serious question mark about why he would choose to do that.
In relation to the Saleigh witness statement above, Kate kept ringing her husband and texting him with "heartrending messages". Di made a very salient point, how did she get his mobile number to do that. This is the sort of thing private investigators are very good at and I believe it was their purpose. The same as the hotline asking people not to phone the police, oh no, phone Metodo 3 and get bribed to say what Kate and Gerry want you to say. There is also a question mark as to whether they have actually employed the nanny to get her on side.
When you think of the sort of areas that it was claimed there were sightings of Maddie, Morocco, Spain, Malta, there have been some major drug arrests..and of course the McCanns investigator Jimenez, a former senior police officer got arrested for being involved in seeking to steal £25 M worth of impounded cocaine.
xx
Hi Viv,
Yes, the McCanns and CM have been getting in snide comments about RM since Maddie disappeared, which begs the question - why? I know that female reporter (name evades me) reported something strange about him on the day after, but why would the tapas 9 have it in for him? I think he was an unfortunate patsy who fitted into the plot.
It was inevitable that he would break his silence, but I would have preferred him to write his side of the story to see just what he thinks of the McCann scam!
Maybe he will get talked into it by one of the tabloids for a sum enough to allow him early retirement.
It's a shame he is not making their untrue accusations about him his subject at Cambridge, but they probably wouldn't have let him speak if he had suggested that!
Oh well, plenty of weekend reading to keep us busy!
Nx
Hiya Di,
If Twitters had actually been more to do with birds, I would probably be far more interested!
I have a growing concern that Kate and Gerry may try to yell unfair trial if the campaign against them is taken too far, but continue to hope that the real evidence is not in the public domain, in fact I am pretty certain that is right..It seems to me that even at the Portuguese level there was a careful selection as to what would be disclosed and what would not. There are so many players in this case where they would obviously have been interviewed like Brian Kennedy. John McCann, Jon Corner for example, and I am not certain, but it would seem their statements are not in the public domain. That is telling to me.
xx
Hi Hope
Lovely to see you, I always seem to post when you are not around. I hope you and your family are well.
I was in our back garden this morning, looking out to sea, when I saw something floating on the surface. It was a seal enjoying some sunshine, the first one I have seen, although our workmen have seen many. It was a lovely experience.
Viv -
To be quite honest, I think Brian Kennedy has been paying for silence and not just from Murat. I'm not saying Murat would accept a bribe, but I'm sure some of the witnesses would.
It's very strange that some of the witnesses have much of the same wording, almost as if they've been told what to say!
And by no stretch of the imagination could the couple staying over Mrs Fenn's apartment have missed all the commotion going on even if they weren't on the terrace at the time. Walls are very thin in those sort of apartments and you can practically hear all that goes on in the flats above and below! Maybe BK paid them a visit too!
Nx
Aditionally, it would seem that Kate McCann was interviewed for a second time by the police on 11 May and although we have the second statement of Gerry, we do not have hers, again, I would say, now why is that? Does it contain something pretty vital they do not want us to know about for fear of "prejuding the investigation"?
Hi Di
How wonderful to see a seal from your farden the best I can see from mine is the occasional fox or next door's moggy...
Have the workmen gone yet???
xxx
Hi Di and Hope
Nice to see you both.
I hope your back door isn't too close to that expanse of sea Di!! How lovely for you to be able to see it from your house.
I have been watching the wild birds today and there are so many different kinds, and a couple of pheasants were outside this morning - hopefully they'll escape the farmer's gun!
What's your opinion of the Murat/McCann/Mitchell connection? Just realised, the 3M's!!
Nx
Hiya Hope
Good comment of Clarence's to pick up on "possibly for the rest of their lives" (regret over Madeleine).
Is he seriously trying to imply they would ever get her back and everything would be just OK again?
If she has been used for the last two years by paedophiles to make child abuse pictures for sale, what sort of state would she be in? More to the point, how on earth can he imply Kate and Gerry would get her back? A mum who did not even want to answer that vital question, and did you consider transferring custody of Maddie to a relative? The police obviously got this from somewhere and to my mind it goes to the issue of her failure to protect Maddie from serious harm.
And so much for being a nice person, saying he was going to spend the rest of his days, like some sick stalker, tracking down every blogger on this case and suing them. Pull the other one Clarence! That is what you said and that is what we are going to keep reminding you of.
xx
Nancy, I agree maybe BK got to the couple in the flat above Mrs Fenn. They say they went and sat on their balcony at 9.15 and went to bed by 10. Their bedroom is directly above where all hell was purported to be breaking loose just after 10 but they never heard a thing, unlike every other resident they did not get their door knocked or hear the commotion and come out and join the search. Unbelievable. About as unbelievable as that other witness who claimed she used her camera to print those 6 x 4 pictures on photographic paper, I do not believe it! I believe what other witnesses say, some posters were made up on ordinary larger A4 paper in the hotel reception and those posters were made up from the original pictures, clearly quite old ones, of Maddie, that Gerry and Kate had so conveniently taken with them.
xx
Viv -
I think you got that in one Viv!
Otherwise why would they release all the others, even Gerry's, but not hers!
Maybe they asked her to answer the 40 questions and she refused again!
Or perhaps they asked her why she didn't go back for a reconstruction when most Mums would have done anything to try and find their daughter.
Oh, I forgot,she is spending hours,no doubt in between making herself look beautiful,going through all those files!!
No blog from Gerry lately either. He's too busy I suppose; maybe he is practising for a role in that film he is so anxious to make ( to find Maddie of course)!
Nx
Hiya Nancy
It is the statements to police in May 2007 I am talking about, sorry for the confusion.
We know that Gerry was grilled at least twice and we have both of those statements dated 4 and 10 May. But we only have Kate's statement from 4 May whereas another witness says she was to be interviewed again by the police on 11 May which would certainly make sense, the day after they interviewed Gerry again and he started to tell lies about the doors, this time saying they did not enter through the front door with their key but through the open patio door. So why have the police held back the second statement of Kate, at the time. Did she seriously put her foot in it? Is this why they felt she was more vulnerable to spilling the beans and made her an arguido first, and is this why she was instructed to keep going no comment! The police were right to want to pressure her, because Gerry is the type that would never crack up. I can see where Goncalo was coming from, they should have put her in the cells and let her have a little think about it, well away from Gerry.
xx
Viv -
Just why would you take photos of your children with you on holiday. What you would do is take a camera to take holiday snaps.
I think that the only one of Maddie on that holiday was on the tennis courts, but that was taken by one of the tapas wives I believe.
How handy they had those photos with them ready for the media and cameras on Maddie's 4th birthday.
Oh yes I forgot, there is one of Maddie round the pool with Gerry and Sean - the one he had to return to Rothley do a bit of doctoring on!
Off now, see you all tomorrow!
Nx
Hiya Nancy
Those four pictures were two different shots and two each of the same shot and it is seeing one of them that makes me even more convinced. It is clearly an old picture of Maddie, she looks perhaps late twos or just about three, with short hair.
Why the heck would you take two separate copies of an old shot on holiday with you. It is this that convinces me there is no way on earth the police are going to let go of these two, it was planned and it was deliberate.
I recall Russell O'Brien seriously trying to struggle to explain this to the police on his rogatory, saying it was a picture, I think he said, from several weeks ago, that still happened to be on the memory of Kate's camera, what when her hair was about 6 inches shorter? I have never heard such utter bo&&ocks in my life and that serious lie clearly implicates him, up to the hilt!
xx
Hi Viv
I agree K & G could easily scream unfair trial, we have no chance everyone has been awful to us on have your say, internet sites etc., How could we get an unbiased jury. I think it would be impossible quite honestly.
BK - rather than offering bribes to witnesses etc., could he, or his minders, perhaps be offering threats. Many people would be absolutely petrified and would agree to anything. Let's not forget the waiter that was so frightened he supposedly went into hiding.
Hope
Workmen back tomorrow :o(
Nancy
3M's how very apt, it has a certain ring to it. :o))
I am slightly concerned about their connection to be honest. I feel something is afoot.
Enjoy your evening Nancy.
I have just looked at 3A's, the thread Constant disruption... Is it to control information.
Admin say they will fight to keep the site up and running.
Something is definitely afoot.
Or is it a case of frighten us all in the hope we will all give up!
Off now enjoy your evening everyone.
I did not mean Admin were meaning that I meant the Pros.
I have just been reading today’s edition of Private Eye and came across this eye opener (excuse the pun) about no other than Carter-Ruck the Mc’s solicitors. The last paragraph really says it all.
“One of Carter-Fuck & Co’s finest, along with three other defamation solicitors, appeared before the Commons culture committee – and duly heard libel case fees described as “extortionate”, “phenomenal” and “a racket”, likely to have “a chilling effect” on freedom of speech.
MP were told that typical fees from claimants’ lawyers in libel actions come to £600 an hour, rising beyond £1,000 an hour when top-ups tax and “100 percent uplifts” were taken into consideration. When this was put to Carter-Fuck partner Mark Thomson he adopted a hurt expression and said that his company’s fees were a mere £400 an hour (but £500 when acting for Tescos). …a smug git called Jonathan Coad from Swan Turton Solicitors later claimed that newspapers were rich enough to be able to afford big payouts. ….”
Philip Davies (Con.Shipley) barked “something must be wrong if a newspaper is settling a case simply because it might put it out of business. Surely that is not justice.”
Whittingdale committee suggested that no-win-no fee made defamation lawyers “the libel equivalent of ambulance chasers”. The beard from Schillings, said that the alternative was “a defamers’ charter” and that it was “a sad day for investigative journalism if a story wasn’t true”.
“Wrong stories are obviously to be regretted. But might inaccuracy not just as easily be caused by powerful interest hiding the truth, confident that libel and privacy laws, as created by the judiciary thanks to a weak parliament, will work to their benefit.
‘Gavel Basher’
Di, I wonder if BK offered witnesses whatever he thought was appropriate, a load of cash or the heavy touch, thanks for reminding us of the terrorised waiter, clearly just about the best witness there could be as to what this lot were up to!
I too am seriously wondering about the agenda of many! A lawyer's job is to be precise, succinct and relevant, not to "bury bad news" and engage in reverse psychology and book selling!
Wiz, I am having a think about your post but I loved the new version of the name of Carter Ruck. I have read actually that the government are in fact looking at conditional fees on a wider basis than just libel law. They have hit the employment law field in a big way, with many claimants feeling, of course, they have a good case but cannot manage the legal work. So they sign up with one of these firms but have to agree to give half of their damages away to these firms who get the fee regardless of whether they fight it all the way to trial or just settle at an early stage. So that is the key for these lawyers, it is not about justice and taking a case all the way for their clients. That would seriously cost money, a barrister or really good solicitor would have to be engaged to actually fight the case in the tribunal, they force clients into accepting any old settlement to just get their massive fees. The same thing happens with personal injury cases. If the lawyer is not on a conditional fee agreement with the client he is working for an insurance company where the client has paid for legal expenses insurance. In this instance, the firm, run the case for years, regardless of how frustrated and fed up the client may be, they want their money, the solicitors do not care. Then after about four years they can put in a bill to the other side's insurers for a massive amount of costs and tell the client sorry the best we can get you is £1500 or something, whilst they run away with about £25,000 in costs. It is a national disgrace and high time something was done, for clients, for justice and for all of us who are ultimately footing the bill for greedy lawyers who deserve the label white collar fraudsters.
I would just add that of course employers and newspapers will just make a commercial decision to settle a case because they are being held to ransom by the prospect of paying massive legal fees to defend themselves. It is one big con and a far cry from justice.
Somehow it does not surprise me to hear that Tony Bennett is homophobic or that the police have already investigated him for "hate crimes". Who needs so called "Pro-McCanns or Clarence Mitchell to attack the cause of justice for Maddie when we have Mr Bennett who clearly caused Mr Lubbock senior a lot more distress and hardly aided the cause of justice:
Series: The G2 interview
Previous | Index
The G2 interview
'Michael Barrymore's name will for ever be linked to my son's suspicious death'
Decca Aitkenhead meets Terry Lubbock
* Decca Aitkenhead
* The Guardian, Monday 2 March 2009
* Article history
Terry Lubbock
Terry Lubbock, father of Stuart Lubbock , 31, who was found dead in a swimming pool at the home of entertainer Michael Barrymore in 2001 Photograph: Henry Browne/Henry Browne Photography
Terry Lubbock has got the coroner's report out before I've even taken off my coat. His fingers are trembling as he scoops the document up from neat piles of papers laid out on the living room carpet, in an ordinary house on an ordinary estate in an ordinary Essex suburb. Lubbock is smiling - "Here it is!" - and I have not yet sat down, when he begins to read out what must be extra-ordinary words for a father to have to share with a stranger about his own son.
The clinical description of the internal injuries found in Stuart Lubbock's body is graphic, and stomach-turning, and details the probable cause: "the insertion of some firm object". Lubbock reads with the emphasis of someone so familiar with the words that he has passed beyond the reach of their shock. "My point," he concludes, "is the police knew about those injuries from day one. It should have been a suspicious death, which should have led to a murder inquiry. Cos those anal injuries killed Stuart."
The conversation seldom gets less distressingly surreal over the course of the afternoon we spend together. Lubbock is a small man of 64, frail but animated, with a high, reedy voice that frequently cracks into falsetto as he struggles to articulate the tangle of legal bureaucracy, medical jargon and unbearable loss that has consumed the last eight years of his life. Picking it apart is complicated, for he rattles along in a scattergun of non-sequiturs, darting between detail and bewilderment. Occasionally his adviser, Harry Cichy, intervenes to clarify a point when Lubbock loses his thread and pauses to apologise - "Sorry, I'm mopping about all over the place." Sometimes he steadies himself by reading aloud from his own handwritten notes.
"This is the cover-up theory," Lubbock reads haltingly from a small ring-bound notebook. "From day one a crime scene should have started. The first autopsy was carried out on day one.
Injuries were found. These injuries led to my son's death. There's a killer on the loose." He breaks off, grinning bashfully. "I don't know whether you're going to use that line or not. But I believe a cover-up started on that day. Oh Christ, I've lost my place. Yeah, let me read it all, then you can ask me questions. Where did I get up to? Right, I'll start again. 'Cover up theory'. Underlined. 'From day one . . .'"
What emerges with painful clarity by the end is not so much what happened to Stuart Lubbock, but what happens to someone when they lose a son to such a devastating mystery. Lubbock has, as he says, "led two completely separate lives". His first life ended on 31 March 2001, the day Stuart was pulled dead from Michael Barrymore's swimming pool - and this one, strange and unfamiliar, won't end until he finds out who killed him.
It began with the collision of two worlds only a few miles apart, but divided by unimaginable difference. Eight years ago Terry Lubbock was living here in Harlow with his two sons, in the family home where they had grown up - a modest working-class household in a drab neighbourhood of modern brick terraces and flats. He had a job as a courtesy-car driver for a local dealership, and his sons worked at a nearby bacon-packing factory; at weekends the brothers would go out drinking with friends in town. Stuart, 31, had moved home six months earlier, having split up with the mother of his two children, and was known as a bit of a womaniser. When the pair were out together in Harlow's Millennium nightclub one Friday night, and became separated, his brother Kevin assumed he had gone home with a girl.
In fact, Stuart had met Barrymore and his entourage in the nightclub, and been invited back to the star's mansion for an after-party. Barrymore was one of the country's most famous TV entertainers - a charismatic, wildly hedonistic, gay celebrity - and Lubbock doubts his son thought twice before jumping in the taxi with him. "Stuart was a show-off - that was his weakness. He'd have gone straight up there to the house just so he could tell everyone about it the next day."
But just before dawn, Stuart's body was found in Barrymore's pool. When the ambulance arrived, Barrymore had already fled, and the remaining guests said Stuart had drowned. Only later that day, when an autopsy found "horrific" internal anal injuries, did the house became a crime scene. Cocaine and ecstasy were found in Stuart's system, as well as alcohol, and the cause of his cardiac arrest was never conclusively established. Three months later, two of the party, Jonathan Kenney and Justin Merritt, were arrested on suspicion of murder, but no charges were brought. Eighteen months later a coroner recorded an open verdict.
"I trusted the police. I trusted the police right up until the inquest. I wanted unlawful killing, and I thought that was going to happen. But then after the verdict, the family liaison officer said to me, 'I bet you're glad that's over, you can gradually start now to put it behind you.' It was only then that the penny dropped. And I thought, they've stitched me up. They've stitched Stuart up. The police have thrown a googlie here."
Since then, Lubbock has been campaigning for a conviction. He has made a DVD, co-written a book - Not Awight - and tried to mount a private prosecution against Barrymore. In 2005 he suffered a near fatal stroke, and can no longer work, but his campaign did not falter. The police investigation was reopened in 2006, and in June 2007 Barrymore, Kenney and Merritt were arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and murder, but again no charges were brought. Then, last week, a report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) upheld six of Lubbock's 36 complaints about the Essex police investigation. Most damningly, it found that two implements photographed by police at the scene - a 12in pool thermometer and a door handle - were never subsequently found or accounted for. Two senior officers visited Lubbock to offer a personal apology.
"The whole thing," Lubbock declares, "has been covered up. We've got to dig a lot deeper. There's a cover-up triangle and it starts with Barrymore, and goes to the police and ends up with the IPCC. We've got to dig a whole lot deeper. Michael Barrymore's name will for ever be linked to my son's suspicious death."
Lubbock says he had trusted the police all his life - "I always thought, they're doing their job!" he exclaims. But that trust is just one more of the things he has lost since his son died, for it appears he can no longer trust almost anybody. A particular pathologist is dismissed as "very suspect - he was in the police's pocket", and even though the IPCC rejected his claim of corruption, he remains convinced that senior police were paid to cover up his son's murder. "Barrymore has friends in high places," he mutters darkly. Although he admires the officer who carried out the IPCC investigation, he suspects he was "leaned on".
"He phoned me in October and said, 'Terry, I've finished my investigation and passed it to a higher level. Now, what were the higher level doing from October to yesterday when we got that [IPPC report]? They were bloody well - I tell you what - that investigation was so damning that they had to water it down."
Even so, he seems happy with the report. Does he consider this a good day?
"Yeah, publicity! The publicity was all I was aiming for."
It is a feature of contemporary campaigns for justice that media publicity and legal progress risk becoming confused, even conflated. Lubbock has almost limitless faith in the power of publicity to effect the sort of breakthrough the police have so far failed to achieve for him. "I mean," he says, "the media are very helpful, they get people to come forward. You guys out there, I trust you more than you can trust the police." While we are talking, other journalists are phoning, and it's easy to see how they must have come to seem infinitely more responsive than the statutory services whose job it actually is to find his son's killer.
He is always wary of being, as he says, "stitched up". But at moments his faith in the media to deliver justice can be heartbreaking. When I ask if he thinks he will ever get a conviction, he says, "Until yesterday I'd say it was 60-40 against. After yesterday I'd say it's narrowed to 50-50. And when this goes out," he adds, nodding towards my notepad, "I reckon it'll narrow even more. And then we'll be rocking." In recent months, while waiting for the report, he admits he felt so low that thoughts of suicide crossed his mind. Impotent in the face of so much official intransigence, for Lubbock the media has become his only defence against a powerlessness that has threatened to destroy him.
"I think the police were trying to dilute the impact of the report, that's why they came round to apologise. When they left here they must have been thinking," and he rubs his hands, "'Well, that's job done, he took that quite well.' But Sky News had been down here that day, so they phoned me up and said how did you get on with the police?" Lubbock hoots with satisfaction. "So unknowingly I tripped the coppers up. Cos they were going to do a big press conference after the report came out, and say, 'We've apologised to Mr Lubbock,' smooth it all over. But I kicked it up the arse! When you turned the telly on, it was all over the place. 'Police apologise!' And they never had the press conference! We caught 'em," he chuckles. "We caught 'em good."
Lubbock has also had to negotiate the minefield of homophobia that the case inevitably invites. He is adamant that his son was not gay, and there is no evidence that he is mistaken. Only one man ever sold a story to a tabloid saying Stuart was gay, but Lubbock claims that the man made it up for the money. But his insistence that Stuart wasn't gay has been interpreted by some as homophobia; the denial of a father who would rather believe his son was murdered than accept he had simply liked rough anal sex.
"Stuart wasn't gay, but I've got nothing against gay people!" Lubbock protests, despairing at the dilemma he finds himself trapped in. "In fact they've helped us quite a lot - and if Stuart had been gay, I wouldn't have had a problem. I'd have loved him just the same. He was my son, so that doesn't even raise its head."
Whether it was a factor in the police's attitude to Stuart's death remains unanswered; had a young woman been found in a pool at a straight man's party, perhaps suspicions would have been aroused more quickly. But it certainly seems to have been a factor for one of the more colourful characters drawn into Lubbock's life since Stuart died. As the bizarre story of Tony Bennett's role in the campaign unfolds, you begin to wonder what else can possibly happen to Lubbock.
Bennett used to be a Ukip activist and candidate until he was temporarily banned from holding office for publishing a pamphlet branding the Prophet Muhammad a paedophile. In 2004 he became Robert Kilroy-Silk's researcher, and a year or so later became interested in the Lubbock case, offering his services to run a trust and a campaign website. But you have only to read the chapters of Not Awight c0-written by Bennett to see how he feels about homosexuality - and in 2007 a complaint was made about homophobic material on his website. Essex police launched an investigation against Bennett for hate crime, Lubbock was horrified and dispensed with his services, although the police took no further action.
Cichy is now Lubbock's only adviser. A thoughtful, sensible presence, there is a touch of the home counties golf club treasurer about him, and it feels a relief to find him there, for Lubbock is single-handedly trying to battle overwhelming odds to get justice for his son. Lubbock remains indefatigably chirpy, and the impression of a sweet-natured and rather vulnerable innocent, struggling to survive a tragedy, is at times almost unbearable.
Does Lubbock feel the campaign has helped save him? "Oh yeah. Kept me going, yeah. Harry, what was the phrase I used to use for Barrymore? Teflon Barrymore! That's it! Write it down cos you might want to use it. They can't touch him!" Lubbock breaks off, laughing. "You see you've got to have the element of comedy. I've still got a comedy side, still see the comedy side. Cos I'd be six foot under otherwise. I mean actually I've got more of a sense of humour now than what I had before. I think that is a safety mechanism. I think everyone's got a built-in safety mechanism to stop them going screwy. I think if I'd gone the other way, I'd have been in the ground."
The next stage, he says, will be legal action against the police for the failings in its investigation. And how does he feel now about Barrymore? "Nothing," he says. "Just nothing."
Can he remember how he used to feel about the star, in the days when he was just another famous face Lubbock would see on television?
"Never ever had any feelings," he shrugs. Then he adds, "I'll tell you something. When I was in my 20s and working in Old Harlow there was a big posh restaurant, used to be called Harlow Mill, and we used to go down there every Christmas for a Christmas dinner. It was a smashing place, really upmarket, and it had a cabaret. Now do you know who the cabaret was? Barrymore. He'd only just started out, and he was doing his Basil Fawlty."
Lubbock shakes his head in wonderment, and turns away. "Innit a small world?".
Di, see new posts put on main thread above re extract from Bennett's "leaflet" where he loftily tells us the McCanns backer/payer of Mitchell's salary "remains a mystery".
Funny you were talking about Brian Kennedy getting at people:-))))
xxx
"The father of five was brought up a Jehovah’s witness and divides his time between his house in Congleton in Cheshire and a home in Spain."
Ah, I see the connection Mr Kennedy..
The Fund Directors now:
Peter Hubner, Brian Kennedy, John McCann, Michael Linnett, Edward Smethurst , Doug Skehan and Jon Corner.
The Fund Directors then:
• Peter Hubner; a retired consultant;
• Brian Kennedy, a retired head teacher;
• John McCann, a medical representative;
• Esther McVey, managing director of a public relations & communications company;
• Doug Skehan, clinical director in cardiology at Glenfield Hospital;
• Philip Tomlinson, a retired solicitor and former coroner in Leicestershire;
• Michael Linnett, a retired accountant
Gone: Esther McVey and Mr Tomlinson a retired solicitor and former coroner, I suppose he worked things out and thought I don't like this...I may be retired but!
Replaced by Jon Corner "the film maker" and also has a pad in Huelva Spain, handy eh! He took such lovely shots of Kate in Spain, seemingly having drunk an awful lot of coka cola and when they were planning a documentary in Aug 07, just as things were getting a bit er hot,(Panorama swallowed it up) oh and Brian Kennedy's personal solicitor. What a blow for honesty and integrity eh! Never mind still got Gerry's boss and his brother on board so all should be OK, I am sure! Accountant must be pretty handy, but perhaps not for finding little Maddie..
Afternoon Everyone
This is interesting posted by Lilemor on 3A's
Madeleine McCann fund PR sues The People for libel
5 March 2009
By Sarah Limbrick
Public relations expert Justine McGuinness, who acted for Kate and Gerry McCann's Find Madeleine Fund, is suing Mirror Group Newspapers for libel damages.
McGuinness, who spent three months working as a communications strategist for the fund, is suing over a story in The People in October 2007 which she said was defamatory.
The front page story, headed: "Woman who cost Maddie fund £51k" was also published on the paper's website.
In her writ, McGuinness said the story suggested she had deliberately ripped off the Find Madeleine Fund by overcharging the McCanns for expenses to which she was not entitled and inflating her overtime.
She said the story claimed that, because of this, she was immediately forced to quit by the fund, although she had persuaded the McCanns to conceal this as the true reason for the end of her employment.
McGuinness, who runs Pineapple Consultants, said the story seriously injured her reputation and caused her considerable hurt, distress and embarrassment.
She said the allegations struck at the heart of her personal and professional reputation, casting serious doubt on her honesty and integrity, and were deeply offensive to her as they accused her of "cheating" a worthwhile and high profile charity.
The writ claimed that, as a result of the story, the allegations were repeated in other media, and on the internet.
McGuinness said although she had written a letter of complaint to the paper, The People had refused to apologise or provide any correction, which has increased the injury to her feelings.
Now McGuinness is seeking damages and aggravated damages for libel and an injunction banning repetition of the original allegations about her
This is the article that Justine is referring to. Thanks to Pakeha2007 on 3A's.
This is taken from the article in question:
(notice the references to the bathing costume incident, could this legal action have had something to do with CM's breezy b*****ks reply when asked about this? Will People identify their source?)
"...And McGuinness, 37, parted company with the family after a showdown with Gerry.
A source close to the family said last night: "Everyone at the fund was happy with the way Justine handled herself and the PR. She did a brilliant job.
"But there was a debate over her overtime and expenses bill which came as a surprise to Gerry. He hit the roof.
"He couldn't believe Justine's expenses and overtime were as high as £20,000 for the time she'd been in Portugal.
"She claimed overtime for nights when she had been out drinking and eating with journalists and other people over there.
"Justine was well paid by the fund on a day rate but claimed overtime too along with expenses.
"The family expected her day fee to cover EVERYTHING.
"Then the extra bills came in on top of this and there was a great deal of surprise within the fund."
The source went on: "The fund's managers were completely taken aback when she lodged the claim and immediately phoned Gerry.
"He then spoke to her about it. As part of the agreement to part company he said he would not publicise details of the rift. Kate and Gerry put out a statement thanking her for all her work on the campaign.
"But Gerry was livid because her expenses drained the fighting fund of a chunk of money intended to help find Madeleine."
McGuinness - who stood as a Lib Dem candidate at the 2005 General Election - was headhunted in June to help the McCanns' crusade to find four-year-old Maddie.
She was picked because of her political background.
And she acted as a spokeswoman and organiser of events to keep the campaign in the news.
Her efforts included getting celebrity backers such as England soccer idol David Beckham and Manchester United's Portuguese maestro Cristiano Ronaldo.
She also organised interviews and photocalls with the couple.
McGuinness advised Gerry and GP Kate, 39, on their audience with the Pope.
And she encouraged cardiologist Gerry to go to Washington in July to learn about the latest techniques for tracing missing kids.
But some critics warned she was making the campaign too much of a slick PR operation. And there were new concerns when when Portuguese police made Kate an official suspect.
The source said: "The McCanns hired a campaigns expert rather than someone to defend their reputations if things went awry.
Once the Portuguese started pointing the finger at Kate things had to change."
McGuinness disputes the amounts involved. Last night she defended the payments and said: "I parted on good terms with Kate and Gerry and I regard them as my friends.
"They made it very clear to me that they were happy with the work I did." She added: "I sincerely hope Madeleine is found and I wish the McCanns well."
McGuinness quit on September 15 and was replaced by ex-Cabinet Office aide Clarence Mitchell, 46.
Foreign Office chiefs had sent Mitchell to Portugal to advise the McCanns after Maddie vanished from a room she was sharing with two-year-old brother Sean and his twin sister Amelie in the resort of Praia da Luz in May.
But the McCann family was split over his switch to join the Find Madeleine campaign.
The source told The People: "Gerry was the only one who wanted Clarence.
"He was determined to get him after building a strong relationship with him in Portugal. But nobody else wanted him because he had given Kate and Gerry - what some of the family thought of as - questionable advice.
"Clarence advised Kate to take the twins swimming and get pictured in her bathing suit shortly after the search for Madeleine had captured the media's attention. Kate was horrified by the suggestion - but Gerry wanted to go along with Clarence's advice.
"It was only when other family members told Gerry it was the wrong thing to do he backed down.
"The feeling was it sent the wrong message if Kate was pictured lounging by the side of the pool when she is distraught about Madeleine's disappearance." The source added: "Finding Madeleine is Kate and Gerry's No1 priority.
The Portuguese police investigation has left them numb and they know valuable time's been lost.
"Kate is distraught and spends most of her time sitting in Madeleine's room.
If it wasn't for Sean and Amelie she would have broken down long ago."
Hi Di,
If the People do not settle out of court it will be very interesting to see what comes out in case. This could prove not only a defamation case against McGuiness but a lot more as she seeks to prove defamation by the People she will need to reveal quite a lot of information. Interesting times.
Hi Wizard
Interesting times indeed, let's hope The People have their day in court.
Interesting also to see Justine says she was accused of "cheating" a worthwhile and high profile CHARITY, now which charity would that be then?
Hi Nancy
Our garden is elevated but goes down to the beach. We have a rock groyne for protection against erosion which is checked on a regular basis, so hopefully we should be fine. Our end of the beach does not get tourists either as it is too stoney and they prefer the sandy end, so it is very peaceful.
Hi Hope
Sorry I missed your comment last night re the builders.
We should have the workmen in this week but they have not turned up which is pretty typical at the moment. We have got to the stage where we think it would probably be better to find a new firm. With the credit crunch you would have thought people would be desperate for work.
Hi Viv
Have you noticed that Pamalan has put GA's whole book on her site in English, is that legal?
I find this unbelievable!
Max Mosley to give evidence to press standards inquiry
5 March 2009
By Paul McNally
Max Mosley, the motorsport boss at the centre of a tabloid sting operation last year, is to appear before MPs next week to give his views on libel law and privacy.
The FIA chairman has been called to give evidence on Tuesday morning to the cross-party culture, media and sport select committee, as part of its wide-ranging investigation into press standards.
Mosley won £60,000 in compensation from the News of the World last July after the Sunday tabloid published photos and a video of what it claimed was a "sick Nazi orgy" with five prostitutes.
High court judge Mr Justice Eady said Mosley had a "reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to sexual activities" and said there was no evidence of Nazi re-enactment.
The sum awarded was the highest ever given in a UK privacy case, dwarfing the £14,600 awarded to Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones from Hello magazine.
Mosley is now asking the European Court of Human Rights to strengthen privacy laws - and make it a requirement for newspapers to approach the subject of a story before publication.
According to yesterday's London Evening Standard, Gerry McCann - the father of Madeleine, who disappeared on holiday in Portugal in 2007 - will also give evidence to the select committee next week.
Gerry and Kate McCann accepted a £550,000 libel payout from Express Newspapers last April for a series of more than 100 articles which Mr Justice Eady said were "seriously defamatory".
The Daily Express, Daily Star and their Sunday sister titles all published prominent front-page apologies for the untrue allegations, which the McCanns' lawyer said suggested they "were responsible for the death of Madeleine".
A Commons spokeswoman said McCann's appearance before the committee had "not yet been confirmed".
Di,
Pamalam can't find the link for the book. Could you obliged.
Many thanks - Wizard
The book the link
Whoosh .. clunk its gone!
Hi Wizard
Here is the link.
http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/AMARALS_BOOK_ENGLISH.htm
Wizard
I saved the link earlier it could have been removed from the site I am not sure.
This link is still working.
Di - I found the link. Wow its hard work reading it though. Very doggy translation.
I agree very hard reading.
LOL - I meant dodgy of course!
Hi ALL
Well it seems there is one rule for a couple of neglecting Dr's and another rule for a Mother who looks like a thug...
37 year old Michelle Brown has been jailed for 7.5 years for leaving her 22month old daughter home alone while attending court. The poor child died due to smoke inhalnation as a fire started at the house...
I think this unfit woman deserves every single day of her sentance but should we not be ohhing ahhhing all over her after all her child is dead she has to live with that for the rest of her life could jail be worse than that???
Well she is another one who tried to cover her own back before the truth was revealed she has also been convited of perverting the course of justice as she put herself above her daughter...
Strangely I dont find this as shocking as the McCann's as she knew her daughter was dead so anything she said could not help the little girl...
The McCanns on the other hand if telling the truth that Madeleiene was abducted by a peadophile ring have made her hell even worse by not helping in any way shape or form to find her or tell the truth...
One Mother leaves a child alone to go to court... Two parents leave 3 children alone to go to a bar??? And they are seen as the victims what a bloody sick world we live in totaly unreal and out of order!!!!
Scum all 3 of them!!!!!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/7926167.stm
A mother whose 22-month-old daughter died in a house fire after being left alone has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
Michelle Brown, 37, of Oxford Street, Hillfields, Coventry, was convicted of causing or allowing the girl's death and perverting the course of justice.
Jodie Ann Brown died of smoke inhalation after an electrical fire broke out at her home on 15 July.
Her mother was known to social services, Coventry Crown Court heard.
She was sentenced to six years in prison for causing or allowing her daughter's death and 18 months for perverting the course of justice. The sentences are to run consecutively.
'Small mercy'
Judge Peter Ross told Brown she had deliberately put Jodie Ann in the rear upstairs bedroom "where she could not wander or attract attention".
Jodie Ann Brown was left alone by her mother in their home
He said: "The heavy fire door was closed so that any crying, screaming, or moving about would not be spotted by any passers by."
He added that "the only small mercy is that Jodie would have gone quietly in her sleep".
He said it was "very far from the first time" Brown had left any of her children alone.
Coventry City Council said the case had deeply affected Brown's other children.
It said it was waiting for the results of a serious case review later this month.
Trapped upstairs
The court heard how Brown had been attending a county court hearing when the fire broke out.
It was a family hearing concerning one of her other children.
Brown has three children living in England and two more in her native Jamaica.
The trial was told Jodie Ann was left trapped in an upstairs bedroom for up to three hours.
The two-week trial heard how Jodie Ann was in the unventilated room when a "slow, smouldering fire" broke out.
When Brown arrived home she was filmed by CCTV cameras carrying her daughter in her arms.
She eventually phoned an ambulance from a nearby hairdresser's, but her daughter was declared dead later.
After the fire, Brown asked a friend to tell police she had been looking after her daughter.
She was caught out by a CCTV which exposed her lies. Pity there were not a few more cameras in PDL Hope.
Hi guys
Well what an interesting development McGuiness now going on the libel gravy train. I have not really had chance to think this through as have only just arrived but there is something deeply immoral to my mind in her describing this as a charity that she was perfectly entitled to be paid a lot of money from for media manipulation that clearly could have nothing to do with the purpose of the Fund and the reason the public gave the money. To find Maddie. Coming at a time when the government are looking at this it is certainly interesting. I really hope The People defend their comments but who knows, she is probably seeking the win more than the money and they make take yet another "commercial decision". I really hope not.
I have been aware for a long time Goncalo's book was on Pamalam's site and did not realise you were not aware of this. It is one of my favourite sites along with Joana and go there a lot. I would imagine she must have Goncalo's permission to publish it on there, otherwise he could sue her for breach of copyright but I cannot see him doing that anyway because he obviously wants his book publicised. He does not like the McCanns, that is for sure, and wants them brought to justice. The more people are aware of the true facts the more likely that becomes. Clearly it is not a good political decision for either Portugal or UK to not pull all the stops out in this case.
Wiz, I would be absolutely amazed if Gerry McCann is allowed to give evidence before the Commons Select Committee, I note the comment, this has not been confirmed.
Await with keen interest, but personally I would have thought they would be very worried about getting involved in an unresolved criminal case where he is clearly a suspect.
xx
Hi everyone -
Viv -
Brian Kennedy brought up as a Jehovah's Witness - interesting mmmm....
I remember a thread on the 3A's where someone put a link to the Jehovahs Witness website - and more importantly to the adoption website.
I wonder......?
Nx
Di -
Hi - Gerry McCann said:
Gerry was livid becuse her (JM)expenses drained the 'fighting' fund of a chunk of money intended to help find Madeleine!
Intended to help pay their hangers on most likely!
Glad you've got good defences against the sea; that's the main thing. It sounds idyllic!
Nx
Murats in Cambridge tonight!
Hi Nancy
Idyllic, believe me, it is.
ITN news is now reporting Gerry will give evidence next week!
McCann to give media evidence to MPs
Updated 17.53 Thu Mar 05 2009
Gerry McCann is to give evidence to MPs next week about how the media reported on the disappearance of his daughter Madeleine, his spokesman has said.
Mr McCann has been invited to answer questions from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday.
In March last year, Express Newspapers agreed to pay the couple £550,000 in libel damages over false allegations that they were responsible for Madeleine's death
He will be joined by his spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, and his lawyer Adam Tudor, a partner in libel firm Carter-Ruck.
Their evidence will form part of the committee's inquiry into press standards, privacy and libel.
The MPs are expected to ask Mr McCann, why he and his wife Kate, chose to sue a number of British newspapers for defamation instead of going through regulatory body the Press Complaints Commission.
In March last year, Express Newspapers agreed to pay the couple £550,000 in libel damages over false allegations that they were responsible for Madeleine's death.
On the same day the committee will also hear evidence from motorsport boss Max Mosley, who last year won £60,000 in privacy damages against the News of the World over a story claiming he took part in a "sick Nazi orgy".
Robert Murat, the first person to be named an "arguido" or formal suspect in Madeleine's disappearance, is taking part in a debate about the tabloid press at Cambridge University.
His arguido status was lifted last July when the Portuguese authorities shelved their investigation into the case.
Mr Mitchell will address the Oxford Union later about whether media coverage helped or hindered the search for the missing little girl.
Madeleine was nearly four when she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, on May 3, 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.
Despite a massive police operation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.
Interesting, the photos are mentioned in the last paragraph...
05/03/2009
Justine McGuinness, the former spokeswoman and public relations officer for the McCann is pursuing the British tabloid “The People”, taking legal action accusing them of defamation.
McGuinness, who spent several months with Kate and Gerry McCann, accuses the tabloid of having seriously damaged her reputation with the publication of an article in October 2007, suggesting that the couple’s spokeswoman had overcharged the Madeleine Fund when she invoiced for her services.
The article published by “The People”, with the headline “Woman who cost Maddie fund £51k", suggested that Justine McGuinness was removed from her work alongside the McCanns because of the exaggerated sums of money that she has requested, whilst persuading the couple to hide the real reason for her dismissal.
Considering that the tabloid article placed doubt upon her honesty and integrity, Justine McGuinness, who demonstrated her enormous availability to journalists in P da L, states that she wrote a letter to the tabloid, but that the paper has refused to make any apology or correction.
The role of “The People” in the McCann case
Since the beginning of the McCann case, this is not the first time that the tabloid has published articles attacking the image or credibility of those who are not (or no longer) in the service of the McCann couple and their friends.
On several occasions, the weekly tabloid has attacked the work of the Portuguese authorities, especially the Portuguese police and the head of the investigation, Gonçalo Amaral.
Last August, in the same tabloid, James Millbank signs an article questioning the existence of 24 photos taken during the night of 3rd May, by tourists who were at the Tapas Bar. James Millbank has never explained his reason for doubting the existence of the 24 photos, but not surprisingly, the couple’s lawyers took “The People” word for word in order to threaten the authors of the article that had announced the existence of the photos (including myself) and, as foreseen, James Millbank obtained his transfer, a few months later, to the Daily Mail.
Duarte Levy
Hi Wizard
I wonder if this info is what RP said we would not be happy about.
This info does not bother me at all, it smacks of desperate people in desperate times.
Let's see the photos!!
Off now
But before I go, can anyone remember when the docu is going to be broadcasted in Portugal.
Madeleine: Murat speaks out against tabloid fairytales
Thursday, 05 Mar 2009 20:31
Robert Murat has delivered a scathing attack on the journalists who defamed him over the abduction of Madeleine McCann, saying he felt "like a fox being pursued by a pack of hounds".
Mr Murat won undisclosed libel damages for defamatory claims made by 11 national newspapers about Madeleine, whose disappearance and suspected abduction in a Portuguese holiday resort dominated headlines over the summer of 2007.
Tonight, addressing an audience of students at Cambridge University's Union Society, Mr Murat described in detail for the first time the "horror story" of being pursued by journalists.
During his speech Mr Murat explained how he blamed a specific unnamed journalist, who was "so anxious, it appeared, to break a story that she literally created her own".
"To my personal cost, I now know what the maxim 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story' really means," he said.
"Over a period of many months, day after day, a torrent of outlandish, untrue, and deeply hurtful allegations about me were systematically splashed across the pages of British newspapers.
"I was one day said to be a sexual predator, another day a kidnapper; the tabloids reported apparently that I had been outside the McCann flat on the night Madeleine went missing, with her DNA apparently found in my home.
"They even came up with a story that I had a secret chamber under the floor of the house. Fairytales. Every single one of them, as the police themselves concluded."
Mr Murat argued against the motion that 'tabloids do more harm than good', describing them as a "travesty" and a "force for harm".
"My own life will be scarred for ever by the lies they printed," he added.
Media litigation lawyer Louis Charalambous, Mr Murat's lawyer of Simon, Muirhead and Burton, said his former client had had his "reputation destroyed" by the press.
He said: "Although Mr Murat's good name has now been rightfully restored and he and his family have begun rebuilding their life, the intolerable distress and stress they experienced as a result of such malicious reporting to benefit ad revenues and market share, is a shameful episode in the history of the British press."
Other speakers at the Union debate included Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik, former Endemol chairman Peter Bazalgette and Guardian assistant editor Michael White.
Madeleine was three when she disappeared from her parents Kate and Gerry McCann's holiday villa in Praia da Luz.
Mr and Mrs McCann, as well as Mr Murat, were named as arguidos - official suspects - by Portuguese police, who dropped the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance last year.
A team of private investigators hired by Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, is still trying to locate Madeleine.
Hiya guys just got back and it looks like I am missing all the fun!
"The MPs are expected to ask Mr McCann, why he and his wife Kate, chose to sue a number of British newspapers for defamation instead of going through regulatory body the Press Complaints Commission."
Ho, hum, maybe the simpler option would not have netted them half a million quid, even got the laywer and the unqualified lawyer, whoops I mean liar to help explain it all. I just cannot wait!
I am still not sure I have a clear handle on what exactly is going on right now but it all seems to be good news to me!
xx
Big L, a reprise, don't you just love him!
big_l
Post subject: FOR ALL THOSE WHO THOUGHT MY POST RE
New postPosted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:46 am
Hardened Criminal
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:58 pm
Posts: 1793
Location: brigadoon scotland
are the pro,s right post where my good friend rainbow warrior ;) posted an old bit of satire i put up on my daily express days i apologise if any of the fellow posters thought it was disgusting BUT rainbow warrior heres a few things i find disgusting
going out drinking to a tapas BAR and leaving 3 children under 3 alone every night
ignoring one of the said children who complained about being left alone
lying about an apartment being broken into
not notifying the police untill you get your story straight
ripping up a book belonging to a missing child to right a false time line on
not answering police questions to help them find your daughter
not going back for a reconstruction of the night you neglected 3 children and LOST one
begging for money from vunerable people
using that money to pay your mortgage
and what i really REALLY find disgusting is using the law to SUFFOCATE free speech in this case
SO RAINBOW WARRIOR LOOK AT MY JOKE AND LOOK AT MY POINTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now what really IS disgusting EH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
so too all concerned i think i,m going too just (if allowed by mods) lurk for a little while on this board and not post ,god forbid that i would offend the lovable mccanns.
Interesting newspaper report posted by Newperson on 3 As which I don't recall reading before.
The tall thin Englishman in his 40s who kept taking pictures of children on the beach could have been Russell.
It also clearly suggests the theme all the TAPAS have wished to stress that they never left PDL and did not have transport cannot be true.
The PJ obviously thought there was a link here given they visited almost immediately after Maddie's disappearance.
From personal experience I can say that almost every holiday I have been on to a beautiful place I hire a car or pay to go on trips. It hardly seems natural for a fairly wealthy group to be in the Algarve, the weather is apparently not very good but they do not do any sightseeing. Do they just not wish us to know about their mobility and contacts in the area? What of this previous talk of a blue jeep, it would be very cheap to share the rental of such a vehicle among the group.
Are we right to ignore all of these apparent sightings of Maddie? Interpol etc seemed to take them pretty seriously, I still think I may have a point about what the Mcs did with Maddie. LP still say on their webpage they are just trying to find out what happened to Maddie and I believe they are. Where I part company with the McCanns on the "abduction theory" is their suggestion, oft repeated and note the phraseology used by Gerry McCann, " we had nothing to do with our daughter's abduction". I think this is what the police currently accuse them of.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2529324 ... beach.html
A "strange Englishman" was spotted taking pictures of children on a Portuguese beach visited by Madeleine McCann just before she went missing, police files reveal.
By David Harrison in Praia da Luz
Last Updated: 1:03AM BST 11 Aug 2008
Ivo Mochacho, a worker at a restaurant in Praia da Luz, told police he saw a 'strange man' taking photographs at the beach before Madeleine McCann's disappearance
Ivan Mochacho, who works at a beachfront restaurant visited by Kate and Gerry McCann, told police of a 'strange man' taking pictures at Zavial beach Photo: CHRISTOPHER PLEDGER
Officers received several complaints from holidaymakers about a man they had seen behaving strangely near Praia da Luz, where the McCann family was staying.
The revelation will add weight to the theory that Madeleine was snatched to order by an international paedophile gang after being photographed by a "spotter".
In a separate twist, it has emerged that a British yachtsman told police he saw Madeleine on a Caribbean island in May.
Both developments are disclosed in newly released Portuguese police files. Last week it emerged British police were told Madeleine had been abducted three days after being photographed by a spotter.
According to the account in a Metropolitan police email sent to the Portuguese and Leicestershire forces, the picture was sent to a child abduction ring in Belgium, which had placed an order for a "young girl".
Having seen the image, the gang agreed that Madeleine should be taken. The files reveal that on May 9 last year – six days after Madeleine disappeared – officers interviewed Ernesto Mochacho, owner of a restaurant on Zavial beach, a 20-minute drive from Praia da Luz, which has a naturist area.
Mr Mochacho recalled seeing the McCanns with their three children for the last time at his restaurant in April.
His son, who also works at the restaurant, the only one on the beach, said he told police he had seen a "tall, thin Englishman in his forties" taking photographs.
"He was weird, a strange guy," Ivo Mochacho, 23, told The Sunday Telegraph. He said police visited the restaurant just after Madeleine vanished.
"Madeleine came here for lunch with her parents not long before she disappeared," he said. "I don't know if this guy took a picture of Madeleine. It's impossible to say. But he took a lot of photographs on the beach.
"The police said they had had complaints about a man acting strangely on the beaches. They thought he might have been a watcher, a voyeur. They told me to get in touch if I saw him again but I never saw him after that."
Mr Mochacho said members of the "Tapas Nine" – the group of friends dining with Kate and Gerry McCann on the night Madeleine went missing – were regulars at the restaurant, which has a terrace looking out across the Mediterranean. "They came a lot but I only saw the McCann family here once," he said.
The McCanns have long suspected that three-year-old Madeleine was abducted by a paedophile gang.
Last month police shelved their investigation and finally cleared the couple, both 40-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, of involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Portuguese files also reveal Trevor Francis, a British yachtsman, told police he had seen Madeleine on the island of Margarita on May 16 this year.
Mr Francis, who is retired but owns a nursing home in Worthing, West Sussex, and captains a charter yacht, told police in a statement in June: "I saw the little blemish in her right eye. She really stood out. She was the absolute image
of the missing Madeleine."
Mr Francis said he was having lunch at a restaurant in the town of Porlamar on Margarita, which is part of Venezuela, when the girl arrived with three women who looked Spanish or South American.
He said: "I was afraid to do anything. I decided to get a good look to make sure it was her so I could report it."
The girl looked healthy, but seemed "sullen and refused to eat", he said. His report has been sent to the Portuguese and Venezuelan authorities.
--------
This Portuguese news article dated August 08 is relevant to this issue, researchers thought Kidnapping was most likely and Kate fell out with British Liaison Officers when they demanded to know, "where is Maddie"? Not entirely an unreasonable question to ask! Clearly quite convinced the Mcs were responsible for the demise of Maddie and in keeping with proper investigations to look at all options as to what they had done to her, they also called the dogs in!
August 10, 2008 - 00:30 am Research: Experts asked where was Maddie Police annoyed the English McCann The parents of Madeleine McCann desentenderam with the English police the early days after the disappearance of the girl. On May 14, Kate Healy proved to be shocked and frustrated with the British official liaison to the family. The cause of disagreement have arisen when researchers asked where Kate was his daughter. Police officers from the United Kingdom with the mission to provide support for the McCann family are professionals with specific training in abductions and kidnappings. Its task would be to give support to McCann, establish a bridge with the Judicial Police and work together with other British agents installed in the Algarve. At its presence in Portugal, the investigations indicated the thesis of kidnapping as the most consistent. According to the former coordinator of the process Gonçalo Amaral, liaison officers from the family "did not come to last more than one week in their duties", after the disagreement with the family. The difficulty of communication between the couple and the researchers never was, however, officially communicated to the Judicial Police. The withdrawal of Portugal for the specialists in kidnappings and abductions occurring two months before the same British authorities suggest the Judicial Police greater attention in view of the child's death on the spot, a possibility which until then was a secondary level of research. For Portugal is then sent the forensic expert Mark Harrison, adviser for national searches of all the police agencies of the United Kingdom to the level of homicides and missing persons. It is Mark Harrison who recommends the use of dogs to detect smell the corpses. Interpol SEGUIU MORE THAN EMC PISTAS IN BELGIUM In Belgium, 107 people claim to have seen Maddie. However, Interpol in Brussels had not revealed any success in the collection of evidence leading to the child hostage. Also in the squad from Leicestershire, where they live the McCann in June last year, the detective John Hughes drew a little encouraging result for searches. Meanwhile, the Spanish private detectives reported that the Method 3 will prosecute the British newspapers that accused the Mafia. The Spaniards say now that their participation in the search was "low". STRONG MEANS HIGH-TECH British spared no efforts in using technology to find Maddie. TASK PORTUGAL In PJ of Portimão, the British mounted a room of research known as Task Portugal. PROFILE OF RAPTOR Several British experts collaborated to trace the profile of possible raptor. USE OF DOGS Dogs Englishmen had already participated in over 200 operations. PRESS 'MIRROR' Official reports that Portuguese police have attempted to do surveillance at the house of McCann, but judge refused the request. 'THE SUN' Apparitions of girls similar to Maddie again arise in Belgium.
Guys, updated the thread above with the news Gerry is to give evidence to the Commons Select Committe and Murat because it seems to me this chain was started with Mitchell's announcement of what a nice guy he is on 1 March, interlinking themes as it were, the Pink One's speciality!
You have our full attention, Clarence!
xxx
People are now speculating on 3As that Murat does know Gerry and may have been involved after all. Given he seems to be so involved in this that is understandable. I really hope that is not the case. Gerry's remark, " I am not going to comment on that" to a fairly innocuous question "and do you know Robert Murat" was very odd. But not in the context of three of his friends trying to blame him for Maddie's abduction I suppose and of course Lori Campbell at the Daily Mirror. They had been very distinctly pro McCann but Jon Clements recent comments seem to be redressing the balance a bit there!
From Commons Select Committee Minutes, it all seems to be happening this month! Of course Gerry has made a few visits to the States, I do not know whether this is relevant or not..but of course the report we have from Channel 4 News is that Gerry will be asked why he did not complain to the Press Complaints Commission and instead chose to get a wallet splitting libel payout, I just cannot imagine what influenced his decision there either, but I bet Carter Ruck helped him make up his mind! Might as well just lose me wallet, hell, I can afford a new one, goddammmit:-)))))
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/cmsfm0809.pdf
3. Press Standards, Privacy and Libel
Resolved, That the Committee visit Washington DC, Albany and New York in
March in connection with its inquiry, and that the Chairman seek the approval of
the Liaison Committee for expenditure in connection with the visit.
Resolved, That the Committee visit the Press Complaints Commission in
connection with its inquiry.
Oh my goodness I carried on reading the Minutes and guess what else I found, check out the last name on this list, The Madeleine Foundation, looks like they are very interested in Mr Tony Bennett:
I wonder what the NUJ will have to say about Clarence Mitchell?
1. Press standards, privacy and libel
The Committee considered this matter.
Ordered, That the following written evidence relating to press standards, privacy and
libel be reported to the House for publication on the Internet:
PS 1 POW Trust
PS 2 Jonathan Steinberg
PS 3 Foot Anstey Solicitors
PS 5 Professor Julian Petley
PS 6 Peter Burden
PS 7 BOND
PS 8 Nick Armstrong, partner of Charles Russell LP Solicitors
PS 9 Press Association
PS 10 Express Newspapers
PS 11 NUJ
PS 12 Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and Center for
Investigative Reporting in Bosnia
PS 13 Global Witness
PS 14 +14A and 14B Press Standards Board of Finance Ltd (PressBoF), Newspaper
Publishers Association, Newspaper Society, Periodical Publishers Association,
Scottish Daily Newspaper Society, Scottish Newspaper Publishers Association
PS 15 Russell, Jones & Walker, Solicitors
PS 16 Schillings
PS 17 +17A & 17B News International Ltd
PS 18 Press Complaints Commission
PS 19 Mark Thomson
PS 20 Society of Editors
PS 21 English PEN and Index on Censorship
PS 23 Article 19
PS 24 + 24A Loreena McKennitt
PS 25 DCMS
PS 26 Trinity Mirror Plc
PS 27+ 27A Guardian News and Media
PS 28 Media Lawyers Association
PS 29 Which?
PS 32 Farrer and Co.
PS 33 Professor Adrian Zuckerman
PS 35 Media Standards Trust
PS 36 Swan Turton
PS 37 Papyrus - National Charity for the Prevention of Young Suicide
PS 38 The Madeleine Foundation
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