I urge everyone to email the BBC complaints and protest in the strongest terms about them giving the message that anyone with information about Madeleine should contact their "private investigation team in confidence" rather than contacting the police. I think it is an utter disgrace that they should just encourage people to ignore the police who represent justice for victims, not those who just want to filter information adverse to themselves and cover up what really happened to little Madeleine. This is not how justice operates in the UK and the BBC should not be suggesting that it is!
Message from Gerry and Kate
March 23 2009
As the second anniversary of Madeleine's abduction approaches, there is much still to be done. We continue to remain focussed on our aim - to find Madeleine and bring her back home safely. As Madeleine's parents we cannot and will not ever stop doing all we can to find her.
The search for Madeleine continues with the same strength and determination, and thankfully, there are many people who are continuing to help in a variety of ways. The reduction in media reporting does not signify a lack of effort - far from it! If anything, the search for Madeleine goes on with renewed vigour and great experience. We have quietly and persistently been working very hard - exploring all possible avenues in order to get that key piece of information. Someone somewhere knows where Madeleine is.
It is impossible for us to ignore the day to day heartache of missing Madeleine but there is however, a very important and positive fact that remains.... In spite of all the investigative work done, there is still absolutely nothing to suggest harm to Madeleine and therefore, a very real likelihood that Madeleine is alive and well. You only have to recall the cases of Elizabeth Smart, Shawn Hornbeck and Natascha Kampusch to appreciate that children can seem to disappear 'off the radar' for very long periods of time. The return of these children to their families not only gives us great hope but also starkly emphasises that perseverance is essential, and surely what every such child deserves.
Since Madeleine's abduction, we have learned a lot about missing children and child exploitation. The scale of the problem is massive and worldwide. Although finding Madeleine will always remain our priority, we feel it is our duty to highlight these problems as well as areas where legislation can be improved, in order to make the world a little safer for all children. To achieve these aims we are working closely with the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Centre for Child Exploitation and Online Protection and other non-governmental agencies throughout Europe ( Investigation page). The Find Madeleine Campaign launched a new YouTube channel for missing children in August 2007 called 'Don't You Forget About Me' in conjunction with ICMEC and Google.
It is vital that we never, ever give up on Madeleine.
Can you imagine a little girl or boy out there, hoping and waiting to be found but for people then to 'write them off', forget about them, just because there's been no 'news'? For that child never to be reunited with their family because everyone had given up on them? Just imagine............................
And so, we will never, ever give up.
We urge you to remember Madeleine as a real, living and findable little girl.
Our most sincere thanks go everyone who is helping us in our efforts. You know why we must keep going.
Please don't give up on Madeleine
AND WITH THEIR USUAL SENSE OF PERFECT TIMING..
Page last updated at 15:13 GMT, Tuesday, 24 March 2009
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McCann appeal returns to Portugal
Madeleine McCann
An investigation by Portuguese police failed to find Madeleine McCann
Madeleine McCann's parents are to launch a high-intensity new appeal for information tightly focused on the area where she went missing.
Over the next two weeks 10,000 leaflets in Portuguese will be handed out and posted in letterboxes in Praia da Luz, Lagos and Burgau in southern Portugal.
The campaign will also advertise on billboards, three buses and a van.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, on 3 May 2007.
Vital clue
Despite an international publicity campaign and massive police search, she has never been found.
Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the hope was to find the vital clue that could lead to Madeleine, who was nearly four when she went missing, being found.
Experience shows that people almost always confide in someone else
Find Madeleine Fund
The official Find Madeleine Fund said in a statement: "At the time of Madeleine's disappearance the emphasis was placed more on international appeals, and it has been recognised that the local Portuguese residents of Praia da Luz and the surrounding areas have never been properly asked about information they may have to give.
"Someone in the area could almost certainly have the vital information that could help Madeleine's return to her family, or a combination of people all coming forward with a single piece of information could piece together vital clues which could solve the disappearance.
"Experience also shows that people almost always confide in someone else."
Information can be provided to the McCanns' private investigation team anonymously by telephone, email, text message or free post, and will be treated in confidence.
46 comments:
It is interesting the McCanns admit that they are pestering "non-governmental agencies". I am sure governmental agencies in Europe and beyond would not actively seek to work with this couple who are clearly culpable in the disappearance of little Madeleine, but still they persist with their anniversary events. They are just too sickening and repulsive for words.
JUSTICE FOR MADDIE
MY COMPLAINT I HAVE JUST SENT TO THE BBC, PLEASE DO THE SAME, BUT BE REASONABLE, DO NOT START SAYING THEY KILLED MADELEINE OR YOU WILL JUST BE IGNORED!
XX
I wish to complain about the above article. As a BBC licence payer I think I am entitled to see the BBC behave in a responsible and honest manner promoting law, order, respect for missing children and above all the work of the police. I am one of what I know are thousands of members of the public who find the conduct of Kate and Gerry McCann to be clearly indicative that they are responsible for the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine. I do not think it is reasonable that you should allow them to, on the one hand go to a Select Committee and bitterly complain about press coverage of their case and then on the other just allow the BBC to be used by them whenever they wish to start another stunt suggesting they are trying to find Madeleine. I have an enduring image of the McCanns on Madeleine's 4th birthday in PDL, Gerry McCann in particular laughing like it was some huge joke, just nine days after he had lost her and showing the most incredible conduct on her birthday of all days. I also have an enduring image of having read the contradictory statements they have given to the police and the rest of their child neglecting friends. The BBC should not be promoting these people as reasonable and law abiding parents who care for their children. Why do the McCanns only want to make appeals at Christmas and Anniversaries, this is just sickening sentimentality. Any normal parent would draw no such distinction, they would always be physically looking for their child and properly spending the money they public/press etc gave in doing so. We have seen how they squandered money in the published accounts with more going to lawyers, media monitoring etc than to any search. Such supposed search as there was by a criminal outfit Metodo 3 under investigation and one of them Jimenez their so called lead investigator languishing in prison for attempting to steal millions of pounds worth of cocaine. This lunatic bunch told us Maddie would be home Christmas 2007. How does the BBC expect any rational person to have faith in Kate and Gerry McCann, or how they have chosen to squander public money so generously donated? The end of the article you quote suggesting people anon contact their investigators without so much as a number to even do so is disgraceful. Any missing child deserves to have investigations conducted by the police not some anon and utterly criminal and hopeless investigators who work for parents who are so clearly culpable in Madeleine's demise. How on earth can you justify telling the public to do this, rather than behaving lawfully and for Madeleine, by contacting the Police. It is an absolute disgrace!
BRILLIANT THANK YOU GUARDIAN BECAUSE I TRIED TO LISTEN TO VIDEO ON LINE BUT THE SOUND QUALITY IS TERRIBLE.
Gerry McCann clearly stated Mr Meyer told him to just sue the Daily Express, here Mr Meyer gives the truth behind the lies of conning and manipulative liar, Gerry McCann. He never even made a complaint to the PCC. Why would he do that when he just wanted publicity to excuse him and Kate, and moreover a nice wad of cash too. I always thought the press would come back and bite this piece of scum and no thanks to the BBC that is for sure, we are getting a little more of what we need to read, the truth!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/ma ... -meyer-pcc
Oliver Luft
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 March 2009 14.55 GMT
Article history
The chairman of the Press Complaints Commission has rounded on a number of London media law firms, saying that they see the press watchdog as their "sworn enemy".
Giving evidence to the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee today, Sir Christopher Meyer singled out leading law firm Carter-Ruck, suggesting that the firm had used a previous committee hearing to launch an attack on the PCC.
"There are lots of law firms in London specialising in media matters that see us as their sworn enemy, probably because we can do the job for free and can provide a degree of discretion," Meyer said.
A fortnight ago, formula one boss Max Mosley criticised the workings of the PCC. He was joined in his attack by the Gerry McCann, father of missing toddler Madeleine McCann, who gave evidence flanked by a representative from Carter-Ruck.
"It was a classic Carter-Ruck operation," Meyer told MPs about McCann's evidence, adding that the evidence was "a tendentious onslaught on the PCC".
At the earlier hearing, McCann told MPs he was surprised that the Express editor, Peter Hill, had remained on the PCC code committee while his newspaper attacked the McCann family. The McCanns later launched legal action against Express Newspapers over the coverage, prompting the newspaper group to pay the family £550,000 in damages and Hill to leave the PCC committee.
Meyer, who is due to step down as PCC chairman next week, added that a suggestion the McCann case represented a failure of self-regulation was "absolutely false", saying there was never a formal adjudication on Hill as a complaint against his paper was never lodged to the PCC. The McCanns decided instead to seek legal redress.
The outgoing PCC chairman also rounded on Mosley's criticisms of press self-regulation, saying they were predictable and "probably ventriloquised" by Carter-Ruck.
At an earlier hearing Mosley had said the system of self-regulation was like "letting the mafia run the local police station".
"It would be a desperate man to measure the quality of the PCC's service by something that Max Mosley said," Meyer said.
Carter-Ruck had earlier come under attack from the Times crime correspondent, Sean O'Neill, who criticised the firm's use of "no win, no fee" agreements to pursue cases against newspapers.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.
• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
This does not sound very promising for the PJ inspectors almost at the end of this trial:
March 24, 2009
Leonor Cipriano: Doctor excludes fall
Expert says that lesions were not caused by fall from stairs
This Tuesday, at the Court of Faro, an expert forensics doctor has excluded the hypothesis of Leonor Cipriano falling off the stairs, a theory that could explain the alleged aggressions on the face and body of the assistant in this process.
“Those lesions [some of Leonor Cipriano’s lesions that can be observed on photographs that are part of the process] are not caused by a fall from stairs. It would be very difficult for lesions on the face and in the abdominal area to occur if this was a fall from the stairs”, stated Teresa Magalhães, the director of the Northern delegation of the National Institute for Forensics Medicine, and a member of the directors’ board.
When questioned by the Public Ministry, the expert went as far as admitting that some of the lesions, due to their distribution on the body, where “suggestive of kicks and punches” and that with a fall from stairs “there would be more lesions to the back and to the hands” and less lesions to the eyes, because they are better protected.
During the technical scientific consult, that was requested by the Court of Faro, and which the expert carried out based on the photographs where Leonor Cipriano can be seen with lesions on several areas of her face and body, Teresa Magalhães has also mentioned that the ecchymoses (commonly known as black bruises) were caused “at least on two different moments”.
“The lesions to the arm look older than those on the eyes and abdomen, which don’t look older than two days”, the expert stated, nevertheless adding that the “photograph is worth what it is worth”, that images “are never a rigorous element” and that these are “virtual images of what happened” in reality.
source: TVI24, 24.03.2009
Good Morning Viv,
I was out yesterday afternoon and evening and therefore missed most of the news coverage. I would be interested in emailing the BBC as you suggest. Can you let me know when and where they broadcast the comments i.e. 10 pm news, web site etc.
Many thanks - Wizard
Morning All
If my child were missing I would keep her in the news as long as I could and would indeed go back to the place she was taken from if I thought it would jog someones memory and perhaps someone could help find her so who can blame the McCann's for going back to the crime sceen two years later?
They want anyone with information to tell them what it is so they can let their own investigation team know...
But how can anyone take Kate seriously when she refused to answer most of the questions all of course apart from....
49. Are you aware that in not answering the questions you are jeopardising the investigation, which seeks to discover what happened to your daughter? - Kate replied: "Yes, if that's what the investigation thinks."
Well she did not seem to care that she was jeopardising the investigation when the police asked her questions so why does she assume anyone else can help her daughter when she clearly did not want to???
Hi All,
I do think it very dark of the BBC to ask its viewers to contact the McCanns private investigators if they know anything. To give the McCanns the benefit of the doubt is very laudable but equally the BBC’s action could be viewed as aiding and abetting the possible suppression of information that does not fit the PI’s paymasters’ story of events. They should have suggested viewers contact the police with any leads to allow an unbiased view of the value of any new leads to be made.
I did see yesterday a discussion on 3A’s suggesting that the leaflet drop etc in PDL and surrounding area was the final action in the McCann plan. It was speculated that MBM would be found in the PDL area soon thus the rationale behind this action which would precipitate the curtain fall on this mystery.
Any thoughts on this?
Morning all
Wizard
We all know the McCanns do nothing without a reason.
It is quite possible that Maddie will be found either alive or a body, perhaps even pre-planned. If it is the latter I am sure there would still be a chance of finding the cause of death, if it was to implicate the McCann's or their friends I cannot see them taking that chance.
This new campaign for a leaflet drop it totally futile. The PJ thoroughly investigated locally, was it not Gerry who stated Maddie was abducted to order and wisked out of the country, so why now concentrate back in PDL etc.,
If Kate & Gerry truly want to find Madeleine or find out what happened to her, they would insist the PJ re-open the case until they were blue in the face, but I cannot see that happening.
Something is happening for this sudden bounce back the question is what?
Hi Di,
I mentioned yesterday it may well be to do with the publication of Amaral’s book in this country and Viv thought it could be because the police investigation had found a further piece of damaging evidence. So we can only speculate at the moment but one thing we can be sure about is - there will be a reason and it is a reactive tactic to some anti-McCann news that we are not aware of yet.
On Saturday I saw the movie Duplicity starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. It involved a double, double and double cross. I have to say it was confusing at times to know what exactly was going on and why people were doing things – a bit like this case we can only second guess.
Another media source giving the Mc's a platform - the articl below comes from todays Independent. Straight from the pen of the pink one no doubt!
McCanns to make fresh Madeleine appeal
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Madeleine McCann’s parents have launched a new appeal for information about their daughter focused on the area where she went missing in 2007.
About 10,000 leaflets in Portuguese will be handed out and posted through letterboxes in Praia da Luz, Lagos and Burgau in Portugal over the next fortnight. The Algarve campaign will be backed up with billboards and bus and van advertising.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the appeal was “very localised” with the aim of collecting the vital clue that could lead to Madeleine being found.
The official Find Madeleine Fund said in a statement: “At the time of Madeleine’s disappearance the emphasis was placed more on international appeals, and it has been recognised that the local Portuguese residents of Praia da Luz and the surrounding areas have never been properly asked about information they may have to give.
“The purpose of the current campaign is to do just that — ask the local Portuguese residents for information to help to find Madeleine. Experience shows the crucial answers are in the immediate vicinity.
“Someone in the area could almost certainly have the vital information that could help Madeleine’s return to her family, or a combination of people all coming forward with a single piece of information could piece together vital clues which could solve the disappearance.
“Experience also shows that people almost always confide in someone else.
“Someone in Praia da Luz may have been given information that should be passed on and now is the perfect opportunity to do just that.”
Information can be provided to the McCanns’ private investigation team anonymously by telephone, email, text message or freepost, and will be treated in confidence. Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby. Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity, she has not been found.
Hi Wizard
Experience shows the crucial answers are in the immediate vacinity...
I am pretty sure the PJ are well aware of this and followed proceedures accordingly.
Two years on, do the McCanns truly believe anyone is going to suddenly remember something crucial to help the investigation. Remember Gerry & Kate your so called friends two years on suddenly had amnesia to the point they could not even remember the last time they saw Maddie, I think that says it all.
If you want to do something positive answer the questions and attend a reconstruction, perhaps that would jog a few memories.
Could it be the Portuguese documentary is imminent?
Di, it always makes me laugh the thought of a reconstruction. The
T9’s account of what happened on the evening of 3 May has more holes in it than a sieve. If they were to go back they would all end up in klink. LOL
Hiya guys
It is this online report which is included in the main post that I have sent my written complaint to the BBC about:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7961734.stm
Gerry McCann is now using the press again, just to suit himself, having just bitterly complained about them!
Maybe we could also consider making a complaint to the PCC about them suggesting people should just contact them, not the police?
x
Personally I think all has now been revealed as to why Gerry went and visited his lawyer in Portugal to, in his own words, see what else could be done in the search for his daughter.
Prior to doing so we heard he had also spoken to the Home Office seeking assurances he would not be arrested before he went. He was met in Portugal apparently by Foreign Office officials.
I believe he was seeking authority to start a private investigation in Portugal without fear of either himself or others being arrested. All that we have seen and heard has been in furtherance of that plan with him recently announcing that as and when he wanted the press back on board they would be told...there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes. In short this latest blitz in Portugal has been months in the planning.
So how would the police in both countries view this situation? I think it would be a question of let Gerry McCann carry on playing his games and who knows what evidence it may throw up against him, or better still, who knows, Madeleine may suddenly turn up.
Di, as ever you make some telling points.
His friends were repeatedly saying to the police, well twelve months on we cannot remember very clearly now.
It is commonly recognised in legal circles that after two years witnesses memories are forever faded and unlikely to be very helpful. This is why the police in Portugal did exactly what they should have done and recorded witness statements immediately when matters were fresh in their minds. Then it is not so difficult for witnesses to give evidence years later because they can refresh their memories from their own witness statements.
Their conduct is cynical and has clearly been months in the planning stages following the release of the most incredibly damning evidence against them. This is how they fight back. But does it show any urgency to take proper steps to actually look for Madeleine, no of course not. It shows they have been listening to slimy lawyers and media strategists as to how they can best manipulate matters in their continuing attempts to defend themselves.
Wiz, you are obviously correct.
The report you cite in The Independant is absolutely identical to the one I have complained about featured by the BBC
A carefully worded press bulletin prepared by Gerry McCann and his team of lawyers and spin doctors. He is not actually seeking any help from people in the UK, so why does it need to be in all our newspapers?
More to the point why has the final paragraph been left deliberately vague as to who people can actually contact to provide information about Madeleine? It is like they just do not really want to know isn't it?
All we have to do is compare this against what normal parents would do. What would that be?
PLEASE CONTACT THE PJ ON ------- OR LEICESTER POLICE ON --------
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION AT ALL ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO MADELEINE MCCANN.
But this report also stresses they do not want to work with official government agencies. We know why!
xx
Wizard I like you find the thought of a reconstruction extremely interesting.
Hi Viv
I agree this has been well planned, I wonder if Kate & Gerry themselves will return to PDL, as Luz on 3A's has said, they will be in for a nasty shock if they expect the residents to accept them with open arms. Personally I don't think they will return but maybe family members will, Gerry's brother perhaps and Aunt Phil.
Gerry said he will use the press as and when he needs to, two faced comes to mind.
Hiya Di, I very much doubt if Kate and Gerry will return to PDL and front this so called new campaign, two years later, but it would seem they do have clearance they will not face immediate arrest, at least in relation to conducting a private investigation there. I do not think they will be too confident about that, because if new evidence came to light the PJ could quickly change their mind about that if they are on Portuguese soil!
But I think you are probably right, sickening as that may be, Gerry has clearly been very carefully planning the two year media special. If he did not continue to fear the police there would clearly be no reason to do so!
xx
PUT A COMMENT ON AT THE INDEPENDENT RUNNING THE IDENTICAL PRESS BULLETIN, I HAVE JUST DONE SO:
http://news.independentminds.livejournal.com/1497812.html?page=2#comments
I have just had a read of the host of comments The Independent are getting in response to printing the McCanns media bulletin and they are certainly very adverse to the McCanns. So are the press doing them such a favour by reporting this and then letting the public reply, maybe not!
A poster called, rather aptly called "slaughterman" has turned up to defend the McCanns with the usual libel threats etc. People have already picked up that he sounds just like Gerry McCann! Nasty, vicious and bored about the topic of how they were involved in the disappearance of their own daugher, he just wants to move on...(!)
Hi Viv
Thanks for the link I have just been having a read.
There are some very good comments and I do not believe they are all from 3A's members as Slaughterman would like everyone to think. Slaughterman's threats are quite ridiculous. How can saying Kate refused to answer the questions or not going back for a reconstruction be libelous.
Well done to The Independant for allowing the comments to remain. I am sure pinkies Blackberry will be doing overtime trying to get them removed.
I think I spoke too soon it looks as if comments have been deleted unless it is just me, I have to say though the person that posted Bren's address was totally out of order.
Hiya Di,
Sadly sensible debate on the Independent has now been curtailed.
In fact I have just been criticising Tony Bennett for litigating against The Independent in his inimitable style that is so good at closing down debate about the McCanns and bringing it to the point of ridicule on discredited claims and so called "evidence". I am sure he must be due a bonus from Team McCann!
It just has to be said that if you want to see some serious and sensible comments about this case on the 3 As, look anywhere but on one of Tony Bennetts threads. He is a masquerador doing what they have always done stifling debate and causes disruption with many just too blind to see what is staring them in the face. How amusing for Gerry McCann.
Below is a Portuguese poster on Joana Morais’s blog commentating about the Mc’s forthcoming campaign in Portugal. The second paragraph just shows how ridiculous our European friends find the reporting of the McCanns in the British Press.
“They can't be normal. Not because what they did and are still doing but because they hope we are stupid. We aren't, McCanns, we aren’t. Come personally to Algarve and show us your face. Talk to the Algarvians around; tell them Maddie is still alive. Walk around in the streets of Luz, don't be afraid.
Yes, which one of us will start organizing a peaceful demonstration in Luz, followed by a procession organized by ourselves? Maybe the procession is not a good idea. The British media could show it as being a procession in favour of the McCanns. A demonstration with big protesting posters.”
Hiya Wiz
I am sure that Portuguese people feel sickened by Kate and Gerry McCann and how British Press just keep printing their bulletins.
Quite rightly Algarvians do not want to be ridiculed and used in another of the McCanns sickening campaigns. Neither would they welcome them back to the Algarve, that is entirely understandable.
I hope the McCanns reap from this exactly what they deserve!
xx
I second that Viv
Off now enjoy your evening.
Nite Di and hope you are having a good one.
I just heard on Newsnight, the apparent new open Gordon Brown administration finally wants to have a full inquiry into war on Iraq. Rather than ones that have been held previously with what dishonest people do who claim to be supporting a proper inquiry, insist on a deliberately narrow remit to avoid addressing the issues where they know full well fault will be found.
This apparently will take place before the next general election.
Politically, I think that would be a very good move for Gordon Brown and I feel that whilst Madeleine and the McCanns may weigh a little less heavily on his mind, there clearly has not been such massive human cost, he will continue to back the right forward for that too.
xx
Oh by the way Di, completely off topic but you know that badger I mentioned I almost ran over about a month ago? Earlier this evening I almost did so again. Same place, same behaviour, and I believe the same flipping badger. This time I not only managed to brake but drive a circle around him going across the other side of the road to avoid him as well.
Luke and I discussed the idea of popping back down and trying to give him a bit of a road awareness course, but hey I guess he ran and hid:-)))
I am definitely sticking to no more than 20 mile an hour as I drove through his favourite haunt now!
xx
I am not sure if I have flagged this up before. But clearly when people are giving witness statements to the police they are answering relevant questions the police want to know. So we see the areas Yvonne Martin worked listed at the top because they are important. I believe the police will have made enquiries to find out if and how she knew David Payne perhaps from Plymouth, Devon. I would love to hear him speak just to see if he does have that very distinctive Devonian drawl.
The Senior Social Worker's evidence, notice particularly that she describes Payne as having a "South England accent" and one of the places she worked was Plymouth, Devon, which of course is in South England..
YVONNE WARREN MARTIN
Places Worked:
1. Gateshead, Tyne & Wear
2. Southshields, Tyne & Wear
3. Newcastle, Tyne & Wear
4. York, North Yorkshire
5. Hull, Kingston Upon Hull
6. North Tyneside, Tyne & Wear
7. Plymouth, Devon
WITNESS TESTIMONY
Date of Diligence: 2007/11/14
Time: 10H30
Locale: DIC Portimao
Entity that presides:
Functionary that executes:
Name: YVONNE WARREN MARTIN
Parent(s): Patricia Warren
Country: U.K.
Residence: E*************
Civil Status: Divorced
Profession: Social Services and Protection of Minors Manager
? Comes to the process as a witness
? Is accompanied by interpreter Filipa Maria da Conceicao Silva
? The deponent has already given a deposition to this police regarding the facts in question with said diligence realised 13-06-2007. The deponent confirms in the integrity of that deposition.
? The attached page (see above) was also added to this deposition. Said page describes the locales where the deponent has carried out her professional functions in relation to social services and the protection of minors. She confirms that this list is correct.
? States that in the discourse of her contact with Madeleine's parents, which she describes with detail in her previous declarations, Kate told her the child had been taken by a couple. She did not have the opportunity to probe this question nor any other.
? What she states in respect of the individual who was close to Madeleine's parents when she met with them, and who was later identified as David Payne, reaffirms that the same individual seems familiar, possibly as this same individual was involved in a situation related to a professional activity of the deponent. She clarifies that on that occasion, nor now that time has passed, could she remember concretely the locale or the situation in which she may have come to know David Payne. She continues to think that the same individual is known to her but cannot state the particular situation. She adds that she may have come to know him professionally through work, potentially having been colleagues at work but she cannot be certain where she would have known him.
? States that around two weeks after Madeleine's disappearance, at a time when the police asked people to come forward with information about a man, carrying a child, was seen in the Luz zone, and whose clothing was described, she wrote an anonymous letter to the British police, given them the following information: regarding the various details which I observed in contact with the McCann's? it is her opinion that they may be involved in the disappearance of Madeleine. She first found them aggressive. After she showed Madeleine's parents her credentials, they also seemed strange. After this she was informed that there were no signs of a break-in in the apartment. Knowing that they are doctors she found it absolutely normal that they left their children alone at home. Associating this with her professional experience, which tells her that in 99.99 percent of cases of children's disappearance, the parents or other family members are involved, she felt it her duty to inform the police of this. She did this anonymously because she did not want to be harassed by the media. But she also states that according to what she remembers, when she met with Madeleine's parents, David Payne, who was with them, wore a dark polo, blue or black in colour, cream coloured long trousers, of linen or cotton material, and dark shoes (sandal/slipper type with a back buckle/catch). In her opinion, this clothing fits perfectly with what the Police described the man (carrying the child) to be wearing at the time. All these coincidences made the deponent think that the parents and their friends could be involved in the disappearance of the child.
? She declares that one of her principal claims when she wrote the anonymous letter is that the British police checked paedophile registers or child abusers and if David Payne was on that list.
? And nothing more was said?.
SERVICE INFORMATION
Volume IX, pages 3422 to 3424
To: Mr. Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation, Dr. Goncalo Amaral
From: Jose Monteiro, Inspector
Re: Collection of Information
In the sequence of information transmitted to this Police, on this date, we went to the residence of Yvonne Warren Martin, holder of British passport no. 7*********, situated in E *************, no. **********, contactable via mobile no, *************to receive further clarification of the details following. The team was composed of the signator and Carlos Antunes.
? On May 04, 2007, around 07H00 she found out about the disappearance following a report on Sky News or BBC.
? She has practised her profession for 25 years, in the area of protection of minors, and felt it her duty to offer help to her compatriots and went to Praia da Luz.
? Around 09H00, she met the McCann couple next to the apartment from where the child disappeared, accompanied by a third person, of the masculine sex, who seemed very familiar to her.
? This third person of the group appeared to be an intimate of the family as he was the one who, when the media surrounded them, began talking and answering questions. Following this, she further confirmed his closeness to the family when she saw him taking care of the couple?s twins, also minors.
? She identified herself and presented her credentials and immediately began talking to the mother of the missing child as she was visibly upset with the situation.
? During the conversation the mother told her that she did not understand why a couple had abducted her daughter.
? However, the third element overheard this conversation and interrupted Ms. Martin and took the McCann couple away from her.
? This same element came, a small time afterwards to tell her that the couple did not want to talk to her any further and did not require her help?an action that appeared to her very strange.
? However, she heard commentaries next to the complex reception that the British Consul was coming to the locale and according to this person in order to offer his/her help.
? During this time, she again saw the third element two more times: the first time, he was accompanying an older woman and the McCann twins, demonstrating a confidence that the couple had entrusted in him the care of their two children. The second, he accompanied what appeared to her to be police elements.
--YVONNE describes the third element as follows:
--Around 35 years of age
--Being around 1,80 metres in height
--Of normal physical appearance
--Having dark, short hair
--Uses glasses of small dimensions and rectangular in length
--Has a round face
--Presents with a scar above his eyebrow and on his left cheek
--Speaks with a South England accent
--Was wearing light trousers, or colour cream or beige, and a dark polo
? At home after this event, and after watching television, she saw the same individual and this time, concluded that that face was familiar to her in her professional circles (protection of minors). She was not able to discern if he was a suspect/arguido or witness
? Clarifies that she is capable of identifying photographically the individual, also adding that with the identified photo one can also access the database of the British Police to ascertain if the same is related to any crimes against children
To bring this to your attention,
Signed
Jose Monteiro
Volume XIII, to 3425 to 3428
WITNESS TESTMONY
Date: 2007.06.14
Time: 12H00
Name: YVONNE WARREN MARTIN
Country: U.K.
Residence: E*********, no. *****. A********
Civil Status: ************
Profession: Social Services and Protection of Minors Manager
? Deponent is accompanied by an interpreter
? Has lived in Portugal for seven years, and works part-time. That said, she lives for some months in her home in S***** and for the rest of the year lives in England, where she works.
? In the past month of May or more precisely on the 04th of May 2007, the deponent was in Portugal, enjoying holidays, when at 07H00 turned on the television to an English news channel (BBC or SKY NEWS) and there viewed a an appeal for British citizens in the Algarve to offer all the help possible to a British couple who were holidaying in Praia da Luz and whose daughter, a minor, had gone missing since May 03, 2007.
? As she works directly with situation of children at risk, and as she found herself very close to Praia da Luz, she went to the location with the intent of offering her help and support to the couple. She got there around 09H30.
? Clarifies that she did not immediately head out to Praia da Luz as she still had some things to do at home but left around 09H00.
? Initially, she did not locate the exact site where the family was staying. At seeing a patrol car which passed by her, she asked those police if they could point her to the right location. She was accompanied by the patrol care until the apartment from where the child had disappeared and where the parents were located.
? At the locale, she found a group of three people, two of the masculine sex and one female.
? She went over to the group and identified herself.
? Two elements of that group, a male and the other female, identified themselves as the parents of the missing child?the couple McCann.
? The couple were visibly upset, and the mother was crying intensely.
? The third person never identified himself. The deponent asked who he was and the couple responded that he was a close friend of the family.
? She adds that this third person appeared familiar to her.
? Taking advantage of the facts she had heard of the disappearance via the news channel, she began questioning the couple how often they had checked on the children. The couple responded that people would go to see them every hour.
? As is normal and routine in her service, she questioned whether Gerry was the biological father of the missing child, and the response was yes.
? She clarifies that she asked this questions because in the course of her 25 years of service working with minors at risk, it is very normal that when a couple has children and where the father or the mother is not a biological parent, this person may have a tendency to come and get his/her child.
? After having obtained the verbal response from Gerry, the mother, Kate, questioned what was she doing asking such questions as these should be asked by the police, and who should have already been at the locale in large numbers looking for her daughter, who was taken by a couple.
? At this moment, the deponent began noting that the couple began questioning her and she immediately showed them her official documents and credentials issued by the British government to help calm them.
? Gerry took her documents and showed them to the third person and told him that they were authentic and had police certification.
? At this moment, the deponent wishes to clarify that, in England, whatever element who works with children, be it doctor, police, social worker, has to have a proper credential certified by the police and it was this document that she showed to the McCanns.
? She found it strange that Kate would have spoken to her of her daughter being taken by a couple. She tried to separate the couple so as to speak with greater privacy. She suggested to them to go inside the apartment. Kate aggressively rejected this idea and told her that they could speak on the street.
? The deponent then questioned is anyone from the Medical Centre had already contacted them as she was very agitated and needed some support. She responded that they had not.
? At this point, Kate told her that her daughter had already been missing for 13 hours. It was around 10 in the morning.
? Meanwhile a fourth individual came towards the group and identified himself as a journalist. The deponent alerted the couple to the type of declarations that they would transmit and that it would be better for them to maintain silence.
? At this moment, the third person, who was always near the couple and the deponent, told them in a whispering voice that the three had been talking for some time.
? After this, and leaving the couple behind him, he came next to the deponent and told her that the couple no longer were available to speak.
? As she noted earlier, this third person of the group is familiar to her, and thinks that she may have come across him in the course of her work as an arguido/suspect or as a witness.
? She describes him as a bit tallish, of about 1,80 m, about 35 years old, of normal physical complexion, short hair, dark in colour, with a round face and with a scar on the left side of his face which runs from part of the eyebrow to the check. He uses graduated glasses of small dimensions and with rectangular lenses. He spoke with a south England accent and was wearing cream coloured trouser and a dark polo.
? Questioned whether that it would be possible to identify him via a picture or in person, the deponent responds yes.
? She adds that, after having spoken to the McCann couple, she spoke with the resort manager, where after being identified, questioned him as to whether there had been a break-in in the apartment where the child stayed. He responded no but the door was open as were the blinds to the window, which, according to Kate, should have been closed but were found open.
? And nothing more was said.
I think Mr Levy may have a point when he says Gerry would have no problem returning but Kate would. That certainly fits my assessment of their respective personalities. He is bold and brazen, not phased by adversity, in fact he thrives on it. But I do not think he could persuade Kate to face such rank play acting and obviously very open hostility from Algarvians. So will they be returning, I doubt it, unless Gerry to continues to play solo. His wife it would appear no longer to play her role in his shennanigans!
McCanns Considering Returning to Portugal
Kate and Gerry McCann are considering returning to Portugal before the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, a source close to the couple told 24horas.
He [could also be translated as "it" and could refer either to the source or 24horas, more likely the former] also says, "The McCanns are launching a campaign in the Algarve."
"I know that some contacts with the lawyers in Portugal had been made, as well as with friends of the couple in the region, but nothing is confirmed," said the same source, stressing that of the couple "Kate is the more reticent about a possible return."
Kate and Gerry McCann left Portugal in September 2007, after two days of interrogations by the PJ that culminated in the constituting of the couple as arguidos, suspected of being involved in the disappearance of Maddie. Thanks to the intervention of the British authorities, namely Prime Minister Gordon Brown himself and the then-Ambassador John Buck, the couple was able to finish by traveling back to the UK, from which only Gerry McCann returned for a brief visit.
The announcement of the possible return of the couple to our country is not seen with affability by the population of the Algarve, which for the algarvia population, which does not forgive the couple their comments about a country that has done everything to find the disappeared little girl most known to the world. "It's like the campaign that they are now doing. It serves no purpose and they are only coming to enjoy the Algarve," said Antonio Martins to 24horas, adding that, "to say that the Portuguese did not help them or did not give them all the information is ridiculous. They [should] begin by responding to questions from the PJ and making the reconstruction, then see what the police think," he concluded.
Maria Afonso has yet another opinion: "This campaign will not bring the girl back. Two years later it is stupid to assume that. This will only dirty the name of the Algarve and our streets. Who is going to clean up the papers that they will deliver? I want to know who it was that authorised all this."
Cost of the campaign is secret
It's unclear how much the new campaign by the McCanns in the Algarve will cost, as the financial fund, created by the couple nine days after the disappearance of Maddie, refuses to disclose any amount, only admitting that "it will spend what is possible and necessary to find Maddie." A different attitude from that which was reflected in the provisional accounts of the "Find Madeleine" [Fund], where only 13% of the nearly 3 million euros received in the coffers were in fact used to search for Maddie.
The campaign, scheduled to last two weeks, was commissioned [by] a Portuguese-British company with headquarters in Boliqueime, "Atelier do Sul", directed by Fred Phillips and Suzi Steinhofel, and known as one of the best and most expensive companies in the area.
By coincidence, "Atelier do Sul" was one of the few firms visited by the very consul that followed [watched, kept up with] the interrogations of Kate and Gerry McCann in Portimão. Like her predecessor, Bill Henderson, Celia Edwards left our country after the McCann case.
Duarte Levy (translated from French/Portuguese by Beachy on 3As)
There is interesting speculation by a poster on 3 As that this could provide a reason for the McCanns new campaign, it was apparently first mentioned in January this year and so that would have given Gerry time to put all the plans we have seen into action, starting with his visit to Portugal, through appearing at the Select Committee etc (was he asked or did he insist?)
I recall that Stu Prior and others went to Portugal seeking to ensure that certain forensic evidence was held back, details of sex offenders etc. If there are mixed samples from sheets etc, this could be very interesting indeed!
Speaking of which it occurred to me earlier on the McCanns originally claimed the abductor got in and also possibly out again via the window in Maddie's room. But directly under that window was another single bed. He would have had to tread on that bed to do so and would quite obviously have left forensic evidence in doing so, what silly garbage eh!
Page last updated at 15:56 GMT, Monday, 23 March 2009
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New DNA test gives cold case hope
DNA
Forensic scientists say they are excited about the new technique
A new technique which can decipher previously unintelligible DNA samples has been made available to all police forces in England and Wales.
The Forensic Science Service (FSS) said the DNAboost method might shed light on "many thousands" of unsolved cases.
It allows scientists to obtain individual DNA profiles from crime scenes which contain a mix of genetic material from several people.
But some experts have warned that it could lead to miscarriages of justice.
During the pilot, DNAboost was used on about 2,000 samples in four police forces - Humberside, Northumbria, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire.
The FSS said it helped police to identify suspects and build evidence for cases, and was now "fit for purpose" to be used by all forces.
'Cold cases'
Previously, it was impossible for scientists to accurately separate out DNA from different individuals at one crime scene, for example, where two or three suspects handled the same weapon.
Now, DNAboost can use computer technology to do just that and provide identifiable DNA profiles for each suspect.
These can then be checked against the national DNA database to try to find the culprit.
It is thought the technique could be of use in an estimated 10,000 criminal cases each year and scientists are already looking through "cold cases" - including unsolved rapes and murders - to see if it can be of benefit.
There will be many thousands of cases in our archives that could benefit from that technique
Martin Bill
Forensic Science Service
Experts say it could increase the number of provable cases by as much as 30%.
Martin Bill, research manager at the FSS, said scientists were very excited about its potential.
"We feel this approach is scientifically very sound and has low potential for false exclusion or inclusion," he said.
"There will be many thousands of cases in our archives that could benefit from that technique.
"We're hopeful that some will come to light over the coming weeks."
Forensic Scientist Mark Pearse told the BBC about one case which had utilised DNAboost to identify a suspect in a car-jacking.
After struggling with the car's owner, the offender fled the scene leaving a trainer behind.
A skin flake on the shoe was examined and found to contain more than one DNA profile, but the new technique was able to unscramble the sample and give police the identity of a suspect.
'Not foolproof'
But Prof Allan Jamieson, director of The Forensic Institute in Glasgow and former head of forensic science at Lothian and Borders Police, urged caution.
"Boost can come in useful when all you want to do is generate the possible contributors," he told the BBC News website. "But it doesn't tell you who the actual criminals are.
People think DNA can do no wrong, but that's not true
Prof Allan Jamieson
The Forensic Institute
"The danger is that because of the public's confidence in DNA, there's a real likelihood that you identify the wrong person because they just happen to match, or you get the crime scene results being interpreted to fit the suspect.
"People think DNA can do no wrong, but that's not true. It's not black or white, and it can be wrongly interpreted. Two scientists could interpret the same results differently."
Evidence given by Prof Jamieson casting doubt on the reliability of DNA testing was instrumental in the collapse of the Omagh bomb trial in 2007.
To illustrate his point about DNAboost, he said: "If I have profile AB and you have profile CD, our mixed cells would have a profile ABCD. However, the same profile could be produced by two people with profiles AC and BD, or AD and BC."
Anyone with profile BD, for example, who happens to live in the area, would then have to explain why he had no association with the crime scene, he added.
The FSS analyses DNA evidence from about 100,000 cases every year - about 10% of which involve mixed or poor quality samples where DNAboost could help.
Hi Viv,
Thank you for the interesting DNA post.
“The FSS analyses DNA evidence from about 100,000 cases every year - about 10% of which involve mixed or poor quality samples where DNAboost could help.”
I wonder if this DNA boost would help in the analysis of the DNA samples found in the tyre well of the McCanns hired car?
This seems to gauge the mood in Portugal at the moment and I can't really brame them.
Madeleine Case: New campaign launched by McCanns
"Of the big campaign about Maddie’s disappearance that was launched by the McCanns in the area of Luz, Lagos, there was little left, yesterday afternoon, apart from half a dozen posters that had been affixed on bus stops and outdoors. The local population has torn off and shredded the rest of them, throwing them into the garbage."
source: Correio da Manhã, 26.03.2009
Good Morning all
Hi Viv
The breakthrough in DNA testing could be very worrying for the McCanns, although I thought somewhere we read that all the samples collected were subsequently destroyed by the FSS, or perhaps it was just certain samples, I can't be sure.
Hi Wizard
No you cannot blame the locals, what did the McCanns expect after the way they treated them.
I wonder if we will get comments from Clarrie, this has been a huge drain on the fund, Kate and Gerry have been deeply hurt by these actions etc., with the hope that the money will pour in.
Yes Di - sick bags to the ready!
GREAT NEWS GUYS IN RESPONSE TO MY BBC COMPLAINT, THEY AGREE, THEY SHOULD NOT BE ENDORSING A PRIVATE INVESTIGATION AND THAT PARAGRAPH HAS BEEN REMOVED!! TO ANY OTHERS WHO SUPPORTED MY COMPLAINT BY MAKING SIMILAR THANK YOU!!
Thanks for your e-mail. There's no doubt that there is a huge amount of
public interest in this story, and while many people may share your
views, others do not. We are often criticised for not following up on
stories, and we feel that there are many readers who will want to know
what is happening as far as Madeleine is concerned. Whatever one's
opinion on the case, it is the story of missing child, after all.
However, I'm not sure we should be appearing to endorse a private
investigation by asking people to submit anonymous information and that
paragraph has now been removed.
Kind regards,
Ian Jolly
News website
I entirely support the people of Luz and the McCanns are reaping what they deserve with their cynical manipulation of peoples' lives:
26 March 2009
Maddie posters torn off
Madeleine Case: New campaign launched by McCanns
Of the big campaign about Maddie’s disappearance that was launched by the McCanns in the area of Luz, Lagos, there was little left, yesterday afternoon, apart from half a dozen posters that had been affixed on bus stops and outdoors. The local population has torn off and shredded the rest of them, throwing them into the garbage.
“They put up a poster on my shop window but I took it off right away”, CM was told by Luís Mamede, the owner of an optics store in Luz, who sees this campaign as “another massacre” for the people in Luz. “It’s enough!”, he said, stressing that “Luz is being hurt by a situation that is alien to it: The child’s parents are to blame but it’s the people who live and work here that have been hurt. Tourists with children are afraid of coming here. That’s unfair, because Luz has always been safe”.
Tiredness and indignation were, in fact, the emotions shown to CM by the locals. For Ana Santos, this campaign by the McCanns “is a clown circus. It’s normal that people remove the posters, because they have nothing to do with what happened and they’ve been seriously hit”. Emílio Caracol says he’s “fed up”. And he adds: “I don’t know the McCanns. I’ve had two children and I’ve guarded them, and I guard my four grandchildren as well.”
The “uselessness” of this campaign was recognised by English citizens Steven Gray and Alan Fox, who were taking a walk around Luz yesterday: “If Maddie is alive, she’s not here.” Concerning the removal of the posters, they consider that “people want to forget and the case is bad for tourism”.
source: Correio da Manhã, 26.03.2009
Wiz:
I wonder if this DNA boost would help in the analysis of the DNA samples found in the tyre well of the McCanns hired car?
I really hope so Wiz and this report seems to have direct application to the Mc case where we know that samples were poor and degraded. Whatever happened to little Maddie it is often forensics that provide the breakthrough. This sickening display in Luz perhaps demonstrates their desperation. I still feel confident the police will get a result here!
xx
Di:
The breakthrough in DNA testing could be very worrying for the McCanns, although I thought somewhere we read that all the samples collected were subsequently destroyed by the FSS, or perhaps it was just certain samples, I can't be sure.
Viv: Samples in serious cases are always retained, this is how murderers have been brought to book many years later with scientific advances, maybe this was even the hope in the Mc case. What I read happened in relation to hair samples was they did get destroyed due to the number of tests that were conducted on them trying to get a result between labs in both UK and Portugal.
Adding to the Insult, a really expressive and heartfelt post by Astro very accurately describing just how hurt and upset local people are by the McCanns latest stunt, where, as ever, they never think of anyone but themselves. The pile of victims in their wake just mounts inexorably:
Unless you actually live in the region, like Sasha has so effectively described, I find it very difficult for anyone to fully understand the situation in which the people of Luz have been living for almost two years now.
The subject is sad, yet interesting at the same time, but it really would take a very long post to fully paint the picture of what Luz has been going through, since that fateful evening of the 3rd of May 2007.
The fact that there are people who actually trace ANY sort of connection/comparison between the locals' worry about their only source of income - tourism - and respect or consideration for Madeleine, is offensive, to say the least. Are these people supposed to sacrifice the survival of their entire families, in the name of some sort of curse that befell the village, on the 3rd of May 2007? Are these people expected to lay down their lives, because it would look indecorous to try to preserve one’s salary?
These people have done EVERYTHING that they could do, without anyone even asking them to do it; they took time off work, they gave their best efforts, their money, their hearts and souls to help find Madeleine. Anyone who thinks otherwise has either been fed a lot of misinformation by certain media, or is simply cruel beyond comprehension. People walked their feet until they were sore, searching a radius of 15 kms around the village. Those who couldn't physically help, offered food and drink to those who could, and to the policemen and fire fighters who were on location, day and night. Policemen slept in cars, when they slept at all; some were offered a few hours of sleep on a sofa in the locals' homes. The people in Luz cried, prayed and worried themselves sick over a little girl that they didn’t even know, as if it was their own daughter, niece or granddaughter.
Meanwhile, all over the country, people despaired. During those first days, there was criticism of the parents, it would be false to deny it, but the general sentiment was 'we have to find the little girl before anything else'. Finding Madeleine was the only thing that was on everyone's mind, not only in Luz, but all over the Algarve - all over Portugal, really, as many of the early 'sightings' across the country attest.
I think most of you are aware that I live in Portimão, some 30 kms away from Luz. I remember the helicopters flying over our house, on their way to Luz or returning from a day of searches. I remember the posters that were put up on every shop window, every bus stop, every train station, hospital waiting room, supermarket entrance… Thankfully, we never had to endure what Luz suffered, with the invasion of journalists from all over the world, in search for yet another ‘human angle’ story, for that special scope. We didn’t have to endure their raucous parties night after night, either – but that’s another story entirely.
But even 30 kms away from Luz, the worry was palpable, omnipresent, inescapable. Madeleine was the subject of every conversation, everywhere, at all times. This may seem somewhat surreal now, with the benefit of time distancing us from those times, even a bit exaggerated. But in May 2007, it seemed there was nothing that we weren’t prepared to do, even if that implied behaving in an exaggerated manner.
It was precisely this enormous nationwide effort, this extraordinarily intense commitment of people all over the country - an effort that had never been made for 'our' (fortunately few) missing children... – that made what followed that much harder to swallow.
It’s easy to blame the shift in people’s perspective about the case, on the leaks from the PJ, that were only too happily published by the Portuguese media. It’s easy to blame the McCanns’ fall from grace on Mr Amaral and his team (a team that included British policemen and British experts), or on human nature, because the ‘populace’ was envious of the McCanns’ money, fame, good looks.
But look again, please.
You will see a very different picture.
You will see the supposedly devastated, desperate parents, jogging, playing tennis, entertaining guests, posing for photographs, jetting all over Europe. You will see them smiling at the locals when the cameras were rolling – and not even saying ‘good morning’ when the employee from the Batista supermarket delivered their shopping at their apartment. You will see the British media, under the command of the McCanns’ spokespeople, ridiculing, insulting and humiliating the very same people who cried their eyes out for Madeleine.
And when the going got tough, instead of answering the police’s questions, they left Luz without a word. They turned their backs on those who had treated them like family, who had offered everything that they had, and then more.
Some will say that nobody asked the locals to do what they did. Others will say that the McCanns owed these people nothing, that they had to think about their missing daughter, about their remaining children. The McCanns had to protect their family.
Fair enough. God knows I’d protect my family with my life, if necessary; anyone can relate to such arguments.
But there cannot be two different standards just because it suits us.
The people of Luz are protecting their families as well. They have to earn a living, they have no fund to pay their mortgage when times are tough. They have no wealthy supporters, no famous sponsors. All that they have is their arms and legs to do their work, day in and day out, and that work just happens to be, for the vast majority at least, the tourist trade.
Even if for a moment, they put aside the insult, the arrogance, the humiliation that they suffered, they’d still be left with a very basic choice: a campaign of highly dubious success – or the need to restore the shattered image of their village as a safe, family friendly holiday destination.
Finally, just a thought about the proclaimed purpose of this campaign: the McCanns announce that they want to enlist the help of the people of Luz, to jog their memories, to collect any information they may have about the little girl, and the night that she disappeared – in the belief that a member of the population of Luz could have deliberately held information back from the police.
I think in English this is called 'adding to the insult'.
I’m sorry if this offends anyone, I definitely don’t condone the shredding of posters in this case; but if I ever come across one, I’ll quietly, calmly remove it and place it in the paper recycling bin. I don’t need posters to remind me of a little missing girl that didn’t deserve the destiny that befell her.
And neither do the people of Luz.
This is London also taking comments, let the McCanns get the feedback they deserve on their latest sickening and self serving media campaign
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23667305-details/Madeleine+McCann+posters+are+ripped+off+walls+in+Algarve/article.do
(pre-moderated so use restraint)
I see that sick "Rosiepops" has appeared on this is London and seems to have learned Gerry's new word "jingoistic" that he had to read from a piece of paper before the Select Committee just to make sure he got it right. Check out the use of that word in both of these posts:
The people of PDL or Portugal as a whole are not being vilified, this is the interpretation of some who for their own reasons do not believe Madeleine was abducted.
To tear down posters of a missing child is abhorrent and I cannot think that the ordinary decent people of PDL would condone this behaviour and it cannot be because they are worried about tourism, because presumably the tourists would already be in PDL visiting in order to read the posters in the first place!
These posters being torn down were done by jingoistic vandals who have actually been posting comments on a very vicious website that hosts a whole manner of depraved theories. They openly admitted they were going to do this and also said they were going to encourage others to do so.
The Portuguese police have a lot to answer too, their conduct during this investigation and since has been reprehensible.
How can a disgraced detective, sacked from a case he should never have been on in the first place then forced to take early retirement, be allowed to make thousands of euros out of writing a book accusing her parents with absolutely no proof what so ever? The money making does not end here, he is also raking it in giving TV and radio interviews, selling his story to papers and magazines and writing for newspapers! He has been paid by a TV company to appear in a film, filmed in the very apartment and plans a second book.
He is treating this poor little girl like a cash cow to boost his retirement fund!
- Ollie, UK
and from Rosie's own sick site:
last line particularly:
"jingoistic, racist clap trap and stupid threats", pretty stark hypocrisy from one who has very consistently demonstrated such an incredibly racist attitude! Oh and this is written under a post where Rosie wishes to say Happy Mothers Day to Kate, so sincere!
Rosiepops said...
Hi Tony,
One thing is for sure, they are not concerned with Madeleine and do everything possible to aid and abet an abductor to get away with their crime!
To me it is glaringly obvious that Madeleine was abducted, I have never seen anything in her parents actions that would cause me to doubt their claim, not at the time of Madeleine's disappearance or at any time since and especially not now.
People who are guilty of such a heinous crime, do not keep reminding the world their daughter is missing and they do not hire private detectives to search for her.
Madeleine McCann is missing, abducted from her holiday bed while sleeping in Praia da Luz, Portugal, yet those blithering idiots on the 3 A's AND the more evil sinister ones including those paedophiles that post among them, would have us believe she is dead by her parents hands. The more idiotic over there just believe willy nilly because they have not got the brain power to deduce the total hypocrisy and sometimes the utter bizarreness of some of their theories, however what of the more sinister type?
What have they go to gain from having us believe that Madeleine is dead? That they can get on enjoying their daily dose of depravity on the 3 A's? They do not want Madeleine found, they get off on this and the willy nillies over there are actually helping these people to actively enjoy this.
Others well I think that quite possibly one or two of them have an utter sinister motive for wanting the further the myth that Madeleine is dead by her parents hand and that is because they have something to do with her disappearance.
They know who they are and all it is going to take is one person to tell the truth and that day is getting closer by the second.
Tick Tock...Tick Tock...Tick Tock.
That person still lives in PDL and when the truth is about to be revealed nothing he or anyone else can do will stop it.
It will rock Portugal and destroy their tourist industry.
26 March 2009 14:48
Rosiepops said...
Meanwhile, the willy nilly no marks, check up from the neck ups, are doing everything they can to stop Madeleine being found, whether they realise it or not, this is what they are doing.
I believe that Madeleine is still alive and every day these idiots perpetrate their myths and lies 'THEY' are sentencing Madeleine to further traumas and despair of being separated from her family.
A little girl needs to be found, I would not want to be known as a person that prevented her recovery!
This also applies to idiots over there who spout their jingoistic racist clap trap and stupid threats.
26 March 2009 14:55
Rosie said,
“People, who are guilty of such a heinous crime, do not keep reminding the world their daughter is missing and they do not hire private detectives to search for her.”
This sentence is important as it is at the very heart of the psychology and strategy employed to execute and sell an idea of innocence and no doubt some will fall for it. Repeating the message of a stranger abduction again and again influences people, even when they say it does not. The fear for the McCanns must be if they stop repeating the message people may start to query their innocence. This ideology is at the crux of all actions we have seen thus far imo.
Well Wiz, I do not know if you have seen my earlier post, but the BBC agree with me, they should not be supporting their stategy, as you rightly point out exemplified by Rosiepops of employing private detectives and urging the public to send them anonymous emails etc. Quite clearly they are seeking to prevent any further evidence being gathered against them. It is a direct attempt to pervert the course of justice for Madeleine Beth McCann a little girl who the public including Algarvians are genuinely concerned about.
Copy email I received today from the BBC:
Thanks for your e-mail. There's no doubt that there is a huge amount of
public interest in this story, and while many people may share your
views, others do not. We are often criticised for not following up on
stories, and we feel that there are many readers who will want to know
what is happening as far as Madeleine is concerned. Whatever one's
opinion on the case, it is the story of missing child, after all.
However, I'm not sure we should be appearing to endorse a private
investigation by asking people to submit anonymous information and that
paragraph has now been removed.
Kind regards,
Ian Jolly
News website
I have just submitted a further complain to The Telegraph, and hope I am just as successful as last time!
I wish to complain about the following article concerning the McCanns:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/5055948/Vandals-target-Madeleine-McCann-posters.html
In the recent Commons Select Committee hearings about press standards, particular criticism was levelled at misleading headlines that have been used in this case.
You describe the people of Luz who have objected to posters being stuck on their windows etc and removed them as "vandals". This is inflammatory and xeonophobic.
Additionally it also comes across as being biased towards the conduct of Team McCann. A further complaint I have just made to the BBC concerning all major news outlets printing their latest press bulletin advocating the public should send anonymous information to their apparent private detectives rather than to the police has been upheld and they have removed the offending paragraph.
It does the British media no credit at all to be actively involved in supporting a couple of parents in such blatant media manipulation to villify Portuguese people who actively gave up their time to search for Madeleine whilst Kate and Gerry jogged and contacted the media etc.
It is a grave insult to suggest that two years down the line they would be withholding any relevant information to this enquiry. In any case of a missing child the parents will always be the prime suspects and there is something inherently wrong in our media supporting a couple of parents who wish to distract people from what they lawfully should be doing for Madeleine if they have any pertinent information and contacting the Police, not them or their agents. We have witnessed first hand the conduct of their agents, for example Metodo 3. Mr Marco telling us Maddie would be home by Christmas 2007 and he was on the trail of her abductors. This was positively obscene behaviour. Then we have the other one who went around bribing people to give witness statements favourable to the McCanns, Mr Jiminez now languishing in jail for trying to steal millions of pounds worth of cocaine. This is the same man who contacted Portuguese Police along with Mr Marco and Brian Kennedy claiming they had vital information which was clearly entirely bogus.
I find it surreal and frankly downright disheartening that a newspaper I have always respected should involve itself in such a criminal and sickening scheme to blatantly deceive the public and promote a racist agenda whilst doing so.
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