"The McCanns Are Lying," Daily Express, September 24th 2007

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By David Pilditch and Martin Evans in Praia da Luz

I am told that this article appeared briefly in the online edition of the Daily Express and was then whooshed! I can't find it by searching on the Express web site, but fortunately it was saved on several blogs and other web sites, including The McCann Files

A very interesting article, especially given that there are rumours, from fairly reliable sources I should add, that Robert Murat and Gonçalo Amaral are appearing as witnesses against Jane Tanner in a Portuguese court, the accusation being, "Calumny."

"Portuguese police believe Gerry and Kate McCann are using friends to hide their role in killing Madeleine. The Daily Express can reveal that their seven holiday friends may now be named as suspects as police believe they are hiding the truth about Madeleine’s death.

The dramatic move comes as it was reported that former chief suspect Robert Murat is to be told he will not face charges over the four-year-old’s disappearance. Ruling him out of the four-month investigation will leave Kate and Gerry McCann as the sole suspects.

Last night police sources said the decision could have a devastating impact on the McCanns’ defence. In an astonishing twist, British expat Murat could be used as a key prosecution witness against the McCanns. Almost the entire police case against Murat was built on evidence from the couple’s holiday friends.

Investigators believe the McCanns "cooked up a story" that Madeleine had been kidnapped to throw them off the trail and enlisted members of their party to provide them with an alibi. They also believe the group tried to turn the focus of the investigation towards Murat.

Yesterday it was revealed that police are questioning new witnesses who cast doubts over the evidence of members of the holiday group. The McCanns and their friends told how they took turns to check on their children every 30 minutes as they ate at a tapas restaurant on May 3, the night Madeleine vanished.

But one Portuguese newspaper reported that employees at the restaurant insisted that only Dr Russell O’Brien, 36, and hospital consultant Matthew Oldfield, 37, left the dinner table that evening. Another witness has come forward to refute the testimony of a third friend Jane Tanner, 36, who told police she saw a man carrying a child rushing from the Ocean Club complex at around 9.15pm on May 3.

Yesterday it was reported in Portugal that a new witness, an unnamed Irishman, told police he was in the same spot as Miss Tanner at the same time and saw no one. He is the second independent witness to dispute her story and police sources said they viewed Miss Tanner’s evidence as "unreliable" because of inconsistencies.

Officers are concerned that she apparently changed her version of the sighting. She originally claimed she saw the suspect rushing towards the Baptista supermarket in Praia da Luz. She told police the child was wrapped in a blanket.

A second independent witness reported seeing a similar man with a child in a blanket near the town’s church heading towards the beach. The route he took matches the alleged trail of death discovered by British sniffer dogs who detected the scent of a corpse.

But Miss Tanner has now told detectives that the man was heading in a different direction – towards Murat’s home. Police regard her account as one of a series given by the McCanns and their friends to convince them that Madeleine had been kidnapped.

Officers believe former hospital anaesthetist Kate, 39, killed her daughter by accidentally giving her an overdose of sleeping pills. They are working on the theory that consultant cardiologist Gerry, also 39, helped to dispose of Madeleine’s body.

Police are awaiting results of toxicology tests carried out on bodily fluids with an 88 per cent match to Madeleine’s DNA found in the boot of a hire car the couple rented 25 days after she went missing.

Dr O’Brien, along with Mr Oldfield’s wife Rachael, 36, and another friend Dr Fiona Payne, 34, said they saw Murat near the McCanns’ apartment on May 3 and their claim appeared to shatter Murat’s alibi.

Detectives interrogated the McCanns at police headquarters in Portimao 17 days ago over the discrepancies. The couple were told separately later that day they were being named as suspects or arguidos.

Last night another member of the McCanns’ holiday party was reported to have stepped into the mystery. The move came after it was revealed that police in Portugal were focusing their investigation on a "lost seven hours" on the day Madeleine disappeared.

Now Dr Payne’s husband – medical researcher David, 41 – has claimed he saw Madeleine being put to bed when he visited the McCann flat at 7pm. Before his new testimony, police sources admitted they could not confirm the whereabouts of Kate and Madeleine after 1.29pm that day.

Kate’s movements were said to be unaccounted for until she sat down to have dinner with Gerry and their friends at around 8.40pm.

But the McCanns believe Mr Payne’s testimony will be crucial in proving their innocence. That would leave just an hour and a half in which they were supposed to have killed their daughter and disposed of her body.

But last night a source in Portugal said police were viewing alibis provided by the McCanns’ friends with suspicion. They are convinced that some or all of them may have known what happened to Madeleine and may have helped to cover up her death.

The source said police had not ruled out the possibility of naming them all as suspects – and they could face being charged as accessories.

The source said: "It has long been considered a number of people may have been involved in this unfortunate case."

In Portugal yesterday it was revealed that detectives have seized a British police manual from the McCanns. Officers believe the book could be used as a key piece of evidence in building a case against them.

A Portuguese police source said: "It is certainly not the sort of reading material you would expect a couple to take on a relaxing family holiday".

Kate McCann: the agony of the long distance mother.

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Kate McCann arriving at the police station in Portugal for questioning, September 2007

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Kate McCann and Aled Jones on Good Morning Sunday, March 2010

I realise that Kate McCann was in Portugal when the first photo was taken, and she had that healthy glow from being in the sun so much, witnessed by all that sun cream she had to wash off Cuddle Cat, but to me there is more than three years and a few thousand miles between those photos. Kate McCann looking like she's still on holiday and Kate McCann, the good mother, being interviewed on a Mothering Sunday religious programme about her Catholic faith, two and a half years later. Well, she did once say that if she looked more maternal, she might get more sympathy!

It's been a hard nearly three years, though, I imagine: all that traveling around Europe, all those interviews, all those photo-ops! Phew! She really has gone the distance!

Thanks to Nigel at The McCann Files we have a transcript of Kate McCann's latest public outing, though it was recorded before her run for Missing People last weekend.

I'm not going to comment on all of the clichéd drivel that came out of Kate's mouth, just a few of the comments that seemed particularly worth remarking on.

AJ: And what about your other children? How aware are they of what's happening?

KM: .................... But they talk about finding her, about, you know, finding Madeleine, and running away with her and coming back home and even things like when we go on holiday, they say, "Oh, what will happen if the police find Madeleine and we're not there?", you know, and we say, "Oh, don't worry," you know, "our next door neighbours will let us know."

Is Kate MCann saying that Sean and Amelie are being encouraged to believe that if their sister were to miraculously turn up, she'd suddenly appear at the house and the neighbours would just give them a call and say, "By the way, Madeleine's here."? Just like that! All casual like! Nothing to do with police and doctors checking out a child who'd been missing for nearly three years!

"..........And they're very aware but they're very positive. I mean, they'll always talk about when Madeleine comes home. Sean said to me the other week... well, Amelie said to me, "Why do you work, mummy?" and I said, "Well," you know, "I've gotta find Madeleine." and Sean said, "Yes, mummy, but when that's over; when Madeleine's home, what will you do?", you know, and you think, 'Oh, bring it on', you know."

Sorry, but I just don't believe that a five-year-old would say that! This smacks more of Kate McCann's angling for some kind of role with a missing children's charity. She's letting us know through this supposed quote from Sean, that she's working so hard and she could carry on working like this, should the Maddie case come to some kind of resolution. Ah yes, what will you be hoping to be doing Kate McCann?

AJ: So what's Madeleine like?

KM: Oh, in some ways you just want everyone to meet her because, errm... she's just an amazing little character full of personality, loads of energy, quite knowing, errm... really funny and loving and,..

What? You can predict what Maddie would be like after nearly three years, if she had been abducted? She is now, after all that time in a "hellish lair," in a "lawless village," being held by a swarthy abductor, "funny and loving."? And if by some strange chance she did turn up, you'd just want to run around introducing her to everyone? After being abducted by a stranger and being held for nearly three years, she may be rather sensitised to meeting new people! But there you go! I guess it might be a bit like showing everyone your new Gucci handbag!

"............you know her relationship with Sean and Amelie is incredible really. And thats something that still gets to me at times when I see them playing and then they start talking about Madeleine.."

What relationship? Even if they had spent a lot of time with their sister, which you, Kate, said did not happen, they were two years and three months old when their sister disappeared. They're five years old now and if they have any memory of their sister, it must be so vague by now as to appear unreal. Yet, here you are talking about "relationship," in the present tense. I think this is a construct of your mind, Kate McCann, embellished by your stories about Maddie, firing the flames of a relationship that never existed. Your children have a fantasy relationship with a sister they never knew and cannot ever know, because we all know that there will be no need for the next door neighbour to make that call.

You don't seem to know very much about classical music, Kate McCann:

KM: ........since Madeleine was taken from us I actually struggled quite a lot to listen to music and I'd... I'd actually put classical music on rather than anything remotely, I guess, happy, you know,...

There's no happy classical music? What were you listening to?

AJ: Do you find that your prayers have changed over the years?

KM: ............But I pray for the people who have taken Madeleine, the people who know whats happened to Madeleine and the people around... related to the person who's taken Madeleine.

So, Kate McCann, you and your husband believe that your daughter was taken by a paedophile and is being kept, according to your private investigator, in a "hellish lair."? In what way and in what terms might a mother in your situation pray for someone who might be abusing her daughter every day of her life?

"........I pray for the police and the investigators; people who are looking for her;..."

I thought you said the police weren't looking for your daughter?

At the beginning of the interview, Kate McCann said this:

KM: ..........You know, I think motherhood is a real gift and obviously I've got three children and it's another reminder that one of my babies isn't with me...

So, at nearly seven years old, Maddie is "one of my babies."?

But later in the interview:

KM: ..........You know, I'd... got to the stage where me and Madeleine would go for lunch together, you know, and it felt like a real girl's day out, and...

So, at nearly four years old, having lunch with Maddie was like "a girls' day out," but she's now one of your babies?

A nearly four-year-old child is not one of the girls. And if, in spite of all the evidence, or lack of it, to the contrary, she had been abducted by a swarthy paedophile, her baby days would be a long long way behind her, and she wouldn't be as funny as she once was. Neither would she be rushing excitedly to join in with the games of two siblings she hardly knew before and she would not recognise now.

Do you think she'd even recognise you, Kate McCann? You have changed over these nearly three years and that length of time would be nearly half of Maddie's lifetime.

"When she's upset, I want to be there. And I just want to bring her back into the warmth and love of our family, really."

And you think that's realistic? That if a child were abducted by strangers and held for nearly three years, she could just slip happily back into the loving arms of her family? Dream on Mrs McCann! It wouldn't happen and I expect you know that dreaming and pretending with your two remaining children is OK, because it simply ain't gonna happen, is it?

Gerry and Kate McCann: are they talking gobbledy-gook or just having trouble keeping the pretence going?

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"Gerry McCann: The biggest fear for us is that it puts Madeleine in danger...eh...I think there are many...."

Many what? Many ways in which she is in danger? Ways in which she could come to harm or has already come to harm? But let's recall who put Madeleine in danger: those who left her alone did that.

"Kate McCann: ...makes the chances of finding her much more difficult.

Sandra F: When you think about dangers, what kind of things do you think about?"

Yes, Gerry. What are those "many..."?

"Gerry McCann: It's very difficult, isn't it, in terms of eh...until you know who's taken her, you've no idea and there's been many different scenarios eh.....by which children are taken and have been held for very long periods of time, including years, and to the outward world they seem to be living a normal life. I think that with a young child in particular the chances of taking them to a new environment and them adapting is greater."

Gerry McCann is dissociating here, as usual. Instead of talking in the first person, i.e., "I," or, "we," Gerry opts for the impersonal, "you." Then he talks about "many different scenarios," but really does not touch on any dangers that he might be thinking of, and actually only describes one kind of scenario where a child who has been "taken," is out and about in the world, being seen and appearing to live a normal life. He is not answering the question about "dangers," because he is talking about a child adapting to a new environment and the message seems to be that the child is not in danger. Does he think this could apply to Madeleine, the world's most widely profiled child, with her recognisable eye defect? That she is adapting to a new environment and being seen (by whom?) to be living a normal life?

Perhaps Gerry is just trying to make sure there are many more "sightings," by encouraging the public to believe that Madeleine is to be seen out and about in the real world, just a seemingly normal child, living a seemingly normal life. So, keep looking.

The question was, "what dangers do you think about."? Madeleine might be in danger of adapting to a new environment? With paedos? In a "hellish lair."? No, you've lost me Gerry!

"Sandra F: You confess that you think some of these leads should have been better investigated, but last week the Portuguese General Attorney said that all the leads that were recently reported to the PJ after July 2008, were totally investigated and none, none were sufficiently reliable to re-open the case. Why do you think the General Public Attorney would say that if this wasn't true?"

"Gerry McCann: The first thing we have to do is look at the information, but from what we have seen so far, the same thing has been written about each individual piece of information and there is no evidence in the information that's been disclosed, but it's not acceptable to parents of a missing child for everything to be discounted. You know it doesn't matter what the information is , it's just discounted and that's not acceptable and if it's better for us as a family for the file to be opened, then that's what we'll press for."

Once again, Gerry McCann doesn't seem to have answered the question. What part of "totally investigated," does he not understand or choose to ignore before he launches into the prepared script? If the leads were "totally investigated," they have not just been discounted.

I'm not sure what Gerry means by, "the file to be opened." Does he mean the case to be re-opened? Sandra refers to there not being any sightings that were reliable enough for the case to be re-opened, not "the file." So, what is Gerry McCann talking about? Does he just not want to be quoted as saying he wants the case to be re-opened?

Video cuts to the McCanns' private investigator, Dave Edgar.

"Sandra F: Do you still think it's possible to find Madeleine alive?"

"Edgar: Of course it is. Of course it is. No body's been found. In my experience, in these cases if the child's been killed, they dump the body virtually straight away because I've seen these people don't want to be associated with the body."

What, every time, Mr Edgar? They dump the body? You worked in Northern Ireland, you must know about the "disappeared," whose bodies have never been found. When "these people," whoever they may be, don't want to be associated with a body, that's quite often why they bleedin' well bury it, or otherwise dispose of it! A body that is dumped straight away is probably a case where the perps have panicked and those are the ones where the police have the chance of finding forensic evidence. The killer will leave something of himself or herself behind, hence the thousands of children who disappear every year without trace cannot be assumed to be alive, sadly, just because a body has not been found. I am quite sure that you know this. Killers don't always give up the evidence of their crime so readily.

"Sandra F: (I can't pick up Sandra is saying at the beginning) .....From all that have been talked about.........????.....does any that touched you most? That you kept thinking about it?"

"Gerry McCann: The things that are most obvious are the sightings on the night of a child being carried, two separate things in Praia da Luz. But since then, I don't think there's been anything that I've really...there's been one or two that we've looked at twice."

"Sandra F: Can you tell me which they were?"

"Gerry McCann: Can't remember the specific eh....."

"Kate McCann: There was one, wasn't there? I think it was Amsterdam or Brussels..."

Neither of Madeleine's parents can remember the specific details of sightings they "looked at twice," and obviously just for a short time thought it might have been their daughter? If even for a few minutes or just seconds they got their hopes up, but they can't remember?

And Gerry states, "I don't think there's been anything that I'd really...." Really what? Give any credence to? So, what about all the information Gerry says has been passed to the PJ by the private investigators, that he thinks should be investigated and hasn't been? Does this mean that Gerry hasn't seen that information? If not, then how does he know it's worth investigating? If he has seen it, then he is actually saying in that unfinished sentence that it's not of any value. That's not gobbledy-gook! That just appears to be some short-term memory problem and Gerry and Kate both jumping in trying to cover it with vague references to sightings they don't remember! The leads have been "totally investigated," and by Gerry's own admission, there has been nothing he'd really...!!

I think I've answered my own question! The facade may be slipping. You've got to have a really good memory to keep lying for very long periods of time...including (nearly three!) years!

Isabel Duarte: Madeleine's life could be at risk

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Image by Himself of The McCann Gallery

Kate and Gerry McCann have been to Lisbon this week to consult their Portuguese lawyer, Isabel Duarte about the 2,000 page dossier of evidence in their daughter's disappearance, which has been released to the press. They were interviewed by Sandra Felgueiras.

Asked about the files, which contain apparently new sightings, Gerry says, "We've now got them, but as I say errr Kate and I haven't actually gone through them ourselves."

Why not? I'd be tearing those files apart looking for any image that might look like my child.

Kate McCann, asked about sightings, says, "To be honest, we don't get shown a lot of the photographs anyway. I think the police decided that there was so many photographs like that get sent to them and, you know, clips of CCTV that it's...."

I find it hard to trust people who insist on saying, "To be honest." Honest people don't need to keep saying that in my opinion.

Maybe that's partly the reason why the McCanns have not been shown the images in the dossier they now have access to. Or it could be that the sightings were checked out before being labeled "irrelevant," or even because the case is officially archived, awaiting new information. If the McCanns consider that the images of sightings since the case was archived constitute new information, they could ask the Public Prosecutor to reopen the case.

It could, of course, be that most of the sightings are as ridiculous as that of the half-naked Frenchman on a French motorway, waving a gun at a small child and no one appeared to have called in the armed response unit. Or there may be more like the people from Tayside in Scotland, who encountered a Maddie look-a-like at a camp site in France, who pleaded "help me," with her eyes, but they didn't try to help her until they got home and contacted the local police.

"The McCanns' visit to Portugal came after an Algarve court released new files on their daughter's disappearance.

The 2,000 page dossier covers dozens of possible sightings Portuguese detectives appear to have failed to follow up.

The couple, both 41, criticised the disclosure, claiming it jeopardised the search for Maddie."

The Sun 10/03/10

It seems that there have been numerous images of Maddie look-a-likes over the past two years and 10 months. Amongst them was the little Moroccan girl, snapped by an enthusiastic holiday-maker, being carried on her mother's back. Her photo went round the world. Did the McCanns think this jeapardised the search? Not so as you'd notice. Did they make a fuss about the child and her family being hounded by the world's press? If they had, I'm sure we'd have heard about it.

"Appealing for media organisations with access to the files not to publish further information on possible sightings, Gerry said: "If it was divulged it could be very bad for our private investigators."

The Sun

It could be quite bad too for any child whose privacy was invaded. But very bad for the McCanns' investigators? What? It would make them look like absolute pr@ts? The world and its dog would know that the private detectives were intent on searching out half-naked Frenchmen and visiting a camp site where a child was seen rather a long time ago, which, of course, would be while they were on their way, finally, to those "lawless villages," near Praia da Luz to carry out a massive surveillance operation on the "hellish lairs," there. Heroic stuff!

"Isabel Duarte, the McCanns' Portuguese lawyer, insisted: "Innocent lives including Madeleine's life itself could be at risk."

The Sun

Innocent lives could be at risk? Whose? Which of the named people reporting sightings have been placed at risk? None that I know of.

And those innocent lives include "Madeleine's life itself."

Let's consider who put Madeleine's life at risk. Did any of those people on any of the five continents who have reported sightings have anything to do with Maddie's being left alone on five consecutive nights in an unlocked apartment while her parents ate their tapas and downed a few bottles of wine?

In spite of being advised otherwise by the Portuguese police, the McCanns made a very significant feature of Maddie's eye defect in most of their publicity.

"Although initially reluctant, the McCanns finally informed the media of Madeleine’s unique right eye—a risky revelation. Whoever had taken the child now held a universally recognizable little girl.

Gerry understood that. But, he says, the iris “is Madeleine’s only true distinctive feature. Certainly we thought it was possible that this could potentially hurt her or”—he grimaces—“her abductor might do something to her eye.… But in terms of marketing, it was a good ploy.”

Vanity Fair January 10th 2008

So, there was Gerry acknowledging that he was willing to risk harm to his child for the sake of a "good marketing ploy."

The extent of the media circus that surrounded Maddie's disappearance, most of it incited by the McCanns themselves, was also thought by the police to have placed Maddie at risk.

"It is Gerry who is behind what he tells me is “the marketing … a high public awareness” of Madeleine. At his side while we talk is Clarence Mitchell, a voluble former government media analyst and BBC reporter, handpicked by Gerry to be the latest in a line of spokesmen. On October 17, Mitchell spoke at Coventry University. His topic: “Missing Madeleine McCann: The Perfect PR Campaign.” Except that it has been anything but perfect.

It has in fact been so counterproductive that, as winter approached, Portuguese attorney general Fernando Pinto Monteiro suggested that one way or another the McCanns were responsible for their child’s death. Specifically he said that if indeed Madeleine had been kidnapped, it was the carefully contrived publicity engineered by her parents that likely sealed her fate. “With the whole world having Madeleine’s photo,” he observed, any abductor would have been pushed to such a degree that “there’s a greater probability of the little girl being dead than alive.” Vanity Fair

Then, of course, there were the 48 questions that Kate McCann refused to answer and one that she did.

The one that she did answer?

Q. Are you aware that in not answering the questions you are jeopardising the investigation, which seeks to discover what happened to your daughter?

A. 'Yes, if that’s what the investigation thinks.'

Daily Mail

So, who placed Madeleine McCann's life at risk? The newspapers who were courted by the McCanns and who are now being harangued for publishing details of these ludicrous sightings or the parents who left her alone with two-year-old twin siblings in an unlocked apartment? The parents who created a huge publicity machine, which would have sealed her fate if she had been kidnapped? The parents whose PR spokesman created "The Perfect PR Campaign," around their daughter? Maddie's father who thought that putting her at risk was worth it for a "good marketing ploy."? Maddie's mother, who acknowledged that not answering police questions would jeopardise the investigation?

Kate and Gerry McCann, why not at least have a look at those files before you decide that they are putting anyone at risk? And why not just accept responsibility as the only people who really put your daughter's life at risk? It wasn't the Portuguese police or the British police, or the Home Office, or Gordon Brown or Gonçalo Amaral or the newspapers. Time to stop the blame game and your sue-a-lot fundraising and accept who is responsible for "the situation Madeleine finds herself in." It ain't any of those folks.

Madeleine McCann: to review or not to review - spot the differences!

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On February 21st, the Sunday Express reported that Kate and Gerry McCann had had a private meeting with David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, in the hope that if he wins the election he will give priority to the case of their daughter's disappearance and order a review of all the evidence.

The McCanns had also met with the Home Secretary:

"Last week it was disclosed that Kate and Gerry, 41-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leics, have had a private meeting with Home Secretary Alan Johnson to request a review of the evidence.

He has been notably silent on the case, seemingly preferring to sit on the fence rather than use his influence to demand a breakthrough and there are no indications he will order a review."

According to today's Daily Express a review is underway:

"Evidence in the hunt for Madeleine McCann is being reviewed by the Home Office and could lead to a fresh inquiry, it was claimed yesterday."

"According to sources close to the McCanns, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has ordered ­officials to examine the “feasibility” of British or Portuguese detectives having a fresh look at all the evidence."

Surely some mistake here. The Portuguese police are responsible for the Madeleine McCann case, though if we examine the above wording, it might appear that the order is to think about thinking about whether a review should be undertaken.

Further down this brief article in the Express, we read:

"The source said: “The latest we have heard from the Home Office is officials are undertaking a ‘scoping exercise’ to look into the possibility of a review of the case."

So, who is it, who, according to the first paragraph of the Express article, claimed that the evidence "is being reviewed."? Who did this claiming?

The Express article opens with stating that the evidence is being reviewed, sources close to the McCanns intimate that Home Office officials are thinking about it, and the Home Office?

"A Home Office spokesman said: “Leicestershire Police stand ready to co-ordinate and complete inquiries if further information comes to light in the UK.”

No mention of a review there and the Home Office acknowledges with the comment that the Madeleine McCann case is not within the jurisdiction of the UK authorities unless new evidence comes to light in the UK. So, I guess that means the Home Secretary is not about to order a review of the evidence in the case of a child who disappeared on the territory of the sovereign state of Portugal and for which the Portuguese Prosecutor, as far as I am aware, still holds responsibility and authority to review or not to review the evidence.

So, why is the title of the Express article, "MADELEINE MCCANN: A NEW LOOK AT EVIDENCE."? This and their un-credited claim about evidence being reviewed appear to be rather misleading, but then the Home Office is thinking about thinking about whether they should think about whether they can review the evidence doesn't have the same pull for the reader!

My advice to the McCanns is that they request the reopening of the case. Dr Amaral has always affirmed that the case was closed when there were many diligences that had not been completed. Instead of running from one UK official to another, the McCanns would be much better advised to approach the Portuguese Public Prosecutor with a request to reopen the case in order to clear up those leads which they say have not been investigated and also to carry out those diligences referred to by Dr Amaral.

"Mrs MacDonald, yer husband's been murrrdurrred!!"

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Detective Taggart, fictional character, who worked out of Maryhill police station in Glasgow, with a taciturn nature and straight-talking, no nonsense, no pussy-footing way of getting right to the point. I know he definitely did end one episode with that wondefully enigmatic, "Sometimes Ah wunder," because I watched it. However, the "quote," in the title of this post comes fom a Scottish comedian, whose name I don't recall, doing a Taggart take-off, in which he describes Mrs MacDonald's opening the door to sour-puss Detective Taggart who has come to deliver news of her missing husband. "Mrs MacDonald yer husband's been murrrdurrred," which causes the good lady to collapse!

I used to imagine that if I won the lottery, I would work to the end of the school term, but I have realised that would definitely not be a good idea! If I went to work the day after the news, I would be lucky to last an hour before I was escorted out of the place. When the girl with the skirt just barely covering her bum and the exotic spelling of her first name started making loud raspberry noises in class, would I give her, "..the opportunity to change your behaviour," or would I become even more taciturn than Taggart? "Shut up you stupid f*****g chav." Best not to go there!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if our journalists became at least a little more straight-talking! If every popular newspaper did it on the same day, Carter Ruck, acting for Kate and Gerry McCann, would find shutting them all up was like trying to herd cats.

Madeleine McCann, missing for nearly three years, still makes it into our newspapers nearly every day. After an outbreak following the Lisbon court case in February, that was the media equivalent of an attack of invasive aspergillosis, we had Kate and Gerry in full flow about all those leads that hadn't been followed up by those incompetent Portuguese police, only for them now to become quite miffed because the files have been made public and the result is that some of these so-called "credible," leads are looking more than slightly ridiculous.

Is there a Taggart in the house, who could re-word some of our newspaper reports and perhaps even a television schedule or two.

"Aled Jones welcomes Kate McCann, who will talk about how she has gained comfort from her Catholic faith," could become, "Serial child-neglector invited onto Christian radio show on Mothering Sunday because listener numbers have panned and we've got to do something."

A Taggart-type look at a few recent newspaper stories.

The Sunday Mirror 7/03/10

"Jane Blakie: I saw Madeleine McCann...but they ignored me."

Well, Jane, you're getting your delayed moment of fame now!

"Jane Blakie claimed a child who was the "spitting image" of the missing youngster had stared straight at her, adding the youngster had seemed to be saying: "Help me" with her eyes. The girl was said to be with a couple "strikingly similar" to an artist's impression of a man and woman seen with a Madeleine lookalike in Amsterdam."

"British police sent Mrs Blakie's report to their Portuguese counterparts, but no action was taken. Mrs Blakie saw the child in July 2008 - 14 months after Madeleine vanished - at a campsite in Alsace, eastern France.

She told police: "The girl just stood staring at me. The look in her eyes conveyed a feeling of 'Help me'."

"So, Mrs Blakie," says my imaginary Taggart, who doesn't subscribe to the use of the more modern "Ms," form of address, "you saw the world's most publicised missing wean and you waited until you got home to tell your local poliss about this emergency? I think they might have scarpered bay noo, Mrs Blakie, if it wiz hur in the furst place."

Today Ms Blakie, your time has come to shine! ("...like an effin' great big pluke on ma chin," says Taggart!)

"A BRIT who reported seeing Madeleine McCann at a campsite in France was IGNORED by Portuguese cops searching for the missing girl.

Tourist Jane Blakie said she was stared at by a girl who was "the spitting image" of Maddie.

She added: "The look in the girl's eyes conveyed a feeling of 'Help me'."

Mrs Blakie's son backed up her account." The Sun 8/03/10

Taggart: "Mrs Blakie was probably IGNORED because she wiznae making much sense. The stupid scunner ae a dozy moo shoulda ca'd the French poliss aboot this wee wean. An' that poor wee wean wiz probably beggin' fur help cos there wiz this weird wumman starin' it hur."

The Irish Independent adds this to the regurgitated story:

"British police described her as a "credible witness".

Taggart: "Must be Sassenach poliss, then".

The Daily Mirror does a very brief synopsis of the rather stale tale and adds this detail:

"Ms Blakie and her son Alexander both gave statements to Tayside police on their return to the UK."

Sources close to Detective Taggart comment that the police officer will seek legal advice in an effort to clear the good name of this Scottish police force. Detective Taggart is quoted as saying, "We wiz infulltrat'd bay poliss fae Lesta. We widda' arrestit the silly wumman fur wastin' poliss time."

Oh wouldn't it be wonderful to see our newspapers printing this kind of illustrative comment from Himself at Good Quality Wristbands

(Father Ted image above also from "Good Quality Wristbands.")

Like that fictional Scottish detective, Taggart, sometimes I wonder!

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Above: Kate and Gerry McCann on Madeleine's fourth birthday, May 12th 2007

That fictional Scottish detective, Taggart, is well known for his taciturn remarks. At the end of an episode, when the most horrendous murders had been committed and investigated, Taggart ended the show with these words, "Sometimes Ah wunder." Me too! Today, I am left wondering if those at BBC Radio 2 who make decisions about invited guests have gone totally bananas or if they are just planning with a view to pulling in a good audience.

Aled Jones talks to Kate McCann on Mothering Sunday. Kate McCann and "mothering." Those words belong together like Gary Glitter and child protection.

"On Mothering Sunday, Aled says Good Morning Sunday to Kate McCann, mother of missing child Madeleine McCann, who has found comfort from her Roman Catholic faith since her daughter's disappearance."

Her Catholic faith? Well, I guess it does say, "since her daughter's disappearance." Kate McCann's own mother, Susan Healy, seemed to be wondering about Kate's suddenly finding her faith when Maddie disappeared.

Susan Healy: 'Kate phoned me, errm… about an hour after Gerry and asked me to get in touch with, errm… Paul Seddon, who is the priest, Father Seddon, who married her, who baptised Madeleine, errm… and I didn't have his mobile phone so I rang a friend of Kate's and got… got him and he rang Kate right away and I think as soon as this happened, as soon as Kate realised what had happened, it was as if, errm.. she started to ask God right away to give her Madeleine. Errm… because Kate and Gerry were not the most devout family. We do have Catholic faith, errm… it's… it's the religion that we were brought up in, but I would never describe myself as a devout person. We're just ordinary people, errm… but Kate certainly has… has clung to her religion, errm.. since this happened. Possibly she feels that, you know, it has to be a greater thing that helps us to get Madeleine back. Errm… something with more power than… than we have.'

(Interview for Spanish TV Channel, Antena3, broadcast on 22nd October 2007 - Joana Morais)

Putting aside when Kate McCann found her faith, because tragedy will often bring people to rely on, as Susan Healy says, "....something with more power than… than we have," how on earth can the BBC or Aled Jones bring themselves to have Kate McCann talking about being a mother on Mothering Sunday? A woman, who by her own admission, left three small children alone for five nights in a row, in an unlocked apartment, in a foreign country. Yes, I wonder.

Kate McCann has never actually accepted that she was wrong to leave the children alone. The most she has managed is that she wished she had been there at the moment Madeleine was taken. Crass? Stoooopid? At the moment Madeleine was taken? Would Kate have insisted that the abdcutor wrapped Madeleine warmly against the cold? Errr, where are you taking that child? Just trying out your abduction skills? Well, make sure she's warm! Is Kate McCann two sandwiches short of a picnic or does she think the rest of us came up the Clyde on a banana boat? Go back to sleep Sean and Amelie while mummy waves to the nice abductor, who is going to treat Madeleine like a princess.

One of the most heartless things I have heard Kate McCann come out with must be her reaction to Maddie's asking her why she didn't come when she and Sean were crying.

"It was just a passing remark," Kate McCann said.

"If what happened hadn't happened, that comment wouldn't have passed through my head again."

If a child I was responsible for said that to me, I would be absolutely distraught at the thought of a small child crying and my not hearing them and responding. Yet, to Kate McCann it was a "passing remark," and it would never have passed through her head again. What kind of mother is that?

This just beggar's belief. A serial child neglector, who went on holiday with three children, and who through her own actions came home with two, is to be featured on a Christian programme on Mothering Sunday talking about the comfort her Catholic faith has brought her. Pity she didn't see fit to be there to comfort her daughter when she cried or to be there to keep her children safe in that apartment in Praia da Luz.

Yes, sometimes I wonder!

Kate and Gerry McCann criticise release of police files about Maddie sightings.

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There are no names credited with the latest update on the Find Madeleine official web site. So, I assume that someone other than Kate or Gerry McCann has penned it. The spelling and grammar is a bit of a giveaway too: it seems quite correct on this occasion.

After telling us how shocked and upset they were about the files containing "gold dust," leads being kept secret, Kate and Gerry now sound like they're going into suing mode over those very files being released to the press.

"Statement March 5th 2010"

"Events this week have yet again been incomprehensible and particularly upsetting."

Well, tell me, what do you mean by, "yet again."? What other events didn't you understand? I guess there was the dogs who found traces of blood and cadaver odour in your holiday apartment, on some of Kate's clothes, in your hired car and on Maddie's toy, Cuddlecat. You didn't understand how those traces got there, but at the same time as explaining how it could have come about, e.g., Kate handled 6 dead bodies just before going on holiday, and you carried rotting meat and filthy nappies in the hired car, you sought to convince us that the dogs were unreliable. I'm not sure that I understand that: Eddie dog did find cadaver odour but he's unreliable? What? Run that past me again.

What I find incomprehensible is how two doctors could leave three small children alone in an unlocked holiday apartment in a foreign country and reckon that checking them every half hour was adequate. Surely doctors would have some kind of notion about how quickly a child could choke, get out of bed and have any one of dozens of possible accidents in a domestic setting, wander out of an unlocked apartment?

"On Tuesday, the Public Prosecutor in Portugal released a large number of documents (relating to the investigation to find our daughter Madeleine) to the British Media, following their request for access. Disclosing such information publicly greatly jeopardises the search for Madeleine and puts witnesses and innocent members of the general public at risk (as well as causing them great anxiety). Release and publication of information in this manner also potentially compromises future investigations. It is difficult to see how anyone benefits from this week's actions."

How does the release of these files jeopardise the search for Madeleine? By giving a possibile abductor advance notice? How about those private defectives of yours then? They gave out details about the Victoria Beckhan looky-likey before they had checked out the details. They also alerted all those criminals in the "lawless villages," keepers of those "hellish lairs," that they were onto them.

This BBC video from August 6th 2008 shows a small child at a service station in the Algarve.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7544479.stm

The presenter states that Kate and Gerry McCann only learned about this after the case was made public. No complaints about those images, then, but I guess that's because Kate and Gerry released them! I'm rather confused about this too, though. Were there sightings at two separate service stations soon after Maddie disappeared? The presenter on the video states that the child resembling Madeleine was seen "just hours after," she disappeared, but Kate and Gerry didn't know about it? Perhaps it's a different service station from that mentioned in Chapter 3 of Gonçalo Amaral's book, "The Truth of the Lie."

"FIRST EYE WITNESS STATEMENTS; KATE HEALY'S SURPRISING REACTION

Madeleine's parents are already back in Vila da Luz when we receive photos taken in a service area of the motorway: you can make out the figure of a little girl, who looks like Madeleine, accompanied by a couple. These images come from a CCTV camera on the motorway linking Lagos to the Spanish border. The McCanns are asked to come to Portimão in order to proceed to an identification. It's the end of the day. Kate Healy seems annoyed at coming back and made uncomfortable by the speed of the police car taking her. We are somewhat astonished by her reaction, as if she was not expecting to get her daughter back. The identification turns out negative."

I guess there might have been lots of little blonde girls running around in service stations in the Algarve at that time. Or perhaps if this service station mentioned on the BBC video was indeed another service station, the Portuguese police assumed from Kate McCann's lack of enthusiasm for service station number one, that she'd rather stay home in the apartment, busy not searching for her daughter.

I fail to see how disclosing the information about the sightings could put "innocent members of the public," at risk. At risk of what? Snatching a small blonde child in a market in Outer Mongolia or a shop in Shepherds Bush and being prosecuted for attempted abduction? I think the McCanns' own actions have encouraged the snatching of children with the amazing range of photos of Maddie they released as well as the various and varied age-advanced images and their constant international appeals, some of which featured Maddie at age three, some time before the Praia da Luz holiday, thus leaving blonde and dark-haired children from age 3 to around age 12 vulnerable to being spotted as Madeleine McCann.

"It is difficult to see how anyone benefits from this week's actions."

Well, the McCanns would benefit, I reckon, from the fact that millions of tabloid readers will be convinced that a) Maddie really could be out there somewhere, and b) her parents are actually looking for her, rather than paying private detectives a loada dosh to stalk very ill paedophiles and issue yet more sketches to add to the wild assortment of suspects.

"We also urge each individual working for the media to consider their own personal responsibility - to put commercial interests aside occasionally and to bear in mind the potential consequences of their actions, especially when people's lives and well-being are at risk."

People's lives and well-being are at risk? Robert Murat Robert Murat certainly knows about that.

"His life has been “shattered”. He wanted to help, he alleges, but ended up as an arguido. Now he tries to find a direction. But that night in 2007 continues to persecute him."

So, let's talk about "personal responsibility," and the need to "bear in mind the potential consequences," of actions. Interviewed by Vanity Fair, Gerry was asked about Maddie's distinctive eye feature, a coloboma.

"Although initially reluctant, the McCanns finally informed the media of Madeleine’s unique right eye—a risky revelation. Whoever had taken the child now held a universally recognizable little girl.

Gerry understood that. But, he says, the iris “is Madeleine’s only true distinctive feature. Certainly we thought it was possible that this could potentially hurt her or”—he grimaces—“her abductor might do something to her eye.… But in terms of marketing, it was a good ploy.”

So, Gerry did actually consider the consequences of that action, but went ahead anyway, because it was a good marekting ploy? Pot, kettle, black comes to mind.

"Our own investigators have acted professionally and with complete integrity."

How I wish Blogger had one of those rolling around the floor laughing thingies! Which private investigators are the McCanns referring to?

Metodo 3 who knew who had abducted Maddie, where she was being held, and they were going to have her home by Christmas? Metodo 3 who released images of a small blonde Moroccan child being carried by her mother? Metodo 3 whose lead investigator was charged with theft of cocaine?

Or could it be Oakley International whose boss man is currently on remand charged with fraud and money laundering?

Maybe it's the current pair of duds, sitting in their office in Knutsford, Cheshire, giving out details about a Victoria Beckham look-a-like in Barcelona before they had checked out the details? Edgar and Cowley who mounted a massive surveillance operation, following a cleaner, a teacher and his wife, and found them very suspicious because they found a rag doll, a child's drawing and discovered the teacher shopping for children's clothes? Perhaps the McCanns should consider the consequences of releasing photos of these three people as well as images of the house where the teacher lives?

And finally, while the McCanns are expressing concern about the affects on the search for Maddie brought about by the release of these files, I note the absence of any concern for the children whose images have been plastered all over the media. The New Zealand police have asked for all images of the little girl in the Dunedin shop to be removed, but what about the Canadian child? Shouldn't the McCanns be concerned about her?

I would suggest that what they are actually concerned about is their own image. After reading the McCanns' complaints about the "secret files," which they considered to be, "gold dust," the public can now see how ridiculous many of these reported sightings are: the half-naked Frenchman, holding a gun to a child's head on a French motorway; the two women (the cleaner and the teacher's wife) seen with a gaunt-looking child wearing a black wig etc etc.

The Madeleine McCann case must be reopened if the McCanns want all these leads to be investigated. They must also bear in mind the consequences of their own actions and go back and take part in an official reconstruction of the events surrounding their daughter's disappearance. Kate McCann was aware that not answering those 48 questions could hinder the investigation. She can now do the right thing and go back and answer them when the investigation is reopened.

Maddie is in New Zealand, she's in the US, she's in Morocco, she's in Italy, she's gone with the raggle-taggle gypsies oh!

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Image from The McCann Gallery

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The new file just released by the Portuguese police, containing details of sightings of Maddie that have been reported since the case was archived, is "gold dust," according to Clarence Mitchell. Well, I should say it is! So soon after the hearings in Lisbon, when on day 1 (January 12th) we heard that:

"A report signed by Chief Inspector Tavares De Almeida said that Madeleine died in the flat in Praia da Luz, the witness adds." (Jose Magalhaes e Menezes, the attorney who was in charge of the original inqury into Madeleine's disappearance.)

Snr Tavares de Almeida , called as a witness spoke about the findings of the English sniffer dogs:

"The dogs detected the traces inside the dining room of the holiday flat and in the car the McCanns were using. "

"The animals also found a scent on a piece of cloth in a flat rented by the McCanns after they left the apartment where Madeleine vanished."

On day 2 of the process, January 13th, Moita Flores, former senior policeman and noted public figure, stated that....

"I have spoken to respected experts on crime and none of them agrees it would be possible to pass a child through the window." (Twitter - @ jondipaolo)

.......which was followed by a comment from Kate McCann on the Find Madeleine web site...

"The window which is a ground floor window was completely open and is large enough for a person to easily climb through it. Whether it had been opened for this purpose remains unknown. It could of course have been opened by the perpetrator when inside the apartment as a potential escape route or left open as a 'red herring'"

So, there you go! An explanation! The abductor left the window open as a 'red herring.' Oh yea! And those dogs who are so unreliable found cadaver scent because Kate McCann had been in contact with 6 dead bodies in the week before she went on holiday! Yea right!

So, yes, this new file really is "gold dust." Just when the UK reading public is gaining access to information they probably hadn't heard of before, the McCanns get their hands on a whole fat file of sightings which were apparently never followed up. Woopee doopee!! Yeee haaaa!!! They'd love for the police to be kept busy for a few more years ruling out sightings around the globe! Just what the doctors ordered!

So, what do we have? The Sun provides a few examples of these sightings from the file that has been kept secret. There was the sighting at a warehouse store in New Zealand. (CCTV image removed to protect the privacy of the child who is not Maddie)

"Two of the CCTV images were taken in New Zealand on December 5, 2007, and forwarded to Portuguese police by Interpol.

In one photo a little blonde girl peeps out from under her fringe as she is led into a shop by a portly man wearing shorts.

In the other the girl is seen leaving the shop with the man and a little boy.

She has the same hairstyle as Maddie when she went missing on May 3 that year from a holiday apartment in Portugal aged three.

A female security guard saw the girl at a store in Dunedin, New Zealand, and thought she could be Maddie.

The girl and the man had British accents. When the guard approached the girl and asked her name, the child replied "Hailey".

Interviewed this week, the shop assistant who spotted the child in December 2007, said she was still convinced that it was Maddie.(Sky News)

"Shop assistant Taryn Dryfhout, who reported the possible sighting, said she "absolutely believes" it was Madeleine."

"She had an English accent and told me her name was Hayley.

"She was quite apprehensive to talk to me and stammered over her words when she was trying to think of her name."

So, according to Ms Dryfhout, the child was not just apprehensive about talking to a stranger, she was "..trying to think of her name," obviously having been coached by the man who was holding her hand, who was daft enough to be taking the world's most recognisable child shopping! Yea right!

And in France:

"A little girl who looked like Maddie was seen with a shirtless man near a toll on the A20 motorway in France on August 30, 2008.

French lorry driver Michel Guidard said the girl was wearing a dirty yellow jumper but was naked from the waist down."

He stopped and approached - but the man pulled out a handgun and threatened him."

There is a wonderful image on The Sun's web site, of a swarthy man (why are all these abductors swarthy?) whose right elbow looks seriously deformed, pointing a gun at the figure of a person who looks like a 25 year-old dwarf.

In Portugal, on the night Maddie disappeared:

"A British man called George reported seeing a small blonde, distressed girl being dragged along the road to Faro airport, Portugal, on the night she went missing.

That is 60 miles away from the resort of Praia da Luz where Maddie and her family were staying."

No time details are given, but the image on The Sun's web site appears to show a scene in broad daylight, with another swarthy man, who looks like he's wearing a 'C' cup bra, trying to control another 25 year-old dwarf, who is also well endowed in the chest area!

Are we to accept this as a credible sighting? The lone prowler who abducted Maddie, somehow traveled 60 miles from Praia da Luz, but at some point lost his means of transport and ended up dragging Maddie along the road to the airport? We are not told whether they actually arrived there!

Next stop Spain!

"A girl described as "a little elf" - in a pyjama top like the one Maddie had on when she was taken - was spotted being "summoned" from a shop near Murcia, Spain, by an "unkempt" man 12 days later."

Twelve days after she disappeared, Maddie was still wearing the pyjama top she had disappeared in? I guess she would have been pretty "unkempt," too by then if Mr Thicko Abductor had not even thought to change her out of that pyjama top! This man in the third image on The Sun's web site also looks swarthy by the way. And the "little elf," would have done Kate McCann proud: she looks like she's giving Mr Swarthy abductor her "tuppence worth." !!

And so, it goes on:

"In June 2008 in Sorrento, Italy, a British holidaymaker said he saw a girl like Maddie in the window of a building with a bricked-up door."

Obviously, Italy has its own "hellish lairs."

"A report from Spokane, Washington State, USA, said a girl like Maddie was seen on October 9, 2008, with a Portuguese man."

I bet that Portuguese man was swarthy!

And of course, we have the raggle-taggle gypsies! If all else fails, blame those gypsies! They've probably got Maddie selling clothes pegs!

"In July 2008, a Scottish mum reported seeing a blonde girl who looked like Madeleine in Albufeira, Portugal, with a group of gipsies."

The McCanns themselves? Well, according the The Sun:

"The McCanns believe Maddie could have been whisked away to Morocco by child traffickers within hours of her being taken."

But she hasn't come to any harm, you understand! These child traffickers are taking good care of Maddie, as of course, child traffickers do!

The last word in The Sun article goes to Clarence Mitchell:

"Spokesman Clarence Mitchell added: "They're incredibly frustrated this file was sitting there being disregarded by the Portuguese police.

"They were shocked when they saw the scale of the information and the lack of action taken."

"There are potential leads in the file that are now being followed up by our own investigators."

So, Clarence, have the intrepid duo, Edgar and Cowley, given up on those "hellish lairs," in the, "lawless villages," within a 10 mile radius of Praia da Luz, where they were convinced that Maddie was being held? And, emmm, did they ever manage to get there to have a look? Do, let us know, Clarence, how those investigators get on working, as usual, from the buzzing base of their investigations in Knutsford, Cheshire. Will they be dashing off to some of those far flung places like New Zealand and the US?

The private investigators are the only ones looking for Maddie? You mean like Metodo 3, who were going to have her home by Christmas? 2008 was it? Or how about Oakley International? Any news of their director's prosecution for fraud and money laundering? The only ones looking! Yea right!