The McCanns' Christmas video is "more like a Christmas campaign for toys."

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Watch the new Maddie video

Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the DIC - the PJ's Department of Criminal Investigation, head of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, today accused the parents of the little British girl of "feeding the idea that the child is still alive."

"They should admit, once and for all, that the little one is dead," states Gonçalo Amaral in statements to the Portuguese daily newspaper, Correio da Manha. According to the former inspector, the video released by the McCanns, "is more like a Christmas campaign for toys and not the search for a child," deploring that "videos about the child's disappearance and those about the reason for that disappearance were not released, because that would help, and very much so, the investigation."

The call by the former inspector, requesting the disclosure of a series of videos and images as yet unknown to the public, is not likely to succeed, because still, in spite of several appeals in that direction, neither the McCanns nor the Portuguese Public Minister (MP) is showing the least willingness to to reopen the investigation.

Some videos and images from the Tapas 9's holiday have never been released, because the group has always claimed to the police that they didn't exist. For the Portuguese authorities' part, the MP still retains an important set of documents under the secrecy of justice, even if a source close to the Prosecutor's office admits that, "certain journalists have shown publicly that they have a copy of it," stressing for their attention, "that it is important that the use of these documents is done in such a way so as not to harm a possible reopening of the investigation."

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

22/12/08

The McCanns have released a new video of Maddie

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

This Saturday, Kate and Gerry MCann started off the release of a new series of video images of their daughter Madeleine, recorded in the couple's house, in December 2006, five months before her disappearance in the south of Portugal.

The video shows Madeleine sitting on the steps of the stairs of the Rothley house, flanked by the twins Sean and Amélie, whom she is encouraging to copy her actions.
The couple do not appear in the video, but it includes an appeal from them calling for Madeleine to be returned to them: "Christmas is a time for children. Please help bring our daughter back." The video ends with the message "This will be our second Christmas without our daughter. Please help us make sure we don't have a third."

The release of this new video, which the McCanns had promised for Christmas, started off tonight in Australia. Clarence Mitchell, former director of the Media Monitoring Unit and spokesperson for the family, stated that the couple "do not wish to say anything further. They feel that the video will speak for itself."

The video can be seen on the SOS Madeleine McCann web site, as well as on various news channels on TV and on their web sites. It seems rather odd that the McCanns are only now releasing this video, which is the first time the public will have heard Madeleine speaking. It also gives a much better impression of the real child who disappeared from her family's holiday apartment than any photos the McCanns chose to release as posters of their child.

So, what does the video say to Madeleine, whom her parents are telling us is still out there? Does it say, this Christmas, we are thinking of you and hope you are safe and well? No, it says, Kate and Gerry McCann are having a hard time, please help us.

This is the poster the McCanns are asking people to download and take with them if they are going abroad this Christmas.

The central image looks like it was taken quite some time before the Praia da Luz holiday and it doesn't appear to show a child with blonde hair. Rather, it shows a child with mid-brown hair. I really don't see the point of producing another poster with very old images of Madeleine, who would now be aged five years and seven months and look quite different from any of those photos, simply from the natural process of growth and development, never mind the efforts of any abductor to alter her appearance.

I guess I am being very cynical here, but that poster would surely not help to find a child who could be around two years older than shown in the central image. What is the real intention here, I ask myself. And the answer I come up with is related directly to the rather prominent Paypal button on the McCanns' Christmas page of their web site.

http://www.findmadeleine.com/2008/