McCann photo Update

Minutes after completing the previous post, the BBC TV news and Guardian led on a possible photograph being found in Morocco. The photos are not clear but it seems to show a fair haired girl. Coincidence? Or genuine breakthrough?

UPDATE WEDNESDAY

There is something not right about the photo. Seems too clear of child but not of others. Photoshop experts may be able to confirm/dismiss this. Why is a (now) 4 yr old girl being carried?

Why is this being released now, just after supposed Morocco sightings in May? Clarence Mitchell is quick to say he won't comment on these matters but he is there for a purpose: Brian Clough used to say that defence was the best form of attack. For Mitchell, attack is the best form of defence.

Kate McCann and the Muslims

More misleading headlines. I admit mine may sound like a new folk/pop indie group, but the DM is a past master at this fine art.
The daily mail has, like most of the terrible tabloids, been obsessed with the McCann story. They have had several (sometimes contradictory) stories each day. They know tht it sells papers and have tried to cover all bases in the are they guilty/innocent/suspects saga. Today's story plumbs new depths even allowing for the paper's (not so) hidden agenda.

'Stop the car, there's Madeleine': Witness sees her dragged by Muslim woman

Bingo! Buy one get one free! As well as the deluge of immigration/race/Islam scaremongering, we now have these gutter journos linking unrelated topics to the general hatred.

• A Spanish mother told today how she is convinced she saw Madeleine McCann being dragged across a street in Morocco.
  The potential witness believes she spotted the missing girl with a woman in a headscarf crossing a road in the northern town of Zaio in May.

Note the date of the alleged sighting. This will become relevant when considering the comments of the faithful DM cadre. The woman had a headscarf. Ipso fact she is a Muslim. This could well be the case but again the Mail is quick to let its disciples read between the lines. It could also be argued that merely seeing a child dragged across the road is not tantamount to abduction. Remember the 100% sighting in Belgium? Have you ever seen a child cting distressed state when with parents. If only all children behaved properly when out. The Spanish woman may have legitimate concerns so let us proceed.

• She said she told her husband to stop the car. "I shouted 'Stop! It's Madeleine, the missing girl.' But by the time we pulled over and ran back to where she had crossed, they had both vanished."

The reported conversation seems a bit contrived. Rather like the dialogue in the Daily Mirror's Scorer cartoon ("I must get on the end of this cross because our result last week left us in 5th place"), it does not seem right. Maybe it was lost in translation and I am being too picky. I notice that the much-denied 'they've taken her!' cry of Kate McCann has now resurfaced. The relevant part is in the second sentence. They did not have the opportunity to photograph, question, or contact the Daily Mail. I know this crossed my mind with the Belgian sighting as most people have camera phones these days and it is relatively easy to get some evidence - we're all photo-journalists or detectives now (see the increased use of viewers footage on 24 hours news channels). However, if the DM commenters had actually read the story they would not have made such moronic claims. Nobody knows what they would do in a given situation, though plenty of people seem to think they would be heroes if they thought someone was drowning in a lake.

I wonder if there is a price to be paid for such a high profile campaign. I'm not criticising the couple for that alone, but there may be drawbacks. If everyone is looking for a blonde girl of her description, isn't there a risk of inadvertently producing these false sightings. I have heard somewhere there is a psychological phenonemen whereby thinking intently about a person recently lost (e.g. dead relative or even estranged partner) can result in false apparitions. I'm not sure of the name of this but maybe someone out there does.

• "The girl was wearing a skirt and short-sleeved top, with hat on and her hair tied up. A gust of wind blew up the hat and I saw that it was Madeleine McCann."

If her hair was tied up how could she be certain it was Madeleine? Unless you were close and could see the tell-tale eye, how can you be 100%. I hope if she is my phone-a-friend on Millionaire she is not in the habit iof making hyperbolic claims. That is why I don't speak to my previous phone-a-friend in Belgium.

Without getting into OJ Simpson territory....if I did it.....I'd dye the child's hair, cut it and give her sunglasses.

• She added [that the Portuguese police] told her they believed Madeleine was already dead.

I've no idea about the veracity of this claim. So much has been said about the PJ which has ranged from the sneering to the outright racist. There are aspects of the investigation that seem strange to an outsider and maybe criticism can be levelled at the apparent leaks. Maybe the same can be levelled at the McCann camp. If true, it is insensitive to say the least. It is unlikely that she spoke to anyone at a high level. It does not make clear when she spoke to the police in Portugal, but it is only recently that the PJ have said that they thought the child may be dead.

• Her revelations are certain to be studied by the McCanns' legal team, and private-investigators who they have engaged.

I still cannot understand the need for high profile legal team at this stage. Putting aside the funding situation, they have not been charged with anything. If they had been then one could understand it more, but this is not a red herring because it stinks too much.

The DM have, as I have said, kept their options open. They have printed fawning pro-McCann gush but also (occasionally) pieces wondering about the case. They let their headlines tell the story.

When I was at Uni, there was the old trick plyed on the smartarses by lecturers. The written test where the top of the page has the rubric: read all questions before starting writing. Most would plough on and answer complex posers before arriving at Question 20 which said, "Do not write answers to the questions until Lecturer X performs a handstand" or similar.

(Can I just say that I didn't fall for it because I like to read the small print - a lawyer in the making one day!)

But I digress.........................

This particular story is intersting in DM terms as it does not attract one-side comments. There are two distinct camps.

And now for the unthinking comments:

• If these people think it's Madaleine why don't they do something about it?- John Salkeld, Sheffield, England read the words John, don't just hum the tune.
• Do the people who reported these sightings not carry a mobile phone that can take pictures for crying out loud?- Lawrence, London because it is compulsory to have one.
• It is apparent that the Portuguese police, with little or no training in true law enforcement, decided that the McCanns did it, regardless of the lack of evidence and testimony. From day two, the Portuguese police were not interested in investigative work. Probably because they have never had the background, education or training that US and UK police go through. Britain is a thriving democracy, with strong democratic traditions. - Marlene, Alexandria, VA we will never take lectures from the US about democracy. I think Kate in Exeter has your number................
• Indeed Marlene, Alexandria, VA. Thank goodness all crime in Britain and the States is solved within minutes of it happening...- Kate, Exeter [chuckle]
• Why the hell do all these people not take photos? And why does it take them almost 5 months to tell the police? Why do they not just shout Madeleine's name and see if she turns around?- Sophie, Cornwall
• If all the people that say they have spotted Madeleine, would have tailed the people, that have the little girl, then gone straight to the police with a address where she is held, this case would have been solved months ago. Don't just think ACT ON YOUR HUNCH. As Charles Laughton did in the film version of Hugo's novel. Think how the parents must feel with all these sightings.- Steve R, Manchester England
• It is sad but true, anyone who dare say they have seen Madeleine or are acquainted with the McCann's no matter how vague that acquaintance is, are immediately accused of being associated with her abduction.It is therefore of little wonder the witnesses are wary of coming forward.- Kerrie St John, USA Name one person sighting Madeleine who is a suspect? You win my monthly award for thickest American.
• The false Belgium sighting should serve as caution - many eye-witness reports are unreliable. What is apparent however is the quite blatantly racist attitude of many commentators (example: Marlene of Alexandria, VA) towards the Portugese police, now culminating in an attack on their education and society as a whole. Ridiculous.- David, London, England Well done David, but be ready for the flak from Derek below. I think he mistakes you with John.
• John, London - You have not been to Morocco recently, there are very few blond children to be seen now the European tourists with children have gone home.- Derek Small, Tangier, Maroc Small by name...........May, Derek, May!
• So get the expert team over to Morocco then and lets end this soon for Madeleine's sake! All that matters is finding this child -and for Pete's sake anyone who believes they have sighted her must NOT call her name or photograph her -they will be placing her in further danger if her captors realise they have been spotted. Stop reporting on sightings and let the specialist team get on with bringing her home safely. She only stands a chance of being returned home if the spotlight is removed for a while so her captors can feel safer and relax more allowing more definitive sightings.- Dawn, England This is very sensible actually. It i possible to do more harm than good in such situations. I would even question the publicising of these sightings. I also question why the McCanns don't go to scenes of sightings. Do they know something?
• Please God, let Maddy be in Morocco, alive and well, and waiting to be returned home to her loving family.- Sara, Leicester Lovingly to be left alone while we go to the Tapas Bar.
• How did this woman know that the other was Muslim? Can you tell a Muslim just by looking at them? Smells fishy...- Carys Mathews, Chester, UK Not only from these here parts but a great point and uses my fish motif! I like Catatonia but that was Cerys!
• At least twice in the past couple of months I've seen a girl that is the spitting image of my daughter. At one time I was behind in the street and was going to ask the girl I thought was my daughter what she was doing as I knew she should be elsewhere. This proves we all have doubles sometimes more than one including poor Madeleine.- Pen, Durham Another spooky point as I'd written my bit about this before seeing his comment. We all have doppelgaenger. Mine is the guy that gets drunk sometimes and talks bollocks whilst I am doing my aerobics classes.
• Do you really think that if she has been abducted that her kidnappers are going to parade her in public view? For a start if they did they would probably cut her hair dye it change her appearance. How many times have people said they're 100% sure they have seen her and it turns out not to be true?- Natasha, Stafford, England Again, I didn't copy Natasha's idea but it's nice to know there is a part of me in the Potteries.

DO NOT READ ANY OF THE ABOVE UNLESS THERE IS NOTHING STOPPING YOU

Double Standards at The Daily Mail

I've been working for some time on a blog post about the McCann story. I keep updating it as the changes occur and hopefully it will be ready soon. In the meantime, I was intrigued by this gushing piece of journalism from author, Allison Pearson in Britain's greatest birdcage floor covering. She has also written for the Independent so this is not so much a dig at the DM as a poke at crap writing.

Whilst some of the press are carefully realigning themselves in case the good doctors are not as innocent as first claimed, this article could easily have been written by the McCann PR team. With such high profile friends as Gordon Brown, JK Rowling, Esther McVey (Tory candidate for Wirral West: God help us!), Alex Ferguson et al, maybe she knows them.
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I refuse to believe the McCanns are guilty

12th September 2007 Allison Pearson

The past few days of Kate McCann's life may have rewritten the definition of hell.
Imagine coming home for the first time since your four-year-old daughter disappeared and walking into her bedroom to find her toys, her clothes, all her things exactly as she left them, maybe never to be touched by her again.
And then try to imagine, on top of such unspeakable sorrow, that there are people out there who believe that you killed your child, and that for four months you have simply been acting the part of a heartbroken mother.

Gerry and Kate McCann insist they had 'nothing' to do with the disappearance of their daughter
As if that weren't bad enough, the police and social services have just held a meeting to discuss the future of your two-year-old twins in the light of allegations against you and your husband.
Sean and Amelie McCann taken into care?
My stomach actually churned at the thought that Kate might lose the babies who have given her a reason to get out of bed and generally pretend to go on living since she and Gerry lost Madeleine.
It's such a grotesque idea. But over the past few days, the McCann story has gathered momentum so quickly that nothing seems shocking or impossible any more.
Imagine how thrilled those literally clueless Portuguese cops were to be handed some inconclusive DNA evidence they could talk up to scapegoat the British visitors who had become such a pain in the backside.

Overnight, Gerry and Kate found themselves trapped in a nightmare straight out of Franz Kafka. A world where lack of hard evidence is taken as proof of guilt and innocent explanations are twisted to fit our darkest suspicions.
During an 11-hour interrogation, Kate's Bible, for heaven's sake, was used as proof against her because one passage about a sick child was crumpled.
Since when in the Western world are devout Christians considered suspicious for reading the Bible?
Now Kate and Gerry have been named as official suspects, it suddenly feels as if it's open season on the doctors from Leicestershire.

Kate McCann leaving the police station in Portugal after an 11 hour interrogation
Even those of us who have believed in the couple all along, and prayed for Madeleine's safe return, may have experienced an uncomfortable sliver of doubt.
"I always thought they were too good to be true," is a common view.
Gerry is described as controlling and unemotional. As for Kate, she attracts suspicion for the sin of being nicely turned out. I actually heard one man complain that she wore a different, clean T- shirt every day and matching earrings.
In this post-Diana age, people want proof of grief. They don't want dignity or faith or an attempt to keep up appearances, even if you are collapsing inside.
Trained to deal with trauma, doctors can seem more detached than the rest of us. That professional self-control may also have counted against the McCanns.
So in the absence of definite proof - as opposed to rumours and allegations from unnamed sources - let's set aside the sensational headlines and expert theories about DNA strands.
Look at Kate McCann. Notice the checked trousers that fitted her four months ago flapping on her emaciated frame. Watch her head lean with infinite tenderness into her baby daughter's face.

Kate's weight loss under the stress and worry is clear from the checked trousers that hang from her tiny frame as Gerry reads a statement to the press
Observe her spasm of anguish at the airport when Gerry, breaking down in outraged tears himself, said: "We have played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter, Madeleine."
Can anyone really believe that woman killed the child she went through two gruelling years of IVF to conceive?
That she then hid the small body and strolled down with her husband to enjoy dinner with friends?
That Gerry and Kate, devoted parents by all accounts, loaded Madeleine's decaying body into the boot of a hire car four weeks later while they were busy courting the international media to help find their child?
Can you credit it? Of course not. The allegation is not just revolting. It is surreal.
Whatever you may think about the error they made in leaving their children alone that night, these people are not Fred and Rose West.
The deed the McCanns are accused of would have required such black, cold-hearted evil that I refuse to believe they are guilty unless overwhelming evidence is uncovered.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told the BBC she had full confidence in the Madeleine investigation.
Well, you're on your own, honey. The British Government should be expressing disquiet to the Portuguese about the sorry excuse for an inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance - and the subsequent outrageous attempt to bully Kate into a quick confession.
Debate is already turning to whether the McCanns, as they fight to clear their names, should be able to dip into the £1 million Madeleine Fund to pay for legal help.
My answer, unhesitatingly, is yes. That money was given by the public to try to secure Madeleine's safe return.
I fervently believe her kidnapper is still at large, and just imagine what sick pleasure he must be taking as the Portuguese police try to stitch up the little girl's parents.
What hope of justice can there be for Madeleine if the only line of inquiry is into her beloved mother and father?
Now, more than ever, the McCanns desperately need our support, not our cynicism.
It is time to call off the witch hunt for the simple reason there is no witch, only a heartbroken mother who wants her child back.

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This is bad journalism, lacking in fact and relying upon sugar-sweet sentiment.
Let's look at it more closely:

The past few days of Kate McCann's life may have rewritten the definition of hell.
Actually. Septicisle in Obsolete beat me to it here. This is just lazy writing. Everyone has their own definition of what constitutes hell. Mine involves relegation from League 1, A copy of the Daily Mail and a giant Jade Goody. In fact, my personal Inferno alters by the day; the Daily Mail and relegation remain constants though.

As if that weren't bad enough, the police and social services have just held a meeting to discuss the future of your two-year-old twins in the light of allegations against you and your husband.
Moving away from hell, social services are clearly damned if they do, damned if they don't. This is the same Allison Pearson who wrote in August of this year, "We should take more children away from their parents....... In fact, Britain has among the lowest number of children taken into care in the world. Yet a child is killed by its parents at home every single week. "

Of course, what she means is working class children from council estates. It is not just that they have become suspects in the case, their level of child care has been questionable from the outset. Contrary to the view in the World of McCann, most parents do not leave children alone in a holiday apartment every night whilst they go out drinking. My first thought when this came to light was not the risk of abduction, but the risk of an accident. I remember reading a letter someone received from Leicestershire Social Services stating that they should warn their friend she risks prosecution/intervention if they continue to leave 3 children alone when she went to the pub at the end of the street. The original letter was, of course, a spoof, but it does show the hypocrisy of those that defend them.

As for Kate, she attracts suspicion for the sin of being nicely turned out.

On the face of it, a relevant point. There has been a deluge of nonsensical statements and comments about the couple's demeanour. But what's this later on in the article.....
Look at Kate McCann. Notice the checked trousers that fitted her four months ago flapping on her emaciated frame.

So, appearance is relevant. A person couldn't lose weight through fear of being guilt, no?

Overnight, Gerry and Kate found themselves trapped in a nightmare straight out of Franz Kafka.

A little learning is a dangerous thing. This is not A Kafka-esque situation. Here, the charges/accusations are known. The McCanns were presented with it in interview. They chose not to answer many questions. The prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are in a proper Kafka novel. Likewise, those incarcerated in the UK on terror concerns.

I fervently believe her kidnapper is still at large, and just imagine what sick pleasure he must be taking as the Portuguese police try to stitch up the little girl's parents.

The abduction theory does not look too healthy at the moment. The media here accepted the McCann version of events from Day 1 and are paying the penalty. Independent and rational reporting went out of the window.

.....£1 million Madeleine Fund to pay for legal help.
My answer, unhesitatingly, is yes. That money was given by the public to try to secure Madeleine's safe return.

Even the Fund Trustees have now decided this is not appropriate. The McCanns still tried to put spin on this by claiming THEY had decided not to seek funds.

Imagine how thrilled those literally clueless Portuguese cops were to be handed some inconclusive DNA evidence

This translates as, 'we don't like foreign police forces because they're not English like our detectives. Amanda Burton in Silent Witness would solve it. Her ice cool, unflinching, emotionless demeanour would be very apposite.