Sunday 20 April 2008

Daily Mail: Madeleine special investigation? Not by the Mail it seems!



Daily Mail caption: "Focused: Gerry and Kate McCann are as committed as ever to finding their daughter Madeleine"

Well, yes, they do look rather focused...on something...but this photo, to my knowledge, first appeared in September 2007, as published here on September 14th.
I wonder why the Daily Mail couldn't have found a more up-to-date photo, perhaps one of Kate and Gerry searching...in Rothley?


The above is the formal family photo published by the McCanns soon after Madeleine disappeared. How old would you say Madeleine was at the time? Well, she is 20 months older than the twins, who look, shall we say, about 6 months old in the photo? So, that would make Madeleine 2 years and two months in the photo.


Madeleine McCann on her second birthday with Kate and great-aunt Nora

This is another of the photos to appear in Saturday's Daily Mail feature, with the above caption:

Now, if Madeleine was about two years and two months in the family photo above, surely the child being held by great-aunt Nora is not celebrating her second birthday! I look at the cake in the photo, and seeing pink and blue icing intertwined, it rather looks to me like it's the twins' birthday cake.

According to the Mail's info, the Madeleine in the family photo above would have been two months (at least) older than the Madeleine in the birthday photo.

Go on! Compare those two photos! If the Maddie in the family photo is at least 2 years and two months, can the Maddie in the birthday cake photo be 2 months younger?

I wonder why the Mail couldn't get its information right? They have headed their feature, "Madeleine special investigation," but that's rather ironic, in my opinion, since they don't seem to have done a great deal of investigating to get their own facts right.

Daily Mail 19/04/08

Given that the Daily Mail has probably just searched its archives for a few photos, and by the looks of it made a few little errors, what do you think the text?

It seems to have been all quiet in Praia da Luz when the article was written; no searching going on. However, it's nearly a year since Madeleine disappeared. In the first few hours after her disappearance, hundreds of people were out searching. Some local people took a week off work to search. Did Kate join in? Not according to an interview with the BBC's Jane Hill. So, why should the Daily Mail's reporter be surprised or concerned that nearly a year on, there is no searching going on and very few posters?

If the Mail's reporter perhaps thinks that there should be fresh searches in the area, or more posters being put up, why not persuade Kate and Gerry to pop over there, have a good look round, and while they're there, maybe they could co-operate with the reconstruction and answer the questions to which they gave, "No comment," during their interviews in September.

SOS Madeleine McCann: Telecino revelations 100% Spanish endeavour!

SOS Maddie: Telecino so-called, "revelations."

Prétendues révélations de Telecinco "sont une œuvre 100% espagnole"

b5f7e34cce6c3267362c60b5f3654cfc.jpgLes informations avancées par Nacho Abad dans l’émission de fait-divers "Ana Rosa" sur la chaine de télévision espagnole Telecinco "ne proviennent pas de la police portugaise ou de Clarence Mitchell", c’est du moins ce qu’affirme un proche du journaliste et de l’équipe responsable du programme, rajoutant que "l’information a été obtenu en Espagne auprès de personnes qui ont un contact régulier avec les McCann".

The report put forward by Nacho Abad in the, "Ana Rosa," programme on the Spanish television channel Telecino, "does not come from the Portuguese police or from Clarence Mitchell," that at least is what is stated by someone close to the journalist and the team responsible for the programme, adding that, "the information was obtained in Spain from people who are in regular contact with the McCanns."

Cette déclaration viens confirmer ce qu’avait déjà été révélé par un des éléments de liaison de la police britannique à Leicester pour qui les prétendues déclarations de Kate McCann, ou elle fait allusion à une conversation avec sa fille Madeleine quelques heures avant sa disparition, "n’ont pas été faites à la Police à aucun moment de l’enquête mais constant d’un document provenant d’une agence de détectives avec qui les parents de Madeleine ont travaillé après sa disparition".

This statement just confirms what has already been revealed by liaison officers for the British police in Leicester, for whom the alleged statements from Kate McCann, in which she alludes to a conversation with her daughter Madeleine a few hours before her disappearance, "were not made to the police at any time during the investigation, but constitute a document originating from a detective agency with which Madeleine's parents worked after her disappearance."

Selon Nacho Abad, dans ses dépositions les McCann auraient déclaré aux enquêteurs que leur fille Madeleine, qui restait habituellement seule dans l’appartement avec les jumeaux, aurait demandé à sa maman pourquoi elle n’avait pas accouru quand elle pleurait le soir du 2 mai : "Pourquoi n'es-tu pas venu quand pleurions-nous hier le soir ? (...)", aurait demandé Madeleine.

According to Nacho Abad, in their witness statements the McCanns told the investigators that their daughter, who was usually alone in the apartment with the twins, asked her mother why she had not come running when she was crying on the evening of May 2nd: "Why didn't you come when we were crying last night? (....)", Madeleine is quoted as asking.

Le programme, se basant sur les prétendues déclarations des McCann, met l’accent sur un possible enlèvement par une des fenêtres de l’appartement mais cette version des faits est contestée depuis le premier jour par John Hill, le directeur de l’Océan Club. Selon ce responsable, aucune fenêtre de l’appartement n’a été fracturée, forcé ou cassé.

The programme, based on statements claimed to be from the McCanns, places emphasis on a possible abduction via one of the windows of the apartment, but this version of events has been contested since the first day by John Hill, director of the Ocean Club. According to this official, no window had been pried open, forced or broken.

Les premiers agents de la GNR de Lagos, arrivées sur place après le premier appel à la police, ont également confirmée qu’aucune fenêtre ou porte n’avait été forcé ou fracturée, soulignant que les parents de Madeleine n’avaient jamais fait allusion à cette possibilité.

The first agents from the Lagos GNR to arrive after the initial call to the police, also confirmed that not one window or door had been forced or pried open, stressing that Madeleine's parents had never alluded to that possibility.

Clarence Mitchell, responsable en communication et porte-parole de Kate et Gerry McCann, avait lui-même confirmé en octobre 2007 "qu’il n’y avait pas de traces d’effraction dans l’appartement", contrariant plusieurs déclarations du couple e de leur famille dans ce sens.

Clarence Mitchell, the public relations spokesperson for Kate and Gerry McCann, had himself confirmed in October 2007, "that there was no trace of intrusion into the apartment," in this way, contradicting several statements from the couple and from their family.

Pour les enquêteurs, la question de la fenêtre ne se pose même plus car toutes les expertises réalisées, aussi bien portugaises que britanniques, ont conclu qu’il n’y avait pas eu effraction dans aucune des fenêtres. Une conclusion soutenu par le professeur David Barclay, un des plus grands experts du Royaume-Uni.

For the investigators, the question of the window no longer even arises because all the actual assessments, by the Portuguese and the British, have concluded that there had been no intrusion through any of the windows. A conclusion supported by Professor David Barclay, one of the UK's best experts.

Information mise à profit pour mettre en cause la police et le retour des McCann à Praia da Luz.

L’information divulguée par le journaliste espagnol Nacho Abad n’est pas passé inaperçue vu le moment choisie : trois inspecteurs de la Police Judiciaire étaient à Enderby occupés avec l’interrogatoire de plusieurs témoins importants, et les McCann avaient fait le déplacement à Bruxelles pour y visiter le Parlement Européen et s’associer à une déclaration écrite appelant à la création d’un système d’alerte européen pour les cas d’enlèvement d’enfants.

Information put to good use to call into question the police and the McCanns' return to Portugal.

The information divulged by the Spanish journalist, Nacho Abad did not go unnoticed, given the timing: three PJ inspectors were in Enderby, involved with the interrogations of several important witnesses, and the McCanns had gone to Brussels to visit the European Parliament to associate themselves with a written declaration calling for the creation of a European alert system for cases of abducted children.


Selon un des responsables de la police du Leicestershire, appelé à commenter la divulgation des prétendues dépositions des McCann, "ce n’est pas une coïncidence que ceci apparaisse au même moment que les interrogatoires. Le choix de la date est trop précis et organisé pour que ce soit une coïncidence.”

According to an officer of the Leicestershire police, called on to comment on the disclosure of the alleged witness statements from the McCanns, "it is not a coincidence that this appears at the same time as the interrogations. The choice of timing is too precise and organised for it to be a coincidence."

Si ont regarde la situation de plus prés, les McCann étaient à Bruxelles ou ils ont eu toute une série de rencontres au plus haut niveau, pendant ce temps nos collègues portugais étaient ici à accompagner les interrogatoires et ont fait état d’une demande au couple de retourner au Portugal," affirme l’officier britannique rajoutant que "sortir ces informations bien travaillés et diriger son origine vers la police à permis de dévier l’attention des médias et de créer une justification plausible pour que le couple se refuse à retourner".

"If we look at the situation more closely, the McCanns were in Brussels where they had a series of meetings at the highest level, during which time our Portuguese colleagues were here to sit in on the interrogations and had put forward a request for the couple to return to Portugal," stated the British officer, adding that, "bringing out this well-worked out report and directing its origin to the police has allowed the attention of the media to be distracted and the creation of a plausible excuse for the couple to refuse to return."

Kate et Gerry McCann, via Clarence Mitchell, ont profité des révélations de la chaine de télévision espagnole, la même à qui ils avaient déjà donné une interview exclusive, pour accuser la Police Judiciaire de vouloir les "salir sans scrupules", exigeant au ministre de la justice portugais d’intervenir et de réaliser une enquête aux fuites d’information.

Kate and Gerry McCann, via Clarence Mitchell, have taken advantage of the revelations from the Spanish television channel, the same one to which they had already given an exclusive interview, to accuse the PJ of wanting to, "unscrupulously smear," them, demanding that the Portuguese justice minister intervenes and sets up an investigation into the leaks of information.

Stephen Dorrell, membre du parlement britannique, après avoir été contacté par des proches des McCann et de Clarence Mitchell, à demandé au Ministère des Affaires Etrangers à Londres d’exercer pression auprès des autorités portugaises afin de clarifier la situation, ce qu’à eu comme conséquence quasi immédiate la réponse officiel de la direction nationale de la Police Judiciaire via un communiqué.

Stephen Dorrell, member of the British parliament, after having been contacted by relatives of the McCanns and Clarence Mitchell, made a request to the Foreign Minister in London to exert pressure on the Portuguese authorities in order to clarify the situation, which resulted in an almost immediate official response from the national director of the PJ via a press release.

SOS Madeleine McCann 15/04/08