Madeleine McCann: Maddie’s Daddy, Masses Of Hair, Paedos And Kate’s Tears
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
DAILY MAIL front page: “As ten files of evidence are handed to judges, a new claim: MADDIE’S HAIR IN CAR BOOT.”
And not just some hair, but the claim is for “substantial” quantities of the blonde stuff. And “sources insisted” bodily fluids also found in the boot of the hire car belonged to the missing child.
Pages 4: Senior non-singing Tory John Redwood says on his blog that the McCann’s have fallen victim to the “modern disease of fighting battles through the media instead of people getting on and doing their jobs diligently.” Redwood is an MP, not a journalist.
Page 5: “SINISTER OR INNOCENT? THE GREAT DNA DILEMMA” – Sam Greenhill tells us from Paria da Luz that “nobody knows exactly what samples have been found or, crucially, how important they might be.” Greenhill’s report may come as a shock to the Mail’s lead headline writer.
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE BODY WAS IN CAR BOOT.”
Page 4: “COPS: CHARGE PARENTS NOW” – Readers see a man tending to the Candle of Hope at Rothley war memorial.
Page 5: “Gerry ‘is not Maddie dad’”
Page 6: “GERRY HORROR AT ‘YOU’RE NOT HER DAD’ CLAIM” – DNA results have left medics “puzzled”, writes the paper. A source within Portugal’s National Institute of Legal Medicine says, “In normal circumstances Madeleine would have half the DNA of each parent…But we have to take into account that Madeleine was created by artificial insemination. Was it with Gerry’s sperm or that of another man?”
And so the net widens. Who is the father? Gerry McCann? Robert Murat? A swarthy man from Malta sat at a Belgian cafe?
The Star sees other “bizarre” claims in the Portuguese press, including the one that the McCanns are “swingers”.
DAILY MIRROR front page: “MADELEINE POLICE: WE MIGHT NOT HAVE ENOUGH EVIDENCE.”
Readers learn that police “may not” have enough evidence to charge Kate and Gerry McCann with killing their daughter. This may explain why the McCanns have not been arrested. Although lack of evidence does not always prevent British police securing a conviction.
Pages 4 and 5: “The anguish is unbearable but Kate and I are totally 100 per cent confident in each other’s innocence,” says Gerry McCann.
The picture is of Gerry McCann with his arm around his wife’s shoulder. He is defiant. Her eyes are half closed. Is she on the verge of tears or just tired? The Mirror has chosen this picture to publish. It wants her to cry. In crying Kate McCann will give the readers what they want.
Page 6: The Labour–supporting Mirror senses “Fury” as “Vulcan” John Redwood attacks. Redwood writes on his blog: “Maybe they should employ a private detective rather than a spin doctor.” The Mirror is appalled. It takes the quote from Redwood’s unread blog and puts it in a national newspaper. It shows it to Gerry’s sister Trish who says, “I wouldn’t be dignified if I made a response.” Redwood’s blog gets some much-needed exposure.
Page 7: “88%: Portuguese police chief admits car sample is not complete match with Madeleine’s DNA.” Clearly Alipio Ribeiro has not read today’s Daily Star.
THE SUN front page: “MADDIE: JUDGE GIVEN EVIDENCE. HER HAIR HOLDS THE KEY. Crucial test on samples from car.”
Pages 4 and 5: The Sun looks at the world’s press. Germany’s Bild Zeitung asks: “Was Madeleine taken by paedophiles? Murdered by her own parents? Must one feel sorrow for the parents? Should one despise them?”
Bild might like to asks the Mirror about paedos – it featured a yellow ribbon on its masthead and the order “PRAY FOR MADDY”.
Pages 6 and 7: “COPS TO DIG AT CHURCH.” The Sun says Madeleine’s body may have been hidden in roadworks and then exhumed. The paper produces a map and show the areas recently cobbled.
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE. MASS OF HAIR IN CAR BOOT. Parents could be charged in days, says prosecutor.”
Pages 2 and 3: “New roads to be dug up in hunt.” The paper sees the search for Madeline move underground.
A police source looks into the boot of the McCanns’ hire car and offers: “There was so much hair it could not be from DNA transference but from the body being in the boot.”
Perhaps.
Pages 4 and 5: “Gerry McCann is in an “unending nightmare”. The “heart specialist” speaks of the “pain and turmoil” he and his family are going through. He and his wife are innocent.
“Could there be a fair trail?” asks the WORLD’S GREATEST NEWSPAPER. There may be no trail. Although the paper says that “silencing the whispering against them may prove difficult.” And the boos and the jeers, as reported by the Express.
Page 5: “Madeleine and an amazing triple coincidence” – Gone Baby Gone, a film about a missing child, directed by non-missing Ben Affleck, stars Madeleine O’Brien who – shock of shocks – is blonde like our Madeleine.
THE TIMES front page: “Madeleine’s hair. 10 boxes of evidence sent to judges.” No, not 10 boxes of hair. Ten boxes of assorted hair and other evidence.
Pages 6 and 7: The Times produces a picture of a strand of healthy hair and places it alongside a shot of a strand of hair taken from a dead body. Note the differences.
Readers can expect more insight, including how a severed head looks less healthy than one that sits atop a still live body.
“What can scientific evidence prove?” asks the Times. That the world is round, that greenhouses gases are warming the planet, that Elton John is 23% less productive than he was in 1976…
DAILY TELEGRAPH front page: “MADELEINE POLICE ‘CONFIDENT’ OF CHARGING PARENTS SOON.”
Pages 10 and 11: “McCanns may use £1m fund to pay for lawyers.” The six directors controlling Madeleine’s fund will decide if the parent can use the money to save themselves.
THE GUARDIAN page 3: “McCann papers go to judge amid claims and confusion over DNA.”
THE INDEPENDENT page 3: “Judge given evidence in McCann case as prosecutor raises stakes.”
Director of Portugal’s Judicial Police, Alipio Ribrio, denies “that a 99 per cent accurate DNA march for Madeleine has been found in a hire car used by her parents”. He fails to shed light on claims of a 99.9% match…
Posted: 12th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,411) | TrackBack | Permalink
