Madeleine McCann: Robert Murat ‘Cleared’, Maddy’s Bedroom And ‘No Case’ Against McCanns

MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann

SUNDAY PEOPLE: “IT’S NOT HIM! – EXCLUSIVE MADDIE DETECTIVES FORCED TO ADMIT THEY’VE NO CASE”

Portuguese cops hand back Murat’s seized computers Arguido status set to be dropped Family demands apology for ‘unfair’ smears against dad

Robert Murat is no longer a suspect. Robert Murat is longer a suspect?

Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat was last night sensationally CLEARED of snatching the four-year-old. The ex-pat Brit has suffered ten months of torment after being named an arguido by Portuguese police.

Robert Murat is no longer a suspect. The Sunday People has the facts.

Only: “Last night relatives called on investigators to formally lift his arguido status.”

Robert Murat is still a suspect. Read all about it.

Murat’s ex-wife Dawn says: “There are a lot of weird people out there and if something happens to one innocent child they think ‘An eye for an eye’. They want to hurt another innocent child – my daughter. I’m constantly on the lookout for anything suspicious or anyone paying her attention.”

It’s “every parent’s worst nightmare”, says she. It’s not at all pleasant. But scream “paedo” and this is how people who care deeply for children react.

Dawn told how the “worst moment” came when a newspaper compared him to Soham murderer Ian Huntley. School caretaker Huntley, 33, openly joined the hunt for missing ten-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in 2002.

EXPRESS: “Kidnapping has weird echoes of Soham case – MADDY SUSPECT BEHAVED JUST LIKE HUNTLEY.”

BBC: Says Robert Murat:

“It is a very positive sign, there’s no doubt about that whatsoever. Why would they return something if it was in the middle of being investigated in any way, shape or form? We are very happy to have the computers back, and I hope I will have my arguido status dropped very shortly.”

SUNDAY EXPRESS: “Kate and Gerry MCann Sorry”

Another day, and another front-page apology. How many times can the Express say sorry to the McCanns? And does saying sorry lead to an increase in sales?

SUNDAY PEOPLE: “Tapas 7: new quiz – EXCLUSIVE MADDIE DETECTIVES FORCED TO ADMIT THEY’VE NO CASE ‘LAST HOPE ‘ FOR COPS”

What a day it is for The Sunday People: Murat no longer a suspect; case against McCann dropped. The People scoops the rest.

The Tapas Seven face fresh questioning next month as cops launch a last ditch attempt to solve the Madeleine McCann mystery.

No longer the newspapers’ “Tapas Nine”.

Portuguese detectives will fly to Britain on April 7 after winning permission from public prosecutors to quiz the seven pals who were at a tapas bar with Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry when the four-year-old disappeared.

But what of the headline that police have “no case”?

A source revealed: “Police had prepared various questions they wanted to ask Kate and Gerry. “But the prosecutors felt it was a waste of time because the McCanns would refuse to answer the questions – a right that Portuguese law grants official suspects.”

And the exclusive about the headline about there being “no case”?

Kate and Gerry, both 39, of Rothley, Leics, deny involvement in the disappearance and believe the new move will show they have no case to answer.

Such are the facts. No speculation in the Sunday People. No room for a libel payout.

Comfort of the room that’s frozen in time

Madeleine McCann’s parents have kept their daughter’s bedroom exactly as it was before she disappeared…Kate still sits quietly there every night and prays. And they have vowed never to move from the house in Rothley, Leics, until they know what happened to Maddie.

And we’re back to being voyeurs, peeking inside the room of a missing child. Voyeurs.

Her bed sheets and patterned duvet remaining unchanged and her clothes are still hanging in the wardrobe and neatly folded in a chest of drawers. Kate has refused to hand down the clothes to Maddie’s three-year-old sister Amelie who bears a striking resemblance to her.

But this is not speculation. This is fact.

Gerry’s mum Eileen McCann said: “At one time the door to Madeleine’s room remained closed. But now the twins go in and play. Kate and Gerry don’t want to shut them out. The whole family feels closer to Madeleine by being in her bedroom.”

As do tabloid readers.

DAILY MIRROR: “Maddie cops fly to Britain”

By Lori Campbell – the hack who fingered Murat as creepy and then told everyone about her scoop.

Portuguese police are set to fly to the UK on April 7 in a bid to solve the Madeleine McCann mystery. Detectives have agreed the date with British police and are prepared to spend up to two months in Britain.

And on it goes…

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY: “Dani Garavelli: End of the paper trial”

We seem to hold a patrician view of newspaper editors as custodians of public morality when they are in fact businessmen trying to supply the needs of their market. Of course, they have a duty to uphold the law, but they cannot help but be influenced by the prevailing mood, and the prevailing mood last autumn was spiteful. Indeed the vitriol heaped on the McCanns by the Express group paled in comparison to that expressed in internet threads devoted to the subject. It’s a cliche, but like most cliches, it has a kernel of truth: we get the press we deserve.

Indeed. But the prevailing mood was not universally spiteful. It was also mawkish, ghoulish and voyeuristic. And it still is.

GUARDIAN: “Liverpool heeds ‘boycott Express’ call”

Roy Greenslade writes:

I also came across an Echo story filed the day before, Madeleine McCann family: Thank you to everyone for your support, in which Kate’s mother, Sue Healy, registered her disapproval of “most sensational and the most ridiculous” stories run by the Express and the Star.

She said: “Terrible things were written… I know journalists are under pressure but we need to take a stand now. Editors need to sit down and think, ‘If this was my family, would I print this? Is there any truth in it?… I always think of the [Liverpool] Echo as in a different league to the others. You’re our sort of people. I don’t think anything I’ve ever said to the Echo has been misquoted and I don’t think it ever will be.”

Says Greenslade: “As so often, local and regional papers treat people considerably better than the national titles.”

Less competition for sales…

THE INDEPENDENT: “Why, in the world of newspapers, sorry seems to be the largest word”

By guest editor Elton John, compiled by Joy Lo Dico

Amazing as it may seem, given the events of the past week, libel was much bigger business in the last century. Now actions are on the wane, says media lawyer Mark Stephens. “A lot of celebrities who realised the repetition of and longevity of trials weren’t worth it.” But even when there isn’t a libel case to scare the papers, a few straight facts can have a similar effect – as we show here.

In “SEVEN BIG CLIMBDOWNS” – including:

‘The Observer’ – MMR, front page, 8 July 2007

The paper claimed a Cambridge research team had supposedly found a rise in the prevalence of autism to one in every 58 people, and claimed two of the researchers had linked this to the MMR jab. Unfortunately, it ran the story off a study that had yet to analyse its data or reach formal conclusions. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, head of the study, said The Observer had been “irresponsible” and and no link between MMR and autism had been verified. The paper has removed the article from its archive.

George Galloway v ‘The Daily Telegraph’ – 22 April 2003

In the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, the paper’s foreign correspondent, David Blair, found documents apparently from the office of the head of Iraqi intelligence saying that the then Labour MP had received money from Saddam Hussein’s regime through the oil-for-food programme. Galloway denied this, questioned the documents’ authenticity and sued. The Daily Telegraph argued that publishing the documents was in the public interest, but was criticised by the judge for not merely adopting the allegations but for having “embraced them with relish and fervour”. Galloway was awarded damages of £150,000.

The ‘Daily Star’ v Materazzi, July 2007

In the 2006 World Cup final, French captain Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italian defender Marco Materazzi. The Daily Star ran a front-page picture with a speech bubble, showing Materazzi calling Zidane’s mother a “terrorist whore”. The Italian sued successfully over the implication he was racist, winning undisclosed damages and an apology from the paper.

The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann – Read All About It

Anorak

Posted: 23rd, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (276) | TrackBack | Permalink