Madeleine McCann: The Maddy Catty Plot, Waking Up With Gerry And Kate And Party Politics
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann.
DAILY EXPRESS front page: “MADELEINE. DOES MUM’S DIARY HOLD VITAL CLUE?”
Portuguese police want Kate McCann’s diary. And “detectives believe her desperate entries…will help unlock the secret”.
Pages 4: “Find the body and prove we killed her – The McCanns’ challenge to police yesterday.”
This is the “startling ultimatum”. This is the McCanns being portrayed in villain mode, the desperados coolly confronting Poirot with the retort that his case is built on nothing but speculation.
“They could stand trial in Britain,” says the Express.
Page 5: THE WORLD’S GREATEST NEWSPAPER sees the McCanns “Facing up to the world”. The paper watches the family seize “60 precious minutes of normality” as they head to a playground. Kate McCann sits between her twins in the backseat of the family car [a VW], “her arms protectively around their child seats”. The Express notes that the couple go out around 10pm, retuning at about 15 minutes to midnight. What can it mean?
Page 6 and 7: Portuguese Daily 24 Hours says investigators are “probing the connection” between Robert Murat, suspect No. 1, and Gerry McCann, suspect No. 3. A police sources says “Gerry [first name] met Murat [surname]” when “Gerry was campaigning for the Labour Party.”
Says Murat: “I’ve never met the man before and the idea that I’d met him when he was campaigning for the Labour Party is laughable. I’ve been a Conservative all my life.”
And so the mystery divides along party lines. Will the right-wing Express now stick up for Murat and the left-wing Mirror puts the boot in and champions Gerry?
DAILY MIRROR front page: “EXCLUSIVE OURAGE OF KATE – A glimpse inside her world of pain.”
Kate McCann is on her way to the playground.
Page 4: “Each morning they wake and think ‘this could be the day we find her’..it’s the hope that drives them on.” So says a “friend of the McCanns”.
The Mirror sees all. It sees Kate and Gerry wake up- and “momentarily struggle to focus”. Then: “a second passes as they lie side by side.” Then the “crushing familiarity, the horror of their living nightmare comes flooding back”.
Kate McCann prays each morning.
They are under “inhuman strain”. They don’t take sleeping tablets.
The live in a “quiet cul-de-sac”, the peace interrupted only by the sound of a hundred snappers screaming “This way Kate!” and hacks shouting “Did you do it?”.
They drive a people carrier, a VW, as the Express has reported. They are at the playground. They push the children on swings “and laughed as they played on the children’s slide”.
Page 5: Party politics is back as Mirror readers learn that John ‘Vulcan’ Redwood has removed his comment on the case (see here).
Pages 6 and 7: “If they are innocent and think that their daughter is still alive then they should be in Portugal trying to look for her.” The Mirror publishes some choice comments from its readers.
DAILY MAIL front page: “MADELEINE – McCanns tells police: Produce the body.”
Page 10 and 11: “Show us your diaries” – Portuguese police want to seize Kate’s diary and Gerry’s laptop.
Police might also confiscate Madeleine’s toys, including the Cuddle Cat (aka the ‘Maddy Catty’). Philomena McCann, Gerry’s sister, says this would be a “disgrace”.
Says Philomena: “That wee girl will be thinking ‘they’re not looking for me. My mummy and daddy and my aunties – they don’t love me because they can’t find me.”
THE SUN front page: “COPS WANT CUDDLE CAT.”
Detectives are “plotting” to take hold of the toy. This is “MADDIE: PARENTS’ NEW ORDEAL”.
Pages 6 and 7: Readers lean of “TWO THEORIES”. They are: “GUILITY OR INNOCENT?”
The Sun sums up the justice system neatly. It has got to the bones of the thing. At last the case is getting somewhere.
DAILY STAR front page: “MADDIE’S TOY WILL NAIL KILLERS – Cops say Cuddle Cat holds vital clues.”
In an “EXCLUSIVE” (see Sun), the Star says police have launched an “international operation to seize Madeline’s McCann’s favourite soft toy, Cuddle Cat.”
Cuddle Cat is not a suspect. Yet.
Page 6: “Maddie’s hair tufts hold key to killing” – forensics can tell if the hairs reportedly found in the McCanns’ car boot are from a live or dead Madeleine.
Page 7: “PALS ‘COVER-UP’ PROBED BY POLICE”- Detectives want to re-interview the McCanns’ dinner companions.
THE TIMES front page: “McCanns diaries and laptop to be seized by Portuguese police.”
Pages 6 and 7: “Parent will have to pay defence cost without Madeleine Fund.”
The six directors of Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Ltd, say: “The fund directors realise that there is not only a legal answer and recognise the spirit which underlies the generous donations to Madeleine’s Fund…any search fund to pay legal defence costs would have to be separately set up and administered.”
They fail to add that this is what Princess Diana would have wanted.
A family source tells the paper: “PR and law firm are not cheap.” Nor private detectives, say others.
THE GUARDIAN page 7: “McCanns may order own DNA tests on car.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH page 11: “DNA expert urges caution over forensic evidence.” Sir Alec Jeffries is billed as “the world’s leading expert on DNA”. He tells BBC’s Newsnight show: “DNA does not have the words innocence or guilty on it – that is a legal concept. What it seeks to establish is connections and identifications.”
THE INDEPENDENT page 9: “Questions at the heart of perplexing investigation.”
The paper wonders what we know about forensic evidence reportedly found in the McCanns’ car. It answers: “The picture remains far from clear.”
Is there a 99 per cent match or an 80 per cent match? What about a 62.2 recurring match. Higher or lower?
We could go on…
Posted: 13th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,057) | TrackBack | Permalink
