Madeleine McCann: Alipio Ribeiro’s Thinks, Clarence Mitchell Knows And A Birthday
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY STAR ON SUNDAY: “MADDIE COPS SAYS SORRY – Police ‘too quick’ “to blame parents”
“A top policeman has sensationally admitted that making Gerry and Kate McCann suspects over their daughter Maddie’s disappearance was too ‘hasty’. Alipio Ribeiro, boss of the Portuguese department in charge of the investigation, dropped his bombshell in a radio interview”
Says Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns spokesman: “Now that the national director of the Policia Judiciaria apparently acknowledges that they should never have been made arguidos, it follows there is no case for them to answer.”
SUNDAY EXPRESS: “POLICE ‘TOO HASTY’ OVER MCCANNS”
“As the couple bravely celebrated the third birthday of their twins, Sean and Amelie, one of Portugal’s most senior detectives admitted that making them suspects had been a “hasty” mistake”
Did Mr Alipio Ribeiro say “mistake” in his radio interview?
Says the paper: “The couple, both 39, said the official’s comments were tantamount to an admission that Portuguese detectives had bungled by centring their investigation on them.”
Says Mr Ribeiro to Portugal’s Radio Renascenca, owned by the Catholic Church:
“At this moment in time and speaking with the experience I have of Portugal’s Public Prosecution Service and the constitution of arguidos, I think there perhaps should have been another assessment before the McCanns were made official suspects.
“I don’t have any doubt about that. The national director of the Policia Judiciaria doesn’t give out orders on the constitution of arguidos but there was a certain hastiness”
Says the paper: “Last night Ribeiro was under growing pressure to stand down as national director of their country’s Policia Judiciaria”. Pressure from, whom?
MAIL ON SUNDAY: “”Police chief: We were too quick to make Gerry and Kate ‘arguidos’”
Says the Mail: “Kate and Gerry McCann’s bid to clear their names over the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine has been given a massive boost after the head of Portugal’s police admitted it had been a mistake to rush into making them official suspects”
Mr McCann says: “We need a breakthrough and this looks like it could be one. It is fantastic news. We still have a long way to go but people in Portugal need to understand what has been happening and what we have been going through. We know it will take the police a long time to accept what has been happening is wrong but it is an important step towards that”
Says the McCanns’ lawyer in Portugal, Carlos Pinto de Abreu: “Many people who may have vital information have possibly not come forward as they wrongly suspected the McCanns”
What about that huge reward, and doing the right thing? People may be deterred from coming forward for fear of being named in the media and questioned by Metodo 3, the McCann’s private investigators. But let us not speculate
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “MADDIE U-TURN – EXCLUSIVE Cops admit mistake on twins’ birthday”
“Kate and Gerry McCann threw a birthday bash for their twins yesterday – as a top cop admitted it was WRONG to name them as suspects over missing Maddie”
Well, Policia Judiciaria “boss” Alipio Ribeiro, said the police acted too hasilty. “Ribeiro last night faced calls to resign over the astonishing U-turn” – although from whom, the paper does not bother to say
Say the McCanns: “The support we have had from around the world has been amazing. It’s helped maintain our strength and hope and this has helped the search for our precious Madeleine. We believe there is a very good chance she is still alive. She deserves the love and security of her family. She needs to be back home with her mummy and daddy, brother and sister”
THE GUARDIAN: “Police chief says ‘we were too hasty’ in naming McCanns as suspects”
“In an interview to be aired on Portuguese radio today, Alípio Ribeiro, the national director of the Polícia Judiciária, will concede that police may have acted too soon in making Kate and Gerry McCann formal suspects, known in Portugal as arguidos. His comments were interpreted last night by the McCanns as a tacit admission that the police were wrong to name them as being involved in the disappearance of their four-year-old daughter”
Madeleine McCann: speculation, suspicion and sensation
Posted: 3rd, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (890) | TrackBack | Permalink
