Madeleine McCann: Bank On Brussels, Dossier Facts And Metodo 3 Investigate
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann
DAILY EXPRESS (front page): “MADELEINE: “’I heard her beg to go home’”
CCTV images of the blonde blue-eyed youngster, seen just seven days ago at a Brussels bank, are now being studied. Last night Belgian police said the case had been given top priority and was being passed to a magistrate who would launch a full inquiry.
That’s right – the Express has reverted to calling the missing child Madeleine. It flirted with Maddie, but Madeleine it is, and ever will be…
The little girl, who looked “much like” Madeleine, was spotted by a security guard at the Havenlaan branch of the KBC Bank in the district of Molenbeek St Jean.
It’s Madeleine. It has to be:
The guard – stationed outside the bank’s main entrance – was so shocked he considered following the pair but decided not to leave his post, a police source has revealed.
Nor did he call out her name, nor question the woman, nor whip out a camera phone and take a picture…
A police source added: “He is convinced he saw Madeleine but obviously it needs checking out carefully.”
Sure thing…
THE SUN (front page): “MADDIE IN BRUSSELS A WEEK AGO”
Was she petitioning for an amber alert system for Europe?
The Sun has a grainy picture of a blonde child and a woman walking hand-in-hand. It’s “CCTV of little girl being led up street.” And a question: “IS IT HER?”
A LITTLE girl who cops suspect could be Madeleine McCann asked a woman she was seen walking with, “Can we go back now?” it emerged last night. The poignant plea in English was overheard by a bank security guard in Brussels, Belgium — and he is convinced the kiddie was missing Maddie.
Tells us more:
The dark-skinned woman, wearing a hijab headdress, spoke in a different language, possibly broken French. Police interviewed the guard, who speaks fluent Flemish, Dutch and English, on Thursday.
But not French. He doesn’t speak French…
The child has a fringe like Madeleine’s.
A fringe…
“Man in shadows ignored by cops”
And in the Mirror.
But police regarded the incident as “outdated” as it occurred so long before Maddie went missing, their 20,000-page dossier shows.
Fact!
DAILY MIRROR: “COPS IGNORED IT”
Their 30,000 pages of case notes reveal: “The director of M3 (Metodo 3) handed us a small notepad with information relating to Madeleine’s disappearance.
Fact!
Newly-released evidence reveals a man tried to abduct a child at McCanns’ flat 8 months before Maddy was taken…
How many months?
A suspected abductor was spotted spying on Madeleine McCann’s flat before she vanished – but Portuguese police ignored the tip-off, it emerged yesterday.
How many months ago?
British babysitter Margaret Hall was caring for a girl aged six in the same apartment when she saw the prowler lurking in the dark and peering inside. A statement and his description were passed to officers – who dismissed it as irrelevant, their files on the bungled probe reveal.
What happened?
Margaret had reported her autumn 2006 sighting to Metodo 3 in November 2007 and they informed police.
Let’s recap: Months before Madeleine went missing a nanny says she saw a man looking through a window. And she told not the police, rather seh told a private detective agency. Just shows you how much better the agency is than the police – and how much its worth its fee – doesn’t it?
Metodo 3… What do we know about the detectives?
Spanish private investigators, based in Barcelona, are said to be being paid £50,000 a day to hunt for Madeleine. Since taking on the case it has received 16,000 calls from potential witnesses.
How many tip-offs Metodo 3 passed on to the police, the Mirror does not care to say. How many of these tip-offs the Portuguese police investigated, the Mirror does not care to say.
Such are the facts.
DAILY MAIL: “Portuguese police ignored ‘kidnapper in the shadows’ outside Madeleine’s bedroom”
Police failed to investigate a previous suspected abduction attempt from Kate and Gerry McCann’s holiday apartment, it was disclosed yesterday.
Or a suspected burglary. Or a suspected break in. Or a suspected rape/ mugging/ window cleaning/ voyeurism and many more…
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said their detectives were working on all the missed clues in the police files. He said: ‘Kate and Gerry hoped from the outset that the police were following up every lead in the most thorough and professional manner possible. Where any information is found not to have been followed up, our investigators are working on it, all of it.’
All of it. And what of any information Metodo 3 did not follow up, will that be reviewed once more?
Madeleine McCann: Round and round it goes…
Posted: 11th, August 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (116) | TrackBack | Permalink
