Madeleine McCann: The Media Creates A New Maddie Monster And Twists The Facts
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann: Madeleine McCann is still making news. No, the not because she has been found or that anyone is investigating her disappearance, but because ‘Maddie Fruadster‘ Kevin Halligen has been nicked.
It’s news on Page 11 of the Daily Express: “Madeleine ‘detective’ fraud case.” Halligen ran a firm that was hired to look for Our Maddie. But the alleged fraud has nothing to do with the monies he earned for that job. This is a “£1.2 million fraud in the US”. Earlier it was a “£1.3milion” fraud .
Such are the facts – and the shifting exchange rates.
The Sun, meanwhile, searches for a link between Halligen’s alleged fraud and Madeleine McCann. How can we turn Halligen into a figure of hate? The paper screams:
“Maddie rat tried to sue fund for £150k’
Conniving Halligen was sacked by the charity – which had already paid him £300,000 – after bosses began to suspect he was a conman. But he then had the nerve to threaten to sue for half as much money again, claiming he was still owed it as part of a three-phase contract. A source close to the fund said: “There were a series of letters between our solicitors and his.
“He said he was going to sue us for what he claimed he was still owed and our message was basically, ‘See you in court’.”
Earlier we read that Halligen had aroused suspicion in the McCann camp from the off. The Guardian told us:… “his behaviour aroused suspicions at an early stage among the couple and their advisers.”
This latest sotry is that Halligen contested the terms of his contract and never sued? Want more Sun facts?
He and a girlfriend had their bags packed and were preparing to leave behind a £5,000 unpaid bill at the Old Bank Hotel.
Or as the Sun told us yesterday:
Last night his bill at the Oxford hotel he checked into three months ago – under the alias Richard Stratton – was said to top £14,000 in drinks ALONE.
Also, yesterday the Sun said it was instrumental in the police arresting Halligen.
Detectives had been hunting him for months. But it was Britain’s No1 paper that finally found him. Our team tipped off police that he and his lover were about to flee after we staked out their bolthole.
So said Tom Wells, with no mention made of any of the Sun’s “team” by name.
Today, the Liverpool Post turns Our Maddie into a local story and tells us more of that “stake out”:
Yesterday, it emerged that journalism student Christopher Winsley was instrumental in finding Halligen, wanted by the FBI for an alleged £1.3m con in America.
Christopher had worked part-time at the plush Old Bank Hotel during the summer when studying at Brookes College when Halligen was almost a permanent guest, hardly ever leaving the £350-a-night-room hotel and drinking heavily in the bar.
The Dubliner used various aliases including Mr and Mrs Hall, Kev and Richard before Mr Winsley left in September to pursue a postgraduate media degree in Falmouth, Cornwall.
When he spotted several Sunday newspaper articles on Halligen last weekend, and his all-important photograph, he immediately made the connection and telephoned Thames Valley Police.
No mention of The Sun newspaper.
“I telephoned police, and it didn’t seem to be a priority for them, but they appear to have moved fast and caught up with him.
“It wasn’t hard to make the link. I even sent an email to the US embassy and phoned 999 and Crimestoppers. I’m surprised he didn’t do a runner with all the stuff in the newspapers.”
Madeleine McCann is still missing. There is one established fact. And the papers continue to fill in the gabs with bilge and speculation – and they fight to own the rights to an innocent girl who went missing…
Posted: 26th, November 2009 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
