Madeleine McCann: Has The Tide Changed Against Kate And Gerry McCann?
MADELEINE McCann: Every now and then as a journalist you spot a tide change; a dramatic turnaround in the nature and character of a familiar story.
Last night those in the know saw a very hard-hitting piece by Chris Freind (who writes the Freindly Fire column/blog) pulled by the Philly Post in as yet unexplained circumstances.
It was a piece re the McCanns and mentioned a link to one of the world’s richest people Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
The one thing J.K. Rowling is said to treasure above all else is her personal space and she DOES have the money and clout to have publishers reminded of their obligations.
It would be a great shame if one the world’s greatest ever fictional story-writers had waved a black arts cloak of invisibility to suppress a story already out in the public domain. I very much doubt it was the case and I await with interest for any explanation from the publishers.
As one of many who had the pleasure of reading the piece in the Philly Post before it was pulled I regarded it as an interesting, speculative, viewpoint and not actionable in any legal sense. Particularly as it was hosted on an American site. It made no allegations but expressed disbelief in one version of the reported events. That is, the McCann version.
Chris has never been a friend or bosom pal of the parents of missing child Madeleine McCann and along with many has always disputed the doctors’ version of events which took place on May 3, 2007 in their holiday village, the Praia da Luz complex in Portugal… four long word-filled and court-case strewn years ago.
Freind has always regarded the abduction hypothesis put forward by the Doctors Kate and Gerry McCann as not a reasonable one.
In that time the McCanns seem to have lost more friends than gained and have single-mindedly raised a fortune from public subscription, private donation (and compensatory payments from newspapers who may have over extended the available facts) for the Madeleine War Chest (funding various investigations which have, so far, led nowhere).
There comes a time when neutrality become a cloak of thorns and wherever you position yourself there is a constant and irritating stab in body parts you just can’t reach safely without hurting yourself even more. There is a time scratch the odd itch.
That’s the truth of it with the strangely enigmatic tale of the missing child of the good doctors Gerry McCann and Kate McCann (nee Healy) both now approaching 44-years-old.
Despite the ranting against negative publicity, the meeting with the Pope, the celebrity status (gone now, for ever, since the pair can only ever be single subject guests – does no other celebrity of whatever type wants to share their platform?) there is a sea change.
All through this strange case there have been pro or anti McCann camps. I regard that as more than unfortunate since the one true fact is a little girl remains missing.
But what is happening this week is yet another strange twist. Kate Healy has produced a book (rumoured to have been co-authored by J.K. Rowling; a version of events which has been vehemently denied by the Harry Potter author). The book is being serialised in the UK media and followed by all the Red Tops.
My impression is it has done absolutely nothing to help the corner being fought by the Drs McCann.
The child remains missing and, so far, in the run up to publication and actuality of the printed word, the very quiet and reserved (in public) Kate McCann is in the limelight and there is no word or sign of the once extremely strident Gerry McCann.
Already the whisperers are again active.
This time: primarily from former pro-McCann campers who are striking their tents and looking for somewhere else to pitch their ridge poles.
This time: there an impression there is more doubt than support.
In truth I have a different opinion and have so far not read a single word of Kate McCann’s book.
What I can tell you is during the very first television broadcast made by Dr Gerry McCann in May, 2007 when he told the world of the absence of his daughter and that first appeal for help (a couple of days after the events of that May night), my every instinct, years of dealing with major breaking news stories, wars and pestilence, everything combined to make me at once on guard. This was a story which would run and run.
It has to be now said we are none of us any closer to the truth of the matter. There is no closure, no justice or resolution. There is only rumour, contrary versions of the truths of it and no satisfactory outcome for anyone involved…and, despite the efforts of some, we are all still involved.
Since May 3, 2007 there is not one proof positive trace of Madeleine, alive or dead.
No wishing, hoping or prayer can change that one hard cold fact.
Gone forever and as if she never was?That’s the true tragedy..
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Composite file e-fits of potential suspects which have built up since Madeleine McCann went missing two years ago. From left, a suspect described by Jane Tanner, one of the friends on holiday with the McCanns in May 2007, of a man walking with a child in his arms away from the holiday apartment where Madeleine was sleeping on the night she disappeared, image of a suspects face and a full length image made public in January last year based on a statement given by Gail Cooper, a British holidaymaker. Black and white computer-generated e-fits of two suspicious men seen hanging around Praia da Luz before Madeleine went missing which were released from official police files after Portuguese authorities shelved their investigation but which were never made public by detectives and a e-fit of a suspect released as part of a new TV documentary to mark the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance. The artist's impression shows a pock-marked and 'very ugly' man who appeared to be watching the apartment where the little girl was staying with her family on the day before she vanished.
Posted: 11th, May 2011 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (25) | TrackBack | Permalink
