Madeleine McCann: Finding Kate McCann, Madeleine, One Year On: Campaign For Change
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
What the tabloid columnists are saying
THE SUN (front page): “MADDIE – 8-PAGE SPECIAL”
Yesterday’s special was 12 pages long. How soon we lose interest.
“Kate’s tears over hate mail threats”
The McCanns keep their post sorted into boxes: “Nice”, “Nutty” and “Ideas”
THE 8-Page SPECIAL on finding Kate McCann:
HER face crumpled in despair, tears streaming down, Kate McCann lays bare her utter grief at being separated from her daughter. Speaking as never before, Kate says she cannot believe it has been a year since Maddie went missing. And she tells how seeing the little girl’s best friend in their home village makes her think about how much Maddie must have changed in those long 12 months.
Her voice close to breaking, she says: “I see Madeleine’s best friend from time to time. I can’t help but wonder what Madeleine would be like. Would she be that much taller? Is her hair as long as that? Would she be writing her name too?”
That’s Kate McCann. But what about Madeleine?
“She’s good company, she’s like my — you know, she’s like a little buddy to me.”
DAILY MIRROR (front page): “We nearly didn’t go to that tapas bar”
This is “KATE McCANN ONE YEAR ON”
It’s an anniversary marked by four front-page stills of her face and a trail for a “sensational interview”.
Pages 4 and5: “’Being made an arguido made me feel invincible. I felt angry, I felt strong. I I would do whatever it took to fight for the truth’ – KATE McCANN”
Tonight we can all watch the ITV1 documentary Madeleine, One Year On: Campaign For Change. Come see the entertainment.
Says Kate McCann: “We were all going up to the Millennium again [a family restaurant], with the kids, which is what we did on the first night. But the Millennium was a good walk away and we didn’t have a buggy with us. It didn’t open till half-six and our kids usually go to bed around seven, so they were really tired and they were walking.”
It’s the sympathetic background story; contested with the sympathetic foreground story.
“So we ended up trying to carry three of them between two and we decided we couldn’t do that again. It wouldn’t have been good for anybody.”
LETTERS OF HOPE AND FURY – Kate McCann says 99 per cent of the letters they receive are supportive but there are some less so.
Gerry McCann reads: “Gerry and Kate. How can you use money given by poor people in good faith to pay for your mortgage on your mansion. You f***ing thieving bastards. Your brat is dead because of your drunken arrogance. Shame on you. I curse you and your family for ever.”
“Very charming,” says Gerry.
DAILY MAIL (front page): “Why DID you think it was OK to leave her?”
The consultant cardiologist said they had devised their own system of putting the youngsters to bed, going to dinner at the tapas bar in the apartment complex and taking turns to check on the rooms.
Says Kate McCann:
“You’re in the middle of a horror movie really, a nightmare. Pressure such as I’ve never felt before. You’re under attack in one way or another. The speculation takes you to the worst places and the worst place would have been being charged, potentially being put in jail, certainly being detained to face charges that could have taken years to materialise, being separated from Sean and Amelie.”
Mrs McCann said: “As soon as I realised the story or theory was that Madeleine was dead and that we’d been involved somehow, it just hit home. They haven’t been looking for Madeleine.’”
The Portuguese police. What they do to you?
Police told Mrs McCann she would serve a lighter jail sentence if she confessed to her involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance. She told of her furious reaction, saying: “I’d have fought to the death at that point. There was no way I was going to be railroaded into something.
“I felt almost invincible at that point. I just don’t know what kicked in. I just thought my children deserve that, Madeleine deserves that. Someone has to be fighting for Madeleine.”
She said she felt like a “lioness and her cubs” in her determination that she would not be separated from the twins.
Posted: 30th, April 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (384) | TrackBack | Permalink
