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Shannon Matthews, Haut De La Garenne Paedophiles And Madeleine McCann
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY RECORD: “Six New Sites To Be Probed In Jersey Children’s Home Body Hunt”
“A sniffer dog that discovered a child’s remains at a former children’s home has found six other areas at the site to investigate. Police continued to search Haut de la Garenne, in St Martin, Jersey, where the body was found on Saturday.
“They were investigating child abuse allegations at the home on the east coast of the island. The bones of the unidentified child – believed to date from the 1980s – were found using ground penetrating radar and Eddie, a springer spaniel sniffer dog previously used in the hunt for Madeleine McCann”
DAILY MIRROR: “Police search 200 homes in a bid to find missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews”
Shannon Matthews is aged 9
Worried neighbours and family members, some wearing T-shirts showing pictures of the schoolgirl, yesterday filled the residents’ association hall near her home. Leaflets and posters appealing for information have been distributed. Day and night searches by friends and relatives are still going on. Gerry McCann, father of missing Madeleine, said Shannon’s disappearance was “deeply concerning”.
“Hunt for more kid remains” – A “sniffer dog has pinpointed SIX more places where bodies may be buried at the ex-children’s home where a youngster’s bones were unearthed. The child’s remains were found by a spaniel, used in the hunt for Madeleine McCann, under inches of concrete on Saturday”
THE SUN:” “McCanns: We pray for Shan”
But this is about Shannon Matthews. What has it to do with the McCanns?
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Posted: 25th, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (1,144)
‘Devil’ Karen Matthews gets Rebekah Brooks makeover
KAREN Matthews is the “DEVIL”. So says the Sun, which adds that woman who faked her daughter Shannon Matthews’ kidnap is in “disguise”.
The Devil is a master of disguise, even better than Heidi Klum. To date, the Devil has appeared as a serpent, a great red dragon, an archangel (all Bible), two brothers in Edlington, a dog in Stratford, East London (both the Sun), Haiti and Karren Brady’s chest. Now the Devil is a middle-aged mum-of-seven who is “slimmer and disguised with a new short hairdo” on a trip to buy ciggies.
The Sun adds:
Cruel Matthews looked chuffed to bits when she went shopping yesterday sporting the striking makeover.
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Posted: 13th, April 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (5)
Karen Matthews – she’s back for fame and a Big Mac
KAREN Matthews, mother of missing-then-found Shannon Matthews, is back in the news. The mum-of-seven staged a fake kidnapping of her daughter Shannon to get a £50,000 reward offered by national newspapers. A hungry media lapped up the story of the missing child. Dewsbury had its own Our Maddie. But Shannon was in Michael Donovan’s flat. ‘Uncle Michael’ was in cahoots with Karen Matthews. He was jailed for nine years for kidnap and false imprisonment. Earlier this month, Donovan was released on licence. Karen Matthews got eight years. Now she’s getting out.
Dewsbury Reporter: “Exclusive: Karen Matthews won’t come home to Dewsbury Moor”
On March 25, the paper reported:
KAREN Matthews is expected to be released from jail within weeks – but she isn’t likely to return to Dewsbury.
Karen is expected to finish her eight-year sentence for kidnap and false imprisonment of her daughter, Shannon, next month. This Wednesday it was the fourth anniversary of Shannon being found. “I know for a fact she is not coming back,” Ms Bushby said. “As far as I’m aware she will head for a halfway house.” She also rubbished tabloid newspaper reports of Karen having a boyfriend waiting for her in Cyprus and that the jailed mum plans to head straight for The Jeremy Kyle Show when she is released from prison in Derby.
Ms Bushby said: “It’s nonsense. She won’t be able to make any money from her crimes.”
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Posted: 24th, March 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (10)
Karen Matthews: On Sex, Shopping And Kate McCann
KAREN Matthews, mother to Shannon Matthews, is behind bars and in interview with the Daily Mirror.
This is “Pure Evil” Karen Matthews.
And the front-page headline screams:
“KAREN MATTHEWS: I ONLY MISS SEX AND SHOPPING.”
Mirror readers may wonder if there is anything else in life to enjoy? What about being judgemental and spite? Adds the Mirror in a stage whisper:
(“BUT, NOT, IT WOULD SEEM HER SEVEN KIDS.”)
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Posted: 5th, May 2009 | In: Reviews Comments (8)
Karen Matthews Gets Your Kids’ Christmas Toys
SHANNON Matthews’ mum from hell, the evil Karen Matthews, “may get prison privileges.”
The Suns says Karen Matthews may get “a DVD player or game console”.
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Whatever Happened To Karen Matthews’ Other Baby?
SHANNON Watch: Anorak’s looks at Shannon Matthews, Karen Matthews and the greater Matthews clan…
Karen Matthews is guilty of a serious crime: she made columnists look like fools:
BEATRIX CAMPBELL: “Who do we blame?”
Compare and contrast the stories of Shannon Matthews and Madeleine McCann – and what we see is a narrative of nasty class prejudice
Shannon Matthews’ neighbourhood, community and family are poor, lacking in resources, and yet they have spontaneously displayed remarkable resourcefulness – children organised a vigil, adults went out searching for the missing child, community intelligence led the police to her. And once she was found, a party was promised.
Karen Matthews has acted appropriately throughout: she was waiting for Shannon at home; she contacted the police as soon as she had exhausted all the obvious locations.
And yet, our eye is drawn to her poverty, numbers of partners, cans of lager going into her household. Everything about Ms Matthews’ life has been up for scrutiny.
Continues for a few hundred more words…
THE SUN: ‘Let Shannon go please’”
She said Shannon’s disappearance had broken her family apart and told how she cried herself to sleep at night and could not go into her daughter’s bedroom.
She said she accepted police had to carry out criminal checks on members of her family.
DAILY EXPRESS: SHANNON MOTHER MAY BE PREGNANT
THE mother of Shannon Matthews is thought to be pregnant with her eighth child.
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Posted: 11th, December 2008 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (17)
Madeleine McCann: TV Survivors, Alan Carr And Karen Matthews Bingo
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “APOCALYPSE? WOW!”
EXCLUSIVE TV’s Survivors star Julie tells why she shuns Botox and surgery at the age of 43
Why?
But Julie said: “I’m happy the way I am. OK, there are days when I wake up and think, ‘Who’s that old bag looking back at me in the mirror?’ “And I see pictures of myself five years ago and think, ‘Why can’t I look like that any more?’ But I’m happy the way I am. What is wrong with a woman looking her actual age?”
What’s good for Julie is good for Kate McCann. Really:
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Posted: 8th, December 2008 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, Reviews Comments (98)
Poetry Corner: Karen Matthews Clerihews
Karen Matthew Clerihews
KAREN Matthews
Is on the news
On your rented tellies
For feeding Shannon jellies
I’m With…
Shannon Matthews
Turfed out of bed
Upon the wooden floor
Police came
Identified her
Daughter of class war
Posted: 7th, December 2008 | In: Reviews Comments (4)
Tabloid Bingo: McCann, Matthews, McGuckin And More…
ANORAK’S’ Tabloid Bingo: With Lorraine Kelly…
The Aim of The Game: To combine the names McCann, Fritzl, Matthews, McGuckin and McKeown in one column. Can the Sun’s Lorraine do it? Eyes down…
WHY do many parents leave their common sense behind as soon as they step on the plane and go off on holiday?
A promising start from Kelly, who has set a scene which should enable her to use all five names, possibly in a single paragraph.
Parents who would not leave their children in the front garden to play on their own happily dump them in the hotel room or villa while they go for a meal. The poor McCanns will never forgive themselves for their tragic error of judgment which led to the disappearance of Maddie.
Tick!
What about the Irish bank chief and his wife who had their children taken into protective custody when on holiday in the Algarve?
You mean the mortgage advisor, Lorraine?
Eamon McGuckin was said to be so drunk that he collapsed and fell through a sofa, while his wife Antoinette threw up in their hotel reception area.
Tick!
Damn those flimsy Portuguese sofas.
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Posted: 10th, May 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews, Tabloids Comments (28)
Karen Matthews to Have Her Features Rearranged
AS the police turn a Dewsbury Estate into a gated community, the Star looks at Kate Matthews and her £100,000 makeover.
We are no longer looking at Shannon Matthews, nor are we looking for her; but we are looking at Karen Matthews, “Public Enemy No.1”.
The Star says Shannon Matthews is to “get plastic surgery just like Maxine”. That’s Maxine Carr, the former most hated woman in the UK who was jailed for lying to cover up her lover Ian Huntley’s murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.
If comparing Karen Matthews of Maxine Carr is not enough, the Star burnishes her status by hearing from John Bretton, father to Karen’s first child. Says he: “She must have spent a fortune on cigarettes over the years. It’s the one thing she does love.”
Who knows, Matthews may even take up the offer of ten Lambert & Butler fags her fellow lags are being offered for “her head”.
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Posted: 14th, April 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews, Tabloids Comments (10)
Karen Matthews: Mum’s Gone to Matalan, Off With Her Head And Kids Go Free
SHANNON WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews
THE SUN: “PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER 1”
No, it’s not Osama bin Laden. It’s Karen Matthews.
Metal plates covered doors and windows at the empty home of Shannon Matthews’s mother last night amid fears of attacks by vigilantes.
Says Richard Verity, 42, a joiner: “If she is found guilty I’d like to rip her head off. We’re all feeling very bitter.”
No, it really isn’t not Osama bin Laden, nor one of his henchman. It’s a joiner from Dewsbury.
And what of Karen Matthews? How did she look?
Matthews, wearing cut-price clothes specially bought for her from a branch of Matalan, was also charged with “wilfully neglecting or abandoning” the child in a manner likely to cause “unnecessary suffering or injury to her health”.
Mum’s Gone To Matalan – (note to copywriters – call me)
“Yes, yes, yes,” comes the cry from the public gallery.
DAILY MIRROR (front page): “STOP THE MOB”
“Police warn against vigilantes as Shannon mum is refused bail”
Fears for Kate Matthews that people who love kids might hurt mum-of-seven.
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Posted: 10th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (17)
McCann, Keeling, Matthews: Keith Waterhouse Plays Tabloid Bingo
McCANN, MATTHEWS. McKEOWN. Keith Waterhouse plays Anorak’s Tabloid Bingo
– the game that’s taking the press by storm.
The aim of the game is to get the names ‘McCann’, ‘Matthews’ and ‘MacKeown’ into your article.
In “As Pa Larkin used to say, it’s all perfick” Keith Waterhouse plays tabloid bingo.
A family of eight, living entirely on benefit allowances, managed to get as far as Goa for an extended holiday, where one of their number was murdered.
Scarlett Keeling. Tick.
But I find I have stubbed my toe against one of those sink estate dynasties for which the term “sub judice” might have been invented.
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Posted: 10th, April 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (9)
Karen Matthews: Red-Brown Hair, The Ducking Stool And Jailed
SHANNON WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Shannon Matthews’s mother accused of perverting the course of justice”
The mother of nine year old Shannon Matthews has been remanded in custody for her own safety after appearing in court in connection with her alleged kidnap. Neighbours of Karen Matthews packed into the public gallery to see her in the dock during a 13-minute hearing.
To the ducking stool.
What of the facts?
The charge against her are: On a day between Feb 18 and March 15 she wilfully neglected or abandoned Shannon in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering to her or injury to her health.
That between Feb 18 and March 15, with intent to pervert the course of public justice, did a series of acts which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice by repeatedly concealing information in relation to the whereabouts of Shannon in interviews and other contacts with police and claiming to have no knowledge of her whereabouts.
And:
Miss Matthews, who has seven children to five men, was arrested on Sunday evening and underwent two days of questioning by detectives.
How did she look?
Throughout the hearing her face was shielded from the public by her long red-brown hair, but briefly glanced over at that point looking tearful.
DAILY MIRROR: “Shannon Matthews’ mum Karen remanded in custody after court appearance”
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Posted: 9th, April 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (23)
Madeleine McCann: 100 More Questions, McCanns And Shannon
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
DAILY MIRROR: “100 QUESTIONS FOR TAPAS SEVEN”
The same 100 questions Portuguese police compiled last November, or new ones?
Kate and Gerry McCann’s holiday friends will be quizzed again to check alleged discrepancies in their stories. The Tapas Seven, who had dinner with the McCanns on the night their daughter Madeleine, four, vanished, will have more than 100 questions put to them by Portuguese police.
Tapas Seven. Tapas Nine. What will the tabloids settle on?
The Mirror quotes a source who tells a source, Portuguese paper 24 Horas: “We are at a crucial phase. There are clear contradictions in the statements that the McCanns and their friends gave. Many things have to be clarified. The need to question Madeleine’s parents again will be determined by the results of the interrogations of their holiday friends.”
In which instance the Tapas Nine will be questioned.
SPENBOROUGH GUARDIAN: “The Shannon Matthews documentary was about more than a missing girl”
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Posted: 29th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (783)
Shannon Watch: Mick Donovan, Good Neighbours And A Brain Tumour
SHANNON WATCH: – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Shannon Matthews
DAILY STAR (front page): “SHANNON: WAS MUM IN ON SNATCH?”
Pages 4 and 5: “’IT WAS ALL FAMILY SCAM’”
So says the man “suspected” of abducting Shannon, “allegedly”.
Such are the facts.
THE SUN (front page): “STALKER – Weirdo’s months watching..from next door”
The Sun “can reveal” that Mick Donovan visited one Amanda Hyett “up to four times a week to ‘comfort’ her after her father died”. Hyett is Shannon’s aunt. Hyett is Donovan’s niece.
“It is now thought Donovan…was secretly watching the schoolgirl.”
Thought? Indeed. So says the Sun’s “SHANNON EXCLUSIVE”.
Pages 4 and 5: “I’ll kill my kids”
Donovan “threatened to kill his won daughters after barricading himself into his house with them”.
Donovan is “crazed”. Donovan is a “toothless misfit”. A neighbour called Hayeley Brown says Donovan is a “real weirdo”.
“The mum of four told how a brain tumour had left him with a limp. She said: ‘His arm was a bit a paralysed as well. That and the limp and this big horrible eyes made him look a bit weird, bit pervy.”
What more evidence do you need?
DAILY MIRROR (front page): “SHANNON MAN: NEW ABUSE QUIZ”
“Mick Donovan is said to have made the brothers, aged six and 12, fondle each other.” Allegations. Unproven.
Page 5: “SHANNON DIDN’T KNOW SHE HAD BEEN ABDUCTED”
Of Shannon: “It I believed that so far no evidence of sexual abuse has been discovered…”
Believed? But the police are not releasing any information. Shannon Matthews is still being questioned. So too Mick Donovan.
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Posted: 17th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (213)
Jaycee Lee Dugard Lived In Britain
JAYCEE Lee Dugard – Anorak’s look at Jaycee Dugard in the news: With Baby P, Madeleine McCann, Shannon Matthews, 9/11, Afghanistan, War on Terror, Mumbai Massacre, the Asian tsunami and Sue Carroll…
Lest you think the story of Jaycee Dugard is not relevant to you, dear Britisher, that you are just gawping at suffering and sensation, Sue Carroll sets you straight, and engages in a rich game of Tabolid Bingo. See how many stories you can spot being linked to Our Jaycee:
Daily Mirror: “Who’s to say there isn’t a Jaycee Lee Dugard in Britain?”
How ironic that during Jaycee’s incarceration the world has witnessed terrorist atrocities, disasters and war but missed completely the cruelty inflicted on an innocent little girl locked away in a paedophile’s suburban backyard.
9/11. Mumbai. Tsunami. Iraq. Bing…. Wait for it. Sue Carroll has more:
We know enough about the death of Baby P to recognise no stone must be left unturned when a child’s life is in question.
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Posted: 2nd, September 2009 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comment
Madeleine McCann: innocence not presumed, The Moorside and rewards unclaimed
Madeleine McCann: a look at reporting on the missing child. News is that her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, are ‘not in the clear’.
The Mirror (front page): ‘McCanns’ agony at Maddie ruling by court.’
Page 9: ‘Judge: McCanns are not formally in clear’
Are they formally not in the clear? It’s a tad confusing.
Reading on we’re told that Portugal’s Supreme Court has ‘failed to put them in the clear’ over their daughter’ disappearance. Although the McCanns are no longer arguidos – what the Mirror calls the a Portuguese legal term for ‘formal suspects’ – judges says ‘this does not equate to a ruling of innocence’.
Isn’t innocence presumed?
In 2007, the Guardian told us what an arguido is:
An “arguido” – normally translated as “named suspect” or “formal suspect” – is someone who is treated by Portuguese police as more than a witness, but has not been arrested or charged. Under Portuguese law, a person declared an arguido – “arguida” in the case of a woman – has legal protection that is not extended to a witness, including the right to remain silent during questioning and the right to legal representation.
Detectives invoke arguido status on someone as a preliminary to an arrest being made or charges brought, a Portuguese law expert, Lita Gale, told Guardian Unlimited today. “If you are an arguido they have to have suspicion that a crime has been committed by that person,” she said.
The BBC said:
How is arguido status given and what does it mean?
Under Portuguese law either the police or a person being questioned can request that they be formally named as a suspect, a process called arguido. Artur Rego, a Portuguese lawyer, told BBC News: “Arguido is the person who has been accused of being the perpetrator. This is just an accusation made exactly at the end of the investigation.”
A person can ask for arguido status if they feel the line of questioning is implying that they are a suspect. This gives them more rights than a witness would have.
Back to the Mirror, which has been looking at the report into the McCanns’ failed libel case against Goncalo Amaral, the ex-copper who who wrote a book ‘claiming they were responsible for Madeleine’s “death” in 2007’. In the ruling on that case, the judges wrote, “It should not be said that the appellant were cleared via the ruling announcing the archiving of the criminal case” in July 2008.
The Mirror says the judges note that ‘the case was not shelved because prosecutors believed Kate and Gerry… were innocent – but due to lack to evidence.” Said the Portuguese Supreme Court: “It doesn’t therefore seem acceptable that the ruling, based on the insufficiency of evidence, should be equated to proof of innocence.”
The Mirror calls the ruling ‘painful’ for the McCanns.
The Mail has more. The story does not feature in today’s newspaper, only online.
Highlighting the McCanns’ Tapas Nine friend Jane Tanner’s much-questioned sighting of the suspected ‘abductor’, they added: ‘It’s true that the aforementioned criminal inquiry ended up being archived, namely because none of the apparent evidence that led to the appellants being made ‘arguidos’ was subsequently confirmed or consolidated.
‘However even the archive ruling raises serious concerns relating to the truth of the allegation that Madeleine was kidnapped.’
Facts. There was only ever one: child vanishes.
The Sun (page 1): ‘FRESH TORMENT – McCanns ‘Are NOT IN CLEAR'”
This is ‘fresh anguish’ for the McCanns, says the Sun. The judges ‘said there were “serious concerns” over the theory that Madeleine had been abducted’.
The Sun says that Amaral plans to write a second book about the case and the McCanns will ‘sue again if it it is published on Britain’.
The paper also notes that the judges said ‘It would be wrong to draw any inference about the couple’s guilt or innocence from the ruling’.
As the papers look at the parents and the courts, offering no word on any hunt for the missing child, the Sun adds a dig at the BBC. “Kate and Gerry McCann have slammed BBC show The Moorside as “appalling and insensitive”. They told pals the drama based on the 2008 search for Shannon Matthews was in “poor taste and bad timing”.
What did that case have to do with the McCanns?
Says the Sun: ‘The McCanns were mentioned in Tuesday’s drama, with one resident claiming their case received more publicity and reward money as they were “posher”.’
Tsk! Overlooking how the ‘pals’ have the Sun’s ear, you might wonder how the Sun approached the stories of the girl it called ‘Maddie’ and Shannon?
In 2008, the Sun offered a £20,000 reward to find missing “little princess” Shannon Matthews. The Indy wrote:
Even The Sun’s support yesterday caused disappointment. “I’m devastated, to be honest,” said a coach driver, as others around him agreed. “That poster should have been on the front page.” It was on page 17.
You might also wonder why the Sun dresses controversy over the Shannon Matthews TV show as a McCann issue and not one for Shannon’s family?
Daily Star (Page 7): ‘Links to Maddie “awful”‘.
The paper says Gerry and Kate McCann are ‘said to be furious at multiple references to Maddie’s disappearance in the Moorside”. But surely mentioning Madeleine McCann keeps her name in the news. That’s good, no? Maybe that’s why a ‘source’ is talking to the media?
Posted: 9th, February 2017 | In: Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comment
Ben Needham: gypsies, a dead witness and a ‘cover-up’
Ben Needham has still not been found. The renewed search for the toddler who vanished on Kos 25 years ago has given us nothing of substance. But the tabloids are at work. If we can’t see the child, we can continue to gawp at his mother.
“‘WHITEWASH’ ON KOS,” says the Sun. “Ben Needham case ‘has all signs of a cover-up’ with sex slurs used to discredit toddler’s mum.”
The story continues:
THE hunt for toddler Ben Needham – who went missing on the Greek island of Kos 25 years ago – has the signs of a cover-up, an investigation found. Greek police were “under pressure” to end their probe quickly, reports The Mirror, and a witness apparently falsely claimed he had slept with Ben’s mum Kerry in an attempt to smear her.
Wow, indeed, that Greek police have spoken out. Good on them. But wait a moment.
…a retired cop, one of the first to join the hunt, admitted: “We were under pressure to close the case. Everyone wanted to find the child. We did our best.”
Unnamed ex-policeman says force was under pressure to end the case of the missing toddler who vanished on holiday to an holiday island? It’s news devoid of detail.
In the Mirror, we read he headline:
Ben Needham case has hallmarks of cover-up with cops wanting probe closed quickly and sex lies in bid to blacken mum’s name
We love a conspiracy, eh, readers? Who knew?
British police searching for answers to the disappearance of the toddler 25 years ago have tried hard to finally lift the gloom
Lucy Thornton writes:
The Ben Needham case has all the hallmarks of a cover-up, a Mirror probe has found. The Mirror can reveal Greek police were pressured to close their inquiry quickly and a witness lied that he slept with the boy’s mum, blackening her name.
A key witness account on Kos is missing and a Greek official has dismissed the UK police’s theory that Ben was run over by a digger.
As the last British tourists leave Kos at the end of the holiday season, a sinister cloud hangs over the island.
After that, Thornton makes it about, well, her.
Mirror colleagues and I have spent months investigating the mystery and found claims of a Greek “cover-up” as wicked lies, vanishing statements and smears against the family were made.
This is the Lucy Thornton who when reporting on the vanishing of Shannon Matthews, wrote: “I’ve shared the despair and relief, says the Mirror’s Lucy Thornton.” Adding: “Meanwhile, I was hugged in the street by people I barely knew less than a month ago. They thanked me. What For? For just doing my job.”
Never mind the missing child, get a load of the reporter.
Mirror colleagues and I have spent months investigating the mystery and found claims of a Greek “cover-up” as wicked lies, vanishing statements and smears against the family were made.
She then adds:
Rumours continue on the island, that Ben was taken by gypsies, or the mafia.
After the wicked- lies and “cover-up”, round-up the usual suspects. Gypsies. Always the gypsies.
Independent on Ben Needham – 1995. ‘Gypsies did it’
In 2000, the BBC reported:
Theories have included Ben having been killed, abducted by gypsies or sold on to a family who could not have a child, but police have never closed the file.
And in 1997, the Sunday Mirror reported:
The search for Ben has become a crusade for Greek private eye Stratos Bakirtzis from Thessalonika, northern Greece. Two years ago he raised the alarm and told police he had found the missing toddler while investigating a gipsy family. However, he claims the child was swapped before police could search the house.
So much for rumours and belief. What of facts, and the Mirror’s investigation?
Kerry believes there has been a cover-up over her son’s death and people wanted her to “go away….and forget about Ben”.
More belief. And facts?
In a bid to smear the Needham name, a man who worked with Kerry at a hotel on Kos falsely claimed to have slept with her, while she was out hunting for Ben. He left Kos shortly after making the allegation. He turned public opinion against the unmarried British mum and many blamed the family as a result. But Kerry has now been told by South Yorkshire Police officers this witness has finally told the truth.
He confessed it was a lie, but claimed he felt bullied into it. It is understood prosecutors on Kos are looking at this admission.
As we are invited to understand what the Mirror has understood, we hear from the unnamed source:
But he said his main reason for speaking was to reveal the statement of a mysterious witness, a friend of his, was never taken because bosses ignored his report. “He told me he’d seen a car with number plates from abroad. It had two people in the car and they were not Greek people. The witness said the child was playing outside and someone stepped out of the car and took him. My friend does not lie. I went back but once he knew the child was still missing he didn’t want to speak.
Can we speak with the witness?
He said the witness, like so many others, has since died.
Such are the facts.
Embarrassing endorsements: Islamic State’s Jake Bilardi cheers for Chelsea
When 17-year-old Australian Islamic State fighter, Jake Bilardi, died in a suicide bombing attack, we all saw the photo. There was Jake in his Chelsea kit.
Cheslea’s marketing men must have been delighted by the repeated exposure Bilardi has given their brand.
Fans of other clubs can only smirk when they see a miscreant wearing a rival team’s kit.
When Craig Meehan was arrested during the Shannon Matthews affair, he was photgpahed in his Manchester United kit. Meehan was subsequently convicted of possessing indecent images of children on a computer found in the home he shared with Karen Matthews.
If you see an embarrassing endorsement, please let us know at @theanorak on twittter.
Posted: 16th, March 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports Comment
Cliff Richard: sex, sinners, Kaddie fiddlers and a desire to bury the singer alive
Daily Mirror
Cliff Richard – still Sir Cliff Richard – is on the front page of all the tabloids.
The Mirror (front page): “Cliff Richard Facing New Sex Claims”
Not too long ago that shocker would have been that Sir Cliff had ever had sex, preferring tennis and al fresco singing to nookie. Now we read that “police are probing new claims of sex abuse with Sir Cliff Richard are more alleged victims came forward”. An “officer”, revealed to be South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable David Crompton, says”This investigation has increased significantly.”
Crompton made his comment in a letter to Home Affiars Committee chariman Keith Vaz.
Page 9: “I have no idea where these absurd & untrue allegations come from,” says Cliff. The Mirror fails to tell its readers that Cliff said that on his Facebook page:
I have no idea where these absurd and untrue allegations come from. The police have not disclosed details to me. I have never, in my life, assaulted anyone and I remain confident that the truth will prevail. I have cooperated fully with the police, and will, of course, continue to do so.
Beyond stating that the allegations are completely false, it would not be appropriate for me to say anything further until the investigation has concluded, which I hope will be very soon. In the meantime, I would, again, like to thank everyone for supporting me through this unbelievably difficult period.
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Posted: 26th, February 2015 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, Reviews Comment
The Top 20 Unhelpful Celebrity Fans Of Premier League Teams 2014
Top Twenty Unhelpful Celebrity Fans
With the Premier League season fast approaching, what better time to look at the twenty clubs and consider, not their new signings or their likely achievements, but their famous fans?
Rather than reel off the names that make them puff out their chests with pride, let’s look at the ones that do not command universal respect and affection. The ones who, frankly, do not help their cause at all…
Arsenal
The Gunners’ biggest celebrity Arse has few serious competitors. Step forward, Piers Morgan, seen here cosying up to Arsenal’s… er… Wayne Rooney
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Posted: 10th, August 2014 | In: Key Posts, Sports Comment (1)
Embarrassing Endorsements: When A Famous Name Damages Your Brand
THE Nicolas Anelka ‘quinelle’ controversy has taken a dramatic new twist, as West Bromwich Albion’s sponsors have threatened to end their shirt contract if the club continues to pick the French striker.
Zoopla are not the first people to find that association with high-profile individuals can be a double-sided sword…
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Posted: 18th, January 2014 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Key Posts, Sports Comment
Tia Sharp: Newspapers target Stuart Hazell, two hours and what the neighbour didn’t see
TIA Sharp: Day 7 of the search for the missing Surrey 12-year-old and she’s no longer front-page news. As before, the newspapers are focusing on Stuart Hazell, Tia’s step-grand-father. Today’s round-up:
Daily Telegraph: “Tia Sharp’s step-grandfather admits ‘shady past’ but denies harming 12-year-old”
That he needs to deny anything in public is a pity. Hazell is stood in the dock in the court of public opinion. He is a witness. He is not under arrest. He is not a suspect – at least he isn’t in the eyes of the law. This is a missing person’s case.
Mr Hazell, who previously dated Tia’s mother Natalie Sharp, 30, and has served two jail sentences for supplying crack cocaine and the possession of a machete, said: “My previous has got nothing to do with it. Everyone’s got a shady past. Did I do anything to Tia? No I bloody didn’t. I’d never think of that. I loved her to bits, she’s like my own daughter. She’s got a lovely home. I can’t work out what’s going on. She’s a happy-go-lucky golden angel. She’s perfect.”
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Posted: 10th, August 2012 | In: Reviews Comments (6)
TIA Sharp: Anorak’s at-a-glance look at the missing 12-year-old girl in the news:
The Sun has issued a £25,000 reward for information that “will lead police to find missing Tia Sharp”. Does the reward get a result? The Sun seems to think so. It selflessly has offered rewards in the cases of missing Joanna Yeates and missing Shannon Matthews. The Sun’s now dead sister paper the News of the World offered a hug reward for anyone who could find Madeleine McCann. All these appeals came with a free poster you can stick on your shops, window or car. Selflessly, all posters carry the newspaper’s logo, co-branding the missing and murdered with a tabloid banner. So what that the Sun’s owners and former editors are in the mire for allegedly hacking the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and perverting the course of justice. The Sun will show one and all how much it cares by offering up some cash.
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Posted: 8th, August 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (13)
Another Madeleine McCann Spreads Fear In The Algarve: Daily Star Spreads Fear
MADELEINE McCann: The Daily Star’s Jonathan Corke says the Algarve is just waiting for another Maddie to happen. And only CCTV can prevent it:
BRITISH children on holiday in Portugal’s Algarve are still “wide open” to another Madeleine McCann-style abduction because authorities refuse to install CCTV.
She vanished in 2007. There have been no similar vanishing since. Why the fear now? And why only British kids?
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry have long believed a camera network in the region may have helped prevent her disappearance or helped in the search.
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Posted: 14th, June 2011 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (6)
