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Scarlett Keeling: The Good Life, The Wrong Life And Judging Fiona MacKeown
SCARLETT KEELING WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Scarlett Keeling
Scarlett Keeling has been raped and murdered in India. Two men have been arrested. But the story is of the girl’s mother, Fiona MacKeown, who is to be judged in the media.
DAILY MAIL: “The truth about ‘Good Life’ of murdered teenager Scarlett Keeling”
The truth? Does the Mail know what happened to Scarlett Keeling, who killed her?
An empty milk bottle, tie-dye sheets pinned over the window instead of curtains, discarded black bin liners and a sleeping bag on the floor, and the contents spewing carelessly from a chest of drawers. On top of them the remnants of a lost childhood – a plastic duck and young girl’s jewellery box.
As these pictures show, this is the squalor in which Scarlett Keeling was being raised. It is a million miles from the fantasy world of a wholesome family upbringing painted by her mother Fiona MacKeown in the past two weeks.
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
A mother grieves. Fiona MacKeown wants justice. And the Mail looks at her home. There are pictures of caravans. But no Caravan Club of Great Britain stickers. Not here.
She described their family’s life on a small-holding in Devon, where they grew their own food and kept their own chickens, as a perfect example of The Good Life.
The Good Life, that middle-class dream of nice-looking eco-warriors and self-sufficiency in the suburbs, where the childless erudite couple make their own wine, cheese and gentle humour from their land. They are the rebels. Fiona MacKeown is something else:
She has nine children born to five different men, none of whom plays a day-to-day roll in their upbringing; the family’s only discernible income is from state benefits; her older children, educated largely at home, drink and, in Scarlett’s case, take drugs; and her eldest son, just 19, was left behind in Devon only to break his neck in a mystery car accident currently being investigated by British police.
A dead girl. A caravan. Children. A car accident. “Naivety or negligence? Some would argue that that question goes to the heart of not just this sorry tale but Fiona’s lifestyle in the round.” The Mail is brought to you by the Non-Sequitur Society Of Great Britian.
Yesterday her remaining children finally arrived back in Britain where they will be cared for by their grandmother. Fiona remains in Goa, determined to continue her fight. It is a fight not just for justice for Scarlett, but also to convince a growing army of critics, who believe she fatally let her eldest daughter down.
Does Fiona MacKeown have to convince her critics, and these are critics who may already be critcal of her lifestyle? Does she use her energy to talk to Daily Mail readers? And for these readers is the biggest concern, the ultimate pain, the biggest problem, that Fiona MacKeown does not give a stuff what they think of her. Is that what hurts the Mail’s readers most. Or please them best?
THE SCOTSMAN: “So what is a mum to do?
Every so often, circumstances conspire to hold up before us that most reviled of creatures: the bad mother. We love a bad mother…
Now it’s Fiona MacKeown’s turn. On the McCann scale of public opprobrium she ought to come off worse – and it may yet prove that she does, because this story is still young.
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Posted: 13th, March 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Tabloids Comments (46)
Madleine MCcann: The ITV Film, Tabloid Crime And Scarlett Keeling
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews
THE SUN: “McCanns could be in ITV film”
KATE and Gerry McCann are in talks to appear in an ITV documentary on missing kids. But the film will not be based on Madeleine’s case. Instead it would focus on how other countries treat lost children.
Are the McCanns doomed to be the media faces of missing children? Will they be invited to off their views on Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Unsolved Crimes?
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Madeleine McCann’s parents discuss TV offer”
Representatives of Kate and Gerry McCann have met with the broadcaster about a documentary that would be shot over a long period of time, their spokesman confirmed. It is thought that, while the documentary would feature four-year-old Madeleine’s disappearance from Portuguese resort Praia da Luz last year, it would focus on the wider subject of how countries respond to children going missing.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns spokesman, says: “We have talked with one or two companies and have a number of proposals and we are moving forward with those proposals. It is more than likely it would be with ITV at this stage, but I am not at liberty to go into details.”
Is this Brand McCann at work?
Says Clarence Mitchell: “They don’t want to do anything about ‘woe is us a year on’. That is what the tabloids would like us to do, but we are not following their agenda, we are following our own agenda.”
Indeed. No film. It will be tasteful and not at all mawkish. It will not be all about viewing figures and advertisers. It will be an ITV film…
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Posted: 12th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (759)
Madeleine McCann: A Jetski, A Bag And Terrorist Attacks On Israel
MADDYWATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews
DAILY MAIL: “Couple saw bundle taken out to sea near where Madeleine disappeared but police ignored them”
A bundle?
A British couple saw a package being bundled onto a jetski on a beach just six miles from where Madeleine McCann went missing. The tourists had been for a morning swim just nine hours after the little girl disappeared when they spotted the jetski.
A man in a dark wetsuit was riding it, with a 2ft- to 3ft-long black package on the front. He took it to a small “official-looking” grey boat moored just off the coast at Salema.
Man with bag spotted… Read all about it!
The McCanns’s spokesman said they were concerned the Portuguese police had not followed up such a “potentially significant lead”. Really.
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Posted: 4th, March 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (382)
Madeleine McCann: maybe the German in the van took her – or maybe not
There’s a new suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It’s a 43-year-old German man. No need to look for him. He’s already in prison. German media has identified him as ‘Christian B’. Hans Christian Wolters, from the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor’s Office, says: “We are assuming that the girl is dead. With the suspect, we are talking about a sexual predator who has already been convicted of crimes against little girls and he’s already serving a long sentence.”
The story leads the news cycle. The Times says he’s a “paedophile”. The Telegraph says it’s the “biggest breakthrough yet”. It’s “time to nail” him, says the Star. Great news. And it is – until you get the facts… How can you charge a man with a crime with no evidence he committed one – and no evidence any crime took place?
The Mail and Sun both lead with questions. “Did German take Maddie in this van?” wonders the Sun, making the suspect’s nationality a key part of the story. “Have they found man who took Maddie?” asks the Mail.
And one more question: did police working on Operation Grange keep the story from media until coronavirus had been washed from the front pages? Was it done to help their appeal for anyone who saw the man or his van to come forward? If they did, it’s worked. Did they also want to show us that for £11m, the cost of the investigation so far, you get results?
The BBC leads its story by telling us, “He is believed to have been in the area where Madeleine was last seen, when she disappeared in Portugal 13 years ago.” Believed by..? “Someone out there knows a lot more than they’re letting on,” says Det Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell.
So did you see a man with a camper van in Portugal 13 years ago? He has short short blond hair and about 6ft tall with a slim build at the time. German and British police have spoken with him about Madeleine but he’s not confessed.
Time to review the evidence:
The Express says he was known to be in Praia da Luz when Madeleine McCann vanished. He had 30-minute phone conversation with a “mystery caller” the night Madeleine went missing. The day after Madeleine vanished in 2007, the suspect transferred the Jaguar to someone else’s name. The BBC says this is “suspicious”.
On the night of the vanishing, he received a phone call at 7.32pm, which ended at 8.02pm. Madeleine is believed to have disappeared between 9.10pm and 10pm that evening.
The Telegraph says he’s a multiple child sex offender.
The Mail says the suspect was renting a “ramshackle farm building” two miles from Praia da Luz where the McCann family were holidaying.
German police also suggested there “may” have been other people involved who are still at large, says the Mail. As one German officer puts: “There is reason to assume that there are other persons, apart from the suspect, who have concrete knowledge of the course of the crime and maybe also of the place where the body was left.”
It all adds up to a lot of belief, assumption and maybe. Plus ca change.
And you can help find Maddie. Scotland Yard is launching a joint appeal with German and Portuguese police with a £20,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of the person responsible for Madeleine’s. Remember when the reward was huge and the innocent girl who became the media’s ‘Our Maddie’ was spotted in: Canada,Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Majorca,Belgium, Bosnia, France, Australia, Brazil,Wales, Malta, Italy, Germany, Australia, France, India, Dubai, Dorset, USA and New Zealand (taken there by boat).
The last word is with the parents who issue this statement:
“We would like to thank the police forces involved for their continued efforts in the search for Madeleine. All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice. We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive, but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know as we need to find peace.”
Madeleine McCann is missing.
Posted: 4th, June 2020 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, News Comment
Madeleine McCann: spotted in 90 countries; Netflix is ill; and the making of Our Maddie
“How much worse can it get for the Portugal travel and tourism industry?” asks one website in response to the eight-part Netflix drama, a feast on the Madeleine McCann story. The question is left unanswered. But we can guess because when it comes to the media’s ‘Our Maddie’, aside from the single fact – child vanishes – guessing is all we have.
The Tab taps into the media narrative of a Maddie in every county, by telling us “These are all the Maddie McCann ‘sightings’ since she went missing in 2007”. Spoiler alert: she’s not been spotted anywhere since she vanished. Other children have. But not her. The last few years have thrown up very few ‘sighting’ but by 20011, the innocent child who vanished had been spotted in India, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Majorca,Belgium, Bosnia, France, Australia, Brazil,Wales, Malta, Italy, Germany, Australia, France, Dubai, Dorset, USA and New Zealand (by boat). The Tab has more but, unhelpfully, without links:
Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azores, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Canary Islands, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dubai, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, The Gambia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ibiza, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Madeira, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, Ukraine, USA, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela and Vietnam.
The world is full of sleuths and suspects. And Maddies. And you can play along. Irish website Extra invites its readers to play armchair detective. The headline appears to be more suggestive than a puppy sat by a pile of poo: “HERE ARE THE 48 QUESTIONS KATE MCCANN DIDN’T ANSWER ABOUT MADDIE’S DISAPPEARANCE.” Stop Press: before you read on and start speculating, Kate McCann is not a suspect in her daughter’s vanishing. Gerry McCann is not a suspect. Both are innocent. In fact, there are no suspects. Everybody is innocent.
Not that this is all about an alleged crime. It isn’t even about the McCanns as real people – not since Madeleine McCann, the name her parents call her by, was reworked into ‘Maddie’ by a press pushed for headline space and concerned the story of the missing English blonde might sound a bit, you know, French. This is entertainment.
Get this in the Mail: “Madeleine McCann’s parents are ‘furious’ after retired detective repeats claim in new Netflix series that they put toddler’s life at risk by publicising her distinctive eye mark.” After the fury, the story:
Gerry and Kate McCann, both 51, from Rothley in Leicestershire, were said to be livid that Goncalo Amaral has again said the three-year-old’s life was endangered after the couple revealed the distinctive mark in her eye.
The abductor may have felt forced to kill the toddler after the mark was publicised, Mr Amaral, 59, suggested, due to her being easily identified.
Mr Amaral, who led the police investigation into the 2007 Praia de Luz disappearance, originally made the comments in a book he wrote in 2008.
He said it over ten years ago. An unnamed source tells the Sunday Mirror: “Mr Amaral doesn’t seem to have any compassion for Kate and Gerry and is only interested in publicising himself. To criticise them for doing everything they could to help find their daughter is insensitive in the extreme… If there is any defamatory content in there then, of course, they will consider what next steps need to be taken.”
A reported statement from the McCanns – via Digital Spy – reads:
“The production company told us that they were making the documentary and asked us to participate.We did not see – and still do not see – how this programme will help the search for Madeleine and, particularly given there is an active police investigation, it could potentially hinder it. Consequently, our views and preferences are not reflected in the programme.”
And on and on it goes. Screw the lowered ambition of a trite documentary. Why not go for the theatre play? The Mousetrap could use a rival.
Posted: 17th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, News Comment
Madeleine McCann: Could, May and Perhaps rejoin the hunt
Madeleine McCann is back in the news. And it’s all abut the money.
The Metro tells us that the “hunt for Maddie McCann has cost £11600000 so far”. Not quite. That’s what Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange has cost. The Met’s investigation into the vanishing of Madeleine McCann began in 2011. Before that Portuguese police were investigating the case of the British child who went missing on the Algarve in 2007. That wasn’t without cost. And there was the private investigation funded by well-wishers and run by Madeleine McCann’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. The headline figure is wrong. But, then, the story isn’t about the missing child; it’s about us and if British readers can turn her into a talking point. Is she worth it?
The Metro oozes: “Speculation is growing into whether UK police will stop the hunt when the funding ends as no request for more cash has yet been made.” Who is speculating? Hopefully you are. And hopefully tomorrow you’ll tune in for an update on the single thread story spun out of control by a voracious media.
No news on the money means the story has been kickstarted as far afield as New Zealand, where the Herald announces: “Hunt for Madeleine McCann may end within three weeks.” When the word “may” appears in a headline you know your story is in trouble. But she was spotted “in a New Zealand supermarket”, so maybe the story is local to New Zealand after all?
She’s also been spotted in:
Canada,Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Majorca,Belgium, Bosnia, France, Australia, Brazil,Wales, Malta, Italy, Germany, Australia, France, India, Dubai, Dorset, USA and New Zealand (by boat).
In the Daily Record, readers are told: ‘Kate and Gerry McCann have vowed “the search will go on” for their missing girl amid reports police could shelve their hunt.’ Could. Or could not. An unnamed source tells us:
“They will never stop looking for Madeleine or hoping that one day she will be found. More than 11 years on there is still no evidence to suggest that she is dead or has been harmed. If the police search comes to an end, there are other avenues to explore. They have carefully managed the money in Madeleine’s Fund for that eventuality. Whether they choose to employ private investigators or go down another route is something for them to decide.”
To recap: There is no news.
Posted: 13th, September 2018 | In: Madeleine McCann, News, Tabloids Comment
Madeleine McCann spotted in…Paraguay
Madeleine McCann has been spotted in Paraguay. Yes. Really. Well, maybe. The media cranks up the journalisomobile.
The Mail: “Heartache for McCann family as authorities debunk reports missing Madeleine is living ‘in the custody of a woman’ in Paraguay following claims by British ‘private eye'”
Is that huge reward still on offer, the one the News of the World put up?
British man Miraz Ullah Ali Isa, who claims to be a private eye, had said Maddie was living ‘in the custody of a woman’ in the city of Aregua. His claims are believed to have triggered a major search involving four local police stations, an anti-kidnapping division and Interpol.
Claims. Claims. Believed. Any more facts?
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, had been informed of the reports and appealed for anyone with information to come forward. But investigators have now debunked the alleged sighting and questioned the credibility of researcher Miraz Ullah Ali Isa.
Maybe he just made an honest mistake? Many others have seen her in – deep breath:
Canada,Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Majorca,Belgium, Bosnia, France, Australia, Brazil,Wales, Malta, Italy, Germany, Austrialia, France, Dubai, Dorset, USA , India and New Zealand (by boat).
The Mail adds:
But the report is still understood to have sparked in investigation.
Any other names in this story?
Commissioner Sanny Amarilla, a deputy chief involved in the search, said four police stations, intelligence personnel from the Interior Ministry and Interpol divisions were involved in the search. He said: ‘We are investigating neighbourhoods where there are foreign citizens, villas, condos, to see if there is someone with a similar description that corresponds to the newspaper clipping. ‘This news stretches across the globe, it is very important. So if they are in the area we need to find this girl and return her to her family.’
Well, yes.
But the allegations have now been dismissed by inspector Luis Ignacio Arias of Interpol in Paraguay, who said that his office had ‘nothing concrete’ about Isa’s identity. He told EFE the researcher had never contacted the National Police or the Foreign Ministry with his reported sighting.
The Sun: “‘Madeleine in Paraguay’: Cops launch manhunt after missing McCann is ‘spotted'”
More inverted commas, or are four in one headline enough? We hear more from the PI:
Ali told Color ABC: “My team and I received the information that Madeleine arrived in Paraguay a month or two ago and is living in Areguá in the custody of a woman.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 9th, March 2016 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews Comment (1)
Madeleine McCann Spotted In Turin
DID you see Madeleine McCann at the Europa League Final in Turin between Benfica (Portugal) and Sevilla (Spain)?
They did.
This is mad at the Porto match nd she has that same thing in her right eye as maddie McCann! pic.twitter.com/5ukxvjl3ZB
— Aiden Hoffman (@aiden_hoffman) May 14, 2014
People actually think this is Maddy McCann? I recon she might’ve grown over the years she’s been missing pic.twitter.com/Wzu3NkoEjT
— Fray Charles (@FraserMarshall1) May 15, 2014
Woah did anyone else just see Madeleine McCann in the stands then? pic.twitter.com/KTdjPLd41D
— Alex Head (@AlexJHead) May 14, 2014
Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dignified this utter balls with a statement:
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Posted: 20th, May 2014 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews, Sports Comment
Madeleine McCann: Let’s get the Arabs
OUR Maddie: Anorak’s at –a-glance look at Madeleine McCann in the news: after the gypsies are defamed it’s time to get the Arabs again:
Sunday Express: “MADELEINE: SECRET FILES REVEAL FOUR ‘SIGHTINGS’ IN MOROCCO”
Only four?
James Murray writes:
Today the Sunday Express can reveal that among the Spanish private detective agency’s secret files are key “sightings” of Madeleine in Morocco.
Why would the files be secret? If every stone is being turned over to look for the child, why would any sighting remain a secret? Is it so that the kidnappers aren’t panicked, as Gerry McCann said they might have been when the Daily Mail spotted Our Maddie in India?
It’s Metodo 3, of course, the private detective agency that never found the innocent child, nor provided any firm evidence of what happened to her. The firm’s Francisco Marco Fernandez says of handing over 30 boxes of stuff to the Met:
“I think this could be a significant moment in the effort to discover what happened to the child. I am very glad all our leads will now be looked at by the Yard because they are important.”
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Posted: 20th, December 2011 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (2)
Police Tell Girls To Told To Stop Wearing Pervert-Attracting School Uniforms In Public
SCHOOLGIRLS have been advised not to wear their uniforms on the Tornto subway. A man has been looking up their skirts. So. It follows that the girls should change their behaviour.
Allan Hardy, head of Greenwood College, notes that two pupils at his school have been targeted. He listens to the police and conveys his message to parents:
The Toronto Sun reports:
“Students, especially females, should consider not wearing their school uniform when riding the TTC … This person was looking up the girls’ skirts … So the advice is given… if they had, for example, jeans or sweatpants on, it wouldn’t be an issue.”
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Posted: 14th, October 2011 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (3)
Madeleine McCann Spotted In India: French And Belgian Couple Help Police
MADELEINE McCann has been spotted in…India. She was with a Belgian and French couple.
To date, Our Maddie has been spotted in:
Canada,Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Majorca,Belgium, Bosnia, France, Australia, Brazil,Wales, Malta, Italy, Germany, Austrialia, France, Dubai, Dorset, USA and New Zealand (by boat).
The Tribune India says the ‘sighting’ was on the 22nd July
Says Anorak reader Karen:
It’s now being reported as breaking news today on ITV Central and it’s also in the Mail:
“At one point an American man is said to have tried to take the girl from the couple. However the French woman and her Belgian husband insist that they are the parents of the girl.
Police in the city have taken swabs so that DNA tests can be carried out on the youngster.“
As she says:
Is it her or are all girls who resemble her going to be treated like this at some stage?
It would be nice if it’s her but what about those poor, innocent parents if it isn’t?
How long does it take to get the results of DNA tests?
The report says:
High drama prevailed in the busy Fort Road market of the city last night when three persons identified a six-year-old girl as Madeleine McCann, a British girl who went missing while on a holiday in Portugal in 2007.
Madeleine McCann would not be six. As reader June says:
Where are the parents? But its probably just another ‘sighting’ no names of the people involved at all.
But attempting to remove the child??? very bad form – not everyone will be that ‘sympathetic’ that its ok to do that.
The eye defect is miniscule anyway and you would have to get very close indeed to see it, and isn’t MM 8 now and not 6 as reported
Karen adds:
SkyPhilippa Philippa Hall (Sky News presenter)
Our producer in Delhi as spoken to police, who say they’ve not heard about the DNA test or sighting of Madeleine #mccann.
ITVCentral Leh police tell ITV News there is no child resembling #Madeleine #McCann in their custody and they are not aware of any such incident.
So where did the news come from then?
We do not know. We guess the local Leh police, who, reportedly, told the Chandigarh Tribune in India that they had taken copies of the girl’s “parents'” passports – and:
“‘It all depends upon the evidence like DNA for which help from Madeleine’s parents and the British police was required.’
Over in the Mail we learn from the McCanns’ PR Clarence Mitchell:
“Kate and Gerry do not believe the child seen in India was Madeleine. They have seen photographic evidence and concluded that it was not her.
“We remain grateful for people’s vigilance around the world. Madeleine is still out there and the search for her very much continues.”
“MADDIE IS STILL OUT THERE”
Posted: 28th, July 2011 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (16)
Madeleine McCann: The Making Of Our Maddie – A Media Commodity
MADELEINE McCann: Anorak’s at-a-glance look at Our Maddie – the innocent child who became a media commodity.
The Sunday Times (front page): “KATE McCANN: ‘I REELED. THEY THOUGHT I HAD KILLED MADELEINE’”
The child’s face peers out from the cover of the paper’s News Review – section 4 of the swollen paper.
“THEY SAID I KILLED HER”
In the weeks after Madeleine McCann was abducted, her parents were beset by vicious rumour and bizarre offers of help. Worse was to come.
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Posted: 15th, May 2011 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (4)
Sniffer Dogs Cry Wolf: Police Report Slams Eddie And Pals
MADELEINE McCann: thanks to all the readers to pointed us towards the news that sniffer dogs need better training and monitoring.
As a reader writes:
Considering the millions of words posted on Anorak in the past it made me smile!
Something called the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) haas written a report about sniffer dogs, like the ones used in the search for Madeleine McCann.
The report states:
“There is no consistency in what the dogs can do and how it is done. Furthermore, there is no national standard for accrediting dogs and handlers or record keeping of the success rate they achieve.”
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Posted: 24th, March 2011 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (13)
Madeleine McCann: Marcelino Italiano Knows Maddie Is In America
MADELEINE McCann: She’s back on the front pages.
The Sun leads with:
“Maddie is in US – I know who took her.”
Finally, a name. And what coincidence that it should arrive not long after the Sun has secured the rights to feature the McCanns’ official Our Maddie book before the big summer get away?
We meet Marcelino Italiano. He’s 36. He says Our Maddie was kidnapped by an “Algarve-based paedophile ring”.
How does he know? Well, the Sun says he’s an “amateur sleuth”. And he says:
“They can get away with anything.”
Who are they? If they are so dangerous, now is the time to name them. Tell us:
“I know these people were involved and I have been told that Madeleine may now be in America.”
May..?
“I can’t say how, but I have known these people and believe they can get away with anything.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 18th, February 2011 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (15)
Madeleine McCann: Our Maddie Reaches Dubai
MADELEINE McCann has been spotted in Dubai.
The Sun has news on George Harrison, or him, or was it Raymond Hewlett, the “Maddie paedo”? Or the Gypsy snatchers“? Or Killer Bob?
Pictures Of All The Madeleine McCann Suspects
A girl looking like Maddie was spotted with a man “identical” to an artist’s impression of a suspect seen close to where she vanished in Portugal in May 2007.
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Posted: 20th, January 2011 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (10)
Morag and Anthony Jordan Jailed: Haut De La Garenne And Hollie Greig
FINALLY Morag and Anthony Jordan have been jailed for their “casual and routine violence” against children. The callous couple abused children at the Haut de la Garenne residential care home on Jersey during the 1970s and 1980s.
Morag and Anthony Jordan, of Kirriemuir, Angus, are both 62 – young enough for jail to matter. She got nine months jail. He got six months. The royal court of Jersey found them guilty of eight separate counts relating to abuse at the home.
Morag Jordan hit children with a wooden shoe. If they wet their beds whe would push their faces into their wet sheets. Her husband preferred to hit children with his hand and metal spoon.
In 2010, Gordon Wateridge, went up before the judge. He had also worked at the home. He was convicted of eight charges of indecent assault and one of assault against three teenage girls and one teenage boy.
In 2001, a resident called Michael Aubin was convicted of sexually abusing other boys.
The inquiry was launched by police in the island in September 2007, following allegations of abuse at the former children’s home. Officers took 1,776 statements from 192 victims, identifying 151 alleged abusers. Seven people, including the Jordans, were successfully prosecuted.
Anorak first heard of this dread place when the Madeleine McCann case was at its apogee.
In 2008, sniffer dogs found child’s bones at the home. They found a skull. Edie the Sniffer had worked on the Our Maddie case. He was said to have picked up traces of missing Madeleine McCann in the back of a car which her parents hired five weeks after she disappeared.
Only, the McCanns were innocent. And that skull turned out to be a coconut shell. Still, the press love the smell of death. The Guardian reported:
Police excavating the Jersey care home where part of a child’s skull was found in February have discovered two pits behind the boys’ dormitory. One was filled with lime, which is often used to try to accelerate the decomposition of soft tissues in buried remains.
Meanwhile, if you want the scent of another scandal, get a load of Hollie Greig…
9780980
Posted: 6th, January 2011 | In: Reviews Comments (7)
Madeleine McCann: Kate McCann Returns To Pray In Portugal With Much Anguish
MADELEINE McCann: The McCanns have a new team of detectives working in Portugal, and that news coincides with the fact that Kate McCann has returned to Portugal “to pray”.
Dominic Herbert writes:
KATE McCann made a solitary pilgrimage this weekend to the Portuguese resort where her daughter went missing “for emotional reasons and to pray for Madeleine”.
As ever, private grief becomes public spectacle. The story is no longer about a missing child and hard facts but a sign of God’s testing love for one woman.
Yesterday morning the anguished mum went to the Nossa Senhora da Luz church, five minutes walk from the flat where the McCanns holidayed in May 2007. Kate is staying with Praia da Luz’s Anglican priest Father Haynes Hubbard and his wife.
You can excuse the NoTW is breathless style and focus on Kate McCann. After three years of being invited to watch the orchestrated mourn porn, we feel that we’ve invested a lot of time in story that has had no pay off. Kate McCann continues to look “anguished” and Our Maddie continues to be missing.
And it is always the anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish; anguish and anguish.
Nothing has changed. The story of a missing child packaged for out entertainment by a voracious media is stuck…
Pictures Of All The Madeleine McCann Suspects
The Story in Pictures:
Posted: 3rd, October 2010 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (71)
Madeleine McCann: Martin Samuel’s Fear As A Parent Suffering From Our Maddie Sickness
HAVING heard Esther Rantzen patronise the McCanns for the independent MPs, spreading the fear and addressing Kate and Gerry McCann from the bottom of a bucket of syrup marked “FEAR”, the Mail lets Martin Samuel lose on Our Maddie and emotional exhibit Kate McCann.
In “Maddie, the heartrending dilemma”, Samuel, one of Anorak’s favourite writers, says:
There are, it is roughly estimated, as many as 180,000 missing children in the United Kingdom. According to the home Office, the number of full-time police in England and Wales is 142,000.
They are not all missing, presumed stolen. Many have gone off with parents.
You see the problem, yes? Even if we took one officer and told him his only job was to find Madeleine McCann, he would still have to take alternate Thursdays off to help investigate some other disappearance.
Well, if every missing child was thought to have been the subject of a crime, then yes. But they are not. Samuel is using the big numbers to prove a point but missing the facts.
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Posted: 30th, April 2010 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (12)
The Curious Case Of Sahil Saeed: Found Alive In Pictures
NEWS is that Sahil Saeed, the Oldham lad who went missing while staying with his dad at his granny’s house in Pakistan – kidnapped he was – has been found.
The Pakistan interior minister stated that someone close to the family had to been involved. There was no proof offered. the Telegraph said the father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, had “fled” Pakistan and returned to Blighty.
But had he? Rumours on Sky News suggest that the father had not left the country. Or as the Mail says:
Earlier this week, Sahil’s father Raja, who was with his son when he was snatched, ignored police requests and flew home to the UK. He was believed last night to be in hiding near his home.
Sources at Manchester Airport said he arrived back in the UK on Tuesday evening.
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Posted: 11th, March 2010 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (6)
Madeleine McCann: Blonde Children Invited To Join ‘I Am Not Maddie’ Campaign
MADELEINE MCCANN: Blonde children, and also children with black hair that looks like a wig, are to be encouraged to wear “I am not Maddie” badges in a bid to help locate the missing child.
We are indebted to Anorak reader and branding guru Percy for brainstorming this idea – in light of the Conservative’s adoption of the media’s Our Maddie and her PR Clarence Mitchell as the party’s media watcher. He suggests it is time to
…introduce an “I am Not Maddie” i.d. card for all blonde girls WorldWide?…..sounds silly I know…but it could help clear up any confusion.
In light of developments in these countries –
Canada, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Majorca, Belgium, Bosnia, France, Australia, Brazil, Wales, Malta, Italy, Germany, Austria and Dorset
– and more recently New Zealand (by boat), it might be useful. The added bonus is that the press could each day fill any gaps in the news with shots of blondes.
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Posted: 6th, March 2010 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (16)
Madeleine McCann: Singing In Canada, Pleading In Austria And Get The Gypsies
MADELEINE McCann – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann – gypsy snatchers, Maria Alice dos Santos Silveira, Jorge Vitorino Cabral Martins and Yvone Albino, Maddie in Canada, Maddie in Austria and Our Maddie is a press release for Hanover Commincations…
Daily Star (front page): “MADDIE IS SEEN ALIVE ON THE TELLY”
This is “shock new evidence”.
Has Our Maddie got a TV show in some remote corner of the world, like Dunedin?
VIEWERS wept when footage of a girl who looks just like Madeleine McCann singing in a school choir flashed up during a TV news bulletin.
You’d cry too. At least they weren’t playing the recorder.
Canadian broadcasters were stunned when distressed callers phoned in claiming they had accidentally filmed the youngster the world had been searching for.
What – Our Maddie hade made from Portugal to Canada and was now giving full throat to Silent night on the telly? So far, Madeleine has also been seen in: New Zealand, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Majorca, Belgium, Bosnia, France, Australia, Brazil, Wales, Malta, Italy and Dorset.
Our Maddie was “one of thousands of schoolkids taking part in Canada’s nationwide synchronised singathon. Immediately after the event was broadcast a woman from Toronto, convinced it was Maddie, phoned in “very upset and crying’’.
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Posted: 5th, March 2010 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (22)
Madeleine McCann: Fat Men, Gypsies And Pictures Of Kiwi Paedos
MADELEINE McCann – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann –Our Maddie is back on the front pages. She’s in New Zealand. Shells in France. She’s in America. Possibly…
So far, Madeleine has also been seen in: Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Majorca, Belgium, Bosnia, France, Australia, Brazil, Wales, Malta, Italy and Dorset.
The Star (front page): “Maddie: Pics the cops kept secret”
MADELEINE McCann could be 12,000 miles away in New Zealand, it was revealed last night.
She got there on a boat?
A security guard at the store in Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island was convinced the child was Madeleine. She asked the girl her name and she replied in a British accent: “Hailey.” Then she was led away by a portly man in shorts who grabbed her hand.
In. New. Zealand. Aisling Symes?
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Posted: 3rd, March 2010 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann Comments (18)
Madeleine McCann: Spotted In Italy And At The National Theatre
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann – Waiting for the Amaral verdict, we learn of why the police investigated the McCanns and how hundreds of Maddies were spotted…
Daily Record: “Revealed: Portuguese police have ignored possible sightings of missing Madeleine McCann”
PORTUGUESE police have ignored dramatic new possible sightings of Madeleine McCann, it emerged yesterday.
Why are the possible sightings dramatic?
Details of them are included in a dossier, which includes photos of girls “shockingly similar” to the missing youngster.
In the Mirror, a sighting of a child becomes:
Maddy cops missed vital hunt clues
The most significant lead involved a series of reported sightings within a week in the same area of northern Italy.
Why are they the most significant? The Mirror does not say. The McCanns’ lawyer Isabel Duarte brings these pictures to the world’s attention. And adds:
“I’m angry because it is the police who should be doing this.”
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Posted: 12th, February 2010 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (10)
Fiona MacKeown’s Benefits Fraud Linked To Daughter Scarlett’s Rape And Murder
FIONA MacKeown has been charged with benefit fraud. When Fiona MacKeown’s daughter Scarlett Keeling was raped and murdered in Goa, the voracious media examined the mother.
The Mail’s writers queued up to suggest that Keating’s lifestyle was in some way complicit in her daughter’s death:
“Sorry, but I blame Scarlett’s mother,” said Allison Pearson on the Mail’s front page.
Keith Waterhouse gave us:
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.
In his – oh, the irony – eponymous column, the Sun’s Jon Gaunt whined:
“Let’s not beat about the bush, Fiona MacKeown is an irresponsible mother… Fiona is typical of the kind of mother who wants everything and sees her kids as an inconvenience that can be palmed off at any excuse – she’s a clear example of the ME, ME, ME generation.”
Fiona MacKeown was not dumb and feckless. She was self-aware:
“I have nine children which makes you strong and there has been a lot to do. When I have nothing to do but think – it’s very hard. She really fought for her life and I think about that all the time.”
How does she feel about all the criticism of her for leaving Scarlett?
“I’m not surprised, really. Look at what’s been said about Madeleine McCann’s mother, and she is the picture of elegance.”
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Posted: 19th, November 2009 | In: Reviews Comments (10)
Vanessa George: All The News And Opinions
ALL the news on Vanessa George, the nursery paedophile who along with Angela Allen, and Colin Blanchard distributed and made indecent pictures of children.
News of The World: In “Our Mum The Monster”, the News of The World introduces Vanessa George’s family.
Andrew George is pictured with daughters Grace and Pearl. Says Andrew:
“I call her monster now. And the kids don’t want anything to do with her.”
Now I see her as cold, calculating scum – and I don’t want her to ever see our kids again.”
Although she can see them – in the tabloids.
A typical day:
“She was brilliant with kids. She got that nursery place through Ofsted reports. She was even doing work courses on how to spot child sex abuse earlier this year…
“I remember her watching news programmes, and if a paedophile came on screen she would stand up and shout ‘f****ing b*****d, cut his f*****ing balls off’.
“I call her the monster now. She’s evil. Pure evil. And the kids don’t want anything to do with her.”
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Posted: 4th, October 2009 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comment (1)
