Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Madeleine McCann: so what's new?

In the massive publicity campaign, viewers had been promised a ‘revelation’ but the only revelation during the BBC’s special Crimewatch programme on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was how slow Scotland Yard detectives seem to have been in getting up to speed on the case and how shallow the BBC was in its reporting.
Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said that in their investigation he and his team were going back to the very start of the case and “accepting nothing,” meaning taking a wholly fresh look at things. Yet not once during the programme did the police or the presenters consider anything other than the abduction theory for which there is no evidence except the say-so of the parents and their holidaying friends.
The Chief Inspector highlighted what he called “significant changes” to the timeline and “accepted version” of events. He explained that Scotland Yard had ruled out the sighting by Jane Tanner of a man carrying a child closely resembling Madeleine outside the McCann’s apartment at 9.15 that fateful evening. The man turned out to be another holidaymaker carrying his own child home from a crèche.
While the Jane Tanner sighting has been central to the widespread acceptance of the abduction theory up until now, those who dismiss the abduction claim have always considered the sighting most unreliable.
Scotland Yard has now shifted its emphasis to the well-documented sighting by an Irish family near the centre of the village at 10pm. Praia da Luz visitors and residents have now been asked to cast their minds back to 3rd May 2007 to see if they can identify the person portrayed in two newly released e-fit images.
The images were produced five years ago and they show two significantly different versions of the same man who may be a kidnapper – or he may not. He may be another entirely innocent person with nothing whatsoever to do with Madeleine’s disappearance.
If this really was a well-planned abduction as is being suggested, would a kidnapper carry his victim in his arms a considerable distance through the centre of the village towards the beach with all the attendant risk of being spotted? The question was not asked on Crimewatch.
The so-called “reconstruction” performed by actors, supposedly of events shortly before the disappearance, was notable for what it glossed over or did not reconstruct at all.
Bearing in mind the respectful nature of the programme towards the parents, it was perhaps not surprising there was no attempt to explain, for example, evidence found by two British cadaver dogs, or the many unanswered questions and conflicting statements made to the Portuguese police.
What will have been most disturbing for many viewers familiar with the McCann saga was the absence of journalistic balance and lack of rigour shown by the British media in the pre-broadcast propaganda and in the programme itself.
The show presented nothing new. It has merely added to the media circus that has blighted this tragic case from the very beginning.
Scotland Yard has apparently been inundated with calls as a result of the programme. British tabloids are already reporting that “police may have made a major breakthrough in the hunt for Madeleine.” Wishful thinking might be closer to the truth.
Madeleine deserves better. 

10 comments:

dewi lennard said...

What a breath of fresh air! I can only enhance this article by saying how sorry I am that the people of Praia da Luz and indeed of Portugal have been subjected to this dishonest farce by the UK police and media. We already knew the Yard was corrupt (the Daniel Morgan murder and their association with the NewsCorp press spring to mind), but DCI Redwood's performance as dummy to Kirsty Young the presenter, destroyed any remaining faith that SY can bring an expert eye to solve this case.
May I just refer to my own research here, which I have shared with Chief Investigator Monteiro at Diretorio do Norte, Porto. I'll be brief. Analysis of the telephone calls shows that the McCanns were starting the cover-up by 22.00 on 1 May, followed by Gerry's infamous 12 voicemails on 2nd. And the creche attendance records show that a guest called Naylor allowed GM to sign his own daughter plus another girl in, from as early as 29 April. No relationship Naylor/GM has ever been admitted or investigated. I believe the "other girl" whom GM claimed was Maddie, was in fact a little friend of the Naylors, called Madalene R...r

Anonymous said...

A balanced view of a biased programme, well done to you for being allowed to say what us in the UK are thinking, but apparently unable to say

Anonymous said...

brilliant len---had to be said,david stuart,edinburgh

Anonymous said...

Oh dear,
All that fuss about crimewatch and it added nothing new to what we have all already read about the case.
Many of us in the UK, are still left wondering why they have not been prosecuted for child neglect? That lovely child deserved more from her so called DR parents.

Natasha said...

So much for DCI Redwood's grand statement that the new investigation was "accepting nothing"... He should have said "accepting nothing other than an unverifiable version from sources whose story has repeatedly changed".
What is more unsettling than anything else is the amount of MONEY being ploughed into this gargantuan PR exercise. What is the real reason for all the idiotic hype? Maybe if we knew the answer to that, we'd finally be nearer the truth of what really happened in Praia da Luz all those years ago?

Anonymous said...

so many ppl abusing The McCanns when they don't even know them with SY who are the tops can hopefully find the truth. All these armchair detectives back off.

Anonymous said...

Very Strange couple, many unanswered questions there!

Anonymous said...

I agree-where are social services on this one??? Not a shining example of parenthood from so called caring professionals.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I wonder if the McCanns will simply emigrate to Portugal altogether, as their way of remembering her.

Anonymous said...

Have you read the police files and looked at the forensic evidence? This is not about armchair detectives. There are many thousands of people like me who have been researching this for years. Facts are facts. No evidence of an abduction but plenty to show Madeleine died in apartment 5A. Kate and Gerry have been filmed and photographed laughing and smiling days after Madeleine went missing, they have lied and changed their statements, refused to do a reconstruction for the PJ, Kate refused to answer police questions, refused a lie detector test and let their friends into a crime scene I could go on and on. People want justice for Madeleine and the parents and those protecting and covering for them have hindered that