Maddy, the plot thickens.

quote:

Op zaterdag 15 maart 2008 11:50 schreef kahaarin het volgende:

[..]

, ho, dat had ik niet gezien sorry, naja, in afwachting van de verhoren en tijdens het spreekverbod nu is het in elk geval discussiemeterial, ik vind de beschrijving van de blauwe auto en de vrouwen vrij summier, hopelijk heeft die moeder bij de politie een betere beschrijving gegeven.

quote:

The author of "Estrela de Madeleine" (Star of Madeleine) says about his book that it is "a book that will bother, but I'm free to write what my conscience dictates", he tells 24 Horas. In the Star of Madeleine, Pereira Cristovão basis himself on conversations with work colleagues, the news, police intervention, and most particularly on the political pressure to which the investigation "was subjected".

"When you have the prime minister of one country talking about how he is going to talk about this with his counterpart about an ongoing crime investigation, there is influence"he states. And it is based on that influence and "British interference" that he places the two PJ investigators, Francisco Meirelles and João Gomes (ficticious names) on the field.

The book begins with the officers being informed of the disappearance of a child from a resort in Praia da Luz. "The information arrived late. There was already a British tv station, the embassy, the British police, and a PJ head that had knowledge of the disappearance and only after was the PJ investigating team informed". "Time was wasted and then the Police bowed before a theory that was built from the outside in. And the only ones that are going to be thwarted will be the police" he accuses.

Paulo Pereira Cristovão confesses this he is approaching this book differently and in a pro-Portuguese manner. "I want to show we may be (a) poor (country) but resourceful. And that British interference only hindered my colleagues work", he says. For that reason he dedicates his book to his former colleagues from Portimão, Faro, and the DGCB. The Star of Madeleine ends with an enigmatic sentence.

Whoever figures it out will have the key as to what the author thinks happened to Madeleine. No one has been able to so far. As of next Tuesday, Pereira Cristovão invites you to try. Bron

quote:

Op zaterdag 15 maart 2008 12:22 schreef milagro het volgende:
dan moet je het boek kopen (of inzien in de boekwinkel ) en die laatste cryptische zin ontcijferen, de oplossing naar de auteur sturen en dan hoor je vanzelf of je het goed hebt

quote:

Below are some excerpts taken from the site below which has translated from portugese press
in August 2007
In relation to questions being asked about where certain quotes and stories originated from

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53176 for further reading

Mrs Fenn - Daddy Daddy

By Felicia Cabrita, with Margarida Davim
Translation by summer

The version that the McCann couple and their group of friends have been giving about what happened on the night that Madeleine disappeared, is shaken by new testimonies that were collected by Sol.

The English started by saying they took turns every 15 minutes in order to, through the windows of the rooms where the children were sleeping, listen if anything abnormal was happening. This ‘vigilance’ system, which they assure was efficient throughout a week of holidays, is questioned by an English citizen who lives in the apartment above the one that was occupied by Kate and Gerry McCann.

Senn told Sol that, on the night before she disappeared, Maddie cried for quite some time, calling out ‘daddy, daddy!’.

The Tapas Table

Also the table waiters that were working in the resort’s restaurant – the Tapas, where the group of friends had dinner that night – didn’t notice much movement of checking on the children. One of them guaranteed to Sol that, since the beginning of dinner (which started between 8.30 and 9 p.m.), only two men got up, almost simultaneously.
One of them was Russell O’Brien, one of the doctors of the group, who was absent for most of the dinner and who returned to the table 5 minutes before Kate went to her apartment and noticed Maddie was missing. Russell then explained that his daughter was sick, and even “vomited so it was necessary to change her bed sheets”. One of the employees of the Ocean Club, who was heard by Sol this week, contradicts his version: “If that had happened, he would have to ask the housekeeping service for some clean sheets, which did not happen”.

The Cars and The DNA etc.
Inspectors in parking lot

PJ inspectors returned yesterday to the underground parking lot in Portimao where they had analysed automobiles the day before, in terms of the investigation.

Around 6.45 p.m., approximately six inspectors with forensic equipment suitcases went down into the parking lot. The policemen were followed by the coordinator of the Criminal Investigation Department from PJ in Portimao, Goncalo Amaral, and the national assistant director, who is responsible for the Faro Directory of PJ, Guilhermino Encarnacao. The directors were underground for a brief time, having left through the access ramp around 7.20 p.m., without comments.

In that parking lot, in the fourth and last subterranean level, ten cars were analysed, which belong to Robert Murat, to family and friends and also to the McCanns themselves. (…)

Three English Policemen

Three english police officers that volunteered to help PJ continue to do so.

It was revealed that the english police also helped in the first days searches, and even sent equipment that could track human heat, which was used in the searches.

Phone Records

phone calls made on may 3rd between 8 and 9pm in Praia da Luz are being thoroughly investigated. English experts are helping with this.RM's and SM's phones were tracked but aparently nothing important was discovered. SM was not in the area at the alleged time of the abduction

Pact of Silence
Madeleine’s parents and the friends with whom they spent their holidays in PDL are suspects in the inquiry. There are contradictory versions about the night of the kidnapping, and an assumed pact of silence in the group

One remembers the words that the mother, Kate Healy, is supposed to have said to a friend (and that the husband, Gerry McCann, did not know): “I had a bad premonition about my children, when I found out the Ocean Club had no baby listening service”.

Mathew Oldfield, one of the elements of the group, is back in England. He reacts with surprise upon the contact of Sol, but he does not avoid the conversation: “We drank. We were on holidays. So what?”.

And thus the days followed one upon another, at the Ocean Club. The holiday week is almost over and the group’s spirit does not change. Nobody had noticed until then, how the children were kept at a distance
One of the military assures: “This is an extremely silent area, where there are practically no passing cars. That shutter was very difficult to lift from the outside, and would have made a lot of noise. It would have been a lot easier to use the door, but there were no signs of a break-in”.

This was just one of the reasons why the group became suspicious in the eyes of the investigators. Russell O’Brien, Jane Tanner’s husband, is already back in England, but he knows he could be summoned back to Portugal for a deposition anytime. Over the phone with Sol, he tries to keep his british phlegm: “It is normal that we are suspects, and the DNA test is a consequence thereof. We were the closest people involved”.

One of the employees that was on duty that evening does not remember a lot of movement: “I only remember a tall, grey-haired man getting up once from the table”. It was Russell, who, two days earlier, also had attended dinner.

And Russell, when the questions start to surround him, loses his sympathy: “I have nothing further to tell you. I am not going to dishonor the compromise I assumed with Kate and Gerry. They want to control all infornation that is disclosed”.

Gerry and Kate’s friends, who are interrogated tightly by the PJ over almost a month, refuse to clarify this contradiction, when asked by Sol. “We have a pact. This is our matter only. It is nobody else’s business”, says David Payne, another element with the group.

Minutes after we tried to contact Kate, Gerry, in a fury, calls the Sol journalist: “What do you think you are doing? Do you think you’re better than the portuguese police? I’m going to forward your contact to PJ and you will have to explain yourselves”.

The director of the Policia Judiciaria in Faro, Guilhermino da Encarnacao, confirmed with Sol that “we do not discard the possibility to have the family and friends as suspects”.

Does this mean that the T7 gave their DNA???

quote:

Gerry did return home to collect photographs (old report) 20 May 2007
Alone, the father of Madeleine McCann began the saddest journey of his life Daily Mail - Online link has been removed

Seventeen days after his four-year-old daughter disappeared, Gerry McCann flew back to an empty house that is still fresh with her memory.

Madeleine parents

[Photograph appeared here] with accompanying text:

Taunt: Kate McCann with an armful of Madeleine's toys, and husband Gerry walk from church past a shop window poster that apparently blames them for the disappearance of their child

Her room is as she left it when the family set off on their holiday to
Portugal last month. Her toys are still there on the bed, her clothes in the wardrobe.

But with remarkable fortitude, the 38-year-old consultant embarked on a heart-rending mission in his ceaseless campaign to find his little girl.

He will trawl through four years of family albums and videos to select new pictures of her for his 'Find Madeleine' website. Then he will prepare to return to the Algarve to continue the search.

Madeleine 'sightings'

The visit was the first time Mr McCann has been apart from his wife Kate and their two-year-old twins since Madeleine vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3.

He volunteered to make the journey alone to spare Mrs McCann the ordeal.

Last week the 38-year-old GP said she "couldn't even consider" leaving Portugal while Madeleine was missing.

The prospect of returning without her daughter to the home where they shared so much happiness would have been "too painful to contemplate", according to a relative.

Madeleine's parents will search the whole world for her

Madeleine's aunt, Philomena McCann revealed: "They're both finding it so incredibly difficult. They can't grieve but they can't be normal. They're just focused on finding Madeleine, because that's all that matters.

"Gerry wants to go through all the photographs and pick some to put on the website. The more images there are, the more she will be in people's minds."

Mr McCann who has been spearheading the Find Madeleine Internet and publicity campaign from an apartment in Praia da Luz, will meet lawyers and UK organisers during his brief stay in Rothley, Leicestershire, where he and Kate live.

The family's website www.findMadeleine.com has received 100million 'hits'.

Madeleine McCann: Missing since May 3

A spokesman for the couple in Portugal said Mr McCann was returning to Britain "to do positive things".

"He's very focused," the spokesman added. "He is going out there for very practical reasons and he's going to get back here as quickly as he can."

The trip will also give him the chance to deal with the routine domestic matters that have been neglected during their extended stay abroad and allow the two doctors to make arrangements for staying away for the foreseeable future.

For the last 17 days they have been trying to keep some sort of routine in their life, on the advice of trauma counsellors and for the sake of their other children, Sean and Amelie.

When they are not working from their campaign 'nerve centre', or praying in church for their daughter's safety, the couple are steeling themselves to create little pockets of comparative normality.

At the weekend Mr McCann played tennis and the couple sat on the beach with the twins. Mrs McCann is trying to clear her mind by exercising and jogging against the clock.

And the couple have again sought solace at Mass in the tiny church in Praia da Luz - their third Sunday service since Madeleine disappeared.

During their walk they passed a poster apparently blaming them for the disappearance. Stuck in a shop window, it consists of four pictures of their child arranged around the words: "Mummy help me".

Workers in the car hire shop - Auto Rent III - refused to take it down.

Saleswoman Maria Rocio said: "Whose fault is it that the girl has gone missing? It's the family's. They should never have left the children on their own."

***********************************************************************

Why is this report, which does not appear on any online search engines, so significant to the investigation? Because it clearly states that Gerry went home to collect photographs and videos of Madeleine.

But why is that so significant?

Other reports, related to this trip, vaguely stated that Gerry made the flying visit home to attend to "personal matters" and to meet organisers of Madeleine's Fund. If the trip was as described in this report and confirmed by Philomena McCann, to innocently collect some more photographs of Madeleine, then why the veil of secrecy?

Gerry released his first blog that day and there was no mention then, or afterwards, that he had been home to collect more photographs of Madeleine. Surely, that would have been information he would have been only too happy to pass on - the release of new photographs is always of great interest to people. (Gerry's Blog vanaf 20 mei)

Perhaps he kept it quiet to avoid association.

For just 3 days after arriving back in Praia da Luz, from this trip back to the UK to collect photographs and videos, the 'last photograph' of Madeleine suddenly appeared - 21 days after Madeleine had been reported missing. (May 24, 2007 The last family picture of Madeleine McCann The Times)

We know that Alex Woolfall sat with the McCanns on May 5th and went through the images on their digital camera to find good pictures of Madeleine for publication.

The Times reported: 'The McCanns had photographs of Madeleine on their digital camera, which Mr Woolfall began transferring to a laptop computer. "I said to Kate, 'Let’s try to identify pictures where her face is visible'. Downloading the images was a very difficult process for them. It was upsetting.

"They were trying to do two things at once: one, emotionally deal with what was actually, really happening to them; two, operate in some sort of logical way to help get her back." Mr Woolfall transmitted the photographs to the Press Association in London, from where they were distributed to the media. The portfolio included the now famous image of Madeleine wearing a hat on a tennis court.'

It is surely extraordinary that the 'last photograph' of Madeleine, showing her full face, should not have been chosen for release at that time. Even if the photograph had been grainy and indistinct, it's significance to the investigation, as the last 'living' picture of Madeleine, cannot be overstated.

That is, unless it wasn't there.

Just 4 days after the 'last photograph' was released, mobile phone video footage was produced allegedly showing Madeleine and the family setting off on their holiday - one showing them all on the shuttle bus and the other showing Madeleine stumbling on the steps as she boards the plane.
(Mobile phone footage of Madeleine boarding the plane)
(Mobile phone footage of bus trip)

So, given the significant time these images had suddenly appeared, could it really be possible that these were actually 'old' images, collected by Gerry on his trip home and subsequently falsely presented as being of the current holiday? If they were, then it would have a massive impact on the investigation because it would destroy the photographic evidence that Madeleine was still alive at 2:29pm on May 3rd.

With that 'evidence' gone, there are no independent witnesses to Madeleine being alive on May 3rd - beyond the apparent statement of Charlotte Pennington, who has already changed her story once before. (pagina gewijd aan Pennington)

Miss Pennington, speaking originally to dispel the story that there was a missing 6 or 7 hours leading up to Madeleine's disappearance, said: "I was helping give the children high tea. The twins were there and Madeleine and both parents. "It was supposed to finish at 5.30pm but because they were a big group and really social, it didn't finish until about 6pm. There was nothing out of the ordinary at all."

Yet, speaking on the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary 'Searching For Madeleine', the following month, she said:

"On May the third, it was just Madeleine I was reading a story to. I later saw them around lunchtime. That's the last time I saw them together as a family." It should also be remembered that Charlotte Pennington was not Madeleine's nanny. That was Catriona Baker, who has refused to comment on the investigation, saying: 'I don't want to go through it again.'

We know Bridget O'Donnell, Jeremy Wilkins partner, was at the tennis courts that day. She writes: 'Earlier that day there had been tennis lessons for the children, with some of the parents watching proudly as their girls ran across the court chasing tennis balls. They took photos. Madeleine must have been there, but I couldn't distinguish her from the others. They all looked the same - all blonde, all pink and pretty.' So, she cannot confirm that Madeleine was there.
(My months with Madeleine The Guardian)

That only leaves one person to positively confirm that Madeleine was alive that day - the McCanns friend, David Payne. It is claimed that Mr Payne was asked by Gerry McCann to pop by and look in on Kate at the apartment, whilst Gerry was on the tennis courts. (genoemd o.a. in de BBC-docu)

David Payne has said nothing publicly to confirm or deny this. In fact, he has said virtually nothing throughout the investigation but has been quoted by Portuguese newspaper, Sol, as saying: "We have a pact. This is our matter only. It is nobody else's business."

But is there is a fatal flaw in this line of thought? The 'last photograph' clearly shows Gerry, Amelie and Madeleine sat around the kiddie's pool in the Ocean Club. How could Gerry have collected that photograph from home if this was the first time they had holidayed at the resort?

But was it their first time? The Sunday Times doesn't seem to think so. They printed on 13 May 2007 that: 'The McCanns are believed to have stayed once before in Praia da Luz and had returned because they considered it a safe resort.'

In the MSNBC documentary, Richard Gaisford said, when talking of Praia da Luz: "It's a very warm welcoming friendly place. And it was a place the McCanns knew well. They'd been to the resort before." (MSNBC Missing Madeleine en op 3arguidoforum)

So, is the 'last photograph' not a forgery, as has been widely speculated, but a simple fraud?

Did Gerry go home to collect photographs/videos from a previous trip in order to deceive the Policia Judiciaria into believing the photographs were from the current trip. More importantly, that Madeleine was alive and well at that particular time on that particular day?

Only the McCanns and their close family can answer that question.

But, if it should be the case, then it would appear to imply that no photographic evidence exists of Madeleine that day - despite Bridget O'Donnell stating that the children were all running around the tennis courts being photographed by their parents. The need to deceive suggests there is something to cover up. The obvious conclusion being that Madeleine was not there to be photographed.

That is a very disturbing thought.

It would be interesting to know whether Alex Woolfall is one of the people the Policia Judiciaria intends talking to when they arrive in the UK to begin their questioning. If Mr Woolfall confirms the 'last photograph' was not on the digital camera he examined in Praia da Luz on 5th May, then, it would appear, the McCanns will have an awful lot of explaining to do.

quote:

Op maandag 17 maart 2008 11:19 schreef kahaarin het volgende:
En ja hoor, Sydney heeft ook een valse Maddy sighting:
[..]

[ afbeelding ]
False alarm ... the man, the girl and (inset) Maddie McCann. Picture: Stephen Cooper.

http://www.news.com.au/da(...)8885-5001021,00.html

quote:

An interesting article in the Correio da Manhã, informs us of some strange things happening around Luz recently. This time they target Robert Murat, the first to be named arguido in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

According to the Correio da Manhã, it seems that Robert Murat has been under surveillance in recent months. Robert Murat found, accidentally, two GPS devices fitted in two of his cars. Also, his company's website was hacked into. His e-mail has been diverted to another address and compromising messages were sent on his behalf.

Last week Murat's attorney received the most important evidence - a copy of one of these manipulated emails - and are considering the possibility of filing a complaint against unknown people. "There are also copies of emails sent to the server where his company - Romigen - is housed (in the USA) requesting de site's codes claiming they had been lost, according to a source close to Murat.

The codes were not provided but the page of Romigen was hacked into and has not been online. This computer "intrusion" was detected by Murat near Christmas. Sergey Malinka called Murat when he received a strange message supposedly from Murat, asking him to meet him for a confidential conversation. Murat had not sent the e-mail.

Before this revelation, Robert Murat made another discovery of an invasion on his privacy. One day, while repairing a problem with the water pump in his Volkswagen Transporter he went underneath his car and found a strange device fitted to its structure. He took the truck and the Skoda Fabia he had lent his partner Michaela Walczuch, which was also was parked outside, into Casa Liliana's grounds. At the bottom of the Skoda he found yet another identical device.

The PJ was called in and collected the two GPS tracking devices from the cars. According to the Correio da Manhã, inspectors assured they had nothing to do with the equipment. The tracking devices record data on the movement of cars and in the case of those found can be connected by USB to a computer, downloading the information on the cars movements. A simple search on the Internet allows you to find similar devices, the 'Professional Mini GPS Tracker - Vehicle Tracking or the Land AirSea Tracking Key (LAS), for 180 euros.

Yet another twist in a case that has many unexplained "phenomenons" happening.
Why were these devices fitted on Mr. Murat's cars? Is someone trying to make a "Follow the Arguido Reality Show?" Does he have a stalker interested in his every move? Or is someone out to frame Mr. Murat?Bron

quote:

Op maandag 17 maart 2008 12:13 schreef kahaarin het volgende:

[..]

Middag Suko!

Metodo3 of de PJ, Murat is een suspect, Gerry zal heus wel tekst en uitleg hebben moeten geven, dat zijn dan weer van die dingen die de PJ voor zichzelf heeft gehouden, ik denk dat het dossier veel dikker is dan we vermoeden, als het niet waar was dan had Gerry het al wel gezegd denk ik.

quote:

"Nothing will be found" (Francisco Pagarete, Murat's lawyer)

Correio da Manhã – Have you consulted the Madeleine process?

Francisco Pagarete – I tried to, but the court of justice informed me that the process's time was extended and that the documents are under law secrecy.

Correio da Manhã – When did you have the latest formal contact with the PJ?

Francisco Pagarete - In August last year, when searches in the vehicles were made in the underground garage facing the PJ [building], in Portimão.

Correio da Manhã – Are you Michaela Walczuch's lawyer?

Francisco Pagarete – No. As far as I know she doesn't have one, never needed one. I'm just a friend of hers.

Correio da Manhã – Do you trust that the suspicions against Murat are going to be archived?

Francisco Pagarete – I believe that nothing will be found. Justice has its own time and we are continuing to wait that the documents will be archived.

Correio da Manhã – How is your client doing?

Francisco Pagarete – He's willing to be able to return to his normal life. To go back to work and to go out without worrying that there are always people at his door.

Correio da Manhã – Are you going to submit a complaint about the computer attack against Romigen?

Francisco Pagarete – That's possible. I'm still to receive some emails.

quote:

Op dinsdag 18 maart 2008 13:37 schreef kahaarin het volgende:
Goh, zou dit boek ook in GB uitgegeven gaan worden?
>knip>

quote:

Op zaterdag 15 maart 2008 12:10 schreef Suko het volgende:[/b]
>knip<
Wat er nou met die laatste zin wordt bedoelt? (ook Joana Morais schrijft er over)

quote:

"He only concedes to say that he does not believe that the child survived the 3rd of May 2007, the day she disappeared. And he drops standalone information throughout the book, which helps to compose the scenario. The fact that the McCanns' apartment was found in an "impeccable" state, with all pieces of furniture properly located against the walls. The fact that the PJ of Portimao, on the night of the disappearance, was called to take care of the case through a contact of the English ambassador with the national directory, thus indicating the existence of contacts of the British in the Algarve with London; the fact that the policemen did not find a single item of medicine in the McCanns' apartment, "not even an Aspirine"; the fact that the parents immediately jumped on the abduction theory, never looking at the possibility that the three-year-old child (that would become four in a few days) could have left the apartment on her own and could be lost in the surroundings. "Facts" that in some cases are certified and in others not - after all, Cristóvão recognizes that "the game is still on, although a bit weak".

En ook: "It is a conspiracy theory that is unveiled in this somewhat enigmatic book, which in its foreword promises revelations and contention simultaneously: "Due to legal issues, it cannot be me, the author, to tell you what the truth, the reality of the case is; nevertheless, I can assure you that you can find it here, within the lines of this book".

quote:

Four newspapers are to set to pay damages to the parents of Madeleine McCann, after settling a libel case, the BBC has learned. The Daily and Sunday Express, along with the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday are to pay a "substantial" sum and print front-page apologies.

Kate and Gerry McCann's lawyers said that some of the newspapers' articles were "grossly defamatory". The couple say all the damages will be donated to the Find Madeleine fund.

The Daily Express is to carry a full front-page apology in Wednesday's paper, while the Star's apology will take over half its front-page. The papers are expected to apologise for suggesting Kate and Gerry McCann were involved in their daughter's disappearance.

The action relates to more than a hundred stories across the four titles, including 42 printed in the Daily Express. Under the terms of the settlement - at Kate and Gerry McCann's insistence - Express Newspapers' barrister will also read out an apology before a judge at the High Court on Wednesday.

The Express group has agreed to all the McCanns' requests. It is also paying all their costs. The McCanns have promised that the damages will be paid into the "fighting fund" set up to pay for efforts to find their missing daughter.

'Trust and credibility'

Media commentator Roy Greenslade said that for two national newspapers to carry front-page apologies at the same time was "unprecedented". "I think this is an amazing stand-down, u-turn, by the Express newspapers," he said.

"I think when people realise that more than 100 stories have been complained about as being grossly defamatory, it will annihilate the Express' readers sense of trust and credibility in their newspaper." Media lawyer Paul Gilbert from Finers Stephens Innocent said the courts encourage early settlement of defamation cases.

"Clearly the Express' lawyers felt this was a case they should settle without a high-profile trial - which it would be - and as a result have saved considerable costs," he said. "It certainly is a warning sign to newspapers in the future, if they're going to speculate, they've got to be very careful about what they speculate about."

Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing, aged three, in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on 3 May last year.

quote:

"It recognised "that such a suggestion is absolutely untrue and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance"

Under the headline Kate and Gerry McCann: Sorry, the Express said it had apologised because "we accept that a number of articles in the newspaper have suggested that the couple caused the death of their missing daughter Madeleine and then covered it up", before acknowledging "there is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory".

"The McCanns hope their action will help draw a line under some of the more salacious coverage that has flourished in the absence of new developments." The Guardian

quote:

"This is the first time since I started my career, that I am ashamed to say for what newspaper I work," confessed to a journalist from the Daily Express contacted by SOS Madeleine. According to the same professional, "the UK power McCann seems to have no limits. They have escaped from social services despite the fact that they have left their children alone while they were partying, they created a machine communication as effective as that of the Premier… nothing surprises me."

"On Wednesday, under duress, the two newspapers Express Group s'excusent have "suggested that Kate and Gerry McCann may have caused the death of their daughter Madeleine."

Newspapers still publish that Kate and Gerry McCann is "completely innocent", but a source of the Group, in declarations to SOS Madeleine says "sincerely hoped that the couple is forced to respond in court for the disappearance of their daughter, so that they are obliged to explain what really happened the night of May 3."

Lawyers for Kate and Gerry had initiated contacts with a number of British media threaten prosecution, but the Express had become the main target, McCann seeking a settlement out of court, which would rise by the payment of compensation Financial close in the amount of five million euros.

The sums paid by the two newspapers were paid to the Fund Madeleine, who did more to get the same number of gifts that the disappearance of the small British had originally provoked.

The Fund Madeleine has been used so far to repay two monthly installments of the loan that McCann had contracted for the purchase of their homes, to pay for a poster campaign practically invisible in Spain and Portugal, as well as payments Monthly at the detective agency Metodo 3. De rest > Bron

quote:

Richard Desmond's Express Newspapers has paid £550,000 in damages to Gerry and Kate McCann after apologising for a string of articles in its titles alleging they were responsible for their daughter Madeleine's death. The Daily Express and the Daily Star, owned by Richard Desmond, both took the unprecedented step of publishing front page apologies to the McCanns today - and have paid a the sum into the Madeleine Fund.

Express Newspapers has also paid legal costs to the McCanns. A full apology by Express Newspapers and statement from Clarence Mitchell, the McCann's spokeman, was heard at 10am today in the high court in London. Mitchell confirmed the figure paid in damages outside court. >>> The Guardian

quote:

"The McCanns are understood to have asked for up to £4m. Express Newspapers offered in the region of £250,000 to cover the entire group." Earlier, PR guru Max Clifford told Sky News Online the payout "will send a warning bow across the whole of Fleet Street"."Max Clifford told Sky News Online the McCann's complaint "could have got any of the national newspapers". "A few editors will be sitting there thinking: 'But for the grace of God...'"
Sky News

quote:

In a statement the McCanns said they were pleased that the newspaper group had admitted the "utter falsity" of the numerous stories written about them." "They said they were wrong to suggest the couple, of Rothley, Leicestershire, were responsible for Madeleine's death." >>> BBC

quote:

Like (I imagine) many newspaper readers inexpert on the law of libel, I was not so much surprised that the Express has just been forced to apologise to and compensate Kate and Gerry McCann as I was surprised the British press so carelessly published defamatory attacks on them in the first place. Whatever questions may be raised (and I have raised some) about this couple's judgment in hiring professional PR, with all the massive and relentless publicity this has led to, the McCanns were in the end always going to emerge with at least their honour intact.

Not so their neighbour in Praia da Luz, poor Robert Murat, against whom (like the McCanns) there has never been a shred of evidence, but who has had to watch silently as his character was pulled apart by the British press. Gagged (as an arguido, like the McCanns) from making any public statement, and with no media spokesman (as the McCanns have) to organise responses on his behalf, Mr Murat has been silent witness to the very public destruction of his reputation.

I do not know that Robert Murat is innocent. I do not know that Kate and Gerry McCann are innocent. I do not know that the Angel Gabriel, or my Aunty Dolly, are innocent. I know only that we have no evidence for the guilt of any of these people. Due process and common decency forbid us from suggesting otherwise.

I devoted a Saturday column in The Times last summer to the plight of Mr Murat, suffering death by a thousand innuendos in British newspapers, and being spun into some kind of “one-eyed” “weirdo” “loner” and obvious suspect - when nobody who knew him, including even his now-separated wife, describes him unkindly.

Unlike the McCanns, who will be remembered as innocent, Mr Murat's possible fate could be that if and when those close to the case officially declare he was uninvolved, the media, bored by the story, will simply saunter away and stop writing about him, leaving on the battlefield, bayoneted by their reports, a man with his name forever associated in the public mind with something unspeakable - the world having forgotten that no evidence for this was ever produced.

You need deep pockets to risk hiring the top-flight libel lawyers. I dislike our laws of defamation: only theoretically open (like the Ritz, as someone once remarked) to all. But if any libel victim ever deserved a remedy in law it is Robert Murat. Should the system serve Gerry and Kate McCann but prove unable to help Mr Murat, then a serious injustice will have been done."

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Op donderdag 20 maart 2008 13:28 schreef kahaarin het volgende:
Even een tegenberichtje uit Australie, verfrissend.
[..]

http://ionglobaltrends.bl(...)tralian-blogger.html

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"As far as JN was able to establish, the PJ had prepared several questions that they wanted to ask from Kate and Gerry. But following a suggestion from the Public Ministery, the diligence was removed from the list of priorities. A source that is connected to the process explained that "the prosecutor understood that the diligence was useless and a waste of time, because the parents could refuse to answer the questions, according to the rights that the Portuguese law gives to arguidos".

That was precisely what the couple did when they were questioned by the PJ in Portimao, before they suddenly left for home, in Leicester, England, right after they were made arguidos. "The couple never cooperated with the Portuguese police, in spite of what they publicly announce, through their spokesman. There were no guarantees that they would do so now, but in a criminal investigation, there are no absolute certainties. It was necessary to take the risk", JN was told by one of the investigators, revolted "The date that has been advanced for the trip has yet to be confirmed. The PJ awaits confirmation from Stuart Prior, the top senior official at Leicester police." Bron

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Op donderdag 20 maart 2008 10:52 schreef voyeur het volgende:
Kate and Gerry McCann in talks with ITV about missing children documentary
12/03/2008

The film will feature Kate and Gerry's experience and focus on how different countries react when children vanish.
>knip>
Verder zie ik nu nog steeds geen posters hangen in Spanje. Zoveel geld en tijd later en nog niets...