Season's Greetings...

Just a short note to wish all visitors a very happy Christmas.  Here we are, once again... It's such a shame that we are now seeing another Christmas and little Madeleline is still missing, without a trace. 

The customary appeal was overtaken this year by the scandalous Wikileaks cable which revealed that the British police had 'developed' evidence against the parents. Did they show their fury by tackling Assange or even the British police?  No, they released a statement denying their involvement.  Instead of the begging bowl, we were privy to these denials and the revelation that the re-opening of the case is the last thing that the parents want.

Why do I think that?  Well they appear to view Goncalo Amaral's attempts to reopen the case as a threat.  How bizarre...  The whole Wikileaks thing appeared to morph into Amaral's fault... what can they blame him for next I wonder.

Latest on the novel... it appears that it won't actually be a best seller as Waterstone and Amazon predicted with their hiked up, inflated (wishful thinking) price. Amazon have cut their pre-order price by 15% to £17.00.  Tesco have cut an astonishing 30% off at £14.00 but way ahead in the running is WH Smith who have snipped off a whopping 38% and currently offering the book at £12.40...

At this rate it looks like it's destined to be offered at POUND store prices, like many of the McCann sympathisers...

Even better value if it comes with a wipe clean cover for jotting down those cobbled, nobbled timelines.

Here's another little niggle for you to ponder upon... what do you think Sr Rebelo is in the act of describing in this photo below, and where are they all positioned?...

Well, time to say goodbye... Santa has reached Guinea according to Norad so I'd better go and put out the milk and cookies (and carrots).  Have a wonderful Christmas season, all of you.  I wish you a prosperous and joyous 2011 and again, hope this will be the year that Madeleine receives justice.

~~ooOoo~~

Missing Madeleine...

How do you identify a missing child when the information given to the public is misleading and inacurate?   In those crucial days and weeks after Madeleine's disappearance, we were told to look for a small, blonde girl who had a 'special mark' on her eye.  The following photos were released...

Who do we look for?  A blonde little girl, with that special mark in her eye as advised?   None of these photos show a little blonde girl - Madeleine has mousey coloured hair in these photos..  Are we looking for blonde or brown, are we dismissing blonde or brown?  Are we looking for both or looking for neither? 

We are missing Madeleine.

Next the eye.  Against all police and expert advice, the McCanns, family and friends release information about that very special mark on Madeleine's eye, a coloboma. It's only visible when up close - so we can rule out all children who are asleep, far away or not looking at us.

We are missing Madeleine.

Three weeks after Madeleine's disappearance, a photo is released.  Known as the 'pool photo' but one which came to be known as the 'last photo'.  There is no confirmation that this is the last photo, but looks as if it was taken on that fateful holiday.

Surprisingly, this photo shows an altogether different child from the one that we've been looking for in the weeks gone by.

We are missing Madeleine.

And finally, one of the most distinguishing features a person can have - a birthmark.  Not many people know that Madeleine has a chestnut birthmark on her left calf because it's something that the parents or family have failed to mention in any of their interviews or statements.  In fact, the only place where it is publicised is on the Policia Judiciara official missing persons page.  If Madeleine had indeed been abducted, what better feature to look for - easily spotted no matter what size and whatever activity the child is taking part in, especially if she's wearing a skirt, dress or shorts.  Even cropped pyjama bottoms.

We are missing Madeleine.

Who have we been looking for and who are we looking for?  From day one, confusion has reigned.  In the case of a missing child, time is of the essence yet there has been continuous dissaray of information released.  And in the case of the birthmark, information held back.  Smoke and mirrors... why?

Hence, almost 4 years later, it sadly looks like we have missed Madeleine.

The Reward...

By the 12th May 2007, the reward for information leading to the safe return of Madeleine to her family had reached £2.5 million.  The News of the World and several well know business persons contributed generously to the expanding reward.

The happy expressions on the McCanns' faces as they exited the church to the waiting crowd on the 12th May have always been a complete puzzle.  Firstly because it was Madeleine's birthday and secondly because their child had been missing for just 9 days.

12th May 2007 - Day 9

However, maybe they'd just heard from the BBC that the reward had reached a staggering two and a half million pounds?  That really would be something to crow about - all that money being offered by strangers, just to get your child back safely.

Yet the McCanns have systematically failed to mention this humungous reward, kindhearedly donated by other people.  Despite numerous TV appearances, interviews with the media (both televised and in print) and various press statements, you can count on one hand just how many times this reward has been publicised.

Now why would that be?  It should be constantly plugged... a one track multi-million way to get Madeleine home, courtesy of other people.

To date, almost 4 years later this huge reward has receded to a whispering memory. No mention of it is ever made, we don't even know if the reward even exists.  Is it still valid?  The mere fact that it has not been claimed could mean two things... firstly, there is no information available leading to Madeleine's safe return or secondly, those who do have the information are sworn to silence?

The parents claim to need the help of the public and make appeals for information during which they make the customary requests for more cash.  Yet despite the huge amount of money donated to their private limited company (otherwise known as the 'Fund'), the McCanns have never offered any kind of reward themselves.  The parents seem to show more of an interest in drawing people forward for their money rather than their information.


We all know where the Paypal button is, how pop into the Natwest or even stick denominations of our choice into a brown envelope and address it to Kate and Gerry, Rothley.  However, some people need an incentive to loosen their tongues and be drawn out from under that stone.   The McCanns have this huge incentive at their hands, yet bizarrely fail to use it.

Any decent person with a conscience and morals who could provide information should not look for monetary gain in all of this.  So, please, in the name of all that is good... let's have some normality and break that silence.  

Now that would be a reward.

What the Smiths really saw...?

Don't you wish there were more details available about the Smith family sighting, it appears to be the most important sighting in the case.

I believe it to be absolutely more credible than the preferred McCann sighting - Tanner's swarthy man, because a whole family spotted a man hurriedly carrying, not what they believed to be a bundle, but a female child.  The family gave detailed descriptions of her hair, skin and clothing, therefore no way could his encumbrance be construed as a bundle.  They knew for sure this man was carrying a little girl. Mrs Smith was even close enough to ask if she was asleep.

This sighting was so important because it incorporated multiple, corroborating and independent witnesses, yet the McCanns failed to promote it until it was covered briefly in the Channel 4 documentary.  And it was covered incorrectly.  In the Channel 4 documentary, the sighting was filmed in the wrong location.  The sighting took place at the bottom of Rua da Escola, as seen below in Goncalo Amaral's documentary...

Yet, in the Channel 4 documentary, for some reason filming has taken place in a different location...

Strange that... and depicting an abductor carrying the child across the arms - the way Tanner 'would have' and not how Mr Smith described...

"Carrying a child, with the head against his left shoulder and the arms hanging down alongside the body"

How on earth could the McCanns, their Team and the Channel 4 crew get things so important, so wrong?  Right enough, nobody cared where the Wilkins/McCann conversation took place, so none of it really matters?

There are some intriguing pieces of  information resulting from this sighting.  Mr Smith's daughter in her description of the carrier viewed the most mundane thing and promptly forgot about it.  Something  I believe we all do regularly - things which only come back to us when specifically reminded, otherwise forgotten in the depths of the mind.  She spotted the button detail on the man's beige, cotton trousers.  Bit like these ones??

Mr Smith had already made a statement at Portimao police station in May 2007, but on seeing Mr McCann alight from his flight in the UK in September 2007 was shocked to see a similarity between him and the man he saw on the night.

"Is saying that after seeing the McCanns on the news on 9th Sept when they returned to UK he has not slept and is worried sick. He states he was watching the 10 PM news on BBC and saw the McCanns getting off the plane and coming down the steps. He states it was like watching an action replay of the night he saw the male carrying the child back in Portugal. He states the way Gerry was carrying his twin triggered something in his head. It was exactly the same way and look of the male seen the night Maddie went missing . He also watched ITV news and Sky news and inferred it looked like the same person both times carrying the children."

Mr Smith went on to say that his wife agreed with his suspicions, and felt the same way about the similarity.  I believe this is something that cannot be taken lightly - it has been discussed between husband and wife and is a huge step to take in contacting the police again.  After all, a man's life is on the line.  According to the police, Mr Smith was worried and shaken and genuinely concerned by his realisation.  He went ahead and made another statement to include his thoughts and has since been persistently contacted by various sources including Brian Kennedy, supporter of the McCanns.

"He has been contacted by numerous tabloid press looking for stories. He has been contacted by Mr Brian Kennedy who is supporting the McCann family to take part in a photo fit exercise. He has given no stories or helped in any photo fits.

I do not believe that Martin Smith is courting the press and my view his is a genuine person. He is known locally and is a very decent person." 

Detective Branch, County Lough

Mrs Smith did not wish to make another statement.  Could we wonder whether these thoughts and suspicions were already included in her original statement?

Mrs Smith did get close enough to the man and child to establish that she was sleeping, she got close enough to make contact with the man, who averted his eyes and ignored her.

Did she also get close enough to see the birthmark on the child's lower left leg, where her little cropped pyjama bottoms were pushed up due to her being carried? The birthmark that only the police have made public, yet doesn't warrant one single mention from the McCanns?

Did Mrs Smith make a positive identification of the child on that night?

We'll have to wait for the answers to certain questions, because Mrs Smith's statement was never released in the public files.  The big question is 'why?' and could this be the missing piece?...

**With thanks to the fabulous McCannfiles for detailed information on the Smith sighting, please visit and read for yourself.

Believe it... or not?..

From May 2007 we have been pelted with the story of an abduction backed up with many claims of jemmied shutters and a single window of opportunity.  It was a high risk strategy, but the child was 'taken'...

To this day, many still believe that there is only one side of this sad case.  They fail to realise that the management of the Ocean Club and the police reported that the shutters were in perfect working order and that there was no sign of a break-in to the apartment.  Further forensic analysis found no evidence of an abductor.

So, just as a reminder... we are led to believe that 9 professional, responsible adults dined night after night at a local restaurant while their 8 children were left alone in empty apartments. Eight parents and one grandparent apparently felt at ease, closing the doors to their apartment and leaving their children inside without adult supervision?  They all felt comfortable enough to go walking off down the street, around various obstacles and into a restaurant where they also felt comfortable enough to eat, drink and be merry?

Believe it or not?

The McCanns have, in some respect taken the rap for leaving their children alone, simply because one of them vanished.  However, another 7 adults apparently did the same thing.  We all know the distance between the Tapas Bar and apartment 5a, we know that it's out of sight and can't be monitored while sitting in the restaurant. What people fail to realise is that the McCanns apartment was actually the closest to the restaurant.  All the other apartments were further away and took even longer to 'check'.

Believe it or not?

Rachel Oldfield actually insisted that her husband check on their daughter because it was dark and scary.  A daughter who was so ill with a stomach bug that the smell from her nappy hit you upon entering the apartment.  Yet this mother and father left their poor child alone, in a dark, scary place while they dined and drank with friends?

Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien's apartment was also further away from the restaurant than apartment 5A.  They also had a sick daughter.  So sick that Mr O'Brien apparently had to do a full bed change.  Yet here are another couple who felt comfortable enough to leave their sick child alone while they dined and drank with friends?

Believe it or not?

I really don't know what we're expected to believe... it's all so unbelievable.

"My reason for writing is simple - to give an account of the truth."

Why is an account of the truth now being written in book form?  Will this benefit the McCanns' private limited company only or will there be a donation to a genuine registered charity for missing children, which the McCanns have previously latched onto?  

Surely it must firstly be written in the Book of PJ to benefit Madeleine, then taken a step further and novel written to benefit her family?...   Four years later, are we to consider that everything we've heard to date may not be true, if Kate McCann now decides it's time to 'give an account of the truth'?

Neglect, abduction, homicide, simulated kidnap, hiding of a cadaver.  There are many sides to this terrible, sorry state of affairs... sadly I don't believe half of it will make it amongst the predicted fluffy words.  On a positive note... it may come with a removable wipe-clean cover, perfect for jotting down those cobbled timelines...

Believe it or not...?