A Rainy Day Fund?...

Reporter : Tell me Brian, all the people who have been coming up to you today, just literally stuffing money in your hand.

Brian Kennedy : Yes, they have.  Yes, they have.

"Even if you send a cheque or anything in an envelope to Kate & Gerry in Rothley, it'll get there. People from around the world are doing that.

We will maintain the use of that money fully for the finding of Madeleine and to bring her back home where she belongs."

Kate McCann speaking in the Liverpool Echo, May 2011

~o0o~

Four years later, generous donations from ordinary members of the public still being thrust into the hands of the McCanns and their entourage?  Did these people get a receipt for their kindness?  A mention on their website?  A free wristband?

Was and is this money being used fully for the finding of Madeleine, as stated by Mr Mitchell?  Or used to pay for the likes of top notch lawyer Isobel Duarte in their various legal disputes.  What about their mortgage or even their fresh strawberries from Marks and Spencer?

The 'transparent' accounts that Mr McCann talks about are not so.  The last return of accounts included hidden pages... perhaps a tongue in cheek reference to the deliberate errors in Goncalo Amaral's name?  Very transparent.  It should be reiterated that the 'fund' is not a charity, yet the British media still refer to the 'charity' and it's 'charitable donations'. The fund is the McCanns' own private limited company of which they themselves sit at the helm as directors... they decide just how to spend those cash donations thrust at them.

Nine directors... down to six due to resignations.  Consisting of Mr and Mrs McCann, family and friends - all regulating the Madeleine fund and deciding where and how that money is spent.  Including the very large umbrella that is point 3...

A quote from Clarence Mitchell from the Jon Gaunt interview...

"The fund is independently controlled.

Every penny is being spent properly... in terms of finding Madeleine."

FACT OR FICTION - YOU DECIDE

Muddied Waters

Many have said there were and still are deliberate attempts to muddy the waters surrounding Mrs Fenn's statement.

For those of you who don't know, Mrs Pamela Fenn lived in the apartment above 5A and claimed that on the night of 1st May 2007, she heard a child cry alone, for over an hour.

"She refers to the day of the 1st May 2007, when she was at home alone, at approximately 22.30 she heard a child cry, and that due the tone of the crying seemed to be a young child and not a baby of two years of age or younger. Apart from the crying that continued for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes, and which got louder and more expressive, the child shouted “Daddy, Daddy”, the witness had no doubt that the noise came from the floor below.

At about 23.45, an hour and fifteen minutes after the crying began, she heard the parents arrive, she did not see them, but she heard the patio doors open, she was quite worried as the crying had gone on for more than an hour and had gradually got worse.  When questioned, she said that she did not know the cause of the crying, perhaps a nightmare or another destabilising factor.  As soon as the parents entered the child stopped crying.

That night she contacted a friend called E*** G***, who also lives in Praia da Luz, after 23.00, telling her about the situation, who was not surprised at the child’s crying."

The waters were muddied when news broke of Madeleine questioning her parents as to why he/she/they didn't come when her and Sean were crying.  I say muddied, because the McCanns claim this crying episode took place on the 2nd of May, contrary to what Mrs Fenn claimed.  Could she have been mistaken and confused the dates?  

Well as it happens, Mrs Fenn did recount the day and date quite correctly.  For, four years later on the Late Late Show we hear from Mr McCann himself that on the night of 1st May, it was Amelie who had woken up.

"The next morning, she (Madeleine) said "Mummy", can't remember if it was Mummy or Daddy now... "why didn't you come when Sean and I were crying last night?"  And we both looked at each other and thought "that's odd... crying?"  We didn't hear anything and we had been back checking and so we asked "When did you cry?"  You know sometimes when we first put them to bed, they cry and she just dropped it and as we were saying, Madeleine is very articulate and we kind of looked at each other and thought, did they wake up or was it the night before when Amelie had woken up?"

So by the McCanns' own admission, the children had woken on the 1st and 2nd of May, but dismiss any suggestion that Madeleine could have woke and wandered on that fateful night.  By stark contrast, none of the children woke on the 3rd May despite the hullaballoo happening in and around the apartment and being physically moved and carried by strangers to another apartment.

Recollections of the night of 3rd May also differ...

"During the day nothing unusual happened, until almost 22.30 when, being alone again, she heard the hysterical shouts from a female person, calling out “we have let her down” which she repeated several times, quite upset. Mrs Fenn then saw that it was the mother of little Madeleine who was shouting furiously.

Upon leaning over the terrace, after having seen the mother, Mrs Fenn asked the father, Gerry, what was happening to which he replied that a small girl had been abducted. When asked, she replied that she did not leave her apartment, just spoke to Gerry from her balcony, which had a view over the terrace of the floor below. She found it strange that Gerry when said that a girl had been abducted, he did not mention that it was his daughter and that he did not mention any other scenarios.

At that moment she offered Gerry help, saying that he could use her phone to contact the authorities, to which he replied that this had already been done. It was just after 22.30.  She said that after the mother’s shouts, she had seen many people in the streets looking for the girl."

In her own 'version of the truth', Kate McCann gives an altogether different account of the neighbourly encounter...

"At about 11pm, a woman appeared on a nearby balcony and inquired of Kate: "Can someone tell me what all the noise is about?"  Kate told the woman that her daughter had been stolen from her bed to which the woman responded: "Oh I see" as though, Kate writes, she had been told a can of beans had fallen off a kitchen shelf."

Could these two differing accounts describe the same moment?  Sadly Mrs Fenn has passed away, her statement in effect is etched in stone.  I would hate to think that Kate McCann has taken liberties when the lady in question is unable to defend herself.


Muddied waters?  I think with the publishing of Kate McCann's 'version of the truth', a lot of things are suddenly becoming clearer.

Please do what Scotland Yard are going to do... read the Portuguese investigation for yourself by visiting the Maddie Case Files.  Thanks to the hard work of many posters, all translated into English... for free.

Deal or No Deal... you decide!

In her 'version of the truth', Kate McCann continues to perpetuate the myth of the plea bargain she claims to have received from the Portuguese police.  She and her spokespersons are careful not to directly accuse the police themselves and say that the 'deal' came via their lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu.

Mrs McCann's lawyer told her that police would offer her a two-year sentence if she pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her daughter.

The plea-bargain offer was put to the McCanns by their lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu.

"...the proposal came indirectly via our lawyer."


"They tried to get her to confess....by offering her a deal through her lawyer......we can guarantee you a two-year jail sentence or even less." 

Philomena McCann

"....during the police interview....senior police officers told her lawyer that that if she were to confess.....they would probably consider a....sentence of three to four years..."

Clarence Mitchell

No deal was offered because it is simply not possible under Portuguese law, as explained by Carlos Pinto de Abreu himself the following day... "it was all a misunderstanding."

A big thank you to Hideho for allowing me to post her video.  Please view her  channel for more videos or visit the website, Remembering Madeleine for a very comprehensive and indepth analysis of the Portuguese police files.  The beautiful artwork can be viewed by clicking here.

The Scary Froth of Moir...

A few articles have cropped up online over the last few days, supportive of the McCanns yet condemning all those who dare to question or disbelieve.

They all seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet and one wonders where they get their biased views from?  This one in particular made me chuckle, Jan Moir in the Daily Mail... snipped because she does go on a bit.

"In Mrs McCann’s experience, the internet provides individuals with a ‘largely unregulated opportunity to set up websites and forums and blogs where they can share their bile and hate with other faceless, anonymous low-lifes, all locked away in their bedrooms’.

At first, the online accusations that she had murdered her own daughter upset Mrs McCann tremendously. Then she learned to ignore them. Ultimately, she began to pity these maladjusted nobodies and monomaniacs dishing out their reams of deranged malice under a cloak of anonymity. She is right. In the end, it’s only the babble of loons, ricocheting around cyberspace like astral junk. It may be wicked, but none of it matters a jot."

Hardly surprising after the Gateley episode and walking the dead in Bristol, but I did imagine her frothing at the mouth after thrashing that out on her poor keyboard.  Scary stuff.

Gone are the days of investigative journalism and unbiased reports.  In their place lie rampant self opinionated pieces like the one above.  Well you know, it's not a crime not to believe someone.  It's not a crime to have your own opinion and thoughts on something, it certainly doesn't make you a hater, loon or malajusted nobody.  How many of you are low-lifes locked away in your bedroom?

Over the last four years, the vilest of bile has come from supporters of the McCanns - as demonstrated above and below.  

As a side note however, I have to say that in the four years of following this case, the worst thing I have read is on Page 119 and I refuse to repeat it.  I cannot believe it has come from the pen of the mother herself... and is now in print for the world to see.  Including her children and as she hopes, Madeleine herself.

Anyway, I would advise Ms Moir and the merry gang to remove those blinkers and educate themselves on the facts of the case instead of resorting to insults and assuming that anyone who doesn't carry the same opinion as themselves is a nutter.  Make an attempt to think and understand just why people choose not to believe, if that's at all possible.

A good place to start would be the McCannFiles for a comprehensive overview of everything related to the case.

Or do what Scotland Yard intend to do... examine the translated files of the Portuguese investigation.  This can be done at the Maddie Case Files - the majority of the investigation is translated into English, including witness statements and up to date news from Portugal. Posters are friendly, normal people who simply want the truth. Certainly not what Jan Moir paints them to be.

£3.5 million...

Is a child really worth £3.5 milion pounds? 

"A special £3.5 million grant is being given to Scotland Yard to fund the Madeleine McCann inquiry.  The Home Office cash will fund a team, led by an experienced detective, which is being set up in the next few days to carry out a review of the entire investigation.  It will cover the cost of man hours, flights to Portugal, hotels, consultation fees from forensic firms and any other expenses.  There will also be a hefty cost for translation work on the thousands of documents requested from Portuguese authorities."

What about all the other missing children?  Every year in the UK, 140,000 children go missing - 383 children per day.  A staggering amount, which includes parental abductions, runaways, criminal abductions and children who are lost and injured.  Are the government willing to stump up £3.5 million to cases similar to the McCanns or do only special ones warrant the attention?

Kerry Needham thinks the government should help.  I'm sure she would dearly love such an injection of cash into the search for her missing son, Ben.

"After the breaking news today I am happy to see the government's involvement with reviewing missing people cases abroad.  I am pleased for the McCann family and look forward to the government offering the same support to all families with loved ones missing abroad."            Kerry Needham, May 2011

What makes this case so special?  Has anyone taken any notice of the police files and are they really up to speed with Portuguese law?  The McCanns could have prevented the case being shelved in the first place and they could request the case be reopened today.  This could be done for free, thereby saving the UK taxpayer a bucketload.

"If they wanted the case to be reviewed, they would ask for the crime process and the investigation to be reopened, and they would supply all of the reports from the various private detectives that they have hired.  To ask for the process to be reopened, all it would take is a letter to the Prosecutor, as it has already happened in so many other cases. It costs them nothing, just the stamp on the letter."   Goncalo Amaral May 2011

Amongst other things, the £3.5 million will be used for hotels, travel costs and the translation of documents requested from Portugal. Forgive me, I have deja vu... although I suppose it's heartwarming that the money won't be used for mortgage payments and that ever growing mountain of legal debts.

Instead of being cockahoop and jumping for joy at the news, Mr and Mrs McCann appeared to find it difficult to summon up much enthusiasm, but thought it was 'a step in the right direction'... 

So, is a child worth £3.5 million?  I would say yes, but so are all the other children.  In this case though, just who is running the show because I don't believe the parents are worth it.

Please take a moment to visit the official campaign website to help find Ben Needham, you can do so by clicking here.  It would also be appreciated if you could sign Ben's petition...

Ben at 21

Not a lot to ask, is it really?  It's already been done.  In the Sun.  For added entertainment however, maybe next time the McCanns and the Prime Minister can communique a la Jeremy Kyle?