Kate McCann... An Inspiration?

"Kate McCann has been hailed one of the 20 most inspirational women in Britain for refusing to give up on the search for missing daughter Madeleine."

Is this some kind of a joke?  Has the world gone even crazier?  In the words of my young daughter... who on earth would find this woman an inspiration?

Well Sweety, I can think of only ONE person...

This blog is short and sweet... it doesn't warrant the words Kate McCann and inspiration on the same page.

Who's Trolling Who?...

An internet 'troll' who set up a sickening 'joke' Facebook page about missing Madeleine McCann has written a letter to her parents begging for their forgiveness.

Jack Tims - a 17 year old student from Herne Bay in Kent - claims he started the vile page on Facebook as a prank which then got out of hand.

Tims' "If I Get 1 million Likes I'll Let Maddie Go" Facebook profie was revealed by The Sun as part of their Target a Troll campaign against bullies on the internet.

The teenager says he had no intention to hurt Kate and Gerry McCann - who's daughter disappeared from their holiday flat in Portugal in 2007 - and did not expect the page to cause so much revulsion.

He told The Sun that he had created it after 'chatting to a friend about jokes comedians come out with' but admitted that being named and shamed in the paper made him realise 'how much I distressed people.'  He then claimed to have 'received threats' and that his actions could 'cost me friends'.

In an open letter to the McCanns, Tim says he is 'truly sorry' and that he now realises 'how stupid and naive I was, and wish I could turn back the clock.'

Kids... who'd have 'em eh?  Well, a lot of us do.  In no way do I condone the behaviour of this young person or his Facebook page, but I do wonder about the journalistic ethics of naming and shaming a minor in a national newspaper.  Especially for something that appears to have been a distasteful teenage prank amongst friends which got out of control. Are his parents behind the open letter to the McCanns or has this teenager learned his lesson the very hardest of ways?

Trolling has been openly apparent on the forums since May 2007, with a faction of McCann supporters being the worst offenders by far, across the board.  I remember this Facebook page being discussed many moons ago.  I'm sure it has been in existence just as long (if not longer) than the Official Madeleine Facebook group.  Many, many people complained about the Million Likes group, the McCanns shared a platform with it - why was it not removed before now?  Call me a cynic, but in the wider agenda of things - the prosecution of online troll Sean Duffy, the campaign by the Sun, the removal of the group and an open letter to the McCanns.  What a story, what a flow... you couldn't make it up.

There are plenty of Madeleine groups on Facebook, many of them favourable with the hope that one day she will be found, many offensive including the laughable 'Tribute to Kate McCann'.  With the McCanns' influence I'm sure these undesirable, murky groups could be removed immediately. They're not, but left to like by the itchy fingered numpties.

Have the McCanns accepted the apology?  I've not seen any response so far, other than the usual hot air blowing from the direction of Mr Mitchell.

Jack Tims received threats... from whom?  He was named and shamed in a national newspaper, what about the thousands of other morons who LIKED the page?  And what about the trolls who threatened him?

If I was Flynn and O'Shea (amongst others) I would be asking just who was behind the 'utterly immoral' bullying... now that's a story that would sell.

Watching and Waiting...

Some canny and somewhat fitting Thomas Hardy quotes...

While much is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.

But no one came.  Because no one ever does.

Why is it that a woman can see from a distance what a man cannot see close?

There's a friendly tie of some sort between music and eating.

...she moved about in a mental cloud of many-coloured idealities, which eclipsed all sinister contingencies by its brightness.

If an offense come out of the truth, better is it that the offense come than that the truth be concealed.

The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing alive enough to have the strength to die.

Silence has sometimes a remarkable power of showing itself as the disembodied soul of feeling wandering without its carcase, and it is then more impressive than speech.

Then if children make so much trouble, why do peope have 'em?

And so, years later and far from the madding crowd that is nothing more than an attempt to silence views and opinions, the truth is burrowing its way to the surface.  Attempts to silence only compound thoughts of guilt.  United we stand, we are not going anywhere.  Like Madeleine, we are silently watching and waiting.

Watching and waiting.

Watching and waiting
For a friend to play with
Why have I been alone for so long
Mole he is burrowing his way to the sunlight
He knows there's someone there so strong
Cos here there's lots of room for doing
The things you've always been denied
Look and gather all you want to
There's no one here to stop you trying
Soon you will see me
Cos I'll be all around you
But where I come from I can't tell
But don't be alarmed by my fields and my forests
They're here for only you to share
Cos here there's lots of room for doing
The things you've always been denied
So look and gather all you want to
There's no one here to stop you trying


Watching and waiting
For someone to understand me
I hope it won't be very long...

Correcting the Fibs...

In response to this comment by Anonymous, left on yesterday's blog...

Clarence Mitchell DID say they were awaiting DNA results (not DMA, however).  I will take it slowly and make it nice and simple for you, whoever you are...

Mr Mitchell's comments... "We are liaising with the Indian authorities over the incident and await the results of the DNA test." ... were first reported in the Daily Mail article - 

The whole article was updated later that day at 9.32pm and had its title and report changed to...

'It's not our Maddie' : McCanns hopes dashed after sighting in India

...which included the later comments about the McCanns seeing photographic evidence with references to the wait for DNA results removed.

However, the claim still remains online if you take the time to look for it. It doesn't take long to find as not everyone 'amends' things like the Mail.

I have given two examples above, both reporting Mr Mitchell stating that they are liaising with the Indian authorities over the 'incident' and that they are awaiting the results of the DNA tests.  Interestingly the First Post updated the article in the proper manner by making an additional update instead of changing the whole article...

EDITOR'S UPDATE: Since this item was posted, a spokesman for the McCann family played down the report, saying there was "nothing to suggest that this is a breakthrough." And in India a regional police chief said he was not aware of the sighting.

The update was in reference to this statement from the Deputy Inspector General of Police -

We have not recovered any missing foreign girl from Leh. There is no question of carrying out a DNA test since we do not have the girl. Our field staff in Leh have confirmed that no such girl has been recovered by them. British media reports said that a girl missing for the last four years from Portugal had been sighted in the Leh district of the state. We have no such confirmation from either the police or the district administration."

Abdul Gani Mir

Deputy Inspector General of Police

28.07.11

A very adamant, contradictory statement from the Deputy Inspector General.  Surely wires have been crossed somewhere along the line, otherwise it appears that someone is blatantly lying through their teeth. Just who was initially responsible for this 'sighting' to the press and what photographic evidence of the 'child' have the McCanns laid claim to? Which leads us right back to Anonymous and his/her spiffing idea that we should all contact individuals to uncover the origin of the whole charade.  Not a good idea... best left to official channels and the other supposed sleuths - the PJ or Scotland Yard.

I would like to make it clear that I don't make things up, as Anonymous suggests and that I certainly wouldn't deliberately lie.  Not like some in this sad case.

An Elaborate Hoax?...

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.

Kate and Gerry McCann's team of private investigators say they are working with police in the northern city of Leh which lies in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.  It’s the northernmost state of India and is situated mostly in the Himalayas.

A British woman raised concerns with other tourists who agreed with her. At one point an American man is said to have tried to take the girl from the couple.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann, said: 'Our private investigators are aware of the reports from India over the weekend about a possible sighting of Madeleine.  'We are liaising with the Indian authorities over the incident and await the results of the DNA test.'

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

How bizarre.  From this report we're led to believe that after four years, the big, bad abductors have taken the child, not only out in public but to a busy market area!  Only English speaking British and American tourists spot the resemblence, no-one else, no-one local.  One tourist is brazen enough to try and kidnap the child!

Are these people mentally challenged?  For a start, they're looking at a SIX year old child.  Hello People, do the math... Madeleline would be EIGHT.  The press are another extremely dim lot - an Indian sighting denotes that the picture of dark skinned, dark haired Madeleine must be used.  Common sense innit?  I mean she could never be fair coming from French/Belgian parentage.   Is the simple American man banged up for attempted kidnap?  If not, he should be.

There is no reported contact between the PJ or Scotland Yard and their Indian colleagues.  Only the private dicks are on the case - Clarence Mitchell is very vocal about this fact. 

This appears to be yet another innocent child and family caught up in the fallout from the McCann saga.  Imagine the horror and fear, not only of the parents but the child herself.  And it's only just begun.  What was probably a family holiday (unlike the McCanns, these parents were with their child) has been thrown into chaos by these idiots, taking unwanted photos, attempts to take the child, arrest, confiscation of passports and being called suspects in the press. They now have to spend their precious time in a police station, being subjected to tests to prove that their daughter is their own.

It beggars belief.  If it's true.

Latests reports indicate there is no such child, no such sighting.

Clarence Mitchell says "so far, unfortunately there is nothing to suggest that this sighting is any more credible than many others."  He adds meat to the bones by claiming that it's all systems go... the Team are liaising with the Indian authorities and are actually awaiting the DNA results. However, contradictory reports are surfacing from the Leh Chief of Police who says he's not been approached by anyone regarding DNA tests and that the sighting is false.

We have not recovered any missing foreign girl from Leh. There is no question of carrying out a DNA test since we do not have the girl. Our field staff in Leh have confirmed that no such girl has been recovered by them. British media reports said that a girl missing for the last four years from Portugal had been sighted in the Leh district of the state. We have no such confirmation from either the police or the district administration."

Abdul Gani Mir

Deputy Inspector General of Police

28.07.11

Is Mr Mitchell lying?  Or just in Cuckoo Land, having a senior moment? Perhaps he confused the search for the Yeti...  Says it all really, about this and every other reported sighting of Madeleine.

Fact or fiction... real or or a very detailed hoax... you decide.  I hope for the child and family in question, it's false.  Which leads me on to ask... who and why and wth is going on?

** 28.07.11 This sighting has apparently now been dismissed by the McCanns.  Not by ruling out DNA as Mr Mitchell suggests, but after the McCanns were shown a picture of the child.  A very quick dismissal indeed.  And very confusing as the local police don't appear to be involved whatsoever.

Pat Brown on the McCann Case

PAT BROWN

Criminal Profiler

PROFILE of the DISAPPEARANCE of

MADELEINE McCANN

"What really happened to Madeleine Beth McCann in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007? Was she abducted as Gerry and Kate have claimed or did something happen to Madeleine on May 3 in the vacation apartment and the incident covered up? Criminal Profiler Pat Brown analyzes the evidence and takes the readers through the steps of profiling, developing a theory that is intriguing and controversial."

Currently BANNED on Amazon

but available to BUY online at Barnes & Noble and also Smashwords

(delivered in seconds!)
Click to purchase for just $2.99

(what a saving)

50% of all sales will go to the Madeleline Search Fund

Praia da Luz ... Huelva ... Rothley

I purchased this book from Amazon before they lost their spine.  It's a great read and a bargain price.  A recommended read by a very experienced author.  

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

04.11.11 Update.


In response to the threats from Carter Ruck/McCanns and subsequent removal of her book from Amazon, Pat Brown has now appointed  legal representation in her upcoming suit against the McCanns.


Ms Brown is suing the McCanns for libel and tortious interference with business.

Follow Pat Brown on Twitter for up to date news... ProfilerPatB

McBanned?...

Seems yet again that the McCanns are out to stifle public opinion and free speech. Well you know, the repugnant duo have had over four years to change my opinion of them, their friends and to convince me that their daughter was abducted. They've failed.  Reading the books of Goncalo Amaral, Pat Brown and many others along the way has not suddenly swayed my thoughts... (and I include Mrs McCann in 'many others') the opinion I hold is the one I came to back in 2007, with good reason.  Their fruitless attempts to silence Goncalo Amaral, and the sight of his book returning to the shelves has however compounded my thoughts.

Alarmingly, the McCanns appear to have spent more money on legal battles which only involve people who disagree with their mantra of 'the bad man did it and ran away.'  Nothing to do with Madeleine but everything to do with her parents and their 'reputation'... defamation is claimed.  This is money they would not have, had they not had the foresight to set up their own company to accept donations and money which would be better spent on the ahem... search for their daughter.

They ban adverse opinion on their Facebook page... all the time...

Recently, they even tried to ban this rather nice, smiley photograph...

People are entitled to their own opinions, banning books won't alter that. There is nothing defamatory in a book that follows the thoughts of the official police investigation.  Not a version of the truth, but simply the truth.  Get your tin hats on, these people will spend all their time in legal wrangles trying to shut people up.  Unfortunately for them, they can't ban thoughts or opinion, although I'm sure that'll be next on the agenda.  There are ways and means to change opinion, I'm surprised their PR people are advising them this way. Unfortunately suing all and sundry just makes them look like money grabbing scroungers with something to hide.

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

Where are the McCanns?...

They seem to have vanished into thin air... like their daughter.


What about the campaign, the raising awareness?  Don't we have an anniversary sometime soon?  On hold... again.

People are saying it's because a link to the Gaspar statements was posted on their official Facebook wall, prompting the removal of all comments and the inability for supporters to post there.  Others are saying it's not a coincidence that they're keeping a low profile whilst this phone hacking business is doing the rounds.  I haven't got a scooby, gave up trying to understand their warped logic many moons ago.

Judging by the alleged hacking victims that are surfacing in the news - Milly Dowler, the families of Holly Wells, Jessica Chapman, dead service personnel, victims of the 9/11 tragedy and the dying Jade Goody, it seems like anybody and everybody was fair game.  Can we assume (without a shadow of a doubt) that the high profile, very newsworthy Tapas group were hacked?

What a shame the McCanns wasted so much of their 'fund' in their failed legal battles targetting Goncalo Amaral.  I'm sure they would have been onto a winner with News International.  Depending on the content of those hacks, of course.

The official investigation files are translated into English and available to read online at McCann PJ Files.  Please click to read.

Down the rabbit hole...

News that individuals have over the years, used what they consider as journalistic licence to hack into people's phones has shocked plenty, however what makes it all the more appalling are the people they've abused... Milly Dowler, Jean Charles de Menezes, dead service personnel, the victims of the London bombings.  Now the scandal has reached across the pond - victims of the 9/11 bombings may also have been hacked.

When these individuals gaze into the looking glass, what do they see? Bad enough having the moral bankruptcy to do it once, but there are over 10,000 names, mobile and landline numbers paramount in this investigation.  What kind of person hacks into the phone of a missing child, deletes her messages and then goes back for more?

Wrong, legally and morally. 

But let's go further down that rabbit hole, because there festers the real crime...an investigation that was originally deemed not relevant.  In the smoke and mirrors of hacks, resignations and gossip there lies a force who ignored 17 black bags of evidence and failed many innocent people.

In true Wonderland fashion, it's been revealed that the paths of the police, prime minister, politicians and royal staff regularly crossed during private dinners, drinkies and jollies with members of News International. Like a game of musical chairs, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the initial hacking inquiry, retired and was employed by News International as a columnist.  The close friend of the current Assistant Commissioner and ex News International executive was hired by the Commissioner.  You really couldn't make it up.

Down the rabbit hole and into a huge warren.

Behind the scenes, phones pinged, the hacking carried on, brown envelopes passed and the mountain of black bags got bigger and bigger.

A huge conflict of interest arose during the initial inquiry and despite the pain and suffering of the victims, the reasons why there was no investigation should be fully scrutinized.  The hacking is one crime, the 'pretty crap decision' not to investigate is another one and cannot be set aside.

After he left News International, Neil Wallis was hired as an adviser by current Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson.  Sir Paul also admitted to having many dinners with News International staff.  At the direction of the prime minister, he was passed the investigative review of the missing Madeleine McCann case.  A review which is costing the tax payer £3.5 million and which will not be made public when concluded. Understandable whilst the case is still open, but its secrecy should not be of benefit to the wrong people.

A missing child, a lot of money and the Portuguese police force is at stake.  Not to mention the current freedom of the guilty perpetrator/s, whoever they may be...

Given the suspicious nature of the Madeleine case and the scrutiny already gathered, including rumours of preferential help given to certain individuals involved, will this review be conducted properly?  The whole case already seems to be compromised... is it really appropriate that the man in charge still appears to have one foot in the rabbit hole with much more to answer?

Caylee Marie Anthony.................... THE Beautiful Life.

Crap parenting seems to be the norm nowadays.  Parents who just don't care, who will lie through their teeth to save their own skinny hides.

Can you really put your dead child in a bag and toss her in the woods like rubbish?  Leave her to the elements, the wildlife and live the beautiful life for 31 days?  Without telling a soul she is missing? And get away with it?

Well if Mother Nature unintentionally comes to your aid, it seems that you can.

Lie after lie after lie.  The beautiful life.

During her trial, the only people who referred to Casey Anthony as a 'slut' were her own defence team.  A team who iced that lewd cake with inappropriate gestures as they 'danced with the devil'.

Watch your back José... you could be next under that bus.

Karma is a bitch... I hope she comes and bites Casey Anthony hard on that skinny ass of hers.

**********

Rest in peace Caylee Marie Anthony, a beautiful life gone far too soon.

Righting the Wrongs - Wrong Government, Wrong Country, Kate...

What experience do the McCanns have of "the additional pain of financial and legal bureaucracy"?  

From day one, the couple received personal assistance from the British government, both home and abroad in the shape of Ambassador Buck, Embassy staff and their very own governmental spokespeople.  Top of the pile help from Mark Warner and every conceivable aid possible including massive press coverage costing megabucks and access to top lawyers.

With millions being spent via their own private limited company (the 'fund') and an additional £3.5m of further money being spent on a review of the case, these people are the WORST ambassadors to be championing the government about the pain of financial and legal bureaucracy.

I could quote a myriad of worthy people who should be making headlines today, from Kerry Needham to Kevin Godsen to Fiona Mackeown.  

Instead we have the self-centred, ungracious hypocrite that is Kate McCann.

These parents would be grateful for a fraction of the help the McCanns have been privy to, and still are.  And just as deserving as the family who half-heartedly greeted the news of a review by Scotland Yard, saying that it addressed one of their key disgruntlements, but a step in the right direction?!  The child's case is now actively being reviewed....!!! I don't know of any parent  who wouldn't be overjoyed.  The McCanns certainly are a different kettle of (sel)fish...

Here's hoping the £3.5m is well spent and progresses to the case being reopened in Portugal.  At present, Kate McCann is in the wrong country, and championing the wrong government for the wrong reasons.... but then she's well aware of that I'm sure.

McMusings...

How can a child spend days living in a place, yet leave no trace of herself?

How can an abductor leave no trace of himself?

How can a child just vanish into thin air?

How can their be no further trace of her whatsoever?

These questions and many more remain unanswered four years later.

Dare to ask questions or deviate from the abduction scenario and you are branded unhelpful, hateful and a wisher of the most horrible outcome of all, that the child is dead.  This is the online mentality of the McCann supporter.  Twitter is awash with the usual rants of HATER and STALKER to anyone who does not tweet about abduction.

The Official Find Madeleine facebook page is full of fluffy words offering prayers and claims that today is one day closer to Madeleine coming home.  Followers are praying in their thousands on a daily basis - how many prayers is it likely to take I wonder, and just how many days away is this homecoming?  Any pertinent questions are promptly removed, this page is for gushy words from McCann sympathisers only. Posts denigrating Goncalo Amaral, the police investigation and Portugal as a whole are often left to view for additional derogatory comments to be added.

In their attempts to smear one man, their followers have been molded into a perfect besotted cast, who don't seem to comprehend that this is bigger than just one man.  One man's views were also that of both the Portuguese and British police forces and many more involved in the case.

Supporters follow the mantra of there is no evidence of serious harm coming to Madeleine, it must be believed that she is alive and eventually coming home.  There is nothing wrong with this view and having some hope, however it is very blinkered and one tracked. 

Madeleine doesn't deserve this blinkered view.  It seems to come from the blind support of two people that nobody really knows. To gloss over the fact that the dogs travelled around PDL and found cadaver odour is inexcusable.  It is certainly one huge indication that the child could have come to serious harm.  The fact that the dogs marked several items belonging to the McCanns only is another matter.

If we examine the worse outcome, that Madeleine's fate was sealed on that holiday, then the perpetrator/s is still at large and has been for four years.  Four years of no serious harm... help find Madeleine... look at the eye... holiday packs... wristbands... when all the time this person/s is roaming free, enjoying life as the public are sideswept and encouraged to search only for a live child.  I believe that Madeleine deserves all theories to be examined, there's no point in following one theory only if something else has happened to her.  It is doing nobody any good, especially Madeleine.

By following one line of enquiry only - that of abduction, the McCanns and their supporters are contradicting and damaging two of the fund objectives... finding Madeleine and bringing her abductor, whether related to the case or not, to justice. Hypocritically, aren't they responsible for damaging the search themselves.

Madeleine's Fund, Private Limited Company...

The other night, I was stunned to see someone tweet a reference to 'The McCann Charity' and actually attempt to argue his point.  It's hard to believe that people are still under the impression that the fund is a registered charity.  It isn't...  I think this point really should be laid to rest, it's so old it's growing a beard.

It all started after Madeleine's disappearance in May 2007.  With an apparent flood of donations, the decision was made to channel the money in a way that could benefit the McCanns and the search for Madeleine.  I believe that the money donated by the general public was intended to help find Madeleine... I know my donation was.

Plans were set in motion and a meeting with the Charity Commission was arranged to enquire if the fund could achieve charitable status.  After this meeting, it was widely reported in the British media that the fund was refused charitable status because the money raised did not "represent the good of all" and was not for "the wider public good".

The Charity Commission were compelled to issue a statement in response to these reports in the media, claiming they had been "misreported" and a spokeswoman was quoted in the Charity News Alert as saying...

"We were first approached for our advice about the possibility of a fund to assist the parents’ search on Monday 14 May.  We held discussions with the family’s lawyers and in the end they decided not to pursue that route."

So, not only were they not refused charitable status, it appears they actually decided not to take that route themselves.

And so on 15th May 2007, Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited was born.

Registered at Companies House, this is the McCanns' very own private limited company.  Not a charity, but a private company at which both Mr and Mrs McCann sit at the helm as directors, along with other family and friends.  All making decisions and regulating just what happens with all that dollar.

They say the majority of the fund money has and will be used on investigative work to help find Madeleine.  Additionally the money continues to be spent on the wider "Awareness Campaign".  What else has the fund money been used for?  It's difficult to tell from the not so transparent accounts as several pages were hidden.  What about the payments on the mortgage of the McCanns' family home, their extortionate legal fees for several failed court battles and the upcoming Portuguese libel trial amongst other things?

Unfortunately for the unsuspecting people aiming to help find Madeleine, all these additional costs can be justified by slotting them under the wide umbrella that is point 3 of the fund objectives.  Yes, even those M&S strawberries...

Back in 2007, as the public personally pushed cash donations into his pockets, Brian Kennedy, an uncle of Kate McCann was in no doubt that the fund money would be mainly for legal expenditure...

"Tell us about the Fighting Fund..."
"This is not an appeal, the family haven't made an appeal.  We've just set up a mechanism for people who said they wanted to do something and contribute, so that the money can be used for all sorts of reasons but probably mainly for legal expenditure."
17th May 2007

Unless they are prepared to delve a little deeper into this case, the gullible public can hardly be blamed for believing that they are donating to a charity.  Especially when they are being led by the British media which, to this day, regularly misprints news of charitable funds being donated to the Madeleine charity.  Absolutely misleading, if the media are prepared to print such lies, then they must be prepared to assume some of the responsibility for blatantly misleading the public.

When questioned about her book sales, Kate McCann said "Every penny will go on the search for Madeleine."  However, this was swiftly amended to "All royalties donated to Madeleine's fund" with the addition of a sticker to the front of the book.

To the unsuspecting naive eye, nothing has changed.  Unless you look again at the objectives of Madeleine's fund and the shrewdly disguised part 3 and realise that perhaps not every single penny will go on the search for Madeleine, but simply be added to the fund.  Which of course is 'to provide support, including financial assistance, to Madeleine's family.  And boy, is it a big family with what appears to be a lot of 'legal expenditure'.  Is Uncle Brian psychic?  Uncle Brian's Dreams (Limited)... now that has a certain ring to it...

The McCanns are legally doing nothing wrong in spending this money. However, the morality of it all comes into question when donations were made by children, pensioners and genuine people giving their last to help find their daughter.  All under the guise of the search for a missing child with misreporting in the media encouraging people to believe they are donating to a charity.  

Morally wrong, misreported with no attempt to make any amendments.

The fund is not a charity.  It never was and by the looks of things, it never will be.

With friends like these...

We trust our friends implicitly...

A strange thing to say under the circumstances?  Friends, some of whom you've known for only 6 months?  Wouldn't you trust only yourself and your nearest and dearest?  Viewing from the perspective of wholly innocent parents pining for their child, just who would you trust?

Matthew Oldfield?  According to the bouncing timeline, supposedly the last person to check on the McCann children before Madeleine's disappearance was raised at 10pm.  Possibly the last person to see Madeleine, although he claims he never actually saw her...

David Payne?  According to the official statements of Yvonne Martin, her suspicions were drawn upon Mr Payne immediately.  Mrs Martin was sure that she recognised him from her 25 years working in Social Services and Child Protection, and on her return to Britain was compelled to contact the British police to check whether Mr Payne was included in any paedophile or child abuse registers.

More suspicions of Mr Payne occur in the statements of Katerina and Arul Gaspar, doctor friends of the McCanns who holidayed with them in Majorca, 2005.  The Paynes were also on this particular holiday and Mrs Gaspar tells of further detailed paedophilia suspicions involving Messrs Payne and McCann.  In fact, when she heard the news of Madeleine's disappearance, one of her first thoughts was whether Mr Payne was on the same holiday.

Russell O'Brien?  Absent from a lot of things including the Tapas table, the High Court steps and also absent from the life of the McCanns, it seems...

"At most the house is visited by close family and three others of the group of friends who were with them in the Algarve when Maddie disappeared, that is David and Fiona Payne and Jane Tanner, as they are connected with them."

Flash Magazine 2009

"As they are connected with them?..."  In what way, I wonder... in a different way from the rest of the friends?

The women in this sad tale seem to be taking a back seat, although would you trust Dianne Webster who thought that your cries for help were just 'another of your silly games?'

Jane Tanner?  A friend who thought she may have spotted your daughter being carried away to her fate by the bad man.  But she didn't bother to mention it, incase it increased your burden?  Most unhelpful.

Would you trust Rachel Oldfield?  A friend who wouldn't check on any of the children, never mind her own sick daughter - it was just too dark and scary.  She came with the knowledge however, that with all those medics in the party, the resuscitation of a child was possible.  Very handy that...

Your beloved child in one hand, your friends in the other - where do your priorities lie?  There really is no choice, is there?  Yet with all these doubts, suspicions and much more, the McCanns trust their friends implicitly.  Even after their refusal to aid the investigation and return to Portugal for the police reconstruction - a virtual all round slap in the chops and massive failure for the one person who counts - Madeleine.

The McCanns trust their friends implicitly.  The question is... why?

With thanks to the McCann : PJ Files, please click to visit and view the translated files for yourself...

The Kate McCann Gallery

Who can say what the mum of a missing child should look like?

Relieved?...

Blasé?...

Contented?...

Flippant?...

Tickled pink?...

Flagrant?...

Chavtastic?...

Bricking it?...

Or just plain weird...?

Curiously, there are plenty of photographs that could come under the heading of 'weird'.  Plenty of happy smiles with their other children, but none of them searching, asking, looking...  This is what we see, it's out there in the public domain for us to draw our own opinions on. 

So what should the mother of a missing child look like?  My expectations would be a devastated wreck, but who can say? We can question whether it's normal to function and show all the wrong emotions.  Calm, beaming smiles from a woman who managed to co-ordinate her personal grooming from day one - right down to putting her earrings in.

After watching her husband storm off set during the Spanish interview pictured below, I did think Mrs McCann acted as cool as a cucumber, which certainly opened my eyes.

However, to date I've never actually viewed her as 'cold'.  Not until it was so succinctly put by Mrs McCann herself, and pictured by the Express... Instead of raging yet again at the unknown, perhaps she should question why people hold this view...

And perhaps, just once, the headlines could be about her missing daughter and not herself.