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.