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...