This was an article from the Daily Express, reporter Padraic Flanagan in PDL August 28th 2007.
KATE and Gerry McCann are the subjects of a vile whispering campaign, which has led to them suffering a daily torrent of smears.
As they still try to come to terms with the loss of four-year-old Madeleine they continually face new accusations, including that they were responsible for her death.
And despite the couple’s swift, strenuous and increasingly exasperated denials to every one of the allegations, they have failed to dampen the appetite of the Portuguese media for new smears. The lies include:
Kate’s guilt
Portuguese TV reporter Sandra Felguiras is said to have implied during one live broadcast recently that Mrs McCann could have murdered her daughter. A source close to the couple’s family described the comments as “outrageous”.
Drugging their children
The McCanns, both doctors, have been accused of “drugging” their children to make them sleep so they could go out. The claim came from unnamed police sources who doubted Madeleine’s two-year-old twin brother and sister could have slept through her abduction. Last week magazine Tal&Qual suggested they accidentally killed her with an overdose. The couple say they have never used sedatives on their children and never would.
Wife-swapping holidays
A retired detective claimed, without foundation on a TV programme, that Kate and Gerry were “swingers” who enjoyed wife-swapping with the friends who were their dinner party companions. Despite a lack of evidence, the claim was picked up by local newspapers.
Excessive drinking
Rumours that the couple and their friends were drunk when they should have been looking after their children began among holidaymakers in Praia da Luz and were picked up by local journalists. The McCanns deny they drank on May 3, when Madeleine went missing.
Children left to cry
Neighbours at the Ocean Club are said to have told of the McCanns leaving their children while they went out to enjoy themselves, including once in a town 15 minutes’ drive away. Kate and Gerry insist they ate every night at a restaurant less than a minute from the flat.
Killed in the apartment
Various newspapers and television stations have discounted the abduction theory, and claim Madeleine died in the apartment, through the negligence of her parents or murder. Journalists who made the claim cannot explain why detectives might think this.
A body in the hire car
Other newspapers have reported the existence of forensic evidence that Madeleine’s body had been in the family’s rental car. This claim re-emerged at the weekend with reports that the scent of a corpse had been discovered by a sniffer dog on the hire car’s key. The couple rented the car five weeks after their daughter disappeared.
Emergency call delay
Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias cited an unnamed holiday resort worker who falsely claimed the McCanns opted to contact the media and a priest before police. The McCanns issued a denial to a baseless story.
Intercepted phone calls and emails
Diario de Noticias also said police had “intercepted” communications between the McCanns and their friends which were said to provide “decisive proof” that Madeleine was not kidnapped. The McCanns handed police all their phone and computer records soon after the crime.
Friends under suspicion
The newspaper 24 Horas claimed members of the holiday party were “under surveillance” in Britain as part of the investigation. This is strenuously denied by British and Portuguese police.
Forged birth certificate
Local media has even claimed Gerry was not Madeleine’s real father and had used his position as a doctor to alter details on her birth certificate illegally. This is said to have caused the couple particular hurt because all three of their children were conceived by IVF.
A lot of accusations from what we call the Gutter Press. Many of these accusations, when Police files were released ,still stand.
The McCanns have not been charged because of their connections. Had any other parent acted in this way while on holiday they would be in prison,of that I have no doubt.Refusing to answer Police questions and telling blatant lies. Happily admitting neglect, boasting even, but did neglect ever take place, as with the abduction, where is the proof ? I can see the McCanns logic, without neglect , an abduction would have been impossible.
Therefore, the truth of what happened to Madeleine must have been far worse .
A simple domestic accident? children die in their homes every day .
A domestic accident, does not call for the parents to hide their childs body.
A domestic accident would have drawn nothing but sympathy for the McCanns .
Whatever happened Kate has said many times in the early days ‘ Why did I do it, why did I think it was safe?’
What did Kate do she thought was so safe? Something she did in Rothley was so safe, but in PDL turned into a tragedy?
Staff members have also been fired from the Ocean Club. Their only crime, they maybe saw things they should not have seen.
The McCanns were seen breakfasting in the Millenium , they deny this ,why? What could be wrong with having breakfast outside the apartment.
Another staff member saw a cot in the McCanns room Wed 2nd May. By the 3rd the cot was in the room Madeleine is alleged to have been taken from. Once again Gerry McCann denies a cot was ever in their room.
Mrs Fenn heard a child screaming Daddy,daddy Tuesday May 1st. Once again the McCanns deny this ever happened.
The story, is the McCanns story’ pure fabrication , but some players, the McCanns cannot control , staff members of OC who tell a different story. If the McCanns had been charged with neglect ,these staff members would have been powerful witnesses to at least prove the McCanns are liars. Prove the McCanns have lied about small things and you cast doubt as to what really happened to their daughter.Doubt is enough in a Court of Law.
There is also another witness who has the starring role Madeleine the ‘silent witness, she knows the answers to all our questions. Madeleine died in apartment 5a, she never left there alive.
A dead child cannot say why she died, but her body can tell you how.
The McCanns did not want Maddies body to speak for her, so they moved it to another place. Kate has already told us why, she did something that she thought was safe. What Kate , what did you do?.
