Desperate measures: Kate and Gerry McCann issue fake Madeleine Foundation press release via imposter

Link

Link

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 26, 2011 --
Today the Madeleine Foundation will be publishing a document proving that Dr Gerald McCann killed his daughter Madeleine McCann on 3rd May 2007.
This of course contradicts what has been said previously by the McCanns spin doctors themselves. The Press release in full will be here http://www.madeleinefoundation.org.uk/ on 27th February 2011.

The Madeleine Foundation wishes to point out that they hold no fear of legal action from the McCanns Solicitors Carter Ruck. they do in fact want Carter Ruck to challenge the McCanns in a court of law, where the evidence that will be shown will stand up in court

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Related link: Our Forum where research is being done to try to get Madeleine's case re-opened.

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Kate and Gerry McCann's supporters blogs which uses Tony Bennett and the Madeleine Foundation's name to attack the Foundation: http://madeleine-foundation.blogspot.com/2011/01/tony-bennett-of-madeleine-foundation-is_18.html

http://tonybennettmfblog.blogspot.com/

Muratfan (who is the imposter) gloats about free press release on the forum where Daily Express photojournalist, Mike Gunnill, is also a member. Mike Gunnill is an agent for the McCanns and Carter Ruck and used various fake identities to entrap Tony Bennett... more here

http://justathoughtyouknow.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=guests&action=display&thread=928

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Statement by Tony Bennett of the Madeleine Foundation:

Just for the record, this press release (link below) which purports to say that The Madeleine Foundation has evidence that Dr Gerald McCann killed his daughter Madeleine McCann, is a deliberate and vile hoax:

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-madeleine-foundation-have-evidence-that-gerry-mccann-killed-madeleine-mccann-1298769245.html

Again for the record, neither the Madeleine Foundation nor any of its members have ever stated that we believe that Madeleine McCann was killed by either of her parents.

Once again for the record, we have raised questions about the validity of the McCanns' claim that Madeleine was abducted. Even the McCanns' own spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, told listeners to a Radio Humberside interview with Peter Levy on 6 January that the McCanns' claim that Madeleine was abducted was 'only an assumption' and no more than 'a working hypothesis'.

Indeed, last year, on 19 March, in an interview for Channel 4, the same Mr Mitchell, who has been employed in senior positions in the past four years by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Rupert Murdoch's son-on-law Matthew Freud, frankly admitted that Madeleine's disappearance was a 'complete mystery'.

The question arises: who would want to pretend to the world that the Madeleine Foundation believes that Dr Gerald McCann killed Madeleine?

The answer lies in a group of hard-line believers in and supporters of the McCanns.

One in particular has conducted a two-year campaign against The Madeleine Foundation and in particular its Secretary and Founder, Tony Bennett. His name is Ian West of Norwich, and he is generally known on the internet by the username 'muratfan', though he uses many other names, among them 'John Smith', 'Peter Kovac', 'Nora Batty' and many others, too many to enumerate.

During the past two years, his activities have included:

* Setting up hate blogs against The Madeleine Foundation and Tony Bennett, using their names in domain names he has created

* Using those blogs to spew a continuous stream of falsehoods against The Madeleine Foundation and Tony Bennett, including many vile and obscene lies

* Originating a Twitter account in the name 'AJSBENNETT', purporting to be Tony Bennett

* Opening an account on Yahoo Answers!, which he then used

* Publicising the availability of our book: '"What Really Happened to Madeleine McCann: 60 Reasons which suggest that Madeleine was not abducted", which is available to read on various 'torrent' sites and other forums and blogs. Tony Bennett undertook to the High Court on 25 November 2009 not to sell or distribute or publicise our book and he has abided by that undertaking, save on one occasion when photojournalist Mike Gunnill of Maidstone, Kent, pretended to be Michael Sangerte of Berkshire, and wanted a copy of '60 Reasons' for a historical project he was engaged in. In fact, he was acting on behalf of Carter-Ruck and as soon as he received a copy of '60 Reasons', he passed it to Carter-Ruck.

Whilst on the subject of Mike Gunnill, he is also someone who uses many aliases, among them Jason Peters and Peter Tarwin. It is also of note that Gunnill appears to have a strange fascination with children's home Haut de la Garenne in Jersey, where serious child abuse and possibly also child murders occurred over three decades. He proved his deep interest in this subject by reproducing literally scores of photos from this notorious institution on his website.



It is only Ian West who constantly publicises the continuing availability of '60 Reasons' on his various blogs, which is wholly counter-productive, as Carter-Ruck can do nothing about it and it only draws still more internet users to read our explanation as to why the McCanns' claim that Madeleine was abducted has such little evidence to support it.

For the record once again, wherever it is brought to our notice that our book '60 Reasons' is reproduced without our consent on the internet, we take that up with the site owners or hosters concerned. For example, we were successful last year in requiring Scribd to remove '60 Reasons' from their wesbite.

We wish to make one further observation on this hoax press release on the 'Free Press Release' website. We believe this to be the work of Ian West/'muratfan'. In correspondence with Carter-Ruck, we have made them (and in turn the McCanns themselves) aware of Ian West's activities and especially his strange promotion of our book on the internet. It is clear that the McCanns are both aware of Ian West and indeed approve of his actions.

We say this because the McCanns have a Facebook account, which is used by Dr Gerald and Dr Kate McCann to communicate with their supporters. The McCanns have used their Facebook account to support a blog created late last year by friends of theirs, called 'Writing the Wrongs'. That blog in turn links to many forums and blogs created by or contributed to by Ian West/'muratfan', and indeed links to other forums and blogs which engage in hate campaigns against The Madeleine Foundation and Tony Bennett.

By their enthusiastic and public support for the 'Writing the Wrongs' blog, and no doubt being fully aware of exactly which websites, forums and blogs 'Writing the Wrongs' links to, the McCanns, it would appear, give tacit approval and encouragement to people like Ian West/'muratfan' and others who have engaged in the vilification of The Madeleine Foundation and Tony Bennett. Or at least, that is our assumption and working hypothesis

Thus the McCanns, by supporting such hate blogs and forums and not condemning them, have contributed to the bizarre situation where one of their strongest suppoerters and most ardent admirers sees fit to spend his time creating a hoax press release trying to make out that The Madeleine Foundation believes that Dr Gerald McCann killed Madeleine.

We have said it before and we say it again: we know of no evidence that Dr Gerald McCann killed Madeleine and we have never said this.

For any members of the public who read this statement of ours today, you may have cause to wonder as to what kind of mind, and for what ultimate purpose, someone would perpetrate such a hoax.

For our analysis of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, please visit the 'Articles' section on our website, www.madeleinefoundation.org.uk

For a deeper understanding of the case, you can also purchase via our website our latest book: 'The Madeleine McCann Case Files: Volume 1' (108pp, ISBN 978-0-9563351-1-1).

For a greater understanding of why there are so many questions about the McCanns' account of Madeleine's abduction, please see our '163 Questions' article on our website. This is a copy of a letter we sent earlier in February to Transworld, publishers of the McCanns' forthcoming book on Madeleine. The McCanns have issued statements saying both that their book will be 'our version of the truth' and at the same time 'very truthful'. Our letter to Transworld, sent also direct to the McCanns, raised 163 unanswered questions about the case which we suggest should be answered by the McCanns in their book.

Statement issued by the Committee of The Madeleine Foundation

9.30am, Sunday 27 February 2011
Statement amended 10.15am 27 February 2011

http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t2153-a-hoax-press-release-madeleine-foundation-statement-27-february-2011

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A second hoax press release

Madeleine McCann: The book marketing begins

EXCLUSIVE By Jon Clarke in Huelva

A NIGHTCLUB doorman has revealed to the Olive Press that he knows the key figures behind a paedophile gang that kidnapped missing Maddie McCann.

Marcelino Jorge Italiano, 36, has told Spanish police that a group of high-ranking lawyers, based in Faro and Albufeira on the Algarve, are linked to a paedophile ring that abducts children.

The Angolan, who worked in club security on the Algarve for ten years, claimed that he is “terrified” for his safety after confronting the gang.

“I think there have been over a dozen children kidnapped,” he told the Olive Press.

“They prey on the weak and vulnerable.

“They are ruthless. I have been attacked twice for trying to investigate it and even lost my front tooth.”

The six foot four inch bouncer – who has now fled across the border to Spain – gave his dossier of information to the Policia Nacional in Huelva this week.

His lawyer, who was present during the hour-long interview, told the paper: “He seems credible and believable and he does not trust the Portuguese police.

“He also seems pretty convinced that Maddie may have been taken from Portugal to the US.”

Italiano, a former semi-professional Basketball player, claims the key figures include two businessmen both based on the Algarve.

He insists that the group has high level contacts in Portugal’s judiciary and links to a legal practice in London.

He told detectives that he got much of the information from the ex-wife of one of the businessmen and has photographs of the group.

“I know these people were involved and I have been told that Madeleine may now be in America,” he said. “I can’t say how, but I have known these people and believe they can get away with anything.”

In particular he wants to give the information to the family of Maddie, who went missing while on holiday in the Algarve in 2007.

A spokesman for the family Clarence Mitchell told the Olive Press: “We are taking this seriously and want to talk to him.

“We are aware of one of the names mentioned and are already investigating.

“We plan to come over to talk to him.”

He confirmed that a possible link to the high-level ‘Casa Pia’ paedophile ring was not being discounted.

In September six men including a solicitor, a former ambassador and a TV presenter were jailed for sexually abusing 32 children living at Casa Pia homes across Portugal.

According to the main witness Pedro Namora, who is now a lawyer, there were many wealthy members on the Algarve and they regularly used houses down there.

http://www.theolivepress.es/2011/02/18/club-doorman-tells-spanish-police-he-knows-who-snatched-maddie-mccann/
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Comment by PM:

Why shouldn’t we be expected to believe this ?
We have been expected to believe that shutters had been forced, that Madeleine had been abducted, that Tanner had seen a faceless man going to the left, AND to the right, that Madeleine was taken to Barcelona on a hyper-fast yacht, and is at present in Australia, and simultaneously that she is in a hellish lair within 10 miles of PdL.
And that although she was taken to order by a pae*** ring, she has come to no harm.
All of this has been stated as incontrovertible fact by the McCanns themselves, or by their mouthpiece, or by their No 1 Private Detective.
In short we have been asked to believe ludicrous nonsense, but most importantly we have been exhorted to give generously to a fund which is supporting the family, and funding very expensive libel lawyers in their attempt to keep people from asking the important questions about what actually happened.
Strange that the list of ‘sightings’ and theories always coincides with another fund raising campaign. .
And how odd that he wants to give the information to the Private detectives, rather than the proper authorities.
I hope you got the opportunity to ask Mitche££ some penetrating questions when you spoke to him.
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Related links:

Jon Clarke's role in 'Maddie in USA' claim

Madeleine McCann is in America – and I know who took her

Maddie Cops to Question Sleuth in near future - The Sun

Madeleine McCann in U.S.? - A profile of the possibility

Mari Luz Cortés case: Trial started in Huelva today

Police caution mum for leaving son, 14, to mind 3 year old brother

Full article in Daily Express

Spot the difference:

A doctor who left his daughter of 3 to mind her younger twin siblings in an unlocked apartment while he went to a tapas bar with his wife, Dr Kate McCann, was given a police standing ovation and was not suspended from work.


Last night the case ignited a debate over when it is acceptable for parents to briefly leave older siblings home alone as carers.

Police found that the named healthcare professional, Dr Gerry McCann, left his children home alone together for just *cough* 30 minutes, even though a neighbour had heard the 3 year old babysitter crying for over an hour.

Although no valuables were taken and there was no “incident”, and the children were not believed to be in danger, except that the 3 year old babysitter was abducted leaving a trail of blood and cadaver behind the sofa and in the wardrobe and hire car, both doctors were cautioned by police officers for concealing the body of the 3 year old babysitter.


Dr Kate McCann has also not been suspended from her job but chose to give up work to manage their multi-million pound Fund, which has helped pay off their mortgage, and to write a book which will contain a "truthful account" of what happened to the 3 year old babysitter.

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Related:

What questions must the McCanns' forthcoming book answer? - A chance for us all to ask the McCanns to clear up lots of unanswered questions

Letter to Transworld from The Madeleine Foundation inviting the McCanns to answer 163 key questions in their forthcoming 'very truthful' book

50 facts about the Maddie case that the British media are not telling you

McCann case: Madeleine Foundation writes to Transworld publishers

163 Questions that the McCanns should answer in their forthcoming ‘very truthful’ book

On 12 May 2011, on what would have been Madeleine McCann’s 8th birthday, Transworld will publish the McCanns’ account of the disappearance of their daughter.At the same time, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun will serialise their book for a reported £200,000.The McCanns’ chief public relations officer, Clarence Mitchell (who when he stopped working full-time for the McCanns went to work for Rupert Murdoch’s son-in-law), admitted in March 2010 that Madeleine’s disappearance was, quote, ‘a complete mystery’.On 6 January this year, in an interview on Radio Humberside to promote the McCanns’ book, Mitchell went further. He conceded that Madeleine’s abduction could not be regarded as a ‘fact’, but was merely an ‘assumption’ or ‘hypothesis’.For over 3 years, The Madeleine Foundation has been saying the same thing. As our strap-line makes clear, we have been‘asking the questions about what really happened to Madeleine McCann’.

The McCanns’ decision to publish a book about Madeleine’s disappearance gives them an ideal opportunity to answer the many questions that have surrounded the whole case. Questions about what happened that week in Praia da Luz. Questions about the McCanns’ private investigators and about their Fund, to which the public both in Britain and abroad have given so generously.

Well over 3 months ahead of the publication date, we have earlier this week written to the McCanns’ publishers, Transworld, suggesting 163 questions about the case that the McCanns should now answer.

Below are two letters we have sent and can be read on this link:

http://www.madeleinefoundation.org.uk/163%20Questions%20that%20the%20McCanns%20should%20answer.html

Posted by Tony Bennett, secretary of The Madeleine Foundation, on our forum

More questions can be read on this section of our forum

Algarve dissident; "We're sick of the McCanntics"

Posted on Missing Madeleine forum by T4Two

Breaking news ahead of Maddie book launch! Maddie McCann seen in Dubai and Clarence Mitchell fears for his mobile phone

Breaking news from The Sun - Maddie seen in Dubai! - obviously paedophile Raymond Hewlett didn't harm her then.

Well, it would have been breaking news had they told us last November..... Link

Comment from a former police officer on our forum:

"Fund obviously getting low, and the book launch delayed, so a new sighting is needed. Good as gold the Sun provides the medium.

But yet again, months late. What is it about these people that they do not bother to go to the police immediately ?

[An unnamed businessman ? So he had negligent parents as well, who didn't bother to give him a name.]

And of course he has to be a stereotype, with a scary face, skinny, with a moustache.
Surprising though that the Sun left out the bit about looking "foreign" and mumbling in an unknown language, and walking with a limp, and being furtive, and smelling funny. Not good journalism to omit all those essential details.

And then we learn that the girl is actually not with them at all, she is with a black woman in a veil.

Interpol probing the sighting ? Private detectives on their way to Dubai ?
Oh come on. You can do better than that!"

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And a response from the Madeleine Foundation which reminds us all about The Sun's article that Maddie was with paedophile Raymond Hewlett - according to Hewlett's son - can be read here: "A black woman with veil - and a skinny scary male" - the latest Sun garbage - exposed!

Why are the McCann's and the media feeding us all these lies?

50 facts about the Maddie case that the British media are not telling you

And even MORE breaking news (from nearly four years ago!) from the South Wales Guardian "Someone tried to hack into my 'phone", moans Clarence Mitchell and also here from the BBC

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Related links:

McCanns on facebook - Do You Speak Arabic?

Woman's Own - 24 January: TRISH CAMERON says - give them some more money

Clarence Mitchell promotes McCann's "perfectly correct checking system" on Radio Humberside

Clarence Mitchell interview starts at 1hr 10mins 12 secs here

Posted on our forum here and on Missing Madeleine forum

References to paedophilia in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Article filed by Tony Bennett, Secretary, The Madeleine Foundation
10 October 2010

Paedophilia and paedophiles are words from which we naturally recoil. It is by no means a new phenomenon. There are many other words we use to refer to paedophiles: kiddie-fiddlers, nonces, child sexual abusers, child sex offenders and so on. Some of the crimes committed by paedophiles are scarcely believable in their brutality; other offences by them are mercifully less serious. One thing seems certain, such crimes are on the increase and are often severe in their long-lasting effects on those abused. There is widespread agreement that the internet is a major cause of any increase in this vile crime.

It is an unpleasant fact that the subject of paedophilia has frequently been associated in some way with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, very regrettable though that is. Here, for the record, we give a brief summary of some of these references:


1. Dr Gerry McCann said on the day Madeleine was reported missing that Madeleine had been taken by a paedophile

Leaving aside for a moment the lack of direct evidence that Madeleine was abducted at all, there clearly is also no direct evidence whatsoever that, if Madeleine was abducted, that it was a paedophile who took her. Yet the McCanns themselves, on the very evening that Madeleine was reported missing, claimed she had been snatched by one or more paedophiles. That was a remarkable thing for them to say right from the first minute they reported Madeleine as missing. She might for example have wandered out of her room and out of the flat.


2. The McCanns and their team repeatedly said that Madeleine had been taken by a paedophile or a gang of paedophiles

In the months that followed her reported disappearance, the McCann Team made numerous references, counted in dozens, to the probability that Madeleine had been abducted by paedophiles.


3. One of the McCanns’ close friends, a General Practitioner, said that on a previous holiday together, one of Dr Gerald McCann’s best friends, Dr David Payne, had made sexualised remarks and gestures about Madeleine

On 16 May 2007, just 13 days after Madeleine disappeared, Dr Katarina Gaspar made this statement:

“One night, when all the adults, that is, from those couples I have mentioned above, were all sitting around on a patio outside the house where we were all staying. We had been eating and drinking ‘Berbers’. I was sitting between Gerry and Dave and I think both were talking about Madeleine. I can't remember the conversation in its entirety, but they seemed to be discussing a particular scenario. I remember Dave saying to Gerry something about ‘she’, meaning Madeleine, ‘would do
this’.

“While he mentioned the word ‘this’, Dave was doing the action of sucking one of his fingers, pushing it in and out of his mouth, while with his other hand he was doing a circle around his nipple, with a circular movement around his clothes. This was done in a provocative way. There seemed to be an explicit insinuation about what he was saying and doing. I remember being shocked by that. I always felt it was something very weird and that it was not something anyone should say or do. I looked at Gerry, and also at Dave, to gauge their reactions.

“I looked around as if saying: “Did someone else hear that, or was it just me?”. The conversations stopped for a moment, then we all began conversing again. Moreover, I remember Dave doing the same thing on another occasion. In saying this, I want to mention once again that it was during a conversation in which he was talking about an imaginary scenario, although I’m not sure.

“He again stuck one of his fingers in and out of his mouth and with the other hand he once again drew a circle around his nipple in a provocative and sexual way. I think he was referring to the way she, that is, his daughter Lily, would behave or what she would do. I think he did this later during this same holiday, but I'm not sure.

“The only time since then that I have been in the company of Dave and Fiona was several weeks after the holidays, when Savio and I met Gerry, Kate, Dave and Fiona in a restaurant in Leicester. I’m sure that he said what he said and made the gestures I have related, but [the second time] it could have happened in the restaurant in Leicester, although I do think it was in Majorca that I heard Dave say and do this for the second time. After the second occasion [when he made these gestures] I took it more seriously.

“I remember thinking whether he would look at my daughter and other little girls in a different way than I or others do. I imagined that he had perhaps visited internet sites related to little children. In a word, I thought that he could be interested in child pornography on the web. During our holiday in Majorca, each parent would bath the children in turn. I was keen to stay near the bathroom if Dave was bathing the children.

“I remember I said to Savio to be careful and to be close by if Dave was helping to bathe the children and my daughter in particular…”


4. Dr Katarina Gaspar’s husband, also a General Practitioner, Dr Arul Savio Gaspar, confirmed this event:

“During the period we stayed at the villa I remember a gesture made by David Payne. I do not remember the context of the conversation between David and Gerry, but I do remember seeing David use his left index finger to rub his nipple, using circular movements, whilst he put his right index finger into his mouth, touching his tongue. This happened during a meal, at the end of the day, in the villa. I do not remember the time or the date, but we would usually dine between 7.30pm and 9.00pm every day. I think this happened in the middle of the holiday.

“I remember that when I saw this gesture, I immediately thought it to be in very bad taste, independently of the context of the conversation they were having. We were sitting around a white plastic table in the villa. I don’t know if anyone else saw the gesture, apart from my wife Katherine”.


5. One of the suspects in the case, Robert Murat, was accused by two witnesses of having paedophile tendencies

A couple of days after Robert Murat was taken in for questioning by the Portuguese Police and formally declared a suspect, Dr Gerald McCann was asked: “Did you already know Robert Murat?” Dr McCann brushed the question aside impatiently and said: “I am not going to comment on that”. That led many to consider that the two men did previously know each other. It is a very reasonable inference to draw from his evasive comment.

Two witnesses claimed that Robert Murat had paedophile tendencies. One of them, who knew Murat well, made a detailed statement with some very graphic comments about Murat’s sexual preferences. The links for these statements are given on our website in a lengthy feature article about Robert Murat. The Portuguese Police discovered encrypted material on Murat’s computer after they seized it. Encryption is often used by those who view, download or exchange child pornography. Murat said he had ‘no idea’ why there was encrypted material on his computer.


6. Murat’s friend Sergei Malinka was also said to have child
pornography on his computer

A witness told Portuguese Police that Sergei Malinka, a friend of Murat who had worked on Murat’s website, also had an interest in child pornography and had child pornography on his computer. But the police found he had wiped all the data on his hard drive before the police examined it.


7. Jim Gamble, the Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), used the Madeleine McCann disappearance to highlight the danger of paedophiles

Despite the high degree of uncertainty about what really happened to Madeleine, highlighted by their own spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, saying in March 2010 that her disappearance was ‘a complete mystery’, Jim Gamble, head of CEOP, relentlessly associated Madeleine with CEOP. This was despite the obvious fact that the McCanns on their own admission had left three young children, all aged under four, in a vulnerable situation - for six nights in a row - and clearly failed to protect them. Many questioned why an organisation with the words ‘Child Protection’ in its title should feature the McCanns so heavily, given their failure of child protection.

Gamble, from 2007 onwards, heavily featured Madeleine on the CEOP website and in various CEOP publications. Around the time of the second anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance (17 months previous to the date of this article , he appeared together with the McCanns in a so-called one-minute ‘viral video’, strongly emphasising that Madeleine was still alive and needed to be found.

Later he also appeared on morning news shows side by side with the McCanns.

Still more significantly, he invited Dr Gerald McCann in January 2010 to be the keynote speaker at a conference on the abduction of children by paedophiles. Why Dr McCann was considered by Gamble to be qualified to contribute to that conference, never mind being the ‘keynote speaker’, given the raft of uncertainties about the circumstances in which Madeleine disappeared, has never been explained either by the McCanns or by Jim Gamble.

Furthermore, it was reported - and confirmed by a Home Office Freedom of Information Act request - that in October 2009, the McCanns had a private interview with the McCanns. Following that, several press reports (not denied) indicated that the Home Secretary asked Jim Gamble to recommend a new British police force to carry out a review and possibly a re-investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.

Some reports suggested that he had recommended West Yorkshire Police to carry out such a review. But the Home Office was unwilling to confirm or deny this. It was baffling why the Home Secretary, knowing Jim Gamble’s extreme closeness to the McCanns, should choose him to recommend who should carry out any review into Madeleine’s disappearance.

8. In the days before this article was written, Jim Gamble told the Home Secretary, Theresa May, that he was resigning from his post as CEOP Chief Executive, a resignation she swiftly accepted. The McCanns put out statements strongly supporting him, thanking him for his work on their behalf, and querying the Coalition government’s decision to incorporate CEOP within the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). They described his departure in graphic terms as ‘a huge loss to child protection’. These comments pointed inexorably, once again, to the conclusion that there was a very close ‘tie’ between the McCanns and Jim Gamble.

The McCann Team in conjunction with Jim Gamble of CEOP published a video about Madeleine and circulated it round the internet which many believed showed her inappropriately posed in heavy make-up

In 2010, Jim Gamble once again co-operated with the McCanns to make a another video about Madeleine. The video in question featured three images of Madeleine. One very striking one shows her in an unusual pose, shot by the photographer from well below her face, wearing make-up, including much blue eyeshadow, lipstick and jewellery, and looking unhappy.

The McCanns publicly claimed that ‘the photo shows her when she was three after a raid on the dressing box’. However, it is very unlikely that Madeleine could have put the necklace on herself, nor applied eyeshadow in the manner shown in the photograph, nor applied the pink bow to her hair.

The evidence from the photograph suggests that an adult made her up and of course an adult was on hand to take that particular image of her. The McCanns did not say who took the photograph. Even if Madeleine had ‘raided the dressing box’, as claimed, it is one thing to take a photo of something like that for your family photo album, but altogether another matter to release it for millions to see.

The McCanns explicitly approved the very public release of this video and the images on it. As one newspaper reported: “Parents of Madeleine McCann, who went missing three years ago, have released a new video and photo of their missing daughter to mark the third anniversary of the girl's disappearance”. The photo the McCanns specifically chose to highlight in the video was the one with Madeleine wearing heavy make-up, apparently applied by an adult and not by herself.

There was strong adverse reaction by many members of the public to this image being used in connection with a missing child. Not least was the opinion of Mr Mark Williams-Thomas, a former police detective and now leading criminologist and child protection expert, who has often in the past spoken with strong sympathy and understanding for the McCanns. His unambiguous reaction to this particular photograph, promoted on his ‘Twitter’ blog, was that it was ‘so inappropriate’ and ‘so damaging’. We agree with him.

The McCanns have from the day Madeleine was reported missing claimed explicitly and on many occasions that Madeleine must have been abducted by a paedophile, or paedophiles, often described by them as ‘predatory’, ‘evil’, or ‘ monsters’. Yet the photo of Madeleine featured by her parents shows a child looking much older than her actual three years, due to the make-up and jewellery, as all the news media quickly picked up the following day.

The McCanns said a number of times that they were advised by the police ‘not to show any emotion’ in front of the cameras. One newspaper reported, around the time the McCanns appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show: “The couple also admitted they had been advised not to show any emotion while in front of the media, because any potential abductor ‘may get a kick out of it’.” It was all the more surprising, therefore, that the McCanns should use this short video to project and promote an image of Madeleine which might well appeal to certain paedophiles, some of whom are unfortunately attracted to young children.

One person commented on ‘Twitter’ about the direct promotion of this video by CEOP Chief Executive Jim Gamble, writing: “If CEOP endorse this type of public relations for a supposed missing child, then their role in child protection has to be questioned!”

9. The McCann Team have highlighted the possible involvement of a named paedophile, Raymond Hewlett, in the disappearance of Madeleine

First they suggested that Hewlett was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance; latterly they have claimed that he gave an account of his knowledge of Madeleine’s disappearance in a letter he dictated to hospital staff in the weeks before he died. The claims made about this letter are highly improbable and we suggest that they are a complete fabrication. They have however been deliberately promoted by the McCann Team for 18 months.

10. The connection between Ray Wyre, paedophile ‘expert’ and the McCanns

We’ve highlighted the connection between the late Ray Wyre and the McCanns in another article on our website, titled ‘Ray Wyre and the McCanns: What was the connection between the McCanns and the late paedophilia ‘expert’, Ray Wyre?
There are at least four questions we would ask about this connection:

1. Why was Wyre so keen, in two articles published four and seven days after Madeleine was reported missing, to insist so adamantly that she had been abducted?
   
2. Why, in addition, did he emphasise the possibility that she had been snatched by a paedophile?
   
3. Why did the McCanns agree to meet the Wyres at their Buckinghamshire home?
   
4. Was that meeting really much more about producing a helpful Sunday newspaper article than, as was claimed, about starting a new organisation for missing children?
   

Article filed by Tony Bennett, Secretary, The Madeleine Foundation
10 October 2010

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Posted on our forum here

Related: 60 Reasons why the McCanns should never have published THAT photo

Wendy Murphy writes about the cases of JonBenet Ramsey, Caylee Anthony and Madeleine McCann in the context of child sexual abuse and the use of sedatives

Kate and Gerry McCann delay Maddie book launch to avoid clashing with Royal Wedding

Kate and William's wedding delays the search for Maddie

McCanns delay Madeleine book launch

Gonçalo Amaral: “It’s being said that the book is an aid to find their daughter. As it will only be published towards the end of April, we can conclude that until then, their daughter won’t be found.”

8:01am Monday 3rd January 2011


Kate and Gerry McCann have put back publication of their book about their daughter Madeleine's disappearance to avoid clashing with the royal wedding.

The couple's account of how the little girl vanished on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007 was due to hit the shops on April 28 2011, just before the fourth anniversary of her disappearance.

But publishers Transworld postponed the release date by a fortnight after it was announced that Prince William would marry Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey in London on April 29.

The book, which is being written by the McCanns themselves and is simply entitled 'Madeleine', will now be published on May 12, the missing child's eighth birthday.

All proceeds from sales of the book will go to the McCanns' official fund to look for Madeleine, which had been in danger of running out in 2011.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "The publication date for 'Madeleine' has now been moved on to May 12, 2011 in the light of the royal wedding and the subsequent media coverage that will generate.

"Kate and Gerry are very happy with the new date, as are the publishers, and it will still be very much tied into the fourth anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance."

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

The official Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance was formally shelved in July 2008, although private detectives employed by the McCanns have continued the search.

http://www.southwalesguardian.co.uk/uk_national_news/8766576.McCanns_delay_Madeleine_book_launch/

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Comments on forum

What happened to Madeleine McCann? 50 facts about the case that the British media are not telling you

What happened to Madeleine McCann?

50 facts about the case that the British media are not telling you

Among other things you’ll find in the new leaflet that is to be printed and distributed in the New Year:

The major contradictions in the statements of the McCanns and friends
The highly trained British police dogs who detected the scent of a corpse
Strange things the McCanns have said and done
How the McCanns wasted public money on useless private detectives

Can we be sure that Madeleine McCann really was abducted by a stranger? Please take a careful look at these facts about the case, which you won’t find in any of our mainstream media. And if you are concerned about the contents of this leaflet, please copy and pass on to your friends and contacts.

SECTION A. What happened before and after Madeleine was reported missing?

1. The McCanns originally claimed they found the shutters and window of the children’s room open. They ’phoned relatives that night saying: ‘An abductor broke in and took Madeleine’. But when police and the managers of the complex declared there was no sign of forced entry, they changed their story, saying they must have left the patio doors open. The window had been cleaned the day before. Only Kate McCann’s fingerprints were found on the window.

2. The McCanns gave different accounts of whether they were both with Madeleine at tea-time on the day Madeleine was reported missing - and gave three different versions of who read the children bedtime stories the night Madeleine was reported missing: (a) Kate (b) Gerry or (c) they both did.

3. Kate McCann said that their friend Dr David Payne knocked on the front door of their apartment at about 6.30pm on 3 May, but was immediately sent away without ever entering. Dr Payne, however, said he came in, saw all three children dressed ready for bed, and stayed for at least several minutes.

4. The McCanns said the children were in their pyjamas by 6.30pm the night Madeleine disappeared, were bathed at 7.00pm and asleep by 7.30pm. But just a few weeks later, in his blog, Gerry McCann wrote: “The twins must like their new cots as they were asleep by 7.30pm which was most unusual”.

5. Dr Matthew Oldfield claimed he and his wife arrived at the Tapas bar at 8.55pm, but then went back to the Paynes’ apartment to chase them up as they were late. Dr Russell O’Brien confirmed that: “Matt, around 9pm, got up and said ‘I’ll go and drag them out’.” The Paynes flatly contradicted this.

6. Dr Matthew Oldfield changed his story several times. He said he did one ‘check’ on the children, then said he’d done two. He changed his story about the 2nd check, first saying that he walked by the McCanns’ apartment, later saying he’d entered it. Dr Kate McCann claimed Dr Oldfield said, at 9.30pm: “I’ll check on Maddie for you”. Why didn’t he say: “I’ll check on the children?”

7. The McCanns’ friend Jane Tanner insisted she’d seen someone carrying a child close to the McCanns’ apartment at 9.15pm the evening she was reported missing. But she changed her description of this person several times. Later, one of the McCanns’ detectives said she might have seen a woman, not a man. She claimed that when she saw this man, she walked past Gerry McCann and a friend, Jez Wilkins. But neither of them could remember seeing her.

8. Instead of looking for Madeleine, two friends of the McCanns tore off the cover of Madeleine’s Activity Sticker Book, writing down what they claimed was a record of the night’s events. They then wrote out a second timeline of what they said happened. In both versions, they said Jane Tanner had seen an abductor around 9.15pm. But she did not tell the McCanns what she had seen for 24 hours.

9. The McCanns claimed they were dining yards from their children, said they could see their room, and said it was ‘just like being in your back garden’. In truth, the children’s room was 120 yards away and the children’s room was on the far side of the apartment block and they couldn’t see their room.
10. Gerry McCann on 4 May (the day after Madeleine went missing) said: “Yesterday, Madeleine and and the twins were put to bed in their respective beds at 7.30pm”. Yet when the police arrived at about 11.00pm, they found a bed where Madeleine was supposed to have slept and two cots. Moreover, in a magazine interview in January 2008, Gerry McCann said: “On one bed the twins lay sleeping.

11. The McCanns said Madeleine and younger brother Sean were crying on their own the night before she was reported missing. Yet they left all three children on their own again the very next night.

12. Gerry McCann claimed that a senior Social Services official had told him: “Your child care was well within the bounds of responsible parenting”. He has never said who that was.

13. The McCanns, when asked a simple question as to whether they had given the children Calpol or other sedatives the night Madeleine was reported missing, denied on TV ever giving their children Calpol or other sedatives. But Kate McCann’s father confirmed that they did give the children Calpol.

14. The McCanns said: “Madeleine does not like to be called Maddie and does not answer to Maddie”. But Gerry McCann called her ‘Maddie’ on Friends Reunited, the twins called her ‘Maddie’, and their relatives and friends called her ‘Maddie’. A long list of examples is at www.mcannfiles.com

15. Kate McCann said that when she went to their apartment at 10.00pm on 3 May, she was 100% sure that Madeleine had been ‘taken’. But the McCanns allowed their 7 friends, several staff from the Ocean Club, and others, to traipse all round their apartment, thus contaminating a crime scene where vital forensic evidence could have been found. The police found no forensic trace of any abductor.

16. On the night Madeleine was reported missing, two sets of police arrived, the local GNR, and then the national force, the PJ. On the first occasion, Gerry McCann fell down on his knees, spreading out his arms on the ground, rather like a Muslim at prayer. On the second occasion, both Gerry and Kate McCann repeated that same strange gesture, on the double bed in their apartment, in front of the PJ.

17. On 4 May, the day after Madeleine went missing, the McCanns were returning to Praia da Luz. The police seized CCTV film at a petrol station, showing a girl similar to Madeleine with two adults. The police asked the McCanns to return to Portimão, but Kate McCann became irritated at being asked to visit the police station again. The police said she showed no hope Madeleine could be found.

18. In a BBC TV interview, Kate McCann admitted that she had never spent any time at all physically looking for Madeleine.

19. The Portuguese police were told by British police: “The McCanns have no credit or ATM cards”. But their flights to Portugal and hire of a Renault Scenic in Portugal were paid with credit cards. Then Gerry McCann admitted having credit cards, saying they went missing after his wallet was stolen. He gave two different places where his wallet was stolen: Waterloo Station - or ‘near Downing Street’.

20. After she was taken in for questioning on 7 September, Kate McCann was asked 48 questions by the Portuguese police. She refused to answer any of them. She was asked if she realised that she was hindering the investigation by refusing to answer questions. She said: “Yes, if that’s what the investigation thinks”. Their official spokesman, former head of Labour’s Media Unit, Clarence Mitchell, stated: “The McCanns were fully within their rights not to co-operate”.

21. Mitchell was appointed the McCanns’ spokesman by former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Mitchell once boasted that as the £75,000-a-year Head of Unit, his job was ‘to control what comes out in the media’. When Mitchell’s post with the McCanns became part-time, he immediately landed a job with Freud Communications, owned and managed by Rupert Murdoch’s son-in-law, Matthew Freud.

22. The McCanns said publicly in August 2007: “We will take a lie detector test at any time”. Then a newspaper offered to pay for one. They then changed their mind and said they wouldn’t.

23. Some months after they returned to England, the McCanns and their friends were asked by Portuguese police to take part in a reconstruction of the events of 3 May 2007. They all refused.

24. When asked by a Portuguese journalist from Sol to give some details about Madeleine’s abduction, the McCanns’ friend Dr David Payne said: “This is our matter only. We have a pact of silence. All comments must go through Gerry McCann”.
25. The McCanns’ friends gave three different versions of how often they were supposedly checking the children - hourly, half-hourly and ‘every 15 minutes’.

26. The Portuguese police did not believe that the McCanns’ friend Jane Tanner was telling the truth about the abductor she claimed to have seen. Following a series of mobile ’phone conversations between Gerry McCann and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Brown pressurised the Portuguese authorities to allow Gerry McCann himself to release a description based on Tanner’s dubious claims.

27. The Home Office refused the Portuguese police permission to examine the McCanns’ credit card and bank statements, mobile ’phone records and Madeleine’s medical records.

28. Gordon Brown was told that Portuguese detective Mr Amaral, who took the McCanns in for questioning, would be removed from his post before he himself was informed.

SECTION B. The evidence of the cadaver dogs

29. On British police advice, the Portuguese asked top dog handler Martin Grime to bring his springer spaniels, Eddie and Keela, to Praia da Luz. Eddie is trained to detect the scent of human corpses; Keela is a bloodhound. Eddie had never given a false alert in over 200 previous outings. He alerted to the odour of a human corpse in these locations: four different places in the McCanns’ apartment, two of Dr Kate McCann’s clothes, one of the children’s T-shirts, on the pink soft toy, ‘Cuddle Cat’, and in two places in the car the McCanns hired. Eddie did not alert to a corpse scent anywhere else in Praia da Luz. Keela detected blood, which may have been Madeleine’s blood, at some of these places.

30. When they heard about the dogs’ findings, the McCanns reacted strangely, claiming that…
The ‘smell of death’ may have been found on Kate’s clothes because she was said to have been close to six corpses in her last two weeks at work, on the pink soft toy ‘Cuddle Cat’ because she ‘sometimes took Cuddle Cat to work’, or that the ‘smell of death’ could have come from rotting meat that Gerry McCann was taking to the local rubbish dump from time to time
If Madeleine’s DNA, were to be found in the boot of their car, it may have come from the children’s dirty nappies they claimed they were carrying in the boot
Any blood found in the flat might have come from Madeleine ‘grazing her leg’ or suffering a nosebleed. In fact, with the help of Martin Grime’s bloodhound, the police found blood underneath the tiles below a window in the living room of the McCanns’ apartment.

31. The McCanns also claimed that sniffer dogs were ‘notoriously unreliable’. They quoted a U.S. case where a cadaver dog’s alert was said to be wrong. Months later, the dog’s alert was proved right.

32. In 2008, a Portuguese TV interviewer asked: “How can you explain the scent of cadaver found by the British dogs?” Kate McCann replied: “Maybe you should ask the judiciary. They have examined all evidence”. When the interviewer pressed Kate McCann for an explanation, Gerry McCann intervened, smirking, and replied: “Ask the dogs, Sandra”.

33. When the McCanns moved from their apartment to a villa in Praia da Luz, a neighbour saw their car boot left open all night long. A relative of the McCanns, Michael Wright, admitted to police that this was because of a horrible smell in the car. This was the same car where Eddie, the cadaver dog, alerted to the smell of a corpse.

34. Kate McCann clutched ‘Cuddle Cat’ in front of TV cameras, claiming it reminded her of Madeleine, and was ‘comforting’. Yet shortly before the sniffer dogs arrived, she washed Cuddle Cat, claiming it ‘smelled of sun tan lotion’. This would make forensic analysis of it much harder.

SECTION C. Strange things the McCanns have said and done

35. The McCanns ignored police advice not to publicise Madeleine’s distinctive mark in her right eye, a ‘coloboma’. They said that if she was with an abductor, it could place her life in danger. On 15 July 2009, Gerry McCann said: “We thought it was possible that publicising her coloboma could harm Madeleine. Her abductor might do something to her eye. But in marketing terms it was a good ploy”.

36. Kate McCann, in 2007, said: “I know that what happened is not due to the fact of us leaving the children asleep. I know it happened under other circumstances”.
37. On 3 June 2007, Gerry McCann said: “We want a big event to raise awareness she is still missing…It won’t be a one-year anniversary, it will be sooner than that”. On 28 June, he said: “I have no doubt we will be able to sustain a high profile for Madeleine’s disappearance in the long-term”.

38. On 11 December 2009, Gerry McCann said: “There is no evidence that we were involved in Madeleine’s death”. The previous year, the McCanns’ spokesman said: “Can I suggest you actually quote me accurately. I said: ‘I believe Kate and Gerry are not responsible for Madeleine’s death’.”

39. On 24 August 2007, Gerry McCann, in a Scottish TV interview, said: “In fact, one of the slight positives in all of this is that there is so much rumour about what did and didn't happen, it's actually very difficult, if you're reading the newspapers, watching TV, to know what is true and what's not”.

40. Asked to comment on his reaction at learning that Madeleine had been abducted, Dr Gerald McCann said: ‘It was like being told you were overdrawn on your student loan”.

41. Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, said in September 2007: “There is a wholly innocent explanation for any material the police may or may not have found”.

42. Unlike most couples who lose a dear child, they did not cling to their other two children. Others cared for them while they flew round the world to meet the Pope, visit the U.S. and do TV interviews.

43. As with all of us, the McCanns’ body language may yield valuable clues. During TV interviews, the following conduct has been observed: avoiding eye contact, nervous twitching, tense facial expressions, shaking their heads while making various assertions, and touching or scratching their faces at difficult moments. They were seen smiling and laughing on what would have been Madeleine’s 4th birthday, just 10 days after she went missing. Many people say they have not seen evidence of the grief that couples would normally express if they had lost a much-loved daughter.

SECTION D. The Fund and the McCanns’ private detectives

44. Only 13% of the McCanns’ Find Madeleine Fund has been spent on searching for Madeleine. The Fund is a private company, not a charity. Much of it has been used on the McCanns’ legal expenses.

45. The first detectives the McCanns employed were the highly controversial Spanish group Metodo 3. Just before Christmas 2007, their boss, Francisco Marco, boasted his men were ‘closing in on Madeleine’s kidnappers’, promising ‘Madeleine will be home by Christmas’. These were lies.

46. Next, the McCanns turned to a private investigator called Kevin Halligen, who has various aliases. He set up a one-man company called Oakley International, formed after Madeleine disappeared. Yet the McCanns’ spokesman claimed Oakley were ‘the big boys’ in international private detection. The McCanns are said to have paid Halligen £500,000, which he squandered on high living and hard drinking, achieving nothing. At present (January 2011), he has been in Belmarsh High Security Prison over a year, awaiting extradition to the U.S., where he is required to answer $2 million fraud charges.

47. All the main ‘private investigation’ agencies used by the McCanns had expertise in such areas as money-laundering, fraud, state security and intelligence - not in finding missing children.

48. The McCanns have produced 16 different artists’ impressions of suspects, ‘persons of interest’ and ‘persons we wish to eliminate from our enquiries’. Yet despite their spending millions of pounds, we, the public, know nothing whatsoever about who is supposed to have abducted Madeleine.

49. The McCanns took legal action to ban Mr Amaral’s book on the case: ‘The Truth About A Lie’. They succeeded in September 2009. But in October 2010 the Portuguese Appeal Court lifted that ban. The McCanns are carrying on with their libel action against Mr Amaral, using their Fund to do so.

50. The McCanns said late last year that their Fund was running low and that the Fund ‘might run out of money soon’. Yet at the very same time, they were negotiating a multi-million pound book deal.

Published by ‘The Madeleine McCann Research Group’
Further reading: http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/
http://mccannexposure.wordpress.com/
http://www.mccannfiles.com/
http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/
http://www.madeleinefoundation.org.uk/

And watch the Portuguese detective’s documentary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxGhlYTNisw

Madeleine_McCann_Research_Group_FIFTY_FACTS_Leaflet_REASONS_(VERSION_2)[1].pdf

30 key reasons which suggest Maddie was not abducted http://193.198.207.6/wiki/file/madeleine-foundation-book.doc

Simon Hare's double dishonesty in the BBC's 'Inside Out' programme

Posted by Tony Bennett

SIMON HARE OF THE BBC – Did he deceive viewers about The Madeleine Foundation?

On our website, you’ll find details of concerns that we had about Simon Hare’s programme on The Madeleine Foundation on BBC TV’s ‘Inside Out’ programme, shown on 22 November. He has kindly answered these. His answers, and our comments, are in the article on our website (see the link: ‘Simon Hare’s final response’ on our home page, www.madeleinefoundation.org.uk)

However, there are two issues within the programme that were not covered in our correspondence with Simon Hare, yet are important in understanding whether Simon Hare ever intended to make a fair programme about us. These concern:

1) His introduction to the programme, and

2) The way he dealt with the response to our leafleting on the streets of Bristol.

The question we pose is whether Simon Hare misled viewers in his treatment of the introduction to his film, and in his selection of material from our day of leafleting in Bristol. Below we try to provide the answer.

Simon Hare’s introduction to the programme

Simon Hare began with these words:

QUOTE:

Secrecy surrounds the meeting of the self-appointed Madeline Foundation…they said I could attend. I have to wait for news of the location - I’m told to make may way to a hotel with conference facilities [he then shows a scene of him waiting outside The Gateway Hotel and Conference Centre, Nottingham] - but this proves to be just a meeting place - I’m then taken to the real venue… (long pause) - a room in a village hall in Nuthall [he shows a picture of Nuthall Parish Hall].

UNQUOTE

This sequence is accompanied by a certain style of music.

The wording and accompanying pictures chosen by Simon Hare give the viewers the clear impression that The Madeleine Foundation had led him to believe we were meeting in a grand conference centre in a posh hotel, but were actually meeting in a room in a Parish Hall. The key words Simon Hare has, no doubt very carefully and skilfully chosen, are these: “this proves to be just a meeting place”.

What Simon Hare did not tell viewers is that he knew in advance that this was only a meeting place. We explicitly told him that we were meeting at a community centre in Nottingham, not in a hotel with conference facilities. We also told him that the reason for the secrecy was threats of disruption from McCann-supporters; a fact he did not mention.

Here are extracts from an e-mail sent to Simon Hare 6 days before the conference:

Read more here
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Related links:

Simon Hare intends to write to the BBC Legal Department about comments made by 'associates of the so-called Madeleine Foundation'

BBC film on The Madeleine Foundation to be aired Monday 22 November, 7.30pm

The Madeleine Foundation's making of a programme - A history

Simon Hare threatens legal action

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Previous articles about Simon Hare of the BBC:

BBC's Simon Hare threatens "so-called Madeleine Foundation" with legal action after his own failure to produce a fair and balanced programme

BBC's Simon Hare and his failure to produce a fair and balanced programme about The Madeleine Foundation

Thoughts on BBC Inside Out and the Madeleine Foundation
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A comment from Judge Mental on our forum:

"A man saying: 'There are some evil people about'.

And another saying: 'There's always those with conspiracy theories'.

Yet on the BBC cutting-room floor were clips of several people eagerly taking away more leaflets to hand round to others, and others saying how they had serious doubts about the McCanns' version of events.

When Helene Davies-Green was interviewed at home, she was filmed by Simon Hare preparing some mushrooms for dinner. She is an expert on the subject and frequently gives lectures on the topic.

The one and only quote in the film from Helene, chosen by Simon Hare, was: "Some of them are very poisonous".

In these times of austerity, it is a most improper use of public money for the BBC to have allowed this programme to go to air in such a ridiculous and unfinished state. Having watched this mish-mash of silliness and barbs, and having continued to read many comments about this, one gathers that this programme was never likely to become a series. Therefore, one cannot see any point in the BBC having wasted public money on making any such programme in the first instance, if it were not to come to any conclusions about the motivations, aims and objectives of The Madeleine Foundation.

Having discussed the way in which this programme was made, and discussing this at great length with people connected to The Madeleine Foundation, one is most satisfied that Hare was furnished with a wealth of information, not deemed libellous in Portugal or the UK. He should therefore have used some of this effectively in his programme. If Hare still did not feel as if he had been given enough information on this subject, he could very easily have researched and read about the subject by spending a couple of hours of his time in reading the Portuguese police files, which are globally available not only to the world's journalists, but to all members of the public. Therein, he would have found precisely why members of The Madeleine Foundation were galvanised into action, and whereby their aims and objectives originally came from to motivate them into doing what they continue to do today.

Tony Bennett telling Hare that there were matters of grave concern which he could not speak out about due to libel lawyers gagging him, was absolutely no excuse for Hare not to speak about those matters on Tony Bennett's behalf in order to clarify The Madeleine Foundation's position for the viewing public. For Hare to have spent so many months on this undertaking, it is quite appalling to realise that he knows no more now than when he began. To have broadcast his thoughts as such to the public at large is utterly ridiculous. If he and the editor believe it was ''playful'' to intimidate a woman and allow this to become part of the programme, it is with a heavy heart that one realises that the BBC is no longer the greatly revered informative, educative and entertaining corporation it once was.

This is from their own website: The BBC is a vibrant, fast moving, customer centric organisation whose core values are creativity, collaboration, trust, audiences, quality and respect. The BBC exists to enrich people’s lives with great programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain. Its vision is to be the most creative, trusted organisation in the world.

Was it vibrant? No. Did it keep pace with current thinking? No. Was it creative? No. The collaboration seems to have been a one way street. Nobody could possibly be blamed for wanting to know if any other sort of collaboration may have taken place during the making of this programme though! The trust is broken. This was not quality television, however it could have been made so, had Hare taken care to show a fair and unbiased programme. Has this enriched anybody's life? No. Has it damaged relations with the BBC? Yes it has, because local programmes are becoming increasingly important in these days of power being handed back to our communities from the Government. Was any respect shown by Hare? No. Much respect has now gone out of the window.

It rather looks as if the BBC's vision to be the most creative, trusted organisation in the world will remain just that. A vision.

Yet it is still achievable, if the BBC were to consistently use its own ethical code in all areas of television. Other than that it will be destined to live under Murdoch's Sky. Regional programming has a great future, if only those people who work in it will listen to the public and produce quality television. This means employing programme-makers who are prepared to admit defeat, and pass the job onto somebody who knows what they are talking about when they are out of their depth. The public do not want to listen to somebody on television admitting that they are clueless about a programme they want them to watch."

Kate and Gerry McCann's 2010 Christmas message on Facebook

Posted by the McCanns on Facebook

This month marks our fourth Christmas without Madeleine. We hope with all our hearts that wherever she is, she is safe and well and whoever may be with her is treating her with the love and respect she so deserves.

We would like to thank all our supporters for 'staying at our side' in spite of the injustices that we continue to be subjected to. Madeleine is the person who suffers most from all of this injustice. It is this fact alone which causes us the most distress. It is absolutely heart-breaking.

The Wikileaks 'news' this week has led to the repetition of many unfounded allegations and smears both in the UK and in Portugal in particular. This has been seized on as an opportunity by those who wish to compound our suffering and hamper our efforts, including the very person who was entrusted with finding our daughter. Those who could help Madeleine but choose to do nothing are also complicit in this injustice. Without the love and help from so many good people around the world we would not be able to find the strength to continue the fight to find our daughter.

Thank you to all those who have signed our petition calling on the UK and Portuguese Governments to conduct an independent review of Madeleine's case.

The petition is still on-going. If you haven't signed and would like to further the search for Madeleine, please sign our on-line petition or sign a paper petition form. The latter can be downloaded from the website and distributed to shops, post-offices etc. and returned to us.

Along with our family, we would like to thank everyone who has sent us Christmas cards, letters, donations and gifts at this difficult time of year. It is impossible to find enough positive words to describe such kindness or the hugely important and heart-warming effect it has on us. Without any doubt, it helps us immensely and we are incredibly grateful.

We wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy, healthy and positive 2011. Please remember to spare a thought and a prayer for all the children who will not be with their families this Christmas.

Thank you.

Kate and Gerry

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And a response from a retired UK police officer on the Madeleine McCann Research Group forum:

"This is beyond belief.
"We hope with all our hearts that wherever she is, she is safe and well and whoever may be with her is treating her with the love and respect she so deserves."
THEY say she is with a Paedo**** gang, and have said so for many years.
Their prime detective says she is in a "Hellish Lair", and has held onto this view despite going to Australia to check up on another "strong lead"
Everyone else on the planet with a working cerebellum knows she is dead.

At least they have the decency to thank the people who are still sending "donations and gifts". Let us hope these appear as such in the accounts for 2011.
"Without any doubt, it helps us immensely and we are incredibly grateful." I bet you are. Who wouldn't be. The "fund" allows itself to give financial 'help' to the family.

"Please remember to spare a thought and a prayer for all the children who will not be with their families this Christmas."
We are sparing lots of thought for a little girl who has not been with her family for the last four years. Lots of thought. Most of it intelligent and detached and disinterested, in the proper sense of that word.
That is why we are still here, when you hoped we would have gone away and concluded that Madeleine was abducted by a man, or a woman travelling East, or possibly West, either wrapped, or not wrapped in a blanket by a man, or possibly a woman, with pimples, or a moustache, or no face, or long hair, or short hair, who was 5'7 or possibly 5'11, or European or possibly ....- ( sorry, I have just lost the will to live.)

But I particularly like "Those who could help Madeleine but choose to do nothing are also complicit in this injustice. "
Does that not include the parents, who could have helped Madeleine, by not leaving her alone in an unlocked apartment in a small town in a foreign country well known for its gangs of gypsies and predatory paedo****, (ALL according to them, you understand, not to anyone who has actually been to the Algarve, or who owns property there)"

More comments on the Missing Madeleine forum