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As Portuguese Authorities Ponder Their Next Step, Gerry and Kate
McCann Proclaim Their Innocence and Focus on Finding Their
Missing Daughter
Emerging from Sunday Mass near her home in Rothley, England, on
Sept. 16, Kate McCann flashed a fleeting smile, one of her first
since daughter Madeleine, 4, went missing in Portugal in May.
"They must have been nervous coming to church," says Father
Keith Tomlinson of Kate and husband Gerry, who attended with
twins Amelie and Sean, 2. "But they sang, they did the
responses." Added Gerry after the service: "It was very
comforting to be among friends and family praying for Madeleine
today." But there was no mistaking the anguish that haunts the
couple. In her tote, Kate carried Cuddle Cat, Madeleine's
favorite stuffed toy, which has become a totem of the family's
ordeal—a heartbreaking reminder of their missing child and of
the surreal turn of events a week earlier in which the McCanns,
both 39 and physicians, were named suspects in her
disappearance.
Through it all, they've drawn strength from friends and family
who have spoken out on their behalf—and let them know they're
not alone. "They're amazingly strong; they're very together,"
says Linda McQueen, Sean's godmother. "They have their
vulnerable moments, and their dark moments probably as well, but
with us friends and very close family, it's a group holding each
other together." That protective network has helped the couple
resume the semblance of a normal life. "When they're not running
around or in meetings," says Gerry's sister Philomena McCann,
"they spend their time with each other and the twins." Beyond
their inner circle, the McCanns continue to get support from
Britain's A-list: mogul Sir Richard Branson just announced he
was donating $200,000 to help cover their mounting legal bills.
Back in Portugal, a judge was reviewing 10 volumes of evidence,
and was expected to get back to prosecutors with further
instructions, possibly authorizing more searches or additional
questioning of the McCanns in England. The dearth of new
developments in the police case, however, did nothing to stop
the continuing swirl of innuendo and criticism in the European
press. "What happened to the facts?" says Gerry's brother John
McCann. One of the latest press bombshells came in a report in a
French newspaper, France
Soir, which contended there was evidence Madeleine
had swallowed "a large" dose of sleeping pills. The paper based
the report on what it said was an analysis of liquid found in
the trunk of the car rented by the McCanns 25 days after
Madeleine went missing. But over the past month the material
supposedly found in the trunk has been variously described as
blood, fluid or hair—with still no confirmation that anything at
all was discovered.
Indeed the Portuguese press has been merciless in its coverage
of Kate. One paper said it would have been "immoral" if the
McCanns had used donated sperm in their fertility treatment to
conceive Madeleine. (Speaking to
Flash! magazine
Kate said, "The only thing I've ever been certain of in life is
I've wanted to be a mum," adding that the first six months of
Madeleine's life, when she had colic, were "very difficult.")
But now a backlash against the harsh coverage seems to be
building. One spokesman for the Portuguese authorities
reportedly resigned in protest over leaks from the police to the
press. And Pamela Fenn, an elderly neighbor of the McCanns in
Portugal, who was quoted in the press questioning the couple's
conduct, tells PEOPLE, "Everything being written about me is
rubbish."
For the McCann camp, a more measured approach cannot come soon
enough. And now they must wait for a break in a case that could
come at any time—if it comes at all. As Philomena McCann puts
it, with all the suspicions the problem now is that "Kate and
Gerry are on the front page and not Madeleine. It's all about
them, which is not what they want."·
Contributors:
·
Ellen Tumposky/Rothley,
·
Pete Norman/London,
·
Courtney Rubin/London,
·
Sara Hammel/Switzerland. |
