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The Oprah Show / New Maddie Image (2) *

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McCanns on The Oprah Show

The complete Oprah Show with transcript, as well as some short promo videos and the release of the age-progressed picture of Madeleine, as she may appear, aged 6.
 
Previous reports can be viewed here 

The Oprah Show, 04 May 2009

The Oprah Show - Transcript, 11 May 2009
The Oprah Show - Transcript
 
11 May 2009
Thanks to Stevo from TruthforMadeleine for translation
 
Narrator: In their first interview in America, Oprah talks to Madeleine McCann's parents
 
Oprah: You have been vilified all over the world. What do you want to say about that?
 
Do you think that someone was watching your family?
 
Will there come a point when you will say enough?
 
What life is like now without their daughter.
 
Do you believe she is still alive?
 
The new search for Madeleine next.
 
Oprah Voice Over: Someone, somewhere knows what happened to Madeleine McCann. It's a story that captured the world and terrified parents all over the world. Two years ago, two years ago, little Madeleine vanished on a family vacation in Portugal. She was only 3 years old.
 
It was the spring of 2007. Kate and Gerry McCann were enjoying a family vacation in Praia da Luz Portugal with their two year old twins Sean and Amelie and 3 year old Madeleine.
 
Clip - Kate: They were having a great time and the kids and Madeleine in particular was having a ball.
 
Oprah VO: The McCanns were travelling with several other families and some nights the parents would put their children to bed and meet up at the resort's Tapas restaurant less than 100 yards away. The adults would take turns checking on their children every half hour.
 
Clip - Gerry: It seemed a fairly natural sort of thing to do was so close so you could actually see the apartment.
 
Clip - Kate: There was absolutely no way if I had had the slightest inkling that there was a risk involved there that I would have done it.
 
Oprah - VO: On the fifth night at around 10 o'clock it was Kate's turn to check on the children.
 
Clip - Kate: It was on the third check which was my check erm that I went erm, and I discovered Madeleine had been taken and I just ran and say not Madeleine not Madeleine not Madeleine and I can just remember saying that over and over and over again.
 
Oprah: Madeleine was missing and the search was on. The next day her parents Kate and Gerry held their first press conference. It would prove to be the beginning of an international media frenzy.
 
Clip - Gerry: Please, if you have Madeleine, let her come home to her mummy, daddy, brother and sister.
 
Oprah - VO: Within hours of that emotional plea. News of the McCann's tragedy traveled around the world.
 
Various clips...Beckham/Pope etc.
 
Oprah - VO: After searching tirelessly for four months with few solid leads the McCanns became suspects or what the Portuguese call Arguidos.
 
Lawyer in Portimão: Kate and Gerry McCann have both been today declared Arguidos.
 
Oprah - VO: With that stunning news Kate and Gerry decided to leave Portugal - the last place they've seen their daughter Madeleine.
 
Gerry at EMA: Whilst it's heartbreaking to return to the UK without Madeleine, it does not mean we've given up our search for her. Despite there being so much we'd wish to say we are unable to do so except to say this "we have played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter Madeleine".
 
Oprah (Studio): Well Kate and Gerry were officially cleared as suspects in the case of their missing daughter last July and the McCanns are here today for their first interview in the United States. Thank you for joining us.
 
Kate and Gerry: Thank you.
 
Oprah: I know this is a really hard time cause it's two years exactly.
 
Kate: It is, yeah.
 
Oprah: Uh huh...how are you?
 
Kate: Erm [sigh] we'll we're still going. Erm, we're working really hard and we have our better days and our not so good days erm but we're persevering and we're pressing on whilst there's hope.
 
Oprah: Anniversaries harder than other days or about the same?
 
Kate: I, I cannot believe that two years has passed I mean I cannot believe it's two years since I've seen Madeleine and she's had two years without being with her family where she should be, so from that point of view it's a real significant mark.
 
Oprah: Do you believe she is still alive?
 
Gerry: There's absolutely no reason to believe that she's not alive and I think that's the key thing and...
 
Oprah: Is that wishful thinking, hopeful thinking or is there some part of you that feels it, senses it, or does...just does not want to give up.
 
Kate: I think it's partly fact in that you know, there's no evidence at all to suggest that Madeleine's come to any harm. Erm, part of me that, you know I do feel she's there, you know that connection is there, now whether that's just because I'm her mother and erm that will always be there that bond I don't know but, I don't feel that she's that far away you know.
 
Oprah: Well I, you know, I'd read something that said there were times even you know early on after she err went missing that you would say I want I hope that whoever has her gives her her blanket I hope that whoever has her is keeping her warm I hope that whoever has her...
 
Kate: I mean it's funny, it's you know, I mean as a mum it's things like that you worry about as well you know. Is someone brushing her teeth. Is someone rubbing her tummy when she's not feeling well. You know, it's all those things as a mother you do and you should be doing and...
 
Oprah: But then do you let yourself go to the worst sometimes?
 
Kate: I mean I do I think it's natural and you know I know people mean well and they say don't let yourself go there and it's not going to help going there but as, as a mum inevitably there are times when I do and they're the times that I kind of dip down erm obviously I'm going to worry about her constantly you know...
 
Oprah: I would imagine there have been many times when you have dipped down. In this past two year cycle so much has happened what has been the worst for you were there times when you thought you wouldn't get through it?
 
Kate: I mean I think nothing is gonna be worse than those early days really. It was horrific, it was awful and I don't believe there can be a greater pain.
 
Gerry: It's something that you know, no parent should have to go through. It is just the most devastating horrible sensation err fear for your child and your whole existence, your family existence.
 
Oprah: Yeah, yeah, we'll be right back with Kate and Gerry McCann.
 
Clips in Rothley: music...
 
Kate: You know we tried very hard erm to have a baby and err it took many years err until I got pregnant and the day Madeleine was born it was the, the most special day of me life and I did actually believe she was a real gift to us...
 
...I just can't believe how I you know...after five years of desperately trying to have children to suddenly having three it was great it was just lovely we were just so happy..
 
...I never had a day where I took my children for granted erm having been through what I'd been through. But you actually forget how precious life is erm until something awful happens and you realise just how perfect our life was.
 
Music - Gerry/Kate looking solemn.
 
Kate: You know it's only a couple of years since I've seen her but for someone so young erm I just thought she's quite amazing.
 
Video from Xmas 2008...happy and you know it...
 
Kate: It's obviously quite hard thinking about it....sorry. She was just really good company you know just err. She just I mean...she just she's like my little friend sort of all the time...
 
...the ones that Madeleine has done I just can't pull down to be honest. Yeah it says here "Madeleine Donegal - Easter/2007" and that was erm the April we went to Portugal.
 
You know I look back and think oh why can't we just rewind the clock and it takes you back to really happy memories you know, things that you really enjoyed and it's just a reminder really of what isn't here anymore.
 
Oprah: Ooh..that’s hard...it's hard. The McCanns are here today for their first interview in the United States. Well you know you have been vilified all over the world for having dinner with your friends that night and the proximity you know less than a hundred yards away and leaving your children, the twins and Madeleine alone. And I'm sure you have beaten yourself up many times over that. Obviously if you could do it differently you would at this point.
 
Kate: Absolutely.
 
Oprah: Yeah, so what do you want to say about that?
 
Kate: I mean erm as you say I know I can persecute myself everyday about that and I feel awful that we weren't there at that minute and somebody took an opportunity to take Madeleine erm but if there'd been a second where'd I'd had to consider is this ok to do this it just would not have happened, it just would not have...
 
Oprah: Because this was, you all had done this every night for five nights straight, is what I'd read. So you'd done it every night and never thought err we are endangering our children or maybe we shouldn't do it.
 
Gerry: I think no we felt very safe and, and a quite a lot of resorts in Europe there is a baby listening service and we were, we were doing that ourselves within the group in actually going in to the apartments.
 
Oprah: So there's a group of seven friends was it?
 
Gerry: There was nine adults in total erm and that's what we were doing and really we were just checking to make sure none of the kids were crying.
 
Oprah: How man, how many children are being checked on there?
 
Gerry: There were eight.
 
Oprah: Eight children?
 
Gerry: Yeah.
 
Kate: Three, three families.
 
Gerry: Can I, can I just say I think the worst thing about you know, the fact that many people have blamed us and villified us and and with hindsight you know it was clearly a mistake with hindsight but the worst thing for me about that is there's an abductor out there and that person stole our child and went into an apartment and took a child and he's anonymous and blameless.
 
Oprah: You believe it was a he?
 
Gerry: Almost certainly a male, almost certainly.
 
Oprah: And is that because one of your friends Jane...
 
Gerry and Kate: Tanner.
 
Oprah: ...had seen was err explain to me because I had read that she was coming out of her villa at nine fifteen. So let's go back to that night if you don't mind.
 
Gerry: Yeah.
 
Oprah: Let's go back to the night. Nine oh-five, you all are at dinner and you made the-the-the check at nine so you're checking every half hour.
 
Gerry: It was actually nine o'clock while the whole group were in the restaurant and one of our friend's Matt already went up and checked his err daughter and as he came back I went up to check on Madeleine [hesitation] and the twins and I went into the apartment and err really just checking the crying and the door...
 
Oprah: Checking to see if there was any crying.
 
Gerry: Yeah that was it and the door was erm open more, I'd, I'd left it just ajar about 5 degrees and we checked them before we left and they were sound asleep.
 
Oprah: Which door are you talking about?
 
Gerry: This is the bedroom door, to err their room, the three children were in the same room so I actually stepped into the room and the twins were sound asleep and Madeleine was lying in her bed exactly where she was when I left, Cuddle Cat up beside her head on her blanket and err and I closed the door and went to...
 
Oprah: And this is about nine-oh-five?
 
Gerry: Just yeah, so I went outside and I was outside the apartment and I met err one of the other guests and he was coming the other way with his kid and I actually crossed the road to erm to chat to him and we were sort of chatting for about five minutes and during that, Jane went to check on her children and it was at that point she was just passed us going up to the corner and she saw a man carrying a young girl with almo.. she described independently the pyjamas that Madeleine had on and she didn't see the child's face she didn't you know she saw me there she'd seen that I'd just been in the apartment and so she at the time she thought it was something odd but it didn't raise enough alarm bells to challenge the person or anything.
 
Kate: The child was barefoot and bare armed and he had a quite heavy jacket on so I think it was one of those things that just seemed a little bit odd but obviously it's not until later on that you realise.
 
Oprah: So this is the sketch of that person that err your friend Jane err remembers seeing but Jane, Jane didn't say anything when she came back to the table, yeah, because she saw you standing there.
 
Gerry: Yeah yeah.
 
Oprah: So erm you discovered that Madeleine was missing so you checked it about 9:05 another friend sees this man at 9:15 and you went back to check again at...
 
Kate: Well actually at 9:30 I stood up to go and check on Madeleine, because it was my turn. And at the same time Matt our friend stood up and we both started walking and he said well I'm going to check on G***e they were the next apartment to us he said "I'll check on Madeleine" and he hesitated a bit and then he said "no, I'll check" so he went to check at half nine came back said fine everything's fine so I then went at 10 o'clock the next check erm...
 
Oprah: Did he see her in the bed at 9:30?
 
Kate: No he just went in and listened and there was no crying.
 
Oprah: So he came back and said everything's fine cause you all everybody's just checking to see if there's crying and there's no crying so everything's fine and so then you went at ten.
 
Kate: I went at ten and I went into the apartment and there was no crying I stopped and there was no crying. And then I just noticed that the door was quite open.
 
Oprah: Which door?
 
Kate: Their bedroom door sorry, and we usually have the door as Gerry said sort of not closed but ajar just so that a little bit of light gets in and it's not too dark in the room so I thought oh Matt must have gone in and left the door open.
 
Oprah: same thing he thought.
 
Kate: Yeah, so I thought well I'll just close it over again, and as I went to close it over it slammed shut and I thought and it was like sort of you know a draught had caused it to shut so I turned behind me and I thought are the patio doors open and they were closed and I thought well that's strange so then I opened the door thinking I'll open it ajar a bit again and that was when I kind of looked into the room and when I just looked and it was quite dark and I was just looking and looking at Madeleine's bed and I was thinking is that her that I was looking for why isn't Madeleine there? And then in the end I walked over and thought oh, she's not in bed and then I thought maybe she's wandered through to our bed and that's why the door's open so I went through to our bedroom and she wasn't there and then I kind of see then I'm starting to panic a bit and I ran back into their room and literally as I went back into their room the curtains that were drawn over just "foooosh" flew open and that's when I saw that the shutter was right up and the window was pushed right oper. And that was when I just knew that erm someone had taken her. So I, I mean I ran to the window and I didn't know what I thought was going to see but I ran to the window and then I quickly hmm quickly looked through the wardrobes I had I suppose this temporary thought she was cowering in a wardrobe or something anyway she wasn't there and I just ran out and soon as...
 
Oprah: was she in a closet, in a closet?
 
Kate: Yeah just in case, just in case she's hiding or something I don't know and then I just went flying out the backdoor and erm ran to Gerry and just as soon as I saw the table where they were sitting I just started shouting "someone's taken her, Madeleine's gone" you know and erm that's how it all started really but erm [hyperventilates]
 
Oprah: Why did you feel immediately, I'd heard that you'd said "They've taken her, they've taken her"
 
Kate: nnnn....I didn't say that I said, said "somebody's taken her Madeleine's gone". Well from the way I found the room it was obvious because a child could not open those shutters and the window.
 
Oprah: uh huh.
 
Kate: erm so it was obvious to me.
 
Gerry: You know when she came back and she she shouted "someone's taken her" and there was just disbelief.
 
Kate: Taken her that's fine they all jumped up and they were saying if Kate don't worry she's fine, she's fine she'll be there she'll be there and I said she's gone, she's - tak, somebody's taken her you know it was just like...
 
Gerry: And the way the room was you know.
 
Kate: It was just like disbelief you know...
 
Gerry: The way that window was and the shutter up and the window open there was no way Madeleine could have done that err at that age and err it was just terrifying.
 
Oprah: Madeleine was almost as they said four or sixth birthday will be May 12th erm and recently the McCanns had this age progression done by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with the hope that the search for their daughter Madeleine will continue. Here's what three year old Madeleine looked like when she disappeared and here is what experts believe that she will look like today. Almost six, on May the 12th is her birthday. We will be right back.
 
Narrator: Coming up....
 
Oprah: First of all tell us why you seemed not as emotional.
 
Rothley sequence
 
Kate: In the last kind of few hours that I spent with Madeleine were lovely. Erm she was really tired, very very tired, erm after she'd tea, dinner erm we went back to the apartment erm, bathed all the kids, and then we, we sat on the couch and we read some stories and, had a few little treats and we were all cuddled in and it was nice. It was erm it was warm and loving and erm. And I can remember it quite vividly. Mmmh. Yeah I can visualise it as I'm speaking.
 
End sequence
 
Oprah: Well two years ago Madeleine McCann vanished while on vacation with her family in Portugal. Her parents Kate and Gerry are here today because they want the world to know they are still searching for their little girl and they believe that someone, somewhere knows something about her, her disappearance. How often do you think about those last moments?
 
Kate: Quite a lot I mean, they were really special actually it was funny in a way because that night at that time was more significant than previous nights I remember everything I mean she took my engagement ring off and put it on her finger which she she did quite frequently and err...you know I can remember the stories I read you know.
 
Oprah: What did you read?
 
Kate: Oh it was one of her favourite stories which is called Mog which is about a cat and, I mean a story we read which seems ironic now but the story we read erm the last story is "when you're happy and you know it".
 
Oprah: uh huh.
 
Kate: and err...
 
Oprah: And so when you came and realised that your daughter was missing and you're in a foreign country at the time you made a decision you know an effort to try to get her picture out to try to err engage the media, is that true?
 
Gerry: It wasn't [sigh] so much a conscious decision after a few hours erm some of our friends were saying that we'd contact the media, contact the media you know at least Portuguese police were saying no, no media, no media and we were desperate at that point.
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Kate: The overwhelming feeling was like helplessness. Absolute helplessness I mean you're absolutely desperate I mean this is our daughter who you just love beyond words and every second is like hours you know...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Kate: and nothing can happen quick enough...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Kate: so you just want as many people as you can out there looking...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Kate: praying...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Kate: closing borders, you know...
 
Gerry: I think yeah...
 
Kate: to try and get her back.
 
Oprah: I think that's a really powerful statement I never actually, never thought of it that way before but I'm sure other parents who are watching you or anybody who's had a child missing understands what you mean when you say "nothing can happen quick enough".
 
Kate: And you know Oprah...
 
Oprah: ...nothing can happen quick enough...
 
Kate: It was so dark...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Kate: it was dark, erm I've never had such a long night it was dark and you're just praying for the light you know to come up to get out there it's just...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Gerry: There's a feeling of utter helplessness as well and erm it's interesting cause although there's been a lot of negative those early days there was just an incredible power that people wanted to help us.
 
Oprah: yeah in the early days
 
Gerry: yeah yeah I mean and
 
Oprah: and then that turned
 
Gerry: it did yeah
 
Oprah: Yeah, can we go back to that press conference that was four days afterwards cause there was a press conference that was held err just four days after Madeleine disappeared Kate made another plea to the public for her return, let's watch that.
 
Press Conference Clip:
 
Kate: Madeleine is a beautiful, bright, funny, and caring little girl. She is so special. Please, please do not hurt her. Please don't scare her. Please tell us where to find her or pla - put her in a place of safety and let somebody know where she is. We beg you to let Madeleine come home.
 
Oprah: Well the tabloids used that press conference against the McCanns saying that Kate's lack of emotion implied that she was guilty, so, first of all tell us why you seemed err not as emotional.
 
Kate: I mean there were two aspects really, I'd spent seventy two hours I think crying erm and then suddenly almost feel like a little bit numb it's really hard to describe you know.
 
Oprah: Yeah so I just want to verify that cause I had read that before the conference a behavioural expert spoke to you.
 
Kate: certainly in the first week yeah.
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Kate: and they said it's quite important that you don't show any emotion erm because the abductor could get some kind of I don't know some adverse kick out of it and I tell you when someone says to you, you know if you do this or you, you know you get a feeling from them that if you do this it could be detrimental in some way to your daughter.
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Kate: I mean it's huge pressure on you to, to do that I mean the last thing I want obviously is to cause any extra further harm to Madeleine so...
 
Oprah: do you regret taking that advice?
 
Kate: No, I mean it was advice that was given with the best intention.
 
Oprah: yeah.
 
Kate: and I have to take expert advice you know I mean.
 
Gerry: Who can judge how you're going to react?
 
Oprah: right...
 
Gerry: You know how many people have been in that situation?
 
Oprah: uh huh...we'll be right back.
 
Narrator: Coming up.
 
Oprah: And then there were the hurtful rumours that you accidentally caused her, her death.
 
Clip: Kate holding Madeleine as a baby.
 
Oprah: How has your marriage been through all of this because a lot of marriages, a lot of people get pulled apart.
 
Gerry: Hmmm, I think you know a child abduction I think could destroy any family, there's no doubt about it erm it's, it's one of the most devastating things and then if you look what's happened to us subsequently but we, we've been supported tremendously well.
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Gerry: and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together.
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Gerry: ...and obviously we're really united in our goal and our love of Madeleine and Sean and Amelie.
 
Oprah: Once you were made official suspects, erm what was that moment like for you?
 
Kate: [sigh] Oh it was err, there were two things really I mean one it was incredibly upsetting cause you know just when you think things can't get any worse but actually it made me very angry erm and I know anger is not a good emotion but, it suddenly dawned on me that they weren't looking for Madeleine. They weren't looking for Madeleine and they weren't looking for the abductor and I just, I just felt so angry on her behalf I thought she just deserves so much more than that and suddenly when that happened and I got angry I just felt strong I just thought I'm going to fight you to the death for Madeleine you know, she needs us to be there and I just, suddenly, I don't know I just kind of got strength from somewhere.
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Gerry: I think though that that when the policeman told us they were going to be reinterviewed as arguido I mean it's a slightly odd legal situation, it really means a person of interest to the enquiry it's not really you know that you're being charged you can be declared arguido if you're have to answer questions which may incriminate yourself but I think Kate just turned round and said "what are you trying to do, destroy our family?" you know and you'd already had the biggest insult you could have as a parent and then to be accused or err it was suggested you were involved in your own daughter's disappearance...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Gerry: ...that was pretty bad.
 
Oprah: And then there were the, the, the hurtful rumours that you drugged Madeleine or that you gave her sedatives that you err accidentally caused her, her death.
 
Kate: [long pause] I mean we know it's all lies.
 
Gerry: It's just nonsense you know there's no that people can have theories and that's all it is there's no evidence to support any of that and it's absolute ludicrous you know and it's....
 
Oprah: Did you understand at first though because in our country I don't know obviously you've heard of the Susan Smith case which was over fifteen years ago woman who stood up.
 
Gerry: Yeah Kate's....
 
Oprah: and killed her children...and I think that's what changed the way everybody thought about child abduction particularly in our country after Susan Smith L-I-E-D in public.
 
Gerry: it's it's...
 
Oprah: ...and, and it turns out she's the one that put her children in the lake.
 
Gerry: It was, it was interesting though cause Kate's aunt who lives in Vancouver she was talking about when we'd been accused of having lack of emotion and she, she cited this...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Gerry: ...err woman's case and saying she was screaming and wailing and balling...
 
Oprah: uh huh...
 
Gerry: ...you know and you think you know that doesn't mean anything you know.
 
Oprah: yeah it doesn't mean anything...
 
Gerry: but it, it was and it's quite hard you know you can you just deny things and it's like well you know, does a denial change anyone's mind.
 
Oprah: mmmh...
 
Gerry: ...and it's quite hard you know once you've been smeared like that it's actually how do you prove, how do you prove a negative.
 
Kate: How do you prove innocence?
 
Oprah: Yeah. Her birthday is May 12th.
 
Kate: [makes tut noise]
 
Oprah: And will you celebrate that birthday? Will there be an acknowledgement of that birthday?
 
Kate: We haven't planned anything yet certainly last year we had a party, just close family and we had a birthday cake and Sean and Amelie knew it was Madeleine's birthday and erm sis.
 
Oprah: Do they remember her?
 
Kate: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, they're amazing honestly.
 
Oprah: they're four now, they're four...yeah.
 
Kate: yeah, yeah...
 
Gerry: I mean it's hard cause they're older than Madeleine was when she was taken now err but those days when you just when things are really bad and you just want to crawl under a rock and never and just say make it all go away Sean and Amelie will just come out with something like "when Madeleine comes back I'm going to give her this" and they talk about her all the time you know she's, she's a big part of their life now and err and you just think you know if Madeleine walks through the door, if we find Madeleine today for Sean and Amelie it'll, it'll feel like she'd never been away and that it err it when you're really struggling they just give you that energy and drive to, to carry on and, and I suppose it's like one of the things we were saying a lot just now is we can't give up never give up on Madeleine.
 
Oprah: So when you think of her though do you think of her as her almost four year old self or do you think of her as the photo. Let's show the photo err again of what we believe she would look like today. Do you think of her as being...
 
Kate: No I mean I think of her as she was really cause that's the Madeleine that we know and that's the Madeleine we have memories of and you know the pictures of when she was nearly four tell a story you know we can relate that picture to our time with Madeleine erm I, I don't actually know this little girl you know erm but...
 
Oprah: but if she came back....
 
Kate: Oh yeah...
 
Oprah: ...you'd be willing to yeah...
 
Kate: Oh yeah I'd know 'er if she went past me I'd know 'er for sure.
 
Oprah: We'll be right back.
 
Rothley Clips:

Sean and Amelie on swing: We're just, we're just, we're just gonna pick some cheese

Kate pushing swing: Getting some cheese on the moon ok

Kate VO: Life has to go on you know if we didn't function then we'd achieve nothing.

Kate to twins: C'mon then I think we need to get ready though.

Kate: If I was so consumed with the, the pain and grief then you know I wouldn't be doing my job as a mother to Sean and Amelie and not for Madeleine you know we still need to find her.

Kate: It's those times that obviously all the emotion comes flooding out and whilst that is important you couldn't do it all the time so yes you know, meals have to be cooked washing has to be done.

Gerry: Bedtime, let's get a story ready

Kate: Sean and Amelie know that we're looking for Madeleine. Now they obviously love their sister very much and for them that's become, that's our job really erm and they know it's ok to be sad

Oprah: How has this affected the way you parent Sean and Amelie? Are you afraid to ever let them out of your sight?

Kate: I think it, it definitely has affected erm I mean it's important I suppose to get the balance I mean they, they have to live, they have to experience life. And there are times when you have to let go a bit...

Oprah: uh huh...

Kate: ...for their development.

Oprah: uh huh...

Gerry: It's hard

Kate: it's difficult

Gerry: yeah...but they also understand now that we're here erm asking people to help us search, for Madeleine and that, you know that image is err, we're looking for a, a six year old girl now.

Oprah: Well I, you know I, I heard you were criticised, vilified for washing the Cuddle Cat that was in her bed what seventy days later err do you still carry the Cuddle Cat, that' the Cuddle Cat

Kate: Yeah I do, it's with me [laughs] Yeah I mean I, I find that quite bizarre really I mean Cuddle Cat always used to get washed you know

Oprah: So seventy days after Madeleine was gone there was a story in the, one of the tabloids about her washing away the DNA from the Cuddle Cat but it had been SEVENTY days.

Oprah: Have you ever come close in a lead. Have you ever come close to thinking that you were close to finding her?

Gerry: [sighs] err...I don't think so really it's, it's, it's hard because you almost don't want to let yourself to go there so I think that in the early days and weeks we used to hear about sightings often through the media and lots of family and other people would get very excited and, and sometimes they had you know, almost no credibility whatsoever and until we have some sort of evidence, you know like photograph or, or something then I think we wouldn't allow ourselves to really think this is it

Oprah: to get hopeful

Gerry: too hopeful, yeah...

Oprah: uh huh...

Gerry: ...was hopeful but not thinking that you're there. It's happened for other families.

Oprah: uh huh...

Gerry: You know we, we other people might think you know, they're deluded, you know Madeleine's not it has happened Elizabeth Smart and we've met the Smart. You know there's two ways I think Madeleine'll be found this age progression picture...

Oprah: uh huh...

Gerry: ...someone now where Madeleine is around will recognise her and that's why we want the image out there...

Kate: ...a match.

Gerry: as far and as wide so they'll do it or the second thing is we'll identify the abductor and...

Kate: ...or...

Gerry: ...that's key

Kate: ...or somebody knows something because at the end of the day this man is known to somebody you know, he's someone's son, someone's brother, someone's cousin, someone's neighbour, someone's colleague, someone's partner, so he's known to someone and even if these people don't know that he definitely did it they might have a suspicion and it's just I guess it's somehow reaching out to them and saying please come forward you know.

Oprah: We'll be right back.

Snow White video then NCMEC clip:

Ernie Allen: We're currently in our forensic imaging unit err these forensic artists every day are ageing the photographs of long term missing children. Nine hundred children have been recovered successfully.

Ernie: The photo in the centre is the photo we used of Madeleine McCann so this is the photo of Kate McCann on the left at age five or six and the photo on the right is of Gerry McCann at the same age. So what our artist will do is to create a combined image that we believe is representative of what Madeleine looks like today.

Kate [hugs Ernie]: It's nice to see you

Ernie: I really want you to understand circulating the photograph of a child who was not quite four, two years later is not good enough. This is our age progressed image of Madeleine.

Kate: I mean I think it is a reminder of what we've missed out on and particularly you know what Madeleine's missed out on.

Gerry: If that Madeleine walks through the door tomorrow it'll be like she was never been away.

Back in Studio:

Oprah: That was Ernie Allen from the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. They do amazing work there showing the McCanns what they believe Madeleine erm might look like today. I hear you keep her, Madeleine's room ready for her.

Kate: Yep, no it's all ready and waiting [sigh]..

Oprah: Do you go in the room often?

Kate: I do yeah, I go in about twice a day.

Oprah: Do you talk to her?

Kate: I do usually I mean I, I must admit I tend to open and close the curtains more of an evening and just say hello really, just tell her we'll still going and you know we're going to do everything we can to find her.

Oprah: uh huh...

Oprah: Are the Portuguese Police still looking?

Gerry: Well what's happened is erm the file is officially closed and it, and that was a really difficult period because in Portugal they have a thing called Judicial Secrecy and you're not meant to know what's going on but that was closed last July and then we were given the files on DVD in Portuguese so we have a small err team which is funded from erm Madeleine's Fund and we really hope that people who were in Praia da Luz who might have information and we've asked the local community in Portuguese to come forward and again in combination with a sighting so you know this for us this is a very active search and Kate...

Kate: ...there's no....

Gerry: Kate spends...

Kate: ...there's no law enforcement agency though actively looking for Madeleine I mean obviously you know

Gerry: the onus is on us which you know is pretty frustrating actually

Kate: ...we're driving this

Gerry: ...but as parents you've just got, got to do everything.

Oprah: So have you gone back to work?

Gerry: Yeah I made a decision to go back and for two reasons, one I, I felt it was important that the twins had normality back in their life and erm and me going to work was, was normal and I think almost for selfish reasons I needed to be thinking about something else.

Oprah: Yeah, we'll be right back.

Oprah: Will there come a point when you will say "enough"?

Kate: I mean, I think even if you wanted that and there are days when you just want to get under the duvet or you just want to be in a coma till it's over just to, relieve the pain and get some peace but you can't. I don't think they'll ever get a day if we're still in this situation where we feel we've done everything I, I don't think any parent could, even if you were thinking I need, I need a rest, I need something.

Oprah: Do you think that somebody was watching your family?

Kate: I do now yeah.

Oprah: uh huh...

Oprah: You think somebody was watching you over a period of days or?

Kate: Yeah, which is horrible

Oprah: uh huh...

Kate: I mean it makes you feel sick actually when you think about it

Oprah: What do you want to say to that person?

Gerry: It's not too late to do the right thing you know, they can give her up. They can tell us where she is. They can hand her over, to a priest...or...someone in authority. They can do the right thing.

Kate: Madeleine should be with us. Madeleine should be with her family. She's got a little brother and sister who want her back in her life you know and please you know if you don't want to think about Gerry and I think about Sean and Amelie you know and, bring their big sister back you know.

Oprah: We'll be right back.

Website Ad [www.findmadeleine.com]

Oprah: You recently went back to Portugal...

Gerry: Yeah

Oprah: ...er what was that like for you?

Gerry: It's difficult erm but you know I feel nothing against Praia da Luz or the Algarve as such because child abductions happen all over the world and it's the perpetrator

Oprah: uh huh...

Gerry: ...and we don't know where that person is rather than the apartment or the resort or Portugal

Oprah: ...or the people of the town

Gerry: no, not at all and they were, they were really supportive and

Oprah: and you're right, abductions happen all over the world

Gerry: that's right and I think you know, the best thing for everyone is if we can find Madeleine and who took her

Oprah: uh huh...

Oprah: Thank you so much

Kate: thank you

Oprah: ...for this conversation today...thank you

Gerry: thank you for the opportunity

Oprah: and listen I, it has happened before, it has happened before and so I wish the best for you.

Kate and Gerry: Thank you

Oprah: If you have any information you're watching anywhere around the world go to find Madeleine dot com, find Madeleine dot com

Oprah: Bye everybody

Kate and Gerry: Thank you

Oprah: Thank you.

The McCanns and the New Search for Madeleine, 01 May 2009
The McCanns and the New Search for Madeleine Oprah.com

McCanns on the Oprah Show

Kate McCann on the Oprah Show

Kate McCann on the Oprah Show

Friday May 1, 2009
 
In their first interview in America, Madeleine McCann's parents talk to Oprah.
 
From The Oprah Winfrey Show

McCann's waiting for Madeleine, 01 May 2009
McCann's waiting for Madeleine CNN
 
Source: HARPOPRODUCTIONS  |  Added May 1, 2009
 
Watch Oprah's interview with the parents of missing child Madeleine McCann on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Monday May 4.
 
The story
 
(CNN) -- The parents of missing English toddler Madeleine McCann on Friday unveiled a digitally enhanced picture showing what she might look like today if she is still alive.
 
Madeleine was 3 years old when she disappeared during a family vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 4, 2007. Portuguese police closed the case last July without a resolution.
 
The picture, which her parents revealed in an interview on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" airing Monday, is a school-style photo showing Madeleine at 6 years old, with a pink headband and shoulder-length hair.
 
An expert at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created the image using photographs of Madeleine's parents, a spokesman for the center told Guardian.co.uk.
 
Kate and Gerry McCann also discussed how they're coping with the disappearance of their daughter.
 
"Child abduction, I think, could destroy any family. There's no doubt about it," Gerry McCann told Winfrey.
 
"But we've been supported tremendously well and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together. Obviously, we're really united in our goal and our love of Madeleine and Sean and Amelie."
 
Kate McCann said she keeps Madeleine's room ready for her and admitted to visiting it twice daily, "just [to] say hello... just [to] tell her we're still going ... to do everything we can to find her."
 
Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday villa at the Portuguese beach resort while her parents dined in a nearby restaurant. The couple have campaigned publicly for information about their daughter's whereabouts since her disappearance.

Madeleine McCann's parents release picture of how she might look now, 01 May 2009
Madeleine McCann's parents release picture of how she might look now Guardian
 
Image shown on Oprah Winfrey show ahead of television interview with Madeleine McCann's parents
 
Haroon Siddique
Friday 1 May 2009 16.43 BST

Madeleine McCann - Age progression picture

A digitally-enhanced image of how Madeleine McCann might look now, if still alive, was revealed today.
 
The image was shown on the Oprah Winfrey show ahead of the US talkshow host's interview with Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, which will be broadcast on Monday. Sunday will mark two years since Madeleine went missing while on a family holiday in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, and the couple are hoping for renewed public interest and a breakthrough in the case.
 
They employed a forensic imaging artist, who used computer technology to produce a photographic impression of how the youngster would have aged since she went missing.
 
It will be used on posters to be distributed worldwide as part of the couple's continuing search for their daughter.
 
Although Madeleine would still be five today, the image depicts the child at six years of age as her birthday falls in less than two weeks' time and her parents did not want it to become out-of-date quickly.
 
The expert, at the United States National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, used photographs of Madeleine's parents at around the same childhood age to produce the "age progression image".
 
The picture shows a smiling Madeleine, wearing a pink head-band in her fair shoulder-length hair.
 
The couple believe it is the most realistic image possible of how she might look today, said their spokesman Clarence Mitchell.
 
"They feel it's important that as many people as possible see Madeleine as she now is, rather than the child of three seen in all of those early photographs," he said.
 
"This is the child that somebody who is close to Madeleine may spot, rather than the child in those other photos, and Kate and Gerry are incredibly hopeful that this will lead to the phone call that finds Madeleine and brings her home.
 
"That's why they decided to release it on the Oprah Winfrey show, given the global reach she has.
 
"It was difficult for Kate to see the image at first, but over time she has got used to it and both Kate and Gerry believe it's the best image possible of what Madeleine may look like now."

'Older' Madeleine image released, 01 May 2009
'Older' Madeleine image released BBC News

Madeleine - Age progression picture

Page last updated at 16:44 GMT, Friday, 1 May 2009 17:44 UK
 
An image of how Madeleine McCann might look now, if still alive, has been released ahead of the second anniversary of her disappearance.
 
Gerry and Kate McCann are to distribute their daughter's image worldwide as part of their continuing search for Madeleine, who vanished aged three.
 
The McCanns used a forensic imaging artist to produce a photographic impression of an older Madeleine.
 
She vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007.
 
Her parents believe there is "a very real likelihood" that Madeleine is still alive, and the poster shows her aged nearly six, smiling and with a pink head-band in her fair shoulder-length hair.
 
Alongside it is the well-known picture of Madeleine taken just before she went missing.
 
McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "This is the child that somebody who is close to Madeleine may spot, rather than the child in those other photos."
 
At the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an artist used photographs of Mr and Mrs McCann at around the same childhood age to produce an "age progression image".
 
The couple believe it is the most realistic picture possible of how she might look today, said Mr Mitchell.
 
He said it was "difficult" for Mrs McCann see the image at first, but over time she got used to it.
 
The picture was unveiled on a US TV show on Friday, and in an interview to be broadcast there on Monday Kate McCann admits that there have been times where she has let herself "go to the worst" during her search for Madeleine.
 
She tells chat show host Oprah Winfrey: "I think it's natural …I know people mean well when they say don't let yourself go there …But as a mom, inevitably there are times when I do. And they're the times that I kind of dip down."
 
Gerry McCann concedes that cases of child abduction have the potential to destroy marriages.
 
But he adds: "We've been supported tremendously well and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together."
 
To deal with the expected world-wide response to the new campaign, the family has hired private detectives and established a telephone hotline.
 
Anyone who has seen Madeleine is urged to contact their local police force or visit the McCann's Findmadeleine.com website.
 
The McCann's are said to be "incredibly hopeful" that the new image will spark the phone call that finds Madeleine and brings her home to her family.

What Maddie looks like now, 01 May 2009
What Maddie looks like now The Sun

Shocking ... photo shows what Maddie would like now
Shocking ... photo shows what Maddie would like now

By ANTONELLA LAZZERI
Published: Today (01 May 2009)
 
THIS is Madeleine McCann as her parents believe she would look now at the age of six.
 
The remarkable age progression photo shows a Maddie who is barely recognisable from the iconic photograph of her which was released shortly after she went missing two years ago.

You need Flash Player 8 or higher to view video content with the ROO Flash Player. Click here to download and install it.

In the new photo, to be shown for the first time ever on America's Oprah Winfrey Show today, Maddie looks like a little girl instead of the slightly chubby-faced four-year-old she was when she went missing.
 
Her hair neatly tucked behind a red hair band, she has slight dimples and a shy smile on her face. She looks very much like her mother Kate, 41, who cried when she saw the photo for the very first time.
 
A source close to the McCann's said yesterday: "Kate found it very hard and still does. That girl does not look like the little girl that Kate knew as Madeleine.

Help ... new Maddie poster
Help ... new Maddie poster

"It is something she struggles with. But both Kate and Gerry believe this is what Madeleine at six would look like."
 
The couple's official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said yesterday: "This is the little girl that people should be looking for. This is what Kate and Gerry believe very much Maddie looks like now.
 
"They want people to be aware of that and to look at this image and remember it. The photo is part of a new poster which will be put up in the place of the one that has the photo of Maddie as she was.
 
Realistic
 
"Kate and Gerry believe that this is the most realistic image of Madeleine as she may look today.
 
"They want the new image to be distributed as widely as possible as they believe this is the child that anyone who sees Madeleine today will spot, rather than the child in the older pictures."
 
The photo, which will form part of the Find Madeleine Campaign, has been created by an expert forensic imaging artist based at the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, in Alexandria, Virginia.
 
 
Right click on image and then select Print Picture
 
The artist used photographs of both Kate and Gerry at around the same childhood age and the latest computer technology to create the new image from their paternal and maternal lines.
 
Virtually the only thing instantly recognisable about the Maddie in the photo is the distinctive mark in her right eye. Maddie had a defect in her eye which meant the pupil smeared into her iris.
 
The new photo is published on posters alongside a photograph of Madeleine at age three wearing a red dress. It is one of the most memorable ones of her that was released by her parents shortly after she went missing.

Show ... McCanns with TV star
Show ... McCanns with TV star

Mr Mitchell said: "The old photo has become the iconic image as it were of Maddie but Kate and Gerry are very aware that she wouldn't look like that now.
 
"People need to realise that and look at the new image and take that in. THIS is the girl we are looking for now.
 
"Kate and Gerry firmly believe she is alive somewhere and ask people please do not give up on their little girl."
 
The posters will bear the message "Have You Seen This Little Girl?" and "Don't Give Up On Me".
 
The McCanns believe the new poster may result in the call which will lead to them finding their daughter.
 
Mr Mitchell said: "They are hoping it will prompt that one single phone call which will lead to her coming home at last."
 
He added: "Kate and Gerry are issuing this image with the aim of distributing it globally.
 
"They feel it's important that as many people as possible see Madeleine as she now is, rather than the child of three seen in all of those early photographs.
 
"This is the child that somebody who is close to Madeleine may spot, rather than the child in those other photos, and Kate and Gerry are incredibly hopeful that this will lead to the phone call that finds Madeleine and brings her home.
 
"That's why they decided to release it on the Oprah Winfrey show, given the global reach she has.
 
"It was difficult for Kate to see the image at first, but over time she has got used to it and both Kate and Gerry believe it's the best image possible of what Madeleine may look like now."
 
The new posters urge anyone who has seen Madeleine to contact their local police force immediately, or alternatively call +44 (0)845 838 4699 or visit www.findmadeleine.com

McCanns make Oprah appearance, 01 May 2009
McCanns make Oprah appearance BBC News video

McCanns make Oprah appearance

Page last updated at 20:28 GMT, Friday, 1 May 2009 21:28 UK
 
Kate and Gerry McCann have appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and released an image of how their missing daughter Madeleine might look now, ahead of the second anniversary of her disappearance.
 
Courtesy The Oprah Winfrey Show: "Exclusive - The McCanns and the New Search for Madeleine" will be broadcast on Tuesday 5th May at 8pm on Diva TV.

Kate McCann breaks down in tears in emotional appeal for missing Maddy on Oprah, 01 May 2009
Kate McCann breaks down in tears in emotional appeal for missing Maddy on Oprah Daily Mirror
 
1/05/2009
 
Distraught Kate McCann broke down in tears on Oprah as she made a TV appeal for missing daughter Madeleine.
 
The brave mum and husband Gerry held hands as they filmed the one-hour interview days before the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.
 
In the one-hour interview, to be aired in the US on Monday, two years and a day after Madeleine vanished on a family holiday in Portugal, Oprah asked Kate and Gerry: "Do you let yourself go to the worst?"
 
Mrs McCann replied: "I think it's natural. I know people mean well when they say don't let yourself go there, but as a mom, inevitably there are times when I do. And they're the times that I kind of dip down."
 
The interviewer asked them about their marriage.
 
Mr McCann said: "Child abduction, I think, could destroy any family. There's no doubt about it.
 
"It's one of the most devastating things. But we've been supported tremendously well and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together.
 
"Obviously, we're really united in our goal and our love of Madeleine and Sean and Amelie."
 
Mrs McCann said she keeps Madeleine's room ready for her return and said she goes in there about twice a day.
 
"Do you talk to her?" asked Oprah.
 
Mrs McCann replied: "Just [to] say hello, really. Just [to] tell her we're still going to do everything we can to find her."

Grown-up face her mother doesn't recognise: The technology behind Madeleine McCann's computer-generated image, 01 May 2009
Grown-up face her mother doesn't recognise: The technology behind Madeleine McCann's computer-generated image Daily Mail
 
By MICHAEL SEAMARK
Last updated at 10:55 PM on 01st May 2009
 
It's an imperfect combination of art and science, but Kate and Gerry McCann believe this 'age progression image' may be how their daughter looks today.
 
The picture was drawn up using photographs of Madeleine at three, pictures of her parents around the same age, and computer technology.
 
U.S. experts from Virginia's National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children created the image, which aims to show Madeleine at the age of six. Her parents are 'happy' with the result.

Madeleine age progression poster, published 01 May 2009

Age progression pictures are intended to give an idea of how a person may look several years after he or she disappeared.
 
It is not an exact science, explained Auriole Prince, a British forensic and age progression artist who trained at the FBI academy and has helped police in missing person inquiries, but 'an educated guess'.
 
She said: 'It is a cross between art and science. You are trying to create an impression of what you think that person will look like today.
 
'It's a little like piecing together a puzzle.
 
'You start with a photograph of the missing person, use reference photographs of their parents and siblings and try to create an accurate new image.
 
'Every face is obviously different but everyone has a unique likeness, that triangle of features, the eyes, the nose and the mouth and how the features sit in relation to one another. People get older but they don't look completely different.
 
'In the case of a child of Madeleine's age, the changes are sometimes marked. You start to lose that baby look. Everything will be moved on a stage  -  the bone structure, the nose, the jaw line.
 
'It is not going to be 100 per cent accurate but that unique likeness remains and hopefully enables people to recognise her still, to make a connection.'

The twins need you more than ever, Kate, 01 May 2009
The twins need you more than ever, Kate Daily Mail
 
By AMANDA PLATELL
Last updated at 11:02 PM on 01st May 2009
 
The face may not seem familiar at first. But the teardrop-shaped blemish in the right eye is unmistakable, etched deep into the public consciousness.
 
It is the distinguishing mark that may — just may — one day reunite Madeleine McCann with her family.
 
Today, Madeleine would have been. . . is . . . (who knows what tense to use) nearly six years old and her parents have used this second anniversary of her disappearance to release a computer-generated picture showing how their beloved daughter would look today.
 
It coincides with an extensive interview Gerry and Kate have given for the Oprah Winfrey show, reaffirming their determination to keep hunting for their lost child.
 
Of course, you can understand the McCanns' need to do everything possible to keep hope alive.
 
But the price is high. The chat show appearance is a tear-stained encounter in which the McCanns are quizzed in intimate detail about their marriage and their despair — their lives stripped bare for millions of viewers to gawp at.
 
Oprah's cameras were even invited inside the family's Leicestershire home, spending the day with the couple and their four-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie. Which brings us to a note of caution.
 
There can be no doubt the McCanns have done all they could to balance the needs of their twins against their determination to find Madeleine. And yet the very nature of the search makes that balance increasingly difficult.
 
The twins were two years old when Madeleine went missing — young enough to be sheltered from the more intrusive elements of the PR campaign waged by their parents and the accompanying media storm that often, yes, went too far.
 
Now they are four — old enough to wonder why there is an American TV crew traipsing round their home, why Mummy is crying on the television, why their lives are the focus of global fascination.
 
Old enough to hear the playground whispers and witness the gaze of curious onlookers. Old enough, perhaps, to feel small twinges of jealousy towards a sibling who still dominates their family life, even though she is not physically present.
 
No one could deny the McCanns' right and need to search for Madeleine, but there must come a point when they realise they may not be able to save one child, but they can devote themselves to their other two.
 
As Kate said in the interview, she and Gerry are united in their 'love of Madeleine — and Sean and Amelie'.
 
One day, agonising as it will be, they may have to choose which of those two loves takes precedence.

Oprah Interviews Madeleine McCann's Parents, 01 May 2009
'Older' Madeleine image released BBC News

Madeleine - Age progression picture

01 May 2009
 
The McCanns used a forensic imaging artist to produce a photographic impression of an older Madeleine.
 
She vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007.
 
Her parents believe there is "a very real likelihood" that Madeleine is still alive, and the poster shows her aged nearly six, smiling and with a pink head-band in her fair shoulder-length hair.
 
Alongside it is the well-known picture of Madeleine taken just before she went missing.
 
McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "This is the child that somebody who is close to Madeleine may spot, rather than the child in those other photos."
 
At the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an artist used photographs of Mr and Mrs McCann at around the same childhood age to produce an "age progression image".
 
The couple believe it is the most realistic picture possible of how she might look today, said Mr Mitchell.
 
He said it was "difficult" for Mrs McCann see the image at first, but over time she got used to it.
 
The picture was unveiled on a US TV show on Friday, and in an interview to be broadcast there on Monday Kate McCann admits that there have been times where she has let herself "go to the worst" during her search for Madeleine.
 
She tells chat show host Oprah Winfrey: "I think it's natural …I know people mean well when they say don't let yourself go there …But as a mom, inevitably there are times when I do. And they're the times that I kind of dip down."
 
Gerry McCann concedes that cases of child abduction have the potential to destroy marriages.
 
But he adds: "We've been supported tremendously well and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together."
 
To deal with the expected world-wide response to the new campaign, the family has hired private detectives and established a telephone hotline.
 
Anyone who has seen Madeleine is urged to contact their local police force or visit the McCann's Findmadeleine.com website.
 
The McCann's are said to be "incredibly hopeful" that the new image will spark the phone call that finds Madeleine and brings her home to her family.

UK front pages, 02 May 2009
 
Daily Express, 02 May 2009
Daily Express, 02 May 2009

Daily Star, 02 May 2009
Daily Star, 02 May 2009

Daily Mail, 02 May 2009
Daily Mail, 02 May 2009

The Sun, 02 May 2009
The Sun, 02 May 2009

Daily Mirror, 02 May 2009
Daily Mirror, 02 May 2009

 

Madeleine at six? Two years on, the startling image that could rekindle McCanns' hope, 02 May 2009
Madeleine at six? Two years on, the startling image that could rekindle McCanns' hope Daily Mail
 
By MICHAEL SEAMARK
Last updated at 2:27 AM on 02nd May 2009
 
Kate McCann wiped away a tear as she was shown the computer-aided image of her daughter Madeleine as she might look now.
 
I don't know who that little girl is,' she admitted to U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey.
 
The picture, produced using computer-assisted technology, shows a smiling Madeleine wearing a pink band in her shoulder-length hair and a blue dress with frilly white collar.

Madeleine - Age progression image comparison
Click to enlarge

Two years on: Left, Madeleine McCann shortly before she disappeared. Right, a new computer-generated image issued by her parents Kate and Gerry shows what she may look like today, aged six
 
The 'then' and 'now' images will be used on posters  -  under the headline 'Don't Give Up On Me'  -  in a fresh drive to find the child who vanished from the family's holiday apartment in the Algarve two years ago tomorrow.
 
Madeleine, then three years old, would be six later this month.
 
The 'age progression image' was unveiled ahead of Oprah Winfrey's interview with the McCanns to be broadcast in the U.S. on Monday.
 
The couple hope the interview, which will reach a huge global audience, coupled with the new picture and a Channel 4 documentary next week, may help end their torment.
 
The McCanns, from Rothley in Leicestershire, believe this is the most realistic image possible of how their missing daughter might look today.
 
They remain convinced there is 'a very real likelihood' that Madeleine is still alive.
 
In a statement last night Kate and Gerry McCann said: 'It is two long years since Madeleine was taken. The pain and anxiety does not lessen, but our determination to find our beautiful daughter remains steadfast.
 
'We are no longer looking for a four-year-old little girl but a six-year-old one. This is crucial.
 
'We are hoping that the new age-progressed image of Madeleine aged six will help people to see what she may look like today.
 
'On May 7 a televised " reconstruction" of potentially significant and suspicious events from around the time that Madeleine was taken will be aired on Channel 4 in Britain.
 
'Much of this information has not been disclosed to the general public before and it is apparent that there are several highly important unanswered questions remaining.
 
'Just one of these answers could provide us with that vital piece of information that leads us to Madeleine. It is our hope that these reconstructed scenes will trigger somebody's memory and prompt them to come forward, giving us the key piece of the jigsaw that we  -  and Madeleine especially  -  so desperately need.
 
'Madeleine is still missing! She has the right to be back with her family. We have a responsibility to keep looking for her. We urge you  -  please do not give up on Madeleine.'
 
The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'Kate and Gerry feel it's important that as many people as possible see Madeleine as she now is, rather than the child of three seen in those early photographs.
 
'This is the child that somebody who is close to Madeleine may spot, and Kate and Gerry are incredibly hopeful that this will lead to the phone call that finds Madeleine and brings her home.
 
'It was difficult for Kate to see the image at first, but over time she has got used to it and both she and Gerry believe it's the best image possible of what Madeleine may look like now.'
 
In the Oprah interview, the chat show host asked the couple: 'Do you let yourself go to the worst?' Mrs McCann replied: 'I think it's natural. I know people mean well when they say don't let yourself go there, but as a mum, inevitably there are times when I do. And they're the times that I kind of dip down.'
 
Oprah also asked the couple about their marriage.
 
Mr McCann said: 'Child abduction, I think, could destroy any family. There's no doubt about it.
 
'It's one of the most devastating things. But we've been supported tremendously well and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together.
 
'Obviously, we're really united in our goal and our love of Madeleine and Sean and Amelie [the couple's twins].'
 
Despite a massive police investigation and huge media and public interest, the fate of Madeleine remains a mystery.
 
The release of thousands of pages of witness statements and expert reports from the official Portuguese case files last August did little to explain her disappearance from the family's holiday apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz.
 
Prosecutors ruled last July that there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges against anyone and shelved the inquiry.
 
Portuguese officials said the much-criticised police investigation achieved 'very little in terms of conclusive results'  -  not least in establishing for certain whether Madeleine was alive or dead.
 
While Portuguese authorities are no longer actively investigating her disappearance, Mr and Mrs McCann have a small team of retired senior British police officers working for them.
 
The couple had the huge Portuguese official files translated into English, and they have been painstakingly examined in the search for missed clues.
 
Some fresh developments will be revealed in Thursday's Channel 4 documentary.
 
These are understood to include a mystery suspect seen by witnesses loitering alone on a road near the apartment where the McCanns were staying.
 
Mr McCann was barracked by a small number of local people when he returned to Praia da Luz at the start of April to assist in the filming of a reconstruction for the programme.
 
Many in the resort are weary of their unwanted association with Madeleine's disappearance, believing the incident has deterred holidaymakers from visiting and damaged their livelihoods.
 
Mr McCann, 40, is continuing his work as a consultant cardiologist at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital but Mrs McCann, 41, has not returned to her job as a GP.
 
Their twins Sean and Amelie are now four, older than Madeleine was when she went missing.
 
The family plan to spend tomorrow in private.
 
The posters urge anyone who has seen Madeleine to contact their local police force immediately, or alternatively call +44 (0)845 838 4699 or visit http://www.findmadeleine.com/.

She is still alive, Oprah, 02 May 2009
She is still alive, Oprah Daily Mirror (note: this is the paper edition version, which is identical to the online version apart from the headline and paragraph 5 which does not appear online)

Daily Mirror, 02 May 2009

Maddy's mum Kate tells TV host
 
By Rod Chaytor
2/05/2009
 
This is Madeleine McCann as she would look today - almost exactly two years after she vanished on a family holiday.
 
The new picture, showing the youngster at six, was created by forensic experts using the latest digital "age-progressing" techniques.
 
Madeleine's mum Kate, 41, is hoping it will help rekindle the search - even though she admits she barely recognised it as her daughter.
 
Interviewed in the US by chat show queen Oprah Winfrey, she said she could not see a likeness when it was first shown to her.
 
A family friend said last night: "She still has a vivid image in her head of Madeleine at four."
 
Kate McCann poured out her heart to US chat show queen Oprah - saying she is convinced she will one day be reunited with missing daughter Madeleine.
 
After a desperate two-year search, the heartbroken mum appealed for help from the star's millions of viewers worldwide as she insisted there is "a very real likelihood" that the youngster is still alive.
 
Kate and husband Gerry took their relentless hunt to a global audience by agreeing to be interviewed by Oprah in Chicago - as a new computergenerated picture was released showing how Madeleine would look today.
 
The emotional meeting is due to be seen by 44 million in America on Monday. It will go out in Britain, Portugal, Spain and the rest of Europe on Tuesday before eventually being watched in 143 other countries around the world. Kate and Gerry McCann, both 41-year-old doctors, hope the massive publicity - along with the new picture - will provide crucial new leads.
 
In the hour-long TV show, cameras go inside the McCanns' home in Rothley, Leics, spending the day with them and their four-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie. Kate tells how she keeps Madeleine's room ready for her return and goes in there about twice a day.
 
Oprah asks: "Do you talk to her?" Kate replies: "Just to say hello, really. Just to tell her that we are still going to do everything we can to find her."
 
Later Oprah gently enquires: "Do you let yourself go to the worst?" Kate says: "I think it's natural. I know people mean well when they say 'don't let yourself go there' but, as a mum, inevitably there are times when I do. And they're the times that I kind of dip down."
 
When Oprah asks about their marriage, Gerry admits: "Child abduction, I think, could destroy any family. There's no doubt about it. It's one of the most devastating things.
 
"But we've been supported tremendously well and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together.
 
"Obviously, we're really united in our goal and our love of Madeleine and Sean and Amelie."
 
The new image of Madeleine is used in two new posters to mark the second anniversary of her disappearance.
 
They appear alongside pictures of Madeleine as she was shortly before she vanished.
 
On the left is the familiar picture of Madeleine in a red party dress, looking wide-eyed and innocent as she stares at the camera, mouth open and showing her first teeth.
 
Next to it is a picture of a confident-looking young schoolgirl looking back with a slightly-amused closedmouth smile. She is wearing an Alice Band in her longer but still blonde straight hair, which has a similar fringe.
 
She wears a blue party dress with a white lace collar. Her right eye carries the familiar unique mark in the iris.
 
One poster bears the headline Don't Give Up On Me. The other says: Madeleine McCann. Have You Seen This Little Girl?
 
Under identical pictures, each poster carries the same script: "Madeleine McCann was abducted in Praia da Luz, Portugal on Friday 3rd May 2007.
 
"If you see Madeleine McCann please don't hesitate, contact the local police force immediately.
 
Alternatively, call +44 (0)845 838 4699 or visit findmadeleine.com. Thank you. All information will be dealt with confidentially and can be given anonymously."
 
New T-shirts became available yesterday which also carry a picture of Madeleine and the "Don't Give Up On Me" message.
 
In a previous message on the findmadeleine website Kate and Gerry wrote:"It is vital that we never, ever give up on Madeleine. Can you imagine a little girl or boy out there, hoping and waiting to be found but for people then to 'write them off', forget about them, just because there's been no 'news'? For that child never to be reunited with their family because everyone had given up on them? Just imagine.
 
"And so, we will never, ever give up. We urge you to remember Madeleine as a real, living and findable little girl."
 
Last night, Kate and Gerry were still deciding whether to spend tomorrow - the May 3 anniversary - at their home or stay with friends to avoid a media circus.
 
Next Thursday, a special Channel 4 documentary, Madeleine Was Here, will show a reconstruction based on witness accounts of what happened the night Madeleine vanished Made with the co-operation of the McCanns and and their friends, it will also show Gerry returning to the Portugal holiday apartment for the first time since her disappearance.
 
TWO YEARS OF AGONY
 
May 3 2007: Madeleine McCann goes missing in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
 
May 5 2007: Portuguese police reveal they believe Madeleine was abducted but is still alive and in Portugal.
 
May 7 2007: Kate makes a desperate appeal to Madeleine's kidnapper.
 
May 12 2007: Madeleine's fourth birthday.
 
May 30 2007: Kate and Gerry meet the Pope at the Vatican. He blesses a photo of Madeleine.
 
August 11 2007: Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly acknowledge for the first time that the little girl could be dead.
 
Sept 7 2007: Kate and Gerry are made official arguidos - suspects - in the case.
 
Sept 9 2007: They fly back to England with the twins.
 
July 21 2008: Their status as suspects is finally lifted by the Portuguese police.
 
Jan 14 2009: Gerry McCann flies back to the holiday apartment alone for the first time since returning to the UK.
 
Today: The McCanns set appear on Oprah in the US on Monday to highlight the continuing search for Madeleine after her disappearance two years ago tomorrow.

Madeleine McCann new pictire: It's a good likeness - but too American says expert, 02 May 2009
Spelling mistake in Daily Mirror article
No marks for spelling!

Madeleine McCann new pictire: It's a good likeness - but too American says expert Daily Mirror 
 
By Dr Chris Solomon
Head of forensic imagery at University of Kent and boss of Vision Metric
2/05/2009
 
We use age-progression pictures in missing persons inquiries in the UK but there are certain ages which can be difficult to predict.
 
Fortunately, Madeleine was three - and no younger - which makes it easier to generate how she may look aged six years old.
 
The process by which children's faces develop is reasonably predictable. You can imagine what happens to a face from three to six years and even introduce characteristics from their parents' faces.
 
But the difficult factor is lifestyle.
 
Diet, nutrition, environmental factors such as exposure to sunlight, and even stress all have an influence more or less impossible to predict.
 
But this is a good quality image from a respected organisation and it has a reasonable likeness to the original pictures of her.
 
They have, however, Americanised Madeleine with the hair and clothing and those factors are almost entirely down to the artist's imagination - and whether that is helpful is hard to say.

Maddie... 2 years on, 02 May 2009
Maddie... 2 years on Daily Star

'THEORY: Cop Amaral'

Agony as new picture is unveiled
 
By Jerry Lawton
Saturday, May 2, 2009
 
A picture of how Madeleine McCann could look now has been released two years after her disappearance.
 
The missing girl's parents released the computer-generated image in a desperate race against time to find her before search funds dry up.
 
The picture, which shows Maddie with longer, darker hair and a slimmer face.
 
The image will be used across the globe in a campaign with posters headed: "Don't give up on me."
 
It was drawn up using snaps of Maddie and of her parents at around the same age as a guide.
 
Emotional
 
Her 40-year old father Gerry's features can clearly be seen in the image.
 
According to Auriole Prince, a British forensic artist who trained with the FBI, the age progression method is not an exact science but an "educated guess".
 
She said: "It is a cross between art and science. You are tying to create an impression of what you thing that person will look like today.

"It's a little like piecing together a puzzle. You start with a photograph of the missing person, use reference photographs of their parents and siblings and try to create an accurate, new image." Maddie was almost four years old when she went missing from Praia da Luz, Portugal, and would be six on May 12.
 
Miss Prince said hers was an important age, adding: "You start to lose that baby look. Everything will be moved on a stage – the bone structure the nose, the jaw line." Madeleine's parents Kate, 41, and Gerry revealed the picture in an emotional interview with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey.
 
Kate broke down when she saw the snap, admitting she did not recognise the face.
 
The McCanns see the photo as "vitally important in the search for Madeleine" as the public donations to help find her will run out in months.
 
The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "They felt it was important to get the best mage possible of what they and the experts in America think Madeleine looks like at six".
 
Meanwhile, the police officer who led the hunt for Maddie remains convinced she is dead.
 
In his book The Truth Of The Lie, ex-detective Goncalo Amaral, 48, alleges that Maddie died in an accident and her body was hidden.

Missing Madeleine, 04 May 2009
Missing Madeleine Oprah.com

Maddie with Sean and Amelie

04 May 2009
 
It was the story that captured the world and terrified parents across the globe—two years ago, 3-year-old Madeleine McCann seemed to vanish into thin air. The McCann family, including parents Gerry and Kate and 2-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, were on vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The McCanns were traveling with three other families, and some nights the parents would put their children to bed and meet for dinner at the resort's tapas restaurant, less than 100 yards away from their rooms. The adults took turns checking on their children every half hour. On the fifth night, Kate went to check on her children, only to discover Madeleine was missing.
 
The day after Madeleine's disappearance, the McCanns held their first press conference. It was the beginning of what would become an international media sensation. After four months of searching turned up nothing, the McCanns were named as suspects, or, as the Portuguese call it, "arguidos."
 
Once the McCanns came under suspicion, they decided to leave Portugal and return to their home north of England. "It's heartbreaking to return to the UK without Madeleine," Gerry told the press. "It does not mean we're giving up our search for her. Despite there being so much we wish to say, we are unable to do so except to say that we have played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter Madeleine."
 
In July 2008, the McCanns were officially cleared as suspects.
 
It's been two years since Madeleine disappeared, and the McCanns are joining Oprah for their first interview in the United States. Though a good amount of time has passed, Kate says their search is as determined as ever. "We're still going, and we're working really hard," she says. "We have our better days and our not-so-good days, but we're persevering and we're pressing on."
 
 
Anniversaries aren't necessarily harder, Kate says, but they are a reminder of just how much they've missed. "I can't believe it's been two years since I've seen Madeleine—that she's had two years without being with her family where she should be," she says.
 
 
Despite the amount of time since they last saw their daughter, the McCanns say they believe Madeleine is still alive. "There's absolutely no reason to believe that she's not alive," Gerry says. "I think that's the key thing."
 
Kate says mother's intuition is telling her that her daughter is out there. "I do feel that the connection is there," she says. "Now whether that's just because I'm her mother and there will always be that bond, I don't know. But I don't feel that she's that far away."
 
When your daughter is missing, it's not only major questions that you worry about, Kate says. "It's [little] things you worry about as well. Is someone brushing her teeth? Is someone rubbing her tummy if she's not feeling well? It's all those things you do as a mother," she says.
 
There are times when her mind wanders to the worst-case scenario, but Kate says she's learned to cope with that as well. "I think it's natural. I know people mean well when they say, 'Don't let yourself go there,' and it's not going to help," she says. "But as a mom, inevitably there are times when I do. Those are the times that I dip down."
 
The McCanns have been through a terrible ordeal over the past two years, but they say nothing can be worse than the early days after Madeleine's disappearance. "I think almost everyone knows that feeling of terror if you're a parent and you've got a child in the supermarket and you momentarily lose them," Gerry says. "It's something that no parent should have to go through. … It's just the most devastating, horrible sensation. Fear for your child and your whole existence.You family existence."
 
The McCanns have been vilified worldwide for leaving their children alone while they had dinner with friends. Looking back, they both regret the wrong decision. "I could persecute myself every day about that, and I feel awful that we weren't there at that minute," Kate says.
 
Gerry says his biggest complaint about the media's negative attention is that it takes the focus away from what's really important. "There's an abductor out there, and that person stole our child. He went into an apartment and took a child, and he's anonymous and blameless," he says.
 
Gerry says he left dinner at 9 p.m. on the night of Madeleine's disappearance to check on his children. Usually, the parents just checked for crying, Gerry says, but that evening he noticed the door to the bedroom that his three kids shared was open more than the tiny bit he'd left it. "So I actually stepped into the room, and the twins were sound asleep and Madeleine was lying in her bed exactly where she was when I left," he says.
 
After leaving the apartment, Gerry says he ran into another hotel guest, whom he stopped to talk to. "During that time, [a friend from dinner] went to check on her children, and it was at that point—she was just past us—she saw a man carrying a young girl," he says. "She saw me there—she'd seen that I'd just been in the apartment—so at the time she thought it was something off, but it didn't raise enough alarm bells to challenge the person with anything."
 
The McCanns believe that the man their friend saw was carrying Madeleine. "[Our friend] described independently the pajamas that Madeleine had on, [but] she didn't see the child's face," he says.
 
When it came time for the 9:30 p.m. check, Kate says both she and their friend Matt got up to check on the kids. Matt's apartment was next to the McCanns', so Kate says he offered to check on Madeleine and the twins. "He went to check at half [past] nine, came back and said, 'Fine, everything's fine.'" Kate says Matt didn't actually see Madeleine—he only listened for crying.
 
At 10 p.m., Kate says she went into the apartment and didn't hear any crying. However, she did notice, like Gerry did, that the door was open wider than usual. "I thought, 'Matt must have gone in and left the door open, so I'll just close it again.' As I went to close it, it slammed shut like a draft had caused it to shut," she says. "So then I opened the door thinking, 'I'll open it ajar a bit again,' and that was when I looked into the room, and it was quite dark. I was looking and looking at Madeleine's bed, and I was thinking, 'Is that her?'"
 
Kate went into the room and saw that Madeleine wasn't in her bed. "Then I thought, 'Maybe she's wandered to our bed and that's why the door is open,'" she says. "So I went through to our bedroom, and she wasn't there, and then I'm kind of starting to panic." Kate says she ran back into the children's room, and at that moment the curtains flew open and she saw that the shutter was open. "That was when I knew that someone had taken her," she says. "It was obvious, because a child could not open those shutters."
 
When the McCanns realized Madeleine was missing, they involved the media almost immediately. "After a few hours, our friends were saying, 'Contact the media,'" Gerry says. "The Portuguese police were saying, 'No, no media,' but we were desperate at that point."
 
Kate says they involved the media because they didn't know what else to do. "The feeling was absolute helplessness," she says. "You're absolutely desperate. I mean, this is our daughter who we love beyond words, and every second is like hours. Nothing can happen quick enough."
 
Four days after Madeleine's disappearance, the McCanns held another press conference pleading for their daughter's safe return. Kate remained calm as she spoke, but the tabloids would use her appearance against her, saying her lack of emotion implied guilt. "I'd spent 72 hours crying, and you suddenly almost feel a little bit numb," Kate says.
 
She'd also spoken with a behavioral expert who'd given specific advice on how to act at the press conference, Kate says. "They said, 'It's quite important that you don't show any emotion, because the abductor could get some kind of adverse kick out of it,'" she says. "When you get the feeling that if you do [something] it could be detrimental in some way to your daughter, there's a huge pressure on you to do well."
 
Though it may have done more harm than good, Kate says she doesn't regret taking the behavioral expert's advice. "It was advice given with the best intention," she says.
 
Though the McCanns had already been through a lot, another tough blow came four months into the search when they were named as suspects in Madeleine's disappearance. "It was incredibly upsetting because, just when you think things can't get any worse. It made me very angry. It suddenly dawned on me that they weren't looking for Madeleine and they weren't looking for the abductor," Kate says. "When that happened and I got angry, I just felt stronger. I just thought, 'I'm going to fight to the death for Madeleine.'"
 
On top of being named suspects, the McCanns became the subject of tabloid rumors accusing them of drugging Madeleine or giving her sedatives that caused her death. "It's just nonsense," Gerry says. "People can have their theories, and that's all it is. There's no evidence to support any of that. It's absolutely ludicrous."
 
When a couple loses a child, the marriage often suffers. The McCanns say that despite the hard times they've been through, they are still very much together. "Child abduction could destroy any family—there's no doubt about it," Gerry says. "But we've been supported tremendously well, and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together. And obviously we're really united in our goal and our love of Madeleine, and Sean and Amelie."
 
The McCanns say they get much of their strength from Sean and Amelie, who are now older than Madeleine was when she disappeared. " Those days when things are really bad and you just want to crawl under a rock and say, 'Make it all go away,' Sean and Amelie will come out with something like 'When Madeleine comes back, I'm going to give her this,'" Gerry says. "They talk about her all the time; she's a big part of their life. And you just think, if Madeleine walks through that door today, for Sean and Amelie it will feel like she'd never been away."
 
 
Kate says that despite Madeleine's disappearance, she tries her hardest not to be too overprotective. "They have to live," she says. "They have to experience life. There are times when you have to let go, for their development."
 
They've been fighting for Madeleine for two years, but the McCanns say they still don't think they've come close to finding their daughter. "It's hard because you almost don't want to let yourself go there," Gerry says. "Until we have some sort of evidence—a photograph or something—then I think we wouldn't really allow ourselves to think, 'This is it.'"
 
No law enforcement agency is currently looking for Madeleine, but the McCanns say their search is still active. "Other people might think, 'They're deluded,' but it has happened, like Elizabeth Smart," he says. "There's two ways I think Madeleine will be found—the age progression picture [or] we'll identify the abductor."
 
Kate says she's convinced somebody out there knows something. "At the end of the day, this man is known to somebody, you know? He's someone's son, someone's brother, someone's cousin, someone's neighbor, someone's colleague," she says. "Even if these people don't know that he definitely did it, they might have a suspicion. And if you know somebody really well, you don't want to think that he could be linked to something like this. … It's just reaching out to them and saying, 'Please come forward.'"
 
The McCanns have worked tirelessly to get their daughter back, but Kate says she will never feel like they've done everything. "I don't think any parent could," she says.
 
Gerry says he and Kate now believe that someone had been watching their family for days before Madeleine was taken. He says he wants to tell that person that he can still make it right. "It's not too late to do the right thing. They can give her up. They can tell us where she is. They can hand her over to a priest or someone in authority."
 
Madeleine needs to be with her family, Kate says. "She's got a little brother and sister who want her back in their life. If you don't want to think about Gerry and I, think about Sean and Amelie. Bring their sister back."
 
In the past two years, the McCanns have made efforts to get their lives back to normal as much as possible. Six months after Madeleine's disappearance, Gerry returned to work. "I felt it was important that the twins had normality back in their life, and I think, almost for selfish reasons, I needed to be thinking about something else."
 
Gerry has returned to Portugal twice since 2007. "It was difficult, but I feel nothing against Praia da Luz, because child abductions happen all over the world," he says. "It's the perpetrator, rather than the apartment or the resort or Portugal."
 
If you have any information about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, go to FindMadeleine.com

The Oprah Show - Life Without Madeleine (3 clips), 04 May 2009

Life Without Madeleine The Oprah Show
 
The show will be broadcast in the UK on Diva TV, Tuesday 05 May 2009, at 8:00pm. Sky channel 269 & Virgin channel 164.

"The window was pushed right open", 04 May 2009
"The window was pushed right open" The Oprah Show
 
Kate McCann: "The curtains, that were drawn over, just... phwoooshh, flew open and that's when I saw that the shutter was right up and the window was pushed right open."
 
*
 
Comment: Would an abductor, who had somehow managed to squeeze himself through a small window - whilst struggling to carry the dead-weight of Madeleine in his arms - really stop and lean back through the window to close the curtains behind him? Leaving not one trace of evidence?
 
In fact, the only fingerprint found on the window that "was pushed right open" belonged to Kate McCann herself. So, is Kate, unwittingly, showing us how she opened the window? Because what is peculiar in Kate's motion -when imitating the opening of the window - is that her hand suddenly clenches into a fist, as if she doesn't want to mimic the action exactly.

Oprah: My Heart Broke For Madeleine's Family, 04 May 2009
Oprah: My Heart Broke For Madeleine's Family Sky News
 
6:27pm UK, Monday May 04, 2009
 
Oprah Winfrey has described how her "heart broke" when she heard Kate and Gerry McCann talk about life since their daughter's disappearance.
 
The couple appeared on the US chat show to talk about their hunt for Madeleine, who went missing from their holiday appartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
 
After filming the interview, Ms Winfrey told her 815,000 followers on Twitter it was a "must watch".
 
She added: "My heart broke for them."
 
The show was screened in the US, just one day after the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.
 
Since she vanished on May 3, 2007, the McCanns have made every effort to keep the case in the public eye, in the hope she might yet be found.
 
The couple, who believe there is a "very real likelihood" the youngster is still alive, hope the interview with Oprah might prompt someone with information to come forward.
 
When asked if they ever think the worst, Mrs McCann replied: "I think it's natural.
 
"I know people mean well when they say don't let yourself go there, but as a mum, inevitably there are times when I do. And they're the times that I kind of dip down."
 
Questioned about their marriage, Mr McCann said: "Child abduction, I think, could destroy any family. There's no doubt about it.
 
"It's one of the most devastating things. But we've been supported tremendously well and I think that's helped us stay strong and stay together."
 
The McCanns have released a photographic impression of how Madeleine may look now, if still alive. She would be approaching her sixth birthday.
 
British detectives have examined 30,000 documents released by Portuguese police about their investigation, which was shelved last summer.
 
Among their damning conclusions are that officers in the case failed to seal off the crime scene, losing crucial forensic evidence, and that they bungled searches.
 
The McCanns, both doctors from Rothley in Leicestershire, spent Sunday in private, away from the family home. They have two other children, twins.
 
:: Sky TV viewers can watch the McCanns on the Oprah Winfrey Show on Diva TV on Tuesday, May 5 at 8pm.

CNN Larry King Live, 04 May 2009
CNN Larry King Live CNN.com
 
Aired May 4, 2009 - 21:00   ET
 
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
 
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
 
KING: Madeline McCann, you'll remember, is the little English girl who went missing in Portugal two years ago and she is back in the news, because today an age progression photo was released of what Madeline could look like today if she is still alive. There you see her on the right. Madeline's sixth birthday is in a few days.
 
Joining us from London is Clarence Mitchell, spokesperson for Kate and Jerry McCann, the parents of Madeline. Do they, Clarence, hold out much hope for this picture working?
 
CLARENCE MITCHELL, SPOKESMAN FOR MCCANN FAMILY: Larry, good to be with you. Yes, they do, very much. This picture has been done by experts in forensic imaging at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia. And they believe and Kate and Jerry believe it is the best guess, if you like, of what Madeline looks like now. And Kate and Jerry really want people to focus on the new image and look out for that little girl, rather than the younger image, which has become famous over the past years. They're very hopeful.
 
KING: The parents were guests on "Oprah" today and Kate McCann recalled the terrible moment she realized her daughter was missing. Watch.
 
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
 
KATE MCCANN, MOTHER OF KIDNAPPED CHILD: And I just looked, and it was quite dark. And I was just looking and looking at Madeline's bed. And I was thinking, is that her? I was looking for -- why isn't Madeline there?
 
So I went through to our bedroom and she wasn't there. And then I kind of -- see that, I'm starting to panic a bit. And I ran back into their room, and literally as I went back into the room, the curtains that were drawn over just flew open. And that's when I saw that the shutter was right open. The window was pushed right open. And that was when I just knew that someone had taken her. (END VIDEO CLIP)
 
KING: Clarence, for a long time, the press blamed the parents. When did that go away?
 
MITCHELL: Well, it took a long time to go away. We had to correct some fundamental misconceptions, misunderstandings, and frankly, down right lies that appeared in the press in Portugal. When Kate and Jerry were made suspects in the inquiry by the Portuguese police, that, too, took several months to deal with, to get the message of their innocence out there. And that was ultimately accepted by the authorities in Portugal. There is no evidence to suggest that they're involved. They weren't involved. That's why.
 
The aguido (ph) status as it was called, was lifted last year. And since then, Kate and Jerry have been going through the police files with private detectives, former British detectives here in Britain, looking for new evidence, new material. And along with the "Oprah" interview, the new picture, we have also done a new reconstruction in Portugal, which will be shown on British television in coming days.
 
KING: The Portuguese police have closed the case, right?
 
MITCHELL: They have. They shelved it. They say that they won't reopen it unless significant new evidence comes to light. And so far the only people now looking for Madeline, I'm afraid to say, are Kate and Jerry themselves, with their own private investigation.
 
KING: Well, we're seen worldwide. We hope that the picture helps. By the way, before we leave you, here's another clip of the parents on the "Oprah" show, sending a plea to the abductor. Watch.
 
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
 
JERRY MCCANN, FATHER OF KIDNAPPED DAUGHTER: Not too late to do the right thing. You know? They can give her up. They can tell us where she is. They can hand her over to a priest or someone in authority. They can do the right thing.
 
K. MCCANN: Madeline should be with us. Madeline with the family. She has a little brother and sister who want her back in their life. And, please, you know, if you don't want to think about Jerry and I, think about Sean and Adlai (ph) Bring their big sister back. You know?
 
(END VIDEO CLIP)
 
KING: What a tragedy. We thank Clarence Mitchell for joining us from London.

Kate critics quiet at last, 05 May 2009
Kate critics quiet at last The Sun (appears in paper edition only)
 
By Fergus Shanahan
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
 
TWO years on, the tide seems to have turned at last for Kate McCann.
 
It really does seem to be sinking in to even her most vicious critics that she played no part in Maddie's disappearance.
 
You only had to watch Kate on America's Oprah Winfrey Show to see how utterly destroyed she is.
 
At least half the country spent several weeks thinking she was up there with Myra Hindley and Rose West. I got a lot of outraged emails when I stood up for her from the start.
 
But I bet you this. As the foreign holiday season gets under way (for those who can still afford it), how many parents will nip down to the bar for five minutes leaving their kids asleep in their room, thinking "How can anything happen to them in the middle of a big, well-run place like this?"

Why does the PJ let someone speak for them?, 06 May 2009
Why does the PJ let someone speak for them? Destak

Isabel Stilwell

by Isabel Stilwell
06 | 05 | 2009   08h34
Thanks to Astro for translation
 
Yesterday in the early hours I saw, on SIC, the interview that Oprah did with the McCann couple. I felt that by doing that broadcast, that television station was, for the first time in a long time, rebalancing the scales.
 
Over the last few months, part of the media seems to be completely conditioned by the theory that the parents murdered their daughter and simulated an abduction, no matter how absurd that is. Apart from a complete lack of evidence, what would lead someone who, according to this theory, committed the perfect crime, to keep calling attention upon themselves?
 
Even presuming that they are people without scruples, compulsive liars and other epithets that they have been called, without those who accuse them being able to sustain the accusations, we have to agree that even for criminals that would be taking things too far.
 
But beyond the anguish that any mother or father feels just by imagining themselves in a similar situation, that which continues to cause me the most perplexity is why so many people seem to prefer to believe that the parents are guilty, the most sick possibility of them all, especially after the most expensive investigation that was ever made in Portugal failed to point anything whatsoever against any of them, even forcing to lift the arguido status and to archive the case?
 
And no, please don't mention again the serious mistake of leaving the children alone, which they have punished themselves over and over again, because it doesn't equal making someone into a murderer, and certainly doesn't deserve this kind of punishment.
 
There are only two explanations. The first one comes from sociologists and is called the Fair World Syndrome, which results from us finding it unbearable to believe that bad things can happen to good people. In other words, we prefer to abandon the victim, in the belief that she got what she deserved. Which means that us, who don't leave our children alone, can sleep in peace and not think about it any further.
 
The second one is related to the role that former PJ investigator Gonçalo Amaral has been playing. It sincerely shocks me that both the Republic's prosecutor and the PJ director keep their silence, while a former officer, who was removed from the case, makes absolute accusations, almost as if he was the Portuguese police's spokesman.
 
Why and until when?

The Maddie Case, 06 May 2009
The Maddie Case Correio da Manhã

Domingos Amaral

by Domingos Amaral
06 May 2009 - 09h00
Thanks to Astro for translation
 
On Monday night, I watched the interview that the McCann couple gave to Oprah, which was broadcast by SIC. Two years after their daughter's disappearance, the couple continues its emotional crusade for abduction. Oprah did render them an excellent service, dropping a friendly tear, here and there. But she didn't ask them some of the questions that were justified.
 
She didn't ask Kate how she could leave her twins in a bedroom where her daughter had been "abducted" from, a bedroom with an open window, and left to call her friends that were more than one hundred metres away!
 
She didn't ask them why they didn't contact the police immediately, having taken more than one and a half hours to do so, despite the fact that a friend of the couple said that she had seen a man carrying a child just minutes earlier! She didn't ask them what they think of the Irish family that saw Maddie's father carrying a child that resembled her, at the same time when she was supposedly "abducted"! And, finally, she didn't ask them if they are friends of the English prime minister, Gordon Brown, and if he intervened directly in the case.
 
Therefore, it was easy for the McCann couple to transmit their image, an image of suffering but always committed to the miracle of their daughter's reappearance. Unfortunately, I don't think that's possible. I remain, since the first moments, included in the group of those who strongly suspect the parents, and who are convinced that they know that the child died inside the apartment.
 
I didn't generate this conviction lightly. I have read everything about the case, and I continue to fail in understanding how the Public Ministry decided to archive the case, despite so many indications pointing towards the McCann couple's guilt. It's regrettable that certain characters who may have helped the McCanns were not investigated, like the Anglican priest in Praia da Luz, Haynes Hubbard, and his wife Susan.
 
I sincerely believe that as Gerry McCann is a personal friend of the English prime minister, Gordon Brown, the latter used his power to help the couple and to place the PJ in a difficult position. There is no doubt that this was a political archiving, for the Portuguese Government to avoid a relationship crisis with the English Government. Once more, reviving a terrible historic habit, we bowed before the English. It is regrettable that it was so, and that with so many indications against them, the McCanns give interviews to Oprah instead of being tried in a Portuguese Court.

Madeleine McCann: Thirty New 'Sightings', 06 May 2009
Madeleine McCann: Thirty New 'Sightings' Sky News
 
Laura Bundock
4:43pm UK, Wednesday May 06, 2009
 
Private investigators are looking into thirty new reported sightings of Madeleine McCann.
 
The calls came after her parents appeared on Oprah Winfrey's talk show.
 
There have also been thousands of new hits on the Find Madeleine website.
 
The McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "All of the calls are being checked out and where there is a shred of hope they are being investigated."
 
Two former British detectives are now working for the campaign and will be handling the new information.
 
It's thought the potential sightings were made in North and South America as well as a handful in Europe.
 
Kate and Gerry flew to the States to publicise the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.
 
They also visited The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, where experts created a new image of Madeleine aged six.
 
It's hoped new leads could come from the recent calls, and the private detectives are looking closely at each reported sighting.
 
"Where something can be checked out and verified with a location, or a vehicle it will be, and those are the ones which will be followed through," Clarence Mitchell added.
 
It's now two years since Madeleine disappeared from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
 
Her parents have used the anniversary to draw more attention to their search.
 
They believe Madeleine is still alive and are hoping new witnesses will come forward.
 
A television reconstruction of events from the time of her disappearance, Cutting Edge: Madeleine Was Here, will be aired on Channel 4 tomorrow night.

Little sis wears Maddie's shoes, 07 May 2009
Little sis wears Maddie's shoes  The Sun
 
Published: 07 May 2009

MADDIE'S little sister Amelie is now wearing the lost child's clothes, Kate McCann reveals in tonight's TV show.

Amelie and her twin brother Sean are four.

She looks like Maddie and has the same lovely blonde hair, cheeky smile and confident manner.

Kate says: "Amelie's wearing Madeleine's shoes and she'll say, 'Well, these won't fit Madeleine now. So we'll have to get her a bigger pair when she gets home'."

The programme has a shot of Maddie's shoes on a mat after Amelie takes them off.

Kate is also shown crying on Monday's Oprah Winfrey show as she begs Maddie's abductor to return her.

Why must it take Kate's tears to sway doubters?, 09 May 2009
Why must it take Kate's tears to sway doubters? The Sun
 
Lorraine Kelly
Published: 09 May 2009 (appeared online 08 May 2009)
 
MORE than two years have passed since Kate McCann last cuddled her little girl or read her a bedtime story.
 
In that time she and her husband Gerry have been accused of killing their daughter and faced public condemnation for leaving their children alone the night Madeleine disappeared.
 
They have also been vilified for using publicity stunts to keep Maddie's name in the headlines.
 
Those who should have known better have taken cheap shots at these two heartbroken parents and there was even a sort of unseemly glee from certain quarters that the "posh" McCanns somehow got what they deserved.
 
Part of this was down to the way the McCanns, and especially Kate, managed to hold on to their emotions and didn't break down in front of the cameras in the days, weeks and months after their daughter's disappearance.
 
Kate was branded cold-hearted, when in fact this very private woman was in deep shock and having to force herself not to go completely to pieces as she had two other children to take care of.
 
She shed an ocean of tears in private and there can't be a single hour of a single day when she doesn't think of her missing child.
 
We can only imagine all her sleepless nights, wracked with grief, guilt and pain and tortured by thoughts of what could have happened to Maddie.
 
Clearly both Kate and Gerry have suffered the torments of hell, but why is there such a need for us to witness other people's suffering in order for us to feel that it rings true?
 
We all know there have been copious amounts of crocodile tears shed by seemingly bereft relatives making TV appeals who have subsequently been found guilty of doing away with the very person they were weeping and wailing about.
 
Remember vile Karen Matthews, who faked the kidnapping of her daughter Shannon and appeared on national news every night sobbing uncontrollably and begging for her "princess" to be returned.
 
She was jailed for eight years for her part in planning the kidnap with accomplice Michael Donovan in order to get their greedy hands on £50,000 reward money.
 
Shannon, then nine, was drugged then tethered by a noose around her neck to a beam in the loft of her abductor's squalid house for 24 days while the whole country prayed for her safe return.
 
Kate and Gerry even sent Shannon's scumbag of a mother a message of sympathy.
 
Can you imagine how they must have felt when it was exposed as a money-making scam inspired by a TV show and Maddie's disappearance?
 
Poor Kate finally did break down on the Oprah Winfrey show this week when she was shown a video of a computer reconstruction of how Maddie might possibly look today at the age of six. It is a haunting image and brings home just what those who love Maddie have lost during these past two years.
 
Some experts believe that if the little girl is still alive she might not remember much about her life before her abduction and won't even recall her real name. This just adds another layer of suffering for her parents.
 
When fingers were pointing at Kate and Gerry, and the inept Portuguese police even declared them suspects, the focus somehow shifted from the real guilty party, the person who abducted Maddie.
 
Somewhere out there is a predator who kidnaps children and so far has managed to evade justice — not altogether surprising when you look at the Keystone Kop level of buffoonery and incompetence displayed by the police in Praia da Luz.
 
Despite their best efforts, the McCanns are no closer to finding their daughter than they were on that night in May 2007, and the trail has now grown so very, very cold.
 
Hopes lie with trying to identify a mysterious "ugly" man lurking around the resort just before Maddie disappeared. But it could just be yet another false hope.
 
I have thought often of the McCanns in the past two years, especially if there was a missing child in the headlines.
 
It would be nothing short of a miracle if they were to be reunited with their daughter and the interview with Oprah and the sighting of this possible abductor must be the last throw of the dice.
 
It would be the happiest of all happy endings. But the more time that goes by, the less likely this fractured family will ever be whole again.

Why it's hard to warm to ice-cold McCanns, 10 May 2009
Why it's hard to warm to ice-cold McCanns Sunday World
 
My shock over Kate's admission
 
Amanda Brunker
10 May 2009
 
DID any of you see the McCanns on Oprah on Thursday night?
 
Two years on and isn't it amazing how we're still all glued to watching Gerry and Kate discuss the disappearance of their young daughter Maddie?
 
While I couldn't even begin to imagine their anguish, I couldn't help but be shocked at the size of their palatial home in Wales.
 
After all, these were a couple who left their three young children alone in a small apartment, while they went off to enjoy themselves for the evening at a bar down the road.
 
Surely a family of their obvious wealth could have afforded a nanny to help them out, or at the very least a babysitter for each of the evenings they went out and left the kids?
 
Chance
 
I've said it before, but what would have happened if they weren't both influential doctors? What if they were just working-class people who scraped up enough money for the holiday, couldn't afford a babysitter and just took a chance?
 
The McCanns have always seemed to me to be a little cold in their dealings with the world's media in their quest to find their daughter.
 
So I couldn't believe my ears when Oprah asked how they now treated their twins. "Are you afraid to let them out of your sight?" asked Oprah. I assumed, like everyone else, Kate would say, "Of course!"
 
But instead, Kate looked a bit distant for a moment before coming back with, "Eh, well... we have to let them live their lives. And we have to let them grow."
 
I nearly fell off the seat! Anyone who I've discussed the situation with before would agree that you'd have the other kids tied to you at all times.
 
Nightmare
 
Hopefully for the sake of Maddie's younger brother and sister, the mystery of her disappearance will be solved sooner rather than later.
 
Like in the case of Philip Cairns, whose remains Gardai were once again searching for this week in Dublin, I'm hoping for both families' sakes that these latest developments might put an end to their nightmares. No family deserves to continue with not knowing where their child may be.

"The McCanns are 'forced' to search for their daughter", 14 May 2009
"The McCanns are 'forced' to search for their daughter" O Crime (appears in paper edition only)

Paulo Sargento, 'O Crime', 14 May 2009
Paulo Sargento, 'O Crime', 14 May 2009

The interview with Oprah Winfrey, analysed by a forensic psychologist

Paulo Sargento looks at the McCanns with clinical attention. He understands the contradictions, he identifies the signs of pressure that they are subject to. Innocent or guilty, they can't escape from the machine that has taken over their lives.
 
Interview by Carlos Saraiva
14 May 2009
Thanks to Astro for translation
 
You have been suggesting that Kate McCann may commit suicide. What leads you to conclude this possibility?
 
I don't think she may commit suicide. I received the information, before last Christmas, that she tried to commit suicide and was admitted to a hospital in Leicester, although there was never any registration of entry.
 
But how did you find out? Is your source trustworthy?
 
Well, it's an English source, the same that on other occasions transmitted things that matched the truth.
 
Anyway, after all these months, she has been showing signs of some seclusion, inhibition and greater sadness. She used to jog and stopped doing that. And there's something that is rather interesting: people who are addicted to jogging, when they stop practising, they tend to grow fatter, not thinner, like in Kate's case. That would only be possible in one case: if the person was, in fact, very depressed. The other issue concerns the reports from the family itself, which are counterproductive, like in the Channel 4 documentary, where they try to make us believe that everything is normal in that family, with Gerry working and Kate looking after the children. The truth is that she was no longer seen taking the twins to school, or going out with them for a walk. And there were even rumours from Kate's mother that there were problems between the couple. This talk about Kate's depressive state is not mine, but rather from the friends and relatives themselves, who say that she is obsessed with the process and spends hours reading it. As a matter of fact, an English newspaper mentions that she has been repeating that she'd rather be in a coma than suffering in the way that she does. These kind of signs help to make the information more credible.
 
Would you say that she is psychologically ill?
 
I can't get into people's heads, but considering the context, considering what is known and considering Kate's speech itself, there is a strong possibility that she is suffering a serious emotional disarray.
 
Wasn't that inevitable, independently of what one thinks happened to Maddie?
 
She knows that the child is not coming back.
 
How?
 
The washing of Maddie's soft toy, on the 12th of July 2007, that Kate mentions in her own diary. It's very likely that it is the first expression of a mourning process, which can be compared with the fact that she apparently didn't recognise her daughter in the age progression portraits that she was shown on Oprah's show. In the first situation, at least in her own words, Kate doesn't admit that Maddie may return. And she alleges that the soft toy was very dirty and didn't hold her daughter's smell anymore, so she washed it. This may be interpreted in two ways: she either wants to conceal evidence or she is convinced that her daughter is not coming back. But I add yet another possibility that reunites both, which is, to hide the indication and not expecting the little girl to return. Of course the portrait is an artistic work and since then, new sightings started to appear. Kate is unable to project her daughter's growth, which helps us to understand this woman's grieving, regardless of her having had any participation in the events, or not.
 
Let's talk about the McCanns' interview with Oprah. From a psychological point of view, how do you evaluate the couple's behaviour?
 
Image sanctification at the highest level. Notice that even Kate's clothes were chosen for the occasion. Do you ever remember seeing her in a skirt?
 
Now that you mention it, I noticed the extremely thin legs...
 
Of course you did. She presents a different image, using a skirt for the first time, with a content that is more maternal, more familiar more adequate under the point of view of a 40-year-old woman who has a daughter that has been abducted. All-in-all, fitting better with what the North American middle class likes to watch on television. But you noticed her very thin legs. Well, people who regularly jog get muscled legs, but once they stop practising and continue eating, they fatten. Well, if one stops practising and is depressed, one loses the appetite and grows thin. Note that even people who are not technically trained, do notice these small details. When I mention the suicide issue, it's also a way of saying: watch this woman, because she needs help.
 
You were talking about the clothes that were chosen for the Oprah interview...
 
Yes, notice the almost tepid colour of the cardigan and the manner in which it matches the colour of Maddie's clothes that can be seen on the screen behind the McCanns. Totally studied. The replies are automatic, as if they had been dictated by an advisor.
 
The questions were also kind...
 
They were prepared. I believe that the couple was paid to go there. And they only went, previously knowing the questions. They wouldn't go any other way. Don't doubt that. As a matter of fact, they had been invited before, and they only went now because Gonçalo Amaral is translating his book into several languages and a reply was necessary. The questions were prepared and the replies were rehearsed. Just analyse the grammatical style that is used in the replies to Oprah and check the grammatical style that is used in Clarence Mitchell's press conferences. I'm sure you'll discover major similarities. And on certain blogs, you can see the same resemblance. This is called media manipulation.
 
What do you think about Kate's crying?
 
Her crying may be genuine. There is great pressure in the air.
 
But there's a change in this behaviour, throughout the process. Kate starts out by not crying and is severely criticised for that, as if she didn't feel pain, then there's a reactive phase against criticism, and she cries, and now, on this stage, which is America's most famous talk show, which is broadcast all over the world, she cries again. How do you evaluate this change?
 
Well, when we mourn, if we're not confronted with our loss on a daily basis, we cry increasingly less and reformulate increasingly more the destructive effects of that loss. But if we're confronted every single day, that is a huge pressure that ends up throwing us out of balance, and Kate on an emotional level, Kate is at the end.
 
In terms of worsening the depressive state, or mourning and returning back to normal?
 
In terms of worsening the depressive state, and, unfortunately for her, that will be at the core of the solution of this case, one of these days.
 
Do you think that when she "breaks", the case will be solved?
 
Yes. I think this is about a sacrificial dilemma. Imagine a scenario where there is, indeed, a terrible accident with Maddie. The girl is found dead and the parents face a dilemma: let's assume this, we call the police and confirm that this was an accident, but we’ll have to justify the other two children, why they were alone until that time. Especially because the couple wasn't aware of the fact that in Portugal they were not subject to the crime of exposure and abandonment (they would only be so in case of intent). They had been here for four days and it wasn't possible that they had had time to inform themselves. Apart from that, they weren't sober. This has to be said, considering the consumption of bottles during dinner. Therefore, they have to decide swiftly between concealing a reality, sacrificing one person for the benefit of their lives, their careers and the twins' lives. In a cost/benefit relationship, the choice of the greater good for the greatest number is often made by human beings. Although it may be merely an impulsive, not thought out choice, it forces for a pact to be kept, so it can result for a greater number of people.
 
And this, for me, is a likely vision of what happened that night. Please note that all of us, under more or less dramatic circumstances, are faced with these sacrificial dilemmas. It just happens that in this case, the sacrifice is too big, and if it was done in this manner, it is a crime.
 
I sometimes think that this case is on its way to becoming an unbearable enigma. I presume that you don't share this opinion, given the fact that you believe that some day, someone will "break"...
 
That will happen for sure, there are too many people involved in the matter and that is going to happen.
 
But you spoke about the possibility that the child died, and a possible flight forward...
 
...that is a possibility.
 
Admitting that everything was a terrible accident, is it possible that one could interiorise that nothing happened, that she is alive, despite being dead, that she will return, although that will never happen. Is it possible, the contradiction between what one did and what one wants to believe in?
 
Yes, if we're talking about people with psychotic features, which is not the case.
 
But could it be a case of social survival?
 
Precisely. That story of doing something and then believing one didn't do it, it's very complex. In some cases it's possible, but we can only tell for sure by evaluating people. I don't think that Gerry and Kate have the characteristics to create such a dissociation, whether psychotic or not, that at the moment they would confuse reality with a theory that they invented afterwards.
 
Who leads, from the psychological point of view? Is it Gerry?
 
He's dominating and controlling, there is no doubt about that, but he has a major problem: he's very impulsive. For example, I remember his reaction during an interview in Spain, when he was confronted with the possible death of his daughter. The man "freaked out". In an admirable manner, Kate managed to calm down not only Gerry, but the entire film crew. She's sitting in front of the cameras of a foreign channel, with 'difficult' questions. There are actors who are used to the media frenzy that wouldn't have behaved so well. She is the key, she has been controlling through a more feminine strategy, careful to keep the relationships of status quo, not of rupture. In that sense, Kate dominates. Therefore, any weakness from her part is revealing.
 
Now with this issue of her failing, we have been seeing a succession of silly acts: the entourage gives foolish replies, they make ridiculous sketches, they arrange for five persons to say that they saw a guy with pimples, well...
 
But that's the usual 'folklore'.
 
This only means that when she loses control, everything around her is a folklore to try to hide that there are problems. This has only one purpose, which is to keep people busy in the newspapers and in blogs, running over each other. And everyone has forgotten to talk about Maddie already. Unfortunately, nobody cares about Maddie.
 
This has reached another level. We should use an old scientific principle: for as long as we have a simple enough explanation to justify a certain piece of data, we shouldn't look for a complex one, because it may confuse us. And the situation of the child's death on location, with the subsequent concealing of the cadaver, is the most simple one that allows us to understand most of the data. Going out to search for an abductor without consistency or data, is silly.
 
Independently of the psychological frailty, momentary or not, admitting that there was the child's death, and in that case, a machination was put in place, we would be looking at two diabolical minds. It would take unusual mental strength to take this lie forward, wouldn't it?
 
I also think it's not only them. When it's about survival, we adopt traces that are as adaptive as possible towards that goal, even if it conflicts with the current social norm. It may not be morally accepted, but it's human. What I think is that they never imagined the media multiplication that this was going to suffer. They imagined that there would be some initial confusion, we were going to be seen as a paedophile country, they would rapidly become victims and things would stay that way. I'm going to mention one single detail: Gerry McCann went three months without writing in his blog. And during that period, almost nobody spoke about Maddie. I wrote in my blog that it was an attempt to extinguish a trademark, to extinguish a phenomenon. I'm not going to think that Gerry reacted to my message, but two days later he came to justify the silence, alleging that he had been working with the investigation team...
 
People ask: but if it was them, why do they continue searching?
 
I think they aren't searching for anything anymore, they are merely forced to keep up the media interest, they are "forced" to look for their daughter. Faced with external pressure, they have to do something, or definitely the spell will turn against the sorcerer and the whole thing falls apart. That's why I say that the couple are now subject to such pressure that it must cause them atrocious suffering, but they cannot escape anymore. This machine cannot stop anymore. And that is why, when Kate is more fragile, new things always appear.
 
*
 
The Advisor's 'Gaffe'
 
Clarence Mitchell, a former advisor to the English government, has been the controller of information in the "Maddie case".
 
The McCanns' advisor committed an unforgivable 'gaffe' during an interview with Sky News. When he is told that a certain criminologist defended that Maddie's abduction had probably taken place in an unplanned manner; that Maddie had wandered out of the house looking for her parents and a paedophile had passed by at the time and took her, Mitchell says an interesting thing: 'that didn't happen, that's ludicrous, Kate knows it, she knows that didn't happen'. Now, what can we conclude from this?
 
If she knows that didn't happen, does she know how it happened?
 
That's the first deduction. Why? We must admit that this theory dismantled another one, that of the open window and Kate's fingerprints on the window. This leads us to think that there is always a cat hiding with its tail sticking out, that is to say, a set of contradictions that lead me to freely consider that Kate has in fact a serious emotional disturbance and that she tried to commit suicide. Even more so, because parents in this kind of situation, who lose their children under serious circumstances, approximately 80% become depressed, and among those, an important part assumes characteristics of seriousness that lead them to try suicide, or even to commit suicide. Therefore, the interpretation is parsimonious although speculative, but it is not as far from context as one may think.
 
*
 
"Gonçalo Amaral was removed because he 'pressured' Kate"
 
"There were many people saying that Gerry McCann was to become a Secretary of State for Health in the English government. That might explain something, but one must also look at the close relationship with prime minister Gordon Brown's brother. There is no doubt that Gonçalo Amaral was not 'marked' on the day that he made that statement. Others said much worse. As a matter of fact, the aberration is how Dr Alípio Ribeiro keeps his post when he publicly assumes that the constitution of the McCanns as arguidos was precipitated. Gonçalo Amaral was removed because right on the first day, he started 'pressuring' Kate. And soon after, the ambassador arrived with a PJ top officer – I'm not going to say who that was – and nobody else is questioned on location. Gonçalo Amaral is 'marked' right away. The couple may have had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance, but they must be hiding something very important to justify this kind of interference."

John Gibson: Afterwords . . , 15 May 2009
John Gibson: Afterwords . .  The Scotsman
 
By JOHN GIBSON
Published Date: 15 May 2009
 
. . . The Maddie Marathon. It goes on and on. And on. After two years it does become a bit wearing. Kate McCann, who didn't spare the tears talking to Oprah, reportedly has said she's been in a coma. So are we, Kate.

With thanks to Nigel at McCann Files

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