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Maddie
case – Press was manipulated in exchange for photoshoots
27 July
2008
The
McCann couple took four hours to outline their strategy,
went out for walks on request from the British photographers
and escaped the Portuguese
Kate and
Gerry McCann controlled the British media in the news
coverage of their daughter's disappearance. In order to
avoid criticism from the English press, Maddie's parents
offered photoshoots, some of them during their usual morning
walks in the Algarve – which were apparently routine, but
previously arranged, as Kate's notes reveal.
"The
British journalists were annoyed because they found out too
late that I had been in the United Kingdom. It ended up with
Justine receiving loads of phone calls and arranging for a
photoshoot on the way to the church, to pacify them", Kate
writes on the 5th of July, revealing a tactic that was
adopted in the first days after the 3-year-old girl
disappeared.
"Dress up
and go for a walk. It had been requested by photographers
and agreed that for sentimental reasons it would be good".
This walk happened on the 7th of June, three days after Kate
registered that she had been "annoyed" about the presence of
Portuguese journalists outside the apartment. Before that,
on the 19th of May, the photoshoot for the English newspaper
'Sunday Mirror' was previously arranged: "Us spending time
with the twins for the Sunday papers".
In the
same notes, Kate expresses distress about the Portuguese and
the German journalists. On the 11th of June, in Morocco,
after Kate made a positive evaluation of the trip because
there were so many photographers present, the doctor
remembers "noticing" Portuguese journalists. "We didn't want
to give them a story", decided the McCanns, who classify the
questions from the Portuguese as "sleazy and unexpected",
even after preparation meetings that last "four hours": "I
was very angry at a journalist today. I told her not to do
so much detective work."
Concerning the editor of the 'Sun' newspaper, on the 11th of
July Kate was assured that there would be no "adverse
publicity": "She was really nice. Perfect solution",
Maddie's mother noted.
Clarence
replaced Justine when the tension rose
Clarence
Mitchell was the first one to offer his face for the
McCanns. He met Gerry on an occasion when the latter was
returning from England, at the end of May 2007, at a time
when he was part of the Consular Assistance Group,
representing the Foreign Office. He took over the couple's
defence on the 22nd of May, but returned to England in the
mid-summer, when he was replaced by Justine McGuinness, who
directed the campaign to search for Madeleine from the 22nd
of June onwards.
The
tensions between the McCanns and Justine were never evident.
But the fact that she abandoned the couple's defence
immediately after they were made arguidos and returned to
England, remains unexplained.
Now, it
becomes clear that the tension came from before. Justine and
Gerry had already discussed the honoraries. The advisor
wanted to receive overtime and demanded a payment that was
above what had initially been agreed.
On the
28th of July, the tension between the family and the
spokeswoman was obvious. Kate wrote in her notes that she
[Justine] did not have good "interpersonal aptitudes" and
that she could even be very "unpleasant". Kate remembered
that there had been an argument between Justine and a
relative and that Gerry had tried to calm them down. "It all
ended well", Kate McCann concluded, but still seriously
doubted the advisor's character.
Journalists far away from the house
The
McCanns' first days in England were subject to intense media
attention. They allowed themselves to be photographed with
their children again, after they had agreed exclusives with
televisions and newspapers to cover the return.
Days
later, Clarence Mitchell opted for another strategy. He
agreed with the English journalists that those would never
persecute the McCanns again. In exchange, the couple's
spokesman would supply fortuitous meetings, and in case the
journalists would fail their compromise, he would exclude
them from his contact list.
Everyone
accepted. When in March CM [Correio da Manha] tried to speak
to the McCanns without going through Clarence Mitchell, we
were intercepted by the police. The couple demanded that
Portuguese journalists be forbidden from getting close to
their house, and their neighbours were advised not to speak.
Robert
Murat sues the McCann couple's friends
Robert
Murat, the first arguido in the case of the disappearance of
Madeleine McCann, is going to sue some of the McCann
couple's English friends.
According
to news in yesterday's edition of 'Sol' newspaper, the
Anglo-British citizen is going to advance with complaints
over the crimes of perjury and slanderous denunciations,
alleging that the English lied in the depositions that they
gave to the Polícia Judiciária with the purpose to
incriminate him.
Robert
Murat, who is going to receive hundreds of thousands of
euros in compensation from 11 British newspapers, was made
an arguido only 11 days after the little girl disappeared,
on the 14th of May 2007, after several friends of Kate and
Gerry McCann referred his presence in the Ocean Club
apartment on the fateful evening of the 3rd of May 2007, in
Praia da Luz.
Notes
Newspapers Gerry is brilliant – "Gerry was brilliant again",
Kate wrote in one of her usual accounts after the meetings
with journalists, during which it was her husband who did
the talking.
Maddie 14
months ago – Madeleine McCann disappeared 14 months ago from
the apartment where she was on holidays with her parents, in
the Algarve, on the evening of the 3rd of May 2007.
Investigation Case archived – The investigation started by
focusing on the abduction theory and then on the possibility
of an accidental death followed by the concealment of the
cadaver. The process ended up archived.
Tomorrow:
How Kate McCann lived the first day without Maddie
source:
Correio da Manhã, 27.07.2008, paper edition |
