BBC Radio Leicester (iPlayer)
14 August 2009
Pendiente de traducción
Transcript by Nigel Moore
Part 1: News at 8 o'clock (Part 1 from 57:47)
Eleanor Garnier: Good morning. Villagers in Rothley say they're sickened by leaflets handed out by an organisation claiming that Madeleine McCann was not abducted.
Vox Pop1: "Well, to be honest, I... I felt sick in the stomach this morning, you know, that we hav... we get these put through the door. It's... it's upsetting."
Vox Pop2: "Load of rubbish, I think. I don't believe it, any rate."
Vox Pop3: "Ooh, I think that's dangerous stuff."
Vox Pop4: "It's stirring up trouble, unduly."
Vox Pop5: "I've heard those rumours before; I discount them because I have no evidence."
EG: The Madeleine Foundation, which says it's distributing the leaflets nationally, has previously tried to bring child neglect charges against Kate and Gerry McCann. It has apologised for any offence but wants the case reopened.
*
Part 2: (Part 2 from 1:04:10)
Martin Ballard: More from Sharon in the next 20 minutes, along with the weather, and also coming up in a moments time the leaflets that are upsetting villagers in Rothley.
Vox Pop1: "Well, to be honest, I… I felt sick in the stomach this morning, you know, that we have to come in... into our local village, you know, we hav... we get these put through the door."
(...)
Martin Ballard: It's 8 minutes past 8. Next, this morning, a woman from Rothley is outraged that villagers have been petitioned by an organisation seeking to prove that Madeleine McCann died in her parent's holiday apartment - with the knowledge of her parents.
The Madeleine Foundation, set up by a retired solicitor from Harlow, in Essex, shortly after Madeleine's disappearance, has previously tried to bring child neglect charges against Kate and Gerry McCann.
BBC Radio Leicester was contacted by one of the many people in Rothley who were outraged by the allegations in the leaflets. Our reporter, Helen McCarthy, has been along to speak to Patricia Ball.
Patricia Ball: "I had a quick skim through it and it made... almost a shiver down my spine, if that's not too dramatic. But I didn't like it. There was a nasty feel about it."
Helen McCarthy: "Because it's such a sensitive subject for everybody living in the village; you've all been affected by it, I... I guess, haven't you?"
PB: "Yes, and, errr... there's still a candle on the green, so everytime you go into the centre of Rothley you pass the candle and it always reminds you of Madeleine and then you think of different times of the year, as well; birthdays; Christmas; must be terrible for them."
HM: "And what was your concern? Were you concerned in some way that... that they would have had a leaflet?"
PB: "Yes, well, we live so close to the McCanns that I thought there was a possibility but I was frightened that the... the McCanns would receive such a... a leaflet. Some people obviously... possibly agree with this, we don't know, but I should think the feeling mostly in... in Rothley and Mountsorrel that they... they feel very sorry for the McCanns and for this to start, and stir things up again, is not nice. It didn't make us feel good."
MB: Well, I've got a leaflet here in front of me, in the studio; a glossy A4 folded over. It basically gives 10 reasons why the group claim Madeleine was not abducted and directs people, who want to know more, towards their own website.
The organisation which published the leaflets is called 'The Madeleine Foundation'. Now, it sounds like an organisation in support of Madeleine's parents but it's an organisation pitched against the McCanns' claims of abduction; something which has confused a lot of people in the village, as Helen McCarthy found out, when she asked around.
Vox Pop1: "Well, to be honest, I… I felt sick in the stomach this morning, you know, that we have to come in... into our local village, you know, we hav... we get these put through the door. It's... it's upsetting. This is absolutely misleading because these supporters... I mean, I didn't know anything about the supporters of The Madeleine Foundation. You would have thought that was... that was... you know..."
HM: "(inaudible) by the family."
Vox Pop1: "Yes, that's right. So that's why we didn't understand and, you know, my colleague next door she was absolutely mortified this morning, you know, it's upsetting."
Vox Pop2: "Load of rubbish, I think. I don't believe it, any rate."
Vox Pop3: "Ooh, I think that's dangerous stuff. Don't you? I really do, I really do. I don't think I can believe that."
Vox Pop4: "It's stirring up trouble, unduly. It is very sad that we don't know the... the outcome though, isn't it?"
Vox Pop5: "I've not seen one. I've heard those rumours before; I discount them because I have no evidence and that's all I can really say. It's probably very disappointing to a lot of people, particularly the family themselves, but, errr... until something else comes up we'll... don't know the truth."
MB: Well, a spokesman for The Madeleine Foundation also spoke to us. They are a group with no links to the McCanns themselves and here's their chairman, Debbie Butler.
Debbie Butler: "We are not out to persecute the McCanns in any way at all; we just believe that she was not abducted. Errm... When you look at the facts it... it just doesn't seem to ring true. It... it... we... we want... really we would ideally like the case to be reopened and have every aspect looked at again."
HM: "Some people in the village have been upset by the leaflets. Errm... What do you have to say to them?
DB: "Well, errm... all I could really say to them, if... if anyone has been offended by the facts then all I can do is apologise, errm... we... we haven't, you know, gone out with leaflets to offend anybody at all. It was just out there putting this information and facts out to the general public, errm... in order for them to have the information."
MB: Well, the foundation did say they didn't deliver a lealfet to the McCanns' home because around a year ago they gave the McCanns a copy of a similar book they'd published. We have tried to contact the McCanns themselves, through their spokesperson, Clarence Mitchell, to get their view on these leaflets delivered so close to home but we've had no response, as yet. And that was Helen McCarthy with that report.
What really happened to Madeleine McCann? PDF File
10 key reasons which suggest that she was not abducted
Madeleine McCann was reported missing by her mother, Dr Kate McCann, at 10pm on Thursday 3rd May, 2007. Since then, Madeleine, who was then nearly four, has become the best-known 'missing child' in the world. The McCanns claimed she was abducted, by an abductor who has never been traced. They said they were wining and dining in a Tapas bar 100 yards away from where they had left their three young children in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, on the beautiful Algarve coast.
The Portuguese police believed the McCanns were involved in the disappearance of Madeleine. They were made official suspects on 7 September 2007 - and remained so until July 2008. Then, the Portuguese Attorney-General announced that there was insufficient evidence for any person to be charged in connection with Madeleine’s 'disappearance', though he added that there was evidence that Madeleine was dead. The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, who used to head the 40-strong British government public relations unit, claimed the McCanns had been 'cleared'.
In October 2007, the senior detective in charge of the investigation, Goncalo Amaral, was replaced, amidst claims of British government pressure. He was best known for solving another 'missing child' case - that of 8-year-old Joana Cipriano. Due to Amaral's detective work, her mother and uncle are behind bars for long periods for her murder. They covered up her murder, claiming she was abducted. He then wrote a book, 'The Truth About A Lie', demonstrating that the evidence showed that Madeleine had died in her parents’ apartment.
This leaflet gives 10 key reasons which suggest that Madeleine McCann was not abducted. There are a great many others. It is a shortened version of a 64-page booklet published in Britain in December 2008, titled: "What Really happened to Madeleine McCann? - 60 Reasons which suggest she was not abducted". Information on how to obtain this booklet is on the back of our leaflet.
Reason 1: Statistics show that the vast majority of young children reported abducted from their homes are already dead
Time after time, when young children die or are killed in their own homes, parents claim their child has really been abducted. The death may be from an accident, negligence, neglect or deliberate act. We can simply say: young children are almost never kidnapped from inside their own homes. The Portuguese police were bound to be suspicious of the parents' claims that Madeleine had been abducted. But these statistics, though very persuasive, do not prove anything. So let us look at nine other reasons which suggest that she was not abducted.
Reason 2: The world-renowned British sniffer dogs, Eddie and Keela, detected the scent of a corpse in 10 places which strongly suggested Madeleine died in the McCanns' holiday apartment
Here are the main facts about the findings of the two British springer spaniels, Eddie and Keela:
* they were trained by expert dog-handler Martin Grime and are internationally famed for being able to detect the presence of a corpse (Eddie) or blood (Keela)
* Grime said that Eddie had never ever given a 'false alert' in 200 previous outings
* Eddie alerts only to human cadaverine - the scent of a human corpse. This is usually only produced in a corpse when the body has been dead for over 2 hours
* Eddie alerted to the scent of a corpse in the following places: the living room, the McCanns' bedroom, the veranda and the garden of their holiday apartment, on two of Dr Kate McCann's clothes, on a T-shirt belonging to Madeleine or brother Sean, and on the pink soft toy, 'Cuddle Cat' (despite the fact that Dr Kate McCann had already washed Cuddle Cat at least once)
* Eddie also detected the smell of death in the McCanns' hired Renault Scenic car
* Keela found blood at some of the same locations
* Eddie and Keela were taken to many other apartments and cars in Praia da Luz, but did not alert anywhere else
* checks were made by the Portuguese police as to whether anyone else had died in the McCanns' apartment or in their car. No-one had
* a neighbour made a witness statement saying that for weeks she saw the McCanns' hired car with its boot open all night long.
The dogs' evidence was therefore very clear: a corpse had been in all those 10 locations, and it could only have been the corpse of Madeleine McCann.
Reason 3: The strange reactions of the McCanns when they became aware of the sniffer dogs' findings
The McCanns initially reacted by desperately inventing possible explanations for the dogs' findings. Family members claimed the death smell on Dr Kate McCann's clothes was due to having attended six corpses at work during the fortnight before her holiday. She even claimed that the death smell on 'Cuddle Cat' was because she took Madeleine's toy to work. Then they claimed the smell of death and body fluids found in the car could have come from 'rotting meat' and 'dirty nappies' in the boot. Finally, they fell back on claiming the dogs' findings were 'unreliable' and 'valueless'. These explanations were offered only to the media, not to the police.
Reason 4: The sheer impossibility of the abduction scenario
The McCanns have claimed that the abductor entered through an unlocked patio door, found Madeleine in the dark, then decided to open curtains, window and shutter of the children's bedroom and climb through a window 3 feet above the ground and barely 2 feet wide. He is supposed to have done this without waking any of the three children. According to the McCanns and their friends, he must have done this within the space of 2-3 minutes, in the dark, without being seen or heard, nor leaving any forensic traces like fingerprints, hair, fibres, skin fragments, shoe prints, or glove marks, nor any trace of abrasion marks on or around the window and window-sill. This scenario is so unlikely that we can simply say: this did not happen. When the window-frame was examined, only Dr Kate McCann's fingerprints were found on it.
Reason 5: The refusal of the McCanns and their friends to help the police
* in September 2007, the police asked Dr Kate McCann 48 questions about Madeleine's disappearance. She only answered this one: "Are you aware that in not answering the questions, you are jeopardising the investigation, which seeks to discover what happened to your daughter?" She answered: "Yes, if that's what the investigation thinks".
* the McCanns deleted mobile 'phone records, and refused to allow the Portuguese police to examine any of their medical or financial records including credit card records.
* the McCanns publicly offered to take a lie detector test, then changed their minds
* the McCanns and their 'Tapas 7' friends also refused to attend a proposed police reconstruction of the events the night Madeleine was reported missing. Yet they travelled to Portugal for a Channel 4 film which reconstructed their own version of what happened the night Madeleine was reported missing
* a Portuguese newspaper, Sol, tried to talk to one of the McCanns' friends, Dr David Payne, about what had happened. He refused to talk, saying: "This is our matter. We have a pact". He added that all requests for quotes and interviews must go through Dr Gerald McCann. Why would the group need to have what has been called a 'Pact of Silence' about the circumstances surrounding Madeleine's 'disappearance'?
Reason 6: Changes of story by the McCanns and their friends
There have been many changes of story by the McCanns and their friends, and many contradictions within their versions of events - far too many to list here. For example:
* initially, the McCanns claimed that an abductor forced entry to the apartment by 'jemmying open the shutters'. The police and Mark Warners' staff examined the shutters, proving this was untrue. The McCanns quickly changed their story to say the abductor must have come in via the open patio door and exited through a small bedroom window
* the description of an abductor by McCanns' friend Jane Tanner changed several times
* until very recently, the McCanns' website described a moustachioed man, over 6ft tall, as 'the probable abductor', when there was no evidence connecting this man, seen by a tourist days before Madeleine was reported missing, to the events the night Madeleine went missing. Further, he looks nothing like the 5' 7" man described by Jane Tanner.
Reason 7: The McCanns' rush to appoint lawyers and PR experts
Immediately Madeleine was reported missing, the McCanns appointed many lawyers and public relations experts to help them, including extradition lawyers. What use would lawyers and PR experts be in finding their daughter? Maybe the McCanns knew from the outset that they would need lawyers and PR folk to defend them?
Reason 8: The strange reactions of the McCanns and their friends after she claimed to have found Madeleine missing
What is one to make of these reactions of Dr Kate McCann on finding Madeleine missing and stating she noticed the shutter and window open?
* she searched the apartment 'for 10 minutes', despite on her own evidence the probability that she was not there
* she left the twins in her apartment whilst she ran to the 'Tapas Bar' to raise the alarm
* she failed to check on the twins' well-being. The first thought through most mothers' minds would have been whether they could also have been interfered with.
In addition:
* in the days after Madeleine went missing, the McCanns were apparently happy to leave the twins in the crèche whilst they courted the media. If they were genuinely distraught by losing one child, would they not stay protectively close to the two they had left?
* the McCanns admit they never physically searched for Madeleine
* despite the claim of Jane Tanner that she had seen a man walking with a child in a certain direction, the McCanns and their friends failed to organise a concerted search in along the route he might have taken.
Reason 9: Making long-term plans to mark Madeleine's alleged abduction - whilst claiming she was alive and could still be found
From the early days, the McCanns made plans for events to mark the day Madeleine went missing - a sign they didn't expect to find her:
* just a month after she 'disappeared', Dr Gerald McCann said: "We want a big event to raise awareness that she is still missing. It won't be a one-year anniversary, it will be sooner than that"
* then, on 28 June 2007, he said: "I have no doubt we will be able to sustain a high profile for Madeleine's disappearance in the long-term"
* the McCanns trade-marked the name 'Madeleine's Fund' and highlighted Madeleine's eye defect - the coloboma - boasting that her eye defect was 'a valuable marketing ploy'. This was against the advice of the Portuguese police. You can view where Dr Gerald McCann says this at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvdnzIGtf50
Why make long-term plans if Madeleine could be found at any time? Strangely, Madeleine's eye defect doesn't figure in 'Missing Person' descriptions of her on the Portuguese police or Interpol websites. In March 2009, before a Parliamentary Committee, Dr McCann claimed British media made Madeleine 'a commodity'. Yet just a fortnight after Madeleine went missing, he and his advisors set up a website, a private company to raise money (note: not a charity), and produced goods for sale.
Reason 10: Dr Kate McCann washing the toy 'Cuddle Cat'
The McCanns claimed Madeleine always took her favourite soft toy, 'Cuddle Cat', with her. They then said the abductor had handled 'Cuddle Cat', placing it on 'a high shelf or ledge'. The abductor could have left valuable forensic traces on the toy. So why did Dr Kate McCann decide to thoroughly wash it, something most mothers say they could never do to the soft toy of their missing child. Later, despite Dr Kate McCann washing Cuddle Cat, cadaver dog Eddie detected the smell of death on it. The smell of death remains on items long after they have been thoroughly cleaned.
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
If Madeleine McCann was not abducted, and died in the McCanns' apartment as the original senior detective in the case has very good reason to believe, then those that caused or allowed her death have - so far - got away with it. To read more about what really happened to Madeleine McCann, you can order our 64-page booklet: "What Really Happened to Madeleine McCann? - 60 reasons which suggest she was not abducted" from our website: www.madeleinefoundation.org or from the address below. Cost £3.00 including postage; please make out cheques to 'The Madeleine Foundation'. Or visit one of these websites which also have further information:
http://www.mccannfiles.com/
http://www.truthformadeleine.com/
http://www.the3arguidos.net/
To join our campaign for justice for Madeleine, contact The Madeleine Foundation at 66 Chippingfield, HARLOW, Essex, CM17 0DJ Tel: 01279 635789
email: ajsbennett@btinternet.com
website: http://www.madeleinefoundation.org/
* Published and printed by Supporters of The Madeleine Foundation, 1 May 2009
