BERLIN:
Gerry’s Blog:
4th June 2007 Busier day today with travel arrangements for Berlin and Amsterdam finalised. Leaving tomorrow night and coming back Thurs afternoon. It will be a very busy schedule similar to Madrid. On Thurs night there is a music festival in aid of Madeleine in nearby Lagos which we will be attending. Tonight, we were interviewed for Crimewatch which will be shown on BBC1 tomorrow night.
5th June 2007 Met with the Portuguese Police today. It is good to talk face to face especially with so much speculation in the media.[..]
Another busy programme tomorrow with TV, press, and politicians to see and then straight on to Amsterdam for more of the same. It all helps in the search for Madeleine.
(McCannfiles.com: Before leaving for northern Europe, the McCanns have a meeting with police detectives at the British Consulate in Portimão.
Sources said the Tuesday meeting was in line with similar briefings given by police in the past, but "within the bounds of Portuguese secrecy laws". The source added that "nothing new" was disclosed during the meeting.
British Consul Bill Henderson told The Portugal News that the Consulate served "as a facilitator" and was providing constant "consular assistance" to the McCanns.)
6th June 2007 Today seemed to go very well with huge interest in our search for Madeleine. There has also been a little bit of criticism in the German press about the amount of media coverage but this did not seem to diminish the level of interest. The German interviewers are a little more direct with their questions but I was still surprised by the question as to whether Kate and I may be involved in Madeleine's abduction! unquote
PAUL HARRIS
Last updated at 12:46 07 June 2007
[..]The McCanns flew into Berlin on Tuesday night in a private Hawker jet, lent to them by the owner on condition of anonymity.
They met British ambassador Sir Peter Torry and the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit before flying on to their next port of call - Amsterdam.
[..]
When asked what message they would give to Madeleine, there was a long silence before Mrs McCann said quietly: "She knows we love her."
unquote
McCanns defend tour around Europe BBC News 6 June 2007
The parents of Madeleine McCann have said their trip around Europe to raise awareness of their missing daughter is their way of taking positive action.[..]
Mr McCann was speaking in Berlin, where he and his wife Kate are seeking information about the four-year-old abducted in the Algarve 34 days ago.
The couple have already been to Rome to speak with the Pope about their daughter. [..] (in fact a 30 second public blessing, not a conversation of any king.)
Earlier Mr McCann said that the couple were sure Madeleine is still alive.
"There is an absence of evidence to the contrary," he said.
unquote
A German journalist asked this question during a press conference:
Sabina Mueller: Sabina Mueller, German radio. How do you deal with the fact that more and more people seem to be pointing the finger at you, saying the way you behave is not the way people would normally behave if their child is abducted; and they seem to imply that you might have something to do with it?
Kate McCann: (inaudible aside to Gerry) To be honest, I don't actually think that is the case. I think that's a very small minority of people that are criticising us. Errm... you know, the facts are out there; we were dining very close to the children and we were checking on them very, very regularly. Errm... you know, we are very responsible parents and we love our children so much and I think it's only a very few people that are actually, errm... criticising us.
Gerry McCann: I have never heard before that, errr... anyone considers us suspects in this and, errm... the Portuguese police certainly don't. And, errm... without going into too much detail, errr... about the circumstances, we were with a large group of people, errm... and, you know, there is absolutely no way Kate and I are involved in this abduction.(He then talks at some length about the non-functional state they were in and expert advice which resulted in this tour)
Their exit from Berlin is delayed when the Portugese police say they have received some information that they need to be consult the McCanns on. It means they arrive in Amsterdam 3 hours late (7.30 pm) and miss 2 TV programmes - Gerry later dismisses the information as being 'nothing of interest'.
David Brown in Praia da Luz and Thomas Catan in Madrid
June 7, 2007
Police searching for Madeleine McCann have told her parents that they have received a "credible call" from a man claiming to know what happened to their daughter following her abduction 36 days ago.
Kate and Gerry McCann were asked if they were prepared to speak to the man after he told police that he wanted to talk directly to Madeleine's parents.
Information provided by the anonymous man yesterday afternoon convinced British police officers, who are liaising with the Portuguese-led inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance, that it was necessary to inform the McCanns immediately and to ask them to speak to the caller.
[..]
The contingency plan involved the McCann's flying back to Britain where they were to be met by a specialist team of advisors to oversee their talks with the source. But when efforts to re-establish contact with the caller failed the McCanns were finally advised to proceed to Amsterdam as planned. They took off bound for Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport at 7.30pm, three hours later than planned.
unquote
Gerry found time to enter this in his blog on the 6th June:
We had to delay our onward flight to Amsterdam because of some information received by the police, which we needed to be consulted on. We diverted to the embassy in Berlin but it turned out to be nothing of interest. We unfortunately had to miss 2 TV programmes as we arrived in Amsterdam 3 hours late. unquote
AMSTERDAM
They then go straight on to Amsterdam where the couple lived in 2004[..] This will be the first time they have gone back and they expect it to be a highly emotional visit.
McCanns appeal to Dutch in search Gerry and Kate McCann held a press conference in Amsterdam on the final leg of a two-day trip in Europe raising awareness of Madeleine's disappearance. [..]
They then go straight on to Amsterdam where the couple lived in 2004, leaving when Madeleine was just a year old [..]
Friends in the Netherlands have been working behind the scenes since Madeleine was taken and 500 billboards bearing her face are being put together ahead of the trip.
Thursday 07 June 2007
McCanns giving a Press Conference in Amsterdam, 7 June 2007, five weeks to the day after they reported Madeleine missing:
1 minute 59 seconds: a quick confab with Clarence behind the pyjamas whilst Kate describes the garment.
2 minutes 40 seconds: a journalist asks the McCanns why they seem to be so in control of their emotions. Kate glares at the man.
Soon after that Clarence allows only two more questions.
3 minutes 49 seconds: to the question ‘is the main focus on Morocco, is that your hope?’
After the scheduled meetings, Gerry catches up with 'a friend of mine who was attending a medical conference in Amsterdam'. It is speculated that this was Matthew Oldfield (2nd from right) who is believed to have been attending the Euromedlab 2007 event in the city at that time. (McCannfiles.com)
They return to PdL in the early evening. Presumably with the private jet lent to them by someone who wishes to remain anonymous.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In short:
Tuesday 5th June - McCanns fly to Germany in private jet
Crimewatch is aired with the McCanns holding up a pair of pyjamas which are similar to those Madeleine is said to have worn.
A press report is worded to give the impression they had private talks with the Pope.
Wednesday 6th June - Press conferences and TV appearance in Berlin.
Their exit is delayed when the tiresome Portuguese police needs to consult them about a call they have received.
Gerry dismisses it as ‘nothing of interest’ in his blog. An golden opportunity for ‘anguish and despair’ of parents waiting for news totally missed.
Gerry’s unique logic dictates that absence of evidence is the same as evidence of absence.
A German journalist asks questions and at a later date a German psychologist publishes his analysis of the McCanns:
Thursday 7th June Having arrived in Amsterdam at 7.30 pm on Wednesday, the McCanns give a press conference where once again a journalist asks the wrong question.
Clarence Mitchell does not appear to have been present in Berlin. The publicity results in several sightings, one of which was promoted by the McCanns in 2008 to highlight the ‘incompetence’ of the PJ. ( see Stam sighting below)
A Dutch journalist asks an unwelcome question but at least Clarence is on hand to provide much needed behind the safety screen of the pyjamas.
Gerry meets with an ‘old friend’ - Matthew Oldfield: another of the Tapas 7 who said he only met them this holiday.
Stam Sighting:
Following on from the press conference on the 7th of June, a sighting is reported on the 13th of June to the Amsterdam police. This particular sighting was selected out of thousands by the McCanns for a publicity drive highlighting the ‘incompetence’ of the PJ.
05th August 2008
A little girl calling herself 'Maddie' and claiming to have been taken from her mother on holiday was seen in Amsterdam at the time Madeleine McCann disappeared, the case files show. [..]
Ms Stam was at the back of the shop when the young girl approached her and asked in English without an accent: "Do you know where my mummy is?"
The shop assistant answered that her mother was a little further back in the store but the child replied, "She is not my mummy," and added:
'She is a stranger, she took me from my mummy."
When Ms Stam asked the girl where she last saw her mother, she said: "They took me from my holiday."
The Dutchwoman went on: 'I asked where that holiday was but the little girl was incapable of telling me. [..]
The girl had dark brown hair in a ponytail, "huge" green-brown eyes and a pale face which showed "little or no emotion", she said.
Ms Stam said she thought the child looked "very much like" Madeleine apart from the colour of her hair.
unquote
PJ files: ApensosV, Vol I. File 01. Documents 55 to 66
The facts are:
The girl was seen on the 6th or the 8th of May.
Ms. Stam went to the police on the 13th June.
The child had brown hair and no coloboma.
The conversation with the child as reported is highly unlikely.
Reports - after checks by Dutch police - were sent to Portugal on the 17th or 18th June.
Considering that these people said they ran a small circus in France - tracing such a circus working in France in 2007 is not impossible one might think. But did the McCanns instruct their detectives to go to work on the best clues they’d had so far? Apparently not - it is never mentioned again.
Kate isn't wearing one of her own store's good quality wristbands, (don't think they were in production that early). The good quality wristbands were all yellow with green writing if the store photos are reliable. At the beginning of June Elf Security announced they were distributing 100,000 green & yellow wristbands to raise awareness of Madeleine's disappearance. Perhaps that's where Kate got hers?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12766695.100_000_green_and_yellow___wristbands_in__latest_move_to__apos_Find_Maddie_apos_/
Kate's book:
ReplyDelete"Wednesday 6 June. Today we left on our campaign visits to Berlin and Amsterdam. For this three-legged trip we'd been offered the use of a plane by one of the directors of Netjets, a company that sells fractional jet ownership (a bit like a holiday-home timeshare only with planes) which we'd accepted gratefully for the same reasons as we'd decided to accept Sir Philip Green's help to get us to Rome. Again a small press contingent travelled with us."
IMO she got her dates wrong because it seems they left around 5pm on 5th June.
Yes, you are right. However the Mail is the source for the anonymous benefactor who looked after the jet. One might think Branson? So it may have been a netjet paid for by someone else?
DeleteThe news that the Foreign Office wanted Clarence back now that their tour was ended ( see Morocco post) is most peculiar, the pre-war plane to fly to Morocco even more so.
I just find the private jets very strange, journalists also flew with them on those occasions (free one supposes) These are early days, consular help and surely FO help must have been given to arrange the mid-range government officials they were to meet. It's hardly a question of Gerry ringing up the town hall in Berlin and saying he'd like to give a press conference and meet the Mayor and Angela Merckel?