A REVIEW OF ‘LOOKING FOR MADELEINE’, BY ANTHONY SUMMERS AND ROBBYN SWAN

by **sharonl** 06.09.14 10:01

A REVIEW OF ‘LOOKING FOR MADELEINE’, BY ANTHONY SUMMERS AND ROBBYN SWAN

by Amy Wright – 5 September 2014

http://whathappenedtomadeleinemccann.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/a-review-of-looking-for-madeleine-by_5.html

The purpose of this article is to give people advance warning of a heavily promoted book on the Madeleine McCann case, which will almost certainly be a ‘whitewash’ and fail to address the key issues in that case.

This Sunday (7 September), this important book about Madeleine McCann will be serialised in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun on Sunday. It’s called ‘Looking for Madeleine’, and is written by U.S. authors Anthony Summers (a former BBC journalist who worked on Panorama for a time) and his wife, Robbyn Swan. It will be released on Thursday 11 September. Its publishers, called ‘Headline’, make one of the most extravagant claims ever made for a book. They say that the book will be ‘the most definitive account possible’ of the Madeleine McCann case.

AUTHORS

The authors are perhaps best known for their previous book, ‘The Eleventh Hour’, which was supposedly an investigation into the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. Widely praised by establishment journalists, it has however been condemned as a ‘whitewash’ by the many people who have researched the 9/11 atrocity and found that the official version of events that day had many big holes in it.

Summers & Swan have chosen to publish their book on the 13^th anniversary of 9/11. Below is the publisher’s description of the book, in 13 sentences:

The 2007 disappearance of a three-year-old Madeleine McCann from her bed in Portugal proved an instant, worldwide sensation.
There's been nothing like it since America's Lindbergh kidnapping eighty years ago.
Award-winning authors Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan have produced the first independent, objective account of the case.
They have examined the released Portuguese files, conducted in-depth interviews and original research to answer the questions: What can we really know about this most emotive of cases? What can we learn from it?
The Portuguese police probe ran into a dead end.
Parents Gerry and Kate McCann, however, have never given up the search for Madeleine.
They blitzed the media, hired private detectives, kept the case in the public eye.
Speculation that the McCanns played a role in their daughter's fate, the authors demonstrate, is unfounded.
Scotland Yard's 'investigative review', ordered by the Prime Minister and begun in 2011, identified some 200 potential leads.
The Yard's suspects have included a mystery paedophile who preyed on other British children.
The Detective Chief Inspector heading the probe has said the little girl may still be alive.
The McCann family's private tragedy has touched millions around the world and aroused sometimes dark controversy.
Looking for Madeleine is the most definitive account possible.

‘UNFOUNDED’

At point 8, the publisher’s say that ‘speculation that the McCanns played a role in their daughter’s fate’ is unfounded’. If Summers and Swan are right about that, the following must be true:

that the two cadaver sniffer dogs brought to Portugal by top international dog handler Martin Grime, and who detected the past presence of a corpse, and of blood and body fluids, in 11 locations associated with the McCanns (in their holiday apartment, in their hired car, and on some of their clothes) made a total 16 false alerts, despite having been 100% successful on all their previous outings
that there is a reasonable explanation for the literally dozens of major contradictions and changes of story in the accounts given to the Portuguese Police by the McCanns and their friends
that an entire team of Portuguese detectives who made the McCanns formal suspects on 7 September 2007 and explained their reasons in a powerful interim report three days later were all wrong to suspect them.

Let’s just put it this way; Summers and Swan have a formidable task if they think they can successfully explain all the evidence which suggests that the McCanns were involved in their daughter’s disappearance, and have covered up what really happened to her. And there's lots more evidence against them, summarised concisely in the interim Portuguese Police report by Tavares de Almeida

RICHARD HALL FILM

Point 1 says that Madeleine was ‘snatched from her bed’. That claim has yet to be proved. And just a month ago, a brand new 4½-hour film made by Richard Hall, titled: ‘Buried by Mainstream Media: The True Story of Madeleine McCann. It’s available free on his website, or on YouTube, and shows very clearly that this claim by the McCanns cannot be substantiated. There is no evidence whatsoever that Madeleine McCann was abducted apart from the word of the McCanns themselves.

Here are the links if you want to watch it:

(on website) http://www.madeleinedocumentary.com

(on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIjPcvmVzUo

LINDBERGH

Summers and Swan’s publishers say there’s been nothing like the Madeleine McCann case since ‘the Lindbergh kidnapping’ 80 years ago. This was the case of the 20-month old son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, whom Lindbergh claimed was ‘kidnapped’. But most authors who have examined the case in detail concluded that the poor toddler, found months later having been beaten to death and buried, was not abducted, but was probably killed by their famous father or friends of his. It is a most unfortunate comparison for Summers and Swan to make. Perhaps they were unwise to do so.

DODGY DETECTIVES

The publishers give credit to the McCanns for ‘blitzing the media’ and ‘hiring private detectives’. ‘Blitzing the media’ is not necessarily a sign of innocence. Many a parent guilty of faking an abduction to cover the death of their child have sought to drown out questions by a media blitz.

As for the ‘private detectives’ hired by the McCanns, again Richard Hall’s 3^rd video exposes these private detectives for what they were - many of them outrights crooks, fraudsters and con-men none of whom had any experience in finding missing children. Unbelievably, no fewer than FOUR of the investigators used by the McCanns have been imprisoned in the last six years for various crimes - Francisco Marco, Antonio Giminez Raso, Julian Peribanez and Kevin Halligen. All the appalling details are in Richard Hall’s film. It’s most unlikely that Summers and Swan will tell you much about them, however.

THE SCOTLAND YARD SHOW

The publishers refer to Scotland Yard having followed up 200 ‘leads’. That sounds impressive. Indeed, DCI Andy Redwood, the man in charge of Operation Grange, has deluged us with a blizzard of statistics over the past three years: 60 suspects in view, 550 known sex offenders being traced, tens of thousands of pages of documents and mobile ’phone records read and analysed, dozens of visits to Portugal, and many more. We can expect to read much about all this in Summers and Swan’s book. But where has it got us? Is it all just for show?

The publishers dismiss the Portuguese Police’s investigation as ‘reaching a dead end’. If you read the book of the original investigation co-ordinator, Dr Goncalo Amaral, you’ll be able to see how the valuable work done by his team was effectively snuffed out by lack of co-operation and gross interference in his investigation by the British government and its security services, by the removal of Dr Amaral from the investigation, and by high-level consultations between the British and Portuguese governments. Little or none of this is likely to feature in Summers and Swans’ book.

JIM GAMBLE

So what will be in the book? We have been provided with a clue by a ten-minute news item on SkyNews this week. It featured an interview with former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Service, Jim Gamble, who has worked very closely with the McCanns over the past 7 years, and the two authors. They all said the same thing, namely that the reason no progress had been made in the British side of the investigation was because various agencies were ‘too eager to help’, ‘lacked co-ordination’ and ‘were confusing the Portuguese’.

RUPERT MURDOCH

The serialisation this Sunday is in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun on Sunday. The news clip this week featuring Jim Gamble was shown on Murdoch’s SkyNews. The very reason we have a Scotland Yard investigative review is because Murdoch’s Chief Executive Officer of his News International group, Rebekah Brooks, threatened the British Prime Minister, as she admitted at the Leveson Enquiry two years ago. The McCanns’ public relations adviser for the past seven years, Clarence Mitchell, went to work for Rupert Murdoch’s son-in-law, Matthew Freud, at Freud International, after he ceased working full-time for the McCanns. And when Cameron needed a Communications Team to help him become Prime Minister, he appointed ex-Murdoch man Andy Coulson, former editor of Murdoch’s News of the World, and Clarence Mitchell as his No. 2. It is almost as if the whole Madeleine McCann story was created by Murdoch. He has certainly profited more than anyone else on earth from the story. But how much of this will be covered by establishment authors Summers & Swan?

WATCH THE FREE FILM: DON’T BUY THE BOOK

Please do not buy this book which is likely to be a cover-up of the real truths about this case rather than, as the authors boast, ‘the most definitive account possible’. Instead, please resolve, if you haven’t already done so, to watch all of Richard Hall’s video, which we have no hesitation in saying is by far ‘the most definitive account yet’ of what really happened to Madeleine McCann.

by whatsupdoc 06.09.14 13:26

Thanks for the post, sharonl.

A good review by Amy Wright who has got it right IMO.

I can't see the point of buying the book as we all have a very good idea of what it will contain since the McCanns and the Tapas 7 aren't going to confess to anything. The main suspects in the Madeleine case are the McCanns and it is them who have put forward the theory about an abductor without any proof whatsoever. All the evidence such as lies, cadaver odour on Kate and the rental car, the lack of searching, gathering a very dubious collection of private detectives and employing a team of top lawyers with money collected from the gullible public who thought the money was going to be used for searching and not paying for their mortgage points to a False Flag operation by the McCanns.

So how , on Earth, can someone write a "definitive" book about the McCanns without the REAL TRUTH and be taken seriously! The R D Hall videos win hands down.

by jeanmonroe 06.09.14 14:00

How does a POSSIBLE DEFINITIVE 'account' actually work? (in the REAL world winkwink

)

"Definitive" by definition:

1.0 (Of a conclusion or agreement) done or reached decisively and with authority: ‘a definitive decision’

1.1 (Of a book or other text) the most authoritative of its kind)........................er, YET!

By definition, the 'authors' are stating there COULD 'possibly' be, and there probably are, OTHER possible 'definitive' possibilities.that they are NOT, personally, actually 'party to'.

I wonder what those 'other' possibilities COULD possibly be?

Hmmm.

thinking

by **PeterMac** 06.09.14 15:34

"‘the most definitive account possible’"
Do they in fact mean
‘the most definitive account possible’, given that the McCanns still won't say what really happened
‘the most definitive account possible’, given that we do not have access to anything that Grange has been doing
‘the most definitive account possible’ given that Grange would not even speak to us, so we have had to guess
‘the most definitive account possible’, given that the PJ speak Portuguese and we don't.
‘the most definitive account possible’ for the moment. That is until the various protagonists tell the WHOLE truth and the definitive account can be written.

There are too many qualifiers, "most" and "possible" to make it credible. (With many thanks to Hobs, We are all learning to analyse language. )

by cockerspaniel 06.09.14 15:52

sharonl wrote:A REVIEW OF ‘LOOKING FOR MADELEINE’, BY ANTHONY SUMMERS AND ROBBYN SWAN

by Amy Wright – 5 September 2014

http://whathappenedtomadeleinemccann.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/a-review-of-looking-for-madeleine-by_5.html

The purpose of this article is to give people advance warning of a heavily promoted book on the Madeleine McCann case, which will almost certainly be a ‘whitewash’ and fail to address the key issues in that case.

This Sunday (7 September), this important book about Madeleine McCann will be serialised in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun on Sunday. It’s called ‘Looking for Madeleine’, and is written by U.S. authors Anthony Summers (a former BBC journalist who worked on Panorama for a time) and his wife, Robbyn Swan. It will be released on Thursday 11 September. Its publishers, called ‘Headline’, make one of the most extravagant claims ever made for a book. They say that the book will be ‘the most definitive account possible’ of the Madeleine McCann case.

AUTHORS

The authors are perhaps best known for their previous book, ‘The Eleventh Hour’, which was supposedly an investigation into the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. Widely praised by establishment journalists, it has however been condemned as a ‘whitewash’ by the many people who have researched the 9/11 atrocity and found that the official version of events that day had many big holes in it.

Summers & Swan have chosen to publish their book on the 13^th anniversary of 9/11. Below is the publisher’s description of the book, in 13 sentences:

        The 2007 disappearance of a three-year-old Madeleine McCann from her bed in Portugal proved an instant, worldwide sensation.

        There's been nothing like it since America's Lindbergh kidnapping eighty years ago.

        Award-winning authors Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan have produced the first independent, objective account of the case.

        They have examined the released Portuguese files, conducted in-depth interviews and original research to answer the questions: What can we really know about this most emotive of cases? What can we learn from it?

        The Portuguese police probe ran into a dead end.

        Parents Gerry and Kate McCann, however, have never given up the search for Madeleine.

        They blitzed the media, hired private detectives, kept the case in the public eye.

        Speculation that the McCanns played a role in their daughter's fate, the authors demonstrate, is unfounded.

        Scotland Yard's 'investigative review', ordered by the Prime Minister and begun in 2011, identified some 200 potential leads.

The Yard's suspects have included a mystery paedophile who preyed on other British children.

The Detective Chief Inspector heading the probe has said the little girl may still be alive.

The McCann family's private tragedy has touched millions around the world and aroused sometimes dark controversy.

Looking for Madeleine is the most definitive account possible.

‘UNFOUNDED’

At point 8, the publisher’s say that ‘speculation that the McCanns played a role in their daughter’s fate’ is unfounded’. If Summers and Swan are right about that, the following must be true:

that the two cadaver sniffer dogs brought to Portugal by top international dog handler Martin Grime, and who detected the past presence of a corpse, and of blood and body fluids, in 11 locations associated with the McCanns (in their holiday apartment, in their hired car, and on some of their clothes) made a total 16 false alerts, despite having been 100% successful on all their previous outings

that there is a reasonable explanation for the literally dozens of major contradictions and changes of story in the accounts given to the Portuguese Police by the McCanns and their friends

that an entire team of Portuguese detectives who made the McCanns formal suspects on 7 September 2007 and explained their reasons in a powerful interim report three days later were all wrong to suspect them.

Let’s just put it this way; Summers and Swan have a formidable task if they think they can successfully explain all the evidence which suggests that the McCanns were involved in their daughter’s disappearance, and have covered up what really happened to her. And there's lots more evidence against them, summarised concisely in the interim Portuguese Police report by Tavares de Almeida

RICHARD HALL FILM

Point 1 says that Madeleine was ‘snatched from her bed’. That claim has yet to be proved. And just a month ago, a brand new 4½-hour film made by Richard Hall, titled: ‘Buried by Mainstream Media: The True Story of Madeleine McCann. It’s available free on his website, or on YouTube, and shows very clearly that this claim by the McCanns cannot be substantiated. There is no evidence whatsoever that Madeleine McCann was abducted apart from the word of the McCanns themselves.

Here are the links if you want to watch it:

(on website) http://www.madeleinedocumentary.com

(on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIjPcvmVzUo

LINDBERGH

Summers and Swan’s publishers say there’s been nothing like the Madeleine McCann case since ‘the Lindbergh kidnapping’ 80 years ago. This was the case of the 20-month old son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, whom Lindbergh claimed was ‘kidnapped’. But most authors who have examined the case in detail concluded that the poor toddler, found months later having been beaten to death and buried, was not abducted, but was probably killed by their famous father or friends of his. It is a most unfortunate comparison for Summers and Swan to make. Perhaps they were unwise to do so.

DODGY DETECTIVES

The publishers give credit to the McCanns for ‘blitzing the media’ and ‘hiring private detectives’. ‘Blitzing the media’ is not necessarily a sign of innocence. Many a parent guilty of faking an abduction to cover the death of their child have sought to drown out questions by a media blitz.

As for the ‘private detectives’ hired by the McCanns, again Richard Hall’s 3^rd video exposes these private detectives for what they were - many of them outrights crooks, fraudsters and con-men none of whom had any experience in finding missing children. Unbelievably, no fewer than FOUR of the investigators used by the McCanns have been imprisoned in the last six years for various crimes - Francisco Marco, Antonio Giminez Raso, Julian Peribanez and Kevin Halligen. All the appalling details are in Richard Hall’s film. It’s most unlikely that Summers and Swan will tell you much about them, however.

THE SCOTLAND YARD SHOW

The publishers refer to Scotland Yard having followed up 200 ‘leads’. That sounds impressive. Indeed, DCI Andy Redwood, the man in charge of Operation Grange, has deluged us with a blizzard of statistics over the past three years: 60 suspects in view, 550 known sex offenders being traced, tens of thousands of pages of documents and mobile ’phone records read and analysed, dozens of visits to Portugal, and many more. We can expect to read much about all this in Summers and Swan’s book. But where has it got us? Is it all just for show?

The publishers dismiss the Portuguese Police’s investigation as ‘reaching a dead end’. If you read the book of the original investigation co-ordinator, Dr Goncalo Amaral, you’ll be able to see how the valuable work done by his team was effectively snuffed out by lack of co-operation and gross interference in his investigation by the British government and its security services, by the removal of Dr Amaral from the investigation, and by high-level consultations between the British and Portuguese governments. Little or none of this is likely to feature in Summers and Swans’ book.

JIM GAMBLE

So what will be in the book? We have been provided with a clue by a ten-minute news item on SkyNews this week. It featured an interview with former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Service, Jim Gamble, who has worked very closely with the McCanns over the past 7 years, and the two authors. They all said the same thing, namely that the reason no progress had been made in the British side of the investigation was because various agencies were ‘too eager to help’, ‘lacked co-ordination’ and ‘were confusing the Portuguese’.

RUPERT MURDOCH

The serialisation this Sunday is in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun on Sunday. The news clip this week featuring Jim Gamble was shown on Murdoch’s SkyNews. The very reason we have a Scotland Yard investigative review is because Murdoch’s Chief Executive Officer of his News International group, Rebekah Brooks, threatened the British Prime Minister, as she admitted at the Leveson Enquiry two years ago. The McCanns’ public relations adviser for the past seven years, Clarence Mitchell, went to work for Rupert Murdoch’s son-in-law, Matthew Freud, at Freud International, after he ceased working full-time for the McCanns. And when Cameron needed a Communications Team to help him become Prime Minister, he appointed ex-Murdoch man Andy Coulson, former editor of Murdoch’s News of the World, and Clarence Mitchell as his No. 2. It is almost as if the whole Madeleine McCann story was created by Murdoch. He has certainly profited more than anyone else on earth from the story. But how much of this will be covered by establishment authors Summers & Swan?

WATCH THE FREE FILM: DON’T BUY THE BOOK

Please do not buy this book which is likely to be a cover-up of the real truths about this case rather than, as the authors boast, ‘the most definitive account possible’. Instead, please resolve, if you haven’t already done so, to watch all of Richard Hall’s video, which we have no hesitation in saying is by far ‘the most definitive account yet’ of what really happened to Madeleine McCann.

‘LOOKING FOR MADELEINE’,.... Have this couple actually been out and done any "LOOKING" ???????
It makes me sick....just more people out to make a buck of the back of someone elses misery (MbM`s).
Im far more interested in people who work for nothing and try to produce the facts. Well done Mr hall for the videos, I really enjoyed them.

by Brian Griffin 07.09.14 2:11

This is not a review. It isn't even a preview. For either of these to take place it is necessary to have viewed the work in question. It is merely speculation, educated speculation maybe, but at best, speculation.

Can we, at least, let the book be released before we star 'reviewing' it? Otherwise it's judgement before the fact.

by canada12 07.09.14 2:35

Brian Griffin wrote:This is not a review. It isn't even a preview. For either of these to take place it is necessary to have viewed the work in question. It is merely speculation, educated speculation maybe, but at best, speculation.

Can we, at least, let the book be released before we star 'reviewing' it? Otherwise it's judgement before the fact.

Agreed. It's not a review.
A review is only possible when the book in question has actually been read, and the reader has provided their opinion of the actual published document..

by whatsupdoc 07.09.14 7:58

I agree a Review is not correct but we have 13 points from the Author so I think we should be allowed to make comments on these before the book is published.

Below is the publisher’s description of the book, in 13 sentences:
(My comments in Bold).

The 2007 disappearance of a three-year-old Madeleine McCann from her bed in Portugal proved an instant, worldwide sensation.

There is no proof she was taken from her bed.

There's been nothing like it since America's Lindbergh kidnapping eighty years ago.

Mere sensationalism

Award-winning authors Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan have produced the first independent, objective account of the case.

Writing a whitewash of 9/11 hardly justifies an award.

They have examined the released Portuguese files, conducted in-depth interviews and original research to answer the questions: What can we really know about this most emotive of cases? What can we learn from it?

Not even interviewed the McCanns or Tapas 7 ...a first thing to do after reading the Files, I would have thought.

The Portuguese police probe ran into a dead end.

Smothered by the UK I would say.

Parents Gerry and Kate McCann, however, have never given up the search for Madeleine.

I think we must have blinked and missed the Start of the Looking!

They blitzed the media, hired private detectives, kept the case in the public eye.

They certainly did and the Money rolled in.

Speculation that the McCanns played a role in their daughter's fate, the authors demonstrate, is unfounded.

Any proof of that? We seem to have proof that they were involved. The parents lied and changed the story quite often.

Scotland Yard's 'investigative review', ordered by the Prime Minister and begun in 2011, identified some 200 potential leads.

Steadily working their way through the Portuguese phone book.

The Yard's suspects have included a mystery paedophile who preyed on other British children.

...and Uncle Tom Cobley but he died years ago.

The Detective Chief Inspector heading the probe has said the little girl may still be alive.

The dogs don't think so.Surely if it wasn't Madeleine who died in 5A the PJ would have started a new enquiry.

The McCann family's private tragedy has touched millions around the world and aroused sometimes dark controversy.

Private to just this Planet.

Looking for Madeleine is the most definitive account possible.

Hardly Definitive without the truth and the main suspects have a Pact of Silence.

I honestly believe that most members of the Fora know a LOT more than the writers S&S ...esp those who have been involved since Day 1 like I have.

by Guest 07.09.14 8:49

whatsupdoc wrote:I think we must have blinked and missed the Start of the Looking!

They blitzed the media, hired private detectives, kept the case in the public eye.

All that money could have bought the best PIs available.

http://www.pinkerton.com/investigative-services

Strange they didn't.

Or not.

by whatsupdoc 07.09.14 9:14

Any honest parents would have helped the police all they could.

If they were rich, they might have employed good private detectives with a track record of finding people unlike companies like Metodo 3 who didn't specialise in finding people.

I think the McCanns had a laugh sending everyone searching for the unfindable Madeleine while the money rolled in.

by Brian Griffin 07.09.14 12:37

Laughing? Surely not!

A REVIEW OF ‘LOOKING FOR MADELEINE’, BY ANTHONY SUMMERS AND ROBBYN SWAN Mccanns+12+may+2007

by jeanmonroe 07.09.14 13:22

Brian Griffin wrote:Laughing? Surely not!

"Your kid's been 'abducted, Gerry and Kate"

"Yeah we KNOW,.............funny innit?,..... hahaha!"

"you have donated to our private ltd company 'search' fund, haven't you"?......Ho Ho Ho!

by XTC 07.09.14 21:26

jeanmonroe wrote:
Brian Griffin wrote:Laughing? Surely not!

"Your kid's been 'abducted, Gerry and Kate"

"Yeah we KNOW,.............funny innit?,..... hahaha!"

"you have donated to our private ltd company 'search' fund, haven't you"?......Ho Ho Ho!

Is it possible that we are witnessing ( evn just from the review- the books not out yet) a fading Summers and a dying Swann.

If I ever go missing I hope these two aren't assisting in the search for me.

In fact I think I'd prefer to stay where I was.

by jeanmonroe 08.09.14 1:26

They are finished as 'serious' writers, imo.

I think this 'failed effort' is their 'final' SWANSONG.

by Brian Griffin 08.09.14 1:50

Was the book commissioned, does anyone know? If so, by whom?

by logical 08.09.14 2:00

That's exactly what I thought Brian Griffin,
This book has been commissioned By someone from the pro side in my opinion.

by Okeydokey 08.09.14 2:39

jeanmonroe wrote:They are finished as 'serious' writers, imo.

I think this 'failed effort' is their 'final' SWANSONG.

That's for sure. They will forever be known as the real crime writers who ignored 30,000 pages of evidence.

by Brian Griffin 08.09.14 2:47

logical wrote:That's exactly what I thought Brian Griffin,
This book has been commissioned By someone from the pro side in my opinion.

Could be.
Must be for quite a fee.
I'm boracic most of the time so I'd be happy to pen the next one for a lot less as long as someone tells me what to write.
In my opinion.
big grin