New photos of the McCanns

The only reason I'm still ploughing through my 50p copy of the bewk is that Kate's writing is turgid and bears absolutely no comparison to Enid Blyton, Woofer. I was riveted by the FF books, couldn't put them down, carried on reading them by torchlight under the bedcovers after lights out -and I had an immense crush on Julian     

I was inspired by Enid Blyton's books; Kate's bewk inspires me to bin it but, as PeterMac says, it's Exhibit KH1 and, as such, it can't be thrown in the trash where it belongs just yet.

Mirage said:
"3.I recall seeing the pool photograph minus MM and it showed various anomalies in the wall structure and the new position of a weed. Perhaps others recall this."

There was one picture (cropped out of the main picture) that clearly had GM's arm Photoshopped out. This was obviously done in a hurry to tidy up an image for Team McCann publicity purposes in the very early days and the signs of 'bad photoshopping' are clearly visible in duplicating patterns and blurred edges to MM's hair etc.

Then there was another picture where MM had been removed from the picture altogether by someone who wanted to prove that it could be done... in that case the background 'cloned' into the space where MM had been also showed signs of manipulation.

Then someone used Photoshop to switch the children's positions etc and fill the lawn with crapping dogs etc. to make a point. The fact that there are now several Photoshopped pictures of (or derived from) the 'Last Photo' - including my own avatar - just proves that people can manipulate pictures using Photoshop but not that anyone has in the case of the 'Last Photo'.

ProfessorPPlum wrote:Mirage said:
"3.I recall seeing the pool photograph minus MM and it showed various anomalies in the wall structure and the new position of a weed. Perhaps others recall this."

There was one picture (cropped out of the main picture) that clearly had GM's arm Photoshopped out. This was obviously done in a hurry to tidy up an image for Team McCann publicity purposes in the very early days and the signs of 'bad photoshopping' are clearly visible in duplicating patterns and blurred edges to MM's hair etc.

Then there was another picture where MM had been removed from the picture altogether by someone who wanted to prove that it could be done... in that case the background 'cloned' into the space where MM had been also showed signs of manipulation.

Then someone used Photoshop to switch the children's positions etc and fill the lawn with crapping dogs etc. to make a point. The fact that there are now several Photoshopped pictures of (or derived from) the 'Last Photo' - including my own avatar - just proves that people can manipulate pictures using Photoshop but not that anyone has in the case of the 'Last Photo'.

Thank you ProfessorPPlum for the explanations. I understand what you say about 2/3.

It is established therefore that photoshopping of the tidying-up variety was undertaken, by or for the McCanns, on this image. I say this only because if I were a parent in their situation, I would not delay getting the very last photo into the public domain, given this child's life was at stake. Nor, once I had retrieved said vital photo, would I go to the trouble of tidying up the image . My imperative would be to get that photo out immediately, just as it is. The last photo is not just about Madeleine's appearance, it is also about context, so even on that level it is not understandable - to me, at least.

This, on 20th May from the Daily Mail sets out the reason for the trip unambiguously:

Seventeen days after his four-year-old daughter disappeared, Gerry McCann flew back to an empty house that is still fresh with her memory.

Her room is as she left it when the family set off on their holiday to Portugal last month. Her toys are still there on the bed, her clothes in the wardrobe.

But with remarkable fortitude, the 38-year-old consultant embarked on a heart-rending mission in his ceaseless campaign to find his little girl.

He will trawl through four years of family albums and videos to select new pictures of her for his 'Find Madeleine' website. Then he will prepare to return to the Algarve to continue the search.

The visit was the first time Mr McCann has been apart from his wife Kate and their two-year-old twins since Madeleine vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3.

--------------------------------------

The problem I have is that the tennis ball photograph exhibits signs of manipulation, resulting in a girl who is at a maturation level beyond that of the chubbier infant in the pool photograph. This inevitably leads to conjecture about what other photographs may have been manipulated/falsified, and not just date-wise. Although I can see it is possible that the pool photograph may be genuine as an image, but date-changed, that supposition relies on the tennis photo being false. Ergo, it demonstrates that the parents or those advising the parents have sanctioned clandestine manipulation of a lost child's photograph at least once.

As I have said, I do not presume to be a photographic expert but if images are presented to me as facts that don't equate in my mind, I cannot accept them.

I think what we have established thus far is:
That there is some evidence of manipulation of the tennis photograph.
That the pool photograph may be genuinely MM of that week.
That the pool photograph may have been date changed.
That the pool photograph was produced some 2/3 weeks after the disappearance of the child and following a specific trip to obtain album photographs in the UK.
That the pool photograph was subject to photo-shopping of the tidying up variety, robbing it in the process of part of its context, which in itself could have been an aide-memoire for the public.

Mirage wrote:

ProfessorPPlum wrote:

There was one picture (cropped out of the main picture) that clearly had GM's arm Photoshopped out. This was obviously done in a hurry to tidy up an image for Team McCann publicity purposes in the very early days and the signs of 'bad photoshopping' are clearly visible in duplicating patterns and blurred edges to MM's hair etc.

[...]

Thank you ProfessorPPlum for the explanations. I understand what you say about 2/3.

It is established therefore that photoshopping of the tidying-up variety was undertaken, by or for the McCanns, on this image. I say this only because if I were a parent in their situation, I would not delay getting the very last photo into the public domain, given this child's life was at stake. Nor, once I had retrieved said vital photo, would I go to the trouble of tidying up the image . My imperative would be to get that photo out immediately, just as it is. The last photo is not just about Madeleine's appearance, it is also about context, so even on that level it is not understandable - to me, at least.
[...]
This, on 20th May from the Daily Mail sets out the reason for the trip unambiguously:
[...]

He will trawl through four years of family albums and videos to select new pictures of her for his 'Find Madeleine' website. Then he will prepare to return to the Algarve to continue the search.

[...]

***
When in 2007, after I'd seen the "last day" pool picture, I saw a picture of the church interior with a shopped cropped photo of Madeleine without Gerry's elbow, I heard nothing but big bells ringing in my head for weeks!

And having read now the quote from Daily Mail, I think: What going through FOUR years of albums to find a RECENT picture of Madeleine ...?  

Mirage wrote:

He will trawl through four years of family albums and videos to select new pictures of her for his 'Find Madeleine' website. Then he will prepare to return to the Algarve to continue the search.

And what is now in the public domain is the "best" of that trawl?

The other day I posted a picture I took on a holiday in the Algarve - the folder that it was in, from a ten day trip in 2010, had five hundred and eighty photos in it.

Clay Regazzoni wrote:

Mirage wrote:

He will trawl through four years of family albums and videos to select new pictures of her for his 'Find Madeleine' website. Then he will prepare to return to the Algarve to continue the search.

And what is now in the public domain is the "best" of that trawl?

The other day I posted a picture I took on a holiday in the Algarve - the folder that it was in, from a ten day trip in 2010, had five hundred and eighty photos in it.

EXACTLY! And no doubt video's as well!

Where are the McCann 'photo's' of the kids building sandcastles, splashing in the sea, playing on the swings etc.,?

WHERE are Kate's 'SELFIES'    

There's a woman who'd DEFFO have THEM!   

ultimaThule wrote:
Why do I think we cannot believe a single word of this anecdote ?

There we have the magic number three (the liars number Mark McClish) rearing its ugly head again 

After leaving Rothley Towers with the Payne/Webster family c7am on Saturday 28 April 2007 to travel to East Midlands Airport to catch their flight to Faro,  the McCanns and their children eventually arrived at 5A shortly after 3pm where Kate and Gerry set about moving 4 beds, 2 bedside tables, 2 cots, and 1 chest of drawers, before unpacking a few bits and setting off to rendezvous with their chums at the Tapas Bar/pool area.

According to Matt Oldfield's rog, at 4pm MW's nannies came to the Tapas Bar/pool area for the arriving holidaymakers' children to meet them (and presumably hear about the fun they were going to have) before the kids clubs opened the following day.  At 5pm the group 'packed up' and went to the MW adult welcome meeting (at the Millenium?) where they signed their children up for various kids club sessions and signed themselves up for various sporting activities, after which they ate dinner at the Millenium with their children before returning to their respective apartments for the remainder of the evening.

They arrived at the OC Main reception around 3pm, then had to be sorted out into the minibus, then taken round to the apartments, then unpack, then do this then do that . . .
and by 4pom they were showered, changed and so on.

How big is the "window of Opportunity" for this Polar endurance test ?
And why does not ONE of the remainder of the group mention it in any of their statements or rogatories ?

I am adding this TImes Online article also.


Madeleine police appeal for holiday pictures Timesonline

Adam Fresco
May 21, 2007

British holiday makers who were in Portugal at the time Madeleine McCann was snatched from her apartment are being asked to send their pictures to police in case they have caught the abductor on camera.

The authorities are hoping that facial recognition software they use to find people on websites will be able to spot Madeleine and give them valuable information about her movements in the hours after she was taken.

They hope that out of all the pictures taken by families abroad just one will be the "missing part of the jigsaw". (the mantra, aka the holy grail de nos jours)

Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, said that the latest technology will allow them to "build a larger intelligence picture". (larger and more diffuse)

"The CEOP Centre has already applied facial recognition software in our wider work (making faces wider for facial recognition purposes) and now by taking in pictures from the public we can move the investigation forward – looking for people who might seem out of place or behaving strangely. (Look no further than T9 for examples of that)

"No matter how small or insignificant the information may seem to you, it could be the missing part of the jigsaw so let us decide if it is important. (Security! Security!)

"We are looking for anyone who was at the Ocean Club Resort or surrounding area in the two weeks leading up to Madeleine disappearance on Thursday 3 May who have photographs that might help our work." (as the family have come up with bott all)

He said that he did not want scenery shots or family shots "but look at your prints and see if there are, for instance, people in the background. (we must find 'em and put them through our software processes) of the picture that at first you may not have noticed (and pray you never will).

"These are the pictures we want and we want you to upload them onto a new website.

"Alternatively if you are not sure then go into any photographic shop and ask them to help you upload them onto the site. You will also find a basic 'how to' guide on the site to help you.

"We will then assess those pictures – at a rate of 1,000 pictures per hour – so that over a quick period of time we will pass meaningful information to the Portuguese authorities." (why am I laughing?)

The appeal was launched today by the UK law enforcement agencies assisting the Portuguese authorities (as usual) – Leicestershire Constabulary, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), CEOP and the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).

Anne Harrison, Detective Chief Superintendent from the NPIA said that it was possible Madeleine was still in Praia da Luz but was being hidden and appealed for anyone that knew where she was to come forward (or in the case of crecheman, backwards).

----------------------------

So Gerry was at home on his poignant mission to sort out some photos from the family album for the website and deal with domestic issues like bills as they were going to be "in Portugal for the forseeable future". After this he produced the last photo.

Enter Jim Gamble and we learn all about the amazing software at CEOP.

Btw didn't the Association of the National Police Improvement Agency chap - Lee Rainbow was it? - go seriously off message?

And didn't the Association of Chief Police Officers have him make a speech and give him a standing ovation.

What a busy few days he had. Robbed of all poignancy.[/b][/i]

I can't find anything remotely poignant about the McCanns, but wasn't that also the occasion when the wee one was robbed of his wallet after saving the life of a fellow passenger on his flight back to Blighty, Mirage?

ultimaThule wrote:I can't find anything remotely poignant about the McCanns, but wasn't that also the occasion when the wee one was robbed of his wallet after saving the life of a fellow passenger on his flight back to Blighty, Mirage?

And all those credit cards gone while on the blower at Waterloo Whitehall. Can you Adam 'n Eve it. Poignancy doesn't cover it.

PeterMac wrote:

ultimaThule wrote:
Why do I think we cannot believe a single word of this anecdote ?

There we have the magic number three (the liars number Mark McClish) rearing its ugly head again 

After leaving Rothley Towers with the Payne/Webster family c7am on Saturday 28 April 2007 to travel to East Midlands Airport to catch their flight to Faro,  the McCanns and their children eventually arrived at 5A shortly after 3pm where Kate and Gerry set about moving 4 beds, 2 bedside tables, 2 cots, and 1 chest of drawers, before unpacking a few bits and setting off to rendezvous with their chums at the Tapas Bar/pool area.

According to Matt Oldfield's rog, at 4pm MW's nannies came to the Tapas Bar/pool area for the arriving holidaymakers' children to meet them (and presumably hear about the fun they were going to have) before the kids clubs opened the following day.  At 5pm the group 'packed up' and went to the MW adult welcome meeting (at the Millenium?) where they signed their children up for various kids club sessions and signed themselves up for various sporting activities, after which they ate dinner at the Millenium with their children before returning to their respective apartments for the remainder of the evening.

They arrived at the OC Main reception around 3pm, then had to be sorted out into the minibus, then taken round to the apartments, then unpack, then do this then do that . . .
and by 4pom they were showered, changed and so on.

How big is the "window of Opportunity" for this Polar endurance test ?
And why does not ONE of the remainder of the group mention it in any of their statements or rogatories ?

Cos their teeth were chattering.

ultimaThule wrote:I can't find anything remotely poignant about the McCanns, but wasn't that also the occasion when the wee one was robbed of his wallet after saving the life of a fellow passenger on his flight back to Blighty, Mirage?

NO. Different occasion.
220th returns to UK to find photos in the "family album" ( ? ? ? ) For what purpose, pray?
22nd returns to PdL with Mitchell
23rd Last photo miraculously released to French Press Agency, (or possibly 22nd)
24th Last Photo released to the world with the bo****** about the time being wrong.

(Oh, and by the way, Sister Philomena arrives Pdl, also on 22nd !
Husband very skilled in photoshopping and has an almost identical camera to the one used for the Last Photo)

The Visit to the Home Office, stolen wallet, in two different places, and then miraculously returned with all the stuff still in it,
Good Samaritan miraculously saving the lives of [insert number] of passengers,
and doing open heart surgery with a plastic knife from the aeroplane canteen
was much later.

It was 19/20thJune.
You missed one PeterMac!
‘driving back to Praia da Luz, he and Kate find a 'drunk' laying in the middle of the street - who Gerry then walks back to his apartment’.

< holds aching head in hands >


When did Gerry retrieve Madeleine's freshly laundered pillowcase from the Towers while a police officer waited outside the imposing entry door?  Was that around the time he bent over in a public place and an uncaring dip with no thought for the bereft father liberated the wallet from his back pocket?  Or has he racked up more air miles than I've previously given him credit for?

ProfessorPPlum wrote:

Tony Bennett wrote:

ProfessorPPlum wrote:QUOTED: "Then we have number of photoshop 'experts' with x number of years of training who regularly appear on this forum to swear blind that, to their expert eye, it is impossible for that picture to have been manipulated in any way"

I am heartily sick of people referring to my and others' considered opinions (based on many years of day-to-day use of Photoshop) in this way. Unless you share a similar experience / expertise, all this demonstrates is that you don't like that our views on this matter interfere with your preferred theory. You are guilty of trying to change the evidence to fit your belief whereas the scientific method demands that you amend your belief to reflect the evidence. 

If I'm more "expert" in Photoshop than you, so what? Why is that so hard to accept?

ProfesssorPlum, that is quite a harsh comment, in tone, anyway, against what Poe has said.

Now, it would appear that you and I are on the same page in saying that there is no 'photoshopping' or alteration of the photograph itself. To put it another way, I think we both agree that it can be called a genuine, unmanipulated photograph.

However, could you please also give us the benefit of your opinion on whether (and if so how easily) the EXIF data (or whatever they are called) could have been altered so as to make it seem that this photograph was taken at 2.29pm on Thursday 3 May - when it could well have been taken some days earlier in the week?

I would be grateful.

Apologies if it is harsh in tone; at least I'm honest about it. I'm heartily sick of offering a view from a position of experience and having it marginalised by a group of people on this forum who insist that it is wrong. I've watched other contributors hounded off this forum as a result of the argument about this image and whether or not it has / hasn't been photoshopped. I can't help but think that the venon I've witnessed comes in part from the fact that, when you get down to it, what's really at issue here is what you want to believe vs. what the evidence suggests. And if that isn't what's exactly at the core of this 'abduction' story I don't know what is.

So Poe, I'm sorry if my reply was offensive in any way but the comment still stands: I am fed up of people with expertise in a certain area having that expertise dismissed by others who don't. When I (or others) have pointed out the folly of doing this, the response is to challenge or ridicule our 'expertise'. We are referred to as "experts" with inverted commas.

Tony, I have no idea about 'faking EXIF' data. I'm pretty sure that I could take that 'last photo' (at least the one with a date stamp on it - I've not seen that version for years) and fake any date stamp you want if that's what you're asking.

Talking about exif data, has anyone ever compared the camera data to the cameras used to take the other photos?

lj wrote:
Talking about exif data, has anyone ever compared the camera data to the cameras used to take the other photos?

Yes.
totally different camera.
One a Canon Powershot A620 (the one on the dining table, and in Kate's possession on 10th
the other an Olympus C-50 sent off to Hampshire for examination on 8th and examined on 9th, and from which all the other photos in the album were derived.
On the Olympus there were no times and dates, as they had not set that part of the coding. See DC Martin's statement.
So did the mcCans even know that the time and date were recorded ?
Did they know how to set the time and date ?
Did they know you could then change those data ?

I have no idea, but someone in the close family certainly did, and had a slightly earlier version of the same camera.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/VIDEO_MEMORY.htm
Statement of: Stuart William Martin
Occupation: Detective Constable 1755
Date: 9th May 2007
1. I am employed by Hampshire Constabulary as a Detective Constable and am currently
stationed in the Hi-Tech Crime Unit. I hold a Batchelor of Mechanical Engineering and
Management degree from Liverpool university. My duties include the retrieval and
examination of evidence from computers and other digital media and the investigation of
computer crime. I have successfully completed two courses held by Guidance Software Inc in
relation to their forensic software tools.
I have also successfully completed one course held by Access data Corp in relation to their
forensic data tools.
2. On 8th May at 21.00 hours, the following was delivered to my home address by PC 178
Barham, requesting they be examined to establish if they contained pictures and video
footage of a hotel complex in Praia da Luz.
ID ref Description
NALF/1 Video tape from Sony Handicam Video Camera Re Praia da Luz holiday 28/4/07- 5/5/07
NALF/2 64 MB camera memory card from Olympus C50 camera Re Praia da Luz holiday 28/4/07-5/5/07
NALF/3 32 MB camera memory card from Olympus C50 camera Re Praia da Luz holiday 28/4/07-5/5/07
. . .
13. On checking the camera I found that the time and date was not set on the camera and it
was recording the time and date as 0000 hours on 01/01/02. This did not change during the
examination. None of the pictures SWM/3019/01 to SWM/3019/43 have any created dates
recorded. The last written time and date for each of them is recorded as 0000 01/01/02.

PeterMac wrote:

ultimaThule wrote:I can't find anything remotely poignant about the McCanns, but wasn't that also the occasion when the wee one was robbed of his wallet after saving the life of a fellow passenger on his flight back to Blighty, Mirage?

NO.  Different occasion.
220th returns to UK to find photos in the "family album" ( ? ? ? )    For what purpose, pray?
22nd returns to PdL with Mitchell
23rd Last photo miraculously released to French Press Agency, (or possibly 22nd)
24th Last Photo released to the world with the bo****** about the time being wrong.

(Oh, and by the way, Sister Philomena arrives Pdl, also on 22nd !  
Husband very skilled in photoshopping and has an almost identical camera to the one used for the Last Photo)

.

So PeterMac, what are you suggesting? One of two scenarios....?

1. Gerry returned home with memory chip from Kate's camera and sent it to Philomena's husband who helpfully changed / added the date/ time stamp, returned the chip to Philomena and Philomena took it back to PDL with her, and then it was released to th the press?

or

2. Gerry returned home with memory chip from Kate's camera which contained current photo of Gerry and Amelie poolside, then Gerry trawled through loads of old family photos, then helpfully sent pool photo and handy Madeleine pic over to Philomena's husband, who used his excellent photoshopping skills to stitch together The Last Photo? Which Philomena helpfully carried back to PDL with her, so that it could be released to the press?

I'm with Mirage by the way, when it comes to Photoshopping, but I've promised I won't mention it anymore regarding The Last Photo.

So I'm not mentioning it.

As I don't have a clue about photoshopping, I won't mention again that the child purported to be Madeleine in 'the last photo' looks to be closer to age 3 than just a few days off her 4th birthday.

Looking for the pillowcase reference, I came across this again:

Independent, 10^th June 2007
 
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/mccanns-are-amazed-at-irish-support-26296431.html
 
‘Mr McCann said that were he to be back in the UK he would find it very hard even going to the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire. "It will be very, very hard; the last time I was back, I couldn't even go into the house. I found it hard enough going to Rothley.'
 
Just for the record:
First trip home:         20^th May
Second Trip home     19^th June
so we can only be talking about the first trip.
 
In KH1, she just says ‘He had decided not to stay at our house………’ but there is no mention of him collecting photos, pillowcases or anything.
 
It was the Daily Mail, 20^th May 2007 that said:
 
‘He will trawl through four years of family albums and videos to select new pictures of her for his 'Find Madeleine' website. Then he will prepare to return to the Algarve to continue the search’.
 
Guardian 21^st May 2007

‘Gerry McCann, a consultant cardiologist, arrived back last night and was visiting the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire, before returning to Portugal, said his brother, John McCann. "I think he's flying back tonight," Mr McCann said’.
 
I’m struggling for a reference to returning with the police officer to the house to get the pillowcase.
Logically, (if that applies to anything McCann) the pillowcase & the policeman would have had to have been on the first trip home, otherwise he could potentially have tampered with anything he liked, making the policeman superfluous if it had been the second trip.
It is odd that there is nothing in the book about it though, just his meeting up with CM for the first time & going to the Rothley memorial.
Could the ‘Policeman & the Pillowcase’ be a forum myth?

I found this thread which proves the famous Rothley pillowcase is not a myth... apologies for having already forgotton the relevant page number but every page is a cracking good read, or perhaps I should say 'a most informative read'   

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t3222-why-would-you-need-to-cover-up-a-child-s-death#72052

You're welcome, Doug, and I'm now off to toss a coin to determine whose DNA is on the famous Rothley Pillowcase 

Bumping in here late and have not read all previous posts, but I see doubts about the Rothley Pillowcase again. FSS reports, published in the PJ Files, are clear in that the DNA extracted from the pillowcase are of a natural female child of both Gerry & Kate McCann and it's not Amelie's.

My real question about this is: why was there no source of Madeleine's DNA, e.g. her pillowcase, available in Apt. 5A?
My guess is, that the cleaning lady came on Wednesday morning and changed the bed linen. And that Madeleine never made it to bed that evening ...

Châtelaine wrote:Bumping in here late and have not read all previous posts, but I see doubts about the Rothley Pillowcase again. FSS reports, published in the PJ Files, are clear in that the DNA extracted from the pillowcase are of a natural female child of both Gerry & Kate McCann and it's not Amelie's.

My real question about this is: why was there no source of Madeleine's DNA, e.g. her pillowcase, available in Apt. 5A?
My guess is, that the cleaning lady came on Wednesday morning and changed the bed linen. And that Madeleine never made it to bed that evening ...

There are also the clothes Madeleine had been wearing in 'the last photo' on the day she allegedly disappeared. DNA must have also been present on those clothes. These clothes were particular to Madeleine. They were the last thing she had been wearing 'that day'.

There is DNA of Madeleine apparently. Despite the two New Zealand sightings of the same child where a 'source close to the McCanns' revealed to a newspaper that the DNA of the NZ child was asked for by UK police, there is the case of Riley Ann Sawyers where the FBI allegedly asked Portuguese and Spanish police for Madeleine's DNA to be sent to them to rule her out (it's a topsy turvy world innit).

Châtelaine wrote:Bumping in here late and have not read all previous posts, but I see doubts about the Rothley Pillowcase again. FSS reports, published in the PJ Files, are clear in that the DNA extracted from the pillowcase are of a natural female child of both Gerry & Kate McCann and it's not Amelie's.

My real question about this is: why was there no source of Madeleine's DNA, e.g. her pillowcase, available in Apt. 5A?
My guess is, that the cleaning lady came on Wednesday morning and changed the bed linen. And that Madeleine never made it to bed that evening ...

You don't get a change of linen on a one week holiday off-season.