'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann™ :: Books on the Madeleine McCann case :: Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan's book: 'Looking for Madeleine'
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Summers' and Swan's book - the 'definitive' account of the Madeleine McCann case?
'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
I realise there is already a thread on the above book, however, I'm posting this here separately just to give further information about how Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan approached their research and first contacted me.
This was the initial e-mail I received on 28 March this year, from Robbyn Swan:
Hello,
I am an journalist looking at the McCann case. I wonder if we could be in touch?
I found these email addresses on The Madeleine Foundation website.
I am also interested in reaching Anthony Bennett. Is it possible to contact him through you?
Many thanks.
Yours sincerely
Robbyn Swan
She made no mention at any time that she or her husband/partner was writing a book about the case, let alone what I now understand purports to be a 'definitive' version of the Madeleine McCann case (I thought we were going to get that from Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, actually).
I endeavoured to answer Robbyn Swan's questions as fully as I was legally allowed to, not knowing of course that my answers might subsequently appear in a book.
I can only hope that Summers and Swan (what a nice rustic picture those two words conjure up!) are true investigative journalists and writers who will leave no stone unturned and will turn their searchlights into the deepest and darkest recesses of this case to produce a truly definitive work on the case. If not, someone else will have to!
Here for the written record are the 19 questions Robbyn Swan asked me, together with my responses in bold, sent to her on 4 April this year:
+++++++++++++++++++
From Robbyn Swan:
Given the legal constraints you mention, it would be a great help if you could answer the following questions. If any of them fall within the bounds of legal constraints, simply indicate that is the case.
1. When did you first get interested in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann?
REPLY: Let me get the point about legal constraints out of the way first of all, as that severely limits the extent to which I can answer a number of your questions.
On 27 August 2009, Carter-Ruck, Britain’s best-known libel lawyers, wrote to me claiming that certain written material of mine, including a book on the case, libelled Gerry and Kate McCann. Not having the financial means to defend myself, I agreed on 25 November that year to a total of 16 separate undertakings regarding my future conduct, in exchange for which the McCanns agreed to suspend a libel action they had initiated in the High Court. At the time, Carter-Ruck’s website described themselves, probably accurately, as ‘Britain’s most feared libel lawyers’.
Just over two years later, the McCanns brought an action for contempt of court against me, alleging that I had broken one or more of those undertakings on numerous occasions in the past two years, mainly by articles and postings of mine about the case on the internet. On 21 February 2013, a High Court judge found 13 instances of breaches of those undertakings proved, and sentenced me to 3 months in jail, suspended for a year. Any further breach would have led to my immediate imprisonment. That year is now up, but I still face further proceedings should I be adjudged to have committed any further breaches of those undertakings – and there could be severe financial penalties as well. Therefore, as you can see, I am placed under very severe restrictions indeed about what I can tell you.
In answer to your question, the story given out by the McCanns on the very first day after Madeleine was reported missing seemed strange in the extreme. The idea that a couple could leave three children all aged under four alone for any time at all seemed incomprehensible, given all the risks that could befall a child in such circumstances. Then when I heard, again on the very first day, three different accounts of their ‘checking’ regime - every 15 minutes, every half-hour or every hour – the whole story seemed even more improbable. I suppose I was a sceptic from Day One.
2. What was it that initially drew your attention to the story?
REPLY: In August, here was a steady flow of stories in the British press about cadaver and blood dogs alerting to the scent of a corpse and to blood in the McCanns’ apartment and in their hired car. The story had been on the TV bulletins and the front pages of the press for over three months. It was impossible not to be interested in what really happened to Madeleine.
3. If different from the above, when was it that you first became sceptical of the abduction hypothesis?
REPLY: It was my 60th birthday on 7 September 2007. That day, there was wall-to-wall coverage of both of the McCanns being taken in for questioning and made suspects. TV pictures showed Gerry McCann emerging ashen-faced from his police interview. That date marked the beginning of my resolve to find out much more about this case.
4. When did you first become sceptical of the version of events described by Gerry and Kate McCann?
REPLY: Soon after 7 September, I made a search of the internet and came across a website called ‘Anorak’, a satirical news website. To my surprise, I discovered dozens, maybe hundreds of people who shared my scepticism about the McCanns’ account of events. Later I discovered there were thousands of sceptics on numerous forums.
5. What, initially, exactly aroused your scepticism?
REPLY: I am sorry, apart from what I have stated above, for legal reasons I cannot answer that question.
6. When did you first publicly express your doubts about the McCanns version of events or the course of the investigation?
REPLY: On the Anorak discussion forum, in September 2007. My initial focus was on the children having been left alone. In November, when I realised that no-one in authority intended to prosecute the McCanns for leaving their children on their own, I tried to apply to Leicestershire and Rutland Magistrates Court for a summons under the 1933 Children Act, so that they would have to answer a charge of leaving the children home alone. But the court was not satisfied that they had jurisdiction, so that was the end of that.
7. What form did that take - press interview, blog, website, public appearance?
REPLY: See above.
8. When did you found the Madeleine Foundation?
REPLY: An initial meeting of interested people was held on 26 January 2008, when a committee was elected.
9. What was the highest membership the Madeleine Foundation attained?
REPLY: About 45 - during 2010.
10. Does the Madeleine Foundation still exist, and if so how many members do you estimate it now has? Do you currently have any involvement with the Foundation? Who heads its activities now?
REPLY: Yes, the Madeleine Foundation still exists, but I resigned from it in February 2012 as a result of the court case against me and also pressure from my family, who were justifiably concerned on the impact my continuing interest in the case was having on them and me. You would need to contact the Foundation direct via their website to find out about their current activities.
11. When did the McCanns first take any form of action against you?
REPLY: Answered above (Qu. 1)
12. Do the McCanns have any legal actions currently pending against you? Do you have any pending against them?
REPLY: The undertakings I gave in 2009 and was adjudged in 2013 to have broken are now the subject of a permanent court order, by which I am bound. Only in very exceptional circumstances can that order be overturned.
After the outcome of the contempt case in 2013, I had the legal right to apply to the court to vary or discharge the undertakings I had given - indeed I had already made such an application a year before. In addition, I appealed to the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s decision. However, in order to achieve a financial resolution which would not bankrupt me, I was required to give up both of those legal actions. Otherwise, I would have been required to pay around £350,000 in court costs - because I had lost the contempt case.
13. When was the McCanns' case against you resolved and what was the outcome?
REPLY: Already answered above.
14. How does that outcome effect your ability to carry on research about Madeleine McCann's disappearance?
REPLY: Of course, having become deeply interested in the case and made many good friends along the way, I still talk about the case with a few people. I still do research a number of aspects, there is no restriction about my doing that. But I have to be very careful about whatever I say about the case in public.
15. Are you currently doing research on the McCann case? If so, what aspect of the case?
REPLY: I can’t comment further for legal reasons.
16. Are you currently associated with any websites, forums, blogs, etc. devoted to investigation of the McCann case? If so, in what capacity?
REPLY: I am an ordinary member of just one forum that discusses the Madeleine McCann case.
17. In your view, which of the existing McCann case-related websites is the most useful? Has the largest following?
REPLY: There are of course websites, forums and blogs that are sceptical about the McCanns’ claims, and there are also those which support the McCanns. The former are far more numerous than the latter. Different websites and forums serve different interests. I am not sure, but I suspect that the most-visited McCann-related website is the ‘mccannfiles’ site, which has a breathtakingly encyclopaedic, factual coverage of the case. I could mention dozens of other McCann-sceptic websites, but in terms of sheer information, the site run by a blogger known as ‘pamalam’ probably comes second to ‘mccannfiles’.
These are the links to the two above-mentioned sites:
mccannfiles: www.mccannfiles.com
pamalam: www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk
18. Of those independently studying the McCann case, who in your view has contributed most to an understanding of the case? Why do you think this?
REPLY: Again, for legal reasons, I do not wish to mention specific names or websites, apart from the two information sites I’ve mentioned above. What I will say is that this case has fired literally thousands of people to delve into the depths of this case, and many of those who have done most of the delving either do not wish to be named and take credit or are, indeed, fearful of being named publicly because of the potential severe adverse consequences of voicing one’s opinions publicly.
19. If you could turn back the clock to the day you first became involved in the McCann case, would you still choose to become involved? Would you change anything about the nature of your involvement in research on the McCann case?
REPLY: Clearly, in pursuing this case in the ‘campaigning’ style that I did, I took risks. In the High Court last year, I apologised to the McCanns for any distress that I had caused them. I also regret that in pursing my interest and suspicions as far as I did, my family suffered.
Many thanks for taking the time to address these queries. I hope that they are not too onerous. If they are, I'll appreciate receiving what answers you can muster.
Yours sincerely,
Robbyn Swan
This was the initial e-mail I received on 28 March this year, from Robbyn Swan:
Hello,
I am an journalist looking at the McCann case. I wonder if we could be in touch?
I found these email addresses on The Madeleine Foundation website.
I am also interested in reaching Anthony Bennett. Is it possible to contact him through you?
Many thanks.
Yours sincerely
Robbyn Swan
She made no mention at any time that she or her husband/partner was writing a book about the case, let alone what I now understand purports to be a 'definitive' version of the Madeleine McCann case (I thought we were going to get that from Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, actually).
I endeavoured to answer Robbyn Swan's questions as fully as I was legally allowed to, not knowing of course that my answers might subsequently appear in a book.
I can only hope that Summers and Swan (what a nice rustic picture those two words conjure up!) are true investigative journalists and writers who will leave no stone unturned and will turn their searchlights into the deepest and darkest recesses of this case to produce a truly definitive work on the case. If not, someone else will have to!
Here for the written record are the 19 questions Robbyn Swan asked me, together with my responses in bold, sent to her on 4 April this year:
+++++++++++++++++++
From Robbyn Swan:
Given the legal constraints you mention, it would be a great help if you could answer the following questions. If any of them fall within the bounds of legal constraints, simply indicate that is the case.
1. When did you first get interested in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann?
REPLY: Let me get the point about legal constraints out of the way first of all, as that severely limits the extent to which I can answer a number of your questions.
On 27 August 2009, Carter-Ruck, Britain’s best-known libel lawyers, wrote to me claiming that certain written material of mine, including a book on the case, libelled Gerry and Kate McCann. Not having the financial means to defend myself, I agreed on 25 November that year to a total of 16 separate undertakings regarding my future conduct, in exchange for which the McCanns agreed to suspend a libel action they had initiated in the High Court. At the time, Carter-Ruck’s website described themselves, probably accurately, as ‘Britain’s most feared libel lawyers’.
Just over two years later, the McCanns brought an action for contempt of court against me, alleging that I had broken one or more of those undertakings on numerous occasions in the past two years, mainly by articles and postings of mine about the case on the internet. On 21 February 2013, a High Court judge found 13 instances of breaches of those undertakings proved, and sentenced me to 3 months in jail, suspended for a year. Any further breach would have led to my immediate imprisonment. That year is now up, but I still face further proceedings should I be adjudged to have committed any further breaches of those undertakings – and there could be severe financial penalties as well. Therefore, as you can see, I am placed under very severe restrictions indeed about what I can tell you.
In answer to your question, the story given out by the McCanns on the very first day after Madeleine was reported missing seemed strange in the extreme. The idea that a couple could leave three children all aged under four alone for any time at all seemed incomprehensible, given all the risks that could befall a child in such circumstances. Then when I heard, again on the very first day, three different accounts of their ‘checking’ regime - every 15 minutes, every half-hour or every hour – the whole story seemed even more improbable. I suppose I was a sceptic from Day One.
2. What was it that initially drew your attention to the story?
REPLY: In August, here was a steady flow of stories in the British press about cadaver and blood dogs alerting to the scent of a corpse and to blood in the McCanns’ apartment and in their hired car. The story had been on the TV bulletins and the front pages of the press for over three months. It was impossible not to be interested in what really happened to Madeleine.
3. If different from the above, when was it that you first became sceptical of the abduction hypothesis?
REPLY: It was my 60th birthday on 7 September 2007. That day, there was wall-to-wall coverage of both of the McCanns being taken in for questioning and made suspects. TV pictures showed Gerry McCann emerging ashen-faced from his police interview. That date marked the beginning of my resolve to find out much more about this case.
4. When did you first become sceptical of the version of events described by Gerry and Kate McCann?
REPLY: Soon after 7 September, I made a search of the internet and came across a website called ‘Anorak’, a satirical news website. To my surprise, I discovered dozens, maybe hundreds of people who shared my scepticism about the McCanns’ account of events. Later I discovered there were thousands of sceptics on numerous forums.
5. What, initially, exactly aroused your scepticism?
REPLY: I am sorry, apart from what I have stated above, for legal reasons I cannot answer that question.
6. When did you first publicly express your doubts about the McCanns version of events or the course of the investigation?
REPLY: On the Anorak discussion forum, in September 2007. My initial focus was on the children having been left alone. In November, when I realised that no-one in authority intended to prosecute the McCanns for leaving their children on their own, I tried to apply to Leicestershire and Rutland Magistrates Court for a summons under the 1933 Children Act, so that they would have to answer a charge of leaving the children home alone. But the court was not satisfied that they had jurisdiction, so that was the end of that.
7. What form did that take - press interview, blog, website, public appearance?
REPLY: See above.
8. When did you found the Madeleine Foundation?
REPLY: An initial meeting of interested people was held on 26 January 2008, when a committee was elected.
9. What was the highest membership the Madeleine Foundation attained?
REPLY: About 45 - during 2010.
10. Does the Madeleine Foundation still exist, and if so how many members do you estimate it now has? Do you currently have any involvement with the Foundation? Who heads its activities now?
REPLY: Yes, the Madeleine Foundation still exists, but I resigned from it in February 2012 as a result of the court case against me and also pressure from my family, who were justifiably concerned on the impact my continuing interest in the case was having on them and me. You would need to contact the Foundation direct via their website to find out about their current activities.
11. When did the McCanns first take any form of action against you?
REPLY: Answered above (Qu. 1)
12. Do the McCanns have any legal actions currently pending against you? Do you have any pending against them?
REPLY: The undertakings I gave in 2009 and was adjudged in 2013 to have broken are now the subject of a permanent court order, by which I am bound. Only in very exceptional circumstances can that order be overturned.
After the outcome of the contempt case in 2013, I had the legal right to apply to the court to vary or discharge the undertakings I had given - indeed I had already made such an application a year before. In addition, I appealed to the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s decision. However, in order to achieve a financial resolution which would not bankrupt me, I was required to give up both of those legal actions. Otherwise, I would have been required to pay around £350,000 in court costs - because I had lost the contempt case.
13. When was the McCanns' case against you resolved and what was the outcome?
REPLY: Already answered above.
14. How does that outcome effect your ability to carry on research about Madeleine McCann's disappearance?
REPLY: Of course, having become deeply interested in the case and made many good friends along the way, I still talk about the case with a few people. I still do research a number of aspects, there is no restriction about my doing that. But I have to be very careful about whatever I say about the case in public.
15. Are you currently doing research on the McCann case? If so, what aspect of the case?
REPLY: I can’t comment further for legal reasons.
16. Are you currently associated with any websites, forums, blogs, etc. devoted to investigation of the McCann case? If so, in what capacity?
REPLY: I am an ordinary member of just one forum that discusses the Madeleine McCann case.
17. In your view, which of the existing McCann case-related websites is the most useful? Has the largest following?
REPLY: There are of course websites, forums and blogs that are sceptical about the McCanns’ claims, and there are also those which support the McCanns. The former are far more numerous than the latter. Different websites and forums serve different interests. I am not sure, but I suspect that the most-visited McCann-related website is the ‘mccannfiles’ site, which has a breathtakingly encyclopaedic, factual coverage of the case. I could mention dozens of other McCann-sceptic websites, but in terms of sheer information, the site run by a blogger known as ‘pamalam’ probably comes second to ‘mccannfiles’.
These are the links to the two above-mentioned sites:
mccannfiles: www.mccannfiles.com
pamalam: www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk
18. Of those independently studying the McCann case, who in your view has contributed most to an understanding of the case? Why do you think this?
REPLY: Again, for legal reasons, I do not wish to mention specific names or websites, apart from the two information sites I’ve mentioned above. What I will say is that this case has fired literally thousands of people to delve into the depths of this case, and many of those who have done most of the delving either do not wish to be named and take credit or are, indeed, fearful of being named publicly because of the potential severe adverse consequences of voicing one’s opinions publicly.
19. If you could turn back the clock to the day you first became involved in the McCann case, would you still choose to become involved? Would you change anything about the nature of your involvement in research on the McCann case?
REPLY: Clearly, in pursuing this case in the ‘campaigning’ style that I did, I took risks. In the High Court last year, I apologised to the McCanns for any distress that I had caused them. I also regret that in pursing my interest and suspicions as far as I did, my family suffered.
Many thanks for taking the time to address these queries. I hope that they are not too onerous. If they are, I'll appreciate receiving what answers you can muster.
Yours sincerely,
Robbyn Swan
____________________
Dr Martin Roberts: "The evidence is that these are the pjyamas Madeleine wore on holiday in Praia da Luz. They were photographed and the photo handed to a press agency, who released it on 8 May, as the search for Madeleine continued. The McCanns held up these same pyjamas at two press conferences on 5 & 7June 2007. How could Madeleine have been abducted?"
Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".
Tony Bennett- Researcher
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Well, if they only asked you these questions 3 months ago, they must have been near completion of this book, done what research they thought was necessary and come to the prescribed conclusion. They then thought they`d better just contact a few dissenters so contacted you Tony. It seems that had not even been to McCannfiles or Pamalams site before you pointed them in that direction - which means they probably haven`t even read the case files (or left it until the last minute).
I have ticked the last box because it seems to me that they`re establishment through and through, so it won`t be anywhere near the truth.
I have ticked the last box because it seems to me that they`re establishment through and through, so it won`t be anywhere near the truth.
Woofer- Posts : 3390
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Apparently the books authors are going to explain why claims against the McCanns are unfounded. Well that will be interesting won't it?
____________________
suzyjohnson- Posts : 1209
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
suzyjohnson wrote:Apparently the books authors are going to explain why claims against the McCanns are unfounded. Well that will be interesting won't it?
They will be ripped to pieces.
Guest- Guest
Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
TB
I voted 5 and agree with Woofer.
In fact, I am not even sure there will even be a Book.
Will you ask for a copy as a contributor?
I voted 5 and agree with Woofer.
In fact, I am not even sure there will even be a Book.
Will you ask for a copy as a contributor?
____________________
Things aren't always what they seem
Angelique- Posts : 1396
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
I don't know when this book is to be published? - some time later this year I believe.
I wonder to what extent the authors will have had contact with, and information from, DCI Andy Redwood and other members of the Operation Grange team?
Is it even possible that the book's release could be being carefully orchestrated in conjunction with a significant public statement by Operation Grange about what they think really happened to Madeleine McCann? - just as Grange clearly planned their script for the CrimeWatch McCann Special back in October in close collaboration and collusion with the BBC CrimeWatch team?
+++++++++++++++++++
P.S. Angelique wrote: "In fact, I am not even sure there will even be a book. Will you ask for a copy as a contributor?
REPLY: Probably not. But I might write to them about other matters concerning the content of their book.
I wonder to what extent the authors will have had contact with, and information from, DCI Andy Redwood and other members of the Operation Grange team?
Is it even possible that the book's release could be being carefully orchestrated in conjunction with a significant public statement by Operation Grange about what they think really happened to Madeleine McCann? - just as Grange clearly planned their script for the CrimeWatch McCann Special back in October in close collaboration and collusion with the BBC CrimeWatch team?
+++++++++++++++++++
P.S. Angelique wrote: "In fact, I am not even sure there will even be a book. Will you ask for a copy as a contributor?
REPLY: Probably not. But I might write to them about other matters concerning the content of their book.
____________________
Dr Martin Roberts: "The evidence is that these are the pjyamas Madeleine wore on holiday in Praia da Luz. They were photographed and the photo handed to a press agency, who released it on 8 May, as the search for Madeleine continued. The McCanns held up these same pyjamas at two press conferences on 5 & 7June 2007. How could Madeleine have been abducted?"
Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".
Tony Bennett- Researcher
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
According to Amazon, the paperback version is due out on the memorable date of 11th September.
Guest- Guest
Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
I have already ordered my copy, as I desperately want to know the evidence they have, and are presumably holding back from the PJ and SY
which shows that Madeleine was abducted.
I shall be fascinated to see their explanation of Kate's wide opan and tightly closed curtains
I shall read with interest their explanation of Gerry's changing from front door with key to unlocked patio door
I shall be prepared to re-calculate the Window of Opportunity
and I shall be fascinated to see if they choose
Tannerman, Smithman, Smelly bin man, Target T Shirt man, Cleaner people, Herds of Gypsies, Childless couple, Predatory Paedo***, Illuminati, Freemasons, Opus Dei, Bilderberg group, British MPs, motor scooter man, as their prime suspect
and if they choose
removed from the apartment alive - and still alive
removed alive and subsequently killed
killed in the apartment and then removed
found dead in the apartment and then removed
And if the scenario they purport is
Abduction by person watching apartment and taking notes
burglary "gone wrong"
And then
Sale to childless couple,
disposal within 50 m of apartment
disposal within 100 m of apartment
disposal within 500 m of apartment
disposal - other
But most of all I shall be fascinated to see what their interpretation is of the dogs' alerts, of the total gibbering incoherence of the tapas group during their interviews,
their explanation of the forgery of the Last Photo, their explanation of the many points at which the McCanns sought to 'alter' the weather.
I shall report back.
which shows that Madeleine was abducted.
I shall be fascinated to see their explanation of Kate's wide opan and tightly closed curtains
I shall read with interest their explanation of Gerry's changing from front door with key to unlocked patio door
I shall be prepared to re-calculate the Window of Opportunity
and I shall be fascinated to see if they choose
Tannerman, Smithman, Smelly bin man, Target T Shirt man, Cleaner people, Herds of Gypsies, Childless couple, Predatory Paedo***, Illuminati, Freemasons, Opus Dei, Bilderberg group, British MPs, motor scooter man, as their prime suspect
and if they choose
removed from the apartment alive - and still alive
removed alive and subsequently killed
killed in the apartment and then removed
found dead in the apartment and then removed
And if the scenario they purport is
Abduction by person watching apartment and taking notes
burglary "gone wrong"
And then
Sale to childless couple,
disposal within 50 m of apartment
disposal within 100 m of apartment
disposal within 500 m of apartment
disposal - other
But most of all I shall be fascinated to see what their interpretation is of the dogs' alerts, of the total gibbering incoherence of the tapas group during their interviews,
their explanation of the forgery of the Last Photo, their explanation of the many points at which the McCanns sought to 'alter' the weather.
I shall report back.
Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
TB
Thank you for your reply.
I stand corrected about whether there will be a Book too.
It can only be another whitewash IMO.
Thank you for your reply.
I stand corrected about whether there will be a Book too.
It can only be another whitewash IMO.
____________________
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Just a thought.
Will part of the proceeds be donated to the McCanns?
I voted 5
For obvious reasons.
parapono
Will part of the proceeds be donated to the McCanns?
I voted 5
For obvious reasons.
parapono
Guest- Guest
Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Angelique wrote:
I stand corrected about whether there will be a Book too.
It can only be another whitewash IMO.
I agree, it can only be another whitewash. Any thing else she risks being C-Red.
It's quite devious of her not to mention she was writing a book.
It would be interesting to see whether she includes materials from her exchange with TB.
aiyoyo- Posts : 9610
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
I see Pat brown was approached as well as Joanna Morais.
Pat's opinion of the forthcoming Book is it will Pro McCann. She says it can only be pro because it is published for UK.
It's just more propaganda in favour of stranger abduction.
Pat's opinion of the forthcoming Book is it will Pro McCann. She says it can only be pro because it is published for UK.
It's just more propaganda in favour of stranger abduction.
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Angelique- Posts : 1396
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
aiyoyo wrote:
I agree, it can only be another whitewash. Any thing else she risks being C-Red.
It's quite devious of her not to mention she was writing a book.
It would be interesting to see whether she includes materials from her exchange with TB.
Yes it has to get past CR - this is what Pat mentions on her blog. She was asked for permission to use some of her quotes but she thought they would be taken out of context and branded a conspiracy nut!
http://patbrownprofiling.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/why-i-knew-anthony-summers-book-on.html
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Angelique- Posts : 1396
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Hmmmm
From Wiki:
Anthony Bruce Summers (December 21, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and author of eight best-selling non-fiction books.[1] He is an Irish citizen, and has been working for more than twenty years with Robbyn Swan, who is his co-author and fourth wife.[2] After studying modern languages at Oxford University, his early work took him from labouring jobs to freelance reporting to London newspapers, to Granada TV's World in Action[3] – the UK's first tabloid public affairs programme, to writing the news for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, then back to England to the BBC's 24 Hours, a pioneering late evening show that brought viewers coverage from all over the world. Summers became the BBC's youngest producer at 24, travelling worldwide and sending filmed reports from the conflicts in Vietnam and the Middle East, and across Latin America.[3][4][5] A main focus, though, was on the momentous events of the 60s and 70s in the United States – with on-the-spot reports on Martin Luther King's assassination and on Robert F. Kennedy's bid for the presidency. He smuggled cameras into the then Soviet Union to obtain the only TV interview with dissident physicist Andrei Sakharov – when he was under house arrest, having just won the Nobel Prize.[3] Before moving on from the BBC, Summers became an Assistant Editor of the prestigious weekly programme Panorama. Long based in Ireland, he has since the mid-70s concentrated on investigative non-fiction, usually taking from four to five years to produce a book – conducting in-depth research, combining digging in the documentary record with exhaustive interviewing.[6][7]
Unquote
I also looked at the JFK and 9/11. 'Conclusions' on their joint website.
Nothing new, very keen on Oswald being at least one of the shooters and no in depth psychological analysis of participants.
Slates Oliver Stone by hinting he is mental.
i think we can expect lots of: 'on the 14th of. ... X and Y met to discuss - the press reported X and Y ,on the 16th Z sent a message to A, requesting assistance '. And so on and so forth. i'm expecting lots of words, lots left out and not so much a
whitewash as an all covering blancmange. Imo.
Anthony Bruce Summers (December 21, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and author of eight best-selling non-fiction books.[1] He is an Irish citizen, and has been working for more than twenty years with Robbyn Swan, who is his co-author and fourth wife.[2] After studying modern languages at Oxford University, his early work took him from labouring jobs to freelance reporting to London newspapers, to Granada TV's World in Action[3] – the UK's first tabloid public affairs programme, to writing the news for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, then back to England to the BBC's 24 Hours, a pioneering late evening show that brought viewers coverage from all over the world. Summers became the BBC's youngest producer at 24, travelling worldwide and sending filmed reports from the conflicts in Vietnam and the Middle East, and across Latin America.[3][4][5] A main focus, though, was on the momentous events of the 60s and 70s in the United States – with on-the-spot reports on Martin Luther King's assassination and on Robert F. Kennedy's bid for the presidency. He smuggled cameras into the then Soviet Union to obtain the only TV interview with dissident physicist Andrei Sakharov – when he was under house arrest, having just won the Nobel Prize.[3] Before moving on from the BBC, Summers became an Assistant Editor of the prestigious weekly programme Panorama. Long based in Ireland, he has since the mid-70s concentrated on investigative non-fiction, usually taking from four to five years to produce a book – conducting in-depth research, combining digging in the documentary record with exhaustive interviewing.[6][7]
Unquote
I also looked at the JFK and 9/11. 'Conclusions' on their joint website.
Nothing new, very keen on Oswald being at least one of the shooters and no in depth psychological analysis of participants.
Slates Oliver Stone by hinting he is mental.
i think we can expect lots of: 'on the 14th of. ... X and Y met to discuss - the press reported X and Y ,on the 16th Z sent a message to A, requesting assistance '. And so on and so forth. i'm expecting lots of words, lots left out and not so much a
whitewash as an all covering blancmange. Imo.
____________________
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.
Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
PeterMac wrote:I have already ordered my copy, as I desperately want to know the evidence they have, and are presumably holding back from the PJ and SY
which shows that Madeleine was abducted.
I shall be fascinated to see their explanation of Kate's wide opan and tightly closed curtains
I shall read with interest their explanation of Gerry's changing from front door with key to unlocked patio door
I shall be prepared to re-calculate the Window of Opportunity
and I shall be fascinated to see if they choose
Tannerman, Smithman, Smelly bin man, Target T Shirt man, Cleaner people, Herds of Gypsies, Childless couple, Predatory Paedo***, Illuminati, Freemasons, Opus Dei, Bilderberg group, British MPs, motor scooter man, as their prime suspect
and if they choose
removed from the apartment alive - and still alive
removed alive and subsequently killed
killed in the apartment and then removed
found dead in the apartment and then removed
And if the scenario they purport is
Abduction by person watching apartment and taking notes
burglary "gone wrong"
And then
Sale to childless couple,
disposal within 50 m of apartment
disposal within 100 m of apartment
disposal within 500 m of apartment
disposal - other
But most of all I shall be fascinated to see what their interpretation is of the dogs' alerts, of the total gibbering incoherence of the tapas group during their interviews,
their explanation of the forgery of the Last Photo, their explanation of the many points at which the McCanns sought to 'alter' the weather.
I shall report back.
![spit coffee](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/921124.gif)
Oh to be inside the mind of a senior detective!
Come out with your hands up high McCanns, they're coming to get you!
![flag](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/444319.gif)
![shark](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/1135810427.gif)
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
http://www.fishpond.co.uk/Books/Looking-for-Madeleine-Anthony-Summers-Robbyn-Swan/9781472211606
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.
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.
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Just thinking about the comparison with the Lindbergh case.
Charles Lindbergh was internationally known because of his flying achievements and was thought of as a hero. It was inevitable that the kidnapping of his son (whether genuine or a hoax) would be treated by the media in the way that it was.
The McCanns though were completely unknown outside of their immediate circle of friends and acquaintances.
Yes, it is strange that the coverage of their story was so enormous right from the word go, when the likelihood was that this was nothing more than a child who'd wandered off and would soon be found.
Charles Lindbergh was internationally known because of his flying achievements and was thought of as a hero. It was inevitable that the kidnapping of his son (whether genuine or a hoax) would be treated by the media in the way that it was.
The McCanns though were completely unknown outside of their immediate circle of friends and acquaintances.
Yes, it is strange that the coverage of their story was so enormous right from the word go, when the likelihood was that this was nothing more than a child who'd wandered off and would soon be found.
Guest- Guest
Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Awards won: (I would not include a listing on a prize they didn't win, such as the Pullitzer)
The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden was a Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for History.[The book was also awarded the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger for Non-fiction in 2012.
Not in Your Lifetime earned Summers the CWA Gold Dagger in 1980.
Anthony Summers was made a Fellow of the Literary & Historical Society of University College Dublin in 2012 (this is hardly an award as one can normally apply to become a Fellow, sometimes one has to be proposed by other members but on the whole it's a club, not an award.)
2012 was a good year clearly, but from the quick scan through the blurb on the website, nothing new again and quite a lot left out, hinting at Saoudi Arabia being involved which in view of the help they afforded the US in the first Gulf war seems a little strange.
I have a suggestion, we'll all gather round PeterMac's knees and he will read us a chapter each night before bedtime. It's legal, cheap and quick.![big grin](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/110921.gif)
The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden was a Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for History.[The book was also awarded the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger for Non-fiction in 2012.
Not in Your Lifetime earned Summers the CWA Gold Dagger in 1980.
Anthony Summers was made a Fellow of the Literary & Historical Society of University College Dublin in 2012 (this is hardly an award as one can normally apply to become a Fellow, sometimes one has to be proposed by other members but on the whole it's a club, not an award.)
2012 was a good year clearly, but from the quick scan through the blurb on the website, nothing new again and quite a lot left out, hinting at Saoudi Arabia being involved which in view of the help they afforded the US in the first Gulf war seems a little strange.
I have a suggestion, we'll all gather round PeterMac's knees and he will read us a chapter each night before bedtime. It's legal, cheap and quick.
![big grin](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/110921.gif)
____________________
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.
Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
tigger wrote:Awards won: (I would not include a listing on a prize they didn't win, such as the Pullitzer)
The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden was a Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for History.[The book was also awarded the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger for Non-fiction in 2012.
Not in Your Lifetime earned Summers the CWA Gold Dagger in 1980.
Anthony Summers was made a Fellow of the Literary & Historical Society of University College Dublin in 2012 (this is hardly an award as one can normally apply to become a Fellow, sometimes one has to be proposed by other members but on the whole it's a club, not an award.)
2012 was a good year clearly, but from the quick scan through the blurb on the website, nothing new again and quite a lot left out, hinting at Saoudi Arabia being involved which in view of the help they afforded the US in the first Gulf war seems a little strange.
I have a suggestion, we'll all gather round PeterMac's knees and he will read us a chapter each night before bedtime. It's legal, cheap and quick.
Can I be bold and second that.
![smilie](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/847771.gif)
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Things aren't always what they seem
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Angelique wrote:I see Pat brown was approached as well as Joanna Morais.
Pat's opinion of the forthcoming Book is it will Pro McCann. She says it can only be pro because it is published for UK.
It's just more propaganda in favour of stranger abduction.
So they approach Tony who has obviously done a lot of good research and digging on the case then Pat Brown and Joana Morais who are bloggers who are pretty high profile amongst the people that follow this case....but none of them have access to anything more than the published files.
It's strange they don't seem to have approached someone like Amaral who actually worked the case and has seen much more information than anyone else isn't it?
![nah](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/172348.gif)
I have to agree that these authors probably approached sceptics in the hope they would slip up by saying something defamatory or taking their words out of context.
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
tigger wrote:Awards won: (I would not include a listing on a prize they didn't win, such as the Pullitzer)
The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden was a Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for History.[The book was also awarded the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger for Non-fiction in 2012.
Not in Your Lifetime earned Summers the CWA Gold Dagger in 1980.
Anthony Summers was made a Fellow of the Literary & Historical Society of University College Dublin in 2012 (this is hardly an award as one can normally apply to become a Fellow, sometimes one has to be proposed by other members but on the whole it's a club, not an award.)
2012 was a good year clearly, but from the quick scan through the blurb on the website, nothing new again and quite a lot left out, hinting at Saoudi Arabia being involved which in view of the help they afforded the US in the first Gulf war seems a little strange.
I have a suggestion, we'll all gather round PeterMac's knees and he will read us a chapter each night before bedtime. It's legal, cheap and quick.
And will most probably be more effective than Temazepam at inducing sleep.
![yes](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/160807.gif)
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Thanks Angelique for the link. It's a short piece so I thought I will post it up
SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014
Why I knew Anthony Summers' Book on the Madeleine McCann Case would be Pro-McCann
I tossed out a short bit recently on Facebook and Twitter about how I was pretty sure Anthony Summers' upcoming book Looking for Madeleine due out in September would be a very pro-McCann book and I heard back from some that they held out hope that the book would bring out the facts and not be another whitewash of the evidence. I didn't explain in depth exactly why I thought this book was going to be one more nail in the coffin in the fight for truth and justice - for Madeleine McCann, Gonçalo Amaral, and everyone who has stuck their neck out - why I thought that this was yet another sign of the end days for this sad case which I predict will have Scotland Yard not far behind with their own final whitewash.
Here is why I profiled Mr. Summers and his book (co-authored with his wife, Robbyn Swan) as a pro-McCann piece of propaganda and not at all a well-researched and even-handed book on the case.
1) Mr. Summers emailed me for permission to use some quotes from my blogs in his book. The quotes were the kind that could easily be used out of context to show me as a conspiracy nut.
2) If Mr. Summers was truly doing in-depth research on the case and "in-depth interviews" as is claimed in this Amazon blurb, why did he never do an in-depth interview with me? I am not trying to say I am vastly important and how dare he ignore me, but I would think any author worth their salt would interview a well-known profiler who has written numerous blogs on the case, who has written a book that was Carter-rucked by the McCanns, and who has actually gone to Portugal to "look for Madeleine." But, no, he only emailed me just before the final copy went to print to ask me about a few quotes.
3) He interviewed some McCanns (not sure which ones).
4) He didn't interview Gonçalo Amaral.
5) He got a big publisher and his book is being published in the UK. If that isn't enough of a red flag, you are bloody well blind! Read: No fear of being Carter-Rucked!
6) What interesting timing......
Anyway, I asked Mr. Summers a few questions and he refused to give me a straight answer. I had the sickening feeling my suspicions were going to be well-founded.
And today I read the description of the book at Amazon.co. uk. There was the proof I profiled him and his book correctly.
Speculation that the McCanns played a role in their daughter's fate, the authors demonstrate, is unfounded.
Sadly, I think this book is going to get a lot of positive media attention. The man and his wife can write and their skill is going to convince people who read the book that the McCanns are innocent and an abduction actually happened. He is touting the party line and the McCanns will surely back the book as, finally, they have "award-winning authors Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan" producing "the first independent, objective account of the case."
My foot.
Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
July 26, 2014
Says there he has interviewed some Mccanns; that tells you it can only be a pro-mcs and probably endorsed by the Mccanns. It would be interesting to see whether he dedicates front page to Mccanns to have their foreword.
Won't surprise me if he rides on the back of Mccanns name to attract readers.
Maddie's case has been done to death in the media, with also quite a few books by varies authors already in the market. What makes him believed his book is going to attract the numbers, unless he's the full endorsement of Mccanns, making his book the only one writte with mccanns endorsement in the market.
In a nutshell, he's only the extended mouth of Kate telling Kate's story.
Terming it as objective account isn't accurate when only one side (the mccanns side) is interviewed.
How can a one-sided thing be called objective?
He should, at the very least interview, Amaral and even PeterMac to get an insight into the working of investigations then only he can quantify his objectiveness.
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
Well, I guess it's too late now, but if the authors want to contact me for my thoughts, I'd be happy to give them a few pointers.
Dear Authors, if you're reading this, please feel free to send me a Private Message. I'll gladly help you get to the known facts of the case.
[I won't be holding my breath!]
![smilie](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/847771.gif)
Dear Authors, if you're reading this, please feel free to send me a Private Message. I'll gladly help you get to the known facts of the case.
![smilie](/users/3111/10/75/94/smiles/847771.gif)
[I won't be holding my breath!]
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
I agree with everything Pat Brow says there, I didn't think they would bother to interview Amaral......
....but is it a possibility that this book won't get so much attention. From the comments on McCann stories, people are fed up with the whole thing and no longer sympathetic with the parents.
....but is it a possibility that this book won't get so much attention. From the comments on McCann stories, people are fed up with the whole thing and no longer sympathetic with the parents.
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Re: 'Looking for Madeleine' by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan - My response to their enquiries
ChippyM wrote:Angelique wrote:I see Pat brown was approached as well as Joanna Morais.
Pat's opinion of the forthcoming Book is it will Pro McCann. She says it can only be pro because it is published for UK.
It's just more propaganda in favour of stranger abduction.
So they approach Tony who has obviously done a lot of good research and digging on the case then Pat Brown and Joana Morais who are bloggers who are pretty high profile amongst the people that follow this case....but none of them have access to anything more than the published files.
It's strange they don't seem to have approached someone like Amaral who actually worked the case and has seen much more information than anyone else isn't it?![]()
I have to agree that these authors probably approached sceptics in the hope they would slip up by saying something defamatory or taking their words out of context.
That pretty much says it all.
Write a pro McCann book that'll say everything they say is true. Why bother contacting the actual detective leading the case when, he'll say stuff you don't want to hear.
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» A REVIEW OF ‘LOOKING FOR MADELEINE’, BY ANTHONY SUMMERS AND ROBBYN SWAN
» The difficult task facing ANTHONY SUMMERS & ROBBYN SWAN as they publish 'Looking for Madeleine', billed as 'the most definitive account possible' of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
» FoI Act request 19 Sep 2014 - Met Police - Meetings with authors Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan
» Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
» Summers & Swan Ch 25 + 26
» The difficult task facing ANTHONY SUMMERS & ROBBYN SWAN as they publish 'Looking for Madeleine', billed as 'the most definitive account possible' of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
» FoI Act request 19 Sep 2014 - Met Police - Meetings with authors Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan
» Summers & Swan promote their book 'Looking for Madeleine' at major Irish literary and media festival, June 2015
» Summers & Swan Ch 25 + 26
The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann™ :: Books on the Madeleine McCann case :: Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan's book: 'Looking for Madeleine'
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