Re: The Mystery of the Make-Up Photo - was it taken on the same day as the Last Photo?

by Guest 11.11.16 0:45

I think it's universally agreed, at least by those with any moral decency, that the images of Madeleine McCann used by Jon Corner for this short 2010 appeal video - be they originals or enhanced - were inappropriate and if I may add unnecessary.

The question remains - where did he get these photographs from to enable him to prepare a comprehensive portfolio of Madeleine images in time for the McCanns website launch and his own purposes around Friday 4th May 2007 - within minutes/hours of Kate McCann raising the abduction alarm around 10:00 pm on the night of 3rd May 2007?

By her own admission in her book 'madeleine', Kate McCann says she was sifting through photographs on her camera whilst her husband was being interviewed on 10th May 2007 so clearly they didn't originate from her camera at that time. Nor did they originate from any camera on the night of 3rd May 2007, otherwise a more appropriate image would have been selected for identification purposes as required by the PJ.

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Image of Madeleine produced by the McCann group to the PJ for identification

by **Tony Bennett** 11.11.16 1:02

Verdi wrote:The question remains - where did he get these photographs from to enable him to prepare a comprehensive portfolio of Madeleine images in time for the McCanns website launch and his own purposes around Friday 4th May 2007 - within minutes/hours of Kate McCann raising the abduction alarm around 10:00 pm on the night of 3rd May 2007?

It is quite amazing some of the things that went on during the night of Thursday 3 May/Friday 4 May.

Quite apart from the hectic round of 'phone calls by the McCanns and their friends to relatives, friends and the news media, that night included:

at 4.00am - Alan Pike, pretend psychologist from the Centre for Crisis Counselling, summoned by Mark Warner and told to 'get on the next plane to Portugal

at 5.00am - Jon Clarke, British ex-pat and Editor of The Olive Press in Spain, telephoned by the Sun and told to get up now and drive 250 miles to Praia da Luz

at 6.00am - Kerry Needham, mother of Ben, says the press were knocking on her door, asking for interviews and quotes.

Was this all spontaneous? Who MADE these telephone calls in the dead of night? Why the urgency? Was there an advance plan to make sure this became an international event by breakfast on the Friday morning?

by Guest 11.11.16 7:38

Yes. Lots of non-searching going on.
And some sleeping I believe.

by JRP 11.11.16 9:46

All these people jetting off in the early hours, it wouldn't take much persuasion to consider someone knew Madeleine wouldn't simply turn up or be found 10 minutes later.

by **Tony Bennett** 11.11.16 10:12

JRP wrote:All these people jetting off in the early hours, it wouldn't take much persuasion to consider someone knew Madeleine wouldn't simply turn up or be found 10 minutes later.

Indeed, I would argue that it is an almost unmistakable sign of extensive pre-planning.

And, lest we forget, the Director and Deputy Director of Bell Pottinger subsidiary, Resonate, appear to have been there from the Monday, 30th April...and were rapidly involved in liaison work with the Portuguese Police and the British Ambassador (as NickE here found for us)

by Cmaryholmes 11.11.16 10:36

Yes, how would an ordinary pair of doctors with three very small children to look after ,have the wherewithal to contact all those influential people, especially as they were, by their own admission ' non functioning' due to the trauma caused by Madeleine's 'abduction' .

by sar 11.11.16 11:16

Tony Bennett wrote:
Verdi wrote:The question remains - where did he get these photographs from to enable him to prepare a comprehensive portfolio of Madeleine images in time for the McCanns website launch and his own purposes around Friday 4th May 2007 - within minutes/hours of Kate McCann raising the abduction alarm around 10:00 pm on the night of 3rd May 2007?
It is quite amazing some of the things that went on during the night of Thursday 3 May/Friday 4 May.

Quite apart from the hectic round of 'phone calls by the McCanns and their friends to relatives, friends and the news media, that night included:

at 4.00am - Alan Pike, pretend psychologist from the Centre for Crisis Counselling, summoned by Mark Warner and told to 'get on the next plane to Portugal

at 5.00am - Jon Clarke, British ex-pat and Editor of The Olive Press in Spain, telephoned by the Sun and told to get up now and drive 250 miles to Praia da Luz

at 6.00am - Kerry Needham, mother of Ben, says the press were knocking on her door, asking for interviews and quotes.

Was this all spontaneous? Who MADE these telephone calls in the dead of night? Why the urgency? Was there an advance plan to make sure this became an international event by breakfast on the Friday morning?

Good Morning Tony,

Add in:

"Indeed, I would argue that it is an almost unmistakable sign of extensive pre-planning.

And, lest we forget, the Director and Deputy Director of Bell Pottinger subsidiary, Resonate, appear to have been there from the Monday, 30th April...and were rapidly involved in liaison work with the Portuguese Police and the British Ambassador (as NickE here found for us)"

If it looks like a PR campaign, sells like a PR campaign, etc etc..... unless I'm mistaken dovetails nicely with lead times / deadlines for print / tv media?

Eta Apologies for injudicious quoting / pasting

by Guest 11.11.16 15:02

“So beautiful, astonishingly bright, and I’d have to say very charismatic. She would shine out of a crowd,” family friend Jon Corner says of the child. “So—God forgive me—maybe that’s part of the problem. That special quality. Some bastard picked up on that.”

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by Guest 11.11.16 15:10

Thursday 3rd May 2007

The only other unexplained detail I remember from that morning was a large, brown stain I noticed on Madeleine’s pink Eeyore pyjama top. I couldn’t recall seeing it the night before and I had no idea how it might have got there. It looked like tea stain. Gerry and I do drink quite a bit of tea, and Madeleine, too, would have the odd small cup. So at the time I just assumed it was a drink spillage that had escaped our attention, and that might well be all it was. But now, of course, we can no longer make assumptions about anything that can’t be accounted for....

The morning continued like the others with kids’ clubs and tennis. After my lesson, I hung around on the grassy play area, watching Gerry on the court and chatting to Russell, who I’d found there. Another guest appeared with a video camera to record his three-year-old daughter playing mini-tennis. He looked a little embarrassed and laughingly remarked to us that filming in this way made him feel like a dirty old man. It led to a conversation between the three of us about paedophiles....

madeleine by KAE MCCANN (neigh Healy)

by Guest 11.11.16 15:30

Cmaryholmes wrote:Yes, how would an ordinary pair of doctors with three very small children to look after ,have the wherewithal to contact all those influential people, especially as they were, by their own admission ' non functioning' due to the trauma caused by Madeleine's 'abduction' .

To cut a very long story short..

Shortly after 10:00 pm on 3rd May 2007

I vividly recall sobbing, ‘Not Madeleine, not Madeleine, not Madeleine.’ I was trying so hard to suppress the negative voice in my head tormenting me with the words, ‘She’s gone. She’s gone.’ Even now, when the dark clouds close in on me, I find myself shaking my head manically and repeating over and over again, ‘Not Madeleine, not Madeleine. Please God, not my Madeleine.’

Gerry and I were standing in the living room clutching each other, utterly distraught. I couldn’t help myself, let alone try to soothe Gerry, who was in a state too harrowing for me to bear, howling for his precious little girl. I kept blaming myself – ‘We’ve let her down! We’ve failed her!’ – which increased Fiona’s own distress. ‘You haven’t Kate. You haven’t,’ she insisted....

I was just so overwhelmed by fear, helplessness and frustration, I was hitting out at things, banging my fists on the metal railing of the veranda, trying to expel the intolerable pain inside me....

Fear was searing through my body....

Russell later asked us for our digital photos of Madeleine and went off somewhere with our camera.

madeleine by KATE MCCANN
----------

So didn't actually search (any reference to Gerry running from pillar to post must have been metaphorical) but there was plenty going on behind the scenes - apparently.

“…whatever the Portuguese police might find in their investigation, the McCanns will have an innocent explanation for it” - Clarence Mitchell

If nothing else, all this is certainly a strong indication as to why the McCanns were so busy keeping off the radar during the week.

by **Nina** 11.11.16 19:52

Call me thick but these photos of Madeleine being available to press and JC so quickly? We are speaking here of 2007.Ok not the dark ages but how quickly those photographs were available.
Did they send everything then, the twins, the family , the ups and the downs or just photographs of Madeleine?

by sar 11.11.16 20:35

Nina wrote:Call me thick but these photos of Madeleine being available to press and JC so quickly? We are speaking here of 2007.Ok not the dark ages but how quickly those photographs were available.
Did they send everything then, the twins, the family , the ups and the downs or just photographs of Madeleine?

it's not thick at all, it's with the greatest respect, the sort of question I'd ask. Even in 2007 digital cameras were ubiquitous, think someone more diligent has noted how many images it was possible to store on the sort of camera available at the time. Plus the speed with which they were made available. Some one had to edit the images and transfer / send them.

by Guest 11.11.16 20:48

Nina wrote:Call me thick but these photos of Madeleine being available to press and JC so quickly? We are speaking here of 2007.Ok not the dark ages but how quickly those photographs were available.
Did they send everything then, the twins, the family , the ups and the downs or just photographs of Madeleine?

Nah - I'm saving that for a rainy day smilie

!

The subject of photographs appears to be a complete enigma, apart from Madeleine in the playground Madeleine (?) at the tennis court and Madeleine at the poolside what is there - nothing?

Goncalo Amaral wanted photographs, not only the McCann family but the whole group, to get a feel of what they were about and to identify anything unusual going on in the background that might assist the investigation, what did he get - nothing?

Goncalo Amaral and his team wanted photographic evidence of what the group were wearing on the night of 3rd May when dining at the Tapas restaurant, what did he get - nothing?

The PJ wanted a photograph of Madeleine to use for identification purposes, what did they get apart from an outdated photograph of Madeleine - nothing?

I don't know why most of the photographs in the PJ files are reproduced in grayscale/black and white but as far as I can make out, the only images of Madeleine are in the playground, the remainder seem to be mostly David Payne and others on a balcony or some other unidentified location - where were the McCanns - where was MADELEINE?

This is just not normal. No matter how 'into each other' the group might or might not have been, parents take scores of photographs of their children (more so when on holiday), it's their job. At the creche, in the apartment, on the balcony, in the playground, at the paddling on the sunbeds, on the beach, walking to and from, being carried, being pushed, eating, drinking, playing, getting dirty - where are they?

All that's available is a string of convoluting stories about memory cards/sticks, a printer that has since disappeared, a less than reliable member of staff, a camera placed on a table in apartment 5a and a whole load of images of Madeleine over the years.

Can only speak for myself but once uploaded onto computer I delete photographs from a camera memory - what's the point of cluttering a camera's memory by storing the same image on camera and on computer. It's difficult for me to comprehend why the McCann camera/s stored photographs of Madeleine over a period of some years without deletion, if indeed that was the case. If not..

Enter Jon Corner - how did he get his hands on an extensive portfolio of Madeleine images when the McCanns themselves couldn't even produce a current good quality photograph of Madeleine from their holiday snaps at the Ocean Club - like the iconic 'last photograph' - Madeleine at the poolside with her father and sister?

by **Nina** 11.11.16 20:53

sar wrote:
Nina wrote:Call me thick but these photos of Madeleine being available to press and JC so quickly? We are speaking here of 2007.Ok not the dark ages but how quickly those photographs were available.
Did they send everything then, the twins, the family , the ups and the downs or just photographs of Madeleine?
it's not thick at all, it's with the greatest respect, the sort of question I'd ask. Even in 2007 digital cameras were ubiquitous, think someone more diligent has noted how many images it was possible to store on the sort of camera available at the time. Plus the speed with which they were made available. Some one had to edit the images and transfer / send them.

Thank you Sar for your response.I hesitate to comment as nothing really to add but this really made me scratch my head.All the photographs available to the MSM and JC so soon.Whilst I would have been screaming my head off whilst I scoured the countryside. As I once did for a missing cat, but eh, that's just the way I am.

by **Nina** 11.11.16 20:57

Verdi wrote:
Nina wrote:Call me thick but these photos of Madeleine being available to press and JC so quickly? We are speaking here of 2007.Ok not the dark ages but how quickly those photographs were available.
Did they send everything then, the twins, the family , the ups and the downs or just photographs of Madeleine?
Nah - I'm saving that for a rainy day !

The subject of photographs appears to be a complete enigma, apart from Madeleine in the playground Madeleine (?) at the tennis court and Madeleine at the poolside what is there - nothing?

Goncalo Amaral wanted photographs, not only the McCann family but the whole group, to get a feel of what they were about and to identify anything unusual going on in the background that might assist the investigation, what did he get - nothing?

Goncalo Amaral and his team wanted photographic evidence of what the group were wearing on the night of 3rd May when dining at the Tapas restaurant, what did he get - nothing?

The PJ wanted a photograph of Madeleine to use for identification purposes, what did they get apart from an outdated photograph of Madeleine - nothing?

I don't know why most of the photographs in the PJ files are reproduced in grayscale/black and white but as far as I can make out, the only images of Madeleine are in the playground, the remainder seem to be mostly David Payne and others on a balcony or some other unidentified location - where were the McCanns - where was MADELEINE?

This is just not normal. No matter how 'into each other' the group might or might not have been, parents take scores of photographs of their children (more so when on holiday), it's their job. At the creche, in the apartment, on the balcony, in the playground, at the paddling on the sunbeds, on the beach, walking to and from, being carried, being pushed, eating, drinking, playing, getting dirty - where are they?

All that's available is a string of convoluting stories about memory cards/sticks, a printer that has since disappeared, a less than reliable member of staff, a camera placed on a table in apartment 5a and a whole load of images of Madeleine over the years.

Can only speak for myself but once uploaded onto computer I delete photographs from a camera memory - what's the point of cluttering a camera's memory by storing the same image on camera and on computer. It's difficult for me to comprehend why the McCann camera/s stored photographs of Madeleine over a period of some years without deletion, if indeed that was the case. If not..

Enter Jon Corner - how did he get his hands on an extensive portfolio of Madeleine images when the McCanns themselves couldn't even produce a current good quality photograph of Madeleine from their holiday snaps at the Ocean Club - like the iconic 'last photograph' - Madeleine at the poolside with her father and sister?

Thank you [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. You said it so much better than these old arthritic fingers could have typed but exactly my thoughts. roses

by JohnyT 11.11.16 22:25

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote
This is just not normal. No matter how 'into each other' the group might or might not have been, parents take scores of photographs of their children (more so when on holiday), it's their job. At the creche, in the apartment, on the balcony, in the playground, at the paddling on the sunbeds, on the beach, walking to and from, being carried, being pushed, eating, drinking, playing, getting dirty - where are they?

....maybe not as many if you are alleged sociopaths..............

JohnyT

by JohnyT 11.11.16 22:28

Nina wrote:
sar wrote:
Nina wrote:Call me thick but these photos of Madeleine being available to press and JC so quickly? We are speaking here of 2007.Ok not the dark ages but how quickly those photographs were available.
Did they send everything then, the twins, the family , the ups and the downs or just photographs of Madeleine?
it's not thick at all, it's with the greatest respect, the sort of question I'd ask. Even in 2007 digital cameras were ubiquitous, think someone more diligent has noted how many images it was possible to store on the sort of camera available at the time. Plus the speed with which they were made available. Some one had to edit the images and transfer / send them.
Thank you Sar for your response.I hesitate to comment as nothing really to add but this really made me scratch my head.All the photographs available to the MSM and JC so soon.Whilst I would have been screaming my head off whilst I scoured the countryside. As I once did for a missing cat, but eh, that's just the way I am.

......we panicked when we lost our dog and immediately went searching for him. .....the relief was intense when we found him again.....
johnyT

by Guest 11.11.16 23:49

Nina wrote:Thank you [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. You said it so much better than these old arthritic fingers could have typed but exactly my thoughts.

Oh I don't know - at least you're in control of your dodgy digits which is more than you can say for me and my dodgy keyboard angrypcuser

!

Would you use this taken on holiday at the Ocean Club..

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or wuld you use this taken on holiday at the Ocean Club..

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or would you use this taken at some previous unspecified time..

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The first two photographs MUST have been stored on a camera belonging to the McCanns or one of their friends, even ten years ago it would have been comparatively simple to produce a picture stored on their cameras - if they didn't have the requisite equipment, such as a printer, why not just hand over the memory card/stick to the police?

There can be no acceptable excuse for not producing one of the photographs of Madeleine taken at the Ocean Club. Speaks volumes in my opinion.

by Guest 11.11.16 23:52

JohnyT wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote
This is just not normal. No matter how 'into each other' the group might or might not have been, parents take scores of photographs of their children (more so when on holiday), it's their job. At the creche, in the apartment, on the balcony, in the playground, at the paddling on the sunbeds, on the beach, walking to and from, being carried, being pushed, eating, drinking, playing, getting dirty - where are they?

....maybe not as many if you are alleged sociopaths..............

JohnyT

Point taken big grin

!

Still no excuse for producing an out-dated photograph of their missing daughter as opposed to one or more of the images taken at the Ocean Club winkwink

.

by Grande Finale 12.11.16 2:48

I was under the impression that the Majorca holiday (ie Gaspar statement holiday) was in 2006
but after doing a little research I discovered that it was in Sept 2005.
At that time Maddie was 2 years and 5 months.

There is no way that the makeup photo is of MBM at that age. Looking at the christmas video from 2006 seems to be nearer to the correct age.

So in conclusion I would agree that the makeup photograph could have been taken in Praia da Luz May 2007 and if not just a few short weeks prior.

Here we have yet another version from the Independant that the photo was taken at the Mccanns home but I fail to see where their house (in red brick) could possibly have a beige stucco wall like the one in the makeup photo ?

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"The still pictures of Madeleine messing around with her mother's make-up and jewellery at her home punctuate a poignant video"

by **Tony Bennett** 12.11.16 8:53

Grande Finale wrote:So in conclusion I would agree that the Make-Up photograph could have been taken in Praia da Luz May 2007 and if not just a few short weeks prior.

Here we have yet another version from the Independent that the photo was taken at the McCanns home but I fail to see where their house (in red brick) could possibly have a beige stucco wall like the one in the Make-Up Photo ?

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"The still pictures of Madeleine messing around with her mother's make-up and jewellery at her home punctuate a poignant video"

Thank you very much @ Grande Finale for looking this up and bringing it here.

From every indication we have about this photo, it does not appear that we have been told the truth about it.

Looking at all the contributions on this thread so far, I think I can safely now say that no-one has refuted. or can refute, the distinct possibility that this 'Lolita' photo of Madeleine was taken on the very same say (probably Sunday) as the Last Photo.

If anyone disagrees that this is where we have got to, I would be very interested to read any evidence that contradicts this hypothesis.

And if we're right about it, the implications are very serious indeed

by kaz 12.11.16 9:19

Verdi wrote:
JohnyT wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote
This is just not normal. No matter how 'into each other' the group might or might not have been, parents take scores of photographs of their children (more so when on holiday), it's their job. At the creche, in the apartment, on the balcony, in the playground, at the paddling on the sunbeds, on the beach, walking to and from, being carried, being pushed, eating, drinking, playing, getting dirty - where are they?

....maybe not as many if you are alleged sociopaths..............

JohnyT
Point taken !

Still no excuse for producing an out-dated photograph of their missing daughter as opposed to one or more of the images taken at the Ocean Club .

They even had the more recent clip of Madeleine boarding the aeroplane for PDL. Now whose camera was that little video on ?

by sar 12.11.16 10:40

Forgive me, but the JC video, embedded with the stills, should have timestamp / meta data etc? Not sure.

by Guest 12.11.16 12:53

Thursday, 27 December 2007

A strange picture of Madeleine, from Paul Grover (*)

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Is this the same Paul Grover from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], "Britain's leading independent photographic press agency and picture library, supplying a daily service of news, celebrity, features, and stock photos to all national newspapers, magazines, TV, web and other media in the UK and in more than 30 countries worldwide"? Or is it just a coincidence? The picture [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] by a McCann special support group, a secret organization which has members in more than 25 countries. The site [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], just six days after Madeleine McCann disappeared.

Publicada por Paulo Reis

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Make of that what you will.

It's already been established that this particular photograph was taken at the home of the McCanns in Rothley, Leicester. Sorry to digress from the main topic but I can see a very worrying pattern emerging if the above information be factual.

by Guest 12.11.16 15:28

kaz wrote:
Verdi wrote:
JohnyT wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wrote
This is just not normal. No matter how 'into each other' the group might or might not have been, parents take scores of photographs of their children (more so when on holiday), it's their job. At the creche, in the apartment, on the balcony, in the playground, at the paddling on the sunbeds, on the beach, walking to and from, being carried, being pushed, eating, drinking, playing, getting dirty - where are they?

....maybe not as many if you are alleged sociopaths..............

JohnyT
Point taken !

Still no excuse for producing an out-dated photograph of their missing daughter as opposed to one or more of the images taken at the Ocean Club .
They even had the more recent clip of Madeleine boarding the aeroplane for PDL. Now whose camera was that little video on ?

Indeed - and the airport transit bus..

McCann Bus Video date as posted on REUTERS

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by kaz 13.11.16 18:18

If you go to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and scroll about half way down, there is a picture of Gerry with the three children.( photo 22 ) Madeleine's hair and colouring is remarkably similar to the 'make up ' photo and I'm pretty sure she has a little bow in her hair. The photo appears to be of a holiday somewhere as Gerry is wearing shorts and a blue Tshirt . and Madeleine, a sleeveless dress. I guess the twins look about 12 months old.

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by Guest 13.11.16 19:50

Forgive the intrusion but I think this is a better copy..

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I'm no expert and would agree it's difficult to compare but to me this image of Madeleine looks considerably younger than the 'make-up' photograph below..

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I see no reason to think the 'make-up' photograph was taken something like a year prior to the holiday in Portugal. Only my opinion - I know different eyes and minds don't always agree.

by Cmaryholmes 13.11.16 19:56

The 'make up ' photo looks like a much older child than the photo of Gerry with all three. She even looks much older than 3 going on 4 .....so disturbing.

by **sandancer** 13.11.16 20:25

Verdi wrote:Forgive the intrusion but I think this is a better copy..

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I'm no expert and would agree it's difficult to compare but to me this image of Madeleine looks considerably younger than the 'make-up' photograph below..

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I see no reason to think the 'make-up' photograph was taken something like a year prior to the holiday in Portugal. Only my opinion - I know different eyes and minds don't always agree.

The first photo with Gerry and the twins Madeleine looks about 21/2.
She has that chubby cheeks toddler look . The hairstyle seems the same as the "make up " photo but to my eyes the "make up " one is an older child.
I know she's got her chin lifted and is looking down at the camera but it's the something in her expression and I'm searching for a word here the one that comes to mind is "knowing " . That's not a look that an almost 4 year old should have !
Deeply disturbing .

by kaz 15.11.16 9:57

kaz wrote:
kaz's post:

I'm not so sure. These two (above) photographs look more alike to me than the 'Make Up' photo and the 'Last Photo' by the pool where Madeleine's skin has a definite sunblush. If the head was tilted (making the hair a fraction longer at the shoulders ) and make up applied IMO they would be very similar.

I don't think the 'knowing' look comes from Madeleine herself. It's more from the eyes. Interesting that the awkward pose of the head, the heavy blue eyeshadow and the upward angle of the camera all conspire to make the eyes the focus of this discomforting demeanour.

Incidentally, why is this photograph cropped at a very odd point? Is that the way it was published? The reason I ask is because the McCanns aren't usually shy about having their happy smiling faces shown alongside the children's in publicity photographs.

===================================================

REPLY BY TONY BENNETT

I'm not so sure. These two (above) photographs look more alike to me than the 'Make Up' photo and the 'Last Photo' by the pool where Madeleine's skin has a definite sunblush. If the head was tilted (making the hair a fraction longer at the shoulders ) and make up applied IMO they would be very similar.

REPLY: I think you might be in a minority of one on that issue @ kaz. The face in the top picture is manifestly that of a much younger Madeleine. Remember Madeleine was nearly 4 on 29 April 2007 when it is suggested both the Make Up Photo and the Last Photo were taken

I don't think the 'knowing' look comes from Madeleine herself. It's more from the eyes. Interesting that the awkward pose of the head, the heavy blue eyeshadow and the upward angle of the camera all conspire to make the eyes the focus of this discomforting demeanour.

REPLY: Indeed. One of the many strange features of this photo.

Incidentally, why is this photograph cropped at a very odd point? Is that the way it was published? The reason I ask is because the McCanns aren't usually shy about having their happy smiling faces shown alongside the children's in publicity photographs.

REPLY: This photo has only ever appeared as part of a video film. It is quite clear that it has indeed been 'cropped'. Or rather, what happens during the few seconds the image is on the screen is that the image is in close-up to begin with, then gradually the image opens up, to the point that we just manage to see the blue object which I think is a blue plastic chair. Then it clicks over to another very posed image of Madeleine. I personally consider that the reason we do not see more of the background location is so as to give as little away as possible about where it was actually taken

The Mystery of the Make-Up Photo - was it taken on the same day as the Last Photo?