Clarence Mitchell: "Spin cycle of lunacy"

Media coverage of Madeleine McCann disappearance was a "spin cycle of lunacy"

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By Ahmer Khokhar In Australia

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Madeleine McCann, aged three, in 2007

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Clarence Mitchell, who has represented the McCanns for 10 years, told Australia's Sunday Night documentary, which aired Down Under today, that media coverage in the wake of Madeline's disappearance was a "spin cycle of lunacy".
He said: "If we denied anything it gave the media a story because we denied it so half the time we ignored stuff and didn't give it credibility by commenting on it.

"So that appears in a paper on Monday in Portugal and it's wrong (factually incorrect), and then it reappears in the Daily Mail on the Tuesday, and then on the Wednesday the mainstream Portuguese papers would rerun the story from the established, illustrious Daily Mail.

"It was a spin cycle of lunacy. "Even now people come up to me and say things that are completely untrue, but they've read it on Facebook and seen it on Twitter so it must be true."


He said that for many members of the public, "the situation just didn't fit the stereotypical ideal that many people have, wrongly, that something like this can't happen to a family like them".

"Once it was reported that the family weren't with the children when Madeleine went missing, then the judgment squad kicked in and they were 'guilty of neglect' at the very least.

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Media frenzy - Kate and Gerry McCann leave a hotel in Praia Du Luz, Portugal, on route to an interview with television crews shortly after Madeleine's disappearance in 2007. (Photograph courtesy of Steve Parsons/Pool/PA Wire)

Mr Mitchell said the British police told the couple to try to not show much emotion when doing media coverage.

This was because abductors of children "watch the media coverage to get a sexual kick out of the parents' distress and tears they have caused", said Mr Mitchell.

"They were warned about this and were told by the British authorities 'If you can try not to show overt emotion'."

In response to the interviewer saying people had described the couple as looking "cold and poker faced", Kate said: "I don't think I had a day for 18 months that didn't have a long period crying.

"Now I've learned that people judge very readily and what you see on camera isn't the full story."

Gerry said that Kate was "howling like wild animal with grief and despair" for days.

Kate said that after the couple became suspects in the case, "suddenly doors began to close", hampering the search for their girl.

"The UK Government and authorities withdrew and there were doubts amongst sectors of the general public so we felt hampered then and the hardest thing and the most distressing thing is that that impacts on the search for Madeleine. We need people to help us by looking for her, so at that point we felt very alone and that we were fighting a million battles to be honest. It was very difficult to counter any negativity that appeared in the media in Portugal."
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Under Portuguese law, the couple were forbidden from speaking out in their own defence, viewers were told.

Gerry said: "It was incredibly hard, because we were having a trial by media and there was misinformation and smears against us and the threat of breaking judicial secrecy if we talked about details of the investigation."

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Here's another 'spin cycle of lunacy' :

Hellish Lair
Back by Christmas (2007/8/9)
Secret Caves in Burgau
Morocco
Mauritania
Middle east
Australia via Barcelona
Solitary Pae**
Pae** ring
Loving couple
Trafficking
Alive
Dead
None of the above
ALL of the above

Spin & lunacy is Clarries profession isn't it?

We seem to be stuck at this point on the Spin Cycle.

Lets not forget that the McCanns paid half a million to ensure this spin cycle kept spinning. Funny how there has been no mention of this fact in the recent T.V. or newspaper coverage of the "tenth anniversary".

A spin cycle of lunacy which is being rinsed and repeated for the last 10 years and yet during those 10 years and the hundreds of sightings and theories etc etc where is the front page appeal for Madeleine to get in touch? Where is the TV appeal from her parents, grandparents, extended family?

Hilarious. Clarence Mitchell talking about a spin cycle of lunacy whilst engaged in the latest spin cycle of lunacy. Sr. Amaral and the SC ruling has reeeeally rattled their cages! They're on overdrive. The amount of spun coverage spewing out of the TM propaganda machine is becoming reminiscent of 2007. 
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The latest corker, including this gem, "Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann of Rothley, Leicestershire, were so concerned about links to North Africa they went to Morocco the month after she disappeared".
Was the weather a bit better for them by then?

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A former Scotland Yard detective has called for an investigation into fears that [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] may have been snatched to order by slave traders and sold to a rich family.
Colin Sutton said suggestions that she could have been taken by ferry to Mauritania in west Africa “needed to be looked at”.
Slavery was only outlawed in the nation in 2007, the year Madeleine vanished, aged three, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].
The news came as it was revealed a girl “identical” to Madeleine was seen on a key trafficking route in Morocco, looking sad and asking the man with her: “[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]”
Investigators have told of fears the missing youngster was smuggled into Africa by slave traders who “snatched her to order” for a wealthy family.
Mr Sutton [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]: “The Mauritania line is certainly a possibility and needs to be looked at.
“If someone wanted to get a three-year-old child into Africa it’s the obvious route.
“The infrastructure and contacts for people smuggling are clearly there.”
It was not known if police probing Madeleine’s disappearance had looked at links to Mauritania.
But private detectives hired by the McCanns believe there are “strong reasons” to think she was taken to Morocco, a route into the country.
Their claims were based on sightings and the proximity of Praia da Luz, where she went missing on May 3 2007, to the town of Lagos, where boats regularly depart for Africa.
It is also just a four-hour drive to the Spanish port of Tarifa, where ferries cross to the Moroccan port of Tangier.
Kidnappers could have smuggled Madeleine from Praia da Luz into North Africa in just five hours using the ferry.
Portuguese police failed to seal the border with Spain – just an hour from the resort – in the hours after she vanished.
When the Mirror re-traced the most likely route an abductor would have taken, checks on the Tarifa-Tangier ferry were virtually non-existent.
There were no searches carried out on vehicles boarding the boat.
An abductor could easily have hidden Madeleine in the back seat or boot of a car and boarded the ferry with a £24 ticket.
In Tangier, they could have taken her to a safe house or moved her unhindered into another African country.
Interpol detectives in Gibraltar received a tip in August 2007 that a man was seen carrying a child resembling Madeleine in Tangier.
The informant said the girl seemed “unhappy, ill-tempered and did not speak” as the man tried to buy her shoes.
Soon after her disappearance a traveller told Crimestoppers they saw a girl resembling Madeleine on the Tarifa-Tangier ferry in a dark blue Portuguese-registered saloon car on May 7, four days after she went missing.
Two days after that sighting, a girl “identical” to Madeleine was seen with a man at a petrol station next to an Ibis hotel in Marrakech, in the most credible sighting so far.
Tourist Mari Olli noticed a blonde girl on Avenue Abdel Krim Khattabi, a key route through the busy city and the direct road from the port.
Locals claimed the road was often used by smuggling and trafficking gangs
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann of Rothley, Leicestershire, were so concerned about links to North Africa they went to Morocco the month after she disappeared.
Trafficking gangs are known to operate between Morocco, Western Sahara and Mauritania.
The US State Department’s annual trafficking report in 2015 warned girls were being trafficked for sex in the Middle East.
It warned: “Mauritania is a source and destination country for women, men and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking in the country or the Middle East.”
Mrs Olli and British husband Ray Pollard, who live in Spain, had not heard of Madeleine’s disappearance when they saw the girl they believe was her.
It was only when they returned home and saw the news that they made the chilling connection.
Mari said the youngster she saw, who was wearing blue pyjamas, looked “sad” and asked: “Can we see Mummy soon?”
The petrol station’s footage was deleted before it could be checked for clues.
But on the same day an unnamed British man also spotted a girl he believed was Madeleine outside a hotel in the city.
Mrs Olli alerted Portuguese and UK authorities and gave a statement to Scotland Yard detectives, who promised to call back – but she claims they did not.
In desperation she emailed Leicestershire Police, describing the moment she saw who she believes was Madeleine at around 10am.
She wrote: “I saw the girl inside the shop. She was wearing clear blue pyjamas.
“Some pattern on the top, trousers little darker.
“Don’t think the trousers had any pattern. She was very small. Under one metre. She was with a man. She was standing alone, the man about a metre from her.
“I looked back at her, she was very sweet. It was a strange situation because the man didn’t look like her father.
“And it was very strange to see a blonde small girl standing alone in Marrakesh.
“She was very small and normally you would hold her in your arms or at least her hand.
“And he was turning away from her. She looked sad. I looked at her face, she looked at me.
Then she turned to the man and said something that sounds like: “Can we see Mummy soon?”
Mrs Olli, who lives in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol, said she blamed herself for not stepping in to challenge the man with the girl.
“I’m still questioning it, of course I am.
“Even after all this time I still think about what I saw.
“I can’t handle it to be honest, it’s so difficult to talk about that I just start crying.
“I try not to think about what I could have done.
“The one thing I’m still convinced about is that it was Madeleine.
“I could kick myself for not doing more.
“If I’d known then that Madeleine had been taken, then of course I would have done something.”
Portuguese police files made public in 2008 revealed British police passed on the email to their counterparts in Portugal.
But Mrs Olli claimed she was never spoken to by Portuguese officers and believes they made no attempt to trace the girl.
Portuguese police in turn complained about lack of co-operation from Moroccan authorities.
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Eddie and Keela disagree.

Irene 2 wrote:Hilarious. Clarence Mitchell talking about a spin cycle of lunacy whilst engaged in the latest spin cycle of lunacy. Sr. Amaral and the SC ruling has reeeeally rattled their cages! They're on overdrive. The amount of spun coverage spewing out of the TM propaganda machine is becoming reminiscent of 2007. 
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I think it's worse than 2007.  There weren't as many different theories / articles coming out in one day as we are seeing now.  Every newspaper spinning a different yarn.  It's out of control.

Get'emGonçalo wrote:

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We seem to be stuck at this point on the Spin Cycle.

No amount of denial, lies, exploitation, public donations, tax payers money or over-protection can ever rid them of it. What a shame. 

My head is certainly spinning with all this nonsense, that's for sure.

"Spin cycle​ " from​ the biggest " spinner " on this earth ! 

" Controls what comes out in the media " 

" He lies with as many teeth as he has in his mouth " 

Good job​ he didn't use a tumble​ dryer comparison​ , it would certainly​ have gone up in flames !

A veritable hurricane of spin this weekend, was it not? As expected, with all TM PR hands on deck, what with nannies, ex-cops, journos of debatable background and ability, etc. Quite exhausting!

But .... when the 10 year anniversary has passed, and the British public (already becoming more and more clued up) stop listening to the ordure ....

...When the circus has finally upped sticks and left town ...

- Mr Amaral will still be here
- Eddie and Keela will still be here
- this forum will still be here
- Richard D Hall will still be here
- Joana Morais will still be here
... and I don't think any of the above are planning to pack up and move on!

Confusion is good. There's so much confusion out there it's like a veritable Mitchell smog-fest. 

So glad I'm already fully briefed as to what went on in PdL 10 years ago