AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

by **Tony Bennett** 01.05.18 19:07

AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’: HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

This article examines the content of Sonia Poulton’s recent film: The McCanns and the Police It will include many transcripts of specific sections of her film.

The intention of this analysis is to carefully examine major segments of her film and how they, subtly or otherwise, lead people away from the truth about what really happened to Madeleine McCann, or away from the conclusions reached by CMOMM members as expressed on the home page, or both.

Some will level the accusation, once again, that this article is something personal against Sonia Poulton, and not, as I assert that it is, a genuine expression and analysis of the film’s content. I must obviously leave it to each reader to first read the article, and then decide which it is.

Where there are transcripts, I give the reference in minutes and seconds, thus [23.45].

THE MERITS OF THE FILM

Before proceeding any further, let me for a moment dwell on the better parts of the film.

It certainly succeeds, to a degree, in fulfilling Sonia Poulton’s ambition for the film, which in her own words is usually put as ‘questioning the official narrative’.

The segments where Pat Brown speaks give an excellent summary of the reasons for doubting the abduction scenario, and she raises the very important point about the heavy, over-the top involvement of the government. All of this is well and good.

There are several other useful references, e.g. to the unraveling of the initial story of the jimmied shutters and broken windows, the personal involvement of Gordon Brown and Jill Renwick living close to Gordon Brown’s brother, Gordon Brown’s meeting with Leicestershire Police days after the McCanns returned from Portugal, the fact that some of the McCanns’ private investigators were ‘dodgy’, and so on.

It must also be said that there is absolutely nothing new in any of this, these and so many other issues have already been raised many times over in Goncalo Amaral’s book and film, in hundreds of YouTube videos, in Richard Hall’s five Madeleine documentaries and in many very good articles on the internet, often covered much better elsewhere, if I dare to say that. One looked, after 11 years, for something new. But in vain.

THE AREAS OF CONCERN

The rest of the article sets out the main concerns I have about this film, under the following headings:

A IMPORTANT OMISSIONS

B BACKING UP THE NEGLECT ARGUMENT

C SLIPPING IN AS A FACT THAT THE PATIO DOOR WAS ALWAYS LEFT OPEN

D THE DENIGRATION OF THE PORTUGUESE POLICE

E THE CLAIM THAT KATE AND GERRY MCCANN ‘DISTRUSTED’ LEICESTERSHIRE POLICE

F THE MCCANNS’ REQUEST FOR A REVIEW WAS ‘UNDERSTANDABLE’

G ‘SMITHMAN’ WAS GERRY MCCANN

H COLIN SUTTON SAYS: ‘LET’S IRON OUT THE INCONSISTENCIES’, HELP THE MCCANNS, AND ‘SQUASH THE RUMOUR-MONGERS AND THE TITTLE TATTLE’

I   OTHER ISSUES – PAT BROWN

A IMPORTANT OMISSIONS

It will be argued by some that this is ‘only’ a 45-minute film, and that you ‘can’t include everything’. True. Sonia Poulton has also told some people that there are to be nine more documentaries covering other areas. All well and good. However, it is also possible that, for one reason or another, this maybe the only documentary film that Sonia Poulton may ever make about the Madeleine McCann case. The film is entitled: ‘The McCanns and the Police’, and one would expect therefore that all major points about the involvement of the police would at least be mentioned, if not covered in more detail.

Against this background, how is it possible that Sonia Poulton neglected to even mention surely the single most important police development in the whole Madeleine McCann story, namely the decision of top British police officer, Mark Harrison, to advise Goncalo Amaral to get one of the world’s top dog handlers to Praia da Luz? No mention therefore of Martin Grimes, his dogs’ 17 alerts to cadaver odour and blood, no mention of the McCanns’ reactions to these findings etc. Indeed, remarkably, throughout this 45-minute video, Sonia Poulton never mentions once the hypothesis that Madeleine may have died in the apartment.

Another striking omission was there being no reference to the Interim Report of Inspector Tavares de Almeida. Surely at least a summary of that report could and should have been mentioned?

And given that this was about the police, could there have been a mention, at least, of the comprehensive analysis of the Madeleine McCann case, available free on the internet, by our own ex-UK police officer, ‘PeterMac’? Well, of course, there was no such reference to his work.

B BACKING UP THE NEGLECT ARGUMENT

In Sonia’s film, the baby-sitting/checking regime was endorsed as fact. Let’s see how many times she does that.

Sonia Poulton said that the McCanns and their Tapas 7 friends “decided to dine at the Tapas Bar”, and then adds: “it was from there that they established their somewhat questionable baby-sitting routine...” [3.24-3.32]

Sonia Poulton added: “Observers then and now objected to what they deemed as neglect at the hand of the holidaying adults, for while the adults socialised during dinner, their young children were left unattended in the holiday flats with, we are told, half-hourly checkings on the sleeping children…” [3.42-3.58]

Sonia Poulton continued: “This, they told police, had been going on for four nights prior to Madeleine being reported missing by her Mum, Kate McCann” [3.58-4.06]

There is then a short reference to the family denying neglect saying that their checking regime was ‘well within the bounds of responsible parenting’ [4.07-4.12]

Philomena McCann is then given a long segment where she explains the checking regime and says: “They regularly go across [to the apartment] to check..they would never neglect them”[4.13-4.50]

Then Sonia Poulton screens a clip of a Rothley woman who says that if the McCanns had been a couple on a council estate they would have had their children taken into care for neglect – “they shouldn’t go out and leave them”[4.52-5.36]

Sonia Poulton now added: “Working in mainstream media in England, I discovered that many of my colleagues also left young children in hotels and apartments while on holiday” [5.35-5.58] I personally wonder if that is true. She is repeating one of Clarence Mitchell’s oft-repeated claim that this is a ‘British habit’. Is it really?

She added: “Many people were horrified at leaving young children alone…”[6.00-6.10]

And “…and over the last decade there have been several petitions calling for the McCanns to be prosecuted for neglect” [6.10-6.16

Sonia Poulton also added: “For many people the question remains: Why weren’t the McCanns and their friends prosecuted for leaving their children alone, when one had clearly come to harm?’” [6.17-6.24]

Then David Machin, a former Hertfordshire Police Sergeant is interviewed, and says: “Neglect is the most common form of child abuse…They admitted that they had left their children, unsupervised…on several occasions during the week, and it was during one of those occasions, when she was unsupervised, that Madeleine and her siblings were placed in a position of danger” [6.25-7.15]

He continues: “Why weren’t the McCanns investigated and prosecuted for an allegation of neglect?”[7.17-7.23]

Sonia Poulton then quotes from a Portuguese Minister, Ru Perieria, who states that the McCanns “have not been charged because of compassion towards them …the action of leaving children on their own while on holiday was a British custom…” [7.25-7.38]

Sonia Poulton then gives the briefest of acknowledgments to those online who say the neglect narrative is untrue and a cover for something else “There exists a belief, among some, that the children were actually never left alone; that the issue of neglect is an alibi for something far more sinister”. [7.37-7.48] She does not explain any of the many reasons for this view. It is obvious from the film that she gives these ideas no credence whatsoever.

She just adds a comment: “Gerry McCann doesn’t have a problem with people purporting a theory” [7.50 to 8.00]. She states this without comment, choosing not to mention what happens if people purport a theory that he doesn’t like.

ANALYSIS So, altogether, we have above thirteen separate comments, from different people, stretched over five minutes, all reinforcing the ‘neglect’ claim - and only one brief, unexplained reference to those who felt it was a cover for something more sinister. This is exactly the ‘neglect narrative that the McCanns and Clarence Mitchell have promoted for 11 years!

It is my belief that Sonia Poulton deliberately wanted to establish the ‘fact’ of the nightly checking regime in the viewers’ minds. This of course is contrary to the CMOMM view of the case, as she knows.

C   SLIPPING IN AS A FACT THAT THE PATIO DOOR WAS ALWAYS LEFT OPEN

We then move to a short account of how the McCanns and their family members told the media that the children’s bedroom had been broken into, through the shutters and window. Sonia Poulton explains that this account was rapidly proved untrue,

“…and so the latter version, how an abductor may have accessed the apartment, was through the patio door which, it turned out, was left unlocked by the McCanns for easy access” [8.40-8.50].

Sonia Poulton presents this as a hard ‘fact’ i.e. that the patio door was left open every night. There is no reference by her to the McCanns’ changes of story about whether they themselves came through the front door or the patio door that night. Is it true that the McCanns actually left the patio door open every night? Sonia Poulton doesn’t discuss this. A casual viewer, seeing this clip, would probably just think: ‘Ah! So the abductor came in that way’.

D THE DENIGRATION OF THE PORTUGUESE POLICE

Some will argue that she did not mean to denigrate the Portuguese police, but let’s look at what comments she has put about them into the film:

JIl lRenwicj was potent in denouncing the Portugse p;olice”“The Portuguese police were subjected to immense criticism from British media and police, the McCanns and their friends...the first criticisms came just hours after Madeleine’s reported disappearance” [10.28-10.40]

Then Sonia plays a long clip from Jill Renwick, saying “Jill Renwick was potent in denouncing the Portuguese police” [10.50-11.05]

Renwick then says: “They’re just having to wait till people help them. They’ve been looking themselves, they’ve walked down hedgerows, and they’ve been out checking, but there’s nothing else they can do, unless they get support from the police over there, or the police over here” [10.41-11.20]. Sonia Poulton did not challenge that inaccurate statement of Renwick’s.

Sonia Poulton says: “Renwick was only beginning the criticism of the Portuguese police” [11.45-11.51]

She continued: “In the UK, there has been no shortage of politicians and journalists and former cops lining up to lay the boot in to the Portuguese police” [11.40-12.00]

Then Sonia chooses play this quote from former police officer John O’Conner, a ‘rent-a-quote’ commentator much used by Rupert Murdoch’s SKY News: “It was quite clear from the start that…um…the Portuguese police took off on the wrong tack…the punishment that, that they put the poor parents through is just unbelievable…” [12.01-12.20]

It is correct to state that at [12.22] Sonia Poulton asks: “But was that true?”

But then she immediately proceeds to state that: “Operation Task, led by Goncalo Amaral, had made a number of unprecedented compromises for the McCanns, including allowing Gerry to sit in on a police interview with Kate - and permitting the McCanns and their friends to keep the media informed, albeit begrudginglky… that this offer was contrary to Portugal’s judicial secrecy laws…” [12.24-12.46]

Then she goes on with more: “But there were other criticisms the police. They were accused of not adequately preserving the crime scene and, there was some truth in it, as it took until the next morning to properly do so” [13.13-13.30]

Sonia Poulton then passes quickly over a brief reference to the McCanns and their friends occupying the crime scene – their apartment –but then continues, speaking of the Portuguese police: “Certainly, there were rookie errors” [13.35-13.40]

[At this point, she says: “So did six doctors” (i.e. referring to ‘rookie errors’). This was yet one more reference to their alleged regime of leaving the children and the half-hour checking – another quick reinforcement of the neglect narrative].

She then says that “By October, Amaral’s relationship with the McCanns had completely deteriorated”. [13.42-14.14] A more accurate, and kinder way to put it from Amaral’s point of view, would have been to say something like: “The constant interference from the British police and security services had by October made the work of Goncalo Amaral and his team almost impossible”. But, no, Sonia Poulton did not choose to put it that way.

ANALYSIS Nowhere does Sonia Poulton take the trouble to explain the enormous pressures the police were under, nor the great job they did under extremely difficult circumstances. Instead, we get ten separate references to Portuguese police incompetence. Why? Why so many? Why does she not defend them?

CONTINUED IN PART 2

by **Tony Bennett** 01.05.18 19:21

PART 2

LEICESTERSHIRE POLICE

A half-minute segment from the film [16.10-16.45] shows Sonia Poulton leafing through what is said to be a secret, ‘restricted document’. Sonia Poulton says that this document revealed that the McCanns ‘distrusted’ Leicestershire Police.

From what we know from the research on CMOMM, this seems unlikely in the extreme.

Three officers from Leicestershire Police rushed out to Praia da Luz as soon as Madeleine’s disappearance was announced, and were clearly involved in a huge amount of assistance to the McCanns, as Kate McCann cheerfully admits in her book, ‘madeleine’. Kate McCann praises them.

Moreover, a senior Leicestershire Police Officer, Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Small, appears to have prompted Jane Tanner, on 13 May 2007, to ‘recognise’ Robert Murat as the alleged abductor she had seen on the e4vening Madeleine was reported missing.

On a visit to England weeks after Madeleine was reported missing, Gerry McCann was given a one-and-a-half-hour tour of the investigation unit at Leicestershire Police headquarters, and expressed delight at all the high tech equipment being used in the ‘search for Madeleine’.

Later, when the Portuguese Police wanted the McCanns and their friends to attend Portugal for a reconstruction, Leicestershire Police’s Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior was on first-name, matey terms with them all, and accepted all their excuses for not attending the all-important reconstruction, which in fact never took place because of the McCanns’ lack of co-operation.

Again in January 2008 Leicestershire Police gave a huge amount of assistance to the McCanns to promote what the McCanns and their team claimed was a likely ‘suspect’.

It is impossible to reconcile this huge amount of help the McCanns had from Leicestershire Police with Sonia Poulton’s claim that the McCanns were ‘distrustful’ of them. Sonia Poulton does not give us the provenance of the document. Of course, the document for all we know could be a complete fabrication. Quite why this is in the film at all is hard to say, except that I think we are meant to be impressed with Sonia Poulton being given privileged access to a secret document.

F THE MCCANNS’ REQUEST FOR A REVIEW WAS ‘UNDERSTANDABLE’

Sonia Poulton says: “Kate and Gerry’ s request to review the Portuguese investigation had been an understandable one. The PJ had been unable to reach a definite conclusion and the McCanns had not been cleared of any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance...It was apparent that Kate and Gerry were intent on moving forwards and British police needed to clear any lingering doubts about them, once and for all”. [22.20-22.50]

ANALYSIS: This statement could have come from the McCanns’ PR agent, Clarence Mitchell. CMOMM members have suggested quite other motives for the setting-up of Operation Grange. But Sonia Poulton makes it sound like a hugely sensible move for everybody concerned (never mind the cost). In a moment, we will see how this comment of Sonia Poulton dovetails neatly with what Met Police detective Colin Sutton has had to say on this film.

G   ‘SMITHMAN’ WAS GERRY MCCANN

Sonia Poulton has a short segment on the ‘Smithman’ sighting. This is what she tells us.

She says that in 2013 the Operation Grange review became an investigation. She says that ‘five years later’ the Smithman efits were featured (she got slightly muddled up here with the 5-year delay between Henri Exton doing the efits in 2008 and the BBC Crimewatch programme in October 2013).

She then states: “That sighting has been dogged by controversy ever since”.[28.53]

She states that an Irish family saw a man with a child ‘running down the hill’ near the Smiths’ apartment (a slight exaggeration as the Smiths (or some of them) merely say he might have been ‘walking fast’). She says this was “around the time that Kate McCann had raised the alarm” [29.35].

She then tells us these three important facts:

A   Four months after the sighting, the Irish father saw Gerry McCann walking off a plane carrying his son Sean; this said Sonia ‘triggered’ his memory of his sighting, making him 60% to 80% sure that it was Gerry McCann he had seen

B   A BBC documentary around the 10^th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance had stated that Martin Smith had now withdrawn his claim that he had seen Gerry McCann that night, and

C   An Irish journalist, Gemma O’Doherty, had interviewed Martin Smith a few months ago and he said he had NOT changed his mind but was still 60% to 80% sure that he had seen Gerry McCann carrying a child on that cold May night in 2007.

[/size]Let us suppose for a moment that someone new to the details of the Madeleine McCann case was watching this film. What would s/he make of it?
Sonia tells us that Martin Smith saw a man, and four months later was 60% to 80% sure that it was Gerry McCann. An efit was done – or rather, two efits.

Many years later, a Crimewatch documentary and then a BBC documentary said that they were looking for this man, who was NOT Gerry McCann. Then along comes Gemma a few months later, speaks to Martin Smith, and he says basically that the BBC were lying, and that he is still sure that it was Gerry McCann hurrying towards that the beach with a young blond children presumably Madeleine contradicts.

Those blessed with a good brain would surely cry out: “This doesn’t make any sense!” Others might well think: “Gosh, so it was Gerry McCann running off with his dead daughter!”

Sonia, then, gives a few contradictory facts and then blithely moves on. But I would suggest that the impression she wanted to leave in her viewers’ minds was: “This sighting was Gerry McCann. Don’t believe anyone who says otherwise”. It seems absolutely plain that she supports those who insist, contrary to the main CMOMM hypothesis on the case, that ‘Smithman’ = Gerry McCann.

[There are two moments of high irony in the film regarding the Smithman sighting. For years, I have highlighted the utter impossibility of the Smiths being able to draw up any efits based on a man they saw a year ago for a few seconds in the dark.

David Machin makes my case for me when he says: “People have difficulty describing accurately people that they haven’t seen before and have only seen for a short period of time [34.40-34.50]

And Sonia Poulton also helps me make my case. Querying the efit drawn up by Jane Tanner, she is filmed, arms spread out, in the dark, with weak street lighting, at the road junction where Jane tanner says she saw someone. She asks: “Given the environment, how much would you really see?” [37.20]
Exactly. One intended consequence of Sonia Poulton’s film is that these two comments further undermine any claim that these efits are genuine]

H   COLIN SUTTON SAYS: ‘LET’S IRON OUT THE INCONSISTENCIES’, HELP THE MCCANNS, AND ‘SQUASH THE RUMOUR-MONGERS AND THE TITTLE TATTLE’

Colin Sutton is introduced as a ‘distinguished’ ex-Met Police Officer who is credited with solving the murder of Milly Dowler by Levi Bellfield.

We know him on CMOMM as the detective who appeared on TV and in the media at the time of the 10^th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance and made a series of controversial remarks. He briefly popped up on CMOMM as a member, no-one really knows why.

One of Sutton controversial remarks was that, eight years ago, when a Review of the case was being considered by the Met Police and the government, he had been suggested as a possible co-ordinator of any such Review. But, he had said, a ‘very senior’ Met Police Officer, who was also friend of his, had told him not to as “You won’t be able to go where you might want to go in your investigation”. [25.10-25.55]

Second, he was asked on TV for his professional opinion on what happened to Madeleine McCann. He volunteered that he thought Madeleine may have been trafficked by gypsies.

Colin Sutton has several appearances in the second half of Sonia Poulton’s film.

At 31.10 he says: “I don’t understand the logic” of Operation Grange’s remit, adding that “according to the Portuguese Police [and he is right about this], the McCanns were not eliminated from the investigation”.
He adds that the police must have taken a decision in the very early days to treat this as an abduction.

Sonia Poulton then moves on [33.35] to talk about “the lack of a police reconstruction”, which she regards as highly significant. She notes that the McCanns and their friends refused to take part in one during the months after Madeleine was reported missing, adding [33.55-34.10]: “As with so much of this case, these actions appear unprecedented…How could official suspects…guide aspects of the investigation?

We then get David Machin coming in again stating: “Anomalies and discrepancies are not necessarily untruths, they’re just a consequence of people’s perceptions when they witness something”.

This appears to be introduced by Sonia Poulton in order to minimise the importance of all the discrepancies and outright contradictions in the case, about which she says nothing in the whole documentary apart from the relatively minor issue of where Jane Tanner, Gerry McCann and Jez Wilkins were standing when Jane Tanner (allegedly) saw the abductor.

At 35.30 Sonia Poulton refers to the “clear disparities on that fateful night”. The use of the term ‘fateful night’ once again gets us looking at Thursday 3 May instead of another day.

She added: “Jane Tanner’s e-fit of a man became the primary efit for five years until Operation Grange eliminated Jane Tanner’s sighting”[37.00-37.06].

She says: “There has been no reconstruction yet [apart from the 2009 2^nd-year anniversary documentary which included a reconstruction performed by the McCanns and some of their friends]” [37.20]

The Sutton comes on again and states (he is right): “There are some pretty major inconsistencies of fact in the witness statements that we see” [37.30]

He adds: There are inconsistences which I’d like to iron out”. [38.08]

Let us dwell for a moment on his choice of phrase: ‘To iron out’. He is treating all the huge numbers of changes of story and outright contradictions in the case as mere little creases that can be easily ‘ironed out’.

He could for example, have said: “Let’s have a look at these major changes of story and contradictions and see where they lead”. But, no. To Sutton they are all mere ‘inconsistencies…to be ironed out’. [38.09] He floats the idea of a filmed reconstruction [38.16]

Sonia Poulton: “Retired detective Colin Sutton is in no doubt about what should happen with the remaining money [in Operation Grange’s budget]”: [42.40-42.48]

Colin Sutton: “The - the starting point has got to be back at Ground Zero…you know, this is when the report was made…” [42.35-42.50]
[an uncanny echo here of DCI Redwood’s comment back on Crimewatch in 2013: “Primarily what we sought to do from the beginning is to try and draw everything back to – to zero, if you like, try and sort of take everything back to the beginning – and then re-analyse and re-assess everything – accepting nothing”].

Colin Sutton continued: “...These were the last people to see her…This is what they say…These are the people close to her…Let’s eliminate those…Lets’ get them out of the way. And that would serve everybody – you know, that would be, that would be, in the interests of both, tuh, the general public, but also Kate and Gerry McCann, because, there’s, there’s an awful lot of, tattle, you know, tittle tattle on the internet, and rumours, and, you know, this, this is a case that has aroused so many opinions, and quite strong opinions in some cases, er, if you comprehensively, conclusively, forensically eliminate Kate and Gerry McCann, and their friends from any involvement, then that squashes almost all of that rumour mill…That takes it all away [42.55 - 43.50]

I OTHER ISSUES – PAT BROWN

THE INTERVIEWS WITH PAT BROWN, WHO INSISTS THAT MADELEINE DIED AFTER 6PM ON THURSDAY 3 MAY AND THAT SMITHMAN = GERRY MCCANN

Sonia Poulton has two longish clips of Pat Brown speaking. In fact, all that Pat Brown says in those two clips is thoroughly sound, especially when she says that the amount of government support for the McCanns is a big mystery and points to something which needs to be covered up. Pat Brown is a noted criminal profiler who has doubted the McCanns’ narrative, for very good reasons, from very early on. From that point of view, she was a good choice for the film.

From CMOMM’s and MMRG’s points of view, however, the choice of Pat Brown to make these comments is unfortunate, since she has for example denounced all the evidence that something serious must have happened to Madeleine much earlier in the week. She rejects for example ‘PeterMac’s work on the ‘Last Photo’ and Lizzy Taylor’s work on the absence of credible, independent evidence that Madeleine was alive after Sunday. She took to her blog to denounce Richard Hall’s theories of an earlier death, dismissing him as a conspiracy theorist.

At 42.21, Sonia Poulton, Belgravia Police Station in the background, says: “Who knows what’s going on inside the investigation?”

By now, many on CMOMM concluded long ago that it was an expensive charade from the very beginning, and that it was never meant to get to the truth.

by Liz Eagles 01.05.18 20:10

There are a few baffling elements to this production, the fjrst being a liaison with Colin Sutton who spouts nothing but soundbites and then Pat Brown who claims she was duped by an Australian tv channel as she was packing to go on holiday when they called. Colin Sutton gave this same tv channel an interview and declared that he too had been misquoted. I find it extremely difficult to accept that Colin SUtton was so naiive and I find it equally strange that Pat Brown felt duped. Both of these people are seasoned professionals when it comes to interacting with the media.

Both of these people have communicated with Sonia Poulton.

In my extremely humble opinion this production is worthless media tripe knocked out on youtube about four years too late with a teaser of something else in the offing and a fund button.

by Mark Willis 01.05.18 20:31

aquila wrote:There are a few baffling elements to this production, the fjrst being a liaison with Colin Sutton who spouts nothing but soundbites and then Pat Brown who claims she was duped by an Australian tv channel as she was packing to go on holiday when they called. Colin Sutton gave this same tv channel an interview and declared that he too had been misquoted. I find it extremely difficult to accept that Colin SUtton was so naiive and I find it equally strange that Pat Brown felt duped. Both of these people are seasoned professionals when it comes to interacting with the media.

Both of these people have communicated with Sonia Poulton.

In my extremely humble opinion this production is worthless media tripe knocked out on youtube about four years too late with a teaser of something else in the offing and a fund button.

by Guest 01.05.18 21:15

aquila wrote:In my extremely humble opinion this production is worthless media tripe knocked out on youtube about four years too late with a teaser of something else in the offing and a fund button.

Yes - and it would have died a natural if left alone!

For what it's worth it's a good production, the minutiae is immaterial. Ms Poulton is not up to speed on this case, it's just another topic of public interest for her to exploit. As I said previously, if it gets people interested - even if only through this film, they will google Madeleine McCann or some aspect of the case which will ultimately lead to CMoMM.

Every ones a winner! high5

As it stands now, CMoMM commentary will lead readers to the YouTube video - it's arse about face.

by interestedobserver 01.05.18 22:04

Why is Dave Eden now being called "ex police sergeant David Machin"
in the video?

by Phoebe 01.05.18 22:55

It seems only fair to point out that many of the points at issue made in S P's video are similar to claims made by Dr. Amaral as recently as last year in the program he did for the 10th anniversary. Then, Dr. Amaral reiterated his belief that Madeleine died on May 3rd; that there was neglect; that the entire Tapas group left their children unattended and all used the patio doors when checking during dinner. It is also a fact that Dr. Amaral himself claims that there were some things the P.J. could have done better. It seems illogical to suggest that believing these things means someone is pro-McCann, since Dr. Amaral certainly cannot be accused of this!

by skyrocket 02.05.18 10:34

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - good spot and good question. Distinctive appearance and voice.

by polyenne 02.05.18 12:22

In the interests of fair balance, it was always going to be very difficult, given the subject and interpretation of the evidence, to make a 45 minute documentary (or YouTube video) that presented "the facts". Because there has been, and continues to be, dissection for the evidence, this inevitably contains many assumptions and interpretations. Such interpretations, including assumptions, has evidently moulded the thought process of the CMoMM hierarchy such that they have formed an opinion of the timestamps of that week. That may not necessarily be the opinions of others either here or on other fora.

I wonder what a YouTube video would look/sound like if CMoMM were tasked with presenting a similar 45-minute film about the police involvement. I'm certain it would be slanted to the "official" CMoMM line.

It's relatively easy to analyse and dissect the work of someone else if what you are primarily doing is relating it to your own opinions.

by **Tony Bennett** 02.05.18 12:45

skyrocket wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - good spot and good question. Distinctive appearance and voice.

This is a very curious one.

I saw [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'s post and was immediately interested as I have met Dave Eden. He filmed a meeting on climate change in Cambridgeshire around 4 years ago and, on discovering he was an ex-police officer, I had a chat with him after the meeting about the death of Lee Balkwell. He and another had formed a kind of community action group called Community Press Group.

I went to the internet last night and searched under 'David Machin - Hertfordshire Police' and this photo came up:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

by **Tony Bennett** 02.05.18 13:18

I also found a second photo of ‘David Machin – Hertfordshire Police’:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I must admit I did wonder if perhaps David Machin of Hertfordshire Police had had to leave Hertfordshire Police under something of a cloud and might have re-invented himself as ‘Dave Eden’. I shall be interested in the solution to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]’s question.

I should add that Sonia Poulton and Dave Eden go back a long way – many years, in fact.

Both Sonia Poulton and Dave Eden are for example mentioned in this YouTube account by David Icke about the demise of The People’s Voice TV (TPV) channel in 2014 (this is a new upload but is simply the republication of Icke’s talk about this back in 2015).

A critical development in the demise of TPV was the appointment of Sonia Poulton. In this video, Icke describes calmly what a disastrous effect she had on the operation of TPV. She was understandably sacked by TPV after lamentable performances and causing endless disruption, ‘acting like a diva’ as Icke accurately puts it. But after that, as Icke patiently explains, she conducted a vicious, malicious, ‘revenge’ campaign against TPV and him personally

The talk by Icke is an hour long. The first 23 minutes is background to the formation and demise of TPV, which seemed to go to pieces after OFCOM told him he could not make broadcasts himself and remain a TPV Director. He had to resign as Director to preserve his right to broadcast his research.

I would recommend listening to this broadcast (from 23 minutes onwards) to get a clearer idea of Sonia Poulton’s personality and modus operandi.

Some may interpret this as part of some ‘campaign’ on my part against Sonia Poulton. I repeat, I am simply against her because in the past she has so far only sown confusion and misinformation about the fate of Madeleine McCann. And now in ‘The McCanns and the Police’, she has caused further confusion by (a) promoting the ‘neglect narrative’, (b) publishing repeated criticisms of the Portuguese police, (c) supporting the false claim that Smithman = Gerry McCann, and (d) promoting the views of Colin Sutton, who said, quote, that he wanted to:

‘iron out the inconsistencies…to help the McCanns, eliminating Kate and Gerry McCann, and their friends from any involvement…then that squashes almost all of ther tittle tattle of that rumour mill…That takes it all away”.

Anyway, here is Icke’s account of Sonia Poulton, Dave Eden and TPV:

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.

by polyenne 02.05.18 13:31

Here's Dave Eden : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by polyenne 02.05.18 13:33

Certainly the furrowed brows of Eden & Machin are very similar - are they one & the same ?

by Crackfox 02.05.18 16:11

SP and DE are ~~grubby attention seekers~~ associates going back to the failed Community Press project.

by interestedobserver 02.05.18 20:36

The pics that Tony posted are of Dave Eden.
The initial Sonia video had "Dave" captioned as Machin on his
first video appearance. His appearance later in the video was
captioned Eden. The video has been edited and now they are
both Machin.
Someone asked Sonia about this on Twitter yesterday. She did not
reply and deleted the Tweet.
Dave Eden is named in the credits for photography at the end of the video.
I wonder if Dave Eden wanted to wash his hands of the whole affair
and did not want to be named.

by Phoebe 02.05.18 22:01

@ Tony Bennett. "I must admit I did wonder if perhaps David Machin of Hertfordshire Police had had to leave Hertfordshire Police under something of a cloud and might have re-invented himself as ‘Dave Eden’."

I'm a bit confused here. Are you suggesting that "Dave Eden" in the S.P. documentary is really David Machin (having changed his name). There IS a former police officer-turned whistle-blower, named Dave Eden, who certainly seems to have gone by this name since at least June 2008! In an article from the Evening Standard dated June 6th 2008 entitled -

"NISHA AND A POLICE COVER-UP -SHE WAS A VICE MADAM WITH A CRIMINAL RECORD"

reference is made to the Met police attmpt to cover up an incident in Hertfordshire involving this Nisha Patel (at the time a volunteer Met police WPC, while allegedly running a brothel) The senior police officer who attended this incident in Hertfordshire was Sgt. Dave Eden, who at that stage had 22 years service with the force under that name.

I actually found the same two photos as you have put up, but I found them on a site called "Hoaxted Research" in a post by El Coyote entitled
"Belinda and Sabine's new colleague." (12-5-2016).
The post is discussing David Machin, allegedly a journalist, who had temporarily joined their "McKNews" site. It is alleged in this post that this David Machin had had some contact with Sonia P.

Given that Dave Eden and David Machin seemed to have BOTH been around in 2016, how can one be pretending to be the other. Incidentally, there is are several reports mentioning a Hertfordshire police officer named David Machin - eg BBC News Feb 7th 2002 -

"A teenage girl who vanished with a 29-year-old man may be pregnant, police said.
Hannah Machin, 15, who went missing on Friday, is believed to be with Steve Leicester, who she first met eight months ago.
Her father, PC David Machin, 41, from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, said he found a used pregnancy kit in her bedroom after she disappeared.."...

So it would appear that David Machin was a member of Hertfordshire police in 2002 and Dave Eden was also a member of Hertfordshire police in 2008 with, at that stage, 22 years service under that name.

by Phoebe 02.05.18 22:03

[size=34][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/size]

Fact-finding to refute the scurrilous allegations, support the Hampstead community and expose the hoaxers

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[size=44]Belinda & Sabine’s new colleague[/size]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] / [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

A couple of days ago [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], McKNews, and how it represents a shift in focus, as they attempt to break into the mainstream media.
We wrote:

Belinda seems to have found a new sidekick, one David Machin, whom she describes as ‘an accredited National Union of Journalists reporter and producer’. He appears to be a professor of semiotics in the journalism department at Cardiff University, so it’s possible he does have some actual reporting/producing skills.
More alarmingly, it seems Mr Machin will be in charge of Belinda’s ‘new North London recording/broadcast studio’, as well as their ‘documentary programming projects’.
Belinda is offering Mr Machin’s services to produce ‘public interest documentar(ies)’.

It seems we were in error about Mr Machin and his academic credentials and associations, and we would like to offer our wholehearted apology to him for associating him in any way with Belinda and Sabine.
Further research has revealed that the David Machin who has lent his name to McKNews is an entirely different person.
Here’s how he appears on the McKNews site:
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Note that his email address is given as ‘davidmachin999’. On Twitter, we found this person:
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The same gentleman’s profile appears on Facebook:
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On his Twitter page, which is almost completely unused, Mr Machin has nevertheless followed a few people, including Sonia Poulton. Oddly, we ran across a reference to Sonia just the other day, on Maggie Tuttle’s ‘Children Screaming to Be Heard’ website:

by **Tony Bennett** 02.05.18 23:54

First of all [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I am very glad that you have looked into this and I thank you very much for finding the 'Hoaxted' site. I did find it myself independently tonight, but your post helped me to obtain very many pieces for the Dave Eden/David Machin mystery and that has proved useful.

I must be honest and say it is quite refreshing to have a brand new mystery to explore, instead of labouring over one that has taken 11 years to try and solve - although I think we are getting much nearer on that one! I am sorry by the way that it seems we do not seem to be eye-to-eye on the Madeleine McCann mystery, or at least aspects of it. But I hope with time we may between us, and everyone else concerned, get closer and closer in our understanding of the case, the evidence, who is lying and telling the truth.

Anyway, I think with your help I have now solved the Dave Eden/David Machin mystery.

I stick by what I thought earlier and now say with greater certainty:

DAVE EDEN of the Community Press Group is the very same individual as former Police Sergeant DAVID MACHIN, formerly of the Metropolitan Police and Hertfordshire Police - and also former Police Sergeants Representative for the police trade union, the Police Federation.

Incidentally this means that Sonia Poulton's 'tag' on the bits of her film where Eden is shown is accurate:

'DAVID MACHIN, former Police Sergeant, Hertfordshire Police, (retd)'.

The circumstances under which he 'retired' after only 22 years service (rather than the usual 30 years) might be very interesting to establish.

I would add that the 2008 report you found referring to 'Dave Eden' appears really to be a report about David Machin, and suggested that it was about this time that he may have decided to operate under the pseudonym Dave Eden.

Now, I have quite a lot more material on this man to get through, so I will sign off now and return a bit later, having set down all my information on a Word Document which I'll copy and paste up later.

I will add one more bit. Look at the report you found about the incident of the 'brothel'. See the girl's surname? Machin.

Just one more 'add'. I discussed Dave Eden once with Richard Hall. He was of the opinion that Eden might be connected to the security services.

All for now

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

.

by **Tony Bennett** 03.05.18 0:50

I am too late to edit my post, so here goes with more information about Dave Eden/David Machin

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

First let me explain the ‘Hoaxted’ website that you found. Incidentally two names on that site were Belinda McKenzie and Sabine McNeil. I have actually met both – at Belinda McKenzie’s very nice 5-bedroomed house near Hampstead Tube Station. While I was there, I briefly discussed the ‘Hollie Greig’ affair with her. This was in 2013 I think. She was at the very centre of fund-raising for the Hollie Demands Justice campaign which after investigation I realised was a hoax. Shortly after that meeting, after I challenged her about her involvement, she appeared briefly as a member on CMOMM where for a few days we debated the Hollie Greig case.

Round about 20I4, a very strange couple in Hampstead made very lurid allegations about a paedophile ring involving headteachers in the borough and other professionals who were abusing hundreds of children and even killing some of them. The couple’s children had been (rightly in this case) taken into care. This was lapped up by certain extreme conspiracy theorists who believed these absurd allegations. One such group was Brian Gerrish’s UK Column organisation. An action group was formed n support of ths family and at the head of this was Belinda McKenzie again. I think she was in charge of fundraising. A court eventually dismissed all of the couple’s allegations and made a permanent Care Order on their children. Probably there are still a handful of conspiracy theorists around who continue to believe the couple’s allegations.

From a brief look at the ‘Hoaxted’ site it seems that Dave Eden was assisting them but using his real name of David Machin.

DAVE EDEN/DAVID MACHIN ON CAMERA

Below are several YouTube videos of Dave Eden. There are quite a few more.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (on this one you can hear him stating that he was once a ‘Sergeants Representative’ with the Police Federation. IIRC he says he was in the Metropolitan Police at the time).

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (comical, this one, as the video begins, he walks forward towards his audience, catches his foot on a chair leg, and nearly tumbles over)

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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (this in fgct is a Dave Eden YouTube ‘Playlist’)

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Like Phoebe, I would recommend this site for further research about Eden/Machin and his modus operandi:

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I did find a David Machin, police officer working for Nottinghamshire Police. See the three links below. This is clearly not ‘our’ David Machin:

[PDF]Finance Performance and Insight Report for 2017-18 as at December ...

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Strategic Resources and Performance Meeting. Date of Meeting: 29th March 2018. Report of: Chief Constable. Report Author: David Machin. E-mail: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. Other Contacts: Mark Kimberley. Agenda Item: 13. Finance Performance & Insight Report for 2017/18 as at December.

[PDF]09_Revenue Budget Management - Nottinghamshire Police and ...

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Date of Meeting: 20th November 2013. Report of: ACO Monckton. Report Author: David Machin. E-mail: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. Other Contacts: Simon Tovey .... 4.15 Pension costs (injury awards and medical retirement) were £2.431m year to date. This represented a £0.762m over spend ...

[PDF]Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Panel - Nottinghamshire County ...

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18 Sep 2017 - Councillor David Ellis – Gedling Borough Council. Councillor ..... other than the Met that had a dedicated knife crime team and this played its part in the ...... Report of: Paul Dawkins. Report Author: David Machin. E-mail: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. Other Contacts: Mark Kimberley.

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So, a few more facts about Dave Eden/David Machin.

He is a minor film-maker.
According to intelligence provided in confidence to me, his office has for a number of years been in an office tower block in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Sonia Poulton visited his office many times in 2014 and in 2015 to discuss her projects to male films about Madeleine McCann.

His working relationship with Sonia Poulton goes back many years, back to 2013 or before. l
He has also filmed meetings for a group of climate change sceptics, co-oedinated by Rev Philip Foster. It was at one of these meetings met him for the one and only time. He told me he was a former police officer.

He got involved with Davd Icke’s People’s TV in 2013, offering to act as cameraman. It didn’t work out – see my other post about Icke, Poulton & Eden.
He helped to form Pulse Films or Pulse Radio – you can get further details by visiting You Tube and inputting ‘Dave Eden Community Radio’.

He tells people he lives in 'North London' which may be true as his Potters Bar office is only a few miles north of Greater London.

His involvement with Belinda McKenzie is very interesting, as allegations have swirled around her for a long time. If you google ‘Belinda McKenzie Iran Fraud Charity Commission’ you will get further details. Her husband is Iranian and there were strong suspicions that he was siphoning off money to fund Iranian extremist groups.
I did keep a few notes on Dave Eden. As I researched him, this article about Sonia Poulton came up, which I don’t think I’ve brought to CMOMM before. It looks like the poor bloke was telling the truth:

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

I WORKED FOR SONIA POULTON – BUT NEVER GOT PAID

QUOTE

Sonia Poulton: when i met her at tpv i offered to make a new personal web site for her at mates rates.(half price)After she left, She called me in march and asked if i would help with her online tv project & her personal site.I did not realise at that point what her true nature was. I agreed to help her and I worked my ass off making 2 web site frameworks.and producing a couple of channel ident vids doing a bit of filming and other artwork.

I did all i could with no upfront cost. When it came to the point of needing money to pay for software licenses. her tune changed. she said she had no idea of how much money she had raised. When i suggested that asking people to help her create this channel without any idea of the budget was magical thinking. she lost her shit. and “fired” me.

She then went on a campaign to bully me in to handing over some unsuable footage of kenith clarke which she described on line as me withholding an important interview with a prominent paedophile.

She also refused to pay the half price agreed sum for her personal web site.and then went on to suggest on her face book page that i was trying to extort money from her by charging for the internet station site. complete lies. i did all the news site stuff for free. this woman is really a piece of work!!!

She then went on her face book page and started making threats to name me publicly, along with a list of wholly false accusations.

I sent her an email asking her to cease and desist in her on-line smearing. I also informed her i had reported the situation to the police. and they had told me if she did name me online she would possibly be subject to arrest.

Within 24hrs the was a Twitter account setup called netpolicing. This account started publishing my home address my picture and accusing me of being a rapist and a paedophile enabler. On balance the info in the tweets from that account and other online comments it could only have come from Sonia or someone in her camp with the full info

MY whole basis for volunteering for TPV and later for sonia was to do some good and contribute to causes that matter to me. amongst which is child abuse. Since I and my siblings are survivors. In fact I was doing this to also try and get my life back on track. since suffering from depression and c-ptsd from what I have been through.

Sonia was fully aware of this but did not waste a second in using that and my history against me to attack me.

I still have not been paid by sonia. I have spent the last couple of months recovering from what was an incredibly traumatic time. cyber bullied by sonia poulton, yes the very one who gets paid to write about such issues.

Sonia is a Narcissist who has no real empathy to the causes she covers it is simply something to masturbate her ego against. A coat tail to ride upon. And heaven help the one that does not doff the cap.

I have learnt that she is obsessive about getting even. If she perceives she has been disrespected, goes in to I have my reputation to protect mode. truly mental. I am not the first to be bullied on line by sonia and im sure i wont be the last. Hopefully eventually she will dig her own hole and fall in it.

I skinted myself going back and forth to TPV and then left myself in the shit pulling out the stops for sonia only to be stiffed for money. it was only a small amount but it made things very difficult for me. my bank charges nearly buried me.

When I am feeling up to it and have fees for court I still intend to peruse sonia for the bill she weaselled out of. I have informed her that she will be perused for the full amount since she did not pay as agreed and i will be seeking interest as well.

UNQUOTE

by Phoebe 03.05.18 1:31

@ Tony Bennett. Sorry Tony, I'm still at sea here I'm afraid! You said-

"Look at the report you found about the incident of the 'brothel'. See the girl's surname?. Machin."

The Evening Standard report about the Nisha Patel brothel (it's too long to post really) which mentions Dave Eden as the senior officer on the scene doesn't make any mention of any girl named Machin. Neither does the only other article I could find (below) which was in The Independent) -

"Force embarrassed by Nisha Patel-Nasri's links to escort agency

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Saturday 7 June 2008 23:00 BST.

Are you saying that David Machin changed his name to Dave Eden while still the force (sorry Q mark still won't work for me!) ie he was Machin in 2002 when his daughter ran off and Eden by 2008 when the Nisha Patel case happened.

This Dave Eden seems to have crossed swords in 2008 with the powers that be in the Met police -
[size=48]Accusations of Met cover-up put more heat on Ian Blair[/size]

" Whistleblowers accuse police of turning a blind eye to reports that murdered special constable was running an escort agency" [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (Sat. 30th Aug 2008 23.00. BST)

Snipped from article -

"Sir Ian is already under investigation by the watchdog following allegations of improper links with a businessman who was awarded Met contracts.
These disclosures come as war broke out between Sir Ian and Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who is bringing an action for race discrimination.
The Met told the IoS it never received the second report naming any senior officer. However, Dave Eden, the Hertfordshire police sergeant who wrote it, denied this. He said: "I am happy to co-operate with any inquiry."
Sgt Eden's reports relate to a 999 call he had just attended. A client of the escort agency was disputing a bill and Patel-Nasri, her husband and two others had gone to his home in Elstree to recover the money.
The first document was an intelligence report in which Sgt Eden complained that Patel-Nasri had misused her warrant card and aggressively told him that her "powerful friends at Scotland Yard" would get him the sack.
Separately, Sgt Eden wrote a report of the incident and his subsequent actions. Fadi Nasri had given him the name of the senior Scotland Yard officer who he claimed had provided confidential information about the client. The next day, Sgt Eden contacted him. When he explained the purpose of the call and mentioned Nasri's name, the officer hung up.
The third document was a witness statement he had taken from the client.
All three documents were created on a police computer 24 hours after the incident. Sgt Eden sent printed copies of the three documents to the anti-corruption unit at Scotland Yard, to Wembley police station, where Patel-Nasri worked, and to Hertfordshire Police's professional standards department.
The Met will only accept that it received Sgt Eden's intelligence report on Patel-Nasri, who was subsequently disciplined for misusing her warrant card to enforce a civil debt.
Inexplicably, the Met's anti-corruption unit never debriefed Sgt Eden. And had he not made contact with the murder squad three years later, says Ms Clarke, detectives would not have known about the escort agency or any link with a senior Met officer.
It was Ms Clarke's job to research Sgt Eden's statement for the murder inquiry. She could not access any of the Met's anti-corruption files. "I felt the murder inquiry was warned off from pursuing Eden's statement because it would take the Met down a corruption route it had covered up,"

by willowthewisp 05.05.18 15:20

Hi Phoebe, I know Verdi isn't a fan of Textusa and the latest post although not in a direct post is very long,but what has been stated basically,is if the Operation Grange team proceed to question,Non suspects,without informing Portugal PJ,it will very likely jeopardise any future possible prosecution?

It(Article) states relevant points of similarity between spoken words of Mr Colin Sutton and former CEOP,Mr Jim Gamble relating points to the McCann family,Operation Grange,Gold standard Group 8th May 2007 as there chosen method to follow!
(textusa) are quite adamant that Sonia Poulton's recent video documentary is being directed for the Police to possibly"Overstep" the boundaries,pressurising by exposure of unsure facts,costs of the ongoing operation via the Internet Facebook or Twitter comments,in today's austerity Police cuts to the service etc!
(textusa) is asking for all person's who had an interest in Madeleine McCann's disappearance to be even more patient,so as to avoid unnecessary elements being manipulated unaware to asking why haven't they questioned certain person's,of whom the UK,Portugal Police have consistently stated are not suspects in Madeleine's disappearance!
If Operation Grange has been set up on a flawed remit it has been done for"Political Reasons",not the Police stopping the operation,treading water?

by Copodenieve 05.05.18 16:13

I haven’t seen it and I don’t really want to because I made my mind up about Sonia Poulton and “what’s her name..cristobel or something” a long time ago. In my opinion they are not nice people to say the least, in fact they are liars and bullies. I simply do not trust either of them and have absolutely no desire to give them an audience. On a different note, hats off to you Mr. Bennett for taking the pain staking time to analyse the documentary. In my particular case, it is very much appreciated as I know you to be fair, objective and honest and you have just saved me from having to force myself to watch it. Personally I don't understand how people still want to give them a chance. Even if the documentary had been spot on and really got the message out there, isn't anyone worried that once they have an adoring audience they can manipulate it anyway they want? Is nobody worried about their horrendous reputations?

by Phoebe 05.05.18 17:54

I had never heard of Sonia Poulton before coming across her in relation to her promise to make a film re. Madeleine McCann. I gather there has been reason for some to doubt her motivation. I can only say that the short you-tube documentary which she has produced is, IMO, quite good. Granted it omits Martin Grime's and Mark Harrison's roles (that's a pity) but other than that I found it quite good for a 45 min programme.

I am however, fascinated by Tony's claim that the Dave Eden who features in the programme may have been formerly known as David Machin. I am very curious about whether this is actually so. If they are the same person, then David Machin must have changed his identity while still serving in the Hertfordshire police, since, in 2002 there was a David Machin in the Herts. force and in 2008, a Dave Eden (from Herts. force) testified that, in 2003 (just a year after David Machin was in the news) he reported Nisha Patel to the anti-corruption squad. I find it strange that the police would just allow an officer to change his name while still serving in the same force. Surely this would have potential repercussions for giving evidence about any matters which had occurred while he served under his former name. Any identity change is unlikely to be as the result of threats made against him as he remained on in the same force, serving the same area and, therefore, easy to find by anyone who might wish him harm.

With regard to S.P. and her longer (yet to be screened) film for T.V. I imagine it could be quite costly. Even her latest YouTube offering would have involved costs, possibly quite significant ones for use of archive footage. I suggest this because I remember Gemma O' Doherty complaining bitterly about the ridiculous cost R.T.E. (national broadcaster in Ireland) charged her for very short pieces of archive footage for her documentary about Mary Boyle. I can't get the actual link itself to open at the moment, but here is the link I found confirming this -

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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] › Forum › Policy Discussion › Justice
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Jul 5, 2016 - 10 posts - ‎8 authors
Gemma O Doherty tweets... This is the sum of money RTE are attempting to charge me for using 3.5 minutes of old archive material on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] pic.twit.[/size]

If I recall correctly, R.T.E. wanted somewhere in the region of 10,000-12,000 euro for one piece of footage from 1977.

Has Sonia made any mention of such costs I wonder. Some people were critical of the request for funding further films but there are expenses attached to making any kind of half decent programme - travel, crew, footage costs etc. so I wouldn't necessarily view funding requests as odd, especially if there were charges for footage involved. Whether she does produce something else on the Madeleine case remains to be seen but I wouldn't rush to judgement until I'd actually seen it! If there is reason to complain then, well, so be it.

by Guest 05.05.18 22:20

Phoebe wrote:Has Sonia made any mention of such costs I wonder. Some people were critical of the request for funding further films but there are expenses attached to making any kind of half decent - travel, crew, footage costs etc. so I wouldn't necessarily view funding requests as odd, especially if there were charges for footage involved. Whether she does produce something else on the Madeleine case remains to be seen but I wouldn't rush to judgement until I'd actually seen it! If there is reason to complain then, well, so be it.

This might answer your questions, or at least give a general idea as to why Sonia Poulton has been severely criticized about the long awaited 'Untold Story' documentary.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

In addition, Sonia Poulton has published numerous teasers of what to expect via social media and/or video uploaded on YouTube. This is the original uploaded in October 2014 where she cites the untimely death of Brenda Leyland and trolling as the reason for her interest in the case and the planned 'Untold Story'.

Ms Poulton was also responsible for showcasing the internet blogger Rosalinda 'Cristobell' Hutton by way of an appalling interview with a tabloid about the case of Madeleine McCann and trolls, where she (Ms Hutton) admitted to getting a kick out of social media brawls and 'squishing' (I think that was the word) people online . That's without Ms Poulton and her team's intrusive appearance at Brenda Leyland's coroners inquest as a caped crusader for truth.

Feel free to fly the flag for Ms Poulton but it's a good idea to get an idea of the histrionics of this yet to be seen documentary and it's creator, before looking for reasons to excuse the non-production of the initial proposal.

by Guest 06.05.18 0:42

My apologies, the link I posted ^^^ above is an update sneaked in when I wasn't looking. The original chronology is here..

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Followed by the recent 'the McCanns and the police' film production detail I previously posted..

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by **Tony Bennett** 09.05.18 16:35

QUOTE FROM U.S. PROSECUTOR WENDY MURPHY ABOUT THE PORTUGUESE POLICE ON THIS 3-MINUTE VIDEO

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“The Portuguese Police did a very good job”

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

QUOTES ABOUT THE PORTUGUESE POLICE MADE BY SONIA POULTON IN HER RECENT 45-MINUTE FILM

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“The Portuguese police were subjected to immense criticism from British media and police, the McCanns and their friends...the first criticisms came just hours after Madeleine’s reported disappearance” [10.28-10.40]

“Jill Renwick was potent in denouncing the Portuguese police” [10.50-11.05]

Renwick then says: “They’re just having to wait till people help them…there’s nothing else they can do, unless they get support from the police over there, or the police over here” [10.41-11.20].

“Renwick was only beginning the criticism of the Portuguese police” [11.45-11.51]

Sonia Poulton: “In the UK, there has been no shortage of politicians and journalists and former cops lining up to lay the boot in to the Portuguese police” [11.40-12.00]

John O’Conner, from Rupert Murdoch’s SKY News: “It was quite clear from the start that…um…the Portuguese police took off on the wrong tack…the punishment that, that they put the poor parents through is just unbelievable…” [12.01-12.20]

Sonia Poulton: “Operation Task, led by Goncalo Amaral, had made a number of unprecedented compromises… contrary to Portugal’s judicial secrecy laws…” [12.24-12.46]

Sonia Pouilton: “There were other criticisms of the police. They were accused of not adequately preserving the crime scene and, there was some truth in it, as it took until the next morning to properly do so” [13.13-13.30]

Sonia Poulton: “Certainly, there were rookie errors” [13.35-13.40]

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

.

by Phoebe 09.05.18 21:06

The sad fact is that the Portuguese police did come in for very harsh criticism (in '07 and for some years after) from powerful McCann sympathisers. Reminding people of this in a programme entitled "The McCanns and the police" does not have to be inferred as endorsement of these criticisms, indeed, I inferred the contrary - that the McCanns and their cronies were doing their best to discredit the P.J.
Common sense tells any sensible viewer that this is extraordinary behaviour from supposedly innocent parents anxious to recover their child!
The P.J. regrettably, did make unusual concessions, albeit under political pressure. They allowed Gerry to sit in with Kate during questioning, "reassuringly" touching her arm during questioning. They did not ensure that the Tapas 9 were questioned contemporaneously but separately to ensure they could not exchange information. They did not confiscate the McCanns clothing thanks to diplomatic interference. Pointing these out is not criticism of the P.J., rather it highlights the pressure the U.K. put on the investigation and the fact that the clear message from the U.K powers showed that they were sympathetic to the McCanns. I really didn't see any attempt in the program to imply that the P.J. were anything but diligent and competent, if under pressure from higher up. Goncalo Amaral himself admits that he wishes some things had been done differently.

by Liz Eagles 09.05.18 21:21

The carefully selected title of this production doesn't live up to its name.

by Liz Eagles 10.05.18 15:28

Scotland Yard granted an audience to the Summer &Swann duo to write a book exonerating the McCanns, gloryfying Operation Grange and damning the Portuguese investigation.

by willowthewisp 10.05.18 15:43

aquila wrote:Scotland Yard granted an audience to the Summer &Swann duo to write a book exonerating the McCanns, gloryfying Operation Grange and damning the Portuguese investigation.

Hi aquilla,so Scotland Yard colluded with Summer & Swann praising the work of Operation Grange,whilst denigrating the Portuguese Police operation,whilst supposedly offering the hand of "Friendship"(put the past to bed)we're New partners now,time for some Xanax that just recently came into our possession via the size 10's,Evening all?

Sounds about right for Scotland Yard,fingers in all the pies!

AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Fact-finding to refute the scurrilous allegations, support the Hampstead community and expose the hoaxers

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Sonia Poulton,doc

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Amelie McCann (aged 2): "Maddie's jammies!".

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Re: AN ANALYSIS OF ‘THE MCCANNS AND THE POLICE’ *** HOW SONIA POULTON’S FILM TAKES US AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Sonia Poulton

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