Dr Martin Roberts: Madeleine McCann: The heart of the matter

Madeleine McCann: The heart of the matter

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By Dr Martin Roberts
04 February 2010


THE HEART OF THE MATTER

When Uncle John sat down to write his Chairman's Report on the fiscal activities of Madeleine's Fund for the last trading year, one person was certainly not uppermost in his mind. Clearly focussed on his schoolboy pun, he managed to omit Madeleine's name from the rosta of previously nominated litigants in the libel case against Goncalo Amaral. The date on which Madeleine was 'taken' seems also to have been forgotten, as elsewhere (the Director's Report, signed off by Brian Kennedy, Madeleine's great-uncle), the 3rd May 2008 is referenced. Not just 'a day late and a dollar short', but a full twelve months.

Perhaps Messrs. McCann and Kennedy do not quite attach the same importance to their niece/great-niece as do her parents. But if we look for evidence of how Madeleine stands in their regard, she seems to fare little better.

KM: "So it's difficult to hear something that's incorrect and inaccurate. At the bottom of all this is a little girl, and I think it's important that we don't forget that."

Madeleine is not identified as being at the heart, or even centre of events. But that shouldn't surprise us unduly, since she never was.

Interviewed by Jane Hill (BBC):

GM: "Yeah, I mean, without doubt, they... they help us to continue, you know. This is every parent's worst nightmare and everyone can feel and imagine what we've gone through but, you know, if we'd had discovered all three of the children had gone or if something else had happened, then, you know, we... we'd not have had the same strength and resolution and determination to find Madeleine that Sean and Amelie give us, as well, because we know that they're there, errr... life continues but we need to bring them back... bring Madeleine back as much for them, as for Madeleine, as for us."

There is no ambiguity here. It is Sean and Amelie who imbue the parents with the determination to find Madeleine. Were they to be missing as well, then so would that determination. In such an event the twins need of rescue comes first ('them' does not include Madeleine initially. She is mentioned separately). The need to bring Madeleine back is then measured in terms of the twins first, Madeleine second.

Announcing their intention to suppress Goncalo Amaral via a libel action, Gerry again puts Madeleine in her place.

GM: "I'd like to read this statement on behalf of Kate, myself and our three children."

"...,the other action is about the damage that's caused to ourselves, our children and Madeleine, obviously."

Suddenly Madeleine is not so much one of the children as an afterthought.

And, with thanks to Anna Andress for bringing the following to light, according to a statement by Katherina Gasper (a doctor who holidayed with the McCanns and their friends in 2005):

"During our stay in Majorca, Dave and his wife, Fiona, accompanied by their daughter Lily, took Madeleine with them to spend the day, in order to give Kate and Gerry a bit of rest and time to be with the twins."

Amongst the questions Kate McCann refused to answer when made arguida, is one which raises more questions concerning Madeleine's place in the family:

"When asked whether or not it is true that in England she considered the possibility of handing over Madeleine's guardianship to a relative, she did not reply."

Perhaps we should not be too surprised at Uncle John and Great-Uncle Brian's errors and omissions after all.