Olive Press: The Man the Money the Mischief

Good to see Clarke speaks only to  very best gossipy quality press, could it be any more cheezy?

Madeleine McCann’s parents’ new agony


Ooops, wrong picture - now where did that come from

As a prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case is announced, Closer speaks to Jon Clarke who has followed the story since the three-year-old went missing...

by Kristina Beanland | Posted on11 06 2020

The biggest breakthrough in the 13-year search for Madeleine McCann came last week, when German authorities said they had almost enough evidence [that word again] to charge a convicted paedophile with her murder.

At the time of going to press, the suspect was a 43-year-old German man, who has a long history of sex crimes against women and children, and is currently in jail for the torture and rape of a 72-year-old woman.

Police are also reopening the investigation into a missing five-year-old girl, dubbed “the German Maddie”, who was snatched from woodland in Germany while on holiday with her family in 2017 – at a location less than 50 miles from where the suspect lived at the time.

But while Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry, have always held on to the belief that their daughter, who would now be 17, is still alive, German officials have stressed that this is a murder inquiry.

In a statement uploaded to the Find Madeleine website, Kate and Gerry said, “All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice.

“We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive, but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know, as we need to find peace.”

Journalist Jon Clarke was one of the first on the scene in Praia da Luz, Portugal, when Maddie went missing from a holiday resort in May 2007, while her parents ate in a nearby restaurant. He has been reporting on the case ever since.

He believes that – while the news of Maddie’s apparent death will be heartbreaking – Kate and Gerry may finally find closure.

Jon, who is currently back working on the case in Praia da Luz, told Closer, “Since 2007, there have been a few leads about Maddie’s whereabouts, but they’ve amounted to nothing. This time, it seems different. There’s strong evidence linking this man to the crime, and there’s a feeling that we might finally get some answers.

“I remember the anguish on Kate and Gerry’s faces when I first met them the day after Maddie went missing. It would be devastating for them to find out that Maddie has died, but they deserve to know what happened to her, no matter how awful.”

And Jon, who lives in Malaga, Spain, with his wife and two children, says that some locals in the area have long been suspicious of the German man.

He says, “Everyone in the area knew about the elderly woman who had been raped. I remember speaking to some people who said that there must have been a link between the two crimes, because Praia da Luz has been considered such a safe area.

"They felt that two awful incidents that happened so close to each other must be related. But because the victims were so different – an elderly woman and a young child – it must have been discounted.”

Jon recalls the call he received from a British newspaper on the morning of 4 May 2007, asking him to report on a missing child.

He says, “I remember thinking that by the time I got there, she’d have turned up. Praia da Luz was a sleepy little village and hardly anyone was around when I arrived later that morning. But I was shocked when I saw the McCanns’ apartment – there was no security and just a flimsy piece of police tape covering the side gate.”

A few hours after arriving, Jon met Kate and Gerry. He says, “They were polite, and even thanked me for reporting on the case. They were clearly devastated. The press conference outside their apartment later that day only confirmed my feelings. I think almost every person there shed a tear. As a journalist, you try not to get too emotional about a story, but my own daughter had just turned two, so it was hard not to get upset.

“In the days that followed, it was clear this was a story like no other – hundreds of journalists descended on the town and Maddie’s face was everywhere. Everyone was looking for her – I must have walked the length of the beach ten times, combing through the wasteland and looking in abandoned houses.”

Jon stayed in Portugal for two weeks while the case unfolded – until it became clear that Maddie was no longer in Praia da Luz. He says he has since returned countless times to report on the story, and even appeared in a Netflix documentary that aired last year about her disappearance.

Now, Jon is back in Portugal.

He says, “The atmosphere is tense here and the locals are in shock. A lot of theories have been floated over the years, but the idea that Maddie could have been taken by a paedophile is the one that no one wanted to be true. And it’s tough on the people here, knowing that the place they call home is famous for something so awful. They want answers too, so that their town can start to move on.”



While reporting on the case last week, Jon was asked by a newspaper to visit one of the homes of the German suspect, to see if the people living there knew about its previous owner.

He says, “The house is in the middle of nowhere, four or five miles outside of Praia da Luz. It would have been so easy for a dangerous man like him to lay low, and not cause too much of a stir. Expats rarely ask questions of each other anyway – it’s almost an unwritten rule not to dig because there’s lots of reasons, sometimes private, why someone would want to relocate to another country. So he’d have blended in without too much trouble.”

Now Jon hopes the next time he returns to Praia da Luz will be under different circumstances.

He says, “When I think about what Kate and Gerry have lived with for all these years, it breaks my heart. My daughter is a similar age to Madeleine, and every time I come down here, I feel so lucky that something like this didn’t happen to my family.

“The man the police are investigating was a nasty piece of work with a string of horrific convictions. It’s time justice was done for Madeleine.”

Read even more in this week's Closer magazine - out now. Can't get to the shops? No problem. Find out how to get Closer magazine at home.

https://closeronline.co.uk/real-life/news/madeleine-mccann-german-suspect-jon-clarke/
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I don't know about getting Closer to home, getting Closer to the truth might be more helpful .

i think dear jon is not very content with that link;

https://closeronline.co.uk/real-life/news/madeleine-mccann-german-suspect-jon-clarke/

i did not know jon is german.

but as it is a high quality press, and as we know jon likes only the best journalists in the field. you know the real ones. 

o well, the guy has an education under his belt to find easily his way back to the crime scene.

I suppose it could be said Jon Clarke is now Germanic, all that time he spent on the road with his magical mystery tour and translator/interpreter in tow - he must be effluent by now.

Dear Jon .... sounds like an agony aunt.  Ooops sorry, agony uncle.

Old Uncle Tom cobblers 'n all 'n all, Old Uncle Tom cobblers 'n all    

Verdi wrote:I suppose it could be said Jon Clarke is now Germanic, all that time he spent on the road with his magical mystery tour and  translator/interpreter in tow - he must be effluent by now

But he has still not yet grasped the use of the Umlaut,  the two dots over the U in BRÜCKNER
and insists on the crude anglicisation - Brueckner - which is acceptable for non-German speakers, 
or those who can't work a modern keyboard and don't know where to find the ü, the é, the î, or the ç.

Guilty as charged !

Me?  I can't be bothered to change keyboard in the name of Germanman - he's unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I claim exclusion because I'm not German.

The British press invariably refer to him as Breuckner - albeit technically wrong.

It was stated by Silvia Batista that on 20-09-2007, during the morning, three reporters from Sky News, two men and a woman, were seen on the patio of apartment 5 A and that they had forced the external blind to the bedroom that Madeleine had disappeared from, probably with the intention of filming inside, and she told them to leave.

But she said that yesterday 25-09-2007 a security guard was asked to come to the same apartment as there was a group of three journalists - two Spanish men and a woman, who had set up cameras on the patio next to Apartment 5 A which was occupied at the time. Their identification was not noted, but given the fact they had filming equipment, they were assumed to be reporters.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/DCCB_LETTER.htm

I've just read this, written by a pro-McCannite some months ago..

I have thought over the years that their complacency and incompetence was monumental [refers to Portuguese investigation]. Having read the evidence being presented by Jon Clarke I am coming round to the realisation that NO-ONE could be that incompetent over such a long period of time.

I have always found the many faceted, virulent campaign carried out against two parents who are doing nothing other than trying to locate their missing daughter quite bizarre.

I have been astounded by Amaral's recent attempts to derail the German investigation. But most of all, the fact that a career criminal cared enough to inform on a "colleague" when Madeleine disappeared and was ignored is something that must have concentrated minds and will continue to do so.

Unbelievable!

Further on, one or the same continues the diatribe with a fawnicating declaration that puts Jon Clarke of the Olive Press on a gilded throne of supremacy (not verbatim) .... after all the years spent investigating the case of Madeleine McCann and the hundreds of people and witnesses he, Jon Clarke, has talked to how could anyone doubt his, Jon Clarke's, words?



None so blind than those who wish not to see.

The recently posted article about the germanman's lawyers tactics to delay trial (what trial?) I'm sure was first reported a few months ago - this appears to be just another concerted effort to keep the agenda afloat.

I had a quick look to find the original report, to no avail but it's not important. Whilst I cam across this little gem. This is a group of 'Brueckner dunnit' and Amaral is an incompetent buffoon with a criminal record like minded folk - with the odd infiltraitor. They talk of Jon Clarke of the Olive Press.

I took the time to listen to the podcast Murdered Missing Unsolved which continually plugs the book My Search for Madeleine.

I notice that the front cover includes a photo of CB (looking remarkably like Nadal) and MM together. I might have missed something but has he been arrested or convicted for his alleged role in MMs disappearance?

I notice the author is also very critical of Portuguese Police and disparaging of Praia da Luz in general.

At least he solved one part of this mystery for me. If you are a middle class professional you are a victim. That makes crime solving so much easier.

At the end of the podcast (and presumably book) he was no closer to nailing CB than law enforcement in Germany.

Anonymous

Talking of Jon Clarke of the Olive Press, he doesn't appear to have written anything for his insalubrious Spanish tabloid since before Christmas !?! Is he still active on social media (I wouldn't know) or has he secreted himself in the lawless hills, never again to appear in public?

Lest he forgets..

Just out of interest,
I have become aware of another website which gets round paywalls.

the first one we found was
12ft.io/          you type this in front of the main one and after a very short time it lets you in to read, but not to comment.    
Now we have
archive.is/     which is technically an archive site, but crawls the web all the time so is only a couple of seconds behind.

This means you can see if you have been abused and libelled by Jon Clarke and the Olive Press
WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY TO DO SO. 


And of course theOlive Press is always available without subscription on

https://issuu.com/theolivepress