Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 12.12.22 11:57
Gerry McCann uses the words 'marketing' and 'campaign' with reference to the loss of his precious daughter Madeleine.
Is that normal?
Is that normal?
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 12.12.22 12:00
Another version of the truth..
Madeleine McCann: Icons of the decade
Esther Addley
Tue 22 Dec 2009 00.05 GMT
It's the unsettling mix of the incredibly intimate and the coolly tactical that has made the mystery of Madeleine McCann the biggest and most extraordinary child abduction story in history.
In November, 30 months after their daughter vanished from their holiday apartment, Kate and Gerry McCann released two images of how Madeleine might look now. Her face is a little longer, her jaw stronger; she has grown out of her toddler's button nose. In one, she is shown with long blond hair, in the other with darker hair and a deep suntan. But in both images she retains the distinctive black flash in her right eye where the pupil bleeds into the iris, and which they hope can be used to identify her, if they ever do succeed in finding her.
Madeleine's distinctive eye has been central to the search for her since the earliest days. The couple released posters in English and Portuguese in which the letter "o" had been modified to have the same distinctive flash. "Look into my eyes," read the images: "Olha para os meus olhos." There were rumours that the Bryan Adams song "(Everything I Do) I Do it For You", which begins with those words, would be re-released in support of the campaign.
Late in 2007, Gerry McCann gave an interview to an American magazine and talked about the decision to publicise the eye defect. "Certainly we thought it was possible that [the publicity] could possibly hurt her or her abductor might do something to her eye . . . But in terms of marketing, it was a good ploy."
It is this unsettling mix – of the incredibly intimate and the coolly tactical – that has made the mystery of Madeleine McCann arguably the biggest and most extraordinary child abduction story in history. HL Mencken, the great American essayist and reporter, called the 1932 disappearance of the baby son of aviator Charles Lindbergh "the biggest story since the Resurrection", but neither the Lindbergh baby kidnap and murder, nor Christ's rising from the dead, took place in the internet age.
Just a few weeks after she vanished in May 2007, a sizeable chunk of the globe knew the name Madeleine McCann. The rather homespun website set up by her parents had 80m visits in the first three months after her disappearance. Millions of pounds were offered in reward for information. The biggest celebrities in the world – David Beckham, JK Rowling, the Pope, Oprah Winfrey – publicly expressed support or interest in this anonymous middle-class couple from the Midlands.
Reporters and camera crews from around the world descended on the small Algarve town of Praia da Luz, to feed an audience desperate for updates. At one point, almost two-thirds of global traffic on Google News consisted of searches for information about Madeleine. Most remarkable of all is that despite the many thousands of articles, the millions of words, written about Madeleine McCann, there remains more than two and a half years later just one solitary fact that we know for sure. In the early hours of 3 May 2007, she vanished without trace from her parents' holiday apartment.
Madeleine was not the first helpless child to come to harm, nor, tragically, will she be the last. So why did this child, this story, become the one that convulsed the world rather than any other? In part, it may be because the McCann case speaks to a profound noughties unease about the rules and roles of parenthood. Would you leave your three children asleep in a strange apartment while you dined and drank with friends in a restaurant some distance away? Have you? Would you heed the advice not to weep in public if your child was taken? How composed is too composed?
Kate and Gerry McCann, so profoundly conventional in many ways, awkwardly resisted conforming to the behaviour that an increasingly engaged and judgmental public demanded, most notably a stubborn refusal to acknowledge any parental culpability on their part and a determinedly dry-eyed public face, albeit on the advice of professionals, that sat uneasily with the sentimental grammar of tabloid reporting and the public mood.
In the case of Sarah Payne, snatched and killed in July 2000, or of Milly Dowler, who vanished in March 2002, or of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, who died five months later, the threat was external and unforeseen. Baby P, who died three months after Madeleine vanished, was murdered in circumstances of unambiguous evil. Terribly unjust as it may be, Madeleine's parents' dreadful victimhood was complicated, in the mind of the public, by their parenting decisions. It set in play the circumstances that allowed their critics, for a time at least, to judge them more harshly than whoever snatched her.
But the story of Madeleine is also a story about the media, how news events are set in motion, and how the plates are kept spinning, and how sometimes they fly off uncontrollably in all directions. A beautiful toddler gone missing will always be catnip to newspaper editors, but Kate and Gerry McCann also chose to make themselves active characters in the story, and though their motives were laudable, their relentless drive for publicity unsettled many. Had Madeleine been snatched in Britain, the McCanns would have been assigned a police family liaison officer and the full, slammed-door stonewalling of a police press office. In Portugal, their advisers were PRs. In October 2007 Clarence Mitchell, by then working as the couple's full-time media adviser, addressed students at Coventry University about the case. The title of his talk? "Missing Madeleine McCann: The perfect PR campaign".
There is another reason, of course, why Madeleine has become so iconic, and that is the terrible, ongoing mystery. "Madeleine is a very happy little girl with an outgoing personality," reads a heartbreaking note on her parents' website. "Like most girls her age, she likes dolls and dresses (and anything pink and sparkly)." What on earth became of this vibrant three-year-old, frozen in time? Will we ever know? Is it possible, as with Jaycee Lee Dugard or Natascha Kampusch or Elizabeth Fritzl, that one day a woman who was once named Madeleine will emerge, blinking, into the media spotlight?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/dec/22/madeleine-mccann-icons-of-the-decade
Madeleine McCann: Icons of the decade
Esther Addley
Tue 22 Dec 2009 00.05 GMT
It's the unsettling mix of the incredibly intimate and the coolly tactical that has made the mystery of Madeleine McCann the biggest and most extraordinary child abduction story in history.
In November, 30 months after their daughter vanished from their holiday apartment, Kate and Gerry McCann released two images of how Madeleine might look now. Her face is a little longer, her jaw stronger; she has grown out of her toddler's button nose. In one, she is shown with long blond hair, in the other with darker hair and a deep suntan. But in both images she retains the distinctive black flash in her right eye where the pupil bleeds into the iris, and which they hope can be used to identify her, if they ever do succeed in finding her.
Madeleine's distinctive eye has been central to the search for her since the earliest days. The couple released posters in English and Portuguese in which the letter "o" had been modified to have the same distinctive flash. "Look into my eyes," read the images: "Olha para os meus olhos." There were rumours that the Bryan Adams song "(Everything I Do) I Do it For You", which begins with those words, would be re-released in support of the campaign.
Late in 2007, Gerry McCann gave an interview to an American magazine and talked about the decision to publicise the eye defect. "Certainly we thought it was possible that [the publicity] could possibly hurt her or her abductor might do something to her eye . . . But in terms of marketing, it was a good ploy."
It is this unsettling mix – of the incredibly intimate and the coolly tactical – that has made the mystery of Madeleine McCann arguably the biggest and most extraordinary child abduction story in history. HL Mencken, the great American essayist and reporter, called the 1932 disappearance of the baby son of aviator Charles Lindbergh "the biggest story since the Resurrection", but neither the Lindbergh baby kidnap and murder, nor Christ's rising from the dead, took place in the internet age.
Just a few weeks after she vanished in May 2007, a sizeable chunk of the globe knew the name Madeleine McCann. The rather homespun website set up by her parents had 80m visits in the first three months after her disappearance. Millions of pounds were offered in reward for information. The biggest celebrities in the world – David Beckham, JK Rowling, the Pope, Oprah Winfrey – publicly expressed support or interest in this anonymous middle-class couple from the Midlands.
Reporters and camera crews from around the world descended on the small Algarve town of Praia da Luz, to feed an audience desperate for updates. At one point, almost two-thirds of global traffic on Google News consisted of searches for information about Madeleine. Most remarkable of all is that despite the many thousands of articles, the millions of words, written about Madeleine McCann, there remains more than two and a half years later just one solitary fact that we know for sure. In the early hours of 3 May 2007, she vanished without trace from her parents' holiday apartment.
Madeleine was not the first helpless child to come to harm, nor, tragically, will she be the last. So why did this child, this story, become the one that convulsed the world rather than any other? In part, it may be because the McCann case speaks to a profound noughties unease about the rules and roles of parenthood. Would you leave your three children asleep in a strange apartment while you dined and drank with friends in a restaurant some distance away? Have you? Would you heed the advice not to weep in public if your child was taken? How composed is too composed?
Kate and Gerry McCann, so profoundly conventional in many ways, awkwardly resisted conforming to the behaviour that an increasingly engaged and judgmental public demanded, most notably a stubborn refusal to acknowledge any parental culpability on their part and a determinedly dry-eyed public face, albeit on the advice of professionals, that sat uneasily with the sentimental grammar of tabloid reporting and the public mood.
In the case of Sarah Payne, snatched and killed in July 2000, or of Milly Dowler, who vanished in March 2002, or of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, who died five months later, the threat was external and unforeseen. Baby P, who died three months after Madeleine vanished, was murdered in circumstances of unambiguous evil. Terribly unjust as it may be, Madeleine's parents' dreadful victimhood was complicated, in the mind of the public, by their parenting decisions. It set in play the circumstances that allowed their critics, for a time at least, to judge them more harshly than whoever snatched her.
But the story of Madeleine is also a story about the media, how news events are set in motion, and how the plates are kept spinning, and how sometimes they fly off uncontrollably in all directions. A beautiful toddler gone missing will always be catnip to newspaper editors, but Kate and Gerry McCann also chose to make themselves active characters in the story, and though their motives were laudable, their relentless drive for publicity unsettled many. Had Madeleine been snatched in Britain, the McCanns would have been assigned a police family liaison officer and the full, slammed-door stonewalling of a police press office. In Portugal, their advisers were PRs. In October 2007 Clarence Mitchell, by then working as the couple's full-time media adviser, addressed students at Coventry University about the case. The title of his talk? "Missing Madeleine McCann: The perfect PR campaign".
There is another reason, of course, why Madeleine has become so iconic, and that is the terrible, ongoing mystery. "Madeleine is a very happy little girl with an outgoing personality," reads a heartbreaking note on her parents' website. "Like most girls her age, she likes dolls and dresses (and anything pink and sparkly)." What on earth became of this vibrant three-year-old, frozen in time? Will we ever know? Is it possible, as with Jaycee Lee Dugard or Natascha Kampusch or Elizabeth Fritzl, that one day a woman who was once named Madeleine will emerge, blinking, into the media spotlight?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/dec/22/madeleine-mccann-icons-of-the-decade
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 12.12.22 12:07
Expresso article
Maria Barbosa
02 February 2008
Extract:
To 'Expresso', Clarence Mitchell revealed additionally that the extensive feature devoted to the Maddie case in the February issue of 'Vanity Fair' didn't please the McCanns. Although they're used to denying the news that is published daily in the Portuguese and British press, this instance "goes further".
In Mitchell's words, the incorrections start right at the beginning of the article, where it's announced "the first interview with Gerry McCann since he and his wife, Kate, were declared arguidos". And the conversation between the 'Vanity Fair' journalist, Judy Bachrach, and Gerry — that took place at the end of September — "should not have been transcribed. We agreed previously that it would be all off the record and the reporter agreed. We were caught by surprise".
The magazine tells additionally (taking recourse to the statements of Esther Adley, from 'The Guardian') that Gerry, after the decision to return to the UK, on September 9, and already under the arguido status, contacted Sky News previously warning them to reserve a seat on the EasyJet flight. Mitchell, that was not the couple's spokesman at the time, denies everything and only regrets that the reporter didn't confront Gerry with such "accusations".
[Acknowledgement: pamalam of gerrymccannsblog.com]
https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t15043-unanswered-prayers-vanity-fair#384713
Maria Barbosa
02 February 2008
Extract:
To 'Expresso', Clarence Mitchell revealed additionally that the extensive feature devoted to the Maddie case in the February issue of 'Vanity Fair' didn't please the McCanns. Although they're used to denying the news that is published daily in the Portuguese and British press, this instance "goes further".
In Mitchell's words, the incorrections start right at the beginning of the article, where it's announced "the first interview with Gerry McCann since he and his wife, Kate, were declared arguidos". And the conversation between the 'Vanity Fair' journalist, Judy Bachrach, and Gerry — that took place at the end of September — "should not have been transcribed. We agreed previously that it would be all off the record and the reporter agreed. We were caught by surprise".
The magazine tells additionally (taking recourse to the statements of Esther Adley, from 'The Guardian') that Gerry, after the decision to return to the UK, on September 9, and already under the arguido status, contacted Sky News previously warning them to reserve a seat on the EasyJet flight. Mitchell, that was not the couple's spokesman at the time, denies everything and only regrets that the reporter didn't confront Gerry with such "accusations".
[Acknowledgement: pamalam of gerrymccannsblog.com]
https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t15043-unanswered-prayers-vanity-fair#384713
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 12.12.22 12:23
The Vanity Fair article is such an eyeopener 
, between the lines it could be thought to be supportive of the McCann faction but in truth, it exposes them for what they are and how they orchestrated probably one of the biggest scandals ever to have hit the headlines.
Even if you've read it before, it's worth another look.
Snipped..
, between the lines it could be thought to be supportive of the McCann faction but in truth, it exposes them for what they are and how they orchestrated probably one of the biggest scandals ever to have hit the headlines.Even if you've read it before, it's worth another look.
Snipped..
.“Yes, yes, I know,” Gerry says bitterly. “Kate killed her in a frenzy, Madeleine was sedated by us, she fell down the stairs—in which case you would have thought they’d have found her body. I’ve heard all that! There have been a huge number of theories in the media. But what I want to know is—who told them all that?”
In fact, much of what is aired or printed about the vanished girl and her parents is mendacious, mistaken, or just plain conflicting: according to the press, to various detectives, and to top Portuguese authorities, the child is alternatively alive in Morocco (or maybe Portugal or Bosnia) or dead, killed one moment by kidnappers and in other instances by family. In all these hypotheses the supporting facts are invented, from the reason for Kate’s lack of public emotion to the first acts of the Portuguese police (dubbed “the Keystone Cops” and “Butt Heads” by reporters). Thus, the media has managed to rob the McCanns of their daughter a second time. And to complicate matters, it was Gerry McCann himself who, two days after Madeleine’s disappearance, ignited the media conflagration that is now consuming the couple.
It is Gerry who is behind what he tells me is “the marketing … a high public awareness” of Madeleine. At his side while we talk is Clarence Mitchell, a voluble former government media analyst and BBC reporter, handpicked by Gerry to be the latest in a line of spokesmen. On October 17, Mitchell spoke at Coventry University. His topic: “Missing Madeleine McCann: The Perfect PR Campaign.” Except that it has been anything but perfect
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by CaKeLoveR 12.12.22 13:02
Perhaps it was a ploy, telling the McCann's no to cry? In reality, they shouldn't have been able to withhold crying, no matter what they were told. the fact that they obeyed is rather telling, imo. They had no emotion about Madeleine.
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 30.12.22 12:44
Mumma mia here you go again Christmas repeat
:What Kate and Gerry McCann's life looks like, almost 15 years after Madeleine's disappearance.
Polly Taylor
Editor, News and Features
April 23, 2022
At around 8.30pm on May 3, 2007, Kate and Gerry McCann left their three sleeping children in their holiday apartment in the quiet Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz and headed out for dinner.
They thought that Madeleine, three, and 18-month-old twins, Sean and Amelie, would be safe just 83 metres from where they were dining at a tapas restaurant with the group of friends they were holidaying with.
Throughout the evening, the adults took it in turns to check on the kids.
At 10pm, it was Kate McCann’s turn.
When she arrived at apartment 5A, she knew immediately something was wrong.
Madeleine was gone.
What happened next is well documented. The story of the blonde toddler’s unexplained disappearance became a global news story.
This May, will mark 15 years since the wide-eyed toddler's disappearance, and on May 12, it would've been her 19th birthday.
This week, Kate and Gerry McCann welcomed news that a German man has been formally made a suspect over their three-year-old's disappearance.
It is the first time Portuguese prosecutors have identified an official suspect in the case since Madeleine's parents were named suspects in 2007. They were later cleared.
Posting on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page, Kate and Gerry wrote: "We welcome the news that the Portuguese authorities have declared a German man an 'arguido' in relation to the disappearance of our beloved daughter Madeleine.
"This reflects progress in the investigation, being conducted by the Portuguese, German and British authorities.
"It is important to note the 'arguido' has not yet been charged with any specific crime related to Madeleine's disappearance.
"Even though the possibility may be slim, we have not given up hope that Madeleine is still alive and we will be reunited with her."
Read more: Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007. Now police have a formal suspect.
On May 12, 2021, Madeleine would have been 18 years old. Her parents marked the occasion with an emotional message.
"Every May is tough – a reminder of years passed, of years together lost, or stolen," Kate and Gerry McCann wrote on their Facebook page. "This year it is particularly poignant as we should be celebrating Madeleine’s 18th birthday. Enough said."
The parents went on, saying the pandemic had been difficult but added that they were thankful "the investigation to find Madeleine and her abductor has continued".
"We hang on to the hope, however small, that we will see Madeleine again. As we have said repeatedly, we need to know what has happened to our lovely daughter, no matter what. We are very grateful to the police for their continued efforts."
They concluded: "We still receive so many positive words and good wishes despite the years that have gone by. It all helps and for that we are truly grateful – thank you."
In another post for Madeleine's 18th birthday, the parents wrote, "We love you and we're waiting for you".
May 2021
Every May is tough – a reminder of years passed, of years together lost, or stolen. This year it is particularly poignant as we should be celebrating Madeleine’s 18th birthday. Enough said.
The Covid pandemic has made this year even more difficult for many reasons but thankfully the investigation to find Madeleine and her abductor has continued. We hang on to the hope, however small, that we will see Madeleine again. As we have said repeatedly, we need to know what has happened to our lovely daughter, no matter what. We are very grateful to the police for their continued efforts.
We still receive so many positive words and good wishes despite the years that have gone by. It all helps and for that we are truly grateful – thank
you.
~Kate and Gerry
In 2020, the McCanns farewelled the year saying it was one they "don’t want to remember but will find it hard to forget".
"There’s no doubt that 2020 has been tough for most people, and often distressing, with so much loss, worry and isolation," the couple wrote on the Facebook page. "Despite losing a parent each, we are aware we have been more fortunate than many, with our family unit at home and jobs to go to."
They added that the pandemic had forced the investigation into their daughter's vanishing to "slow down".
"It hasn’t stopped however and the hope, energy and determination to find her and uncover the truth remain steadfast. Let’s hope 2021 is a brighter, more positive one," they concluded their post.
Goodbye 2020
What a year! One we don’t want to remember but will find it hard to forget.
There’s no doubt that 2020 has been tough for most people, and often distressing, with so much loss, worry and isolation. Despite losing a parent each, we are aware we have been more fortunate than many, with our family unit at home and jobs to go to. Understandably, the investigation to find Madeleine has been forced to slow down as a result of the pandemic. It hasn’t stopped however and the hope, energy and determination to find her and uncover the truth remain steadfast.
We are very grateful for the continued support, especially throughout this ‘rubbish’ year and for all the Christmas wishes too. Thank you.
Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has suffered this year. Let’s hope 2021 is a brighter, more positive one.
With our best wishes for exactly that.
Kate & Gerry
The story of Madeleine McCann has indeed been subject to high media interest ever since her mysterious vanishing.
Kate and Gerry McCann refused to take part in the program, stating that it could impede the ongoing police investigation.
In a statement on their website, they said: "We did not see and still do not see how this programme will help the search for Madeleine and particularly given there is an active police investigation, could potentially hinder it."
Who are Madeleine McCann's parents?
Kate McCann (neé Healey) was born in 1968 in Huyton, near Liverpool. She graduated in 1992 with a degree in medicine from the University of Dundee. Gerry McCann, born the same year as Kate, was also a medical scholar, in Glasgow. After working in obstetrics and gynaecology, Kate became a GP. Gerry worked in sports medicine before moving into cardiology.
The couple, described by friends as "inseparable," met while working as junior doctors at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow.
They married in 1998 and had Madeleine in 2003 after IVF treatment. Twins Sean and Amelie followed two years later. The family moved to Rothey in Leicestershire, when Gerry got a job as a consultant cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital in 2005.
Did the McCanns split up after Madeleine McCann went missing?
While the McCann's never actually split up, Kate has spoken about how close their relationship came to breaking point.
In her book, Madeleine, Kate talks about how she withdrew into herself after Madeleine's disappearance, ceasing to read, play music, or even have sex with husband Gerry.
She said that the fears a paedophile had taken Maddie very much played into that.
"Tortured as I was by these images, it's not surprising that even the thought of sex repulsed me," Kate wrote.
"I worried about Gerry and me. I worried that if I didn't get our sex life on track, our whole relationship would break down."
She also recalled how supportive Gerry was during the darkest days of their lives. "He would put his arm round me, reassuring me and telling me that he loved me," she wrote.
Kate McCann, 54, and Gerry McCann, 55, remain together and continue to fight for information about Madeleine's disappearance.
In 2014, Kate told the BBC that she has returned to Praia da Luz on several occasions.
"I do go back for personal reasons," she said. "It’s obviously the last place we were with Madeleine and I still walk those streets and I guess try to look for answers. It helps me, most of the time."
After Madeleine vanished, Kate quit her job as a GP to work for children's charities. Gerry McCann is now a professor of cardiology and prides himself on having "established a national and growing international reputation as an expert in Cardiac MRI (magnetic reasoning imaging)" – or scanning, as reported by The Sun.
The McCann's have used AUD $308,000 made from sales of Kate's book about their daughter to continue the search for the little girl.
Their twins, Amelie and Sean, are now 17.
This article was updated with new information on April 23, 2022.
https://www.mamamia.com.au/kate-and-gerry-mccann-now/
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 05.01.23 15:59
Key players in the McCann case
The protagonists in the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Angela Balakrishnan
Thu 10 Apr 2008 11.25 BST
Clarence Mitchell
The former BBC journalist was appointed early on in the investigation to be the McCann's official spokesman. He represented them in the immediate aftermath of the incident after being sent to Praia da Luz by the Foreign Office. He has spent considerable time with the family, organising their trips across Europe, and, according to Gerry McCann, the couple's visit to Rome to meet the Pope. As a BBC reporter, he covered the wars in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq as well as the royal family – a role which coincided with the death of Princess Diana.
Michael Caplan QC
Caplan is one of the two lawyers the McCanns have hired to defend them against suggestions that they might have been involved in their daughter's disappearance. A part-time judge in the crown court and a chairman of the police disciplinary appeal tribunal, he has a reputation in the profession for reliability and tenacity. In Chambers UK 2007, A Client's Guide to the Legal Profession, he is described as "the weapon of choice for battleship cases". This is not the first time Caplan has dealt with big media interest cases. An expert in extradition and international criminal law, he prevented the extradition to Spain of former Chilean president General Augusto Pinochet when he was arrested in the UK in 1998. He also defended the captain of the dredger Bowbelle, whose collision with the Marchioness on the Thames in 1989 resulted in the deaths of 51 people.
Angus McBride
The other lawyer hired by the McCanns, McBride, like Caplan, is a partner in the legal firm Kingsley Napley. He is a leading criminal solicitor with expertise in dealing with the media and protecting reputations of accidental celebrities such as the McCanns. McBride has represented actor Chris Langham, who was jailed for downloading child porn, and defended various professional footballers, including John Terry and two other Premier League players accused of rape in 2003.
Carlos Pinto de Abreu
Abreu is one of Portugal's best-known lawyers with a reputation for taking on controversial cases. He lodged the McCann's libel action against Portuguese newspaper Tal & Qual, which said they were police suspects after it was believed they administered their daughter a fatal drug overdose. The Lisbon lawyer has offered his services to the McCanns for free. He also applied to the district attorney for a change in the couple's formal status from "witnesses" to "assistant" in the investigation, thus allowing them to know more about it. He is the president of the human rights committee for the Portuguese bar association.
Philomena McCann
Gerry's sister, a high school teacher from Scotland, often speaks to the press on the family's behalf. She has become well known for her fiery personality and colourful Glaswegian vocabulary, but occasionally strays off-message. She told Sky News that Portuguese police –who she has been critical of – had offered Kate a two-year sentence in return for admitting accidental manslaughter. Gerry McCann was still being interviewed by police, and Philomena had got the story somewhat garbled (they did not offer a plea bargain, but were exploring the possibility of accidental death).
Jill Renwick
Renwick, who has known the couple since they all worked together at a Glasgow hospital more than a decade ago, played an integral role in alerting the media of Madeleine's disappearance early on. Renwick spoke to Kate at 7am on the morning after Madeleine vanished. She described the anguish of the missing girl's mother as she pleaded for help, saying that they had been abandoned by searchers after scouring the resort all night. Renwick mobilised the McCann's wider circle of friends. This led to phone calls to GMTV, the CID, defence secretary Des Browne and Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark. She also stopped John Brown, brother of the prime minister, who lived on the same street as her and asked him to bring it to the PM's attention.
Calum MacRae
The 18-year-old internet expert runs the Find Madeleine website which has attracted more than 400,000 unique users and helped to raise more than £1m in donations for the campaign.
Esther McVey
The former GMTV presenter and Conservative parliamentary candidate has known Kate McCann since they did their A-Levels together. She is a trustee and spokeswoman for the Madeleine Fund.
Father Haynes Hubbard
The Anglican priest at the church of Nossa Senhore da Luz, in Praia da Luz, and his wife, Susan, have become close friends of the McCanns.
Dr Matthew Oldfield and his wife, Rachael
Have known the McCanns since Matthew Oldfield and Gerry McCann worked together in Leicester. They have a two-year-old daughter. Matthew was the last to check on the children (but did not actually see Madeleine), about 30 minutes before the alarm was raised at 10pm. The hospital consultant, along with his wife, also claimed he saw the prime suspect, Robert Murat. Rachael was the one who told Jane Tanner that Madeleine had disappeared.
Dr Russell O'Brien and his partner, Jane Tanner
The couple live in Exeter. Russell works at the Peninsula Medical School at the University of Plymouth. They have two children. The older one – a girl - is the same age as Madeleine and was ill on the night of the disappearance Russell was away from the restaurant for about half an hour while he attended to her. He said Murat was outside the McCann's apartment that night. Jane provided the most crucial evidence to the investigation when she said that at about 9.15pm – 45 minutes before Kate McCann raised the alarm, she went to check on her children, and she saw a man carrying a little sleeping girl walking away from the vicinity of the McCann's apartment. At the time, she thought nothing of it. The girl was wearing pink and white pyjamas, like Madeleine was wearing. Tanner has since said she believes the child was the four-year-old daughter of the McCanns.
Dr David Payne and his wife, Dr Fiona Payne
David Payne is 41 and is a Fellow in Cardiovascular Science at Leicester University. Fiona is 34 and also a doctor. David was the last non-family member to positively see Madeleine alive in Praia de Luz at 6.30pm that evening, when he went to check on her and Kate while Gerry McCann played tennis. Fiona Payne also told police she saw Murat. The couple are the only ones reported to have used a baby monitor that night.
Dianne Webster
The mother of Fiona Payne.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/apr/10/madeleinemccann.ukcrime
The protagonists in the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Angela Balakrishnan
Thu 10 Apr 2008 11.25 BST
Clarence Mitchell
The former BBC journalist was appointed early on in the investigation to be the McCann's official spokesman. He represented them in the immediate aftermath of the incident after being sent to Praia da Luz by the Foreign Office. He has spent considerable time with the family, organising their trips across Europe, and, according to Gerry McCann, the couple's visit to Rome to meet the Pope. As a BBC reporter, he covered the wars in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq as well as the royal family – a role which coincided with the death of Princess Diana.
Michael Caplan QC
Caplan is one of the two lawyers the McCanns have hired to defend them against suggestions that they might have been involved in their daughter's disappearance. A part-time judge in the crown court and a chairman of the police disciplinary appeal tribunal, he has a reputation in the profession for reliability and tenacity. In Chambers UK 2007, A Client's Guide to the Legal Profession, he is described as "the weapon of choice for battleship cases". This is not the first time Caplan has dealt with big media interest cases. An expert in extradition and international criminal law, he prevented the extradition to Spain of former Chilean president General Augusto Pinochet when he was arrested in the UK in 1998. He also defended the captain of the dredger Bowbelle, whose collision with the Marchioness on the Thames in 1989 resulted in the deaths of 51 people.
Angus McBride
The other lawyer hired by the McCanns, McBride, like Caplan, is a partner in the legal firm Kingsley Napley. He is a leading criminal solicitor with expertise in dealing with the media and protecting reputations of accidental celebrities such as the McCanns. McBride has represented actor Chris Langham, who was jailed for downloading child porn, and defended various professional footballers, including John Terry and two other Premier League players accused of rape in 2003.
Carlos Pinto de Abreu
Abreu is one of Portugal's best-known lawyers with a reputation for taking on controversial cases. He lodged the McCann's libel action against Portuguese newspaper Tal & Qual, which said they were police suspects after it was believed they administered their daughter a fatal drug overdose. The Lisbon lawyer has offered his services to the McCanns for free. He also applied to the district attorney for a change in the couple's formal status from "witnesses" to "assistant" in the investigation, thus allowing them to know more about it. He is the president of the human rights committee for the Portuguese bar association.
Philomena McCann
Gerry's sister, a high school teacher from Scotland, often speaks to the press on the family's behalf. She has become well known for her fiery personality and colourful Glaswegian vocabulary, but occasionally strays off-message. She told Sky News that Portuguese police –who she has been critical of – had offered Kate a two-year sentence in return for admitting accidental manslaughter. Gerry McCann was still being interviewed by police, and Philomena had got the story somewhat garbled (they did not offer a plea bargain, but were exploring the possibility of accidental death).
Jill Renwick
Renwick, who has known the couple since they all worked together at a Glasgow hospital more than a decade ago, played an integral role in alerting the media of Madeleine's disappearance early on. Renwick spoke to Kate at 7am on the morning after Madeleine vanished. She described the anguish of the missing girl's mother as she pleaded for help, saying that they had been abandoned by searchers after scouring the resort all night. Renwick mobilised the McCann's wider circle of friends. This led to phone calls to GMTV, the CID, defence secretary Des Browne and Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark. She also stopped John Brown, brother of the prime minister, who lived on the same street as her and asked him to bring it to the PM's attention.
Calum MacRae
The 18-year-old internet expert runs the Find Madeleine website which has attracted more than 400,000 unique users and helped to raise more than £1m in donations for the campaign.
Esther McVey
The former GMTV presenter and Conservative parliamentary candidate has known Kate McCann since they did their A-Levels together. She is a trustee and spokeswoman for the Madeleine Fund.
Father Haynes Hubbard
The Anglican priest at the church of Nossa Senhore da Luz, in Praia da Luz, and his wife, Susan, have become close friends of the McCanns.
Dr Matthew Oldfield and his wife, Rachael
Have known the McCanns since Matthew Oldfield and Gerry McCann worked together in Leicester. They have a two-year-old daughter. Matthew was the last to check on the children (but did not actually see Madeleine), about 30 minutes before the alarm was raised at 10pm. The hospital consultant, along with his wife, also claimed he saw the prime suspect, Robert Murat. Rachael was the one who told Jane Tanner that Madeleine had disappeared.
Dr Russell O'Brien and his partner, Jane Tanner
The couple live in Exeter. Russell works at the Peninsula Medical School at the University of Plymouth. They have two children. The older one – a girl - is the same age as Madeleine and was ill on the night of the disappearance Russell was away from the restaurant for about half an hour while he attended to her. He said Murat was outside the McCann's apartment that night. Jane provided the most crucial evidence to the investigation when she said that at about 9.15pm – 45 minutes before Kate McCann raised the alarm, she went to check on her children, and she saw a man carrying a little sleeping girl walking away from the vicinity of the McCann's apartment. At the time, she thought nothing of it. The girl was wearing pink and white pyjamas, like Madeleine was wearing. Tanner has since said she believes the child was the four-year-old daughter of the McCanns.
Dr David Payne and his wife, Dr Fiona Payne
David Payne is 41 and is a Fellow in Cardiovascular Science at Leicester University. Fiona is 34 and also a doctor. David was the last non-family member to positively see Madeleine alive in Praia de Luz at 6.30pm that evening, when he went to check on her and Kate while Gerry McCann played tennis. Fiona Payne also told police she saw Murat. The couple are the only ones reported to have used a baby monitor that night.
Dianne Webster
The mother of Fiona Payne.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/apr/10/madeleinemccann.ukcrime
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by CaKeLoveR 05.01.23 16:37
How did 18 year old Callum MacRae enter the picture? Given his age, could he have been one of Uncle Phil's lucky pupils?
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 05.01.23 23:59
CaKeLoveR wrote:How did 18 year old Callum MacRae enter the picture? Given his age, could he have been one of Uncle Phil's lucky pupils?
Rumour has it he was a student plucked by Philomena McCann - fit for the job.
Philomena McCann was a key figure in the early days, campaigning for baby brother Gerald and Miss Fit, his wife. - she has long since disappeared off the scene as so many other key players have. Makes you wonder why doesn't it? The only players that have kept the
flying are the prime suspects 
you know who.Can't remember the detail off the top of my head but suffice to say, the website was/is hardly revolutionary in terms of entrepreneurship It's bog basic in every respect, then and now. I think Mister Callum set it up in the shed at the bottom of the garden - where the fairy's hang out. According to the fund accounts early in the day, he was paid for his services - probably a lot more than his worth (30,000 something thousand quid ?). But hey, team McCann did like to keep it the family didn't they.
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by PeterMac 06.01.23 7:50
https://whatreallyhappenedtomadeleinemccann.blogspot.com/2016/08/chapter-25-how-much-of-this-is-fraud.html
How much of this is Fraud, and how much totally innocent?
Website.
In the accounts for 2008 the figure for setting up the website is given as £ 37,071 (Thirty seven THOUSAND).
A website, even of the complexity it now has, seven main pages, some with supplementary pages, and a Shop page, would cost a professional website master less than £ 2,000 (TWO thousand) to set up and to run for a year.
Note that the Professional fees for creating the “Fund”, which we assume refers to solicitors, Bates Wells Braithwaite, a top of the range firm, based in central London, amounts only to £ 36,070.
‘Accountants’ (Haysmacintyre ?) is shown separately, as £ 7,050
So we are asked to believe that a teenaged school leaver, in Ullapool, charged more than one and quarter times the average wage for Scotland, (£ 28,296 in 2008) [2] to produce a relatively simple web site, available off-the-peg.
Cost of a Large-Sized Website
Website costs increase considerably as you move up in scale. With multiple sections, 40 to 50 pages and lots of functionality, large websites are ideal for big companies or established online brands. [3]
The website was created by Calum MacRea, a police officer’s son, then aged 18. [4]
An article in the Scottish ‘Sunday Herald’, reported that he had been designing websites “since he was 10”. He had allegedly been approached by Gerry’s sister, the egregious Philomena, previously his teacher, within four days of Madeleine’s being reported missing.
So what are the possibilities ?
1. Callum MacRae invoiced the “Fund” for £ 37,071. The accountants signed it off and he was paid this amount. If so, this is potentially fraudulent.
2. Callum McRae was paid no such amount, but it has been entered as “creative accounting”, and the actual cash has gone elsewhere. If so, then two further possibilities arise.
a. Haysmacintyre did not know and did not notice
b. Haysmacintyre DID know, but let it pass anyway
The first option suggests incompetence, the second - fraud.
3. Is there another option ? Is there a sensible explanation ? If so, I confess I cannot see what it might be.
Chapter 25: How much of this is Fraud, and how much totally innocent?
How much of this is Fraud, and how much totally innocent?
Website.
In the accounts for 2008 the figure for setting up the website is given as £ 37,071 (Thirty seven THOUSAND).
A website, even of the complexity it now has, seven main pages, some with supplementary pages, and a Shop page, would cost a professional website master less than £ 2,000 (TWO thousand) to set up and to run for a year.
Note that the Professional fees for creating the “Fund”, which we assume refers to solicitors, Bates Wells Braithwaite, a top of the range firm, based in central London, amounts only to £ 36,070.
‘Accountants’ (Haysmacintyre ?) is shown separately, as £ 7,050
So we are asked to believe that a teenaged school leaver, in Ullapool, charged more than one and quarter times the average wage for Scotland, (£ 28,296 in 2008) [2] to produce a relatively simple web site, available off-the-peg.
Cost of a Large-Sized Website
Website costs increase considerably as you move up in scale. With multiple sections, 40 to 50 pages and lots of functionality, large websites are ideal for big companies or established online brands. [3]
The website was created by Calum MacRea, a police officer’s son, then aged 18. [4]
An article in the Scottish ‘Sunday Herald’, reported that he had been designing websites “since he was 10”. He had allegedly been approached by Gerry’s sister, the egregious Philomena, previously his teacher, within four days of Madeleine’s being reported missing.
So what are the possibilities ?
1. Callum MacRae invoiced the “Fund” for £ 37,071. The accountants signed it off and he was paid this amount. If so, this is potentially fraudulent.
2. Callum McRae was paid no such amount, but it has been entered as “creative accounting”, and the actual cash has gone elsewhere. If so, then two further possibilities arise.
a. Haysmacintyre did not know and did not notice
b. Haysmacintyre DID know, but let it pass anyway
The first option suggests incompetence, the second - fraud.
3. Is there another option ? Is there a sensible explanation ? If so, I confess I cannot see what it might be.
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Silentscope 06.01.23 8:48
Could an Independant Financial Company like Experian (for example) Investigate?
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by CaKeLoveR 06.01.23 9:04
Could option 3 be 'We were told we were acting within the bounds of responsible accounting'?
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 06.01.23 11:46
An article in the Scottish ‘Sunday Herald’, reported that he had been designing websites “since he was 10”. He had allegedly been approached by Gerry’s sister, the egregious Philomena, previously his teacher, within four days of Madeleine’s being reported missing.
Lord 'Arry, for a moment I thought that said the gorgeous Philomena
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 06.01.23 12:46
Scottish Highland Home Of McCanns' Website
12:37pm UK, Wednesday May 23, 2007
The father of Madeleine McCann is said to be preparing to write a daily blog about the family's efforts to trace their missing daughter.
Web volunteer Calum MacRae
A webmaster on the site set up by friends and relatives of the McCanns has been speaking to Sky News at their HQ in Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands.
Calum MacRae is a former pupil of Philomena McCann, an aunt of the four-year-old, and one of a group of teenagers updating the website.
He told Sky's James Matthews he had kept in touch with his ex-teacher and that was why he got involved.
Mr MacRae said the website had had 115 million hits and 76,000 messages of support including 200 items which could be evidence and had been passed onto the police.
The fund has already raised £186,000.
The McCanns have written a new report on how they were coping which was due to go online overnight.
He added of Mr McCann: "He's going to write a blog every day, hopefully, to tell the public what he's doing every day."
The messages of support are in many different languages and volunteer interpreters help to translate them.
12:37pm UK, Wednesday May 23, 2007
The father of Madeleine McCann is said to be preparing to write a daily blog about the family's efforts to trace their missing daughter.
Web volunteer Calum MacRae
A webmaster on the site set up by friends and relatives of the McCanns has been speaking to Sky News at their HQ in Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands.
Calum MacRae is a former pupil of Philomena McCann, an aunt of the four-year-old, and one of a group of teenagers updating the website.
He told Sky's James Matthews he had kept in touch with his ex-teacher and that was why he got involved.
Mr MacRae said the website had had 115 million hits and 76,000 messages of support including 200 items which could be evidence and had been passed onto the police.
The fund has already raised £186,000.
The McCanns have written a new report on how they were coping which was due to go online overnight.
He added of Mr McCann: "He's going to write a blog every day, hopefully, to tell the public what he's doing every day."
The messages of support are in many different languages and volunteer interpreters help to translate them.
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 06.01.23 12:49
Millions have contacted the Madeleine McCann appeal website. Who runs it? Three teenagers from Ullapool Sunday Herald
By John Bynorth
15 September 2007
Inside the campaign HQ
TWO YOUNG people hurriedly stuff yellow Look For Madeleine wristbands into envelopes, surrounded by cardboard boxes containing thousands more earmarked for the campaign. Nearby, in the untidy garage store room, Madeleine badges and posters are awaiting delivery to supporters around the world who have donated £2 for the bands that symbolise the search for the missing four-year-old.
Policeman's son Calum MacRae, 18, is responsible for the campaign's website and distribution network for Madeleine's campaign from the unlikely location of the Loch Broom garage, on a windswept industrial estate on the outskirts of Ullapool, Wester Ross.
Despite Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, both 39, now being treated by Portuguese police as suspects in her disappearance while on holiday in the Algarve, Calum claims there has been a recent surge in interest in the website and wristbands.
"There's no let-up," said Calum, whose Infohost firm hosts the family's official website, run using some of the £1 million in donations being sent to the privately run Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned. "There's been a big increase in orders since they became suspects. Somebody came back 30 times, ordering 100 bands. Sometimes people just want one or two, so we throw a couple of extra bands in. It's difficult to get rid of some of the medium-sized bands as they don't fit many people. People would still want the Madeleine bands even if she was found. Her face is a mark. It's everywhere."
Calum, who has designed websites "since he was 10" is paid out of the global donations to the fund, which won't be contributing to the McCanns' legal costs.
He refused to be drawn on how much his team of six are paid, and the Sunday Herald's repeated calls to the fund's spokeswoman, Esther McVey, were not returned. He added: "I can't tell you that, it's not much honestly. We are just covering our costs. You would need to speak to the fund about that."
Calum is convinced of the couple's innocence and says he will continue to run the website even if they are charged and tried in Portugal. He said: "I know from speaking to Gerry on the phone that he is 100% innocent. They are definitely not guilty. Gerry is very determined to find his daughter. You can tell it in his voice when he talks on the phone. He wouldn't have done all this if they were guilty. If the fund is still going, we will continue the website even if they are charged and face trial. They wouldn't want us to back off ..."
He remains convinced "someone" in Portugal knows the truth about Madeleine's whereabouts, and the family yesterday launched an £80,000 TV, newspaper and billboard campaign, which will be translated into several languages primarly aimed at Spain, Portugal and other mainland European countries, beginning in two weeks.
Madeleine's uncle, John McCann, from Glasgow, said: "The main objective of the Madeleine fund is to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine."
Calum became involved after Madeleine's aunt, Philomena McCann, his former schoolteacher in Ullapool, approached him four days after the girl disappeared on May 3.
He said his staff spent between "12 and 20" hours each week on the website and wristbands. Although he claimed to have lost money on an earlier stunt for Premier League footballers to wear Madeleine t-shirts, he is pressing ahead with the distribution of T-shirts to the public in return for £10 donations.
Calum said: "We stopped every other thing we were doing that day and put the Find Madeleine site straight on. It's pretty much full-time doing the website and bands. We just invoice the fund, but it's not expensive compared with what other companies would charge. We have to account for how many hours are worked. It's not for us to decide what we are paid, but the fund insist we are."
The website's English-based server crashed when 1.5 million users tried to watch a video of Madeleine shown at the Uefa and FA Cup finals.
Figures obtained by the Sunday Herald show the Find Madeleine website attracted as many people as Missing People, the established UK charity formally known as the National Missing Persons Helpline, on September 7, the day Kate and Gerry were named as suspects in the case.
They show that 400,000 people viewed the Madeleine site, compared to only 150,000 for www.missingpeople.org.uk which is responsible for issuing appeals for thousands of people who vanish across the UK and Europe. American interest accounted for 103,000 hits on the Madeleine site, with only 15,000 from Portugal, and around 20,000 each from European countries such as Spain and Germany, which the family are hoping to target with the poster campaign.
Calum also revealed how Kate checks Gerry's blog before it is emailed to the site. However, Gerry has only posted one message since his return to Britain last week. Calum added: "It has got crazy at times, we've even got people going on in places such as Kurdistan."
Another worker on the site, Rona Eddington, 18, the daughter of a senior police inspector in Ross-shire, said: "We've had people saying in emails we killed her and taken her away' and we hate you.' We don't know if they are genuine, but they are passed to the police, who chase them all up. We've had so many like that and have to filter them. The website is about supporting the family."
Rona's father, chief inspector Paul Eddington, said he had no problems with his daughter's involvement in the website following Leicestershire Police's decision to take Kate's diary and Gerry's laptop, which he used to write his blog, for their Portuguese counterparts to examine last week.
The Portuguese magistrate examining the case is expected to announce this week whether the couple will face further questioning.
"I view what my daughter is doing as a parent, rather than a police officer. In the unlikely event that the investigation did involve the website, I would take a pragmatic view and wouldn't seek to get involved," said Eddington.
Calum is already working on new ventures after spotting a market in missing-person websites. Last week he contacted the family of missing schoolgirl Rosemary Edwards, from Hampshire, after her father made an emotional TV appeal. He said: "I don't think we should be making money out of it, but I would love to do more stuff like this. We phoned up to see if they wanted a website for that missing girl, but they haven't called back."
[Source unavailable]
By John Bynorth
15 September 2007
Inside the campaign HQ
TWO YOUNG people hurriedly stuff yellow Look For Madeleine wristbands into envelopes, surrounded by cardboard boxes containing thousands more earmarked for the campaign. Nearby, in the untidy garage store room, Madeleine badges and posters are awaiting delivery to supporters around the world who have donated £2 for the bands that symbolise the search for the missing four-year-old.
Policeman's son Calum MacRae, 18, is responsible for the campaign's website and distribution network for Madeleine's campaign from the unlikely location of the Loch Broom garage, on a windswept industrial estate on the outskirts of Ullapool, Wester Ross.
Despite Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, both 39, now being treated by Portuguese police as suspects in her disappearance while on holiday in the Algarve, Calum claims there has been a recent surge in interest in the website and wristbands.
"There's no let-up," said Calum, whose Infohost firm hosts the family's official website, run using some of the £1 million in donations being sent to the privately run Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned. "There's been a big increase in orders since they became suspects. Somebody came back 30 times, ordering 100 bands. Sometimes people just want one or two, so we throw a couple of extra bands in. It's difficult to get rid of some of the medium-sized bands as they don't fit many people. People would still want the Madeleine bands even if she was found. Her face is a mark. It's everywhere."
Calum, who has designed websites "since he was 10" is paid out of the global donations to the fund, which won't be contributing to the McCanns' legal costs.
He refused to be drawn on how much his team of six are paid, and the Sunday Herald's repeated calls to the fund's spokeswoman, Esther McVey, were not returned. He added: "I can't tell you that, it's not much honestly. We are just covering our costs. You would need to speak to the fund about that."
Calum is convinced of the couple's innocence and says he will continue to run the website even if they are charged and tried in Portugal. He said: "I know from speaking to Gerry on the phone that he is 100% innocent. They are definitely not guilty. Gerry is very determined to find his daughter. You can tell it in his voice when he talks on the phone. He wouldn't have done all this if they were guilty. If the fund is still going, we will continue the website even if they are charged and face trial. They wouldn't want us to back off ..."
He remains convinced "someone" in Portugal knows the truth about Madeleine's whereabouts, and the family yesterday launched an £80,000 TV, newspaper and billboard campaign, which will be translated into several languages primarly aimed at Spain, Portugal and other mainland European countries, beginning in two weeks.
Madeleine's uncle, John McCann, from Glasgow, said: "The main objective of the Madeleine fund is to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine."
Calum became involved after Madeleine's aunt, Philomena McCann, his former schoolteacher in Ullapool, approached him four days after the girl disappeared on May 3.
He said his staff spent between "12 and 20" hours each week on the website and wristbands. Although he claimed to have lost money on an earlier stunt for Premier League footballers to wear Madeleine t-shirts, he is pressing ahead with the distribution of T-shirts to the public in return for £10 donations.
Calum said: "We stopped every other thing we were doing that day and put the Find Madeleine site straight on. It's pretty much full-time doing the website and bands. We just invoice the fund, but it's not expensive compared with what other companies would charge. We have to account for how many hours are worked. It's not for us to decide what we are paid, but the fund insist we are."
The website's English-based server crashed when 1.5 million users tried to watch a video of Madeleine shown at the Uefa and FA Cup finals.
Figures obtained by the Sunday Herald show the Find Madeleine website attracted as many people as Missing People, the established UK charity formally known as the National Missing Persons Helpline, on September 7, the day Kate and Gerry were named as suspects in the case.
They show that 400,000 people viewed the Madeleine site, compared to only 150,000 for www.missingpeople.org.uk which is responsible for issuing appeals for thousands of people who vanish across the UK and Europe. American interest accounted for 103,000 hits on the Madeleine site, with only 15,000 from Portugal, and around 20,000 each from European countries such as Spain and Germany, which the family are hoping to target with the poster campaign.
Calum also revealed how Kate checks Gerry's blog before it is emailed to the site. However, Gerry has only posted one message since his return to Britain last week. Calum added: "It has got crazy at times, we've even got people going on in places such as Kurdistan."
Another worker on the site, Rona Eddington, 18, the daughter of a senior police inspector in Ross-shire, said: "We've had people saying in emails we killed her and taken her away' and we hate you.' We don't know if they are genuine, but they are passed to the police, who chase them all up. We've had so many like that and have to filter them. The website is about supporting the family."
Rona's father, chief inspector Paul Eddington, said he had no problems with his daughter's involvement in the website following Leicestershire Police's decision to take Kate's diary and Gerry's laptop, which he used to write his blog, for their Portuguese counterparts to examine last week.
The Portuguese magistrate examining the case is expected to announce this week whether the couple will face further questioning.
"I view what my daughter is doing as a parent, rather than a police officer. In the unlikely event that the investigation did involve the website, I would take a pragmatic view and wouldn't seek to get involved," said Eddington.
Calum is already working on new ventures after spotting a market in missing-person websites. Last week he contacted the family of missing schoolgirl Rosemary Edwards, from Hampshire, after her father made an emotional TV appeal. He said: "I don't think we should be making money out of it, but I would love to do more stuff like this. We phoned up to see if they wanted a website for that missing girl, but they haven't called back."
[Source unavailable]
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by CaKeLoveR 06.01.23 12:59
Perhaps these teenagers were deliberately chosen, as were Metodo 3, and other bodies which turned out to be rubbish ,but well paid for not coming up with anything helpful.
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 09.01.23 12:21
Just goes to show how misleading the internet can be, apart from social media who sometimes deliberately propagate false information as a means to an end.
I came across this when searching for something specific..
This is not Susan Healy, Kate McCann's mother! I believe it was mentioned somewhere along the line that Susan Healy was a teacher from Liverpool - not a professor from Scotland. Perhaps they are confusing with her son-in-law.
Anyway, on with the motley..
'I know she feels she let Madeleine down', Kate McCann's mother reveals
By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 22:52 28 April 2008
Kate McCann's mother says she feels she let Madeleine down and that the hunt to find her is her only comfort.
Madeleine McCann's mother says she feels she let her daughter down by leaving her alone on the night she vanished.
Kate McCann, 40, is tortured by feelings of guilt that she left Madeleine and her two-year-old twins sleeping in the family's holiday apartment while she and husband Gerry went out for dinner with friends.
As Saturday's anniversary of the disappearance approaches, her mother Susan Healy said: "I know she feels she let Madeleine down. The only way she can cope is by trying 100 per cent to get Madeleine back. She can't possibly give up."
Mrs Healy, 62, spoke of the toll the last year has taken on her daughter, and said she could not stop imagining what might have happened to Madeleine.
"I think Kate feels she needs to know what's happened to Madeleine, because her imagination...'.
She added: "Kate said, 'If Madeleine is dead I need to know'.
"That goes for us as well."
Madeleine vanished from the apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, a few days before her fourth birthday.
Her parents, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, believe she was abducted but they remain official suspects in the Portuguese police investigation.
Mrs Healy, of Allerton, Liverpool, spoke of the strain that Madeleine's disappearance had placed on her daughter, a devout Roman Catholic.
Mrs McCann became worryingly thin and gaunt as she struggled to cope with the police investigation and her shock at being named as a suspect, or arguido.
Her mother told the Liverpool Daily Post: "I can't believe how strong Kate is. I just don't know where she gets the strength from. Prayer does give you strength."
Susan and Brian Healy are struggling to keep hopeful that their granddaughter could still be alive almost exactly a year after she disappeared during a holiday to Portugal
There were even allegations that Portuguese police first suspected she could have been involved after officers' wives commented that she looked 'too attractive' to be a grieving mother.
Mrs McCann faced criticism in some quarters over claims that she looked too calm in the days after Madeleine's disappearance.
And yesterday it was revealed that the disgraced former head of the investigation described her as a "cold actress".
Goncalo Amaral told a journalist from the Spanish newspaper El Mundo: "You didn't see the mother. You don't know the mother. She is cold. She is astute. She is an actress."
Amaral, 48, was sacked from the Madeleine investigation after he launched an astonishing attack against British police, accusing them of investigating only leads which helped the McCanns.
He is facing trial over claims that he covered up the alleged torture of a mother of another missing girl, who vanished in 2004.
Mrs Healy defended her daughter against the criticism, saying: "She comes across in pictures quite well. She looks very attractive, though she wouldn't think that."
But she added: "No one takes less time on themselves than Kate. She's not into make-up. I've looked at pictures in the early days when people said how cool she looks and, to me, she looks in anguish.
"I think if people can't see the anguish in her face they are blind, they really are."
Mrs Healy and her husband Brian, 68, will mark the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance at a special Mass in Liverpool, at the parish church where their daughter was married.
But the McCanns themselves are expected to observe the milestone in private.
Mrs Healy said her daughter wanted to keep the day "low key" but said she supported a plan to light candles, lamps and lanterns for Madeleine at 9.15pm, the time her parents believe she was taken.
Back in Praia da Luz, plans for a police reconstruction of the night of May 3 have been plunged into chaos.
Mr and Mrs McCann have said they will not return to Portugal unless police lift their arguido status, and their friends, the so-called Tapas Seven, have questioned the value of a reconstruction so long after the event.
Portuguese police use reconstructions to test the accounts of those involved and there has been speculation that police hope to prove there are contradictions in the statements of the group.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple and their friends had not ruled out the possibility of cooperating with a reconstruction, if they felt it was being done to try to find Madeleine.
But he added: "Until they get satisfactory answers, they will not go. The lawyers are not saying it is a trap but they are asking what the motivation is behind it." Police are investigating the attempted abduction of a girl only a few miles from Praia da Luz.
The 15-year-old was walking home from a supermarket in the Algarve town of Senhora da Rocha when she was followed by a man in a black Jeep who tried to bundle her inside.
She fought back furiously and he drove off when another car approached.
The girl, whose Dutch expatriate family have asked for her not to be identified, described her attacker as about 40 and said he had long hair in a pony tail and wore several gold rings.
Her description is similar to that of a man spotted hanging around in Praia da Luz in the weeks before Madeleine's disappearance.
[Original source no longer available]
I came across this when searching for something specific..
This is not Susan Healy, Kate McCann's mother! I believe it was mentioned somewhere along the line that Susan Healy was a teacher from Liverpool - not a professor from Scotland.
Perhaps they are confusing with her son-in-law.Anyway, on with the motley..
'I know she feels she let Madeleine down', Kate McCann's mother reveals
By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 22:52 28 April 2008
Kate McCann's mother says she feels she let Madeleine down and that the hunt to find her is her only comfort.
Madeleine McCann's mother says she feels she let her daughter down by leaving her alone on the night she vanished.
Kate McCann, 40, is tortured by feelings of guilt that she left Madeleine and her two-year-old twins sleeping in the family's holiday apartment while she and husband Gerry went out for dinner with friends.
As Saturday's anniversary of the disappearance approaches, her mother Susan Healy said: "I know she feels she let Madeleine down. The only way she can cope is by trying 100 per cent to get Madeleine back. She can't possibly give up."
Mrs Healy, 62, spoke of the toll the last year has taken on her daughter, and said she could not stop imagining what might have happened to Madeleine.
"I think Kate feels she needs to know what's happened to Madeleine, because her imagination...'.
She added: "Kate said, 'If Madeleine is dead I need to know'.
"That goes for us as well."
Madeleine vanished from the apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, a few days before her fourth birthday.
Her parents, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, believe she was abducted but they remain official suspects in the Portuguese police investigation.
Mrs Healy, of Allerton, Liverpool, spoke of the strain that Madeleine's disappearance had placed on her daughter, a devout Roman Catholic.
Mrs McCann became worryingly thin and gaunt as she struggled to cope with the police investigation and her shock at being named as a suspect, or arguido.
Her mother told the Liverpool Daily Post: "I can't believe how strong Kate is. I just don't know where she gets the strength from. Prayer does give you strength."
Susan and Brian Healy are struggling to keep hopeful that their granddaughter could still be alive almost exactly a year after she disappeared during a holiday to Portugal
There were even allegations that Portuguese police first suspected she could have been involved after officers' wives commented that she looked 'too attractive' to be a grieving mother.
Mrs McCann faced criticism in some quarters over claims that she looked too calm in the days after Madeleine's disappearance.
And yesterday it was revealed that the disgraced former head of the investigation described her as a "cold actress".
Goncalo Amaral told a journalist from the Spanish newspaper El Mundo: "You didn't see the mother. You don't know the mother. She is cold. She is astute. She is an actress."
Amaral, 48, was sacked from the Madeleine investigation after he launched an astonishing attack against British police, accusing them of investigating only leads which helped the McCanns.
He is facing trial over claims that he covered up the alleged torture of a mother of another missing girl, who vanished in 2004.
Mrs Healy defended her daughter against the criticism, saying: "She comes across in pictures quite well. She looks very attractive, though she wouldn't think that."
But she added: "No one takes less time on themselves than Kate. She's not into make-up. I've looked at pictures in the early days when people said how cool she looks and, to me, she looks in anguish.
"I think if people can't see the anguish in her face they are blind, they really are."
Mrs Healy and her husband Brian, 68, will mark the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance at a special Mass in Liverpool, at the parish church where their daughter was married.
But the McCanns themselves are expected to observe the milestone in private.
Mrs Healy said her daughter wanted to keep the day "low key" but said she supported a plan to light candles, lamps and lanterns for Madeleine at 9.15pm, the time her parents believe she was taken.
Back in Praia da Luz, plans for a police reconstruction of the night of May 3 have been plunged into chaos.
Mr and Mrs McCann have said they will not return to Portugal unless police lift their arguido status, and their friends, the so-called Tapas Seven, have questioned the value of a reconstruction so long after the event.
Portuguese police use reconstructions to test the accounts of those involved and there has been speculation that police hope to prove there are contradictions in the statements of the group.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple and their friends had not ruled out the possibility of cooperating with a reconstruction, if they felt it was being done to try to find Madeleine.
But he added: "Until they get satisfactory answers, they will not go. The lawyers are not saying it is a trap but they are asking what the motivation is behind it." Police are investigating the attempted abduction of a girl only a few miles from Praia da Luz.
The 15-year-old was walking home from a supermarket in the Algarve town of Senhora da Rocha when she was followed by a man in a black Jeep who tried to bundle her inside.
She fought back furiously and he drove off when another car approached.
The girl, whose Dutch expatriate family have asked for her not to be identified, described her attacker as about 40 and said he had long hair in a pony tail and wore several gold rings.
Her description is similar to that of a man spotted hanging around in Praia da Luz in the weeks before Madeleine's disappearance.
[Original source no longer available]
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 11.01.23 12:05
'We will not rest until our friends' little girl is found'
14th May 2007
For Paul and Kate MacIntyre, finding Madeleine McCann has revolved around efforts to keep the four-year-old's disappearance in the public eye. "We're terrified of it becoming yesterday's news," confessed Mrs MacIntyre.
The couple, both doctors, are part of a small group of close friends of Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, who are at the centre of the campaign to help publicise the little girl's kidnapping in Portugal.
For them, the one tangible hope they can cling to is that a high level of public awareness can only help someone, anyone, in identifying Madeleine.
"The longer things go on, the less interested the media becomes," said Dr Paul MacIntyre, a consultant cardiologist at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
"Realistically, we know that with any story, the publicity will reduce over time. If we can get a big bang so that Madeleine's face is recognised all over Europe and everyone has seen her eyes, we will have a much better chance of someone seeing her."
So far, their efforts have yielded amazing results. Through a network of around 10 couples in Glasgow, mostly doctors, and John McCann, Gerry's brother, they have seen prominent sportsmen, businessmen, celebrities and politicians become involved.
Dr MacIntyre was yesterday at the women's 10K race in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, handing out yellow ribbons to thousands of runners and well-wishers to wear in support of Madeleine's family. The roll call of those who have helped so far includes author JK Rowling, footballers Cristiano Ronaldo, John Terry, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham, and Sir Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin empire.
The Glasgow group also persuaded Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond to wear yellow ribbons at the weekend as a sign of the politicians' support.
Yesterday, Everton supporters held up a banner calling for the safe return of Madeleine, who has worn the club's strip, at their game against Chelsea.
Dr MacIntyre first met Gerry McCann at a running club in Coatbridge when he was a teenager. Mr McCann, from Mount Florida, was six years his junior. They became friends and remained in touch over the years - both of them decided to become doctors and both trained at Glasgow University before specialising in sports medicine.
Their paths crossed again when Dr McCann returned from New Zealand, with his wife Kate, and took over Dr MacIntyre's teaching post at Glasgow University.
Though the McCanns moved to Leicester, the couples have kept in touch and only six months ago Dr MacIntyre tried to persuade them to return to Glasgow so that Dr McCann could take up a vacant post in cardiology.
After Madeleine's disappearance, Dr MacIntyre first made contact with the McCanns through a mutual friend, Dr Andrew Renwick, also involved in the publicity campaign.
He finally spoke to Dr McCann last Wednesday and again after the church service held on Friday night in St Andrew's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Glasgow.
"After speaking to Gerry my attitude changed," Dr MacIntyre said. "He was so positive and focused. He said he didn't want us to sit around feeling sorry for them but to help. So that's what we've been doing.
"We spoke again after the service on Friday night. He said it had been a tremendous source of support and strength for the family." Like the McCanns, the MacIntyres have turned to their faith as a source of refuge and solace. But their ultimate source of strength is hope. "She's alive until proved otherwise," Dr MacIntyre said. "We're not going to give up until there is no hope."
https://www.heraldscotland.com/default_content/12777381.we-will-not-rest-friends-little-girl-found/
14th May 2007
For Paul and Kate MacIntyre, finding Madeleine McCann has revolved around efforts to keep the four-year-old's disappearance in the public eye. "We're terrified of it becoming yesterday's news," confessed Mrs MacIntyre.
The couple, both doctors, are part of a small group of close friends of Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, who are at the centre of the campaign to help publicise the little girl's kidnapping in Portugal.
For them, the one tangible hope they can cling to is that a high level of public awareness can only help someone, anyone, in identifying Madeleine.
"The longer things go on, the less interested the media becomes," said Dr Paul MacIntyre, a consultant cardiologist at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
"Realistically, we know that with any story, the publicity will reduce over time. If we can get a big bang so that Madeleine's face is recognised all over Europe and everyone has seen her eyes, we will have a much better chance of someone seeing her."
So far, their efforts have yielded amazing results. Through a network of around 10 couples in Glasgow, mostly doctors, and John McCann, Gerry's brother, they have seen prominent sportsmen, businessmen, celebrities and politicians become involved.
Dr MacIntyre was yesterday at the women's 10K race in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, handing out yellow ribbons to thousands of runners and well-wishers to wear in support of Madeleine's family. The roll call of those who have helped so far includes author JK Rowling, footballers Cristiano Ronaldo, John Terry, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham, and Sir Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin empire.
The Glasgow group also persuaded Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond to wear yellow ribbons at the weekend as a sign of the politicians' support.
Yesterday, Everton supporters held up a banner calling for the safe return of Madeleine, who has worn the club's strip, at their game against Chelsea.
Dr MacIntyre first met Gerry McCann at a running club in Coatbridge when he was a teenager. Mr McCann, from Mount Florida, was six years his junior. They became friends and remained in touch over the years - both of them decided to become doctors and both trained at Glasgow University before specialising in sports medicine.
Their paths crossed again when Dr McCann returned from New Zealand, with his wife Kate, and took over Dr MacIntyre's teaching post at Glasgow University.
Though the McCanns moved to Leicester, the couples have kept in touch and only six months ago Dr MacIntyre tried to persuade them to return to Glasgow so that Dr McCann could take up a vacant post in cardiology.
After Madeleine's disappearance, Dr MacIntyre first made contact with the McCanns through a mutual friend, Dr Andrew Renwick, also involved in the publicity campaign.
He finally spoke to Dr McCann last Wednesday and again after the church service held on Friday night in St Andrew's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Glasgow.
"After speaking to Gerry my attitude changed," Dr MacIntyre said. "He was so positive and focused. He said he didn't want us to sit around feeling sorry for them but to help. So that's what we've been doing.
"We spoke again after the service on Friday night. He said it had been a tremendous source of support and strength for the family." Like the McCanns, the MacIntyres have turned to their faith as a source of refuge and solace. But their ultimate source of strength is hope. "She's alive until proved otherwise," Dr MacIntyre said. "We're not going to give up until there is no hope."
https://www.heraldscotland.com/default_content/12777381.we-will-not-rest-friends-little-girl-found/
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by CaKeLoveR 11.01.23 13:33
I haven't read about this couple on the forum before. Did they not stick around after their initial involvement?
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by Verdi 11.01.23 16:20
It's new to me also, I don't remember having heard mention of them before, not even in Kate McCann's autobiographical novel, seems a bit odd as they were supposed to be bosom buddies.
There is another mention on Pamalam's blog.
I strongly suspect it was initially documented by Nigel Mooore of mccannfiles, he grabbed just about every report published from the beginning, until such times as he threw in the towel.
It's pretty much the same as the above only a bit more windy..
We would run to the ends of the earth if that would bring Maddie back to our pal Gerry. . .
5th June 2007
They want Gerry to know if there is anything that can do to find Madeleine, they will.
Paul, 44, who is one of Scotland's top cardiologists, said: "It has been a tough time for Gerry and his family. Gerry's father died last year and now this. I can't begin to imagine how difficult it is for him.
"I know he was struggling at first, but when I spoke to him on the phone recently he told me how speaking to counsellors had helped and it gave him the focus to cope and to find strategies in dealing with this.
"I'm not surprised by the positive approach he is taking - he has always been proactive and keen to do what he can.
"That's why we decided to do this.
"Gerry was a keen runner and we've all entered races together in the past. We decided this would be a fitting tribute."
He added: "If we could bring Madeleine back and end all of this for them then, of course, we wouldn't just be running a 10K in Glasgow, we would run to the ends of the earth."
Paul, based at Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital, first met Gerry at a local running group.
Gerry was 16 and Paul was studying medicine at Glasgow University. THERE is still time to enter this year's 10K for Men.The event, organised by the Men's Health Forum Scotland, takes place at Bellahouston Park on Father's Day, June 17, in Glasgow.
The Evening Times is media partner for the event and more than 1500 men have signed up for the run - and you could be one of them.
The deadline has been extended for entries so there is still time to register.
And don't be put off if you think you are too late to train - this isn't an event where crossing the line first means everything.
People of all ages and varying degrees of fitness are taking part - and that is the key to it - getting involved.
You could take part with a friend, on your own, for fun, or even for a charity.
Whether you exercise every day or haven't taken your trainers out of the cupboard for months, it doesn't matter - people of differing abilities will be taking part, and there will be plenty of people along the route cheering your every step.
This is Glasgow and the West of Scotland's biggest men's events and it is sure to be a fun day out.
Everyone who completes the 10K will receive a medal, T-shirt and goodie bag.
The only condition is that you are at least 15 years of age on race day.
Entry deadline is June 13. To register or to find out more call 0141 550 7515 or visit www.mhfs.org.uk
Paul encouraged the south side teenager to pursue a career in medicine.
Over the years, their working relationship and their friendship developed.
Paul was at Gerry and Kate's wedding and just six months ago he was trying to convince Gerry, who is also a hospital doctor to head back north and take up a post at the city's Western Infirmary.
He said: "The family was thinking about it, but had just bought a new house down south."
Paul's youngest children are the same age as the McCann's youngest kids.
And this thought makes the situation all the more harrowing.
Paul said: "There are challenges with parenthood but this is something no parent should ever have to deal with. It is dreadful, absolutely dreadful."
His other friends, Alastair Douglas, is a GP in Possilpark, while Alastair Curry is the head of running group JogScotland and have been involved with the campaign by Gerry's brother-in-law John to raise awareness about Madeleine's disappearance.
Alastair Douglas, 46, has an 11-month-old of his own.
He remembers when he first heard about Gerry becoming a father, he was one of the first of the group of pals to become a dad.
Alastair said: "I think every parent asks the question, What if it was me?', What would I do?', How would I be feeling?'. Gerry was one of the first of us to become a dad and I remember how happy he was when Madeleine was born.
"Now Gerry is living everyone's worst nightmare."
It has been four weeks since Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday complex in Portugal.
Despite countless appeals and a worldwide publicity campaign. which has even included a meeting between the Pope and Gerry and Kate McCann, there has been no sign of the four-year-old.
Last month, thousands of people wore yellow ribbons at the Women's 10k run in Glasgow to show support for the family.
Around 12,000 people took part in the race and runners and spectators wore T-shirts and carried placards with a photograph of Madeleine and a plea to contact police with information.
Madeleine's aunt Diane McCann, also took part in the race with a group of friends.
Gerry's friends hope there is a similar show of support for Gerry at the 10K for Men and are encouraging participants at this year's event to wear yellow ribbons.
Paul said: "You have to keep hoping we might not have to run this race for Gerry at all by the time Father's Day comes. Hopefully, Madeleine will be back with the family by then.
"We're not looking for people to give money to the Madeleine appeal - we wouldn't want people to divert their donations from causes that other people are raising money for.
"But we would love it if people wore a yellow ribbon so that when Gerry turns on the television or sees photographs from the day then he knows his friends, and the people of his home city, are thinking of him."
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/12782364.we-would-run-to-the-ends-of-the-earth-if-that-would-bring-maddie-back-to-our-pal-gerry/
There is another mention on Pamalam's blog.
I strongly suspect it was initially documented by Nigel Mooore of mccannfiles, he grabbed just about every report published from the beginning, until such times as he threw in the towel.
It's pretty much the same as the above only a bit more windy..
We would run to the ends of the earth if that would bring Maddie back to our pal Gerry. . .
5th June 2007
They want Gerry to know if there is anything that can do to find Madeleine, they will.
Paul, 44, who is one of Scotland's top cardiologists, said: "It has been a tough time for Gerry and his family. Gerry's father died last year and now this. I can't begin to imagine how difficult it is for him.
"I know he was struggling at first, but when I spoke to him on the phone recently he told me how speaking to counsellors had helped and it gave him the focus to cope and to find strategies in dealing with this.
"I'm not surprised by the positive approach he is taking - he has always been proactive and keen to do what he can.
"That's why we decided to do this.
"Gerry was a keen runner and we've all entered races together in the past. We decided this would be a fitting tribute."
He added: "If we could bring Madeleine back and end all of this for them then, of course, we wouldn't just be running a 10K in Glasgow, we would run to the ends of the earth."
Paul, based at Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital, first met Gerry at a local running group.
Gerry was 16 and Paul was studying medicine at Glasgow University. THERE is still time to enter this year's 10K for Men.The event, organised by the Men's Health Forum Scotland, takes place at Bellahouston Park on Father's Day, June 17, in Glasgow.
The Evening Times is media partner for the event and more than 1500 men have signed up for the run - and you could be one of them.
The deadline has been extended for entries so there is still time to register.
And don't be put off if you think you are too late to train - this isn't an event where crossing the line first means everything.
People of all ages and varying degrees of fitness are taking part - and that is the key to it - getting involved.
You could take part with a friend, on your own, for fun, or even for a charity.
Whether you exercise every day or haven't taken your trainers out of the cupboard for months, it doesn't matter - people of differing abilities will be taking part, and there will be plenty of people along the route cheering your every step.
This is Glasgow and the West of Scotland's biggest men's events and it is sure to be a fun day out.
Everyone who completes the 10K will receive a medal, T-shirt and goodie bag.
The only condition is that you are at least 15 years of age on race day.
Entry deadline is June 13. To register or to find out more call 0141 550 7515 or visit www.mhfs.org.uk
Paul encouraged the south side teenager to pursue a career in medicine.
Over the years, their working relationship and their friendship developed.
Paul was at Gerry and Kate's wedding and just six months ago he was trying to convince Gerry, who is also a hospital doctor to head back north and take up a post at the city's Western Infirmary.
He said: "The family was thinking about it, but had just bought a new house down south."
Paul's youngest children are the same age as the McCann's youngest kids.
And this thought makes the situation all the more harrowing.
Paul said: "There are challenges with parenthood but this is something no parent should ever have to deal with. It is dreadful, absolutely dreadful."
His other friends, Alastair Douglas, is a GP in Possilpark, while Alastair Curry is the head of running group JogScotland and have been involved with the campaign by Gerry's brother-in-law John to raise awareness about Madeleine's disappearance.
Alastair Douglas, 46, has an 11-month-old of his own.
He remembers when he first heard about Gerry becoming a father, he was one of the first of the group of pals to become a dad.
Alastair said: "I think every parent asks the question, What if it was me?', What would I do?', How would I be feeling?'. Gerry was one of the first of us to become a dad and I remember how happy he was when Madeleine was born.
"Now Gerry is living everyone's worst nightmare."
It has been four weeks since Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday complex in Portugal.
Despite countless appeals and a worldwide publicity campaign. which has even included a meeting between the Pope and Gerry and Kate McCann, there has been no sign of the four-year-old.
Last month, thousands of people wore yellow ribbons at the Women's 10k run in Glasgow to show support for the family.
Around 12,000 people took part in the race and runners and spectators wore T-shirts and carried placards with a photograph of Madeleine and a plea to contact police with information.
Madeleine's aunt Diane McCann, also took part in the race with a group of friends.
Gerry's friends hope there is a similar show of support for Gerry at the 10K for Men and are encouraging participants at this year's event to wear yellow ribbons.
Paul said: "You have to keep hoping we might not have to run this race for Gerry at all by the time Father's Day comes. Hopefully, Madeleine will be back with the family by then.
"We're not looking for people to give money to the Madeleine appeal - we wouldn't want people to divert their donations from causes that other people are raising money for.
"But we would love it if people wore a yellow ribbon so that when Gerry turns on the television or sees photographs from the day then he knows his friends, and the people of his home city, are thinking of him."
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/12782364.we-would-run-to-the-ends-of-the-earth-if-that-would-bring-maddie-back-to-our-pal-gerry/
____________________
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Re: Madeleine McCann: Media Commentary
by CaKeLoveR 11.01.23 16:32
Madeleine didn't feature much in that article, did she?
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