Clarence Mitchell's interview with Radio Humberside - The full transcript

by **Tony Bennett** 13.01.11 13:22

by Felix 13.01.11 13:27

Thanks Tony. It would be easier to digest without the red highlights though.

by Judge Mental 13.01.11 13:35

Felix wrote:Thanks Tony. It would be easier to digest without the red highlights though.

Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick big grin

Perhaps you can spend your time doing the next interesting transcript, Felix?

by **PeterMac** 13.01.11 16:24

Tony,
Many thanks for that, and for the highlighted points. Some food for thought and for more detailed analysis I think.
So the book is not finished. But did not one of the close relatives say it was ?
Or perhaps it was and the lawyers have struck a lot of it out, and it is being padded out or re-written.

"I know them well enough now to say with with absolute confidence that... they weren't involved." So that's all right then. All we have to do in future is to assign Clarence to any arrested person, and he can make his judgement on their guilt or inocence with "absolute confidence".

"Kate and Gerry know Mad... know their daughter well enough to know she didn't wander out of the apartment as has often been speculated. The only assumption they can make is that somebody took her out of the apartment. That is the working hypothesis..." So now Clarence has moved away from the McCann's absolute and definite and actionable-if-you-think-otherwise "knew at once that she had been abducted" to an "assumption" and "working hypothesis". Clarence, they are not the same thing at all. I think you may need to speak to G and K sometime very soon. Because if you don't Carter-Ruck may send you a letter for daring to question the official line.

"and the very fact that nothing has been found of Madeleine since, not a trace, tends to suggest that she has been taken somewhere else..." What brilliance ! What powers of deduction ! Mycroft Holmes would have fallen at his feet. 'If she is not in bed, she is somewhere else.' Sadly traces of Madeleine WERE found, in the lounge, in the car ... so that is not quite right.

by Felix 13.01.11 17:08

Clarence certainly looks to have done well out of this.

by Guest 13.01.11 17:21

CM - Kate and Gerry know Mad... know their daughter well enough to know she didn't wander out of the apartment as has often been speculated.

I thought it had been noted by residents of PDL that Madeleine had been found when she had wandered off before? (or was that never substantiated)

by **PeterMac** 13.01.11 18:45

Felix
"Clarence certainly looks to have done well out of this."
I really don't think so. He was previously saying that Madeleine's disappearance was a "complete mystery", which itself was against the official TM line which was that it was obviously, definitely and absolutely an abduction by a stranger, but now he is on record as saying that that itself is only an "assumption:" and a "working hypothesis".
Perhaps though ....
If he is truly speaking for the McCanns then he may be preparing us all for the book, in which the total lack of any evidence of an abduction has to be made clear. In that way TM will be able to say that the book is not in itself a sudden admission after 4 years that they made it all up and conned millions of pounds from the public on false pretences, because everyone who donated must have been deemed to have realised that it was only a "working hypothesis", and should have made their own judgement on the "assumption".
If the whole charade has for all this time been only an "assumption:" and a "working hypothesis" (hereinafter - A&WH-) then Carter-Ruck have not got a hope in hell of successfully suing anyone who makes other As or who puts forward another WH. I can feel a letter to them from one who has already had lengthy correspondence coming on. It must open up the prospect of "60 and More Reasons to Doubt the Initial Assumption and to Advance Evidence to test the Working Hypothesis."

From Wiki
A working hypothesis is a hypothesis that is provisionally accepted when no alternatives are available, or when the philosophical implications of the alternatives are considered to be absurd or otherwise undesirable. Like all hypotheses, a working hypothesis can be constructed as a statement of expectations. They can be linked to the exploratory research purpose in empirical investigation, and are also often used as a conceptual framework as they are well suited to qualitative research methods.
Working hypotheses should be constructed so that those testing the hypothesis can collect evidence that will either support or fail to support the expectation.

So in that respect I don't think he has done well at all. I can almost hear the fury in Rothley and the roaring like a bull and smashing of walls with fists. I would not like to see the new bruises on KM's arms this week.

by Felix 14.01.11 0:27

PeterMac wrote: Felix
"Clarence certainly looks to have done well out of this."
I really don't think so. He was previously saying that Madeleine's disappearance was a "complete mystery", which itself was against the official TM line which was that it was obviously, definitely and absolutely an abduction by a stranger, but now he is on record as saying that that itself is only an "assumption:" and a "working hypothesis".
Perhaps though ....
If he is truly speaking for the McCanns then he may be preparing us all for the book, in which the total lack of any evidence of an abduction has to be made clear. In that way TM will be able to say that the book is not in itself a sudden admission after 4 years that they made it all up and conned millions of pounds from the public on false pretences, because everyone who donated must have been deemed to have realised that it was only a "working hypothesis", and should have made their own judgement on the "assumption".
If the whole charade has for all this time been only an "assumption:" and a "working hypothesis" (hereinafter - A&WH-) then Carter-Ruck have not got a hope in hell of successfully suing anyone who makes other As or who puts forward another WH. I can feel a letter to them from one who has already had lengthy correspondence coming on. It must open up the prospect of "60 and More Reasons to Doubt the Initial Assumption and to Advance Evidence to test the Working Hypothesis."

From Wiki
A working hypothesis is a hypothesis that is provisionally accepted when no alternatives are available, or when the philosophical implications of the alternatives are considered to be absurd or otherwise undesirable. Like all hypotheses, a working hypothesis can be constructed as a statement of expectations. They can be linked to the exploratory research purpose in empirical investigation, and are also often used as a conceptual framework as they are well suited to qualitative research methods.
Working hypotheses should be constructed so that those testing the hypothesis can collect evidence that will either support or fail to support the expectation.

So in that respect I don't think he has done well at all. I can almost hear the fury in Rothley and the roaring like a bull and smashing of walls with fists. I would not like to see the new bruises on KM's arms this week.

Sorry Peter,

I meant that from a commercial aspect, Clarence has done very well for himself. Did anyone notice him prior to this case?

I take on board your observations though. Although I wouldn't be expecting too much in the way of detail in this particular volume if I'm honest.

by littlepixie 14.01.11 0:50

I noticed him before this case. I vaguely recognized him when I saw him waffling on TV for the Maddie story. How many jobs has he had since he started spouting the McCann mantra?

I bet his name is mud now.

by Guest 14.01.11 0:53

Profile: Clarence Mitchell

Clarence Mitchell is back in front of the camera again - this time as the spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine. Former colleague Laurie Margolis recalls his time as a BBC journalist.
My first memories of Clarence were when he joined the BBC as a regional reporter in Leeds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Clarence Mitchell worked on several high-profile cases as a reporter

Then he made it down to London, first on Breakfast News, then as one of the team of reporters who worked for the main news bulletins on national TV and radio.
I was another in that reporter pool in the early 1990s, and it was a difficult time for many of us, because the BBC bosses of that era became obsessed with specialists, people who may well have known their topic, but were often poor at turning that into watchable TV News.
General reporters like Clarence were highly skilled TV journalists, able to get their heads round any subject at short notice. But such people were out of fashion, and I think Clarence found it frustrating.
Nevertheless, he became a major figure in several big domestic stories.
He was closely involved with the Fred and Rosemary West case, where a murderous couple had killed young girls and buried the bodies under their patio in Gloucester.
Royal coverage
He was one of the first reporters to arrive at Gowan Avenue, Fulham in south west London, when the immensely popular BBC TV presenter Jill Dando was shot dead in a murder many feel has never been satisfactorily explained.
And more recently, in a story he worked on right up to the day he left the BBC, Clarence led coverage of the murder of the Surrey schoolgirl Millie Dowler in 2002. The case has never been solved.
Towards the end of his BBC career Clarence became heavily used on royal stories. He was deeply involved in coverage of the post-Diana era and the death of the Queen Mother.
Clarence was also a presenter on various BBC news programmes, and may have been looking to make that the main plank of his career.
But the presenting world is a precarious and capricious one, and he never quite made it.
One night, when I was working through the night, Clarence was presenting hourly bulletins on BBC News 24.
He did the 1am, and the 2am, but at 3am a slightly dishevelled looking producer appeared doing the news. It turned out Clarence had closed his eyes, and had slept through the 3am programme.
Madeleine maelstrom
Clarence left the BBC quite suddenly, making a move into the Labour government as director of its Media Monitoring Unit. His salary was widely reported to be £70,000 a year.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Madeleine was last seen on 3 May

As the Madeleine McCann story exploded this summer, it became clear that a high level of control and organisation would be needed to cope with the media maelstrom.
Clarence was plucked from his job, and sent out to handle the media, rather than be part of the media, on a massive crime story. Now he's left his government job and gone in with the McCanns full-time.
Setting aside the essential tragedy of whatever happened to Madeleine McCann, I would imagine Clarence is content in his new role as the family's voice.
He's centre stage on a huge story, intimately involved as ever, and on television and in the papers all the time.
It was extraordinary how, last week, his intervention seemed to eliminate within hours any misgiving about the McCanns in the British media.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if he gets to tell us Madeleine has been found safe and well?

Profile: Clarence Mitchell

Clarence Mitchell is back in front of the camera again - this time as the spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine. Former colleague Laurie Margolis recalls his time as a BBC journalist.
My first memories of Clarence were when he joined the BBC as a regional reporter in Leeds.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Clarence Mitchell worked on several high-profile cases as a reporter

Then he made it down to London, first on Breakfast News, then as one of the team of reporters who worked for the main news bulletins on national TV and radio.
I was another in that reporter pool in the early 1990s, and it was a difficult time for many of us, because the BBC bosses of that era became obsessed with specialists, people who may well have known their topic, but were often poor at turning that into watchable TV News.
General reporters like Clarence were highly skilled TV journalists, able to get their heads round any subject at short notice. But such people were out of fashion, and I think Clarence found it frustrating.
Nevertheless, he became a major figure in several big domestic stories.
He was closely involved with the Fred and Rosemary West case, where a murderous couple had killed young girls and buried the bodies under their patio in Gloucester.
Royal coverage
He was one of the first reporters to arrive at Gowan Avenue, Fulham in south west London, when the immensely popular BBC TV presenter Jill Dando was shot dead in a murder many feel has never been satisfactorily explained.
And more recently, in a story he worked on right up to the day he left the BBC, Clarence led coverage of the murder of the Surrey schoolgirl Millie Dowler in 2002. The case has never been solved.
Towards the end of his BBC career Clarence became heavily used on royal stories. He was deeply involved in coverage of the post-Diana era and the death of the Queen Mother.
Clarence was also a presenter on various BBC news programmes, and may have been looking to make that the main plank of his career.
But the presenting world is a precarious and capricious one, and he never quite made it.
One night, when I was working through the night, Clarence was presenting hourly bulletins on BBC News 24.
He did the 1am, and the 2am, but at 3am a slightly dishevelled looking producer appeared doing the news. It turned out Clarence had closed his eyes, and had slept through the 3am programme.
Madeleine maelstrom
Clarence left the BBC quite suddenly, making a move into the Labour government as director of its Media Monitoring Unit. His salary was widely reported to be £70,000 a year.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Madeleine was last seen on 3 May

As the Madeleine McCann story exploded this summer, it became clear that a high level of control and organisation would be needed to cope with the media maelstrom.
Clarence was plucked from his job, and sent out to handle the media, rather than be part of the media, on a massive crime story. Now he's left his government job and gone in with the McCanns full-time.
Setting aside the essential tragedy of whatever happened to Madeleine McCann, I would imagine Clarence is content in his new role as the family's voice.
He's centre stage on a huge story, intimately involved as ever, and on television and in the papers all the time.
It was extraordinary how, last week, his intervention seemed to eliminate within hours any misgiving about the McCanns in the British media.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if he gets to tell us Madeleine has been found safe and well?

His profile is on here littlepixie

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

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] it has come out twice and wont seem to delete the copy so apologies you will have to read twice about his life [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

by Felix 14.01.11 0:58

Clarence Mitchell: Well, thank you for the good wishes Peter, and, of course, I will pass those on... on to them. Errr... I speak to them pretty much virtually every day. I either phone or email or contact. Errr... And I will certainly make it clear to them that... that you... you've said that. Errm... I'm now working as a result of moving into Public Relations, if you like, with the Madeleine, errm... situation. I now work for a PR agency in London, Lewis PR. I'm the Director of Media Strategy and Public Affairs which means that I work with a number of their clients as well, advising them on their media contact. And if any particular stories flare up involving those clients I... I generally act as a... a bit of a go-between, in much the same way as I do for Kate and Gerry, with... with the media, the print, broadcast and online media. Errm... And on the public affairs side because of my governmental work, errm... I'm able to assist as well, where I can, with, errr... governmental contact for some of the clients too. So it's... it's a busy old agenda, errr... just as frenetic as... as the BBC in many ways; if it's on the other side of the fence.

I bet thats a nice little earner^^^

Nice plug for his firm too....

by littlepixie 14.01.11 1:06

Thanks Cherry, he was one of those people you sometimes saw on the news. I don't think I would have known his name. He wasn't memorable like Geroge Allagiya or Reginald Bosanquet or Jan Leeming. Its voices of newsreaders that I remember more than anything. You dont really see Clarence on the "proper" news anymore though. How sad and embarrassing for him to end it all on such a sour note and under such dubious circumstances.

by littlepixie 14.01.11 1:08

What a shame he has been reduced to "ducking and diving" on behalf of "clients".

by Guest 14.01.11 1:08

Yes indeed perhaps he should have stuck to reading the news [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

by Felix 14.01.11 1:14

littlepixie wrote:What a shame he has been reduced to "ducking and diving" on behalf of "clients".

For a sizeable fee and stonking great pension, I shouldn't wonder.

by **PeterMac** 14.01.11 8:31

Not sure about the pension. People who flit from job to job often do not get long enough anywhere to build up a pot. And few save.

by **PeterMac** 14.01.11 8:57

He is now talking about two or even three people being involved. So by implication he negates Tanner's statement.
And to describe the apartment as being " in a fairly remote corner" of the resort is just nonsense. It is about as close to central as you can get. Look on Maps.google, where it is clearly marked. Mitchell has been there. And stayed there for a long time. So he must know that he has just lied.

by Felix 14.01.11 13:22

PeterMac wrote:Not sure about the pension. People who flit from job to job often do not get long enough anywhere to build up a pot. And few save.

i don't think we'll be seeing him at the village community hall playing bingo in his dotage though - do you? winkwink

by aiyoyo 14.01.11 13:41

PeterMac wrote:Tony,
Many thanks for that, and for the highlighted points. Some food for thought and for more detailed analysis I think.
So the book is not finished. But did not one of the close relatives say it was ?
Or perhaps it was and the lawyers have struck a lot of it out, and it is being padded out or re-written.

More likely they are having to revise or rewrite the book because of injunction overturned.
They are more watchful of their back now than ever because every word in the book will be put under the microscope and analsyed. And if libel comes after the book release, their scathing the PJ book will either make an appearance in court or at the v least get mentioned, if for nothing else, than the 'profit it generates for mccanns' because of the irony of the mccanns and lawyers criticism of Amaral's purpose of his book.

"I know them well enough now to say with with absolute confidence that... they weren't involved." So that's all right then. All we have to do in future is to assign Clarence to any arrested person, and he can make his judgement on their guilt or inocence with "absolute confidence".

He has sure caught km's disease of err....ing and hmmm....ing a lot, not so confident as he said. He's enjoying his favourite hobby 'lying through as many teeth'.....Must be contagious..the err...ing and lying through as many teeth....!

"Kate and Gerry know Mad... know their daughter well enough to know she didn't wander out of the apartment as has often been speculated. The only assumption they can make is that somebody took her out of the apartment. That is the working hypothesis..." So now Clarence has moved away from the McCann's absolute and definite and actionable-if-you-think-otherwise "knew at once that she had been abducted" to an "assumption" and "working hypothesis". Clarence, they are not the same thing at all. I think you may need to speak to G and K sometime very soon. Because if you don't Carter-Ruck may send you a letter for daring to question the official line.

Not so strong on their 'paedophile abducted' stand anymore....maybe no money to be made using that line anymore.

"and the very fact that nothing has been found of Madeleine since, not a trace, tends to suggest that she has been taken somewhere else..." What brilliance ! What powers of deduction ! Mycroft Holmes would have fallen at his feet. 'If she is not in bed, she is somewhere else.' Sadly traces of Madeleine WERE found, in the lounge, in the car ... so that is not quite right.

by aiyoyo 14.01.11 13:42

Felix wrote:
PeterMac wrote:Not sure about the pension. People who flit from job to job often do not get long enough anywhere to build up a pot. And few save.

i don't think we'll be seeing him at the village community hall playing bingo in his dotage though - do you? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Dont be surprised to see him in KWIKSAVE or pound shop. His pension may not stretch to M&S!

by Autumn 14.01.11 15:02

Felix wrote:
PeterMac wrote:Not sure about the pension. People who flit from job to job often do not get long enough anywhere to build up a pot. And few save.

i don't think we'll be seeing him at the village community hall playing bingo in his dotage though - do you?

More likelihood of him serving time behind bars should it ever transpire that he was in on this charade.

by aiyoyo 14.01.11 15:07

Setting aside the essential tragedy of whatever happened to Madeleine McCann, I would imagine Clarence is content in his new role as the family's voice

I wonder whether the Journalist/interviewer is taking the piss!

From 70k/year media control managing for the Labour Government to being the SOLE voice of a family and the journalist is saying he's content as mccann's voice!

From representing the Govt to representing a pair of suspects........yeah I am sure he's going the MOON!
Ever wonder why he was pushed?

Whatever good past records or work he'd acquired or done is overshadowing by his work for the mccanns.
His name is now notoriously linked to the mccanns; and his name synonymous to the mccanns, that the media and press cant mention one without the other in the same breath!

His muddy name will never ever recover no matter what.

I bet throughout his working life he's never had to lie so much as he did in his new role as the mccann's voice. 4 years of lies for the mccanns must be quite a record for any employee.

Before he was better known than gm and now he's not even at par. He's reduced to an employee to a lesser man than him. Sure he must cursed the mccanns. Where did he step out of line and was forced into his present situation?

by aiyoyo 14.01.11 15:10

Autumn wrote:
Felix wrote:
PeterMac wrote:Not sure about the pension. People who flit from job to job often do not get long enough anywhere to build up a pot. And few save.

i don't think we'll be seeing him at the village community hall playing bingo in his dotage though - do you? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

More likelihood of him serving time behind bars should it ever transpire that he was in on this charade.

Oh no doubt about it. He's up shit creek with them.
But the idea of him sharing warm porridge with the mccanns in the same cell in the near future is .....not going to happen...not even in the foreesable future.

by pennylane 14.01.11 16:16

Mitchell looked mighty petulant when he announced his resignation from MMU to go and work for the dodgy duo on a full time basis.

I got the distinct feeling he was unceremoniously pushed following the initial FFS results, and the 'hurtful and unhelpful' blood and cadaver dog alerts!

by Blimunda 15.01.11 19:46

To keep reading the news wouldn't have been enough for this great prodigious talented master in P.Relations, Clarenzio. That was too boring bored

After his experience with the government.. .it would be much more interesting to get into a web of deceit in a tragic story of international coverage. He needs to feel "powerful" .
And he must feel powerful when so many people seem to believe what he throws up whenever he opens his
mouth.
:bad:

by jd 05.05.12 2:42

Bumping this up....

"So I was effectively seconded to the Foreign Office and sent out to Portugal' so he is admitting the government sent him then

Note Levy saying it is a mystery, aren't the mccanns not suing him?

Peter Levy: No, I... I... I understand that to... totally. What... again, don't answer if you don't want to, but I know that every parent listening will be interested to know the answer to this. What do they... because it is a... the whole thing is a mystery; what... what do they believe, what do they think is the strongest possibility of... of what happened to little Madeleine?

by nomendelta 05.05.12 10:04

I cannot recall the exact source but isn't there a rumour that Clarence is MI6 or works peripherally for the intelligience services? Couldn't his involvement therefore not be solely a government matter but in a way a security matter? He does seem to have stuck his oar in some very high profile cases.

by pauline 05.05.12 12:11

I did not see the transcript of the interview when it was first posted.

One quote stands out for me.

He describes the checking system as a reasonable reaction - 'given the lack of resources available to them at the time'

LACK OF RESOURCES = an evening creche included on the holiday package price or an hourly charge for one of the nannies who knew the children to babysit.

Even if he meant the McCanns had a lack of (financial) resources despite being doctors, then why not use the evening creche at no extra cost?

by jd 05.05.12 13:04

pauline wrote:I did not see the transcript of the interview when it was first posted.

One quote stands out for me.

He describes the checking system as a reasonable reaction - 'given the lack of resources available to them at the time'

LACK OF RESOURCES = an evening creche included on the holiday package price or an hourly charge for one of the nannies who knew the children to babysit.

Even if he meant the McCanns had a lack of (financial) resources despite being doctors, then why not use the evening creche at no extra cost?

This stuck out to me too....'lack of resources' when there were nannies on site looking after the kids while the parents went out as part of the package and 'the' reason people take MW holidays