New Heights of insanity - Express

by **PeterMac** 03.11.13 7:54

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Did panicking kidnapper plan to leave 'injured' Madeleine McCann with medics?

WHOEVER kidnapped Madeleine McCann may have intended to leave her outside a doctor’s surgery after she was injured in a burglary gone wrong, it was claimed last night.
By: James Murray
Published: Sun, November 3, 2013
The key sighting of the potential prime suspect carrying a sleeping child happened in a small road just yards away from Luzdoc, the medical centre in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
British residents Julie and Colin Kimber have been trying to work out why an abductor would risk taking a three-year-old into a fairly busy area of bars and restaurants just before 10pm on May 3, 2007.
Looking at the exact point of the sighting, Mr Kimber said: “You have to ask yourself why he was heading down the hill in this direction when he must have known there were more people about.
“Maybe a burglary went wrong and the child was injured and then he thought he should take her to the medical centre, panicked and then took her away.
“If he was taking her to someone in a car he would not have arranged the rendezvous in this area because too many people would be around. Why risk being seen by somebody?”
Another possibility being considered is that an abductor lived locally and took Madeleine to his property after kidnapping her from the family’s holiday apartment at the Ocean Club.
You have to ask yourself why he was heading down the hill in this direction
Mr Kimber added: “Ever since the Crimewatch programme, which placed great emphasis on this key sighting, we have been trying to work it out, but the route is baffling.
“There is a real village community in Luz and everybody has been thinking hard about if they saw anyone who looked like the man in the e-fit.”
Another theory is that an abductor may have taken Madeleine to one of several derelict buildings and gardens, all just yards from where Irish holidaymaker Martin Smith and other members of his family saw the e-fit man carrying a child.
Directly opposite the sighting is a junction with two derelict houses.
A small doorway leads into the garden.
Today, by looking over the wall, it seems someone has been living in the garden. There is an open toilet and a hose pipe shower with a curtain rail, table and chairs and signs of an open fire.
One of the buildings is owned by a German woman who uses it to house bikes for rent to holidaymakers. The other property is up for sale.
Neither owner wished to comment last week. It is understood the gardens were thoroughly searched when Madeleine vanished but locals could not recall seeing police enter any derelict buildings.
In recent months police have been active in this key area of the resort. One resident, who declined to be named, said: “They have been up and down the road, day and night.
“Some people reckon the man was on his way to the rocky coastline a few hundred yards away to take her away in a boat, but that would be very tricky at night.
“This renewed police activity is good because people want this solved once and for all.”
Luz residents have been sceptical of reports that a sacked Ocean Club worker may be the abductor. He died in a tractor accident four years ago.
The 40-year-old was a petty criminal with a drug problem but last week his widow said he was “incapable of touching a child” and there was nothing in his criminal file about being a paedophile.

Almost beyond parody !
We now have a Cape Verde Islander, whose face is made up to look caucasian, who found Madeleine injured during a burglary, and is taking her to the medical centre . . .
Not even Mitchell could come up with this sort of stuff, surely.
Need another coffee !

by Liz Eagles 03.11.13 8:01

It's pantomime season. Just when you think nothing else can out-ludicrous the ludicrous (I'm surprised TM haven't trademarked the word ludicrous) there's an article like this.

by canada12 03.11.13 8:04

More tabloid silliness. They're all on the bandwagon now, desperate to come up with any kind of "Madeleine" story that will sell papers. This has happened before. The difference is that before, the stories tended to be all about the McCanns and Madeleine, leading to the infamous lawsuits. All the stories now - with the exception of the excellent Sunday Times article last week - are speculation about what a mythical abductor might have been up to.

by paddinton 03.11.13 8:08

Actually Petermac I thought this was quite a good article.

It does not imply the man from Cape Verde was involved.

It certainly suggests that the Portugese police are searching in Luz.

It mentions that the people of Luz are sceptical about the involvement of the man from Cape Verde.

There is much mention of doctors and medics.

Bearing in mind that the press are pretty nervous about being sued and journalists reporting on this case are almost certainly heavily restricted by their editors, I thought it got some good points across.

by Ho Lee Fuq 03.11.13 8:09

It's disgusting that everyone is taking the piss out of Madeleine. Absolutely disgusting.

And her rotten-to-the-core parents let them all get away with it.

by sallypelt 03.11.13 8:31

What a clever piece of journalism. Reading between the lines, it saysso much.

by **tigger** 03.11.13 9:22

paddinton wrote:Actually Petermac I thought this was quite a good article.

It does not imply the man from Cape Verde was involved.

It certainly suggests that the Portugese police are searching in Luz.

It mentions that the people of Luz are sceptical about the involvement of the man from Cape Verde.

There is much mention of doctors and medics.

Bearing in mind that the press are pretty nervous about being sued and journalists reporting on this case are almost certainly heavily restricted by their editors, I thought it got some good points across.

--------------------
It's a terrible article imo.

We know that a small section of the PJ are working on the case but that is only because they have agreed to do this for SY via the normal route of rogatory letters and requests.

The avenues they are exploring have been selected by UK police.

I think the repeated reports of the PJ looking for a body is their subtle revenge for being given useless tasks.

It's an insult to their intelligence and about the level of being given a task both useless and demeaning such as cleaning the parade ground with a toothbrush.

Possibly the CPS visit was to arrange the rogatories.

by margaret 03.11.13 9:24

PeterMac wrote:
Another theory is that an abductor may have taken Madeleine to one of several derelict buildings and gardens, all just yards from where Irish holidaymaker Martin Smith and other members of his family saw the e-fit man carrying a child.
Directly opposite the sighting is a junction with two derelict houses.
A small doorway leads into the garden.
Today, by looking over the wall, it seems someone has been living in the garden. There is an open toilet and a hose pipe

I don't suppose one of the could have been the empty house/bungalow that Mr.Amaral said warranted further investigation?

Can anyone else remember that story, l can't find it online

by MoonGoddess 03.11.13 9:25

Are the Express journos' viewing the Smith sighting thread? titter

.... don't forget how close the sighting is to the Church guys!

by StraightThinking 03.11.13 9:30

Is this article saying there were two derelict houses near to the Smith sighting on 3 May 2007?

by **PeterMac** 03.11.13 9:58

StraightThinking wrote:Is this article saying there were two derelict houses near to the Smith sighting on 3 May 2007?

Yes, there are. Pat Brown and I had a good look inside them when we were there. They were more like glorified sheds, full of boxes of old tiles and general rubbish - storage rubbish, but no room for anything else.
Put 37.085853,-8.73244 into maps.google
Street view gives you this
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by StraightThinking 03.11.13 10:00

Interesting ....
Thanks PeterM

by **Tony Bennett** 03.11.13 10:00

MoonGoddess wrote:Are the Express journos' viewing the Smith sighting thread? .... don't forget how close the sighting is to the Church guys!

The Sunday Express article assumes there actually was such a 'sighting'.

So do you, 'MoonGoddess'.

So do others on this thread.

And elsewhere on this forum.

I do not.

Redwood's promotion of the alleged Smith sighting continues to have the medeia - and consequently us here - meandering around in circles, amidst the plumes of smoke and a thousands mirrors, when in all probability the Smith sighting, to put it kinldy, is almost certainly a mirage.

The sooner IMO that we look on this as a fake, fabricated sighting, the easier we will be able to make sense of it.

Don't forget that it was 13 days and only after Murat was made an arguido, that Smith 'phoned the Portuguese police - after 13 days of Europe-wide publicity about Madeleine to which he and his family had not responded.

Owning a villa at the Estrela da Luz complex, being a regular visitor to Praia da Luz, and having met Murat 'on several occasions', Smith was able to tell the Portuguese police (after 13 days) that it was dark, 10.00pm, the man's face was hidden, it wasn't Murat, and none of the family could recognise his face again if they saw it.

After saying, 4 months later, that he was 60% to 80% sure he saw Gerry McCann, a year or so later he then apparently helped the likes of Kevin Halligen (convicted fraudster), Henri Exton (ex-MI5 and convicted shoplifter) and Gary Hagland (money laundering expert) to draw up two wholly different efits of the bloke he says he saw - which (allegedly) the McCann Team kept under wraps for 5 years until Redwood gave it the seal of approval.

I am at a total loss to understand why so many on this forum continue to believe that the Smith sighting is some kind of established fact, as if it were some tiny island of certainty in an ocean of lies.

by Smokeandmirrors 03.11.13 10:01

It beggars belief that the press are printing this sort of tripe, tractor drivers, homicidal burglars etc, when they have the gall to call US vile trolls for examine witness statements, the dog videos and other PROVEABLE material in the public domain.

It's either just a huge obfuscation OR they have inside info on the PJ and SY REAL lines of enquiry and have been ordered to divert attention.

Whatever, we mustn't lose site of the fact that all this recent tripe is spinning off the back of the ST article, where the McCanns were painted in a very suspicious light.

by Praiaaa 03.11.13 10:14

Tony Bennett wrote: ...so many on this forum continue to believe that the Smith sighting is some kind of established fact, as if it were some tiny island of certainty in an ocean of lies.

Quite - I am also concerned that this has now taken on a veneer of established fact. IMO all we can rely on is the summary published by the PJ when the case was suspended. The fact that Smith may or may not have been 'visited' by Brian Kennedy has been seen as a signal it is real, but I think scepticism is a healthier position regarding everything in this case.

by Truthandjustice 03.11.13 10:19

Interestingly the first I heard of the medical centre was on this site. Perhaps the papers are looking here for leads/misleads.

by StraightThinking 03.11.13 10:40

PeterMac wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] residents Julie and Colin Kimber have been trying to work out why an abductor would risk taking a three-year-old into a fairly busy area of bars and restaurants just before 10pm on May 3, 2007.
Looking at the exact point of the sighting, Mr Kimber said: “You have to ask yourself why he was heading down the hill in this direction when he must have known there were more people about.
Mr Kimber added: “Ever since the Crimewatch programme, which placed great emphasis on this key sighting, we have been trying to work it out, but the route is baffling.

Perhaps Smithman found M at the top of the hill and knew he couldn't go in the direction of 5a because there were lots of people out and about looking for her up there?

by **Tony Bennett** 03.11.13 10:59

Smokeandmirrors wrote:It beggars belief that the press are printing this sort of tripe, tractor drivers, homicidal burglars etc.

But, with respect, it doesn't beggar belief - not after all that has happened in the last 6.5 years.

As a result of...

...Rebekah Brooks, the Chief Executive Officer of the world's most influential media group, News International...

...threatening/'persuading' David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...

...to order Britain's top police force, the Metropolitan Police, to carry out a review without time limit and with an initial budget of £2.5 million...

...which has now lasted 2.5 years and cost £6 million...

...the Senior Investigating Officer in that case, Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood...

...with the help of the state broadcasting company, the BBC, funded by nearly everyone in the country paying an annual licence fee of £145...

...has just informed Crimewatch's 6.7 million viewers...

...and in turn nearly everyone via the 'mainstream' media...

...to look for a Smithman.

It matters not to the British mainstream media nor 99% of British people that...

...the details of the Smith sighting are a virtual carbon copy of the Jane Tanner sighting...

...that Smith took 13 days to 'phone Portugal...

...that he did so only after Murat was arrested (partly on the basis of Tanner saying: 'I am adamant - it was him')...

...that he then proceeded to say 'I am adamant - it was not Murat'...

...and 4 months later said he was 60% to 80% sure it was Gerry McCann...

...and then changed his mind again and, with the help of McCann Team investigators, came up with two wholly different e-fits...

...which the McCann Team (allegedly, and according to an article in the Sunday Times) ignored for five years.

The only thing that matters is that completely ludicrous inventions about what really happened to Madeleine McCann, and photos of Madeleine McCann, on the front pages of British tabloids, help to sell more papers and hence make more money. They are currently doing so on the basis of Redwood's Smithman.

What would really beggar belief now, after 6.5 years, is for the press to run, say, an in-depth, factual article about all the activities of the McCann Team's private investigators...

by **Tony Bennett** 03.11.13 11:03

StraightThinking wrote:Perhaps Smithman found M at the top of the hill and knew he couldn't go in the direction of 5a because there were lots of people out and about looking for her up there?

And this is called 'Straight Thinking'?

More like: who will exceed the Sunday Express in coming up with the most ludicrous idea yet on this forum

by Guest 03.11.13 11:13

paddinton wrote:Actually Petermac I thought this was quite a good article.

It does not imply the man from Cape Verde was involved.

It certainly suggests that the Portugese police are searching in Luz.

It mentions that the people of Luz are sceptical about the involvement of the man from Cape Verde.

There is much mention of doctors and medics.

Bearing in mind that the press are pretty nervous about being sued and journalists reporting on this case are almost certainly heavily restricted by their editors, I thought it got some good points across.

I think it's an encouraging article too.

"Panicking kidnapper" looking for somewhere to put the child he was carrying, is what it's saying. PANICKING!

Well, I believe that's exactly what GM could've been doing that night if he was Smithman. This could be the Sunday Express' way of making people start to think rhe area near the beach (medical centre, empty house , beach, rocky coastland, all mentioned in the article) are possible destinations for the child that night. That's starting to make people think that area was a destination, not a route to a "hellish lair".

By using "hurt child" of whom the "burglar" had no further interest cleverly via residents' theories, not theirs, they've inadvertently - or quite deliberately? - triggered people into starting to think of Smithman's motives from a completely different angle. One that reflects more closely my own musings, and those who believe Smithman could have been GM on a short trip to hide his burden that night. All in all, I think this is a negative article for the premeditated abductor theory, and nudges people into a wholly different train of thought. It's also clearly an article that doesn't accommodate Tractorman and his "motive".

The Express group, of course, were very indignant about being singled out for libel in 2009. If they are party to all the facts - which they surely will be - I bet they've been quietly simmering, and waiting, since.

by **PeterMac** 03.11.13 11:16

Tony Bennett wrote:
More like: who will exceed the Sunday Express in coming up with the most ludicrous idea yet on this forum

Does Mitchell post here ? ? ?

Fascinating that the ST article last week has allowed the floodgates of absurdity to be opened in the media, AND that comments are being allowed in several,
pointing out that the articles concerned are garbage / ludicrous / impossible / clearly fabrications, and so on
So far as I recall people have not been allowed to criticise the stories in this depth before.

Something has happened.
Desmond wants his £1m back - with interest !

by Okeydokey 03.11.13 11:23

paddinton wrote:Actually Petermac I thought this was quite a good article.

It does not imply the man from Cape Verde was involved.

It certainly suggests that the Portugese police are searching in Luz.

It mentions that the people of Luz are sceptical about the involvement of the man from Cape Verde.

There is much mention of doctors and medics.

Bearing in mind that the press are pretty nervous about being sued and journalists reporting on this case are almost certainly heavily restricted by their editors, I thought it got some good points across.

Yes, I agree - I didn't think it was too bad as these things go ...at least there seemed to be some rationality to the article, even if that was a bit wonky!

by **Tony Bennett** 03.11.13 11:33

Dee Coy wrote:
This could be the Sunday Express' way of making people start to think rhe area near the beach (medical centre, empty house , beach, rocky coastland, all mentioned in the article) are possible destinations for the child that night. That's starting to make people think that area was a destination...All in all, I think this...nudges people into a wholly different train of thought.

Oh really?

So, have I got this right? - this is a crafty attempt to 'nudge people into a wholly different train of thought?

And not a blatant attempt by the owners of the Sunday Express to 'cash in on Madeleine' by not merely recycling unadulterated rubbish but also by pouring in even more unadulterated balderdash of their own?

Some people here have a touching faith in what the papers are 'really' trying to say...

...when in fact (IMO) are they not merely seeking to catch the eye of people walking into newsagents or garage forecourts - before deciding which of Britain's fabled free press tabloids to read today?

by SixMillionQuid 03.11.13 11:34

From the article

British residents Julie and Colin Kimber have been trying to work out why an abductor would risk taking a three-year-old into a fairly busy area of bars and restaurants just before 10pm on May 3, 2007.

And that's what's been bugging me about the Smith and Tanner sightings - no one else saw what they saw.

by **Tony Bennett** 03.11.13 11:44

SixMillionQuid wrote:From the article

British residents Julie and Colin Kimber have been trying to work out why an abductor would risk taking a three-year-old into a fairly busy area of bars and restaurants just before 10pm on May 3, 2007.

And that's what's been bugging me about the Smith and Tanner sightings - no one else saw what they saw.

Exactly right.

Only the Smith family - and no-one else.

And this would be the first abductor in world history to walk around a busy village, amongst the bars and restaurants, carrying a child he had just abducted.

But the above two points are merely two amongst a dozen reasons for doubting the Smithman 'sighting'.

On another Smithman thread here, over 40% in a poll seriously believe Smithman saw Gerry McCann at 10.00pm that night...

...but as you say, SixMillionQuid - and Julie and Colin Kimber point out (whoever they are)...

...no-one else did.

I suppose maybe some people here actually believe that Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood and the BBC Crimewatch programme are telling us the truth.

Or - as some people on here also believe - telling us lies so that we find out the truth.

by Guest 03.11.13 11:48

Tony Bennett wrote:
Dee Coy wrote:
This could be the Sunday Express' way of making people start to think rhe area near the beach (medical centre, empty house , beach, rocky coastland, all mentioned in the article) are possible destinations for the child that night. That's starting to make people think that area was a destination...All in all, I think this...nudges people into a wholly different train of thought.
Oh really?

So, have I got this right? - this is a crafty attempt to 'nudge people into a wholly different train of thought?

And not a blatant attempt by the owners of the Sunday Express to 'cash in on Madeleine' by not merely recycling unadulterated rubbish but also by pouring in even more unadulterated balderdash of their own?

Some people here have a touching faith in what the papers are 'really' trying to say...

...when in fact (IMO) are they not merely seeking to catch the eye of people walking into newsagents or garage forecourts - before deciding which of Britain's fabled free press tabloids to read today?

On the contrary, I'm very cynical and scathing of of the vast majority of the UK press and other media. Completely self-serving all the time, imo.

However, deliberate or not, this article by the SE does pose, to the uninitiated, a different question as to why Smithman was in that area. And one which, by luck or otherwise, reflects that of those who think Smithman was GM -he was there to conceal.

But I'm not so naive as to not think that if the SE have deliberately done this, it's with their own interests at heart (revenge?) - ok, perhaps this is tenuous. If it's inadvertent, and merely an attempt to make a splash for cash - agreed, not so tenuous, then it has had the unfortunate (for them) but but encouraging for the rest of us, element of a small backfire.

by Montclair 03.11.13 11:49

SixMillionQuid wrote:From the article

British residents Julie and Colin Kimber have been trying to work out why an abductor would risk taking a three-year-old into a fairly busy area of bars and restaurants just before 10pm on May 3, 2007.

And that's what's been bugging me about the Smith and Tanner sightings - no one else saw what they saw.

Gerry went out with Madeleine because he had no choice.

by Montclair 03.11.13 11:52

Praiaaa wrote:
Tony Bennett wrote: ...so many on this forum continue to believe that the Smith sighting is some kind of established fact, as if it were some tiny island of certainty in an ocean of lies.
Quite - I am also concerned that this has now taken on a veneer of established fact. IMO all we can rely on is the summary published by the PJ when the case was suspended. The fact that Smith may or may not have been 'visited' by Brian Kennedy has been seen as a signal it is real, but I think scepticism is a healthier position regarding everything in this case.

So you believe that the entire Smith family are liars and made the whole thing up? This is beyond ridiculous.

by sami 03.11.13 11:52

Sadly, it does not follow that these looney stories are so crazy that the joe public reads between the lines.

Joe does not do tongue in cheek or innuendo. Joe eats his cornflakes, reading the Express, thanking his lucky stars he has never ventured onto Portugese soil on his annual two week getaway as he would never feel safe with those useless police and drug fuelled burglars turned abductors. Then he logs on and hits the donate button on the Find Madeleine site, before tuning into Radio 4.

by plebgate 03.11.13 11:57

Where is the proof positive that there was an abduction?
Surely this evidence is needed before the whole of Europe/World starts looking for any man?
That's my belief and I am sticking to it.