MADELEINE MCCANN – DESAPARECIMENTO E HIPÓTESES DE EXPLICAÇÃO

Quando iniciámos a análise deste caso, partimos do princípio de que Madeleine foi raptada para adopção ilegal. Até agora ainda não se provou que esta hipótese esteja errada, embora tenham sido divulgadas nos media tradicionais outras hipóteses.
Entre as hipóteses colocadas surgiram, também, as hipóteses macabras, que não se provaram.
Este caso Madeleine McCann continua a interessar as pessoas que andam pela Internet.
Continuamos no campo das especulações. Certeza continua apenas a haver uma – Madeleine McCann, uma criança de 4 anos, desapareceu. Esta é a única certeza. Só se provou isto até agora.
Têm surgido muitas especulações sobre este desaparecimento. Estamos no domínio das hipóteses.
Os media tradicionais britânicos ordenam os artigos sobre o desaparecimento de Madeleine num ranking de consultas pelas pessoas interessadas.
A «Sky News» tem bastante importância para este caso, em primeiro lugar pelas audiências, divulga as suas informações e as suas opiniões por televisão, e por escrito, na Internet. Em segundo lugar a «Sky News» interessa-se muito por este caso.
Um texto da «Sky News» na Internet muito procurado é de 1 de Agosto de 2007.
Ei-lo a seguir:



« Madeleine Missing For 90 Days
Updated: 21:38, Wednesday August 01, 2007
It has been 90 days since four-year-old Madeleine McCann went missing from a holiday villa in Portugal.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, have previously observed such dates with planned events but nothing has been made public this time.



However, writing on his blog on Tuesday, Mr McCann said the campaign would ramp up over the next few days.
"Relatively quiet day apart from phone calls and campaign related emails. We have busy couple of days coming up so off to bed relatively early (before midnight)," he wrote.
Earlier this week, the McCanns held another meeting with Portuguese police to discuss the search for their daughter.
The McCanns meet Portuguese police on a regular basis, but despite an extensive investigation little progress has been made on the case.
Despite this, the pair remain confident "that everything possible was being done to find Madeleine".
The McCanns believe that "the vital piece of information that leads to Madeleine is only a phone call away".
The child was snatched from her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 as her parents ate at a nearby restaurant. »

(In «Sky News» o.l.)



Do jornal «The Sun» um texto muito procurado é de 26 de Maio de 2007. Trata-se de uma entrevista ao casal McCann da «Sky News». Aparece a seguir:



«'At worst, we were naive'





Talking from the heart ... brave parents Gerry and Kate McCann speak out
during their Sky News interview in Praia da Luz, Portugal

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• Maddie


From IAN HEPBURN
and VIRGINIA WHEELER
in Praia da Luz
May 26, 2007

ANGUISHED Gerry and Kate McCann yesterday opened their hearts for the first time over the abduction of daughter Madeleine.
Three weeks after she disappeared from their holiday home in Portugal, they spoke to Sky News man Ian Woods.
Here we publish the conversation.
Woods: Gerry and Kate, thanks very much for talking to us. I’d like to begin by taking you back to the events of May 3, on that evening. Tell us how you discovered how Madeleine had gone.
Kate: As I think people are aware, we were checking regularly on the children and it was during one of my checks that I discovered she’d gone. I can’t really go into any details about that. I’m sure any parent will realise how it felt.
Woods: Did the panic set in immediately? Kate: Yeah, very much.
Woods: This is a resort that offers childcare facilities — babysitting facilities. Why then, were the three young children left alone at the apartment while you were having a meal?
Gerry: You’ve seen the location here. We’ve been assured by the thousands of people who’ve either done exactly the same or say they would have done the same. For us, it wasn’t very much different to having dinner in your garden, in the proximity of the location. I think it’s fair to say that the guilt that we feel having not been there at that moment — irrespective of whether we had been in our bedroom or not — will never leave us.
Kate and Gerry, who also have two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, hung their heads as they were asked if they felt responsible for Maddie’s disappearance.
Woods: Do you blame yourselves regularly?
Kate: Certainly in the first few days. I think the guilt was very difficult. But I think, as time goes on, you feel stronger and we felt very supported from that point of view.
Woods: “Is there a lesson, do you feel, to other parents?
Gerry: I think that’s a very difficult thing to say because if you look at it — and we try to rationalise things in our head — ultimately what is done is done and we continually look forward. We’ve tried to put it into some sort of perspective for ourselves.
We’re in a very safe resort. If you think about the millions and millions of British families who go to the Mediterranean each year, really the chances of this happening are in the order of a hundred million to one.



Maddie ... in family snap

Kate: I think at worst we were naive. I mean we’re very responsible parents. We love our children very much and I don’t think any parent could imagine or consider anything like this ever happening.
Woods: Were you aware of the big public debate that went on in the immediate aftermath and were you hurt by that?
Kate and Gerry: Yeah
Gerry: I mean, no one hurts you as much as the hurt we had. But we’ve tried to remain very positive in our outlook and even small levels of criticism make that hard when you’re trying to do everything in your power to get your daughter back.
Kate and Gerry, both 38-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leics, were interviewed in their holiday complex in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, where four-year-old Maddie was kidnapped.
Woods went on to ask them about the massive hunt launched to recover the missing girl.
He said: “I know you’ve been very supportive of the Portuguese police investigation, but is there anything you feel could have been done better — particularly in those crucial first 24 hours when Madeleine was missing and perhaps it was treated as a simple missing child as opposed to an abduction?”
Gerry: We are not looking at what has been done and I don’t think it helps at this stage to look back at what could and what couldn’t have been done. I think it’s fair to say we expected a very British-style response that you would expect if you were in a big metropolitan city.
But you have to put that in context. We were in a tiny resort. But, that aside, the times for these lessons to be learned will be after the investigation is finished.
You know it’s an ongoing investigation which has huge resources both from the Portuguese and the British. They’re working very, very closely with lots of expert help and I know there’s hundreds of pieces of information continuing to come forward. And I would strongly like to emphasise we’d like anyone who’s been here in the two weeks leading up to the abduction to come forward — if they have not already done so. And to upload their photographs, because we want Madeleine back and people can still influence that.
Blonde Kate, wearing a pink polkadot top, clutched Madeleine’s favourite cuddly toy cat as the interview continued. It has been her constant companion since the search for the youngster began.
Woods: Looking back, did you see anything suspicious in the days leading up to her abduction? Did you notice anything? Have you been racking your brains to try and think whether people might have been watching?
Kate: We didn’t.
Gerry: If we did we wouldn’t tell you because it may be important information — but we didn’t. You know, it was such a relaxing holiday. In fact as a family unit, up until that night, I know for friends who were here and certainly for us, it was as good a holiday as we have had with the children — up until that point.
Woods: You have to keep believing that Madeleine is still going to be found alive and well . . .
Gerry: Absolutely . . .
Woods: Do you ever, though, allow yourself to drift towards negative thoughts?
Kate: I think in the early days we did and I think that’s inevitable. I think any parent who has been through this does that certainly in the first few days. We don’t now. We’re actually a lot stronger, a lot more hopeful now.
And we have to be hopeful, it’s what keeps us going and what keeps us focused.
Woods: And what about Sean and Amelie? What have you said to them about their big sister?
Kate: They’re really good, I mean they’re at an age really where they’re still quite young and I guess it hasn’t had the same impact on them as if they were a little bit older.
They do talk about Madeleine. They pick up things and say “Madeleine’s,” you know? And that’s fine but they’re really good.
Gerry: Many people have said to us that this is a parent’s worst nightmare — and it is, it truly is and it’s as bad as you can possibly imagine. But, you know, if all three children had been taken it could have been even worse than your worst nightmare and we’ve got to be strong for them.
You know, they’re here. They do bring you back to Earth. And we cannot grieve one. We did grieve — of course we grieved — but ultimately we need to be in control so that we can influence and help in any way possible. Not just Sean and Amelie, but the investigation.
Woods: And because of them, the day may come when you have to leave here and go back to the UK. I know you’ve got no plans to do so at the moment, but how do you think you’re going to feel if that day comes and you have to go to the airport and fly back?
Kate: I can’t think about that Ian, to be honest. I can’t think about going home without Madeleine so . . .
Woods: I notice you’ve got Madeleine’s cuddly toy with you as always. How did that start and what comfort does it bring you?
Kate: Where did it come from?
Woods: No, how did the idea come to have it in your hands all the time?
Kate: Well it’s something that Madeleine has with her every night, and if she’s upset or not well, she has Cuddle Cat. So it provided me with a little bit of comfort. It’s something of Madeleine close to me.
Woods: This is International Missing Children’s Day. I guess Madeleine has had more publicity than just about every missing child in the world put together.
I’m sure you’re very grateful for that. Why do you think it has provoked such enormous public support of which I don’t think we’ve ever seen before?
Gerry: I think there’s a conglomeration of circumstances that have come together in this situation. The fact that we were on holiday, in a very safe resort recognised for that, and of course the world has changed in terms of information technology and the speed of response. You know, in terms of the media coming here and us being prepared to some extent, use that to try and influence the campaign. But above all else, it’s touched everyone. Everyone. You don’t have to be a parent for this to have a major impact on you.
Some of the things we did and said we didn’t realise what impact they would have. But so many thousands of people are doing small things to help us find Madeleine.
Because the worst feeling was helplessness — the absolute worst — that we had no bearing on finding her. But once you start to do that you start to feel a bit better and I hope we are going to look back at the end of all this and say that we have done everything in our power.
But also that other people are helping in so many other ways and they feel that they are part of it.
The McCann family yesterday released a previously unseen snap of Madeleine, showing her playing happily on holiday shortly before she was snatched. Taken by a friend, it shows her in a white T-shirt, pink top and pink trousers.
Woods went on to ask Gerry and Kate if they were worried that people might start to lose interest in the tot’s plight as time went on and media coverage “inevitably” diminished.
Gerry: For me, we know the media coverage is not going to last a long time. It has lasted a lot longer and we have been much, much more successful in driving a message out than we could ever possibly have imagined. Personally I think it’s gone beyond that at the minute and there is a feeling with many, many people out there that they will not allow this to happen.
Woods: Where do you go from here? There’s talk of travelling around Europe. Have you got any firm plans as yet?
Kate: We haven’t got any firm plans. We’re likely to travel in a few places in Europe but as yet, no definite plans.
Woods: Have you got no plans to go back to the UK for the foreseeable future?
Kate: (Shaking her head) No.
Woods: I think that everyone has just been incredibly impressed with you as a couple and how you’ve dealt with this. There was a period after a week or so where you looked as if you were almost broken and who could not understand that? And then there seemed to be a sort of a strength come from somewhere. Is that a fair point? Is that what happened and what brought it about?
Kate: (Sighing and looking at Gerry) I think that’s definitely true, isn’t it?
Gerry: Certainly, you know, at the end of that first week there was so much emotion that we had spent. And we actually had a period where we discussed this openly that we felt devoid, completely devoid of emotion.
The analogy that I like to use is a bit like when we were students and you’d got to your overdraft limit and you’d gone beyond it and there was just nothing left in the tank. Also, I think, physically and mentally we were shattered.
But we gradually got more on an even keel and started to get back into the black. And we’d also worked tirelessly behind the scenes to put support mechanisms in place — including our legal team.
The response with the fund was really driven by offers rather than us thinking we needed it. And once these were in place, it helped us focus on what we really needed to focus on.
Woods: Well everyone who’s watching who has been following Madeleine’s case over the past three weeks just wishes you all the best. Thanks very much Gerry. Thanks very much Kate.
Gerry and Kate: Thanks very much.
• CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown has spoken personally to dad Gerry to pledge support from the very top of the Government to find missing Madeleine.

The Chancellor has had a series of telephone conversations with Gerry.

Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for the family in the Algarve, said today: "Mr Brown offered both Gerry and Kate his full support in their efforts to find Madeleine, although details of the conversations will remain private." »

(In «The Sun»)




O jornal «The Guardian», da Esquerda britânica, também tem dado muita atenção a este caso. Eis um resumo deste caso em 15 de Maio de 2007:



« Madeleine McCann case


Tuesday May 15, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
A list of the key events in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann on Thursday May 3 at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz.

May 3
- Kate and Gerry McCann leave their daughter Madeleine and her brother and sister, twins aged 2, in bed in their apartment while they have dinner at a nearby restaurant.
- Mrs McCann checks on them at 10pm and finds the bedroom window open and Madeleine gone. Police are alerted immediately.

May 4
- Border police, the Spanish authorities and airports are notified. Volunteer teams continue to comb the village, resort and beach for clues.

May 5
- Detectives reveal they believe she was abducted

May 7
- Mrs McCann makes a personal plea to whoever is holding her daughter: "Please, please do not hurt her. Please do not scare her."

May 9
- Police examine a CCTV tape from a service station a few miles from Praia da Luz, showing a woman with a girl fitting Madeleine's description.

May 10
- Police say in a press conference that the local search for Madeleine is being wound down. They issue an image of a pair of pyjamas identical to those Madeleine was wearing when she disappeared.

May 11
- A businessman, Stephen Winyard, offers a reward of £1m for information leading to the return of Madeleine.
- David Beckham makes a television appeal for information.

May 12
- Madeleine's fourth birthday.
- Donors including Sir Richard Branson bring the total amount of money now being offered in the search to more than £2.5m.

May 14
- Mr McCann says that "until there is concrete evidence to the contrary, we believe Madeleine is safe and is being looked after".
- The home of a British man, Robert Murat, which is 160 yards from where Madeleine was snatched, is searched by police. Police confirm he is
a suspect. »

(In «The Guardian»)