I would like to express strong agreement with ThoughtFox, Post 303, where s/he said that the McCanns' reactions to the reports of Madeleine's blood being sniffed by the cadaver dogs were 'part of the facts of the case'. S/he wrote: "Kate explained it away as a cadaver scent coming from herself as a doctor. Kate said that Cuddle Cat had been in her office and therefore might smell like a cadaver. They explained the scent in the car as coming from garbage that they hauled to the dump, and dirty diapers from the twins."
All those statements from the McCanns are part of the facts of the case, and they are part of the public record.
Very true! - and IMO very strong circumstantial evidence, along with all the other circumstantial evidence, that the McCanns were involved in some way in both the death of Madeleine and the disposal of her body.
And circumstantial evidence, if there is sufficient, may be enough to convict the McCanns of crimes such as manlsaughter, criminal negligence, interfering with or perverting the course of justice, interfering with a body, and avoiding an autopsy, or similar crimes, which may be known to either British or Portuguese law - even in the absence of a body.
I thought it would be appropriate to post here and now the '21 reasons the abduction theory cannot stand', which was compiled back in December.
I am checking the contents before releasing it via e-mail in he U.K., and we will hopefully put it up on The Madeleine Foundation site when this is up and running.
Points 13 (especially) and Point 17 address the points ThoughtFox was addressing:
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The Theory of the Abduction of Madeleine McCann.
An Unproven Hypothesis, and Twenty-one Reasons It Cannot Stand.
1. The Implausibility of "Stranger" Abduction.
Statistics on alleged stranger abduction from a persons home show that a member of the abducted childs family is usually the perpetrator, and that the child usually dies. An overwhelming 99% of all claimed abductions from a home turn out to be intra-family murder. There have been two high profile cases in the last few weeks - Baby Grace, found battered and decomposing in a plastic box on sand dunes near Galveston, and the dead baby in the attic. Both were claimed abductions - and both were hoaxes.
Childrens Commissioner I was thinking that he might be persuaded to repeat or enlarge on his little publicised statement with regard to the putative Megans Law.
We are concerned that a version of Megans Law could detract from the fact that children are actually most at risk from people known to them.
2. Refusal to Answer the Policia Judiciarias Questions.
The McCanns did not answer the P.J.s questions it is reported that there were forty such unanswered questions. These are the not actions of innocent parents, who would do all they could to assist the police in every way possible.
3. Ignoring Advice not to Highlight Madeleines Eye Defect.
The parents ignored the clearest possible P.J. advice not to highlight Madeleines eye defect, the coloboma (an iris defect). If Madeleine were still alive, this would have put Madeleine at much greater risk of death. The parents conduct suggests they knew she was already dead. They deliberately ignored sound advice not to make Madeleine so recognisable that the abductors (if she was abducted) would have to kill her. All the publicity posters emphasising the coloboma, the announcement of all the sightings, and claims of being "right on the kidnappers" trail
all these actions put Madeleine at greater risk.
4. The Impossibility of the Abduction Happening as Claimed.
The sheer impossibility of the abduction so many intractable questions: e.g., why did the abductor wait for thirty-five minutes after the McCanns sauntered down to the Tapas bar? Was the abductor/predator hiding behind the door as Gerry McCann checked the children? (Thats what he claims). Did the abductor/predator really walk in through open patio doors, and why then did he climb out through the window and shutters with Madeleine under his arm? And so on...
5. The Changing Stories of What the Abductor Looked Like.
Jane Tanners often changed story of what the abductor looked like: initially "His head was egg-shaped, he had some short hair, and was carrying a bundle, maybe a blanket", then, a full three weeks later - and to make sure that the P.J. issued a description - "I definitely saw him carrying a girl in pink pyjamas". Then, after SIX months, we are given an artists impression of the abductor and we are now told: "Head not egg-shaped, hair long, sleek, black and shiny, abductor was not white but swarthy and Mediterranean" etc.
6. The Parents Absolute Insistence that Abduction was the
Only Explanation for Madeleines Disappearance.
The parents immediate and insistent cry of abduction - excluding all other possibilities.
7. Claiming the Abductor was the Man Allegedly Seen by Jane Tanner.
Gerry McCann proceeded, after three weeks, to issue a description of the abductor based SOLELY on Jane Tanners dubious sighting - against P.J. advice and only after Gordon Brown had intervened by phoning the P.J.
8. The Tapas 9 Pact of Silence.
The "Pact or Conspiracy of Silence" - the notorious agreement between them all to keep silent about the events of that night.
9 Changes to the Story.
Changes to the story, as for example:
Day 1: "Shutters jemmied open, windows open, patio doors locked, abductor must have forced his way in".
Days 2 and 3: P.J. and Mark Warners say: "No way shutters and window were forced from outside".
Several days later: McCanns - "Oh, we left the patio doors open, so abductor must have walked in through the patio doors and then opened the shutters and climbed out of the window with Madeleine".
10. The Hiring of Dubious Private Investigators.
Hiring a dubious British private investigation agency and a dubious Spanish detective agency (Metodo 3) at cost of several hundred thousand pounds, all for no obvious benefit or results.
11. The Hiring of Britains Top Extradition Lawyer.
The McCanns rushed to hire the U.K.s top extradition lawyer one Michael Caplan Q.C. (who represented General Pinochet) - at the very moment they became formal suspects.
12. Publicly Agreeing to Take a Lie Detector Test - And Then Refusing.
After initial boasting of their willingness to take the test, the McCanns refused to do so.
13. Strange and Irrational Excuses for "Blood, DNA, and the Smell of Death".
The extraordinary excuses offered by the McCanns in response to the forensic findings of blood, DNA, and cadaverine smell included these six examples:
(a) I took Cuddle Cat to work - thats why the smell of death is on Cuddle Cat.
(b) I dealt with 6 corpses in the last fortnight at work, thats why the smell of death is on my clothes
(c) Well get on to lawyers in Ireland/America who say these cadaver dogs evidence is useless.
(d) The DNA was the childrens dirty nappies in the boot.
(e) The smell of death was rotting meat that Gerry was taking to the dump.
(f) The blood in the flat (found underneath the tiles in the childrens bedroom) might have been from Madeleine grazing her leg when she boarded the plane, or perhaps a nosebleed.
14. Not Staying Protectively Close to the Twins after Madeleines Disappearance.
The parents left their twins at the creche within days of Madeleine disappearing and spent as much time as possible visiting the Pope, the White House, and "campaigning" - no parents whose child had truly been abducted by a stranger would let those twins out of their sight; they would cling to the precious two they had left.
15. Refusing a Urine Test on the Twins.
The McCanns, both doctors, refused urine tests for their two-year-old twins, although they later admitted that the children "could have been drugged by the abductor". The parents then waited for five months before engaging an agency to carry out "independent" tests. The results of these tests have never been publicly disclosed and it is not known for what drugs the agency tested.
16. Only Answering Press Questions with At Least Two Hours Advance Notice.
The McCanns stipulated that for all interviews, the press had to present all questions to them at least two hours in advance of the interview, and that they would only answer those questions, and no others.
17. The McCanns Attempt to Explain that the "Abductor" Drugged the Children.
The McCanns explained away the fact that the twins didnt wake up, amidst all the shouting when the alarm was raised about Madeleine, by hinting that the twins must have been drugged by the abductor. The McCanns came up with this theory while being filmed by close family friend Jon Corner in August, and after leaks from the Portuguese police suggested that the children had been sedated.
18. The Startling Failure of the McCanns Friends to Search
for Madeleine the Night She Disappeared.
According to a number of reports which have never been contradicted, while hundreds of people, including staff of Mark Warners and many local people, searched the area around the Ocean Club apartments for hours after Madeleine went missing, not one of the McCanns friends, known as the Tapas 9, bothered to do so. They all went to bed. That is as clear an indication as you could get that they knew it would be pointless searching for Madeleine. It is entirely consistent with them knowing that Madeleine was already dead.
19. The McCanns Failure to Talk to Jane Tanner for Two Whole Days About Her Sighting of the "Alleged" Abductor.
According to many reports, and confirmed in an article by David Smith, in The Times of late December 2007, the McCanns did not bother to talk to Jane Tanner for two whole days about what she claimed to have seen at 9.15pm that night - namely a person walking off with a child looking like Madeleine. This is despite the McCanns absolute insistence that an abduction had taken place. According to David Smiths article, which included an exclusive and extended interview with Gerry McCann, he and Jane Tanner did not speak to each other because they were too busy. If there really had been an abduction, the McCanns and Jane Tanner would have spoken to each other about what she saw without a moments delay.
20. Apprehension about Phone Calls being Monitored.
The McCanns expressed anxiety about their phone calls and e-mails being intercepted. What innocent parent would worry about that?
21. Concealing Records of their Mobile Phone Calls.
The McCanns refused to supply their mobile phone accounts to the P.J.
Prepared by Tony Bennett, December 2007
