Washed Up?, 05 January 2012

Washed Up? EXCLUSIVE to mccannfiles.com By Dr Martin Roberts 05 January 2012 WASHED UP? Cleanliness is next to godliness, they say. What with a 'hands on' papal greeting and countless other blessings along the way, Kate McCann should be about as close to God already as any mortal might expect to get. But if the proverb should be at all reliable, her actions in Praia da Luz, five years ago now, ought to guarantee her a seat at High Table. The various instances of showering and child bathing though are not nearly so interesting as the one occasion on which she chose to wash a pyjama top belonging to her daughter Madeleine. The context is brief and familiar. On 3 May, during breakfast, 'she noticed a stain, supposedly of tea, on Madeleine's pyjama top, which she washed a little later that same morning. She hung it out to dry on a small stand, and it was dry by the afternoon. Madeleine sometimes drank tea; nevertheless the stain did not appear during breakfast, maybe it happened another day, as Madeleine did not have tea the previous night and the stain was dry.' (KM witness statement, 6.9.07). This little cameo, despite not having made it to the top of the rostrum in time for the McCanns' first statements to police on May 4, was nevertheless worthy of mention the second time around. And the third, as it is given an equally meritorious mention in 'Madeleine,' Kate's book of remembrance: 'I didn't think of it at the time but the day Madeleine disappeared I noticed what I thought was a tea stain on her Disney pyjama top,' she says. 'I washed it without thinking but looking back, the children hadn't drunk any tea that day and I can't remember her mentioning that she'd spilt anything.' The obvious discrepancy in these accounts has been pointed out previously (see article: Accounts of the Truth, McCannfiles 8 May 2011). Kate's retrospective use of the pluperfect tense in her book places the washing at the end of the day rather than the beginning. On the one hand therefore we have spontaneous garment washing shortly after breakfast; on the other, it would have occurred nearer tea-time. The second performance naturally leads one to re-examine the first, when Kate, after having noticed the offensive stain, 'washed it a little later that same morning' so that 'it was dry by the afternoon.' The parameters bear re-iterating: Breakfast 8.00 - 8.30 a.m. Pyjamas washed a little later (not somewhat, or much, later). Pyjamas dry by the afternoon (not mid-afternoon or late afternoon). Now watch closely as we skip through a heavily redacted version of Kate McCann's statement of 6 September, 2007: 'On the 3rd of May .... They washed the children and had breakfast at the apartment between 08:00 and 08:30 a.m .... During breakfast .... She noticed a stain .... on Madeleine's pyjama top, which she washed a little later that same morning. She hung it out to dry on a small stand .... it was dry by the afternoon .... Madeleine did not have tea the previous night and the stain was dry. 'After breakfast they .... left the apartment. 'After leaving the apartment they left the twins at the crèche .... she supposes that Gerry took Madeleine to the crèche. 'Once the children were delivered, they went to the tennis courts .... Kate's group lesson was at 9:15 .... When her lesson ended at 10:15, she went to the recreation area next to the swimming pool to talk to Russell until Gerry's lesson was over. Afterwards .... they went back together to the apartment until close to 12:15 when she went to Madeleine's crèche to pick her up, together with Fiona Payne. '... they went to the apartment for lunch .... This would be around 12:35/12:40 .... Lunch lasted around 20 minutes. After finishing lunch they stayed for a while at the apartment, then they went to the recreation area .... They remained at this area for about an hour, maybe more, then they left the twins at the crèche next to the Tapas and both of them took Madeleine to the other crèche. 'After leaving Madeleine at around 2:50 p.m., they both had, once more, a tennis lesson. 'She doesn't remember if they were already wearing appropriate clothes or if they went to the apartment to change. 'The lesson ended an hour later, at around 4:30 p.m. Gerry continued playing tennis .... while she went for a jog .... for around half an hour .... She cannot confirm whether she went to the apartment between the tennis game and the jog. 'When she finished jogging, at around 5:20/5:30 p.m., she went to the Tapas area. Gerry was there, as well as the twins and Madeleine .... Her parents were required to sign the register when the meal was over, at around 5.30 p.m .... Madeleine .... asked Kate to carry her back to the apartment. 'They arrived at the apartment at around 5:40 p.m .... At the apartment they both bathed the children. 'After the children's bath .... she put pyjamas and nappies on the twins, and gave them each a glass of milk and biscuits.' First things first. Kate McCann was due on the tennis court at 9.15. Once breakfast was concluded they still had to dress the children (all three of them), before leaving the apartment ('On the 3rd of May .... They washed the children and had breakfast') in time to take the infants to their creche before the tennis lesson(s) began. They did not return to the apartment until Gerry's tennis lesson had concluded (11.15) and left it again at 12.15, giving Kate about half-an-hour in all during which to wash Madeleine's pyjama top, three hours and more (a little later?) after she first noticed the stain. But now it's around noon, by which time the pyjama top was said already to have been dry. Perhaps Kate meant that it was dry by mid-afternoon or later. That's as maybe. But how can she possibly have known what time the clothing was dry since, having remained in the apartment for a twenty minute lunch (12.40 - 13.00) and 'a while' thereafter, she spent an hour or so at the recreation area before proceeding to the creche(s) once more with the children, then onto more tennis, jogging etc., with no confirmation of any visit to the apartment in the meantime, until they all returned at 5.40 p.m.? So, unless Kate exploited her 'window of opportunity' between 11.30 and 12.00 in order to wash Madeleine's pyjama top (which could not possibly have been 'dry by the afternoon'), she could not have washed it until the evening (according to her own verification of events). And whilst this interpretation would sit more conveniently with her later description of proceedings (in 'Madeleine') it must, at the same time, suggest that Madeleine was put to bed in wet pyjamas! ('They arrived at the apartment at around 5:40 p.m .... At the apartment they both bathed the children. After the children's bath .... she put pyjamas and nappies on the twins, and gave them each a glass of milk and biscuits.'). Perhaps that accounts for Kate's earlier apparent reluctance to describe exactly how they dressed Madeleine for bed after her bath. A liquid post-script 'It is believed the entire Portuguese case rests on DNA evidence from body fluids which allegedly suggests that Madeleine's corpse was carried in the boot of the McCanns' hired Renault Scenic. (The Daily Mirror,19.9.2007) 'But the McCanns say the fluids probably came from Madeleine's unwashed pyjamas and sandals which were carried in the boot when the family was moving apartments.' (These are the very fluids Kate McCann told the Leveson Inquiry did not exist).

A Tense Situation, 20 January 2012

A Tense Situation EXCLUSIVE to mccannfiles.com By Dr Martin Roberts 20 January 2012 A TENSE SITUATION Time is of the essence. It is so important to each of us in our daily lives that, in the course of mankind's cultural history, every effort has been made to quantify it - pictorially, mechanically, electronically; even relatively. What did the McCanns do with their precious time in the immediate aftermath of Madeleine's disappearance, first announced on Thursday night, 3 May 2007? Kate McCann has told us (parentheses mine). Friday 4: Virtually the entire day was spent at PJ headquarters in Portimao. They travelled there with police at 10.00 a.m. (p.88) returning to Praia da Luz 'some time after 8.30 p.m.' (p.92). Saturday 5: 'Alan Pike (trauma psychologist)... was at the door of our apartment by 6.00 a.m... we talked... for several hours... it turned out to be a bewilderingly busy day for Gerry and me...' (p.99-101). 'Three family liaison officers (FLOs) from Leicestershire force... came to introduce themselves.' (p.102). 'We had so many meetings that day...' (p.103). 'Neither Gerry nor I was functioning remotely properly... At lunchtime, over by the Tapas area, Gerry saw a crowd of departing guests... With a new batch of incoming holidaymakers, more of our relatives appeared.' (p.104) 'I remember slumping on one of the dining chairs in the apartment (4G)... I also felt a compulsion to run up to the top of the Rocha Negra... the sun set on another day and there was still no news.' (p.105). Sunday 6: '...despite my fragility I was determined to go to Mass... We all, family and friends, went to mass at the local church.' (p.106). That first Sunday saw two further arrivals in Luz: my childhood friends Michelle and Nicky. Both wanted to be with me... Alan (Pike) planted in our minds the idea of reducing the size of our support group... Listening to Alan it all seemed so obvious... after giving the matter some thought' (p.109)... 'we ended up getting down to the nitty-gritty... that Sunday evening.' (p.110). Monday 7: British expatriates living permanently in Praia da Luz organized a search of the area. The volunteers were joined by most of our family and friends... while Gerry and I were tied up with Andy Bowes and Alex Woolfall... When lunchtime came, Gerry and I were in the middle of another meeting... we had to go to the Toddler Club ourselves... Once we were left with our leaner support group, we allocated general roles... It had been suggested that I should record a televised appeal aimed at Madeleine's abductor, and this is what we had been discussing that morning with Andy and Alex... (p.111) Andy Bowes had proposed delivering part of my appeal in Portuguese, which I did. Gerry sat beside me...' (p.112). 'I was hugely relieved when it was over... Around teatime, Father Ze turned up...' (p.113). 'We were seeing the Leicestershire FLOs every day. That Monday evening... we lost it with the liaison officers.' (p.113-4). Tuesday 8: '...we said an emotional goodbye to the family and friends who were leaving us... Later I went down to sit on the beach for a while with Fiona... We talked and cried and held on to each other... As we were walking up from the beach at about 5pm, I had a call from Cherie Blair...' Well that about takes care of the McCann itinerary during the first five days immediately following Madeleine's reported disappearance. I should apologize at this point for what next may seem to some like an overly complex version of an old trick, where, after being invited to count the passengers boarding and leaving a bus en route, the unsuspecting listener is suddenly invited to answer the question: 'How many bus-stops were there?' Because now I should like to ask when, in the course of all the activity Kate McCann has dutifully outlined for us, did she personally find the time for sight-seeing; in particular her visit to Lagos Marina, which she has previously described to D.C. 975 Markley of Leicestershire Constabulary? It was he who wrote, on a spare sheet of LC paper headed 'LEICESTERSHIRE CONSTABULARY Continuation WITNESS STATEMENT,' the following: INFORMATION FROM THE FAMILY I spoke to Kate McCann on Tuesday 8th of May 07. She told me that a friend of her Aunt & Uncle from Leicester had a friend that had a strong vision that Madeleine was on a boat with a man in the Marina in Lagos. This person arrived in Portugal and has spoke to Kate. They have visited the Marina and identified the boat as "SHEARWATER". They saw a man on the boat but this was not the same man that she had in her vision. This is very important to Kate. I spoke to Glen Pounder if he could make some enqs with regards to the boat. He has done this and the boat is registered to a Canadian National called Bruce Cook. Glen has told me that George Reyes at the police stn is now dealing with the matter with regards to doing PNC checks etc. I spoke with Kate today and she has given me photographs of the boat. She has also given me a photograph of a man who had been on the boat. This is not the man that the woman had in her vision. This matter is very important to her and she is very pleased that we are making enqs into the matter. Once the enqs have been completed can we please let her know the result. Thanks This correspondence, concerning information provided by Kate McCann don't forget, has to be read very carefully. Although the page is undated, 'I spoke to Kate McCann on Tuesday 8th of May 07' is clearly a reference to a past action. Furthermore, the conversation to which it refers describes past activity itself, placing the vision, certainly, at a time prior to Tuesday 8 May (some time between May 4th and May 8th, no doubt). But what about that person's arrival in Portugal and their visit to the Marina? DC Markley, writing whenever, does not say 'This person has since arrived in Portugal and spoken to Kate,' i.e. placing these actions at a time after his and Kate's 8 May conversation, although they may be misconstrued as having occurred later. Rather, these activities are referred to much as might be the subject matter in continuation of that very first conversation. DC Markley goes on to explain that he has 'spoke with Kate today' (i.e. the day of the memo) and that his colleague, Glen Pounder, had by that time already completed certain enquiries regarding a particular yacht. Completion (not commencement) at the time of writing necessarily implies that these enquiries must have been stimulated by an earlier Markley/McCann conversation. Hence, by Tuesday 8 May, Kate McCann is in a position to inform DC Markley of a specific vessel moored at Lagos Marina. The visit which identified it must already have taken place, as DC Markley makes no reference whatsoever to any exchange of information in the interim, i.e. in-between the 'conversation' that occurred on Tuesday 8 May and the tete-a-tete meeting on the day he wrote his memo, when Kate 'gave him photographs of the boat.' Ah yes, but it was Kate's anonymous informant who visited the Marina alone, took the photographs and passed them onto Kate ('This person arrived in Portugal and has spoke to Kate. They have visited the Marina'), 'They' in this instance being an impersonal reference to the individual in question. Oh no it is not. The subsequent sentence reads: 'They saw a man on the boat but this was not the same man that she had in her vision.' The change of pronoun clearly distinguishes between the visionary (she) and her companion(s), 'They' being the third person plural. Thus Kate McCann took advantage of a gap in her busy schedule to visit Lagos Marina, some time between 4 and 8 May; an event directly associated with a matter of considerable importance to her (DC Markley points this out twice); so important in fact that she fails to describe it in her book at all, whilst what she does mention specifically precludes its having happened, in that period of time at any rate. The nearest she comes to the subject is this: "There were a couple of 'visionary' experiences in particular I took very seriously. One of them had come through prayer which, at the time, gave it even greater credibility in my eyes. I begged the police to look into these." She does not elaborate further. Kate McCann of course knows 'what happened.' She was there. Her book, 'Madeleine' is an account of the truth. How ironic then that the Leveson enquiry should vilify representatives of the UK press for implicitly trusting the presumed source of much of their information, in the form of the Portuguese police, when a serving UK Detective Constable has apparently made the very same mistake in trusting information provided to him by the missing child's own parent. If what Kate tells us in her book is true, then what she told DC Markley on 8 May, 2007, whether by telephone, e-mail or carrier pigeon, cannot be. But we're not done yet. On an indeterminate date, Kate McCann personally handed DC Markley a set of photographs taken during a visit to Lagos Marina; a visit that took place before 8 May. Kate's 'friend' may have had the vision, but did she take the photographs? In light of Kate McCann's self-confessed photophobia, she could well have done. During an interview published on 27 May, 2007, Kate told Olga Craig (Sunday Telegraph): "I haven't been able to use the camera since I took that last photograph of her." ('her' being Madeleine). James Murray (Sunday Express, 9.8.09) interprets the situation a little differently however: "Kate went to Lagos Marina, a few miles along the coast from Praia da Luz where her daughter vanished on May 3, 2007, and photographed the boat and the man on board." It's anybody's guess perhaps, but if Kate McCann is herself a reliable source of information, then identification of this photographer, an anonymous friend of an anonymous friend, is long overdue. Someone who has a 'vision' over the weekend (she couldn't have had a premonition before Madeleine was taken, surely?) flies out to Portugal immediately, then makes straight for Lagos Marina to photograph the vessels moored there, must have had an extraordinarily strong sense of purpose. Otherwise we are left with evidentially valid (if not exactly solid) statements by Kate McCann, which appear to suggest that this maritime photography was accomplished during her own free time, before 4 May even. Make no mistake, when it comes to anticipation Kate McCann has already demonstrated some 'previous form' in that regard: "From the moment Madeleine had gone, I'd turned instinctively to God and to Mary, feeling a deep need to pray, and to get as many other people as possible to pray, too. I believed it would make a difference. Although in the early days I struggled to comprehend what had happened to Madeleine, and to us, I've never believed it was God's fault, or that He 'allowed' it to happen. I was just confused that He had apparently not heeded the prayer I'd offered every night for my family: 'Thank you God for bringing Gerry, Madeleine, Sean and Amelie into my life. Please keep them all safe, healthy and happy. Amen.' Please keep them all safe. It must be said that when I'd prayed for their safety I'd been thinking: please don't let them fall off something and bang their heads, or please don't let them be involved in a car accident. I'd never considered anything as horrific as my child being stolen. But I had kind of assumed my prayer would cover every eventuality." (p.106). As an adjunct to the present discussion, it is interesting, albeit for unwelcome reasons, that Kate McCann should consider a child's being involved in a car accident and suffering trauma at least, serious, possibly fatal injury at worst, nothing like as horrific as she herself suffering the consequences of theft. But back to the matter in hand - Kate's sense of timing. The entire ritual quoted above is prefaced by the phrase, 'From the moment Madeleine had gone,' giving the impression that the tendency to enhanced spirituality, and the prayers that went with it, was consequent upon the events of 3 May, i.e. the 'abduction.' But Kate had clearly been genuflecting nightly long before. As she says, 'I was just confused that He had apparently not heeded the prayer I'd offered every night for my family.' (God had not been listening even before 3 May, never mind afterwards). Included in Kate's prayer was the exhortation to 'keep them all safe' which, as Kate goes on to explain, embraced various categories of danger, as she'd actually been thinking: 'please don't let them fall off something and bang their heads, or please don't let them be involved in a car accident,' although she'd never considered anything as horrific as her child being stolen. God stands exonerated therefore. Since 'abduction' per se was not itemised among the supplications, He cannot be blamed for overlooking it. The omission was Kate's entirely. So if God did not heed her prayer it must have been another detail of Kate's appeal he ignored. And these were? Well nothing like as generally relevant to well protected pre-school infants as 'keep them from head-lice, chicken-pox, cuts, bruises, respiratory problems etc.' or, with their developing independence, the myriad other misfortunes that might attend them. No, none of that. Gerry, Madeleine, Sean and Amelie were religiously insured against car accidents and falling off things. Madeleine was not driving when she was taken. So what risk, exactly, did God's agency not cover?

Rumours, 24 January 2012

Rumours EXCLUSIVE to mccannfiles.com By Dr Martin Roberts 24 January 2012 RUMOURS "We'd never lied about anything – not to the police, not to the media, not to anyone else. But now we found ourselves in one of those tricky situations where we just didn't seem to have a choice." (Kate McCann in 'Madeleine,' pp. 205-6). The McCanns have begun litigation against Tony Bennett for alleged defamation concerning, among a variety of other things, an earlier undertaking "not to repeat allegations that the Claimants are guilty of, or are to be suspected of...lying about what happened..." At issue, in this specific instance, is not whether the McCanns have been unerringly truthful, but that Tony Bennett be prevented from alleging the contrary himself, or repeating such allegations by others, in any way shape or form. I.e., he may think what he likes provided he does not voice his own or others' opinion. 'A still tongue keeps a wise head,' so the proverb has it, although that particular stratagem didn't quite work for Sir Thomas More. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, by Erving Goffman, was a groundbreaking book on the subject of social interaction. Here, in the context of 'reputation management,' we have a clear example of how society functions on the basis of pretences, albeit false ones. The McCanns have lied. Kate McCann has admitted as much in her very own book, as she goes on to say, talking about the passage of information to the media, "As it happened, Gerry had a mild stomach upset which we used as an excuse to postpone the trip." (to Huelva). The sales figures for Kate's book, 'Madeleine,' if they are to be believed, suggest that the book's overall circulation probably rivals the number of individuals who might have read any or all of Tony Bennett's apparently repeated allegations 'that the Claimants are guilty of, or are to be suspected of...lying about what happened...,' the global reach of the Internet notwithstanding. So we have this altogether bizarre paradox in which, for the sake of 'keeping up appearances,' what people do or say, whether alone or in company, is not quite so important as how many other people know about it (the presentation of self, if you will). But that in itself is not the paradox. The real, and quite extraordinary contradiction in this instance is that Tony Bennett's apparent act of defamation consists of his having broadcast 'allegations' of lying to a wider public; allegations which carry a kernel of truth given Kate McCann's own published admission, to a wider public, that they, the McCanns, were prepared to lie - and did so, however 'badly' they may have felt about it afterwards. Remorse is relative in any case, as 'Madeleine' itself harbours various inconsistencies, and Kate McCann has continued to offer 'accounts of the truth' since. It would be inappropriate, on several levels, to 'allege' anything at this point but, following upon Kate McCann's unequivocal declaration ('We'd never lied about anything – not to the police, not to the media, not to anyone else.') one has to wonder quite how to describe the ever expanding catalogue of 'errors in recall' on the McCanns' part, and whether such a euphemism is itself legally acceptable. Or whether the preferred option (much preferred no doubt) would be to silence discussion completely. To friends and family members 'The shutters were 'jemmied open'/'smashed.' (They were not even tampered with). There was a 'system' in place as regards 'checking the children' For example, Jeremy Wilkins' third (Rogatory) statement to British Police (08.04.08): 'I assumed that Gerry was off to dine with the group in the Tapas bar, but I cannot precisely say this came from him or if I figured this out from our previous conversations regarding the checking system for the children.' (The witness testimony of Mrs Pamela Fenn and responses during Rogatory interview of Fiona Payne and Matthew Oldfield indicate that there was no 'system' in place at all). To the police in Portugal (Thursday). When her lesson ended at 10:15, she went to the recreation area next to the swimming pool to talk to Russell until Gerry's lesson was over. Afterwards... they went back together to the apartment The more recently published 'account of the truth' reads: "I returned to our apartment before Gerry had finished his tennis lesson and washed and hung out Madeleine's pyjama top on the veranda." ('Madeleine,' p.64). To the general public (Tuesday) "We dropped the kids off at their clubs for the last hour and a half, meeting up with them as usual for tea." ('Madeleine,' p.59). (Creche records archived among the case files show all the children signed in at 2.30 p.m., the younger twins signed out again at 5.20 p.m., nearly three hours later). "Friday 4 May. Our first day without Madeleine. As soon as it was light Gerry and I resumed our search. We went up and down roads we'd never seen before..." ('Madeleine,' p.83). (Kate McCann can be clearly heard, during an early filmed interview with the BBC's Jane Hill, explaining away the fact that the McCanns themselves did not physically search for their daughter). "Since July 2008 there has been no police force anywhere actively investigating what has happened to Madeleine." (p.364). (Leicestershire Police have stated in writing (June, 2011) that they view the investigation as 'on-going.'). "...they commented that the man didn't look comfortable carrying the child, as if he wasn't used to it." ('Madeleine,' p.98) ('They' made no such comment. One Smith family member alone described the child as being 'in an uncomfortable position;' uncomfortable for the child, that is). Under Oath (to Lord Justice Leveson) 'There were no body fluids.' (This statement refers specifically to media reports of biological material retrieved from the McCanns' hire car (for which hypothetical explanations are advanced on p.264 of 'Madeleine') and virtually denies the existence of a forensic report concerning an analysis of 'body fluids' conducted by the FSS in Birmingham, which is again on record and discussed, at some length, on p.331 of 'Madeleine,' by Kate McCann).

Influence, 28 January 2012

Influence EXCLUSIVE to mccannfiles.com By Dr Martin Roberts 28 January 2012 INFLUENCE Gerry McCann's televised meeting with Jeremy Paxman features several quizzical moments on the part of the interviewee, but one in particular stands out: JP (on the subject of media attention in Portugal): "Do you think, to some degree, you reaped a whirlwind?" GM (after an initial verbal fumble): "We had very clear objectives, what we wanted, and any parents would take the opportunity of trying to get information into the investigation, that might help find their daughter, and that's what our clear objectives were..." Even an uninformed listener is likely to have wondered why Gerry McCann should have found such a straightforward question apparently stressful, his answer being peppered with speech errors initially. If they took the time to think about it, they might also have wondered how this statement answered the question, since 'getting information into the investigation' and airing it before the media are not at all the same pursuit. To simplify the issue however, we may classify this semantic confusion straightforwardly as resulting from the stress hitherto observed. The real cause of curiosity resides in the first clause, which concerns the taking of a very particular opportunity. The Paxman interview was included as part of a BBC Newsnight programme broadcast early in March 2009, and covered the unprecedented media activity surrounding the McCanns in the wake of Madeleine's disappearance; activity which Gerry 'fully expected to die down' after the parents' European 'trips.' These junkets, to Germany, Holland and Morocco, occupied Kate and Gerry and McCann until mid-June, travelling to locations 'where we felt there might be information relevant.' (relevant to what exactly is not made clear). After which time the parents remained in Portugal where, emotionally unprepared to leave, they felt closer to their missing daughter. So much for context. Now let us return to the issue engendered by that one all-too-meaningful clause. As vague as Gerry makes it sound, it is entirely reasonable to suppose that the 'information' the McCanns toured Europe in search of was relevant to the quest for their missing daughter and would, should it have materialised, have been introduced into the investigation. What class of useful information might this have been? Much as the McCanns and others would have sought at the outset most likely, e.g., sightings, of the 'where,' 'when,' 'how' and 'with whom' variety; perhaps even the odd remark overheard in conversation, such as take place on the boardwalks of the Barcelona marina. But the significance of the media in all of this can be discounted. Whereas they formed the topic of the Paxman discussion, they were nothing like appropriate agents for 'getting information into the investigation.' That role belonged to the family liaison officers from Leicestershire Constabulary and the PJ. 'Getting information into the investigation' should not have involved the media at all, however concerned the informant(s) may have been. In the McCanns' case the media, having invited themselves to Praia da Luz, albeit at the McCanns' instigation, were there, in principle, to comment upon the investigation, not to influence it. We all know of course that certain of its representatives exceeded their remit in that respect, and it is a moot point as to whether that might have been an intended outcome, but the media were essentially present as observers, not agents provocateurs. Leaving the headlines, both good and bad, aside, let us consider one very obvious aspect of this much discussed 'information.' Come mid-June, i.e., four weeks or so after Madeleine had been 'taken,' there was not very much of it. And what of those sightings which had already come to the attention of the Portuguese authorities without the benefit of McCann intervention at all? What importance did the parents attach to any of those? None whatsoever. And that puts a whole new slant on the idea of there being 'very clear objectives' as regards 'getting information into the investigation.' If sightings were of no apparent interest from the outset, why travel around Europe in an attempt to encourage them? Widening a search is one thing, spreading confusion quite another. And all the while Madeleine stands to be seen by everyone from Turks to the Tuareg (Germany has long hosted a substantial population of Gastarbeiter), hope springs eternal. 'Sightings' seem not to have represented the class of information the McCanns themselves were concerned to 'get into the investigation,' in which case it will have been information of a different sort they were desirous of introducing. And suddenly we have an altogether inappropriate state of affairs. Because even those of us whose culinary skills extend no further than the micro-wave cooker understand that whatever ingredients a chef adds to his or her recipe will directly affect the outcome. Yeast will make the dough rise. If you want banana bread you add bananas. What you put into the mix will influence the result. Having had every opportunity during interview to inform the PJ of as much relevant detail as they possibly could, the McCanns should have largely met their 'clear objective.' Obviously they did not meet it entirely, since they went jetting off looking for further information, of a type they had previously disregarded. Objective not totally fulfilled therefore. But in the absence of information worth passing on to investigators, 'taking the opportunity of trying to get information into the investigation' would necessarily require initiative. It fell to Kate (who couldn't bear to use her camera after taking the 'last photo') to get information into the investigation, and via the proper channels of police liaison, thereby giving the attendant matter of mysticism an air of respectability. And it came to pass that the PJ diligently investigated the ownership and movements (not) of the yacht 'Shearwater.' Just as they had diligently held a press conference to announce inclusion in their 'missing persons' bulletin of an official photograph, of pyjamas identical to those being worn by Madeleine at the time of her disappearance. Interfering with a police investigation is a crime in the U.K. and, I dare say, in Portugal also.