Thursday, September 13, 2007

How the McCann's killed Madeleine!?

Now, I have been hearing a lot of tosh on the subject, but the collected gossip seems to run along these sorts of lines:

Kate McCann ended Madeleine's life by accident or design.

Well, OK, these things happen. Statistically speaking most murders are committed by someone known to the deceased, frequently a family member and trebly so in the case of a young child. As a theory it is plausible, which is why most UK police forces look to eliminate family from the inquiry as soon as possible, and as sensitively as possible. It seems Gerry McCann is excluded because he was at the dinner and never went up.

Right, Madeleine is now dead, Kate is on scene, and she has to do something.

At this point one of two things could have happened. Either she came up with her own plan, and hid the body, or she left things as they were and went down to the party to tell Gerry.

At this time of course Madeleine is "missing" so Kate is allowed to look distressed and unusual.

So either Kate tells Gerry and a conspiracy brews, or she has already hidden the body.

Here the crackpots diverge, but I will try to keep it together.

We assume, that plans to hide the body came shortly after death, and shortly before reports of Madeleine going missing. If not, then Kate and or Gerry would have been behaving strangely at their dinner engagement. You would hope that this would have been noticed.

You are in a foreign country for a holiday, just where do you hide a body albeit a small one?

Here I have heard some wild thoughts, and this is where things begin to fall apart.

At some point in time it seems the McCann's had a key to a local church, which may have had a fridge or freezer.

I doubt they had they keys on the night in question. I work well on holidays and can normally find a "local" in double quick time, but to be given that level of trust so quickly? The keys must have arrived later to allow private prayer after Madeleine went missing and can't have been available on the night.

Then I have heard the theory that they/she hid the body in a roadworks. I understand that there are a few in the area, though I do not know how close to the hotel. Just how is this supposed to have worked?

One or both of them nip out with a body? In what? The most obvious and thing would be a bin bag or possibly several. That said you don't normally find a surplus of them in hotels. Then there are suitcases. Is there one missing? Ideally you would double wrap in bin bags then put them in a suitcase.

The theory would then be that the bag or bags with Madeleine in it would be put in a hole at a road works.

The problems here are as follows:
  • It is going to be hot, and the body will decompose and smell.
  • If it is not in a solid animal proof bag, then the bag will get ripped apart and smell. People will notice.
  • People will notice something dropped in a hole in the ground, particularly the people working in the hole.
  • If it was disguised in the hole, by covering with dirt, then either Kate of Gerry would end up covered as well as looking very suspicious at 10 at night.
Then at some point this body is supposed to have been retrieved from the same hole in the ground, possibly after 25 days, whilst Kate and Gerry are under immense media scrutiny.

The other alternate theory is that at some point Madeleine was hidden in a fridge at the church complex to which they ended up with the key. Again, when did they get the keys? Also, surely someone would have noticed something that large in a fridge?

We now get on the the DNA in the boot. The theory calls for the body to be moved after 25 days, during which it has either been in a hot hole in the ground, or a fridge or possibly a combination, in the Renault Scenic. Again they were under a lot of media scrutiny. During this process some DNA got out of what ever Madeleine was being stored in, and into the boot. Now by this time the stench would have been unbearable. Also, if the body had been in a hole in the ground, surely there would have been traces of mud from the hole as well as the DNA?

Lastly, on the DNA, the technique used amplifies very small amounts of DNA, so a microscopic amount is all that is needed. Also there is nothing in Madeleine's DNA that is not also in her biological parents DNA. Consequently the DNA test does not actually tell us a great deal.

I'll go back to a point I made before. If either Kate or Gerry caused the death of Madeleine, and got the other to collude in hiding the body, at some point the relationship is going to break down. It shows no signs of doing so. If there was no collusion, how did one manage to hide and move the body without the other noticing?

The thing is that for a whole host of reasons I just can't see this stacking up.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

The main reason being that there is no body.

Anonymous said...

Loved this analysis - the most sensible one I have read to date. Do we really live in a society that fails so abysmally to think things through rationally?

Benedict White said...

Pete, yes there is no body, and I can see that being a problem for the supposed one parent not involved.

Also, it implies that we do not know the certain fate of Madeleine.

Anonymous, many thanks. Regrettably it seems we do.

Anonymous said...

Suppose the McCanns returned to find her dead after overdosing her with a sedative - they panicked and asked one of their doctor friends to remove the body. Events spiralled and the friend kept the body, perhaps in a freezer, before finally returning it to the McCanns.
You have to ask why would detectives - whatever you may think of them - suspect the McCanns unless there is a plausible explanation? Why did forensic scientists examine the car in the first place. Who knows? Certainly not the public, because there must be something in a 4,000 page dossier other than she disappeared while they ate in a restaurant.

Benedict White said...

Anonymous at 11:29 PM, the problem here is that you have involved yet another person in a conspiracy, and the more people in a conspiracy the more likely it is to break down.

Now, there is apparently some question on the issue of sedation, and it does have some plausibility. It is possible that Madeleine had some form of sedative, and died as a result either by overdose or unexpected reaction.

However, what happened to the body?

The original article I think still covers the current theories and all the holes in them.

Anonymous said...

i believe kate and gerry did not kill maddie they aregoood people we all get stressed but what kate went through to have the babies i personnally don't think she or gerry could of done anything like this so why don't everybody just leave them alone and do what they should be doing find maddie

Anonymous said...

no one can really come up with a decent explanation to what happened to maddie until the portugese police reveal what cards they have up thier sleeves. Personally I think they did it and I think that we wont find out what happened until years from now when one of them cracks and admits it. I cant speculate on what happened because none of us have all the facts. And by the way i think what you said about burying a body would get them covered in dirt is a lot of 'tosh'. when i dig holes i tend not to roll around in the dirt and prefer to use a spade, at most making the bottoms of my shoes dirty. I agree about the tiny amount of DNA evidence though.

Anonymous said...

If the Mccanns are responsible for the death of their daughter, it would undoubtedly be unintentional and unless she was already dead by 6.30'ish, a third party would almost certainly need to be involved in concealment of the body. This would be perfectly feasible given that the remaining 7 of the 'Tapas 9' would not have been under the same degree of media scrutiny in the days following.
From what one can gather, none of the 7 were initially closely questioned as the police were investigating an abduction. Does anyone know if their accommodation was actually searched by the police that night?

Andy Cooke said...

Looking at the frontpages of the papers yesterday as I went by the newsstand, the summary seems to be:

-The police can't find a body.
-They have no evidence to charge anyone.

They also want to close the case in the face of incredible media interest. Accordingly, I'll take whatever official statements come out with a pinch of salt.

The entire idea that Madeleine was lying dead in the boot of their rental car 25 days after her death is absurd:

- Without cold storage, she would pretty much have melted by then. You wouldn't need sniffer dogs, just anyone with a working olfactory sense to pass within 50 metres of the car!

- With cold storage, you immediately have to find some way of refrigerating a child's body in a foreign country. While trying not to break down because your daughter's dead.

This might be a really daft question - but have the cops actually tracked down whoever hired that car 25 days before the McCann's did?

Benedict White said...

Some thoughts.

Firstly I can't see any one on the McCann's fellow doctors looking to hide the body and keeping quiet. Conspiracies like that tend to break down and wuickly though these people should have been questioned in the process of establishing a timeline.

Andy Cooke, I agree. The Portuguese police have nothing but are trying to get the pressure off. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anonymous said...

Conspiracies only tend to fall to pieces when all the conspirators are put under pressure. So far that has not happened. None of the Tapas 7 have yet been seriously questioned, though that may happen shortly. Who knows what may emerge.

Anonymous said...

Try applying the theory that Madeleine McCann died on the night of the 2nd May. On the 1st May the mc's were dining out, the children left alone again in 5a. The mc's were recalled to 5a by MW staff after reports of crying in 5a. On the night of the 2nd the mc's sedated all 3 children, Madeleine died as a result of the sedation. Meds were supplied by another member of the t9....implicated. GM evolves a stategy "abduction" to be carried out 3/5.

Christ thank the lord you are not a cop.

Anonymous said...

I just done believe that nobody even has a trace on the person that supposedly kidnapped her...Its obvious she's dead.

Anonymous said...

Why won't the parents take a lie detector test. If they are innocent they have nothing to loose.

Anonymous said...

Why did the McCanns move the cot that was seen by the maid in the McCanns room morning May 2nd.?..by the evening of May 3rd both cots were in the room where Madeleine is claimed to have been snatched from.

Why did Jane Tanner lie and say she did not have a pair of jeans with her when on holiday that week. There is a photogrpah of Tanner wearing jeans on the net...I have a copy just in case it is removed. Tanner claims this was taken AFTER...and not when she was in PDL...this is a lie. AND if its a lie ...WHY????

McCann should never have been allowed back in the apartment on May 4th...this is when the blue bag disappeared.

Operation Ore court case Nov 8th 2010 should be interesting and GAMBLE was he pushed or did he fall?

Jay said...

This may sound harsh...............

I accept that there is no body and that Maddie may have been abducted.

I have an issue with the fact that the McCann's left their children, not once, but atleast 2 nights in a row. I think that the McCann's are disgusting people firstly for leaving 3 children and secondly for sedating them. I feel that as a "middle class" family they have had an easy ride because had a working class single mother behaved liked that in England, the social services would have attempted to remove the other children from her care.

I have a 20 month old son and I would never leave him on his own for more than 5 minutes and even then, it would be through absolute necessity.

The harsh bit......whatever has happened to Maddie, the McCann's are to blame. Had they been good parents this would not have happened.

Anonymous said...

Why would a mother put an investigation in jeopardy by not answering a few simple questions surely she would do anything answer anything to find her daughter...reeks I think the dog was highly trained and did find evidence of a corpse in the car, in the apartment etc...My theory is they killed their child by accident with a sedative as she was troublesome and they needed a break but she overdosed her, rather than face a manslaughter trial and risk their careers and the twins being perhaps without parents or taken into care, they thought logically and came up with this great story, yes they could have had help as it may have been an idea of a friend or colleague to give the sedative...they had far to much to lose by coming clean...Also she washed the little girls toy when the police found dna evidence and corpse evidence on it why would a mother wash her childs scent of an item so precious, I think this all stinks ...

dil said...

All your comments that Madeliene may be killed intentionally or unintentionally sound reasonable. I believe this was the final conclusion of the Police as well.

But one thing haunts me. If Mccanns are well aware that their child is dead why do they take this much of trouble to find her? They are doing all their best to get the authorities re-open the investigation. Can a person go this far, to cheat risking their personal lives?

Madeleine was last seen alive around 5 pm. Can one kill someone, clean the place, hide one's body without any trace in a foreign country within few hours? This doesn't sound sensible.

I believe only reliable evidence in this case is Smith's sighting of Madeliene in the night.

Anonymous said...

Is the incredible high profile emphasis to find Madeleine, which is led by her parents, a way to divert suspicion from them, or is it an act of guilt for not looking out for their own child; either way it is very sad and there will obviously always be a sense of guilt of some sort, but I do not think that we will ever know the answer. I think that the McCanns do look guilty, but I could not say for certain whether they feel guilt due to conspiracy or to neglect of their daughter, as I have not seen the real facts of the case directly for myself, just news and press reports. I think for Madeline's sake that the high profile attached to this case should be eradicated until such a time that something significant becomes apparent (if it ever does.) Unfortunately, I think that Madeleine is dead; I hope that I'm wrong and that she is safe somewhere, but I always feel so sad that a lovely little girl like Madeleine disappeared and was neglected by her parents. If Madeleine's brother and sister were older perhaps they could have bought some light on this, but thank god that they are safe.

Anonymous said...

Interesting - but, as a member of the conservative party, you are unable to think rationaly and therefore your opinion is invalid.

Anonymous said...

Why weren't the Mccanns at least publicly and judicially denounced for their abandonment of their children? when the story broke the first thing I thought was - who leaves their children alone?

I hate the vilification of the Portuguese police by our press and the near sanctification of the Parents - we did a bad job here and we should be ashamed by our policing our attitudes to other cultures and to denying what seems blatantly obvious - she was not abducted she died in that holiday resort

Anonymous said...

There's absolutely no evidence to suggest that Madeline was abducted.

There is credible evidence, from one of the sniffer dogs, that Madeline's blood was found in the car and in the flat. There is credible evidence from the other dog that there was a dead body in the car and in the flat. The smell of death was found on Madeline's cuddly cat - washed by her mother.
I find it disturbing that Madeline's blood was found in several places in the flat.

The dogs have a 100% record in their previous 200 cases. There were no reports of any deaths in the flat before the McCanns arrived there. Similarly with the car, which was hired more than 20 days' after the disappearance of Madeline.

The McCanns' have not behaved as if they are grieving parents; they have not searched for Madeline. Raising money from the public in order to pay for their legal team isn't the same thing as searching for Madeline.

Anonymous said...

i believe they killed their own daughter and agree with your comments on how and they never look that upset like someone should who has lost their kid and more worrying is they as doctors and are still aloud to do their jobs hope all is revealed soon as its coming up to the 5th aniversery of Madeleine disapearance.

Anonymous said...

They did murder her. They left their children drugged up and went out on the piss with their mates. They were responsible for her. If I did that in the uk I'd get banged up.

Nick in London said...

I originally believed Madeline was abducted. but over the years as more information has emerged I am now firmly convinced the Maccs killed Madeline & covered it up. Very sad indeed for the little girl. I hope her body is found eventually and laid to rest with dignity & respect. Poor Little mite didnt have a chance.

Anonymous said...

As a parent of three, I have found this case very unsettling. I don't want to think that Madeline's parents have staged this whole media circus to cover up misdeeds but their coldness and irritation/anger that some people find their account/testimony unbelievable is highly questionable is frankly odd. If you have nothing to hide that is. Within the speculation of what happened to Madeline on that fateful night remains, for me, a niggling query. I wonder if Madeline had been toilet trained. I wonder this for two reasons. Firstly, if she had been and was free of 'pull up pants' she would still need to be put on the loo around 10pm ish to ensure she did not soil the bed. We have been told the children were given drink prior to bed. A nearly 4 year old bladder would struggle to hold onto all that urine without assistance. We're told G used the loo during his check around 9pm. Why didn't he pop her on then to avoid her getting out of bed/waking to a wet bed later? Secondly, if she was wearing pull up pants, why did nobody think to pop her on the loo anyway - or was it taken for granted she would sleep heavily and simply urinate without waking? If she was taken, was she wearing them? Nappies and pull up pants are not bio-degradable. If she wasn't wearing them was her bed dry even though she hadn't been put on the loo? Silly ramblings I know but the truth is in the details. Sadly, like Madeline, it is the details that are missing from this tragic story.

Pseudo Nym said...

Why even bother to write a blog, when you clearly haven't done the slightest bit of research. You have cobbled several theories together, and made them seem as ridiculous as possible. You sir, are a child abuse apologist.

Benedict White said...

Pseudo Nym, This blog post was written at a time (In 2007) to deal with crackpot theories at the time.

If you have your own crackpot theories, post them on your own blog and don't bother me with them.

Anonymous said...

Why did kate refuse to answer police questions ? Her child is missing, what parent would do that ? And when she was driven to police station to view a video of a possible Madeleine sighting she was more concerned about the speed the police car. Their child was missing and they played tennis went jogging through in a couple of gigs to Morocco and Rome while leaving their baby twins in the country where their toddler was abducted. That sure does not make sense at all. Kate also found time to carefully match her earrings with what clothing she was wearing. Her child is missing. And on tv interviews all we hear about is the fund. One thing for sure , they got very rich from the mccann scam. Blood and death scent was found in the mccann apartment, no one else, and in their wardrobe, behind their sofa and whose child is missing ? It's not rocket science

Sharmila W said...

Is it possible that the body was passed onto Robert Murat at the golf club, on the 3rd during which time Murat and GM both switched off their phones. Murat kept it in a freezer. And once Murat came under the spotlight, the McCanes moved the body in their car to another place/final resting place. I think this might possibly be a grave in a cemetery... where there are bodies already buried. So finding it would be difficult.

Anonymous said...

Firstly they are not middle class, both the Mccanns come from working class backgrounds, just worked hard at uni!

They give me the creeps. I think they drugged the kids so they could go to dinner twice and were too cheap to pay for a sitter, this in itself is sick and selfish and child neglect!! Think Maddie died in that apartment and the so called father, Gerry was the man that couple saw walking down the street with a child in the early hours. I think he buried her on the beach or put her in the sea. I don't believe a word that couple says!!!!

Unknown said...


These two people are doctors and surely neither one of them are daft enough to give her a fatal dose of calpol or whatever.What everybody eludes is the blood.You don't get blood from a drug overdose.Nobody can explain where the blood came from and considering three traces were found halfway up the curtain it could be that a missile accidenttaly hit her causing the stain.Also if you look at Maddie's bed you will see it pushed ritght up to the wall so if somebody picked her up then the rigyht arm would be under the girls head but,as Tanner's picture shows the girls legs are hanging over the abductors rigyht arm

ruth bashford said...

Maybe Madeleine's body was never in the car and the McCanns got rid of her body that night somehow. The car could have been contaminated with cadaver odour from the apartment. I believe the only crackpot theory is the abduction. It never happened..