MURDER, MISSING, MONEY, MILLIONS

My less than 20/20 vision can only pick out 'Missing and Exploited' on the t-shirt worn by this aged progressed image of Madeleine McCann.  But in any event, my poor eyesight seems to tally with what is going in my brain. 

Today is the day of the 'Ms' it seems.  A FOI request has revealed that Operation Grange is a murder squad and there is no room for doubt.  The irony of course being that the Portuguese and Goncalo Amaral didn't use the 'M' word, they used the 'A' for accident word and the far less serious charges that would have come with it.  Doh!   

The 'pro' McCanns on twitter are pointing out that a murder squad would also investigate a missing person who is at risk.  But due to the fact that Operation Grange were digging up PDL in search of a body less than 2 years ago, I'm not buying it.  Besides which, it would be pretty bad form for OG to take all the time in the world if Madeleine were alive and at risk of being murdered.  What will they say? 'sorry about the extra 3 years with the beast Madeleine, but we still had 200 files to read'.

We have of course known for years that OG is a 'murder squad', but most have been reluctant to point it out, going with the 'she's alive' myth created by the ever efficient McMann Media Monsters Monitors.  The FOI revelation confirms it, but of course, it doesn't give any clues as to who their suspects are.  Some still think it will fall on a 'patsy', a mysterious bogeyman who fits the full profile of all our childhood fears.  He will be ugly, smelly, spotty, godless, murky is a given and caste out Quasimodo style by the rest of society.  Once he is found and hung, we can all sleep safely in our beds. 

Or, they might just have been looking at all the evidence that has kept we McCann junkies hooked for this last 9 years. And their suspect list may spread far and wide.  Those of us who have a good idea of what is going on, know that this is the country pile in the house of cards stakes, and some VIPs are occupying penthouse suites. 

But I am still on the money trail.  In my obsession to discover what it is that makes people truly evil, I study  the behaviour of known murderers and psychopaths and via the amazing World Wide Web, I have no end of resources.  In the case of genuinely grieving parents, part of them dies when they receive the worst news possible. They can't think, they can't plan, they can barely get through the day. Anyone who has ever suffered from depression will know that grief totally immobilizes you, even getting washed and dressed is a major task.  When I lost my beloved father I stayed in my bedroom for a week watching Seinfeld and Father Ted back to back.  It was only the intervention of my best friend that forced me to have my say in the funeral arrangements, 'or I would regret it forever more', that got me out of my 'pit' - temporarily at least. 

With genuinely grieving parents, we can feel their pain, it reaches us on a level that we can all recognise and understand, we grieve with them and for them because we empathise.  With mothers like Coral Jones and Sara Payne we want to comfort them, try to ease their pain, but know that we never can.  They are not buoyed by the public's response, they don't even want the public in their lives, they just want their babies.  Money cannot ease their agony, nothing can.  Aged progressed pictures of their loved ones would rip them apart.  They don't talk about new normalities or their own pain, they talk about the lives their children lost. 




Even without all the circumstantial evidence, the statements that don't match, no signs of a break in, and the 11 alerts of the blood and cadaver dogs, the behaviour of Kate and Gerry McCann has been bizarre, by anyone's standards. In the summer of 2007 when there was a strong possibility Madeleine may have been in the hands of monsters, her mother and father were planning a huge Corporation and an annual Madeleine Day for the whole world. At a time when most fathers would be non functioning, Gerry's grinning face was popping up on the Whitehouse lawn, all over Europe and at press conferences in Edinburgh that he wasn't invited to.  Why are you here asked the interviewer, why indeed. 

Gerry and Kate's success arose out of their perceived 'bravery'.  They didn't sit back and feel sorry for themselves, they took control of the helm.  Their little girl was missing (in a foreign land) and they were going to get her back.  It's the standard fodder of 'tru movies', cherubic child, attractive parents up against a 'brutal' non WASP regime.  We are indoctrinated to root for the heroes, the civilised, clean living, church going professionals and their desperate search for their little Blonde girl stolen from her bed in a foreign land.  I swear the plot comes from DW Griffiths!

I doubt Team McCann knew just how effective their campaign would be.  They had grandiose ideas (don't we all?), but they never seemed to sober up the next day and besides which, the grandiose ideas were coming to fruition beyond their wildest dreams.  Integral to their plan was the belief that Madeleine was still alive. That is what they have been selling us this past 9 years and what they are selling us still.  If she were dead there would be no reason for the Fund to continue and they are not popular enough to go straight to the 'support the family' second objective.  Madeleine is an innocent little girl, Gerry keeps telling us, as if to remind donors, to forget all the questions surrounding himself and his wife, and 'give' to the innocent victim. 

But let's get to the crux - Gerry and Kate have asked us since May 2007 to donate to the 'Search' for Madeleine.  And it must be donate, because where are we being asked to search?  Should we scour all the fields and hedgerows, no matter where we live, or should we treat every blonde (or Asian) girl of 13 as a potential Maddie and demand they give their DNA to the local police?  These age progression pictures are a virtual stalker's charter. Plastering the faces of innocent children all over the tabloids and accusing their parents of kidnap is perfectly acceptable if you are searching for Maddie. 

I would really like someone from the Madeleine camp to explain to me exactly what 'searching' in this case means, because at the moment it is kind of fuzzy.  Do they honestly believe that someone is going to 'find' Maddie based on the image of a shop window dummy?  Have we entered the twilight zone? Until I receive an informed response, I will have to assume that 'search' means fundraise. Though what the funds are actually for, remains unclear.  Deliberate plan or runaway train, the McCanns were receiving millions in donations.  Everyone wanted to help and their help was converted into hard cash.  I would imagine that the Madeleine Fund has probably been the largest 'private' Charity ever to have existed - people responded, and the McCanns collected, as if there had been a global disaster. The people who kindly donated saw their money frittered away on mortgage payments, £50k per month dodgy detectives and 5* travel for the McCann entourage. 

But let's get back to that fundraising. When Gerry and Kate put their heart and soul into something there is no doubt they can move mountains.  For Gerry all his childhood dreams came true, he even went head to head with Paxman (bad move), he was hobnobbing with the elite, heck he was the elite!  Braveheart and Father of the Nation, Scotland's finest, aw shucks.  

Any business minded person will tell you that launching a company while you are riding the crest of a wave is a jolly good idea.  Good Quality yellow wristbands could have become the must have accessory for fashion conscious teenagers and concerned citizens all over the globe.  The online shop was launched in record time, not only with 'must have' wristbands, but Maddie badges, trinkets, t-shirts and car stickers.  

Not unnaturally, the Portuguese police thought this was a very suspicious way for the parents of a missing child to behave.  Kate even wore a cute 'Maddie' badge on her belt when she went along for a police interview.  Kate has never shown that innate grief of a mother yearning for her lost child.  It simply isn't there, not even in her book Madeleine.  There is nothing within the book to connect the reader to the child, or even the mother.  It is a Stepford life for those capable of unshakeable belief.    

But let's stick with the fundraising.  The McCanns and their helpers, turned a tragedy into a 'get rich quick' opportunity.  They quickly became accustomed to the private jets, the paparazzi and the grovelling flunkies, they were getting the treatment they were entitled to.  They have a very strong sense of entitlement.

The Fund was born out of people wanting to help, Gerry told us, in other words the idea did not come from them. It was a bit like his epiphany, the Good Lord (no less) sent him a sign. The chosen one then embarked on a mission to sell wristbands, the like of which has never been seen before.  Flick your wristband and we will all become as one.  Cue group hug.  Just for a bit of trivia, dictators, tyrants and authoritarians love wristbands, badges, stripes or yellow star emblems on sleeves, it enables them to spot instantly who is the friend or foe.  I first encountered this human quirk as a small child trying to sneak a bit of extra time in the swimming pool.  I was betrayed by the colour of my wristband, for the 'reds' the time was up :(

Whilst Aunty Phil sent chainmail letters to large corporations (gaw'd 'elp 'em), the troops on the ground pointed out the good quality of the rubber and the modesty of the price to the general public whilst Clarence shouted roll up, roll up, every personal detail of my clients' lives is negotiable.  Form a queue.

I doubt we will ever know how much money was received by the Madeleine Fund, it never had a top limit, or a goal.  How much was ever going to be enough?  £1million, £2million, £20million?  All for one child and one family. In any event they received the kind of money that would rebuild a small village struck by disaster, or provide much needed medicines and relief in crisis hit areas around the globe.  The kind people who donated, wanted something good to come out of Maddie's tragedy, I doubt they wanted a miscarriage of justice.  Perhaps those misguided billionaire philanthropists can make amends by providing humanitarian relief for the refugees?  Many of whom will be small children, torn from the safety of their homes and thrust into the care of a very uncaring society.