CAN we discuss crimewatch discrepancies please

[Tulessa]

I couldn't watch the program, but heard a summary on the radio. Points I picked up on:

Police now believe it was likely a planned abduction.

Besides the man seen carrying the little girl, police also want to speak to two Germans seen acting suspiciously. The 'Germans' might be Dutch, police say, as they think English people can't tell the difference between the accents.

The program airs here in Germany Wednesday.

On radio now, reporter in Portugual

Lots of journalists here.
Doesn't seem to be massive debate here
The Met do depend on Portuguese police
If someone is arrested the investigation/prosecution will depend on Portuguese police
Impression is two forces are co-operating well
Crimewatch airs Holland tonight, Germany Wednesday and also Ireland as that's where tourists come from

Slightly vague about why it's not showing in Portugual. Reading between the lines - lack of interest.

Same ole, sane ole, Parents did it. Case closed. How sad.

 

[zwiebel]

I don't think the case should be closed until Madelaine is found. Even if it takes 30 years. Every missing person deserves to be found.

I bet the two men 'talking in loud voices' were the Germans. I'm not being rude, it's just that it is something I have noticed here - they tend to speak louder than many English people in public.

 

[Robin Hood]

I don't think the case should be closed until Madelaine is found. Even if it takes 30 years. Every missing person deserves to be found..

I agree, and every murderer/abductor caught.

 

[UKgirl]

Window

3-4 may 2007. Mccanns claimed in phone calls to friends in UK. That the windwos were "jemmied" open where the intruder had broken in. Police and the Ocean Club managers say that the windows had no signs of forced entry.

When the bedroom shutter is opened by a pull-cord it makes a loud piercing creak that could easily have woken the youngsters. This means it is unlikely the shutters were pulled high.

'The Mystery of Madeleine McCann, aired on 24 December 2007. "The green litchen on the window sill had been untouched". There would have been some mark or scrape left by a person exiting this window.

In documentary "searching for madeline" which aired on the 18th october 2007. It was proved that that window being an escape route could be ruled out due to the aluminium blinds covering the window being covered in a fine coating of paint which marks very easily.

 

[zwiebel]

It is not something I have noticed people in the Netherlands do so much (ETA, talking loudly). And I do think many English people CAN recognise a German accent. I think those two men seen talking after Madelaine disappeared were almost certainly German.

If they watch the program here Wednesday they'll almost certainly know who they are and be very scared about coming forward. I hope they do though. It is the right thing to do. If all these people can be eliminated one by one, it will eventually leave the strongest suspect in the spotlight.

 

[Robin Hood]

It is not something I have noticed people in the Netherlands do so much (ETA, talking loudly). And I do think many English people CAN recognise a German accent. I think those two men seen talking after Madelaine disappeared were almost certainly German.

If they watch the program here Wednesday they'll almost certainly know who they are and be very scared about coming forward. I hope they do though. It is the right thing to do. If all these people can be eliminated one by one, it will eventually leave the strongest suspect in the spotlight.

Or suspects Zwiebel, there might be more than one.
Lots of English kids are taught German in school, I think it's odd that anybody would think that the two languages could be confused but what do I know ?

 

[zwiebel]

I guess the witness who saw them must have said they 'think' the two men were speaking German but weren't sure, and police have gone from that.

I too learnt German at school. I'm afraid it went in one ear and out the other, much to my regret now I'm living here in Germany. I can understand a lot of what I hear but my tongue just cannot wrap itself around the speaking bit......

 

[Cappuccino]

Or suspects Zwiebel, there might be more than one.
Lots of English kids are taught German in school, I think it's odd that anybody would think that the two languages could be confused but what do I know ?

I'm having trouble with that one too. It might sound believable to an American, but I don't believe any European would confuse Dutch with German. Dutch sounds like Flemish, whereas German has a very distinctive sound of its own.

I might - and I stress might - confuse a Dutch person with a German person if they were speaking English, especially if I only caught a few words, but speaking in their own language they are easy to tell apart.

 

[UKgirl]

Why did kate not search

Did she search or didnt she?

According to her BBC interview on the 25th May 2007

Jane Hill: Did you as a mother Kate just sometimes think “I’ve got to go and be out there with them. I’ve got to go and just physically look as well?”

Kate McCann: I mean I did. I mean, we’d been working really hard really apart from the first 48 hours as Gerry says were incredibly difficult and we were almost non-functioning I’d say. But after that you get strength from somewhere. We’ve certainly had loads of support and that’s given us strength and it’s been able to make us focus really so we have actually in our own way, it might not be physically searching but we’ve been working really hard and doing absolutely everything we can really to get Madeleine back.

Kates diary entry 4th may 2007

FRIDAY, MAY 4: No sleep, Gerry and I started looking through the streets around 06.00 as it was starting to get light.

Kates book pages 95-113

David said 'Let's just check the apartment.' I'd done that....I ran out into the car park, flying from end to end, yelling desperately 'Madeleine, Madeleine!' It was so cold and windy....Fear was shearing through my body...

Gerry, David, Russell and Matt split into pairs and dashed around the adjacent apartment blocks.
As soon as it was light, Gerry and I returned to our search. We went up and down roads we'd never seen before having barely left the Oceab Club complex all week. We jumped over walls and taked through undergrowth. We looked in ditches and holes. All was quiet apart from the sound of barking dogs, which added to the eeriness of the atmosphere I remember opening a big dumpter-type bin and saying to myself please God don't let her be in here. The most striking and horrific thing about it all was that we were completely alone. Nobody else, it seemed was out looking for Madeleine. Just us, her parents.

 

[Robin Hood]

UKgirl, are you sure Websleuths have enough data storage for this thread ?

 

[UKgirl]

UKgirl, are you sure Websleuths have enough data storage for this thread ?

:floorlaugh: i am wondering the same

 

[zwiebel]

'Madelaine McCann trail leads to Germany'

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20131014-52375.html

 

[zwiebel]

I believe Kate and Gerry are due in Germany on Wednesday? Can anyone else confirm that?

 

[zwiebel]

Madelaine's Facebook page. It's busy.

https://www.facebook.com/Official.Find.Madeleine.Campaign

 

[zwiebel]

Two independant callers name same man from Efit!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...n-two-callers-name-man-in-e-fit-pictures.html

 

[alreetlike]

Or suspects Zwiebel, there might be more than one.
Lots of English kids are taught German in school, I think it's odd that anybody would think that the two languages could be confused but what do I know ?

I learned German at school (in England) and was very good at it.. but honestly, I still think I could confuse the two. If I could only hear parts of what they were saying I might struggle - remember conversational speed in any language is generally a lot quicker to the slow, clear tapes (showing my age here) they make you listen to in schools.

Having now visited Germany recently, I'd probably stand more of a chance of picking up on German rather than Dutch, but without that it'd all just be a bit of a foreign blur.

 

[natty01]

So did she or didnt she physically search? Surely that cant be hard to verify and why was she alone ? Again surely this too would be verfiable .

Definatly from here thats a discrepancy but its so glaring why hasnt it been resolved . However reading that bit from the book sounds so dramatic , reads like what you would want the reader to hear rather than the reality which if it had been me would be "spent hours throwing up , having panic attacks dr had to sedate me "

 

[Cherwell]

Yes, I do think it would be quite easy to mistake spoken Dutch for German, if just overhearing snatches of conversation. The Dutch are predominantly Anglophone, much more so than the Germans, so the average British person has less experience of hearing Dutch spoken.

 

[Robin Hood]

So did she or didnt she physically search? Surely that cant be hard to verify and why was she alone ? Again surely this too would be verfiable .

Definatly from here thats a discrepancy but its so glaring why hasnt it been resolved . However reading that bit from the book sounds so dramatic , reads like what you would want the reader to hear rather than the reality which if it had been me would be "spent hours throwing up , having panic attacks dr had to sedate me "

Exactly ! ''Just what the reader would want to hear'' instead of the nauseating breakdown a parent would have. IDK but isn't it the sign of a sociapath, having to 'fake it' ?

 

[Jmoose]

I'm having trouble with that one too. It might sound believable to an American, but I don't believe any European would confuse Dutch with German. Dutch sounds like Flemish, whereas German has a very distinctive sound of its own.

I might - and I stress might - confuse a Dutch person with a German person if they were speaking English, especially if I only caught a few words, but speaking in their own language they are easy to tell apart.

We study foreign languages in school here, too, you know...