Atlanta, GA 9/28/2007 9:16 PM GMT (FINDITT)
Shocking new allegations in the Madeleine McCann case emerge today as Kate McCann is reportedly accused of hiding her daughter’s body in a refrigerator after accidentally killing her with an overdose of a sedative.
As the 150th day anniversary of Madeleine’s appearance approaches, reports emerge that police have thrown new accusations at Kate. Police named Kate and Gerry McCann official suspects in Madeleine’s disappearance after they found the 4-year-olds DNA in a car the couple rented 25 days after their daughter disappearance.
They have also maintained the theory that Kate accidentally killed Madeleine with an overdose of a sedative and Gerry helped cover up the crime. According to a newspaper police believe Madeleine’s body was hidden in the refrigerator and then “passed through various locations.”
Detectives now want to investigate refrigerators at the complex the McCann’s were staying at.
Kate and Gerry called for an end to the ‘hurtful smear campaign’ that they accidentally murdered Madeleine. “We do not know who is putting all this out in Portugal but for the families sake it’s time for it to stop,” said the McCann’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell.
Pamalam
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Gag Bars McCann's From Answering New Madeleine Body Dumping Claim
Original Source| This Is London: Saturday 29 September 2007
By Vanessa Allen - Last updated at 10:05am on 29th September 2007
•Portuguese papers claim Kate McCann killed Madeleine while Gerry played tennis
•Couple ‘then hid the child’s body in a fridge and later disposed of it in Spain’
•McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the reports were ‘utterly ludicrous’
Police in Portugal believe Kate McCann killed her daughter Madeleine in a 90-minute “gap” while her husband played tennis, it has been claimed.
Detectives think the child’s body was stored in a fridge and moved to “various locations” around the family’s holiday resort of Praia da Luz before it was placed in the boot of her parents’ hire car and dumped, sources told a Portuguese newspaper.
Kate and Gerry McCann while in Spain this August. The Portuguese media claims they dumped Madeleine’s body while there
The latest lurid allegations were dismissed as “ludicrous” by the McCann’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell, who said they caused “real pain and hurt” to the four-year-old’s parents.
After months of rumours from inside the police investigation, Mr Mitchell said: “It’s just utterly ridiculous allegation after allegation. Surely it is time for this to stop. It’s ludicrous.”
Madeleine’s parents are unable to answer the claims, however, because they are under threat of a 12-month jail sentence if they speak publicly about their daughter, it has been claimed.
Friends said the couple have had to turn down scores of interview requests from around the world, including one from legendary U.S. broadcaster Barbara Walters, since they were made official suspects on September 7.
Under Portuguese laws, they could face criminal charges or even a prison sentence if they speak out.
Madeleine is still missing
Yesterday the Portuguese paper Diario de Noticias said detectives think Madeleine died between 7pm and 8.30pm on May 3.
David Payne, a friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, said he saw Mrs McCann put their three children to bed at about 7pm, and the couple joined friends for dinner at about 8.30pm.
A police source told the paper that Mr McCann was seen playing tennis during the 90-minute “gap” before Mrs McCann was seen again, meaning she was alone with Madeleine and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
But friends insisted the couple had both played tennis, then put the children to bed together before joining their friends for dinner.
A gag order is preventing Kate McCann from talking to journalists like Barbara Walters
Police are convinced that Madeleine died by accident at the hands of her mother, and that Mr McCann helped to cover up the death.
The source said they believed the child’s body “passed through various-locations” before it was put in the boot of the Renault Scenic hired three weeks after Madeleine vanished.
Police are “carrying out non-visible operations and locating apartments with fridges”, the source said.
A family friend ridiculed the suggestion that Madeleine’s body could have been stored in a fridge, saying: “Have you seen the size of the fridges in those apartments? Of course they did not stuff her in a fridge.”
Any search of the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz would be certain to include the apartments where the family’s friends stayed during the holiday.
Police are desperate to break a perceived “pact of silence” between the friends, and have made a series of slurs against them and the McCanns in a bid to panic them into speaking out.
On Wednesday police sources briefed Portuguese journalists that their counterparts in Spain were investigating a “suspicious” trip to Huelva by the McCanns – a claim which was denied outright as “totally false” by Spanish authorities yesterday.
The denial adds weight to the McCanns’ belief that they are victims of a smear campaign fuelled by the Portuguese police.
The McCanns, both 39, are preparing for another painful milestone tomorrow, which will be the 150th day since Madeleine disappeared.
But the couple secured a victory yesterday when Portugal said it would push for the creation of an EU-wide alert system for missing children.
Pamalam
>>>
‘Maddie’s body was kept in fridge’
Original Source|The Sun: Saturday 29 September 2007
From Clodagh Hartley
in Praia da Luz
They are working on the extraordinary theory that Kate killed her daughter accidentally and that dad Gerry helped her cover up.
And they make the bizarre claim that Maddie’s body was somehow stored in a fridge in one of the apartments at the holiday complex where she went missing in May.
Detectives believe they moved the four-year-old’s body between apartments in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz.
They are said to be focusing on a “mysterious and fatal period” of 90 minutes when they claim Kate was alone in the apartment with her children while Gerry played tennis.
Detectives are convinced Maddie was killed “before dinner” and that her body was “passed through various locations” before going into the boot of the couple’s hired car.
Police sources revealed: “They are locating apartments with fridges.”
The McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell last night dismissed the latest slurs as “utterly ridiculous” and begged for an end to the smear campaign.
He said: “Each and every one of these nonsensical allegations causes real pain and hurt for both Gerry and Kate. It makes a most awful situation far, far worse.”
Since naming them as official suspects, Portuguese police have leaked several allegations against Kate and Gerry, both 39-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leics.
They claimed they could have disposed of Maddie’s body on a “suspicious” trip to Spain on August 3. And they say Spanish police were also examining CCTV footage of the day trip to the city of Huelva just over the border.
But yesterday Spain’s civil guard denied any involvement, adding weight to the McCanns’ insistence that they are being smeared by unnamed police sources.
Spokesman Antonio Castilla said: “We are not investigating the McCann parents in any way, shape or form. The reports are false.”
Yesterday, daily newspaper Dia-rio de Noticias said detectives were pinpointing apartments in the area of Praia da Luz.
A source told them: “Police believe the death happened before dinner in the period between 19.00 and 20.30. During this time, Madeleine’s father was seen playing tennis at the complex, therefore the child and her twin siblings were in the charge of the mother.
A family friend yesterday said of the period between 7pm and 8.30pm: “Kate was not in the apartment alone with Maddie. They had both been playing tennis earlier. Then they put her to bed and were then down for dinner by 8.20pm.”
And referring to the lurid fridge allegation, the friend insisted: “That is total rubbish. Have you seen the size of the fridges in those apartments? Of course they did not stuff her in a fridge.” Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that Kate and Gerry had been threatened with a year’s jail if they break Portuguese secrecy laws by speaking out about Maddie.
They fear this could mean no more TV appeals for information.
The Sun
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McCanns' agony at 'body in fridge' slur Parents dismiss new police claim in Maddy mystery as 'hurtful'
Original Source| Independent IE Saturday 29-09-07
Saturday September 29 2007
THE parents of Madeleine McCann have called for an end to the "hurtful" smear campaign after sensational new claims that her mother hid her corpse in a fridge after accidentally killing her.
Tomorrow is the 150th day since Madeleine disappeared. Kate and Gerry McCann will attend a church service near their home in Rothley, Leceistershire, but there will be no special event to generate publicity.
It was claimed yesterday that police in Portugal now believe that Kate McCann killed Madeleine while putting her to bed at their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz between 7pm and 8.30pm on May 3 and then hid her corpse in a fridge, with the help of friends.
The respected Diario de Noticias newspaper said officers believed that she accidentally killed Madeleine while her husband was playing tennis.
Her body then "passed through various locations" before going into the boot of the car hired by her parents 25 days after she disappeared, it reported.
As a result, detectives want to inspect fridges at the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns were staying with a group of seven British adults.
A source close to the McCanns said: "That is total rubbish. Have you seen the size of the fridges in those apartments? Of course they did not stuff her in a fridge. Kate was not in the apartment alone with Maddy.
"They had both been playing tennis, then they put her to bed together and were then down for dinner (with their friends) by 8.20pm."
The report is the latest of a series of allegations in the Portuguese media credited to anonymous detectives from the Policia Judiciaria. There are concerns that the McCanns have become victims of "black propaganda" being put out by police to explain why they were made official suspects.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said: "We do not know who is putting all this out in Portugal but for the family's sake it's time for it to stop. Every one of these nonsensical allegations causes real pain and hurt for both Gerry and Kate, who cannot help but be aware of them. It makes a most awful situation far, far worse, because they know it's not true.
"I am very grateful for the media support; it is immeasurable in terms of what has been done to help find Madeleine, but these reports are increasing the pain for Kate and Gerry.
"We just hope that everyone can see these ridiculous rumours for what they are. It is very hard on the couple because they are not allowed to talk about the investigation and cannot defend themselves."
Mr Mitchell said that the McCanns would attend church tomorrow. "It will be just another day without Madeleine," he said.
Ordeal
It was reported yesterday that the couple, both 39, may speak out about their ordeal in a television show with a celebrity interviewer.
The McCanns have previously turned down requests for interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Larry King but they are said to be considering a request from the veteran American broadcaster Barbara Walters for an interview to coincide with the launch of an stg£80,000 (€114,000) advertising campaign for the search for their daughter.
The couple are said to be furious that they cannot speak out because of Portuguese judicial secrecy laws. The law, however, prohibits them only from discussing evidence in the case.
The McCanns had used their campaign to find Madeleine as an opportunity to raise awareness about other missing children and to call for better alert systems.
It was announced yesterday that Portugal is to call for an EU-wide alert system for missing children. Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency, will ask member states at a meeting in Lisbon this week if they want to expand to all 27 countries a new French alert system involving a nationwide media campaign and messages in stations and on motorways.
Meanwhile, Gerry McCann yesterday threw his backing behind the move to create the Europe-wide alert system for missing children.
Portugal is reportedly pushing for such a system to be set up at a key meeting of European home affairs ministers next week.
Madeleine went missing from her parents' rented holiday flat on the Algarve on May 3.
Portuguese police faced criticism over the speed of their response to the disappearance including questions over how quickly it sealed borders and alerted ports and airports.
Images of Madeleine were circulated through the media by friends and family in the hours after Madeleine's disappearance.
Now Portugal is said to be backing the extension of a French alert system, which includes electronic roadside messages, across the EU's 27 countries.
In the UK, a similar county-wide scheme, including automatic media alerts, was pioneered in Surrey after the disappearance of local schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
Gerry McCann said: "If this is true, we would very much welcome it as a major step in the right direction.
"Kate and I have consistently campaigned to effect such changes throughout the European Union to help protect children everywhere.''
Mr McCann travelled to Washington DC earlier this year to meet the then US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to discuss measures in place there.
There, news of a missing child in Arkansas could be notified to police in California in less than two hours.
The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "From his own experience during his recent trip to America, Gerry felt that the US is some distance ahead of Europe.
"Clearly a widening of effective systems to raise immediate awareness of missing children across the EU is exactly the sort of long-term change Gerry and Kate are working so hard to achieve.''
Pamalam
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