What comes first.. the chicken or the egg? - and a ragdoll.

What comes first, the chicken or the egg?

In the case of Ivone Albino, in the story below it is claimed retired care-worker Mrs.Jean Godwin rang the hotline to report a 'sighting of Maddie' and she was shown a photo of Mrs.Albino who she identified as one of the women with Madeleine (who was wearing a bad black wig).

Now, why would there be a photo of Mrs.Albino waiting for 'witnesses' to identify her from? And why would she be under suspicion BEFORE anyone had reported her?

This of course comes from the case file of pretendy detectives Edgar and Cowley.

NOTE mention of a ragdoll which l will follow on with......




http://algarvedailynews.com/features/world-affairs/4109-maddie-sightings-media-madness

Written by Len Port

The McCanns complained last weekend of “injustices that we continue to be subjected to.”

This was widely reported in the UK and Portuguese press and referred to a Wikileaks disclosure that had “led to the repetition of many unfounded allegations and smears both in the UK and in Portugal in particular.”

A modest group of people in Portugal also have been subjected to unfounded allegations, injustices and smears in connection with the Madeleine McCann investigation, but they have had no channel for complaint so their side of the story has gone totally unreported - until now.

Ivone Albino, a Portuguese woman who makes her living as a part-time house cleaner, was shattered to learn in April this year that newspapers in the UK were running sensational stories directly linking her with the alleged abduction of Madeleine McCann three years earlier. She was the latest victim in a tidal wave of misinformation and false “sightings” that began soon after Madeleine's disappearance from a holiday apartment in the village of Praia da Luz in May 2007.

Mrs Albino's name was buried in a “secret” 2,000-page dossier containing information about Madeleine “sightings” that had been brought to the attention of the Portuguese criminal investigation police, the Polícia Judiciária. The existence of the dossier emerged after it was referred to by a police witness during a Lisbon court hearing considering the ban on a book by the former lead detective in the Madeleine case, Gonçalo Amaral.

When the judge in the hearing ordered the dossier's release, it was eagerly seized upon by Kate and Gerry McCann, their advisers and the British press. It was brandished as yet more evidence of the “incompetence” of the Portuguese police in their search for Madeleine.

By then, Britain's mainstream media seemed to have accepted the McCanns' insistence from the very start that Madeleine had been abducted and that she might still be alive. They ignored or viewed with hostility the alternative theory, the one most prevalent in Portugal and the main thrust of Gonçalo Amaral's book, namely that Madeleine had died in the apartment and that her parents were somehow involved.

Referring to the Polícía Judicária dossier and in line with the abduction theory, British (though not Portuguese) newspapers named Mrs Albino as one of two “gypsy women” seen by a British holidaymaker dragging Madeleine along an Algarve street in September 2008. The little girl was wearing a “black wig” but the holidaymaker was “100 per cent sure” it was Madeleine. The same reports revealed that a rag doll had been found at a house repeatedly visited by Mrs Albino. According to the reports, Madeleine “may have been held prisoner” at the house.

A source close to Madeleine's parents was quoted as saying: “This is one of the strongest leads there's been in the hunt for Maddie.”

It wasn't. The “lead” merely gave rise to yet more sensational nonsense in the British press, causing deep humiliation and distress to Mrs Albino and two other entirely innocent people with no connection whatsoever to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

This whole silly episode began in September 2008, eighteen months after Madeleine's disappearance. A 56-year-old retired home care worker from Widnes in Cheshire, England, phoned the 'Find Madeleine' hotline that had been set up by the parents of the missing child. She reported seeing two women with Madeleine in the beach-side village of Carvoeiro, 30 miles east of Praia da Luz.

“This was a young girl, in the middle of the two women and holding the hand of each. Her eyes were wide open and I was attracted to the large irises,” said the Carvoeiro witness.

“The child was wearing what was clearly a black wig. It was short, cut in a bob style and very thick. The wig was shiny and unnatural looking and out of keeping with her very pale complexion and fair eyebrows. I would say she was about 3ft 1in tall and about five years of age. She was very thin and I would describe her as malnourished. Her cheeks looked gaunt. I think she had a bump on her nose. I am convinced the little girl I saw that morning was Madeleine. I have been asked how certain I am. I will say I am 100 per cent sure.”

The Carvoeiro witness described the first of the two women as “obese, size 30, in her mid to late 40s, with “dirty and unkempt” red hair. The other woman was around 60, with unwashed brown hair, and even fatter. The witness claimed that when the women realised she was looking at them, they hid the little girl's face. She recognised Mrs Albino as the red-haired woman with Madeleine in Carvoeiro. The second woman was never identified.

Another unrelated British witness, from Salisbury in Wiltshire, said she saw a woman resembling Mrs Albino outside the McCanns´ apartment the day Madeleine disappeared. In both cases the identifications were made from photographs. A much earlier report of a woman passing a child wrapped in a blanket over a fence to a man next to two parked vehicles in Silves two days after Madeleine's disappearance added spice to these later reports.

The “sightings” prompted private investigators employed by Madeleine's parents to zero in on Mrs Albino and follow her to “an isolated farmhouse” in an orange grove near the town of Silves where she lives. In a surveillance operation, private investigators saw her making several visits to the house and meeting there with a couple called Maria Alice Silveira and Jorge Martins. The couple's movements were deemed to be “suspicious” by a top detective employed by the McCanns.

Suspicions heightened when investigators found and photographed a child's rag doll on the seat of a Citroen Berlingo van parked at the house. “Was this the rag doll given to Maddie by her captors?” wondered The Sun in a headline spread over half a page. The question was promptly answered in the first sentence in the story that followed: “This little girl's rag doll could have been given to Madeleine McCann by those who snatched her, investigators believe.”

The investigators, posing as potential buyers of the property, came across a discarded child's drawing. And they spotted Jorge Martins buying clothes suitable for a child of five, the age Madeleine would then have been. They thought all this strange as neither Mrs Albino, Ms Silveira nor Mr Martins had young children of their own. “But surveillance was eventually wound down and the child was never found.”

These observations were passed to Portugal's criminal investigation police, even though the official Portuguese police inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance had been closed. By then the police had already considered hundreds of bogus or mistaken “sightings” in about 50 countries ranging from neighbouring Spain to Australia and New Zealand.

On learning of the Silves surveillance “evidence” through the newly released dossier, two of Britain's biggest-selling and most powerful newspapers carried prominent reports complete with separate photographs of Mrs Albino, Ms Silveira and Mr Martins, Madeleine, and the rag doll. They quoted a source close to Kate and Gerry McCann as saying. “There was credible evidence at the orchard that needed proper investigation by the Portuguese – that never happened.”

In fact, the Portuguese police did investigate the “sightings” and the “suspicious behaviour”. They questioned all three people and visited the farmhouse. They soon concluded there was no reason to take their inquiries further. Any reasonably intelligent Portuguese-speaking person who had spent a few minutes talking with Mrs Albino about the matter would have come to the same conclusion. This did not stop the British press from rushing into print with a load of baloney.

The truth that didn't make it into the papers is that Mrs Albino regularly drives through Carvoeiro on the way from Silves to a house she services. She never walks in the village with or without children in tow. “I have never held the hand of any child in Carvoeiro, let alone one with a black wig or resembling Madeleine McCann,” she told me. No villager can be found in Carvoeiro who would dispute that. As for Praia da Luz, Mrs Albino said she had never been there. She admitted somewhat sheepishly that she had only a vague idea of where Praia da Luz was located.

Overweight, yes, but no one who had known Mrs Albino over many years could recall her hair ever being dirty, unkempt or red. Indeed she did visit a somewhat neglected house in an orange orchard. It is on the outskirts of Silves' urban area, not “remote” as the newspapers made out. She visits it daily to feed the property's only occupants: her chickens, rabbits and a large guard dog.

The property had long been owned by the family of Mrs Albino's cousin, Maria Alice Silveira, who lives elsewhere in Silves. She used to own a dry-cleaning shop in the neighbouring town of Lagoa. Her partner ,Jorge, whom she has since married, is a primary school teacher. They drive over to the house in their Citroen Berlingo van from time to time to tend the orchard and collect fruit.

Mr Martins said he found the doll in a roadway, though it was such a minor event that he could not remember exactly where or when. The doll was in good condition so, without much thought he picked it and put it in the van. He agreed that there had been a discarded child's drawing at the house and, yes, he had bought clothes for a young child. Maria Alice had a grandchild of about Madeleine's age.

Although they did not read English, Jorge, Maria Alice and Ivone felt shocked and humiliated when told of the reports and shown their photographs in national British newspapers. Their shock soon turned to anger and anxiety about possible repercussions.

With the start of another summer holiday season in the Algarve, Ivone was concerned that British parents with young families staying in the holiday villas she cleans might view her with suspicion, jeopardising her job.

Maria Alice said she had lost some British customers at her dry-cleaning business because of the press pointing the finger unjustly. Jorge remained deeply disturbed by what he called “the stupidity” of the British reports that falsely insinuated wrong-doing.

All three considered suing to clear their names. But they soon came to realise they did not have either the capital or the connections to take the sort of legal action that resulted in the British press paying out £500,000 in damages to the McCanns, £550,000 to Robert Murat and £375,000 to the so-called Tapas 7. Actually, this humble group didn't want compensation money so much as an apology.

The Ragdoll

The ragdoll looks brand new so could have been bought in Portugal for Maddies birthday but where is it now? Funnily enough why is a ragdoll the centre of suspicion in the above story?


http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline%3Dmaddie-parents--smile-of-courage&method%3Dfull&objectid%3D19095730&siteid%3D93463-name_page.html&cid=1116232081&ei=2hFHRsDZH56YqAPTjOm2Bw

MADDIE PARENTS' SMILE OF COURAGE

May 13 2007 Rachael Bletchly In Praia Da Luz
Kidnapped girl Maddie McCann

MUM & DAD'S VIGIL FOR SNATCHED HOLIDAY TOT LOCALS APPLAUD THEM ON DAY SHE TURNS FOUR

MISSING Madeleine McCann's parents put on brave smiles yesterday as an emotional church service helped them cope with their agony.

At times during the weekend, distraught mum Kate clutched a rag doll she had bought for the tot's fourth birthday - but never got the chance to hand over.




And dad Gerry spoke of a "tidal wave" of devastation caused by her abduction ten days ago. What should have been a day of joy was agony as her family waited for news on the kidnapped little girl.

Maddie should have been blowing out candles on her Dr Who cake. But the only candles flickering were at sombre vigils for her.

Kate and Gerry, both 38, drew huge comfort from mass at the church in Praia da Luz, Portugal, where they were on holiday when Maddie vanished.

Gerry told villagers who have given heartwarming support: "We are looking forward to the day when Madeleine returns to us as a joyous one. We believe that we will see Madeleine soon and she will be safe and well and we will continue to hope."

As they left they were greeted by children holding balloons and a crowd of villagers, who applauded them.

Mr McCann told the congregation: "Today we should be celebrating the fourth birthday of our daughter Madeleine.

"Instead we have had to remember what a normal, beautiful, vivacious, funny, courageous and loving little girl that we are missing today.

"I like to think about the effects of Madeleine's abduction from us nine days ago like a tidal wave. The devastation which was tremendous was greatest for Kate and me."

And he added: "The devastation affects everyone we meet here in the resort and has affected this community.

"The tidal wave did not stop here, it has travelled many miles across Europe, across the sea to Glasgow, Liverpool, Leicester, Ireland, America, Canada, New Zealand and continental Europe, where we have many friends and family."

Gerry also spoke movingly of the "tremendous outpouring of warmth" from people in Portuguese.

GP Kate has lost almost a stone in weight since Maddie was abducted and is unable to eat properly or sleep without sedatives. She looked frail, gaunt and haggard yesterday.

At an earlier service, the couple followed a Portuguese tradition of wearing green and carrying green branches to the 16th Century church as a sign of hope.

Local mechanic Pedro Melo, 25, explained: "We want Madeleine's parents to know how much we care. We feel like crying for them. Their pain must be so great."

A picture of Maddie, whose face can be seen on lamp posts and in shop windows across the town, was pinned near the altar - set in a red heart.

As the service neared its end, a single piece of green string was passed through the crowd right to the back of the church until everyone was holding it - uniting them with the McCanns.

Back in the UK Maddie's relatives and family friends were also anxiously awaiting news.

A party in Glasgow planned for her birthday by uncle and aunt John and Philomena was put on hold. John, 48 said: "There was no point in having a birthday party without Madeleine - but the party has only been postponed, not cancelled.

"We are going to have it when she comes back and then it will be a massive party."

Philomena, 43, spent the day handing out 15,000 posters to football fans outside Glasgow's Celtic Park ground, hoping to jog the memory of supporters who may have visited Portugal.

Maddie's grandparents in Liverpool, Brian and Susan Healey, told last night how they were "storming heaven" for her. Susan, 61, said: "Please God she will be back to blow her birthday candles out. She loved to blow out candles.

"It is hard for everybody but with the help of our friends it's possible to keep going. We have to keep Madeleine in the spotlight, we have to have Madeleine brought home."

Brian, 67, pleaded to Maddie's kidnappers: "Please just bring her home. The support we have had is immense. We are storming heaven trying to find her." Friends in Liverpool have tied yellow ribbons and pink balloons to their fences. The village square inRothley, Leics, where the McCanns live, has become a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of people wanting to show support.

The war memorial has been decorated with a thousand yellow ribbons. Next to it stands a 3ft pink and white rabbit, flanked by dozens of teddy bears. Among the hundreds of scrawled notes were many from children, not much older than Maddie.

One from Alex, eight, and Cameron, five, read: "We are thinking about you on your birthday and hoping you will come home safely. Hope you get to cuddle the teddy soon."

Staff at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital, where Gerry is a cardiologist and at Kate's GP surgery in Melton Mowbray have held vigils.

The McCanns arrived back at their resort apartment at 4pm yesterday after spending the day with their twins Sean and Amelie, two, in a brave bid to carry on as normally as possible. Amelie was carrying a red balloon. Kate hugged Sean, who was carrying a green balloon. Gerry smiled and paused for photographs and kissed Amelie gently as they walked into the apartment.

Last night Kate arrived for Mass clutching a blanket from her missing daughter's bed. She was wearing shorts and a yellow top and held Maddie's Cuddle Cat tightly as she held her husband's hand. Green and yellow ribbons have been tied to the church doors - green the Portuguese symbol of hope and yellow in remembrance of missing Maddie.

Chancellor Gordon Brown expressed his sympathy for Maddie's parents.

At a meeting in Gillingham, Kent, the PM-in-waiting said: "Every parent will be sympathising in their hour of need."

Hundreds of ex-pat Brits gathered in Praia da Luz yesterday to tie yellow ribbons wherever they could in support.

The railings in front of their holiday complex were covered in the colourful tributes, alongside bunches of yellow flowers and cuddly toys.

Claire Borges, originally from Banbury, Oxfordshire, said: "We feel like we've been hit in the stomach. Every day you pray for good news."

Today is a Portuguese religious holiday known as Miracle Day - in which the faithful pray for lost causes.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............... and carrying a blanket from Maddie's bed? er........er...And a rag doll...

If that rag doll found by the side of the road is that same rag doll.... would this be a red flag for a big set up of that poor woman?? I have no doubt that the team would stoop that low to save themselves.
That is the most anguished pic I've ever seen of Gerry.

i am relieved to see this rag doll. i remember some time ago wondering where the rag doll had gone and everyone i mentioned it to told me i was getting confused about cuddle cat ! i knew i had read a story about it being bought for her birthday and wondered why they would have had it in portugal - madeleine would have celebrated her birthday back in the uk, no ? cuddle cat looked brand new as well margaret, certainly not like any well loved soft toys my children have had.

Why would you take a blanket to church, also what happened to the rag doll, i totally agree the birthday present would be in england as that is where she would have been celebrating her birthday

another prop. i agree a childs birthday is due on the return from holiday, why would her parents take the rag doll with them to Portugal only to have to take it back for her birthday. Wasnt cuddle cat a birthday present too? oh was the blanket pink, anyone know. jimo.

tanszi wrote:another prop. i agree a childs birthday is due on the return from holiday, why would her parents take the rag doll with them to Portugal only to have to take it back for her birthday. Wasnt cuddle cat a birthday present too? oh was the blanket pink, anyone know. jimo.

I've just thought of something Tanzi. I read that Jon Corner, the McCanns media friend, bought Cuddle Cat for Madeleine's 4th birthday, but he gave the cat to Madeleine, just before she left for her holiday in Praia da Luz. As you say, Madeleine would have been back in the UK, when it was her birthday. I wonder why the toy wasn't left in Rothley Towers and then given to Madeleine on her birthday?

Maybe the McCanns knew before they left for PDL, that Madeleine was not going to return home and Cuddle Cat, had a role to play in the abduction scenario.

If that pussy cat could talk, what a tale he would tell.

I guess she could claim to have bought the ragdoll in Portugal in anticipation of Madeleine being found and returned to her family in time for her birthday?

Or, that ragdoll could have been a gift from a well-wisher and the newspapers have just invented that it was a pressie from Kate/Gerry to Madeleine.

I don't care anyway... ragdoll, cuddle-cat, blanket, she can carry whatever she likes to give herself 'that little bit of cumfut' - it's just another bit of complete nonsense to add to all the other nonsense we've had to listen to over the past 4 years.

Perhaps kate was planning a spin off company called Cuddlecat ltd

Remember they did register this domain www.cuddlecat.co.uk

http://www.aboutus.org/CuddleCat.co.uk

Wintabells wrote:I guess she could claim to have bought the ragdoll in Portugal in anticipation of Madeleine being found and returned to her family in time for her birthday?

Or, that ragdoll could have been a gift from a well-wisher and the newspapers have just invented that it was a pressie from Kate/Gerry to Madeleine.

I don't care anyway... ragdoll, cuddle-cat, blanket, she can carry whatever she likes to give herself 'that little bit of cumfut' - it's just another bit of complete nonsense to add to all the other nonsense we've had to listen to over the past 4 years.

Rag doll! I'd never heard of that before. Yet another prop, how many did they need? Imo some very good psychological and marketing advice before they even left the UK.
What would have been more convincing is the last drawing or clay sculpture Maddie made - but apparently - she produced nothing at all. It's not even in the bewk.
The blanket Gerry seems to be carrying isn't the famous pink one. Well, anything will do for the press and the sheeples.
CC was certainly brand new imo. The website Cuddlecat.co.uk was registered as a domain name on the 23rd May. Perhaps Clarrie or Justine Guinness stopped them using it - one marketing ploy too far?
Does the rag doll appear in the book?

tigger wrote:

Wintabells wrote:I guess she could claim to have bought the ragdoll in Portugal in anticipation of Madeleine being found and returned to her family in time for her birthday?

Or, that ragdoll could have been a gift from a well-wisher and the newspapers have just invented that it was a pressie from Kate/Gerry to Madeleine.

I don't care anyway... ragdoll, cuddle-cat, blanket, she can carry whatever she likes to give herself 'that little bit of cumfut' - it's just another bit of complete nonsense to add to all the other nonsense we've had to listen to over the past 4 years.

Rag doll! I'd never heard of that before. Yet another prop, how many did they need? Imo some very good psychological and marketing advice before they even left the UK.
What would have been more convincing is the last drawing or clay sculpture Maddie made - but apparently - she produced nothing at all. It's not even in the bewk.
The blanket Gerry seems to be carrying isn't the famous pink one. Well, anything will do for the press and the sheeples.
CC was certainly brand new imo. The website Cuddlecat.co.uk was registered as a domain name on the 23rd May. Perhaps Clarrie or Justine Guinness stopped them using it - one marketing ploy too far?
Does the rag doll appear in the book?

I've often wondered if Madeleine ever left the Praia da Luz Children's Club with a drawing or two or something she had made with scissors and glue. it would be an unusual creche where children never made anything, did any drawings to take to show the parents.

gillyspot wrote:Perhaps kate was planning a spin off company called Cuddlecat ltd

Remember they did register this domain www.cuddlecat.co.uk

http://www.aboutus.org/CuddleCat.co.uk

OMG! I forgot about that! They really are beyond words!!

kathybelle wrote:

tanszi wrote:another prop. i agree a childs birthday is due on the return from holiday, why would her parents take the rag doll with them to Portugal only to have to take it back for her birthday. Wasnt cuddle cat a birthday present too? oh was the blanket pink, anyone know. jimo.

I've just thought of something Tanzi. I read that Jon Corner, the McCanns media friend, bought Cuddle Cat for Madeleine's 4th birthday, but he gave the cat to Madeleine, just before she left for her holiday in Praia da Luz. As you say, Madeleine would have been back in the UK, when it was her birthday. I wonder why the toy wasn't left in Rothley Towers and then given to Madeleine on her birthday?

Maybe the McCanns knew before they left for PDL, that Madeleine was not going to return home and Cuddle Cat, had a role to play in the abduction scenario.

If that pussy cat could talk, what a tale he would tell.

I read that too, but it seems a bit of a childish present for a four year old as it is actually a rattle. I wonder if Cuddle Cat was Madeleine's at all. I think it might have been Amélie's, and simply used by Kate as a handy prop. There are certainly lots of pictures of Amélie playing with it after Maddie disappeared. Would you really give the toy of your missing child to another child to trash, as 2-year-olds tend to do? It might also explain why she washed it - there would have been little, or no, Maddie DNA on it to start off with if it was never hers to begin with.

kathybelle wrote:

tanszi wrote:another prop. i agree a childs birthday is due on the return from holiday, why would her parents take the rag doll with them to Portugal only to have to take it back for her birthday. Wasnt cuddle cat a birthday present too? oh was the blanket pink, anyone know. jimo.

I've just thought of something Tanzi. I read that Jon Corner, the McCanns media friend, bought Cuddle Cat for Madeleine's 4th birthday, but he gave the cat to Madeleine, just before she left for her holiday in Praia da Luz. As you say, Madeleine would have been back in the UK, when it was her birthday. I wonder why the toy wasn't left in Rothley Towers and then given to Madeleine on her birthday?

Maybe the McCanns knew before they left for PDL, that Madeleine was not going to return home and Cuddle Cat, had a role to play in the abduction scenario.

If that pussy cat could talk, what a tale he would tell.

If cuddle cat came from jon corner, then he was a very busy cat visiting cadavers in his first few days in rothley. also, was cuddle cat or a similar toy visible in the photo of a very young kate with a baby madeleine lying on her chest ? kate also said it was one of the reasons she knew madeleine was abducted, the cat was left behind, giving the impression she would go nowhere without her favourite toy - would she be that attached to something just a few days after receiving it ? it seems to me more like a toy that was always at home, something familiar yet small enough to pack into a suitcase for the holidays, moreso for amelie than madeleine and not the well loved, can't sleep without best friend item children tend to have.

all things considered i think the pink blanket was madeleines true comforter and that is with madeleine right now. cuddle cat was just another good marketing ploy.

i think what gerry has in his hands is a jacket.

Amelie being given cuddlecat to even hold ,under the circumstances, was yet another big red flag for me that something is seriously amiss with Mrs. McCann.
My eldest had a teddy, knitted, wonky, hand made, called Kazimir ( don't ask!)
If either of her siblings had messed about with him in any way it was serious.Neither of her siblings would ever have dreamt of , say, holding Kazimir roughly or throwing him about. Kazimir was like 'part of the family' If a child has one of these special ( to them) toys , it's mind boggling to me that the child's mother would be dragging it about from pillar to post instead of it being kept safe and warm in a box , awaiting it's owner's return.
Kate McCann is one truly strange and scary woman.
She doesn't have a clue about child psychology. Not a clue. If Madeleine had turned up a day or so later and found her 'beloved' cuddlecat being smeared with suncream and being dragged about by her younger sister she would have felt totally betrayed. Again.

the slave wrote:Amelie being given cuddlecat to even hold ,under the circumstances, was yet another big red flag for me that something is seriously amiss with Mrs. McCann.
My eldest had a teddy, knitted, wonky, hand made, called Kazimir ( don't ask!)
If either of her siblings had messed about with him in any way it was serious.Neither of her siblings would ever have dreamt of , say, holding Kazimir roughly or throwing him about. Kazimir was like 'part of the family' If a child has one of these special ( to them) toys , it's mind boggling to me that the child's mother would be dragging it about from pillar to post instead of it being kept safe and warm in a box , awaiting it's owner's return.
Kate McCann is one truly strange and scary woman.
She doesn't have a clue about child psychology. Not a clue. If Madeleine had turned up a day or so later and found her 'beloved' cuddlecat being smeared with suncream and being dragged about by her younger sister she would have felt totally betrayed. Again.

Absolutely, Madeleine was Kate's 'best friend'. Save me! Not even four? It's interesting to see that everything regarding Maddie is turned towards Kate:
Maddie telling Kate to jump into the swimming pool, Maddie being a very 'loving' child, a very 'lovely' child.
Not loved to bits by her parents but loving towards others, lighting up a room with her presence....

@ the slave
Too right!

And she would also have discovered her sticker book with its cover ripped off and defaced with strange adult scribblings ...

No consideration for a potentially-returning living child at all, which can only mean one thing.

And cold fish Kate didn't even have enough respect and love for her own deceased flesh and blood to say: "Don't you DARE touch that book!"

margaret wrote:What comes first, the chicken or the egg?

In the case of Ivone Albino, in the story below it is claimed retired care-worker Mrs.Jean Godwin rang the hotline to report a 'sighting of Maddie' and she was shown a photo of Mrs.Albino who she identified as one of the women with Madeleine (who was wearing a bad black wig).

Now, why would there be a photo of Mrs.Albino waiting for 'witnesses' to identify her from? And why would she be under suspicion BEFORE anyone had reported her?

This of course comes from the case file of pretendy detectives Edgar and Cowley.

NOTE mention of a ragdoll which l will follow on with......




http://algarvedailynews.com/features/world-affairs/4109-maddie-sightings-media-madness

Written by Len Port

The McCanns complained last weekend of “injustices that we continue to be subjected to.”

This was widely reported in the UK and Portuguese press and referred to a Wikileaks disclosure that had “led to the repetition of many unfounded allegations and smears both in the UK and in Portugal in particular.”

A modest group of people in Portugal also have been subjected to unfounded allegations, injustices and smears in connection with the Madeleine McCann investigation, but they have had no channel for complaint so their side of the story has gone totally unreported - until now.

Ivone Albino, a Portuguese woman who makes her living as a part-time house cleaner, was shattered to learn in April this year that newspapers in the UK were running sensational stories directly linking her with the alleged abduction of Madeleine McCann three years earlier. She was the latest victim in a tidal wave of misinformation and false “sightings” that began soon after Madeleine's disappearance from a holiday apartment in the village of Praia da Luz in May 2007.

Mrs Albino's name was buried in a “secret” 2,000-page dossier containing information about Madeleine “sightings” that had been brought to the attention of the Portuguese criminal investigation police, the Polícia Judiciária. The existence of the dossier emerged after it was referred to by a police witness during a Lisbon court hearing considering the ban on a book by the former lead detective in the Madeleine case, Gonçalo Amaral.

When the judge in the hearing ordered the dossier's release, it was eagerly seized upon by Kate and Gerry McCann, their advisers and the British press. It was brandished as yet more evidence of the “incompetence” of the Portuguese police in their search for Madeleine.

By then, Britain's mainstream media seemed to have accepted the McCanns' insistence from the very start that Madeleine had been abducted and that she might still be alive. They ignored or viewed with hostility the alternative theory, the one most prevalent in Portugal and the main thrust of Gonçalo Amaral's book, namely that Madeleine had died in the apartment and that her parents were somehow involved.

Referring to the Polícía Judicária dossier and in line with the abduction theory, British (though not Portuguese) newspapers named Mrs Albino as one of two “gypsy women” seen by a British holidaymaker dragging Madeleine along an Algarve street in September 2008. The little girl was wearing a “black wig” but the holidaymaker was “100 per cent sure” it was Madeleine. The same reports revealed that a rag doll had been found at a house repeatedly visited by Mrs Albino. According to the reports, Madeleine “may have been held prisoner” at the house.

A source close to Madeleine's parents was quoted as saying: “This is one of the strongest leads there's been in the hunt for Maddie.”

It wasn't. The “lead” merely gave rise to yet more sensational nonsense in the British press, causing deep humiliation and distress to Mrs Albino and two other entirely innocent people with no connection whatsoever to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

This whole silly episode began in September 2008, eighteen months after Madeleine's disappearance. A 56-year-old retired home care worker from Widnes in Cheshire, England, phoned the 'Find Madeleine' hotline that had been set up by the parents of the missing child. She reported seeing two women with Madeleine in the beach-side village of Carvoeiro, 30 miles east of Praia da Luz.

“This was a young girl, in the middle of the two women and holding the hand of each. Her eyes were wide open and I was attracted to the large irises,” said the Carvoeiro witness.

“The child was wearing what was clearly a black wig. It was short, cut in a bob style and very thick. The wig was shiny and unnatural looking and out of keeping with her very pale complexion and fair eyebrows. I would say she was about 3ft 1in tall and about five years of age. She was very thin and I would describe her as malnourished. Her cheeks looked gaunt. I think she had a bump on her nose. I am convinced the little girl I saw that morning was Madeleine. I have been asked how certain I am. I will say I am 100 per cent sure.”

The Carvoeiro witness described the first of the two women as “obese, size 30, in her mid to late 40s, with “dirty and unkempt” red hair. The other woman was around 60, with unwashed brown hair, and even fatter. The witness claimed that when the women realised she was looking at them, they hid the little girl's face. She recognised Mrs Albino as the red-haired woman with Madeleine in Carvoeiro. The second woman was never identified.

Another unrelated British witness, from Salisbury in Wiltshire, said she saw a woman resembling Mrs Albino outside the McCanns´ apartment the day Madeleine disappeared. In both cases the identifications were made from photographs. A much earlier report of a woman passing a child wrapped in a blanket over a fence to a man next to two parked vehicles in Silves two days after Madeleine's disappearance added spice to these later reports.

The “sightings” prompted private investigators employed by Madeleine's parents to zero in on Mrs Albino and follow her to “an isolated farmhouse” in an orange grove near the town of Silves where she lives. In a surveillance operation, private investigators saw her making several visits to the house and meeting there with a couple called Maria Alice Silveira and Jorge Martins. The couple's movements were deemed to be “suspicious” by a top detective employed by the McCanns.

Suspicions heightened when investigators found and photographed a child's rag doll on the seat of a Citroen Berlingo van parked at the house. “Was this the rag doll given to Maddie by her captors?” wondered The Sun in a headline spread over half a page. The question was promptly answered in the first sentence in the story that followed: “This little girl's rag doll could have been given to Madeleine McCann by those who snatched her, investigators believe.”

The investigators, posing as potential buyers of the property, came across a discarded child's drawing. And they spotted Jorge Martins buying clothes suitable for a child of five, the age Madeleine would then have been. They thought all this strange as neither Mrs Albino, Ms Silveira nor Mr Martins had young children of their own. “But surveillance was eventually wound down and the child was never found.”

These observations were passed to Portugal's criminal investigation police, even though the official Portuguese police inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance had been closed. By then the police had already considered hundreds of bogus or mistaken “sightings” in about 50 countries ranging from neighbouring Spain to Australia and New Zealand.

On learning of the Silves surveillance “evidence” through the newly released dossier, two of Britain's biggest-selling and most powerful newspapers carried prominent reports complete with separate photographs of Mrs Albino, Ms Silveira and Mr Martins, Madeleine, and the rag doll. They quoted a source close to Kate and Gerry McCann as saying. “There was credible evidence at the orchard that needed proper investigation by the Portuguese – that never happened.”

In fact, the Portuguese police did investigate the “sightings” and the “suspicious behaviour”. They questioned all three people and visited the farmhouse. They soon concluded there was no reason to take their inquiries further. Any reasonably intelligent Portuguese-speaking person who had spent a few minutes talking with Mrs Albino about the matter would have come to the same conclusion. This did not stop the British press from rushing into print with a load of baloney.

The truth that didn't make it into the papers is that Mrs Albino regularly drives through Carvoeiro on the way from Silves to a house she services. She never walks in the village with or without children in tow. “I have never held the hand of any child in Carvoeiro, let alone one with a black wig or resembling Madeleine McCann,” she told me. No villager can be found in Carvoeiro who would dispute that. As for Praia da Luz, Mrs Albino said she had never been there. She admitted somewhat sheepishly that she had only a vague idea of where Praia da Luz was located.

Overweight, yes, but no one who had known Mrs Albino over many years could recall her hair ever being dirty, unkempt or red. Indeed she did visit a somewhat neglected house in an orange orchard. It is on the outskirts of Silves' urban area, not “remote” as the newspapers made out. She visits it daily to feed the property's only occupants: her chickens, rabbits and a large guard dog.

The property had long been owned by the family of Mrs Albino's cousin, Maria Alice Silveira, who lives elsewhere in Silves. She used to own a dry-cleaning shop in the neighbouring town of Lagoa. Her partner ,Jorge, whom she has since married, is a primary school teacher. They drive over to the house in their Citroen Berlingo van from time to time to tend the orchard and collect fruit.

Mr Martins said he found the doll in a roadway, though it was such a minor event that he could not remember exactly where or when. The doll was in good condition so, without much thought he picked it and put it in the van. He agreed that there had been a discarded child's drawing at the house and, yes, he had bought clothes for a young child. Maria Alice had a grandchild of about Madeleine's age.

Although they did not read English, Jorge, Maria Alice and Ivone felt shocked and humiliated when told of the reports and shown their photographs in national British newspapers. Their shock soon turned to anger and anxiety about possible repercussions.

With the start of another summer holiday season in the Algarve, Ivone was concerned that British parents with young families staying in the holiday villas she cleans might view her with suspicion, jeopardising her job.

Maria Alice said she had lost some British customers at her dry-cleaning business because of the press pointing the finger unjustly. Jorge remained deeply disturbed by what he called “the stupidity” of the British reports that falsely insinuated wrong-doing.

All three considered suing to clear their names. But they soon came to realise they did not have either the capital or the connections to take the sort of legal action that resulted in the British press paying out £500,000 in damages to the McCanns, £550,000 to Robert Murat and £375,000 to the so-called Tapas 7. Actually, this humble group didn't want compensation money so much as an apology.

Good morning Mossman

I took a look in the files to see if I could find anything out about this famous "moggy". In the files Kate McCann says Jon Corner bought Cuddle Cat, although she doesn't say when. I also looked at photos of the cat very closely and he looks rather tatty.

It appears that while Jon Corner bought the cat, he probably gave it to Madeleine when she was smaller and the information I read, where Jon Corner supposedly gave Madeleine the toy before she went to PDL, was not true.

Hello Kathybelle, it being given as a present much earlier would make sense.

I still do not think that he was madeleines favourite toy though. Kate saying she washed him was one of the biggest deciding factors in this whole thing for me. Whilst right from the outset on tv i disbelieved them, always at the back of my mind i said to myself, well who knows how anyone would or should appear and react in these circumstances. the washing of cuddle cat, for me, was the most astounding thing ever.

my children all have comfort toys and i would never ever ever wash that toy if god forbid something was to happen to them. the slaves post above hits this issue right on the head. my children share toys, break toys, hide toys but they have a certain instinctive respect for each others "cuddle cats". they are treated with love and respect and never touched, only by the owner. even when i wash them there are tears, the feel, the smell, everything about them is just not the same for the kids for a couple of days. i am looking at one of them now and it is a battle scarred little teddy, yet each rip and missing piece tells a story and stories that we can re-count together and laugh about now, although when the accidents happened there were only tears.

there is huge significance to that one seemingly simple act of washing him. it was heartless.

Absolutely inconceivable to me. Our Kazimir has never had a wash. His little nose is unravelling, he has the odd bit of darning..but he's still our precious Kaz.
Poor Madeleine.
Her little life filled with betrayals. Her death , too.

the slave wrote:Absolutely inconceivable to me. Our Kazimir has never had a wash. His little nose is unravelling, he has the odd bit of darning..but he's still our precious Kaz.
Poor Madeleine.
Her little life filled with betrayals. Her death , too.

Slave, you are right, my eldest had a tatty Pikachu and heaven help anybody who even touched it without her permission. I used to have to sneek it off her after she was asleep, to give it a wash and put it back before the morning. She hung onto it right up until she was 8 or 9. I remember once she left it in Grannie's (150 miles away) and I was halfway down the motorway before we discovered we had forgotton him. I had to turn back to get him, adding nearly 200 miles to my trip, or all of our lives would have been hell. Even a brand new Pikachu (which would have cost a lot less than the petrol) wouldn't have done. There's no way I would ever even dream of washing it or giving it away, if she'd gone missing.

My friend had a son killed a number of years ago by a hit-and-run driver. He was 11. To this day, his room is preserved exactly as he left it. His siblings weren't allowed to go into it, or touch any of his things. It may seem extreme but it was (and is) her way of coping with the loss. My own grannie was the same, she lost two sons in the war and her front parlour was like a shrine to them, with their pictures and belongings all laid out on a sideboard. Again, nobody was allowed to touch anything or even go in that room without a good reason.

Obviously keeping the toy as it was supposedly left wasn't important to her. I lost one of my cats to liver cancer in 2004 and after she died I kept one of the christmas tree toys which she used to play with and the toy mouse she used to carry all over the house. I still have them. After we lost Sasha I put in the bottom drawer of my dressing table the sign which we had in the car when we drove over to Portugal with her ( it said Cool Cat on board), the toy mouse she used to play with and a rubbing of fur which I found is kep in my jewellery box. Reminders of loved ones. They will never be parted with so I can't understand Kate's actions re cuddle cat.

Ragdoll has always been a mystery to me. To my knowledge it was not seen after the 11 May 2007.

I have often wondered if it was taken to church on the 11 May to be blessed or something like that.

So it could then be left as memory to Madeleine on her 4th birthday.

http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/GERRY_KATE_MCCANN.htm#11may7

newspapers named Mrs Albino as one of two “gypsy women” seen by a British holidaymaker dragging Madeleine along an Algarve street in September 2008. The little girl was wearing a “black wig” but the holidaymaker was “100 per cent sure” it was Madeleine. The same reports revealed that a rag doll had been found at a house repeatedly visited by Mrs Albino. According to the reports, Madeleine “may have been held prisoner” at the house.

So could this have been the same rag doll? Not sure if Im understanding this correctly but I don't get where the rag doll came from. Might there have been an attempt to frame this woman by placing a rag doll in the car, could it have been the same doll as in Kate photo?