Citation

"Grâce à la liberté dans les communications, des groupes d’hommes de même nature pourront se réunir et fonder des communautés. Les nations seront dépassées" - Friedrich Nietzsche (Fragments posthumes XIII-883)

07 - MAI 9/14/22 - conf. de presse

Interview des grands-parents maternels de MMC
Sky News - 9.05.2007
transcrit par Nigel Moore


Susan Healy : They’re coping as well as they can, given the circumstances. Errm... They can pull it together when they have to but, obviously, there are times when they're... they're very distraught.

Sky News : Were you able to speak to them? Have you been able to speak to them today? Are you speaking to them on a daily basis?
SH : I had a text message from my daughter; I haven't actually spoken to her today. Errm... She just asked how we were and told us that she loved us, errm... and that was it really. I will speak to her later on today.

SN : And where... where do you think they're, errr... getting their particular strength from? What are they drawing on at this moment?
Brian Healy : Each other.

 SH : Yeah, as Brian says, they're drawing on... on strength from each other, errm... also from all the prayers and the support; the sympathy; the kindness of people.
BH: And the twins.
 
SH : Errm... And... and, of course, they have twins... two-year-old twins, errm... and they have to function at a certain level when they're with the twins, errm... so that they... they don't sense that this... this terrible thing has happened. 

SN : How would you describe Madeleine? Obviously, as all grandparents, I'm sure you dote on her but, errr... what words would you use to describe her character?
SH : Madeleine is lovely. I think Kate said this about her and it was just the right thing to say; she's lovely.
BH : She's funny, she's bright, she's got a sense of humour and she's got her own little personality; she's a diamond.
 
SH : She loves her parents very, very much. 

SN : Can you tell me as... as much as you know of what happened on the evening that she went missing? You've seen the location - how much do you know about what exactly happened? 
SH : I wasn't there, errm... and I don't know that it's right for me to comment on that. I know how near the table was, errm... to the apartment, I've sat at that table myself; you can see the apartment. En plein jour, l'immeuble.. Errm... And I think Kate and Gerry knew immediately that Madeleine... somebody had broken in and taken Madeleine. Aucune effraction. There was no doubt in their mind. Madeleine would not have left the apartment of her own accord; she's a little girl of three! There's no way she could... she could have got through shutters and a window. Errm... But it was difficult for Kate and Gerry to actually get across to the Portuguese police what they felt had happened. Errm... In all fairness to the Portugue...guese police, I think mistakes were made initially - possibly due to inexperience. There's not very much crime in that part of Portugal. It was a very child-friendly complex, errm... and I think that their support initially came from the Mark Warner people, who were excellent. Errm... I'm sure that the Portuguese police are doing everything they can now.
La police portugaise, la pauvre, est sans expérience et démunie, donc ne fait pas grand chose. Heureusement que MW était là avec son bataillon de spécialistes de crise et d'avocats.



V. Van Gogh - Le vieil homme triste (1890)


Première conférence de presse (pool) avec questions
 
14.05.2007
Où l'on voit que les MC ont été de bons élèves et savent maintenant appliquer les principes que leur a inculqués Alex Woolfall : garder la main avec les médias.

Gerald MC : "Good morning. Kate and I would like to make a short statement regarding three main issues. We'd like to talk about the offers of support that we've had over the last few days, the role of the International Family Law Group, who were here over the weekend, and three, we'd like to talk about how we'd like to communicate with the media.
We will take two or three very short questions at the end of this statement but as you all understand we cannot talk about the investigation and I hope you understand that there are certain things that we are just not ready to talk about, at this time. First of all, you know that we've taken tremendous strength from the warmth and the, errm, spiritual outpouring which we have received here and from all around the world and that has given us great encouragement and hope that we will bring back Madeleine safely.
More recently there have been multiple offers of different forms of help, including many financial pledges of people wishing to help Madeleine. We warmly welcome these offers but this created a problem for us in that how we were going to deal with it.  We have brought in our lawyers to help us decide how to best use these offers of support to help us find Madeleine. Since the lawyers have come here we have visibly felt a burden being lifted from our shoulders because there's one less thing that we do not have to immediately think about and how we can coordinate them.
This has allowed us to concentrate more on our own physical and mental well-being. We do need to spend more time at this point considering ourselves, our family - who's Sean and Amelie - and contemplating about the situation that we were in.
We do, of course, wish to keep communicating with the media and we would like to thank you all, publicly, for the excellent job you have done to keep Madeleine's profile so high. We believe, and have been advised, that this is essential in the search for her. Absolument le contraire des recommandations de la PJ. We would like all communications to continue through Alex, the Press Officer appointed by Mark Warner, who we believe have done an excellent job for us and the Mark Warner staff have looked after our every needs and making sure that that is the first priority." 


Jane Hill (BBC) : Mr McCann, you're... 
Jeremy Thompson : If I could ask you both, it's Jeremy Thompson from Sky News, we'd like to thank you for coming out and talking to us this morning. You talked about your physical and mental well-being, can I ask you both how you are feeling and how you're coping?
GMC : "It's obviously extremely difficult. We have had excellent help from a travel trauma... errr, consultant, who really has enabled us to utilise tools to help us look forward and direct... the emotions that we... that are negative and to try to put the speculation out of our heads and channel everything into looking forwards. And as far as we are concerned, until there is concrete evidence to the contrary we believe that Madeleine is safe and being looked after and that is how we can continue in our efforts."Le même homme qui, dix jours avant, parlait de ces cochons de pédophiles !


JH : Mr McCann, we're live on the BBC... Mr Mc... (drowned out by 3/4 people asking questions at the same time)
GMC : One at a time please."

JH : Oh, sorry.
Unidentified : How long do you think you will stay here in Portugal?

GMC : Kate?
Kate MC : I mean I... we can't even consider returning home at the moment. Absolutely, can't even let it enter my head... 


GMC : "Take one more question... "
JH : Errr, we're live on the BBC. You've spoken about not leaving any stone unturned. What are your concrete plans over the next few days and weeks?
GMC : "Obviously, you know, the thrust of the search for Madeleine is the investigation, which we are fully supporting. We have brought in the lawyers, really, to advise us what else can be done. I don't know what that is at the minute. You have seen that the family, and close friends back home, in contact with us, are doing everything that we feel in our power to keep the publicity high, and that has been our thrust and main actions at this time. We will have to consider that, with the experts advice, and taking advice from all the many different agencies that are involved and really that's why we can't do that on our own."

JH : There's been some talk of bringing in...
GMC : "Last... last question... "  
JH : "... private investigators... "
GMC : Pardon?"(to someone else)
 
Unidentified : What do people back home in the UK do to help you?
GMC : Well, I think that... I hope that... they have taken despair, which we were feeling, and partly from the strength that they have also received from us, when we've spoken to them, and they have really taken on what we have said, that we must look forward and turn thoughts into actions. And you can see from the many different things, all of the appeals, all of the... errm, poster initiatives etc. People distributing posters at international airports - that is thoughts being turned into action and really it's about publicising her disappearance. The experts will tell us any specifics. That's all the questions we can take at this time...

JT : Can I... Can I just ask you one more thing before...
GMC :  Sorry, that's all we can take at the minute.
(Gerry and Kate walk away)
JT : I wondered if you had a message for the person who may be holding her?
(Gerry and Kate continue walking away)



Deuxième conférence de presse avec questions
22.05.2007

Gerald MC : Good afternoon. As you know, yesterday I spent the day in the UK attending a series of meetings. I met with our legal team and the police and the discussions we had were extremely productive. Later on I also visited the incident room in Leicester along with other family members, which was extremely informative and encouraging. Kate and I are particularly pleased with the joint appeal organised by the British and Portuguese police. We would encourage anyone who has photographs to submit them to the police. They can be uploaded on the website 
www.Madeleine.CEOP upload.com
I'll just give you that again (repeats) And we'd also be grateful if you could give them any information which you think will assist the police on 0800 0961233. (1)
Later on yesterday afternoon, I also had a meeting with the Madeleine's Fund directors and the trustee solicitor responsible for setting up the Fund. With immediate effect we are going to try and appoint... appoint an interim manager to assist in the management of the Fund and shortly we will be looking to appoint a campaign manager. The campaign manager's role will be to extend and coordinate our family campaign, organised by ourselves and friends, to keep Madeleine's profile high across Europe.
Kate and I will play a key part in that campaign. We will travel wherever is necessary to ensure people across Europe recognise Madeleine's picture and we will encourage them to come forward with any information which might lead to Madeleine's safe return. As you are aware, both of us have taken a great deal of strength from our faith in this... errm, very difficult time. Tomorrow we want to visit the Shrine at Fatima to pray for Madeleine's return to us. Kate? (2)
Kate MC : Gerry's telling me about the overwhelming support he received yesterday... errm, back home and especially his visit to Rothley. The love and messages he received are very moving. Both of us are really grateful for all the support we've had. It keeps us... gives us strength and keeps us focussed. And I can't emphasise that enough. We're also overwhelmed by the response to the Fund and the number of people... errm, using the website is unbelievable. I want to thank everyone for everything they're doing. I strongly believe it well help us in our search for Madeleine. So, thank you for that. I would like to add that we're both really pleased that Paige, the young girl who went missing on Sunday, was safely reunited with her parents yesterday. Thank you.

Ian Woods (Sky News) : Gerry, I know that you've been getting lots of money in. People will want to know how you're going to spend that. I mean, I know, one of the thoughts was to hire private investigators. Is that the case and what input do you think they can have that perhaps the Portuguese police haven't had to date?
GMC : Okay, I'll tell you the... the first thing in terms of the Fund which... there's... there's no payments been made out the Fund yet and that's why we need the manager in. Errm, there will be quite significant legal expenses and I've already explained to you since the legal team has come in to advise us that has lifted a great burden from our shoulders. (3)  So, you know, there will be considerable expenses there. The second thing is, we will fund the website which we think is a great vehicle for information regarding Madeleine's disappearance. And there is links from our findmadeleine.com website back to the police appeal websites.
We will have administrative costs and I think the next major cost after that will be the campaign manager. Taking your question on, back to the private investigators. I'd like to reiterate what we've already said. The thrust of this investigation will be the criminal investigation which is being... errr, run by the Portuguese police with assistance from the British police. (4)
As you know, our family strongly believe that somebody in the public holds a key piece of information and that's why we have campaigned so vigorously to make sure her disappearance is... errr, publicised as much as possible. Regarding the specific point about the private investigators, we've taken advice about the level and the extensive resources both in this country and in the UK which are being... errr, directed and... to Madeleine's search and, at this stage, we don't see a role for private investigators. 

BBC News : Mr and Mrs McCann, for BBC News. Errm, you said you will travel across Europe. Now, do you know when you're gonna go, where you're gonna go, is that dependant upon alleged sightings of Madeleine, and also at some point, you're gonna have to go home?
GMC : Okay, I think we'll take... take that as two points there. The first point... errm, about sightings of Madeleine. We've clarified that with the British police if they... if the information comes back to the British police, and I'm assuming it's the same for the Portuguese police if the information comes through here, Interpol will direct local inquiries through local police and it will be done through the local authorities. I think, if we weren't certain that those inquiries were conducted to our absolute... errr, satisfaction we could consider sending someone out to investigate locally. (5) Tell me the second bit of your question? (laughs)

BBC : At some point, you're gonna have to think about going home?
GMC : Okay, you said about which bits of Europe we actually want to travel to. Now that is... what we're going to do currently is monitor the media exposure... errr, throughout Europe, in the first instance, and then we will decide along with our campaign manager and our press team that are around us where we need to go to have maximum impact. Regarding your question about going home, Kate and I are nowhere near ready to leave Portugal and head home. 

? : In terms of your international campaign. Should we read into that... that Madeleine is in another country. What's your intuition as parents?
GMC : I think what we can say at the minute is we don't know that she's in Portugal, we don't know that, and therefore if we don't know that for certain we have to consider the possibility that she has... errr, crossed borders. (6) Errm, and all we're doing is starting to spread... errr, the net, far and wide, until we get... and we are very... I'd like to repeat, we are very hopeful that this latest appeal will lead to key information, whether it comes from Portugal or the UK or further afield, but, you know, we just want to ensure that the net is spread far and wide, in the first instance, and we are concentrating in continental Europe at this time.

? : Can I... can I ask, that after so long, you've... you're now 19 days, do you have any... any new appeal or any new thoughts of sending a message to the person who took Madeleine?
GMC : No, we're... we're going to wait and see what the response is from this current appeal and we're here to re-emphasise that appeal and support it.

Jane Hill (BBC) : You said you were encouraged...
Nick Robinson (BBC) : ... they have a suspect. How much information are you receiving from the police about the investigation here?
GMC : Errr, I don't want to comment too much about the investigation. Errr, in general terms, terms of suspects, and I know there's been a lot of media... errm, response to that. I would say, as a family, and I hope that everyone else here treats all suspects the way that we would hope to be treated and that they are presumed innocent until someone is charged, arrested and convicted of any criminal offence. Errr, we have been assured by the British police that the information that we get is similar to what you would expect to get at home. And, you know, we don't want too much detail. When there's real developments we want to know about them.

Sandra Felgueiras (RTP) : But did you know Robert Murat?
GMC : I'm not going to comment on that. (coughs) 

JH : You said you were encouraged by... errr, speaking to the police in... in Britain. I... I wonder... what words of encouragement they were able to give you or what it was that gave you encouragement?
GMC : We've already mentioned that... errr, positivity gives us strength. There is a good feel when I was back home, everyone was vibrant - I don't know if that came from us in the first place but, you know, there was a lot of really strong messages that people believe that Madeleine'll be returned safely, as do we. Errr, what was very encouraging about the incident room was seeing the number of people working there, how they processed the information and the excellent state-of-the-art technology used to process that information. And, there are many similarities, I would say, to what happens in medicine in terms of literature searching and identifying things. And really, you know, we came away very reassured about how that information is processed and very importantly fed back to the Portuguese police incident room here and they have a clear... errr, IT link which has been operating for over 10 days. So, all of that is encouraging. (7)

? : Gerry, it must have been difficult (inaudible) yourself yesterday for the first time..
Clarence Mitchell : (aside to GMC) Make this the last one.
GMC : We'll make this the last question and maybe Kate and I can both comment on it. It was extremely difficult to leave here without Kate and when we went into Rothley, it was... you know, we should have been coming home as a family of five. There's no doubt about that. (aside to Kate) Do you have anything to say?
KMC : (long pause) I mean it was... it was quite moving for me to see Gerry in Rothley and... errm, again it's just emphasised to us how much support we've got there and everywhere really and that really helps.
CM : (to MC) Okay?
GMC : (to media) Thank you.
KMC : (to media) Thank you.
CM : (to media) Thanks, very much.


(1) Ce numéro de téléphone appartient au CEOP. Où l'on voit clairement que Gerald MC, après s'être félicité de l'appel conjoint des polices britannique et portugaise, profite des médias pour parier sur la première sur laquelle il semble exercer un certain contrôle.
(2) Cette campagne dite "familiale" avec fonds, manager et couverture médiatique laisse franchement rêveur. Si Madeleine a été kidnappée et si la campagne est à la une de toute la presse européenne et pas seulement, quel kidnappeur assez malin pour la soustraire sans tambour ni trompette l'exhibera sur la scène internationale ?
(3) Gerald MC a déclaré cela dans une conférence de presse précédente. Il passe sous silence le fait que Control Risks travaille sur l'affaire, mais ce n'est pas le fonds qui paie. On ne comprend pas pourquoi il faut une équipe d'avocats.
(4) Gerald MC est prudent, le loi portugaise interdit les enquêteurs privés tant que l'enquête officielle est en cours. Control Risk semble agir incognito.
(5) Gerald MC a l'impassibilité de ceux qui ont certes perdu un objet précieux, mais un objet.
(6) Selon la même étrange logique il devrait considérer que, faute de savoir si Madeleine a franchi des frontières, elle est peut-être au Portugal. Plus on cherche loin, mieux on cherche ?
(7) 8 ans plus tard, on se demande vraiment quelle sorte d'information a été traitée de manière si remarquable..

 
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