Michael Barrymore belittles the father of the late Stuart Lubbock by taking to Instagram to join those mocking the new investigation into the murder as “parasites”
Michael Barrymore is a man with no heart. Aside from no doubt encouraging Twitter to suspended Terry Lubbock, the father of the man who died in his swimming pool, the disgraced entertainer has now taken to Instagram to like comments attacking a Channel 4 programme about the matter as “parasites.”
Barrymore – who happily accepted £60,000 to appear on Piers Morgan and admit that he knows more about what happened that night than he has ever told police, but would not agree to face Terry Lubbock in person – should be utterly ashamed of himself.
A father of two it is now believed was murdered on 31st March 2002 at this ghastly individual’s home. At least nine people were present including the victim, Stuart Lubbock, and Barrymore, in the most cowardly fashion, fled the scene before the police arrived. It is time he stopped behaving so abhorrently and it is time he told the truth.
Barrymore: The Body in the Pool airs on Thursday 6th February at 9pm on Channel 4.
Pictured top: Disgraced entertainer Michael Barrymore rolling around on the floor with the disgraced convicted racist Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben.
Stuart Lubbock was MURDERED claims new detective investigating his death in Michael Barrymore’s swimming pool; his father, meanwhile, has his Twitter account suspended
This Thursday on Channel 4 at 9pm, a new documentary will air about the death of Stuart Lubbock on 31st March 2001 in a swimming pool at the home of the since rightly disgraced ‘entertainer’ Michael Barrymore.
Barrymore: The Body in the Pool will feature new allegations from a police detective, DCI Stephen Jennings, that Lubbock was raped and deliberately murdered and thus will set in motion a new investigation into the case of a man found with severe anal injuries.
As we reported in September 2019, many questions remain unanswered in this case and of the nine present that night, according to Barrymore – a man disgustingly paid £60,000 for an interview with Piers Morgan in which he declared as much himself – honesty has never been their policy.
Stuart Lubbock – A divorced father of two and a man most definitely an innocent victim of a crime most ghastly at the home of the master of deception that is Michael Barrymore. Why, one asks, is the former entertainer willing to go back on TV at a time when he refuses to meet face to face with the father of someone who died at his home?An aerial shot of the scene of the CRIME that shows the very swimming pool where Stuart Lubbock died. In the aftermath Barrymore claimed he could not swim. His now late ex-wife, Cheryl, later proved otherwise.It is an outrage that Terry Lubbock has been suspended by Twitter for allegedly “violating” their “rules” just as, finally, a real investigation into his son’s death has begun.
Speaking to the Daily Star and declaring he will be making a “fresh appeal for people to step forward to help find Stuart Lubbock’s killer,” DCI Jennings stated:
“I believe very much that Stuart Lubbock was raped and murdered that night. he scene was secured but not to the standard that we would expect, hence the reason that people were allowed back in there, and we know items have now gone missing. After we’d managed to photograph the scene, items have gone missing and we’ve never seized them.”
An unnamed spokesman for Essex Police added:
“In the aftermath of Stuart’s death on March 31 2001, a forensic assessment was carried out of the scene at the house in Roydon over the proceeding days. This included the capturing of photographs and video of the scene.”
“During that process two items recorded as being within the scene – namely a thermometer and pool door handle – went missing.”
“As these items have never been recovered and forensically tested their evidential importance is not known and it cannot be ruled out that they were used to inflict injuries upon Stuart.”
Elsewhere on Twitter this morning, Stuart Lubbock’s father, Terry, has bizarrely had his account suspended. We say shame on Michael Barrymore – who cowardly fled the scene before police arrived to investigate the death – for likely having caused this occurrence.
Pictured top: Most suitable bedfellows – Michael Barrymore rolling around drunk on the floor with the convicted racist and all-round cretin Marie-Claire, Baroness von Alvensleben.
This “sweet, matronly looking woman” killed her partner John Price, skinned him, boiled his head in a pot and served up his body parts to his children with baked potatoes and gravy in February 2000. Katherine Knight – a woman who proudly kept knives above her bed so that they “would always be handy if [she] needed them” – was the first Australian to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in October 2001.
A mother of four and an enthusiastic “cutter up of offal” at her local abattoir, Knight was described as having a “screw loose somewhere” by her own mother and even tried to strangle her husband on their wedding night. She unsuccessfully attempted to appeal her sentence in 2006, continues to show no signs of remorse and will rot in jail for the rest of her life.
Matthew Steeples suggests it is right that Michael Barrymore’s payout from the police is reduced from £2.4 million to a “nominal” sum and suggests ITV develops a moral compass in regard to helping him achieve a comeback
In recent days, in some quarters, there has been outrage that the “entertainer” Michael Barrymore lost the chance of receiving a £2.4 million payout from the police for what he considers to have been his “wrongful arrest” in regard to the rape and murder of a 31-year old in the swimming pool of his then home in 2001.
With Essex Police now only being required to pay “nominal damages” and them also seeking costs from the entertainer – whose real name is Michael Ciaran Parker – one now must question the judgment of ITV in allowing this strange man back onto our screens several times this year.
Allegedly now seeking a “television comeback,” it must be remembered that though the police may not have followed the correct procedures for his arrest – “the arresting officer, PC Cootes, was not fully aware of the grounds for arrest … and not by reason of a lack of reasonable grounds to suspect the claimant” – a man died on Barrymore’s property whilst he was present. That man, Stuart Lubbock, and his family have never had justice and that is what we should all be actually getting worked up about.
Pictured above: A plainly inebriated Michael Barrymore rolling around on the floor with the convicted racist and party crasher Baroness Marie-Claire von Alvensleben.
Though considered one of society’s “Bright Young Things,” the “morally dubious” daughter of Sir John and Lady Mullens was just a tempestuous coke addict who got away with murder.
Separated from her supposedly violent American singer husband, John Sterling Barney, and living with an “extravagant, bisexual waster” named Michael Scott Stephen in 1932, Elvira Mullens Barney gave a dinner party at her “prodigally furnished” Knightsbridge home – known as the ‘Love Hut’ – at 21 William Mews on the 30th May that year. Early the next morning, shouts of: “Get out, get out! I will shoot you! I will shoot you!” were heard in the mews followed by: “Chicken, chicken, come back to me. I will do anything you want me to.”
Undoubtedly the inspiration for Eveleyn Waugh’s character Agatha Runcible in Vile Bodies and possibly also Elvira in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, Mullens Barney’s single shot at close range with a .32 Smith & Wesson revolver killed her lover in the doorway of their bedroom. On her arrest, she launched into an “uncontrollable violent outburst and paroxysm of rage” and “slapped a policeman in the face when he suggested she put on a warmer fur coat.” She is said to have then added: “I’ll teach you to say you will take me to a police station. Now you know who my mother is you’ll be a little more careful in what you say and do to me!”
Placed in a private cell at Holloway Prison with a “telephone, powder-puffs and a grand tea-gown” whilst awaiting trial at the Old Bailey, Mullens Barney was ultimately surprisingly cleared of both murder and manslaughter on 5th July 1932. As he left court, the judge at the trial, Mr Justice Humphreys exclaimed: “Most extraordinary! Apparently we should have given her a pat on the back” whilst Mullens Barney was said to have headed to a celebration party and shouted: “I am the one who shot her lover – so take a good look at me” as she took to the dance floor.
To escape public and press outrage, “spoilt child of fortune” Mullens Barney moved to France. She was found dead on Christmas Day 1936 after “a typical long night of drinking and taking cocaine” in a hotel room in Paris with signs of haemorrhage around her mouth. Her sister, Avril, meanwhile made her third husband divorcé Ernest Simpson (whose ex-wife Wallis had become wife to Edward VIII in 1937) in 1948 and was killed in a car crash in Mexico in 1978.
Brothers and victims of parental abuse Erik and Lyle Menendez to be rightly reunited in prison after 22 years apart
Last autumn’s Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders brought renewed interest in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers jailed for life without parole in 1996 for the murder of their parents despite compelling evidence of their having been subject to appalling abuse by the very people meant to protect them.
Yesterday, after 22 years of incarceration without sight of one another, it was announced that the brothers would finally be placed in the same jail “shortly.”
“Erik and Lyle were never a danger to anyone besides the parents who terrorised them all their lives. Sending them to separate prisons without even the privilege of speaking to one another for 22 years was just plain cruelty. There are lots of brothers in prison together. I am delighted that they will be reunited. For anyone who’s counting, they’ve now been incarcerated for 28 years. But miracles do happen!”
Elsewhere on Facebook on Wednesday, Lyle Menendez himself commented:
“I would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentines’ Day. I adore my wife today more than I ever have after so many years together. She has been with me throughout this long journey and will be as we embark on a new one.”
“As most of you know, my brother and I have been separated for almost 22 years – captured so tragically on Law & Order. We have been working for the past 6 years to get the Corrections Department to place us together. I have requested to be transferred to San Diego to be with Erik. It has been a long torturous ordeal but never did I feel hopeless.”
“I am very grateful to announce that on Monday the request was finally granted. Erik and I will be reunited in the very near future. We will keep you posted!”
“I would like to thank the huge number of people across the country who felt strongly that my brother and I should be together and took the time to pray for that result and wish us well.”
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Neglected Georgian mansion that has been home to Sir Dirk Bogarde, Basil Dearden, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Matt Aitken and Robert Kilroy-Silk for sale for 39% less than it sold for in 2014
A dilapidated Grade II* listed country house whose extensive roster of owners numbers aristocrats, rock and film stars and politicians is on sale for £3.95 million or 39% less from the £6.5 million sum it sold for in 2014.
Built for the Duke of Buckingham in the 1600s and extending to 10,743 square foot, Beel House in Little Chalfont, near Amersham in Buckinghamshire stands in 13.5 acres of land. It comprises of a 7 reception room, 8 bedroom, 6 bathroom main house and also comes with an indoor swimming pool complex, a tennis court and garaging for 5 cars.
Home to The Hon. Lady Caroline Cavendish in the 1830s and Colonel Abram ‘Arthur’ Lyle of the Tate & Lyle dynasty from 1909 to 1920, Beel House was bought by the actor Sir Dirk Bogarde in a “dilapidated state” in 1954. Of discovering it, Bogarde, who had been renting a cottage in the close vicinity on the Bendrose Estate, stated:
“[The actress Kay Kendall and I] walked across muddy fields from my rented home to look at Beel House. It was a horror. Bleak and empty, few of its twenty-six rooms caught the sun, and the garden surrounding it was a tangle of overgrown rosebeds. Inside it seemed a labyrinth of corridors and stone passages. It was painted throughout in dejected yellow and brown and each room had a rusty gas fire in it.”
Bogarde made significant changes to the building and pulled down a wing of 11 rooms. In their place, he built a swimming pool and a 30-foot long conservatory in the grounds – which Kay Kendall later described as looking like “an out patients’ department” – and it seems he spent several happy years there. He moved to another property nearby named Drummer’s Yard in 1960 and sold Beel House to Basil Dearden, the director of The Assassination Bureau, Khartoum and The Man Who Haunted Himself.
An aerial photo of Beel House, Little Chalfont, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP7 9QP, United Kingdom
Images of the exterior of Beel House in the 1950s
Actor Anthony Forwood, Sir Dirk Bogarde’s eventual “life partner,” at Beel House with his dogs Sinuhe and Bogie; Sir Dirk Bogarde in his study at the house
Sir Dirk Bogarde outside Beel House with one of many Rolls-Royces he owned and inside on the house’s main staircase
Film director Basil Dearden, owner of Beel House between 1960 and 1966, worked with Sir Dirk Bogarde on the controversial film ‘Victim’ in 1961; it was the first English language film to use the word “homosexual” and of it one Italian critic remarked: “At last the British have stopped being hypocrites”
Dearden sold up in 1966 and the next famous owners were Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s. It was whilst here that Mr Osbourne “decided to murder his wife” and of the ensuing incident on 3rd September 1989, the Amersham Museum’s website reports:
“Ozzy Osbourne put the house up for sale after he had been arrested for the attempted murder of his wife whilst living at Beel House. After taking a cocktail of drugs and drinking heavily during a family meal at the Chinese restaurant at Nightingales Corner he attacked his wife and was subsequently arrested. He had no memory of the attack but the conditions of his bail were that he entered a rehab centre, did not contact his wife and did not return to Beel House.”
Marketed for £1.75 million in 1991, unsurprisingly Sharon Osbourne, herself, did not have much positive to say about her time at Beel House either. In her 2006 autobiography, Extreme, she remarked:
“I decided I wanted to go back to England. By this time we had already sold Beel House. I had enough bad memories not to be too sorry to see it go. Also it had reached what the builder called the domino point: mending one thing only triggered something else that needed to be done.”
Images of Beel House during the ownership of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne (photographs by Conrad Rickenbacker)
Robert Kilroy-Silk at Beel House prior to his appearance on ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here’ in November 2008
The house as furnished by Robert Kilroy-Silk and his wife Jan Beech, circa 2014
Matt Aitken, the composer of chart toppers for Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley and Bananarama, supposedly lived at Beel House for a period subsequently and in the 1990s, the property was sold to the “exotically handsome man, with a very un-English facial glow and ice blue eyes” Robert Kilroy-Silk and his wife, Jan Beech.
Controversial television personality Mr Kilroy-Silk, an MP from 1974 to 1986 and an MEP from 2004 to 2009, brought with him a herd of fallow deer as well as Vietnamese pheasants and bantams to Beel House. He lived between there and his home in Spain and then sold up for the staggering sum of £6.5 million in 2014 to an “international buyer” who, according to Country Life’s Penny Churchill, immediately found “it ‘surplus to requirements’ and put it straight back on the market” through Savills.
Of the estate, which by then had been for sale for three years, in October 2017, then selling agent Hugh Maconochie told the Bucks Free Press:
“In many respects Beel House is the archetypal country residence: a Grade II* listed home in the heart of the Chilterns, beautiful grounds and easy access to London by both rail and road. Yet, while it was completely refurbished in the 1980s – new garaging, games block and swimming pool complex included – its current state necessitates a complete restoration project.”
“For those seeking a country residence to move straight into, Beel House is not the home for them. Instead it would appeal to a buyer looking to restore and revive a Georgian gem. A reduction in price over the years reflects the refurbishment that’s required.”
Empty and plainly somewhat neglected, Edward Welton of Knight Frank’s Baker Street office is now marketing the property. His firm describes Beel House as: “An exciting opportunity for a full restoration project, giving someone the chance to create their own style on a private estate, so close to London.”
Beel House – The Names and Numbers
November 2017 – Further reduced to just £3.95 million ($5.29 million, €4.47 million or درهم19.44 million) through Knight Frank.
January 2017 – Reduced to £4.95 million ($6.63 million, €5.61 million or درهم24.37 million) through Savills.
November 2015 – For sale again for £6.5 million ($8.7 million, €7.4 million or درهم32 million) through Savills.
2014 – Sold to “an international buyer” by Robert Kilroy-Silk for “close to” the £6.5 million ($8.7 million, €7.4 million or درهم32 million) asking price.
June 1991 – For sale for £1.75 million (the equivalent of £3.45 million, $4.62 million, €3.91 million or درهم16.98 million today).
October 1989 – Placed for sale by media personalities Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne.
1966 – Placed on the market by Basil Dearden for £66,000 (the equivalent of £1.1 million, $1.5 million, €1.2 million or درهم5.4 million today).
Circa 1960 – Sold to film director Basil Dearden (1911 – 1971).
January 1954 – Sold to actor Sir Dirk Bogarde (1921 – 1999) for £4,000 (the equivalent of £101,000, $135,000, €114,000 or درهم497,000 today).
1836 to 1954 – Part of the estate of the Lowndes family, largescale landowners in the Chesham, Buckinghamshire area. During this time tenants included The Hon. Lady Caroline Cavendish and from 1909 to 1920 by Colonel Abram Lyle (of the Tate & Lyle dynasty).
1730 – Valued at £500 (the equivalent of £99,000, $133,000, €112,000 or درهم487,000 today) by Sun Insurance whilst home to Thomas White of Middle Temple.
1672 to 1682 – Home to Mary Pennington, the mother-in-law of the Quaker founder of the State of Pennsylvania, William Penn.
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Previously publicity shy Menéndez brothers both speak publicly about killing their parents in the wake of the success of NBC’s ‘Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders’
Erik and Lyle Menéndez, the brothers convicted of murdering their allegedly abusive multi-millionaire parents José and Mary ‘Kitty’ Menéndez at their home in Beverly Hills, California in 1989, have generally been pretty quiet in the years since their conviction at their second trial in 1994.
Now, however, in the wake of the immense success of NBC’s eight-part series, Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, about the case Erik Menéndez has given his first interview since 2005 to A&E. Set to be screened in America on 30th November, The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All will also include previously unseen photographs and new interviews with family and friends.
In two trailers for the show, Erik, now 46, speaks through the phone from the Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California and states:
“I’m Erik Menéndez… I’m serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. I’ve heard many different versions of my life told in the media, and those stories are fictional. I think it’s time people hear the truth in my own words without the restrictions of a courtroom.”
“From the moment after, I wanted to go back in time. It was so wrong. I didn’t want my parents dead – I just wanted the abuse to stop. Years and years of pain exploded that night in an unimaginable violence. It is my own personal hell.”
“My only hope in speaking out is that people have a more complete understanding of the events that led up to my actions on the night of 20th August and really a fuller picture of what happened in my life.”
“All I can hope for is that people will come to realise that the truth is not a simple one-line explanation that many people have tried to make it out to be. That really, that my life was unfolding of a complicated life that I lived that had all of these things that came into being and that led up to what is an ongoing and enduring family tragedy.”
“The tragedy didn’t end on that night, as devastating as that night was. It didn’t end there for my family, and it continues on to this day, and that sadness is something that I am trying to make up for them and with my parents for the rest of my life. It will never end.”
A photograph of José Menéndez with his sons Erik and Lyle on his knee; references have been made to the situation of José Menéndez’s right hand to be evidence of his highly inappropriate relationship with his children
Elsewhere, on the @MenendezBrothers Facebook page this weekend, through an intermediary seemingly in his presence at the Mule Creek State Prison where he is housed in Ione, California, Lyle Menéndez participated in what appeared to be a live Facebook chat.
Aside from sounding quite upbeat and referencing how his second wife (he has married twice since being imprisoned) had visited him earlier in the day, Lyle answered a question about which Spice Girl he liked most with the answer “Posh, of course!” and stated that “no one is good enough to play [me] for it be enjoyable” of “paddle tennis” in the prison. He shared news that he is “currently re-reading Shogun” as it is “a book centered [sic] around great patience and spirit under terrible circumstances” and in response to a question about what music he likes most added: “I like the stories that country music tells so for me it is most uplifting to listen to country music. It puts me in touch with my emotions. But I do like all sorts of music.”
More tellingly, especially given he is likely never to leave prison during his lifetime, Lyle, in referencing a question about the unauthorised @FreetheMenendezBrothers Facebook page stated:
“People have filled me in. We are not affiliated with it in any way. We have told people that writing letters to the governor right now is not helpful to our release and could actually be a detriment. We know that it is frustrating to people but these are serious legal matters that have very specific avenues that require serious legal planning. I know it is frustrating and that we cannot stop people, but what I am saying now are my wishes.”
Plainly this statement shows that Lyle still has hope that he could actually be released and given that the allegations of appalling abuse and sexual assault by their parents seem to be finally attracting worthy examination also, it does indeed seem time that the severity of the duo’s sentences again be looked at.
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As Lyle Menéndez creates a Facebook page about the case against him and his brother Erik, a juror contacts ‘The Steeple Times’ and brands their conviction for killing their wealthy parents “imperfect self-defence”
Renewed interest in the 1989 murders of the multi-millionaires José and Mary ‘Kitty’ Menéndez by their sons, Erik and Lyle, has accompanied NBC’s screening of their fascinating new eight-part Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders.
Consequently discussion has intensified and aside from Lyle Menéndez creating a Facebook page this month where interested parties can read about the slayings and the alleged abuse he and his brother were subjected to, a juror in the first trial contacted The Steeple Times to share her thoughts on the eventual outcome.
In an email to editor-in-chief Matthew Steeples, a juror in the first case brought against Erik Menéndez and author of Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez JurorHazel Thornton remarked:
We were given the choice of:
– First degree murder (what the men wanted)
– Second degree murder
– Voluntary manslaughter (what the women wanted)
– Involuntary manslaughter
It was widely reported that the women were 1) in love with the M brothers, 2) enamored with defense attorney Leslie Abramson (that part is true; I consider her to be a hero and am thrilled that LOTC [Law & Order True Crime] Menendez is focused on her character), 3) voting emotionally, not logically, and 4) too stupid to understand the jury instructions.
Also, that we wanted to let them go free. No one voted to acquit. Acquittal was not on the table. We didn’t even vote for Involuntary manslaughter.
But we did think the defense was strong enough that it may have happened exactly as they said –that they were in fear of their lives, rightly or wrongly, at the very moment of the killings. It’s called ‘imperfect self-defense’.
Elsewhere in today’s The Steeple Times, we interview Zach Tinker – the actor who plays Erik Menéndez’s classmate, Craig Cignarelli.
Lyle Menéndez (left) and Erik Menéndez (right) in prison photographs in more recent years
The brothers continue to allege they were abused by the wealthy parents they slayed, Kitty and José Menéndez
722 North Elm Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 – The home where the Menéndez brothers committed their crimes on 20th August 1989; the house had previously been the residence of both Elton John and Prince in years prior
A tweet by juror in first trial Hazel Thornton containing a Facebook post by Lyle Menéndez about his views on her book
Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders is available to watch in the UK on Sky Living and below an unedited Facebook post from Lyle Menéndez follows:
I thank my family for helping me with this page. I don’t have internet access so this site depends on them. I have been told that setting up this page will open me up to ridicule and criticism. That’s probably true, but it’s something I’m already used to. It is very hard to accept that sexual assault can be the punchline of jokes or the subject of ridicule, but it has occurred–to me–and to many others. If I am mocked for this page, the shame of that belongs on the mocker and not on me or anyone who shares their story here. There is, quite simply, nothing funny about child rape or other abuse.
The purpose of this page is not to debate the clearly wrong actions that I took. The purpose is to provide a safe place for people to talk about their similar experiences and find comfort in others who have suffered in silence in the same way. Those of us who have suffered abuse understand the healing power of sharing our experiences.
I have received thousands of letters from people all over the world who have heard about my experiences and connected with them or simply had empathy for me and my brother. When I first started to receive the letters, I answered every one. But, eventually, I became overwhelmed. Still – whether I answered them or not – I read all the letters and my heart ached for each person brave enough to share, and I was inspired by the strength it took every person to take pen to paper and pour out their hearts.
In fact, I testified every day at my trial in 1993 with a letter of an abuse survivor in my pants pocket to give me courage. The letters I receive to this day continue to give me courage and strength.
With the resurgence of interest in our case and the prevalence of social media, I’m now in a better position to be able to create a place for those of you who want to reach out to me. Even more, this format gives us all the opportunity to create a community of compassion, empathy, inspiration and strength. I hope you will share your stories here and that we can build something positive from something so negative. I hope that we can all be survivors, lift each other up when we need it, and show everyone that by supporting each other, we can not just survive but thrive.
If you write to me here, I will be read your posts, through my family, and I will respond sometimes. We can help each other. But this page is less about me and more about all of us helping each other. There is a community here. But please keep in mind that neither I nor anyone in my family is a professional counselor, therapist, or any type of professional equipped to deal with the psychological and/or emotional issues that child abuse causes. I will be offering my support and advice as a fellow sufferer and survivor and not as any type of expert.
Like I said, I do not have the internet. This site depends on my family. If you see an “-a” after a comment that means that the administrator is the one commenting. And many conversations will be started by the administrator.
One final note: I have heard that social media can be the opposite of what I just described. Please know that hateful posts will not be approved and hurtful/hateful comments will be deleted by an administrator. Let’s make this a safe space.
For more information Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror about by Hazel Thornton, click here.
Funding for the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann must cease; £11 million spent with no result is evidence that enough is enough
Over £11 million has been spent in relation to the search for Madeleine McCann since the then 3-year old disappeared on 3rd May 2007. The result? Absolutely no progress and a lot of unanswered questions.
Now, with the last round of public funding given to the element of the search known as Operation Grange by Theresa May in March set to run out in September, is the time to end the search. Enough is enough and in spite that some would suggest that the chances of finding the disappeared child is still there, the fact of the matter is that in ten years of following leads that have led nowhere resources that could have been allocated to other missing people have been squandered.
Last week, a Metropolitan Police spokesman told The Sun:
“A lot of potentially significant images and material were captured on previous trips to Portugal and we are still working on all leads…. The investigation continues with focus and determination. It is not winding down, it is not grinding to a halt. It is on going.”
Such sentiments will no doubt leave such people as Kerry Needham – whose 21-month year old son, Ben, disappeared in Greece on 24th July 1991 – spitting feathers. As of 2015, a comparative sum of just £700,000 had been spent on attempts to find him and thus one is left asking why the child of two middle class medics is worth 93% more than the son of an ordinary working class woman.
In 2015, Ms Needham, after supporters of the McCanns cruelly suggested those backing her in her search for her child were “toxic”, remarked: “I have never criticised the McCann family. I have only every criticised the authorities for the way the two cases have been handled so differently.”
Kerry Needham
Missing Madeleine – Questions without Answers
Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:
Why did the McCanns refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?
Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 9’?
Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappear?
Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?
Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?
Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?
