As Portuguese Authorities Ponder Their Next
Step, Gerry and Kate McCann Proclaim Their Innocence and Focus on Finding Their
Missing Daughter
Emerging from Sunday Mass near her home in Rothley, England,
on Sept. 16, Kate McCann flashed a fleeting smile, one of her first since
daughter Madeleine, 4, went missing in Portugal in May. "They must
have been nervous coming to church," says Father Keith Tomlinson of Kate
and husband Gerry, who attended with twins Amelie and Sean, 2. "But they
sang, they did the responses." Added Gerry after the service: "It was
very comforting to be among friends and family praying for Madeleine today."
But there was no mistaking the anguish that haunts the couple. In her tote,
Kate carried Cuddle Cat, Madeleine's favorite stuffed toy, which has become a
totem of the family's ordeal—a heartbreaking reminder of their missing child
and of the surreal turn of events a week earlier in which the McCanns, both 39
and physicians, were named suspects in her disappearance.
Through it all, they've drawn strength from friends and family who have spoken
out on their behalf—and let them know they're not alone. "They're amazingly
strong; they're very together," says Linda McQueen, Sean's godmother.
"They have their vulnerable moments, and their dark moments probably as
well, but with us friends and very close family, it's a group holding each
other together." That protective network has helped the couple resume the
semblance of a normal life. "When they're not running around or in
meetings," says Gerry's sister Philomena McCann, "they spend their
time with each other and the twins." Beyond their inner circle, the
McCanns continue to get support from Britain's A-list: mogul Sir Richard
Branson just announced he was donating $200,000 to help cover their mounting
legal bills.
Back in Portugal, a judge
was reviewing 10 volumes of evidence, and was expected to get back to
prosecutors with further instructions, possibly authorizing more searches or
additional questioning of the McCanns in England. The dearth of new
developments in the police case, however, did nothing to stop the continuing
swirl of innuendo and criticism in the European press. "What happened to
the facts?" says Gerry's brother John McCann. One of the latest press
bombshells came in a report in a French newspaper, France Soir, which contended there was evidence Madeleine
had swallowed "a large" dose of sleeping pills. The paper based the
report on what it said was an analysis of liquid found in the trunk of the car
rented by the McCanns 25 days after Madeleine went missing. But over the past
month the material supposedly found in the trunk has been variously described as
blood, fluid or hair—with still no confirmation that anything at all was
discovered.
Indeed the Portuguese press has been merciless in its coverage of Kate. One
paper said it would have been "immoral" if the McCanns had used
donated sperm in their fertility treatment to conceive Madeleine. (Speaking to Flash! magazine Kate said, "The
only thing I've ever been certain of in life is I've wanted to be a mum,"
adding that the first six months of Madeleine's life, when she had colic, were
"very difficult.")
But now a backlash against the harsh coverage seems to be building. One
spokesman for the Portuguese authorities reportedly resigned in protest over
leaks from the police to the press. And Pamela Fenn, an elderly neighbor of the
McCanns in Portugal,
who was quoted in the press questioning the couple's conduct, tells PEOPLE,
"Everything being written about me is rubbish."
For the McCann camp, a more measured approach cannot come soon enough. And now
they must wait for a break in a case that could come at any time—if it comes at
all. As Philomena McCann puts it, with all the suspicions the problem now is
that "Kate and Gerry are on the front page and not Madeleine. It's all
about them, which is not what they want."·
Contributors
Ellen Tumposky/Rothley
Pete Norman/London
Courtney Rubin/London
Sara Hammel/Switzerland
