Tuesday 4 October 2016

PEE IN THE POT OR GET OFF IT

Two years ago this week, Gerry McCann, the father of a missing child, demanded that an example be made of the internet 'trolls' he claimed were hounding and threatening his family online.  The McCann family or a 'group of concerned citizens' had compiled a dossier of 'offenders' and ex head of CEOP Jim Gamble and Sky's Martin Brunt took it from there. This was Jim Gamble's cleansing of social media at it's finest and a taster of his own particular form of justice.

The victim they selected, Brenda Leyland, hadn't in fact committed any crime, she, like myself and thousands of others simply refused to accept the establishment line that Madeleine McCann was abducted by a stranger.  The McCanns and those who assist them, truly believed they could stamp out all their critics with a gang of thugs patrolling the internet and via hard cash in the libel courts. To be fair, for a while there they succeeded. 

Unfortunately for Gerry McCann, Jim Gamble and Martin Brunt, their jackboot, vigilante tactics appalled the public, whatever Brenda had done, she did not deserve a public execution.  They selected Brenda because she was 'ordinary', but it was that ordinariness that made her everyone's mum, nan and aunty - the McCann couple, already seen as cold, were now chilling.

It is bizarre that two years on, Operation Grange seem as far from a conclusion as they were at the outset but probably not surprising.  The grisly details of what happened the night Madeleine disappeared have become the back story, it's what happened from that night onwards, that will make the Chilcott report look like a couple of hours of light reading. 

The incumbent Blair government perverted the course of justice.  There is no nice, or euphemistic way of putting it.  It was obvious to the first two Portuguese policemen on the scene that the abduction was staged, and ten years on, to anyone who looks at the facts without the 'but they are such a nice couple' blinkers, it still is.  The problem Operation Grange have, is that once they point the finger at Gerry and Kate, the entire house of cards will collapse.

What was said during Gerry's one to one chats with PMs Blair and Brown?  Or indeed between Kate and Cherie?  One thing we can be sure of, every word will be kept verbatim.  Are we to believe that two British Prime Ministers, with all the country's top advisors, police and Special Branch, were taken in by Gerry and Kate?  Not only were they taken in, they put the full services of the establishment at Team McCann's disposal.  That's an Oops right up there with Okily Dokily Mr. Bush.  

How many New Labour cabinet ministers were schmoozing the McCanns?  Or police chiefs attending their fund raising events?  Will the highly experienced and decorated Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and Jim Gamble explain how they were so misled by a couple of tricksters the average housewife could spot within seconds?  The unveiling of a fake abduction would reveal a sea of red faces and a scramble by those who should have known better to find excuses for supporting such an obvious scam. 

I kind of get the predicament Operation Grange finds themselves in and the difficulties they must have in releasing public statements.  At some point they will have to pee in the pot or get off it.  It has been clear for some time that OG are not looking for an abductor, which translates, 'we know who's responsible but we don't have enough to prosecute'.  Gerry's 'Nooooo evidence' mantra seems to be holding up quite well, but you can't keep throwing public money at an investigation that's going nowhere. 

Unfortunately, while the silence of Operation Grange might temporarily hold back the floodgates, (who dare publish while Gerry and Kate have so much on so much power over so many - including Amazon?), the walls of the dam could give at any time, and the entire team could look like procrastinating fools. You can imagine the water cooler chat, 'Seriously! Scotland Yard's finest didn't know?', following The Sun's serialisation of Kate's latest memoir 'Gotcha You Mugs!'. 

Those of us who know more about this case than is healthy, would argue the 'No Evidence' point quite vigorously, a quick google of Madeleine McCann, will not only throw up every rational argument for why the parents were involved, it will do it in alphabetical order and with pictures. 

Whatever is going on behind the scenes in an effort to limit the damage when Madeleine hits the headlines again, should not be used to take out members of the public.  And vigilant groups, even if they are 'establishment' ones, should not have the power to destroy lives. 

If I were Brenda's family, I would still be mad as hell, but I respect their right to privacy.  I think unless you understand the full horrors of the abuse of power in Madeleine's name, we 'McCann geeks' will always seem a little strange. My own adult sons think I am quite bonkers.  When justice finally arrives for Madeleine, Goncalo and all those 'destroyed' by the McCanns and their henchmen, I want to see Brenda's name cleared, public apologies for those vile troll headlines that drove the poor woman to her death.  The use of the word 'troll' has sinister undertones and it will be used unscrupulously by those intent on policing the internet and targeting dissenters.  In the case of Brenda it was used as a warning to others that spectacularly backfired. 

I think on this sad anniversary, it is important to remember the ghastly way in the full might of the establishment and the media were used to destroy the life of an ordinary woman who dared to question an obvious lie. 

RIP Brenda Leyland
  

___________________________________________

RIP BRENDA LEYAND (SWEEPYFACE)
originally posted 5th October 2014

So Sky's rolling news day on McCann trolls has resulted in the death of Brenda Leyland (Sweepyface) a middle aged lady angered by the lies of Gerry and Kate McCann. Seven years on, despite being suspects in the eyes of the rest of the world, in the UK they are still being treated like victims and being compensated financially.  No amount of money will satisfy Gerry and Kate, they have had over £4m, they also want the Laws to be changed so their crimes will never be reported.  We have had a news blackout in the UK for the past 7 years.  Why?

The McCanns didn't have any threats against them or their children.  Their witness claimed this in the Lisbon libel trial, but could not substantiate it.  Several months on, no-one has been arrested or charged for threatening the McCanns.  A bit like the abductor.

The biggest threat they could find to the McCanns was poor old Brenda, an obviously shy, timid lady who clearly presented no danger to the McCanns whatsoever.  But she was to be the scapegoat, the face of the cruel campaign against an innocent family.  She was the line of least resistance - had they doorstepped any of the more outspoken among us, we would have given them an interview they couldn't broadcast, on the hour, every hour, etc without Carter Ruck jumping down their throats - now re-employed by McCanns it seems and kerchinging nicely. 

Did Martin Brunt threaten her? If so, what with?  He had pretty much done the worst thing imaginable, but it clearly left her in great fear.  She fled from her village.  More doorstepping perhaps?  Her past raked up?  Did she have mental health issues?  Did any of her family?  Was she a vulnerable adult in any way? Surely Sky News would not have carried out such a catastrophic public attack without making a few basic checks? 

Were the McCanns going to go after her financially, as they have done with Goncalo Amaral, demand that she sell her house?  Was she facing threats of financial ruin? How could a regular person stand up to Carter Ruck? Her limited 'I thought I was entitled to' - portrayed her as ignorant, but what else did she say when she took the crew inside her house?

What did the police say to her?  Afaik, she was not arrested or cautioned, but did they give her a 'stern' taking to? And how stern was that talk?  Normal people with no criminal record or dealings with the police would be terrified. What Laws did Brenda break, if any?  Lets hope the police taped their interviews with her, if I were her family, I would demand they be revealed at the Inquest - and there should definitely be an Inquest.

However, Jim Gamble's hope of using 'outing' as a device to stop people asking questions about the McCanns, or indeed anything, has spectacularly backfired.  The consequences of such sinister threats have become all too apparent.  I would imagine legal talks are frantically underway as we speak, Sky News cannot just brush this off, they must at the very least, issue an apology to Brenda's family.  No Court in the world (maybe N.Korea or UK under McCann Rule) would have found Brenda guilty of anything.  If worse tweeters exist, then why didn't Sky go after them, why go after a fragile, quiet lady in a pretty village, who clearly posed no threat to the McCanns whatsoever.  The cynic in me pictures the McCanns looking up the property prices as one reason, but more likely the subliminal message was 'it could be you'.  There were threatening undertones in that news report, and more than a tinge of cruelty in the way the story was reported.  They couldn't hide their glee at exposing a respectable middle aged lady as a vicious internet troll to all her friends, family and neighbours. It was pitchforking at its very worst.

However, any gleeful thoughts Gamble and McCanns may have of outing people on a regular basis must now be treated with the seriousness it deserves, as Brenda's tragic death has proved.  The punishment Brenda received (based on no evidence) was way beyond anything a Court could have dished out.  It seemed more like payback, than a genuine news story,  Her face, and home, was broadcast every hour, on the hour, as she was publically labelled as a 'Hater', continually hounding the family of Madeleine McCann.  She wasn't.  She was angry at this blatant miscarriage of justice as many are.  Nothing she did deserved the kind of punishment she received.  The death of a child is always emotive, especially when those charged to uphold the law appear to be covering it up. Sky News acted as Judge, Jury and Executioner.  Brenda is dead because of what she was accused of, not because of what she did.  She probably said a lot more in that Sky interview than 'I thought I was entitled to', but will we ever know?  They wanted to label her as evil, and they did.
 
Brenda, bless her, knowingly or unknowingly, may well set off a chain of events that will bring about the final downfall of the McCanns and their minions.   Jim Gamble and the McCanns wanted to use her as an example of what will happen to anyone criticising them, but her suicide has turned the tables.  Now they have to justify what they have done to her. 





23 comments:

  1. Perhaps Gerry's mantra (as you like to put it) of "Nooooo evidence," is spoken simply because there is NO evidence that the McCanns or the rest of the so-called tapas group of friends, were in any way responsible for Madeleine's disappearance. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

    Your accusations against the Mccans, is akin to saying, "all guilty people claim they are innocent." If that were true, then what would innocent people say?

    Nor is there any evidence that Madeleine was at all harmed when she was abducted from 5a.

    Your blog vilifying the McCanns, contains not one scrap of evidence to back up your accusations. It can't. There is none.

    Why you should choose to support a corrupt and wholly incompetent failed police officer, of the likes of Amaral, is best left to your own conscience. As you are no doubt aware, two days after being put in charge of the Madeleine investigation, Amaral was made an aguido (official suspect) in relation to perverting the cause of justice, by falsifying police records; and covering up fof his buddy and fellow corrupt PJ officer Cristavao. Whilst in his overnight custody, the mother of yet another missing child on Amaral's patch (Johanna Cipriano) was brutally tortured and forced to sign a confession of murdering her own daughter.

    Amaral was subsequently found guilty as charged and received an 18 months prison sentence (suspended).

    Johanna was just 9 years old when, like Madeleine she disappeared wuthout trace whilst on a shopping errand for her mother. Just 3 years before Madeleine disappeared and 7 miles from Praia de Luz. As with their investigation into Madeleine's disappearance 3 years later, Amaral and Cristavao completely bungled their investigation. The same blatant errors were made in each case - almost verbatim. In both cases, neither "investigator" was able to produce a scrap of evidence to support their plethora of theories. Johanna's mother was convicted solely on her confession, given under the most extreme duress.

    Whether their failings in giving the girls the justice they deserved was down to incompetence (doubtful, given Amaral's 27 years of service in the force) or a deliberate attempt to obfuscate the evidence,is open to conjecture.

    Cristavao is currently charged with a whole variety of far more serious offences, including but not limited to, robbery with violence, violent assault, consorting with known criminal gangs, false imprisonment and kidnapping. Yes. That's right - KIDNAPPING! That's not a million miles away from child abduction and people smuggling, in my book.

    Nobody knows the progress made by Operation Grange. Unlike the PJ at the time Amaral was in charge of the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, OG has respected Portugal's strict judicial secrecy laws. OG have stuck to their original remit of not providing a running commentary. However, I feel it is a little naive of anyone whom still believes that their investigation is solely centred on the disappearance of one little English girl. The case is far more reaching than that.

    The net is closing in on those whom took away these two girls (and other children in the region) from their loving families. When arrests are made, you can be certain it won't be
    any of the tapas 9 spending the rest of their lives behind bars. But I'll wager good money that at least two former corrupt PJ officers are starting to feel the proverbial noose tightening. Even if only involved on the peripheral of the criminal underworld, they won't be having boozy tgree hour lunch breaks for the foreseeable future.

    Tick tock.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Pity you can't spell her name, it's Joana, not Johanna. Just as sloppy as the rest of your comment.

      Delete
    2. Apologies Anthony but that really is a crock. I'm still reeling from Madeleine wasn't harmed when abducted from 5A. Seriously?

      As for Joana, again, a load of baloney that I can't be arsed to challenge point by point. You do know however, don't you, that Joana was actually known by the authorities to be 'at risk'?

      Those of us who know this case, know that the McCanns have bent over backwards to weave the Joana Cipriano murder to the disappearance of Madeleine. Her mother and uncle confessed, they were found guilty and the mother Leonora had 7 months added to her sentence for lying about the police at the request of the lawyer provided to her by the McCanns.

      Ten years on there is still no sign of an abductor and it's quite clear the police aren't looking. If as you say Operation Grange are onto a gang of child traffickers/abductors, then why is there no urgency? Surely the priority should be to rescue these vulnerable children, rather than spend 5 years reading files.

      Your post is nonsense, but nice try.

      Delete
    3. Hi Anthony/Gerry/Smithman, what did you do with the body?

      Delete
  2. Rosalind I will put this as succinctly as I can...you my dear are bonkers!

    What Anthony has stated above I second all the way through.

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    1. Of course you do Pam, you a true believer, in the old days they probably would have made you a saint! Blind faith - tis a rarity indeed.

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  3. Respectfully, what a giant crock of shite Mr Clark. Your script is wasted now. Too late. Too many newsrooms in the know. Too many taboos busted on social media. Too many police working on the right line of inquiry.

    Tick tock indeed for those who couldn't take responsibility.

    Here, enjoy this song instead:

    Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
    Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
    Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
    Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
    I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
    Oh no no no no no
    Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go....
    Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane
    Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
    I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
    Oh no no no no no
    Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
    Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-o I wanna be sedated
    Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show
    Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
    I can't control my fingers I can't control my toes
    Oh no no no no no
    Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go...
    Just put me in a wheelchair...

    Lots of love,
    Gadfly

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  4. That only took him a month to compose. These Thesauri ( Thesauruses ? ) aren't what they used to be ☺

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    Replies
    1. Clutching at straws, are we not? You could not possibly know how long it took to compose my comment. Which makes your reply even more asinine than it needs to be.

      Delete
  5. I'm chuckling at Pam "Gemstone Psychic" Gurney calling you bonkers.
    Priceless!

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    Replies
    1. ���������� that is all.

      Delete
  6. I wondered who would be the first to criticise my grammatical errors, rather than give an intelligent response to my comment. Well done, "Anonymous." Whomever you might be.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joana has nothing to do with grammar.

      Delete
  7. Anthony Clerks's contribution has really made me think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John Blacksmith

      "Anthony Clerks's contribution has really made me think."

      So have yawn.

      Delete
  8. ---- Cut to scene in Numpty Land. ----

    Glaswegian drunk: Everybody, yes... all two of you, gather round.

    It's time for our latest strategy meeting. I'm in charge of this meeting, so expect spider diagrams and management consultancy buzzwords and a staggering lack of self-awareness...

    OK - so we are living through a new era with less resources. How do we adapt?'

    Useful Idiot 1: 'Do we create more sock puppets Sir, and load up MS Paint '98 to create a collage of unflattering information about our enemies?'

    The Fat Sister: 'We're not doing that any more ya daft c*nt!'

    Glaswegian drunk:: 'That's right Sis. We need to demoralise the enemy, sap their credibility, talk about that Joana murder. Make it dirty, shady, call into question Portuguese authorities... Introduce conspiracy theories on forums... Pass on trolls comments to the papers... You know, shut that fat Portuguese twat's wee geggy.... er... I mean silence our critics.'

    Useful Idiot 1: 'Haven't we been trying that for the last nine years Sir?'

    Glaswegian drunk:: 'Aye.. I mean, yes, we have. But that's just one part of a strategy that encompasses litigation of enemies... political pressure... media relations... strategic work for charities... the fund... a high profile role in a pressure group attempting to change media law... private investigations with lots of distractions... non-cooperation with investigators... attacking witnesses and dog handlers... Many irons in the fire, young 'un...'

    Useful Idiot 1: 'So do you think this will help us find her?'

    Glaswegian drunk: Find who? Er... Oh... yeah, of course! Now go log on to Rosalind's blog. This is where the battle will be won!

    Fat Sister: Is anyone having this last custard cream?

    --

    All bow down to the strategy!! It's fucking genius!!
    Gadfly.

    ReplyDelete
  9. http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t13188-not-gay-in-any-way-but-a-modern-tragedy-four-homosexual-gay-men-drugged-to-death-by-gay-sex-addict-court-told#350596

    "Gay" (oh 'lovely-word'...) used thrice in a headline?

    He's keen!




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  10. I have never gone for the conspiracy theory, all these former & now current Prime Ministers are in the pocket of the McCanns in one way or another.

    But, .... when we comes to Brenda and we think of Gamble & Brunt what we have to remember is a penned book & it's publication from Summers and Swan. Their only claim to fame for any original stance was the hyped HATER TROLLS chapter, etc and this is where conspiracy becomes very sinister fact, indeed. And here the trio of Gamble, Brunt and S&S were about to make an example of Brenda.

    Will the MET ever get off the pot! Who knows. Blair, Brown, Cameron & May wow - what a line up of supporters to the cause. Or is this more to do with, whilst the establishment appear to back the McCanns, the litigation in Portugal is rendered worthless in the eyes of the public.

    Oh, well, Christmas will soon be here. Apart from legal matters in Portugal which will only rock the financial boat of the McCanns, we can look forward in the new year to the audit for year 2015\2016, which is of cause meaningless. Equally a real snap shot of the financial position i.e. present time\NOW will not be available ..... emmm until 2019! (think that's right). Much will change with the 10th year anniversary.

    Then what?

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Nor is there any evidence that Madeleine was at all harmed when she was abducted from 5a."

    So children who are stolen from their beds by a person who the mother is sure is a paedophile are at no risk of harm?

    Really?

    And Joana's family were 'loving'? Really? If you look through the files on the family the child was neglected to the point where a neighbour took her to school on her first day because the mother failed to do so. The mother was in an incestuous relationship. The family sound about as dysfunctional as the McCann family, albeit perhaps in different ways.

    Anyone who has read the PJ files can see that the McCann story does not have a leg to stand on. There is zero evidence of an abduction and an abundance of evidence of some kind of 'insider' job. The witness statements of the McCanns and their friends are complete nonsense. The photographs allegedly taken that week are nonsense too, imo. The police did not believe the McCanns and their friends from the very start. Both the early search and rescue dogs and then later the cadaver dogs provided the evidence for what happened I think. The early search and rescue dogs became agitated outside an empty apartment very near to the McCanns apartment and on the same level as the Paynes apartment. This could suggest that a body was moved in the early stages to this apartment. Which just happened to contain a fridge with an open door and rotting food. Coincidence?

    The cadaver dogs months later indicated in apartment 5A which is where Madeleine was allegedly abducted from and also indicated at the hire car hired by the McCanns three weeks after the alleged abduction. This was around the time that the press were, conveniently, reporting sightings of Madeleine all over the world and far, far away from Luz. The cadaver dogs also alerted on other items which would be incriminating for the McCanns and their friends.

    There is not a shred of evidence, imo, to support the idea that the McCanns and their friends had no involvement whatsoever in what happened and every indication that they know what happened.

    Every witness statement, every interview, every 'Madeleine was Here' episode is simply dripping with clues as to what happened. Even Inspector Poirot and the Keystone Cops could work this one out so it is beyond comprehensible that the mighty force of the UK police are still - allegedly - so confused. Of course they are not. They must know exactly what happened and isn't it a coincidence (another of them in this case?) that the relevant forensics lab in Birmingham closed down? What an amazing coincidence! But they certainly do abound in this case. Still, as Kate said: one or two coincidences is okay but when it comes to three it is no longer a coincidence.

    Out of the horses mouth, as always.

    RIP Madeleine McCann

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    Replies
    1. An astute observation. Thank you.

      NL

      Delete
  12. There is something that doesn't ring quite true about the Brenda Leyland story. Given how 'ludicrous' the press coverage of the Madeleine McCann case has been there is a part of me that wonders if the story was (yet another) press invention. Perhaps a signal to the McCanns and their friends that they had gone too far and that the press were going to put blood on their hands. Why did Brenda's friends never speak up with outrage about what happened? Why have we heard so little about her background and so little about her life since? I was as outraged as anyone else when this story emerged but there is something not right about it...

    Or has it simply been swept under the carpet because examination of it would reveal that far from Brenda being a troll it was, in fact, the likes of Pam Gurney and Anthony Clark and their (I would imagine tiny) band of supporters who were the real trolls??

    TM's 'troll dossier' was the ultimate home-goal, imo. GM and his family really are not the brightest. The gruesome twosomes aspirations for fame, fortune and ambassador roles have truly hit the dust it would seem. Hatches appear to be well battened-down at Rothley Towers.

    I still think it was scandalous that a responsible third party did not demand privacy for the twins and that the parents themselves (who had the audacity to speak at the Levison enquiry) used their surviving children - who were one presumes at risk from the 'abductor' who was still roaming the streets - to court publicity and show the world what loving parents they were....

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    1. Well said, thank you.

      The parents and their family used the surviving children from the get-go.

      13 May 2007

      As the family waited fearfully for news, they faced the agonising reality of trying to explain to their toddler twins why their big sister was no longer there. "That was terrible for them," says John McCann, Mr McCann's elder brother, who also travelled to Portugal to help search for his niece. "Kate dressed Amelie in her sister's pyjamas and the baby said: 'Maddy's jammies. Where is Maddy?' But she is too young to understand. And how do you explain? All we know is that Madeleine needs her family. She loves us, we love her. It is time for her to come home."

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1551438/The-burden-of-loss.html

      Kate dressed Amelie in her sister's pyjamas!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous. Are you seriously suggesting that Brenda Leyland does not exist? That she was invented by those whom believe the McCanns to be innocent? That she is part of the cover-up involving everyone from Prime Ministers, Home Secretaries, the PJ, the Pope, Catholic and Anglican Priests, the McCanns and their friends, Clement Freud, MI5 and MI6 Scotland Yard, nursery workers and (probably) Cliff Richard, Elvis Pressley and little green men.

      And you're now including Brenda Leyland in that list? It was a bit of a waste of time then for a group of antis to go along in person to disrupt the inquest into her death. Perhaps you should have let them know before they wasted their money on bus fares.

      Interesting (though somewhat ludicrous) theory. Somehow, I think Brenda Leyland's family will disagree with you.

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