PUTTING OUR US COUSINS STRAIGHT RE BROWN AND THE McCANN CASE

Pat Brown
Pat Brown's book is packed full of misinformation. She bascially asks the reader to forget about witness statements and then weaves a "what if?" scenario which has Gerry McCann returning to the apartment to check on the kids at 9.05pm, finding Madeleine dead and immediately deciding to just dump her body somewhere along the beach. In Brown's theory, Gerry McCann does not return to the restaurant following his check but she fails to explain why none of the others, least of all Kate McCann queried this. Then she has Kate (whom she believes was oblivious to Madeleine's supposed demise) doing her check at 10pm as normal despite the "fact" that her husband never returned from his 9.05 check. The 9.30pm check was done by one of the friends, but Ms Brown theorises that the friend found Gerry McCann wondering what to do about the Madeleine "situation" and that he immediately offered to cover up the death by returning to his dinner and telling Kate McCann that everything was fine.

It's a completely ludicrous theory which ignores established facts about the case. It also has Gerry McCann in two places at the same time. Brown has him half a mile away from the apartment at 10pm carrying Madeleine towards the beach (which is even further away from the apartment). Yet at a couple of minutes after 10pm, she describes him breaking the news about Madeleine to his wife and their seven friends. She gives him two minutes to find a hiding place for a body and walk half a mile back to the apartment! This is despite the fact that there are numerous witnesses who say they saw and/or spoke to Gerry McCann during the period Pat brown has him callously disposing of his daughter's body. She then has Kate McCann and all of their friends (some of whom were actually just acquaintances) UNHESTITATINGLY agreeing to cover up this most heinous and shocking event. She allows no time for shock, or disagreement or questions or any kind of reaction at all, it's just "quick get our stories straight".

Motive - Why does Pat Brown propose that a group of nine educated people would immediately collaborate in covering up a child's sudden death and the callous disposal of her body by her father? Answer - so that they wouldn't get into trouble for leaving their children alone. THis has to be the most ludicrous suggestion of all since without exception, they all immediately admitted to doing just that. Not only that, but they had made no secret of the fact they were doing it anyway! There was a note in the booking register at the restaurant saying that the party wanted to be close by since it was their intention to put their children to bed and check them at intervals. One of the party even had a baby listening device openly displayed on the restaurant table!

The fact is that there was NO motive for covering up a sudden death.

Nor were the children drugged. Pat Brown's ebook suggests that the McCanns gave their children Calpol "sedative" tablets. No such medication exists. Calpol is a simple painkiller - like baby Tylenol. It has no sedative properties whatsoever. Nor does it come in tablet form for infants. When this was pointed out to Pat Brown she offered up "Calpol Night" as an alternative suggestion. Except that Calpol Night didn't cme on to the market until September 2007 - four months after Madeleine disappeared. At this point, she rather irritably said that some other sedative might have been used then. Grasping at straws.... The fact is that at Kate McCanns request, hair samples were taken from the twins and tested for drugs. The results came back negative. This is a matter of record.

Pat Brown's ebook has been rebutted here:-

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Please take a moment to read the section about criticism of her ebook because her appalling theory has been soundly criticised by BOTH sides of the McCann debate and she stands accused of trying to make a fast buck from the case.

Pat Brown displays open dislike for Kate McCann and since May has been slagging both McCanns off on social networking sites. Her ebook was for sale for over five weeks before Amazon withdrew it following a complaint from the McCanns that it was highly defamatory. Amazon suggested to Pat Brown that she get in touch with the McCanns and sort out the issue. She didn't do this, instead she announced that she was suing them for "libel" and "torious interference with business". In other words, she was suing them for objecting to her cashing in on making up lies about them.

It should also be noted that she dismisses the wiki (link posted above) as inaccurate. The wiki team gave Pat Brown the opportunity to elaborate and promised to amend anything which proved to be inaccurate. She declined.

The fact remains that there is no McCanns-did-it theory which works without some element of conspiracy. Whether that is an agreed cover-up between nine people (ten if you believe Pat Brown's theory since she suggests the McCanns flew home from Portugal with Madeleine's body in their liggage and buried her in an obliging relative's garden!) or whether you think the British Government and police are "in on it". A simple abduction theory requires no conspiracy. There are several independent witnesses who report seeing a man hanging around the apartments in the days and hours prior to Madeleine's disapearance. The apartment sliding patio doors were unlocked to allow the McCanns and their friends easy access to check on the children. The entrance to these sliding doors was partly hidden by mature shrubbery offering a place to hide until the coast was clear.

Pat Brown herself concedes that a predator would stalk his prey for lengthy periods of time. If an abductor was watching the apartment, he would note that checks were being done every half hour and that the "safest" time to strike would be immediately after a check. It was within minutes of Gerry McCann's check that Jane Tanner witnessed a man walking away from the apartment carrying a child.

Every time Pat Brown's parents-did-it arguments are knocked on the head, she resorts to attacks on them for leaving their children alone. There's no answer to this really. There is no denying that with hindsight, they were extremely foolish to think that it would be safe to do this but they did not act with malice. These were much loved, well cared for children whose parents made a very ill-judged decision. They have to live with the consequences of that decision every day of their lives. What they are doing is everything in their power to find Madeleine and they need public awareness to do that. Public awareness is key to finding missing persons.

Some of you may have followed the Leveson Inquiry into press practices. The McCann case has figured quite prominently and people are reacting with horror as it has been revealed how members of the press actually MADE UP some of the stories which resulted in vilification of the McCann family. I can recall discussing on this very forum how ridiculous it was to suggest that Madeleine wasn't Gerry McCann's biological daughter because she looks so like him. Yet one member of this forum argued that there was no smoke without fire...

The Leveson Inquiry also put straight the record that Madeleine's DNA was NOT found in the hire car. That story also grew out of media speculation but has fuelled anti-McCann arguments for four years now. Please note that Pat Brown herself has forwarded the "DNA in the car" story as a case "fact".

I fully understand that the McCann case is not a major one in the USA but for those of you who care about accuracy and integrity in justice - PLEASE do not consider Pat Brown to be an authority on this case. She is definitely not.