What REALLY happened the night Madeleine McCann disappeared as nanny breaks her 10-year silence

A nanny who looked after Madeleine McCann has told how the youngster’s parents were plunged into despair and panic when the ­horrifying truth she had vanished sank in.
The former child minder said she is still haunted by the image of dad Gerry desperately trying to find their missing daughter while she tried to comfort weeping mum Kate who cried: “They’ve taken her.”
Breaking her silence after 10 years, the witness also claimed the resort from which Madeleine vanished was considered so unsafe nannies were handed rape alarms and told to not go out alone.
And she slammed the Portuguese police’s handling of the disappearance, insisting their ­blundering scuppered any chances of finding who had snatched three-year-old Madeleine.

Speaking of that dreadful night in May 2007, the ex-nanny –who looked after the girl several times – said: “A parent came to me and said there was something going on, and said someone’s looking for a child, I didn’t instantly think it was Maddie."A couple of minutes later I walked into Kate crying, friends comforting her, Gerry looking under cars, and it just blew up. I don’t even think she saw me. I just stood next to her and tried to comfort her. “She was pacing up and down. The worst possible thing had just happened to her. “I think I said something like, ‘She’ll be found, these things happen all the time.’“She was crying, but almost in a catatonic state, and Gerry was very distressed. That’s the one thing I really remember from him, looking under the cars. I can’t forget that.

We were told to start looking in bins in case her body was in there. It was at that point we realised this was serious.” Along with other staff, the ex-carer, who worked for travel firm Mark Warner at the the Ocean Club resort, sifted by hand in the dark through industrial-sized bins and piping leading into the sea in their hunt for Madeleine.

They also walked Praia da Luz’s small, winding streets searching for the missing girl until they were told, against their wills at 5am, that it was time for bed.But the woman, who we are not naming, said she is still furious with local police , who she claimed took 90 minutes to arrive on the scene.

And she told how people were in and out of the apartment where Madeleine vanished from – contaminating a ­potential crime scene.

The former nanny added: “I know I didn’t step into that apartment but pretty much everybody else did. So, evidence gone, nothing. There was nobody there to say, ‘We need to lock this off now.’ The police didn’t get there for ages, maybe an hour and a half, so we were looking for her. And at the end of the day, no matter how much you’ve been trained with ­children, we were children, mainly ­teenagers, we’re not police.“That’s why police were trying to get everyone’s timelines, because they weren’t there.” She also told how she was interviewed by officers in the wake of Madeleine’s disappearance and later detectives from ­the Met’s Operation Grange handed her two pages of statements they had retrieved from their Algarve compratiots.

Her original statement was four to five pages long, but the one the Portuguese had been working from was only two pages long – missing a number of details from her interview. The woman claimed “whole chunks of information were missed out”.She added: “I think a lot of things should’ve happened differently. ­Unfortunately the effects were catastrophic.”And the carer told how she was astonished Kate and Gerry were ever deemed suspects in their own child’s ­disappearance. She is still constantly quizzed by people about the case who ask if “the parents did it”.She said: “I tell them no, there’s no way at all. A, timings and B, where it was, their r­eactions, the whole thing. Not a chance.”

The woman also told how Madeleine was a favourite among the child minders. Her allocated nanny was Catriona Baker, but others also got the chance to look after her. The carer added: “I remember her character and ­temperament. She was slightly shy, very sweet. Not loud or precocious.

“We obviously give the same care to all the children, but she was a real cutie and a real sweetheart. If you asked her, ‘Can you just pass me that?’ She’d be like, ‘Sure.’“She was easy for us, and you were happy to sit and help out this pretty little girl who’s really nice.”While the Ocean Club was clearly popular with British holidaymakers like the McCanns, from Rothley, Leics, the former child minder claimed it was considered an unsafe place for those who worked there. After she arrived she was stunned when a fellow nanny passed on a message from hotel staff to never venture off the site alone.

She added: “I just couldn’t get over how different it was to other Mark Warner resorts.
“We were told, ‘Here’s a rape whistle, don’t go anywhere by yourself, ever.’ There’d been a girl attacked the year or so before in Praia da Luz. It didn’t sound like a family resort to me.
“I just got the feeling the locals didn’t want us there.” It emerged in 2014 that 11 years earlier a 10-year-old British girl had been sexually assaulted “in the heart” of Praia da Luz.

The victim came forward three years ago after a Scotland Yard appeal revealed a string of potentially linked sex assaults on young UK girls across the Algarve between 2004 and 2006.

Mark Warner, which operates in resorts all over the world, quit Praia da Luz in 2015.
Madeleine vanished as her parents ate with friends at a tapas bar just 40 yards from where she slept next to twin siblings, Amelie and Sean.
But the former nanny, who couldn’t face child minding again after the Algarve horror, said dining while kids were in the apartments was “really normal” in such resorts. And she insisted there was no evidence Kate and Gerry would ever neglect their kids. She said: “I remember thinking, even before I knew them, how they were the picture perfect family.”

Asked if she thinks Madeleine is still alive, the woman said: “Think possibly is the wrong word, but hope. I hope she is still alive.“It’s probably very naive, but the best case scenario of a very horrible situation, is that she was procured and taken for a rich person who didn’t have children.

“I can’t go anywhere else in my head. I can read it about other people and know how horrible that seedy world is where children are sold. But my brain won’t go there with her. I just switch off.
“But I think the only person who knows exactly what happened is Madeleine. Can I believe it’s 10 years on? Yes and no. No because 10 years seems like a really long time, she’d be nearly 14.
“And yes, because sometimes, when I talk about it, it feels like I’m right back there again.
“I wonder if she’s alive. Does she even remember? Does she remember her parents?
“I’m probably less harrowed by it now, but that’s just because, although it’s awful, it’s become accepted. “‘It’s Madeleine, she’s gone missing but it would just be the best day ever if I could be told that she’s been found.” Operation Grange, which was last month given £85,000 of Home Office funding to extend its probe until September, still speaks to witnesses

B1: Discuss the marketing strategies used by your selected industry. Refer to your 3 main texts.

There are many different marketing strategies used within the film industry, marking is very important as it informs the audience of the film before it is released, and it bumps up the viewing and the profit. With my three main texts, they are marketed very differently, as they have different budgets, for example ‘Weekend’ is a low budget film and there does not have the money to market as widely and broadly as ‘Skyfall’, a higher budgeted film. My three main texts are: ‘Skyfall’, ‘Kingsman’ and ‘Weekend’.

Skyfall and Kingsman as they are bigger budgeted films, they had their trailers shown at the cinema and big posters were displayed everywhere. This boosted the audience’s knowledge of the films and what they entailed. Having more money means they are able to advertise in a wider range for example, Skyfall has books, games and loads of merchandise!! Compared to Weekend which didn’t have its trailer viewed in cinemas and as it is not a film that has fans of the franchise, the audience don’t know what to expect. Films can be marketed in many different ways; the most common way is with a trailer. Weekend, Skyfall and Kingsman all have trailers. Skyfall’s trailer has 25,030,826 views, Kingsman; Secret Service trailer has 14,112,727 views and Weekend has only 252,661, this shows that Skyfall had the most views on its trailer and they had the most audience members going to the cinema to watch their movie.

Married father children's doctor who used 'military grade' encryption software to hide his collection of child porn is jailed for three years!

A senior children’s doctor who distributed child porn because he was ‘tired of his job’ was jailed for three years yesterday.Dr Jonathan Walsh, a married father-of-two, downloaded at least 27 abuse films from the internet during his time off from treating sick children.The paediatric consultant published 24 of these on a secret website where paedophiles swap graphic images with each other.The films featured boys and girls aged two to eight and had a total playing time of 18 hours.All but one were classed as Category A images – meaning they showed the most serious type of abuse.Walsh, 47, was arrested during a police raid on his home in September 2015. Detectives believe he may have downloaded many more child porn films, as they found 300 files had been deleted from his computer.The doctor worked at North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple, where his responsibilities included the safeguarding of children.He was sacked after he was charged with 17 offences of making and distributing indecent films of children, Exeter Crown Court heard.None of the offences to which he pleaded guilty to related to patients at the hospital. However, the NHS set up a special hotline for anyone worried they might have been affected by his crimes.Walsh told his solicitor he committed the offences because he was ‘tired’ of working at the hospital and wanted to quit his job.

Jailing him, Judge Geoffrey Mercer told Walsh: ‘You have practised as a paediatrician for a number of years. To state that your sexual interest in children causes real concern in relation to someone in your position is a massive understatement.‘Over a period of at least some months, the precise period is unclear, you were involved in downloading and distributing extreme movies and images portraying sexual abuse of children and you went to considerable lengths to try and conceal what it was you were doing.‘Your career is now, of course, at an end. To quote from you from one of your letters you have written to me, “through my actions I have lost my job, my career and my reputation and caused great harm to the ones I love”.’

Defence barrister Lee Gledhill said his client was full of ‘severe regret’ for what he had done.

‘He is aware that these are real children in the videos and harm he indirectly caused by the re-distribution of these images,’ he said.‘He explains he was tired of his job and wanted to get out of medicine after many years of training and working.‘He practised medicine for some considerable years and had a positive impact on the community he lived in. He and his wife are still together but he had to explain this to his own children.’

After his arrest, Walsh moved from Barnstaple to Lytham St Annes in Lancashire. 

The court heard how he was arrested on September 3, 2015 when officers from the child exploitation unit carried a search out at his home address.He was arrested and his computer and a memory stick were seized.No indecent images were found but there was significant evidence that he had been accessing child abuse material as well as file wiping software.Prosecuting, James Davies said: 'A leading forensic expert was called and advised the router to be seized.'He found clear evidence of him downloading indecent images of children and distributing them.'The defendant went to considerable lengths to conceal his online activity.'It was over a period of four months that can be identified but not any further than that.'There were 27 movies that could be retrieved, 26 were catergory A and one category B. 24 had been distributed with a total of 18 hours playing time.Defending, Lee Gledhall said his client was full of 'severe regret' for what he had done.He added: 'He is a man of previous good character who practised medicine for some considerable years and had a positive impact on the community he lived in.'This was his time off. It was during these periods he committed these offences.'He is aware that these are real children in the videos and harm he indirectly caused by the re-distribution of these images.'He explains he was tired of his job and wanted to get out of medicine after many years of training and working.'He was a consultant paediatrician. He was instantly sacked at the point of charge and suspended by the GMC.'It has had a significant impact on his financial situation. He has had to sell the family home and they have moved a considerable distance over the publicity and fall-out.'He and his wife are still together but he had to explain this to his own children.' 

George Thomson, medical director for Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, said: 'This case has deeply shaken everybody at NDHT and we know it has been a shock to the community.

'We have worked closely with the police throughout this case and we know that none of these crimes relate [to] patients at North Devon District Hospital.'At the launch of the police investigation we took immediate action to exclude Dr Walsh from working at the Trust and informed the General Medical Council. 'Dr Walsh was dismissed with immediate effect when he was charged in June.'

Speaking after the case, Detective Inspector Andrea Kingdon said: ‘Walsh was a practising and respected paediatrician in North Devon when he was committing these crimes. He let himself and his profession down by his activities which he went to great lengths to hide.‘The nature of the offending on the images and videos distributed by Dr Walsh are at the most serious end of the scale, and some of these include movies some hours in length. This is an incredibly upsetting and challenging task for my team to work through.’ An NSPCC spokesman said it was clear that Walsh’s only concern was ‘his own twisted gratification’. He added: ‘Behind every image of online child abuse is a child who has suffered a horrific ordeal in the real world.’  

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4331478/Paedophile-children-s-doctor-jailed-three-years.html#ixzz4bwnjfxTv
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B1: ‘Explore the different audience appeals of your 3 main texts’

My three main texts are…’Skyfall’ (2012) directed by Sam Mendes, ‘Kingsman: the Secret Service’ (2014) directed by Matthew Vaughn and ‘Weekend’ (2011) directed by Andrew Haigh. Skyfall and Kingsman have a more ‘traditional’ representation of masculinity compared to Weekend. The main audience (‘s) for Skyfall are… 1) Fans of the Franchise: these are audience members who have been fans of 007 for a very long time and have seen the films before so they know to expect good quality and also as they are fans of the franchise they really get into the storyline and enjoy watching how bond would get out of a ‘tricky situation’. The fans of the franchise would have seen ‘Spectre’ the 007 film one before Skyfall also directed by Sam Mendes so again they know to expect a good quality film. The way the film appeals to this audience is by keeping the ‘traditional’, brave, masculine Bond character yet still modernising him to appeal to another target audience which are… 2) Women: a lot of women watched Skyfall as they like the ‘manly yet sensitive’ side to 007, they can fantasize about how he could save them or how he could be their 007, and at the same time wishing their partners were more like him. The film appeals to this audience by showing a more ‘modern’ take on the traditional man that he has his weaknesses yet he is so strong and can always save the day yet also care for the women in his life. Another audience Skyfall appeals to are… 3) Men who want to be like James Bond: so whether this is men who have partners and want to be able to be their ‘hero’ or men who are looking for a partner and think being more like Bond could help them! The film appeals to this audience in the same way it appeals to their secondary audience, by showing how a man can have emotions and yet still be strong and a hero and get all the ladies.

The main audience (‘s) for ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ are a range fromm12-40 year olds, this is because having a diverse cast means the audience can relate to the characters, for example Eggsy, (played by Taron Egerton) he is a young guy from a rough background this means the younger audience members can relate to him, and on the other hand the character Harry, (played by Collin Firth)  is a much older sophisticated gentleman which other audience members can relate to. This film has many genres this again widens the audience for example fans of action movies or spy movies or science fiction movies will watch this movie. Boys ages 12-15 can look up to Eggsy and want to be like him and think he is ‘cool’, in a similar way girls ages 12-15 can either look up to Roxy, (played by Sophie Cookson) as she is a strong female character who shows up the boys in Kingsman training, look up to Gazelle, (played by  Sofia Boutella) as she is a very dangerous, powerful ‘sexy’ woman or if not look up to one of the strong female leads they can admire Eggsy as he is a very loveable character. The film appeals the these audiences by showing us a side to Eggsy which we wouldn’t normally see form a boy of a council estate, and also by positioning the audience so we have sympathy for Eggsy, we want Eggsy and Roxy to be together as they are both very loveable characters.

My third and final case study is Weekend, the audience (‘s) for Weekend are… LGBT supporters mainly as this film tackles this issues with being Homosexual. The film is about how this secret gay relationship between two men, Russell, (played by Tom Cullen) and Glen, (played by Chris New) which forms over the weekend, and we are positioned with the two main homosexual characters, we see in one scene they are lying in bed together and then people start shouting abuse through their window! This addresses the issues some people have with homosexuals. This film attempts to show what it was like to be gay in 2011. I feel this film is informative that is why it appeals to supporters to the LGBT community.

Couple 'convinced family and friends to quit their jobs after conning them into believing they had come into £200m inheritance'

A couple have been accused of leaving the lives of their family and friends in tatters after lying about a £200million inheritance and telling them they would get a slice.

Ashley and Stevie-Nia Coombs allegedly made promises about new jobs, homes and early retirement to loved-ones who claim they later discovered it was all made up.

Ashley's parents Marion and Simon say they were lied to and the couple, from Swansea, believe they will now have to sell their home to pay off their debts.

They quit their jobs at the DVLA after they were promised £5million and an eight-bed mansion in West Wales, including keys and security codes for their new home - but when they arrived at the son's solicitors to finalise the deal they were told the house didn't exist by mystified staff.

Mrs Coombs, 58, told The Sun: 'Everyone says we should have waited but Stevie was very believable. They're not gaining from all these lies so I don't know why they did it'.

Her husband, also 58, added: 'We've been saddled with everything, all these debts, bank loans and car loans to pay off. The only option we have is to sell our house'. 

Others claim they were also encouraged to leave their jobs, build up debt or promised cash including one friend told she could have £25,000 for IVF treatment because she was desperate to have a baby.

However police have informed their victims that the couple have not committed any crime as they did not benefit financially from the deceit.  

Ashley and Stevie-Nia have left Swansea after their spiralling lies were finally revealed.

A friend of Stevie-Nia, 27, told the newspaper that she was also convinced to leave her job and would eventually lose out on £15,000.

Amy Salter, 32, said she signed a bogus contract for the couple's new events firm only to later find out it was all a lie.

In one of their sickest lies, the couple promised their friend Michele Stephens £25,000 to pay for her fertility treatment, provoking Michele to label Stevie-Nia 'a c***'.

They also claimed they were bringing the date of their wedding in 2012 forward so Stevie-Nia's dying grandfather could come.

However another former friend revealed that the relative did not even attend the wedding and was not suffering from cancer as they had claimed. 

The couple were able to con friends and family after forging a fake will from her dead grandfather which claimed they were the beneficiaries of £200million.

'My f***ing child is in the back of my car': Driver, 22, dragged another mother from her BMW and beat her up while her baby sat in the back seat after the victim 'cut her up' at a junction.

A driver beat up another young mother in a road rage attack as their babies looked on from the rear seats of their cars.

Fatima Festus, 22, of Burnage, Manchester, attacked Amilia Luby despite her 'cutting up' the victim at a junction - and then blaming her for nearly causing an accident.

As their young children aged six months and a year watched, foul mouthed Festus jumped out of her vehicle shouting: 'My f****** child is in the back of my car.'

She then stormed up to Miss Luby's blue BMW, dragged her out of the driver's seat then repeatedly punched her in the head. A friend of Miss Luby's who was in the passenger seat tried to intervene but was punched in the stomach. Miss Luby suffered a black eye, cuts to her lip and bruises to her elbow as well as swelling to the right temple of her head. She now says she is too scared to leave the house.

Festus later claimed the incident was a 'bit of a blur' and said at the time she was 'scared something might have happened to her young baby.' She has since become pregnant with her second child.

At Manchester Magistrates' Court Festus admitted common assault but escaped jail after JPs said it was a 'spontaneous attack.' The incident occurred at 2.50pm on June 16 last year when Miss Luby was driving through Didsbury. Prosecutor Miss Marion Nolan said: 'She was travelling with her friend Laurelle Dale in the passenger seat and her 12 month old son in the backseat.

'As Amilia pulled out to turn left the defendant overtook her and cut in front of her. 

'Amilia had to slam on the brakes as not to go into her and as both cars stopped the defendant got out of her car. 'As she approached Amilia she shouted: 'My f****** child is in the back of my car!' She then opened Amilia's car door and grabbed the top of her head and dragged her out of the car.

'She then punched Amilia to the head and face. She says it happened so quickly that the complainant can't remember if she retaliated. 'Amilia sustained swelling to her right temple, swelling and bruising to her right eye, a lump on her head, a small cut to the lip, a bruise on her elbow and a cut to her other elbow.'She has been suffering since the attack and says she is too scared to leave the house.

'During the attack, her friend Laurelle who was in the passenger seat had to step out of the car and try to help her friend and in doing so received a blow to the stomach.'

But in mitigation defence lawyer Robert Moussalli said: 'This is extremely out of character for this defendant. Clearly none of what I say excuses this and Fatima knows that and deeply regrets everything that happened that day.

'She says she was driving along with her six month-old child in the back when Miss Luby pulled out in front of her. It was her first born and she felt very protective over the safety of her young child.

'She says she didn't really think about what she was going to do and had no idea what she was thinking of. She remembers opening the car door and shouting and after that it became a bit of a blur.

'She can't explain why she did it just that she was scared something might have happened to her young baby. She has been very upset about the whole thing and is currently four months pregnant.

'She understands that this shouldn't have happened and she wishes she had acted in a different way.'

Festus was sentenced to a 12-month community order and was ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work. She was also ordered to pay Miss Luby £200 and pay £235 in costs and surcharges.

Chairman of the bench Simon Morrell told her: 'This was a road rage incident, plain and simple and it was super dangerous. Not only was there a child in the other car but there was also a young child in your car. 'You subjected this woman to a sustained attack and the ordeal must have been scary for her. The only mitigating factor is your remorse and the fact that this was a spontaneous attack. '

Girl, five, dies of an asthma attack after GP refused to treat her because she was FOUR MINUTES late to an emergency appointment...even though the doctor knew the little girls life was at risk!

A critically ill little girl died hours after a GP refused to see her because she turned up a few minutes late for an emergency appointment. Astonishingly, the doctor is still practising after escaping with a ‘slap on the wrist’ at a secret disciplinary hearing. Ellie-May Clark, five, died of an asthma attack after Dr Joanne Rowe refused to see her – despite having previously been warned the girl was at risk of suffering a life-threatening seizure. The child’s distraught mother, Shanice, last night said they were just four minutes late for the appointment

An official report, uncovered by The Mail on Sunday, stated they were eight minutes late, but Shanice insisted that was incorrect as she checked the time on her mobile phone when she arrived. 

They were sent home and told to return in the morning, but Shanice discovered her ‘bright and happy’ daughter having an asthma attack and not breathing an hour after she put her to bed that night. She died minutes later.Details of the appalling blunder would have remained secret, because the doctors’ watchdog, the General Medical Council, held her disciplinary hearing behind closed doors. 

But the full facts can now be revealed following a Mail on Sunday investigation, which discovered a ‘confidential’ NHS report which damned Dr Rowe’s handling of the incident.