Expat Ken Ralphs said that Christian B, the German drifter suspected of abducting Madeleine, tried to recruit a mutual friend to help find a youngster to sell to a childless couple.

  • Wodge@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    2 things that come to mind: the Maddie McCann stories get rolled out when something needs to be distracted from, so what’s the thing we’re not meant to be paying attention to this time? And secondly; The McCann’s should both be jailed for quite obvious child neglect, they were at a restaurant when this happened, and left Madeleine back at their holiday let. Seems proper fishy that nothing happens there.

    • Devi@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      It was so normal there to leave kids in the apartment and go eat in the hotel restaurant. You could even hire a staff member called a ‘child listener’ who would visit your room every so often and call you if they were crying. The group were actually being more cautious than most by checking on each kid themselves.

      We can say in retrospect that it wasn’t safe but it was the done thing then.

    • palordrolap@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Gerry has friends in high places - that bears repeating: he has friends in high places, and FWIW, he gives me sociopath vibes.

      Hot take: Epstein’s address-book full of high-profile people makes me wonder if there’s an overlap somewhere.

      Gerry’s payment for their help is the constant rehashing of his daughter’s disappearance in the news for whatever purpose that might serve. Even for a sociopath (assuming he is one), that’s got to sting. But help is help, and he’s not in prison, so maybe it’s worth it.

      Kate’s fear and guilt is written all over her face, passing for and included with the expected grief, but she’s had their two other kids to raise and she’s afraid of what might happen if she leaves Gerry, so she’s stayed with him.

      Did either of them actually kill Maddie? No.

      Well, not directly.

      And in the tiny sliver of a hope she’s still alive? I think I’d prefer she’s been dead this whole time than have ended up in someone’s basement (or a place like Epstein’s island).

      • Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk
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        9 months ago

        Gerry has friends in high places - that bears repeating: he has friends in high places

        Like, who?

        • palordrolap@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          Embarrassingly, I can’t find where I read specifically what - ostensibly innocent - groups he was, and possibly still might be a part of, in order to refresh my memory.

          He was a £75k a year doctor in 2012 though, so that much is out there. Admittedly, that isn’t much, but if you earn that much, you know someone who knows someone, even if you don’t know anyone directly.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Expat Ken Ralphs said that Christian B, the German drifter suspected of abducting Madeleine, tried to recruit a mutual friend to help find a youngster to sell to a childless couple.

    Mr Ralphs, a former UK political campaigner, said Christian B made the offer to the man who was penniless and living in a tent in a remote part of the Algarve coast.

    After a short drive off-road, Mr Ralphs took me along a track to a clearing in the woods about 20 miles from Praia da Luz, the beachside village from where Madeleine disappeared in May 2007.

    Mr Ralphs said he knew Christian in the months before Madeleine vanished because they both used to park their camper vans on Barranco beach at the end of a long, rocky track.

    When German police appealed for information about the then unnamed suspect in 2020 they released a photograph of Christian B’s yellow and white camper van parked on Barranco beach near its eastern cliffs.

    Read more:Sex offence charges against Christian B droppedPolice recover items in Portuguese reservoir searchWho is the main suspect in the Madeleine McCann case?


    The original article contains 1,089 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!