16/11/07

All day the BBC radio has been running trailers for Panorama, and have been quoting Jane Tanner.

The Daily Mail picks up the story:

""I have not spoken because the Portuguese police told us not to talk about these things at all.

"From day one we have done everything we could to help them with the investigation. Maybe I am talking now because I have been called a liar and a fantasist.""

Ok let's see if she is a fantasist and a liar.

Take the drawing of the abductor. In some descriptions the child is said to be wrapped in a blanket, and the drawing would appear to support this. And it would appear that the implication is that this blanket is the pink blanket that Madeleine used as a comforter.

However there is a fly in the ointment, in the form of this report from the Times:

"Silvia Batisa, head of administration at the complex, helped to comfort the family and interpret their interviews with the police: “The parents were devastated, in a panic. They wanted more police and dogs immediately. Kate said all the time, ‘Please find my daughter�?and ‘Madeleine is beautiful�?�?

She recalled that the twins were still asleep in their two cots and there was the small, bright pink wool blanket that Madeleine likes to hold when she sleeps. “We walked out quickly so as not to wake up the twins. The parents immediately said, ‘She’s been kidnapped�?�?said Batisa."

And consider this from the Daily Mail today:

""I went out the front door of our apartment (on the night Madeleine disappeared) and I saw Rachel saying Madeleine had gone," she told the BBC.

"And then I saw Kate and Fiona (Payne, another of the McCann's friends) running around shouting 'Madeleine', and Kate said to me, 'Jane, Madeleine's gone, Madeleine's gone'.

"And that's the first I heard."

That was at around 10pm, she said, admitting she was not sure of the exact time."

Which would suggest that Jane Tanner is now claiming that she was not at the Tapas bar when the alarm was raised. She would seem to be suggesting that she was in her apartment.

This would seem to directly contradict all previous statements with regard to timing.

And she repeats that she saw the 'abductor' at around 9.15pm. This despite two independent witnesses, and Gerry McCann, saying that they saw neither Jane Tanner or this mystery man.

""I know what I saw and I think it's important that people know what I saw because I believe Madeleine was abducted.""

Of course none of this has anything to do with Panorama broadcasting this program to mark the 200th day since Madeleine disappeared. Quite why the BBC is allowing itself to be used in this way is open to question. Sure Panorama has every right to examine the issue. But why choose to air the program on the 200th day?

Especially as the BBC has largely choosen to ignore the story, claiming that it does not want to add to the feeding frenzy of rumour. And yet chooses to broadcast an interview with Jane Tanner, whose evidence is widely considered as partial and suspect.

However it remains to be seen whether the BBC will allow questions to raised as to the validity of Ms Tanner's statements. Or if this will be yet another opportunity for the McCann's to broadcast prooganda; this time at the licence fee payers expense.