Thanks to Jan:

Before pasting the famous “Vera” comments, I thought I should check out the link to Brunty’s original blog: “Two Little Girls, Two Different Reactions” (Dated: February 27, 2008)

http://skynews4.typepad.com/my_weblog/2 ... -girl.html

I can’t remember the last time I looked, but it was some time last year. Since then the tens of pages of comments have been reduced to one, ranging in date from 7th April – 28th April 2008.

Bearing in mind that most of the comments have been whooshed, I am taking it upon myself to post, here, the original Martin Blunt blog, before it, too, gets whooshed. (Sorry DCB1 I am sure the Mods will move it shortly):

“The numbing gale blowing off the moor this week wasn't the only difference between Dewsbury and Praia da Luz.

Few people, it seems, care as much about missing Shannon Matthews as they do about Madeleine.

For journalists, viewers, readers, the poor girl's disappearance hasn't really taken off as a news story.

I joined a media pack outside her home, but it was nothing to the gathering around apartment 5a at the Ocean Club complex a week after Madeleine had vanished.

Is it just because Shannon comes from an extended, chaotic family who live on a scuzzy council estate?

Or is it that she doesn't have parents who can articulate their anguish?

News of an attempted abduction of another schoolgirl on the same day barely rates a mention in the media.

Such a detail would have spawned front-page headlines during the early Madeleine search.

In fact, I think it did.

Expect West Yorkshire police to resolve this case rather quicker than the Portuguese cops.”

Vera's 5 comments were dated as follows:

12 Mar 2008 14:48:50
13 Mar 2008 01:27:06
13 Mar 2008 14:18:08
14 Mar 2008 07:40:43
05 Jun 2008 08:58:48

When will people get it into their heads that MW's did not and does not have a listening service in Portugal. This only applies in a few countries like Greece.
The reason for this is because The MW's in Portugal was spread over a large area with no security walls and some of the apartments were not owned by MW's.
What they did supply was a creche to leave children in at night so parents could go to dinner with their friends and then pick them up afterwards. It was open each night until about 11.30 or later if you made arrangements for a later pick up.
They also had a babysitting service where a person who normally worked in the creche by day stayed in the apartment and babysat the children.
Mark Warners offered this personal service to everyone, the only drawback being that it cost about £10 per hour. Maybe the McCann's didn't think their children were worth paying out money for.
The McCann's went to another restaurant (Chaplin's) the previous night which was even further away from where they were staying and they left their children alone even at that distance. Chaplin's is 800 metres more in distance than the 200 metres it takes to get to the Tapas Bar.
MW's staff had to go and find them and ask the McCann's to return to their apartment as one of their children had been crying for over an hour and a half.
The next day MW's offered them a babysitter for the night (for free) on the 3rd May and the McCann's cancelled her services and went to the Tapas Bar which was 200 metres away not 50 yards as the McCann's have stated).
Even after all that crying from their child the previous night, they still left their children alone again the next night. If that is not wilful neglect, what the hell is?
On a different theme. Has anybody noticed how amazingly alike David Payne is to Robert Murat? He could practically be his twin!

Posted by: Vera ,Essex 12 Mar 2008 14:48:50

Vera's 2nd comment:

cluck uk 12 Mar 2008 16:17:38
There is not a listening service at MW's in Portugal and never has been.
The reason I know this is that I was at MW's in Praia de Luz at the same time as the McCann's.
I was there with my daughter and granddaughter at the time Madeleine went missing.
I saw a lot of things while I was there but I can't say what as both of us have given statements to the PJ.
We alternately went out and searched for Madeleine while her parents stayed indoors.
People on holiday and the people of Praia de Luz searched and some of the people took a week or more off to search for her.
The parents were far too busy going for a jog or playing tennis to do such a lowly thing as search for their own daughter.
When you do eventually learn of what did happen and what was seen, your jaw will drop down to the ground in complete shock.
As for Murat saying that he didn't know any of the Tapas nine. What do you think when Gerry was asked in front of a camera, "Do you know Robert Murat". His answer was "No comment". I found that's a very strange think to say. Why not just say 'yes' or 'no'.
The only people who said that Murat was there that night are the McCann's friends. All the other witnesses said that there was a man who 'looked' like him. Look for a picture of David Payne, you will see that they are very alike and one could be mistaken for the other especially as it was quite dark by then. I have seen the two of them and the likeness is startling! I thought that they were the same person until I saw them standing nearly next to each other.
Not one of the McCann's friends said they had seen Murat that night. Not until later in the week was it mentioned when a female reporter said that he was being very helpful just like Ian Huntley was when the two girls went missing in England.
She pointed out the similarities of how Huntley had been helpful when the reporters spoke to him and so mentioned it to one of the McCann's friends and that's when they started pointing the finger at him.
She was one of the reporters who were there when the murder of the two girls was being investigated and that's the only reason that she mentioned it.
I am not saying Murat did or did not have anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance as I really don't know if he did or not. Nor do I know if Madeleine was abducted or if something else happened to her by accident or at her parents hand.
I can only tell you the same things that are known to the public already and that is that the parents left their three kids every night alone and vulnerable. A disaster waiting to happen!
I do wonder if people would be as supportive to the McCann's if the children had died from a leaky gas boiler or burnt to death in a fire. Maybe even drowned in the pool or had an accident while they were left alone, or would they be pointing the finger at them and saying that the parents are guilty of wilful child neglect and would they still be supportive of the parents if they had done the same thing in England.
Still, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and beliefs.
The one thing that has always puzzled me is, why do the McCann's say that being an arguido stops them from looking for their daughter. Nobody has ever stopped them looking for her or made any attempt to do so. They have not been charged with anything as yet and are free to go anywhere they wish unless it takes over five days and then all they just have to do is inform the police as to whereabouts they are.
They do have Metodo 3 searching for her, although how a company with no history of finding missing children/people and who's only qualification as private detectives is to deal with fraud cases as the norm was ever hired to find Madeleine is beyond me!

Posted by: Vera ,Essex 13 Mar 2008 01:27:06

Vera's 3rd comment:

The McCann’s were at Chaplin’s. I do know that for sure because me, my daughter and granddaughter were there at the time. I didn’t see the McCann’s being asked to return to see to their child because we left fairly early as my granddaughter was tired.

I did overhear some of the MW staff talking about this fact the next morning who were chatting amongst themselves as I was in the reception area waiting for my daughter and granddaughter to meet me there, that was the same day that Madeleine went missing.

Their opinion of the parents attitude of leaving their children alone each night wasn’t exactly flattering and according to them, that’s why MW’s offered them a babysitter for free for the night of the 3rd of May. I don’t deliberately listen to other people’s conversations but if you are standing round waiting for someone you can’t block out what you hear people talking about.

I also overheard a woman telling the police on one of the following days about a child was crying for a long time as I was standing fairly close by, but I didn’t know that she was talking about Madeleine at the time.

I also saw Robert Murat helping with the translations. I didn’t know his name at the time and only discovered it when I read it in the newspaper. I can’t say I took any more notice of him than any other person that was around.

As I said before, Murat and David Payne are amazingly alike and anyone could easily be confused as to which person any witnesses did see walking around the area on the night of the 3rd of May. I wouldn’t have noticed either of them except that they were standing near to each other and would probably have just thought that they were brothers or something but that is all that registered with me at the time.

The McCann’s were the one’s that people noticed as it was their child that was missing.

I don’t know what happened to Madeleine but I’m sure it will eventually come out in the ‘wash’ when the PJ get answers to their questions. They could all be guilty or innocent as far as I know.

Their avoidance of answering some questions directed at them at interviews makes me wonder what they and their friends might be hiding though. But that would only be my personal opinion of them.

I have seen and heard every single live interview (I don’t take any notice of what the papers print) that they have given and have noticed that their version of what happened that night has changed with each interview especially Gerry’s version of events of when he checked up on the children.

In the first interview he said that he saw Madeleine asleep.

In the second interview he said that she was not in bed and had probably gone into their room as the twins might have disturbed her (these are the same twins that never wake up at night, just as Madeleine, according to her parents, never wakes up at night).

In the third interview, Gerry said that he didn’t see Madeleine and he thought that she might have got up to go to the toilet. He didn’t check though.

In the fourth interview Gerry said that he didn’t see her because she had probably got up for a drink of water. Again he didn’t check this out.

In another interview with the magazine Vanity Fair, he said that he saw Madeleine in her bed and stood there looking at her and thinking how very lucky he was to have such a beautiful daughter.

This was not a live interview, but I found the complete transcript of the interview on the VF website and every sigh or hesitation in replying was written down.

I saw the McCann’s before and after Madeleine’s disappearance as did other people who were on holiday. I
didn’t really take any notice of their behaviour beforehand as they were just people on holiday. I’ll keep my opinion of them to myself as to their behaviour afterwards. The only thing I can say is that they seemed upset on the night when they gave their first interview (I only saw that on the news) but as for how they acted after that, I will leave you to come to your own conclusions. If you have seen them on the t.v. you can take a guess as to what I think.

All the people on holiday gave statements to the police and anything that was said to the PJ has to stay known only to them until they wish it to be made known to the public or not, so I can’t tell anyone about that either.

Posted by: Vera ,Essex 13 Mar 2008 14:18:08

This is the 4th comment from Vera that I read on the above mentioned brunty blog:

I am not in any way in breach of the law as I have not stated anything that I said to the PJ.
If I had done, I would be in breach of the law. I have only spoken of things that I have overheard or have personally seen.

If you think that what I have written is rubbish, that’s fine with me. It is completely irrelevant to me what your opinion is. It doesn’t change facts or other peoples opinions just because you disagree with it, now does it? Just because you personally didn’t see a thing happening. Does that mean it doesn’t happen?

Where have I made up any story to make them look guilty on my post? I gave an honest and polite view of my own observations and that was all. I left people to come to their own conclusions as to what they think of the McCann’s according to their own opinions and observations and not mine. I was under the impression that people were allowed an opinion of their own on here. Or am I wrong?

I do not know whether the McCann’s had anything to do with Madeleine’s disappearance or not. How could I? I was not there watching them when it happened. Were you?

I merely mentioned that I overheard ‘a’ woman telling the police about a child crying. I never said that she was the same person on the TV. I have never even seen a picture of the woman you say denied hearing a child crying, and I didn’t say that she had been on TV.

I don’t know whether they are one and the same person or not. How could I? There might have been even more people who heard a child crying and reported it. If your relative works at the O.C. maybe she could tell you how many people have mentioned or complained about a child being left alone crying to the staff there.

As for the reason that the O.C. offered the McCann’s a free babysitter. I have already explained what I overheard some of the staff discussing and the ‘why’ is in my post. If there was another reason, I certainly don’t know anything about it.

I was merely relaying to posters what I had seen while we were on holiday and that is not anything to do with any statement given to the P.J.

What I have written is common knowledge to many people who live in PDL and those who were on holiday there at the time and it’s certainly not a state secret. Quite probably a great deal of the public may have heard about it through the media for all I know so I am giving no secrets away.

If you are so sure that you are right and I am wrong, that is entirely up to you to decide. I am not trying to impress you or anyone on here with what I say or think.

If you have a relative in Luz, then perhaps she can give you more information of what happened that night as I was only on holiday to enjoy myself with my family and not there to play detective.

As for ‘keeping it under my hat’. It is my choice what I write on here, not yours! But thanks for the advice as I’m sure you were only trying to be helpful.

Posted by: Vera ,Essex 14 Mar 2008 07:40:43

From Jan:

This is the last comment from Vera that I know of. I must point out that I did not actually read this comment on the blog before it was whooshed, but luckily, another poster put it up on the 3As. So here is Vera’s 5th and as far as I know last comment on Brunty’s blog (please forgive the odd characters that appear. It is not you or your computer. This is exactly as I copied it from the original 3A‘s thread.):

To anybody that is still under the misapprehension that the O.C. in PDL has ever had a listening service, you are wrong so please read on.

There is no listening service at PDL. There has never been a listening service at M.W’s due to the fact that not all the apartments are owned by the O.C and are spread over a large area and not in an enclosed complex. It would neither be safe or practical to have a listening service over such a distance.

I know this for certain as I was at Mark Warner’s in PDL at the same time as the McCann’s and their friends and I do know what childminding facilities were offered there.

There is an evening crèche, which parents can use if they want to dine without their children. The evening crèche uses the same staff as the daytime crèche and is included in the holiday price.

If the McCann’s had hired a ‘nanny’ to stay with their children, that person would have been in the apartment babysitting their children and staying there with them until the parents returned to their apartment to take over the responsibility of their children.

These babysitters are part of the same staff that work at the crèche in the daytime. They are people who want to earn some extra cash for themselves in their none working hours and are paid to stay in the apartments with any child/children and it only costs £10 per hour.

If the McCann’s trusted their children with the staff of the crèche every day, then surely they could trust them to look after them at night. That would hardly be leaving them with strangers, would it?

The fact that both of these people were doctors and have had to work in A & E as part of their training should have made them stop and think before leaving them all alone.

The McCann’s have probably seen some terrible things when working in the A & E. They have probably seen children die through taking someone’s medication or drinking house-cleaning fluids plus many cases of abuse as well as other accidents.

As a G.P. one of the things that Mrs. McCann would have had to do is report any parent to the Social Services if she thought that a child was being abused or neglected. G.P’s are the most likely people to contact the S.S. if they see something wrong. That is part of their job.

These same rules apply to everyone who works in the A and E of any hospital and it is the doctors and nurses who contact the S.S if they think a child is in danger of abuse or neglect.

So why did the McCann’s think that they were different from other people and could neglect their own children by leaving them to any danger that might happen while their children were left all alone.

Posted by: Vera, Essex 5 Jun 2008 08:58:48