I’ve never really had any opinion on the Madeleine McCann case, beyond of course the simple humanitarian feeling that it was a tragedy for all concerned. Having not been on the scene, known none of the players or had an opportunity to examine the evidence, I don’t really see myself as qualified to pontificate on the likely culprits or the fate of the child in question.
That, of course, didn’t stop many portions of the UK’s press, mainly but by no means exclusively the tabloid titles, speculating wildly, and it now appears, without any basis whatsoever, about the apparently obvious guilt of various parties. This sensational reporting may have shifted a few papers at the time, given a portion of the British public’s rather incomprehensible obsession with the case, but the chickens are now firmly coming home to roost through a series of huge legal payouts.
Worst hit has been Express Newspapers (prop. Mr Richard Desmond), publishers of the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday. For the Express in particular, the Madeleine story became (more…)
