Sunday December 2,2012
By James Murray
A MOTHER whose son was wrongly linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has hit out at the way he is portrayed in a best-selling book about the mystery.
Briton Robert Murat was cleared of any involvement in the case four years ago but Kate McCann’s book Madelaine, about her missing daughter, has brought back painful memories for Jenny Murat, 76.
Having seen the McCanns’ suffering at the hands of the British press highlighted in last week’s Leveson report, she is anxious to stress her son’s total innocence.
She and Robert had hoped their nightmare would end in 2008 when he won £600,000 damages from British newspapers, but last night at her home on the Algarve, Mrs Murat spoke of how still the “tragedy consumes us, day in, day out”.
The widow and former nurse said: “Kate of all people should know what it is like to be wrongly accused, so how can she be comfortable repeating wrong allegations about my son in her book?”
In the book published last summer, Kate wrote: “Two officers talked openly about Robert Murat, who remained an arguido [suspect] and drip-fed us snippets of ‘evidence’ linking him to Madeleine.”
However, later in the book she writes: “Nothing we were told by the police indicated Murat took Madeleine or was in any way involved in her abduction.” Mrs Murat argues: “Surely it would have been wiser not to mention the allegations from the outset if there was ‘nothing relevant’.”
The police spotlight fell on Robert 11 days after Madeleine vanished from the McCanns’ holiday apartment in Praia de Luz, Portugal in May 2007.
Mrs Murat said: “Robert was at my home throughout that night and thankfully that is now fully accepted as fact. He did not leave once.”
She feels Robert, too, should have been called to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry.
She explained: “Again we were denied an opportunity to put our side of the story. Robert was the subject of a most disgraceful character assassination, yet was not even invited to contribute to the debate. His life has been hugely damaged. This tragedy consumes us, day in, day out.
She added: “Kate’s book and the resulting publicity did not help. I do feel sympathetic towards the McCanns and obviously wish they could find their daughter. We can’t fathom the hell they must go through but they seem oblivious to the impact all this has had on our lives and the lives of others.
“We tried our best to help, but have ended being pilloried and abused and still it goes on.”
Mrs Murat, now working on her own book about the case, added: “I am sick of all the half-truths and innuendos, so I do want a full and accurate record of the truth. It is important that our story is told.”
And what do the
Black Hats have to say about this in their little, tiny, and getting tinier, corner of the internet? It seems they don't feel sympathetic towards the elderly lady:
"Re: Express: Murat's Mum Complains About Kate McCann's Book
bb1 Yesterday at 11:26 am
I think young Robert might want to keep his mum away from reporters.....she seems blissfully unaware that he is a co-signatory of assorted legal documents, along with the McCanns and others.
Did he actually submit evidence to Leveson in the first place? I don't recall him doing so, but he got a special mention anyway:
Mr Robert Murat was wrongly accused of being involved in some way in the abduction and
was traduced in the British press
I will believe Mrs Murat is writing a book when I see it; I can see her son confiscating her keyboard/typewriter/pen before she drops him in it even further.
That's like one of James Murray's wierd and wonderful interviews with Lovely Sofa."
What strikes me the most and find so interesting is the phrase "she drops him in it even further". So he was always in it. Mum's just dropping him even further.
These bothersome elderly ladies from PdL. They seemed such great assets at the time but time has come to prove them to be such liabilities...
