Kate McCann's diary 'tells of struggle to control Madeleine'
By PAUL HARRIS and FIONA BARTON - Last updated at 00:01am on 14th September 2007
Kate McCann's diary reveals she struggled to cope with three 'hyperactive' children, it was claimed yesterday.
The notebook, photocopied by Portuguese police, is said to show she found her role as a mother hard.
Portuguese newspapers, which have published what they claim are extracts, say it is 'fundamental' to the belief that she was involved in the death of her daughter Madeleine.
The 39-year-old GP is reported to have written about how difficult it was to control Madeleine and her two-year- old brother and sister, and how her husband Gerry often left her to get on with family duties on her own.
Mrs McCann reportedly described Madeleine and the twins as hyperactive and 'hysterical', and discloses that looking after them sapped her strength and emotions.
The diary is being used as evidence by Portuguese police in their attempts to prove that Mrs McCann and her husband were involved in their daughter's death.
Detectives applied for permission to make her diary part of their formal evidence as they show her state of mind before and after Madeleine vanished from the famleastily's Algarve holiday apartment on May 3. It was examined and copied by detectives last month, and detailed in papers sent to the public prosecutor on Tuesday.
Sections purporting to be extracts from the diary were leaked to Portuguese newspapers yesterday - seen by the McCanns' supporters as part of a campaign by 'police sources' to justify their case against the couple.
The fact that at two newspapers published purported extracts makes a mockery of Portugal's so-called secrecy of justice laws, which are supposed to forbid police from disclosing elements of the inquiry.
Yesterday, Mrs McCann's family dismissed the significance of any diary entries, saying she was just a normal mother.
Philomena McCann, Gerry McCann's sister, said Kate had kept the diary to show to Madeleine when she was found.
She said: "She's been writing down everything that we've been doing so we can prove to Madeleine that we have worked so hard to find her, that we've put our lives on hold to search for her and show our love for her is unending."
Miss McCann questioned why the Portuguese authorities wanted the diary.
She said: "God knows what they are expecting to find. And why didn't they ask for it before? It's just another way to stick the knife in."
A family friend said it was ' disgraceful' that any private and emotional thoughts should now be in the public domain - but insisted that the diary entries would 'add nothing' to the case.
The friend said: "Kate is kind and loving to her children and always has been. Any mother with three young children will recognise that it's a full-time job and it's not always easy."
Portuguese tabloid Correio da Manha headlined its front page yesterday: "Kate insults her children in her diary."
It claimed: "She complains frequently that her children are 'hysterical' and speaks of Madeleine as a child whose excess activity exhausts her.
"She tells also how Gerry doesn't help her with the family chores and that she has to cope alone with her two youngest children."
Publico, a respected daily newspaper, reported that the diary contained Mrs McCann's worries about her children's behaviour and her difficulties disciplining them.
The diary is known to contain details relating to May 3 and the hours before Madeleine's disappearance, when the family played tennis and relaxed with their children beside the pool at their Praia da Luz holiday complex.
Mrs McCann continued to make daily entries after Madeleine's disappearance.
Despite the impression given in Portuguese newspapers, the Daily Mail understands that the entries are not exclusively about motherhood and children.
It is believed to contain positive references to the family holiday, their journey from England, and Mrs McCann's thoughts about the resort of Praia da Luz.
8 comments:
The woman has three children under the age of four!!
Any mother, at times, will pull their hair out and find motherhood difficult, especially without the support of a husband or partner.
I have three year old twins, they can be a real pain in the arse, and extremely frustrating.
So now that I've confessed this, does it make me a killer?
I can hardly cope with my 3 year old son so God knows how she did it with 3 children. Those are comments that I and any other mother with young children make about our kids daily but it doesn't mean we'd kill them. If that is the strongest evdence they have then they are really scraping at the bottom of a barrel.
I have three young childern ( set of twins as well) and I can totally understand her feeling drained of energy. Any mother feels that way one time or another, motherhood is not easy! I don't think that her diary should be public knowledge unless of corse she actually states that a crime has happened. And I don't think there is any confession in the diary so all of it should be kept confidential.
I am an American and I work full time and have two small children and yes it is frustrating. The police in Portugal do seem to be on a classic "witch hunt" with this case and the diary would have been destroyed had it contained anything incriminating about the crime. One thing that confuses Americans is why would you ever leave three very small toddlers alone in an apartment to go out to dinner? In America you would be charged with neglect even if nothing happened to them. I have seen the photos and they were dining very far away from thier apt. I feel so very sorry for this woman, but feel that she and her husband were terribly neglectful. I do not think I could live with myself if I had behaved as irresponsibly as this couple did and then had such a tragedy occur.
"In America you would be charged with neglect even if nothing happened to them." The same happens in Portugal and everyone in Portugal were asking how could they? I'm portuguese and I don't believe in anything that shows up in the media. I'm fed up of listening to news about the little girl and her parents. There are so many missing kids in the world and why is Maddie so special? Why people keep saying it's our police fault. I do believe we've made mistakes but there was never a case like this in Portugal or in World. Even the British police would make mistakes if they were under this pressure.
Another thing is that our police is always discrete and they rarely reveal details about an investigation to the media... Everything in this case is getting out of hand...
well, have you ever left them alone for an evening because they were being a 'pain'???
every parent knows kids can be frustrating and that isnt even the issue?!! have you been following the same story??? the mcanns LEFT their kids ALONE, all being under the age of 5 or 6????
i see that 'they're going through the biggest pain ever' .. and rightly so. the truth, which everyone, as well as them, know is that if these kids weren't left alone, even if they were getting checked on, none of this would be happening. portugese police or anybody aren't to blame because of their apparent lack of effort.. if the mcanns can be so callous in their parenting, the onus is on no-one else.
what people do for an evening away from their kids hey ...!!
I have 5 children all diagnosed ADHD and on the AS, sure it is hard work but I have done it on my own, I had a 11 mth gap between numbers 2/3 and 10mths between 4/5!! I managed,there is NO excuse whatsoever, yea its tough but then she chose it! Get on with it DRs McScamm.
All kids are HARD work, that is what parenting is all about, if you don't like it don't have kids!!!
My goodness wake up and smell the coffee, so what she has a handful, so do the rest of us!! BUT oh I forgot they are so selfish she cannot understand.
Oh and by the way I am disabled too, I managed...........stuggle but I did it!
I hope to be a butller,and to be castrated bij a lady boss, madam etc.
I hope i get respones. to. mensenlief@yahoo.com
thanks
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