I sold an ice cream to madeleine mccann 1 week ago in brussels?She had the same mark in her eye

Just seen that tomorrows sun leads with the story of an ice cream man who claims to have sold an ice cream to madeleine just over 1 weeks ago in Brussels.

Can't find anymore on this story just as yet.Think we all knew this would happen now.My heart goes out to kate and gerry

I know this is obvious, but while the MCCanns and their investigators will doubtless follow up every single promising sighting, I think we owe it to our own nervous systems not to get wildly excited each time. Let the tabloids do that -- we know that's how they sell. I think even Gerry and Kate have learnt to keep their hopes in check or they would be even more wrecked than they already clearly are.

Every man and his dog will be jumping on the bandwagon -- sincerely or not. I'd hate to be the legitimate parent or guardian of a small blonde girl in Europe right now.

I sure got excited about the bank video .. that little girl looked so like Madeleine .. Now we know why K&G keep as calm as they can over these sitings .. otherwise their nervous systems would collapse altogether. Back to hunkering down again .. and waiting :punchcomp:

we will know if it is maddie withing 24 hours the reports its not her are not confirmed and is still being studyed in america the american lab responce last night was it could be her it is not ruled out.

I am sure there are others besides myself who think, why is it all these sighting of Maddie are always so many days, weeks, or months ago, or after the witness has returned home from some holdiay, business trip or what ever. And why is it that out of all these sightings has one single person involved ever made any attempt to question the child and those escorting her? Why during all of this time has there been sightings of Maddie in so many different parts of the world and yet nothing has ever come of them? You would think that at least on one occasion someone would have asked "Are you Maddeleine Mccann?" or question those accompanying the child, "Is this your child only she looks remarkably like Maddeleine Mccann?" and then if unconvinced with their explanation kept them there until the police arrived. I find this quite extraordinary and most frustrating to say the least? Alroy.

By Graham Tibbetts
Last Updated: 9:00AM BST 12 Aug 2008
Madeleine McCann
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing while on a family holiday in Portugal in May last year Photo: PAUL GROVER

The youngster was in Brussels with a North African-looking woman who bought her a chocolate ice cream - Madeleine's favourite - from a street vendor.

The sighting on Monday last week occurred around the time the pair were picked up on CCTV footage by a security guard at a nearby bank.

Antonio Migliardi, who sold them the ice cream, said the woman was "very severe" with the child.

"She held her hand firmly and kept pulling her closer.

"When I gave the ice cream to the child she stood frozen. The lady took it in her place," said Mr Migliardi, 44.

"Normally a happy child always takes the ice. This was not a normal situation."

He said the girl was around five years old with blonde hair and distinctive mark in her eye.

"The little girl looked healthy but very sad. She had her eyes towards the floor and was too shy to look up.

"The lady asked her in a mixture of French and English what she wanted.

"The girl answered in English. She looked up for only a second, with an unhappy face, and said, 'Chocolate please'. then she looked down again," he said.

The girl and woman were also seen on CCTV by a security guard at KBC bank to the west of the city centre. The security guard said yesterday he would 'bet everything he owned' that the child he saw was the missing Briton.

He went outside to check on them after recognising the girl but only realised it may have been Madeleine after seeing a picture of her later. He has been interviewed by Belgian police.

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing while on a family holiday in Portugal in May last year.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Gerry and Kate McCann, her parents, said the information was taken seriously.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2544450/Madeleine-McCann-seen-again-in-Brussels.html

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So this guy sells an ice cream to the arab woman with the child....around the same time of day she was caught on the cctv???Then he says she as the mark in her eye to. Then i would say this is credible right????So why are we reading reports today that the child's father as come forward to claim she is his daughter and was out with a nanny that day?

IM really confused right now with all these sightings and i fell terribly sorry for the mccanns right now they must be feeling like they are on a emotional rollercoaster.

If this man is credible. This is adding to my feeling of distinct unease here.

It is just that people can and are mistaken, with the best will in the world they are.

I hope to God that the Belgian police are not just accepting this "father's" say so and that they are investigating this fully.

Despite the "news" -- I am not yet convinced this sighting has been resolved. Maybe we are kept in the dark for good reasons .. I ache that this is Madeleine .. I know many sightings are rubbish .. but just one, just one, might be her. And this one is still open .. until better confirmation is out there & believable.

Surely the Belgian police have asked to see this child, check out this child, and who she is with. Surely..... for God's sake ..

Well the child's father as come forward and claimed it was his daughter and that she was out with her nanny that day.Thats all well and fine. But the ice cream man states he saw the same child with the same woman (or thats perceived to be the case) He also states he saw the fleck in her eye.Now im a great believer in coincidences,ive seen a few in my time on this planet...But this ice cream man saw her the same day she was caught on cctv and the ice cream was sold just around the corner literally from where they were first spotted by the bank guard.

Now either that is one hell of a coincidence...Or the guy is mistaken/lying and didn't see no mark in her eye....or indeed it is madeleine after all.
Thing is what with sightings popping up all over that area in recent times.....30 in this week alone....im also wondering if people are a little panicky and paranoid that she is there under their noses.I cant blame them becasue i read a report to day that in the Belgium area people are taking this extremely serious and are very alert at the moment......given the dutroux scandal that broke out there some people are really afraid and moved by recent sightings there.

I can understand that and im glad that they are taking soo much care about reporting any potential sightings.

However sometimes i feel that people are being a little too enthusiastic and reporting things that might not be true.Im not saying this is the case with the ice cream van man,but im finding his fleck in the eye claim a little scary...someone that day saw Madeleine???Or someone that day added some extra onto their story???

Panicking maybe becasue they are convinced she is in their area soo much.I can imagine if she was spotted in wales i to would be a lot more cautions when passing by a child Madeleine's stamp.
Infact just yesterday a little girl was stood in my street eating an ice cream ...she was 5 year old and had hair the same style as Madeleine's..just a little longer maybe and darker...she was the same sort of height and size too.....although she didn't look like her much,....from the back or side one could have mistaken her for madeleine maybe. Infact if it wasn't for the fact she was my own daughter I would have taken a second look myself.

I just hope that one of these sightings is her. Kate and gerry must be besides themselves with worry and must feel like they are on an emotional roller coaster. I would hate to have to feel the way they are feeling.I cant imagine a lower feeling.Your children are your lives.I live and breath for my daughter.I love her more than i ever loved anyone in my entire life.I would lose myself in depression if anything happened to her and wouldn't ever be able to cope with not knowing weather she is being hurt....Im serious when I say, I think I would have to be sectioned for my own safety. I don't think that anyone could really imagine what they are feeling like. Empathising with them we can all try to do, but we wont ever know unless we have the unfortunate experience our selves. Thankfully i have my daughter alive and well with me.She is mine and I love her the same way the mccanns love madeleine.What a terrifying thought to have to imagine being without her....brings me to tears to imagine myself in their position ........

I understand all you are saying and really equate with it. As a mother and a grandmother I just cannot bear the thought of anyone putting their hands on the children, I really do not think I could be held responsible for my actions if they did.

However, this ice cream man and his statement is worrying me, why would he make up such a story? How do we know this father that has come forward is truly this girls father? How do we know that the girl he says is his daughter is the girl in the photograph? I am just not convinced, my intuition is screaming dig further, dig deeper, don't ask questions just do it.

I am sure there are others besides myself who think, why is it all these sighting of Maddie are always so many days, weeks, or months ago, or after the witness has returned home from some holdiay, business trip or what ever. And why is it that out of all these sightings has one single person involved ever made any attempt to question the child and those escorting her? Why during all of this time has there been sightings of Maddie in so many different parts of the world and yet nothing has ever come of them? You would think that at least on one occasion someone would have asked "Are you Maddeleine Mccann?" or question those accompanying the child, "Is this your child only she looks remarkably like Maddeleine Mccann?" and then if unconvinced with their explanation kept them there until the police arrived. I find this quite extraordinary and most frustrating to say the least? Alroy.

I absolutely agree with you Royal. If they are 98% sure this is Maddie then why not follow them call the police ask them something(directions) or say something like your daughter is so pretty etc Don’t allow the child to walk off without doing something. I know it’s easy for us to say but people need to take the opportunity because it might be her and it might be the last time anyone sees her. Like you I find this frustrating.

Rosiepops wrote:I understand all you are saying and really equate with it. As a mother and a grandmother I just cannot bear the thought of anyone putting their hands on the children, I really do not think I could be held responsible for my actions if they did.

However, this ice cream man and his statement is worrying me, why would he make up such a story? How do we know this father that has come forward is truly this girls father? How do we know that the girl he says is his daughter is the girl in the photograph? I am just not convinced, my intuition is screaming dig further, dig deeper, don't ask questions just do it.

Beyond doubt, the proper way to go with all this is to keep publicity to a minimum while a possible sighting is being investigated. If Madeleine is out there, under our noses, then some people who have done some very bad things are responsible. If, indeed, this CCTV footage is Madeleine, then perhaps not as bad as they might have. But still very bad and whoever is holding her won't be keen to come clean to any responsible authority. That's part of the reason to keep these operations and investigations covert. The other reason is that if the 'sightings' turn out to be little girls not Madeleine and belonging to properly loving families, then their carers don't deserve to be thrust into the limelight, with possible pejorative judgment unjustly made on them.

The time for publicity is when Madeleine both positively identified and recovered. That (should!) be wonderful

honestbroker wrote:

Rosiepops wrote:I understand all you are saying and really equate with it. As a mother and a grandmother I just cannot bear the thought of anyone putting their hands on the children, I really do not think I could be held responsible for my actions if they did.

However, this ice cream man and his statement is worrying me, why would he make up such a story? How do we know this father that has come forward is truly this girls father? How do we know that the girl he says is his daughter is the girl in the photograph? I am just not convinced, my intuition is screaming dig further, dig deeper, don't ask questions just do it.

Beyond doubt, the proper way to go with all this is to keep publicity to a minimum while a possible sighting is being investigated. If Madeleine is out there, under our noses, then some people who have done some very bad things are responsible. If, indeed, this CCTV footage is Madeleine, then perhaps not as bad as they might have. But still very bad and whoever is holding her won't be keen to come clean to any responsible authority. That's part of the reason to keep these operations and investigations covert. The other reason is that if the 'sightings' turn out to be little girls not Madeleine and belonging to properly loving families, then their carers don't deserve to be thrust into the limelight, with possible pejorative judgment unjustly made on them.

The time for publicity is when Madeleine both positively identified and recovered. That (should!) be wonderful

I totally agree with you, Honestbroker.

Why is everyone so intent on warning people involved in a kidnapping that they have "seen" Madeleine. Belgium is a Schengen country so if we assume she really was there, she could be quickly removed to southern Italy without once going through passport control (Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy - all Schengen countries). If this "sighting" really had been a lead the people involved would have had days to get Madeleine out of the country. You can take the train from Brussels to where I live in in Austria in about 16 hours and I live about 3 hours car drive away from the Italian border - that should give you some idea of how quick it could be to get someone out of the country.

The other issue I have with all these "sightings" mirrors what Alroy said in another comment about how long people seem to be taking to make their reports to the police. The one in Venezuela took months to report his suspicions. I cannot help thinking that if you were that sure, you would tell someone immediately, not wonder about it for weeks and then report it. Someone doing that would lose all credibility for me.

Lastly, as Tulip said somewhere, too. Why would people want Madeleine outside when they know everyone is looking for her? What kidnapper or person involved in the whole chain would place more emphasis on buying the child an ice-cream and walks in healthy fresh air over their own freedom? We are not talking about scrupulous people here.

Lastly, to repeat what Tulip said - again (you only get one Mexican wave though, Tulip! - oh all right ) we are going to get a lot of these sightings now and to keep sane we can't all go crazy about each sighting - hopeful, yes, of course.

Mandz wrote:I am sure there are others besides myself who think, why is it all these sighting of Maddie are always so many days, weeks, or months ago, or after the witness has returned home from some holdiay, business trip or what ever. And why is it that out of all these sightings has one single person involved ever made any attempt to question the child and those escorting her? Why during all of this time has there been sightings of Maddie in so many different parts of the world and yet nothing has ever come of them? You would think that at least on one occasion someone would have asked "Are you Maddeleine Mccann?" or question those accompanying the child, "Is this your child only she looks remarkably like Maddeleine Mccann?" and then if unconvinced with their explanation kept them there until the police arrived. I find this quite extraordinary and most frustrating to say the least? Alroy.

I absolutely agree with you Royal. If they are 98% sure this is Maddie then why not follow them call the police ask them something(directions) or say something like your daughter is so pretty etc Don’t allow the child to walk off without doing something. I know it’s easy for us to say but people need to take the opportunity because it might be her and it might be the last time anyone sees her. Like you I find this frustrating.

HI THERE MANDZ, HAVE BEEN HOPING TO HAVE A CHAT WITH YOU, BUT DON'T KNOW HOW TO SEND YOU AN EMAIL, MAYBE TALK LATER ON THE CHAT SHOW. LOVE, ALROY. X

[b]

honestbroker wrote:

Rosiepops wrote:I understand all you are saying and really equate with it. As a mother and a grandmother I just cannot bear the thought of anyone putting their hands on the children, I really do not think I could be held responsible for my actions if they did.

However, this ice cream man and his statement is worrying me, why would he make up such a story? How do we know this father that has come forward is truly this girls father? How do we know that the girl he says is his daughter is the girl in the photograph? I am just not convinced, my intuition is screaming dig further, dig deeper, don't ask questions just do it.

Beyond doubt, the proper way to go with all this is to keep publicity to a minimum while a possible sighting is being investigated. If Madeleine is out there, under our noses, then some people who have done some very bad things are responsible. If, indeed, this CCTV footage is Madeleine, then perhaps not as bad as they might have. But still very bad and whoever is holding her won't be keen to come clean to any responsible authority. That's part of the reason to keep these operations and investigations covert. The other reason is that if the 'sightings' turn out to be little girls not Madeleine and belonging to properly loving families, then their carers don't deserve to be thrust into the limelight, with possible pejorative judgment unjustly made on them.

The time for publicity is when Madeleine both positively identified and recovered. That (should!) be wonderful

Well of course what you say is true, anyone would find it difficult to argue with that and in any case why would they? But this is up to the authorities to keep investigations covert. TBH I would be happier not knowing about them and one day turning the TV on and finding they have had a positive result, but you have to take into consideration the age of technology we live in, something happens on the other side of the world and we know about it within minutes, so keeping something like a sighting secret is going to be a hard ask.
It appears that the newspapers have taken it upon themselves to hunt this down, are you suggesting we curb what they say and do? If so where does freedom of speech and a free press start and end?
Then if they are curbed then people start shouting that the press have been gagged as we have heard throughout this enquiry and all the problems that Portugal's archaic secrecy laws have caused.

Things are actually never as easy as they seem or as black and white.

The sighting in Venezuela I think if I read it correctly was around 6 weeks. I questioned why he would leave it this long and Maria actually made a very good point about how intimidated and maybe even dangerous for him to have done anything in that country and this was something I had not thought about.
I suppose as ever, it is all very well to say what we would have done, but we do not know what we would do until we are faced with such a situation.

All the same, a lot of major police operations are in fact covert -- they simply couldn't function otherwise. How often do we in fact wake to hear that there has been a major drug bust?

Of course, when the public is involved in these sightings the news is already out.

With drugs busts they are hardly likely to inform the media be you crook or police.

Just wanted to say that there is no reason to think that the captors would not take Madeleine out. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1. Time, a lot of time has passed and people were not so vigilant looking for her. The latest wave of publicity however, has changed that.
2. Preparation. The captors would by now have a full set of papers identifying Madeleine as a completely different girl, and these papers will be good enough to even fool the authorities. One particular good way to do it is to take the identity of a little girl who is the same age (and ethnic group) who has died, and use that identity. So unless the police actually look at the child, and the eye, there is no way that they would identify that the little girl is Madeleine, because the papers will be authentic. And the only other way is DNA, but why would anyone take DNA from a little girl who has an authentic set of life papers, such as birth certificate and passport.

So prior to the last lot of publicity, I could see that the captors would feel quite safe taking her out and about on short trips, such as shopping or a walk.

A police source said yesterday that the first tests carried out by biometrics experts on the CCTV footage had placed the girl at five years old. And the source said the child’s face also corresponded with Madeleine’s hair and face shape. Lab experts believe the woman was around four months pregnant.

Local cops, who in Brussels are each allocated a square of streets, were yesterday being interviewed to see if they recognised the woman.

Hospitals have been contacted to find the names of all pregnant women registered to give birth in Brussels.

It is believed inquiries have so far found no woman like the one caught on film registered as living in the district.


Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman for the Belgian Federal Police, confirmed yesterday: “We are looking for the woman in the video. We have taken all sightings seriously.”

Both of Monday’s “sightings” were in the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean neighbourhood, ten minutes’ walk to the west of the centre of Brussels.
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Surely if this man is claiming that the girl is his daughter and the woman is her nanny then where is this pregnant woman? Why have they not been able to find her? She should be registered if she is a nanny and works at a care centre? She should be knows to hospitals/doctors midwives? Something is not right here. I think there is more to this and perhaps this is credible hence the playing down of this story in the media.

this just does not ring true at all. none of it.

I am firstly glad that M3 have now a back seat in this and are dealing only locally........the McCanns have now at long last brought in 'experts'.

The father came forward.....who is he? profession? nationality? wife???

says he hired the Moroccan 4 months' pregnant lady as a child minder/babysitter.....so who is she? where is she from? where does she live? is she a legal immigrant? is she living in the same home as the father and mother???? if there - if not why not - and daughter like Madeleine? If so, is the mother of the Madeleine lookalike absent? Why? Where is she?

Why pass the bank TWICE....in full knowingly view of the cctv......

Any money paid in to the accounts of these people at all???

no, to me this for some odd reason, was ''staged''. ''performing'' in front of a known ''audience'', viz cctv cameras clearly in and around the bank.....but why? a decoy? a ploy? to show what precisely????

This needs a great deal of investigation behind the 'scenes' as that is what they were to me, ''scenes'' in a public ''display''......

the ice cream vendor......in the time it takes to say ''CHOCOLATE PLEASE'' he seems to have seen a very rare eye defect in her right eye 'like a comma' ???!!! He himself said she did not look up at all except to say that. so...YOU SAY IT, CHOCOLATE PLEASE AND SEE HOW MUCH YOU REMEMBER OF A COMPLETE STRANGER AND THEIR EYES, DEFECTS, COLOURING. NO EXACTLY YOU CAN'T. Does this ice cream vendor know at all of the Moroccan 4 months pregnant woman?? will they know the next load of people saying they too 'saw Madeleine with eye defect, definitely her'????????????????????????? links? Brings me back to another post of mine, you SIT ON HER if necessary, do not let her go, until help comes if you are so so damned sure it IS HER. if not, you yourself have a reason NOT TO DO SO. YOU are to me then SUSPECT.

no this is 'fed' disinformation to me. It is commonly known about the EYE DEFECT as the McCanns released this against advice. What relationship has the father to the moroccan woman and who is the father of her baby.......does he live near them? What references were provided for her to become his child's minder. why did the 'father' of this Madeleine lookalike not come forward IMMEDIATELY his 'daughter' was filmed........and subseqently put in international press....??? I would have been angry about it.....is he? if not, why not???

The kilt.....??? OMG OMG OMG a cynical attempt to draw Gerry McCann's extended family being a Scot into this???? how stupid can you get. This is a deeply cynical attempt to fool us all the press, media and public to stop looking Frankly I liked it when the press had a blackout as hoped then something could be actually happening to find her. Now the press/media/hysteria sh*t has hit the fan again, I am not at all happy. It detracts from what should and must go on. FINDING HER. and if any other reports come out, what the hell are these children doing with people clearly not their natural parent/s, and what has happened since to them??????????????????? Put in a place of safety or ignored.....makes me sick. There must be employment records and visas to hand. get them. fast. now.

no.

THIS STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN

imho.

:roll: :suspect: :x :(

tulip wrote:All the same, a lot of major police operations are in fact covert -- they simply couldn't function otherwise. How often do we in fact wake to hear that there has been a major drug bust?

Of course, when the public is involved in these sightings the news is already out.

Rosiepops wrote:With drugs busts they are hardly likely to inform the media be you crook or police.

Rosie, that is exactly the point I'm making. Many police operations HAVE to be covert, i.e. undercover.

There are far too many inconsistencies here and a kilt is a strange thing to be wearing in August, the child has no coat on, the man walking behind has a T shirt on, it is a bright sunny summer day, yet this woman is wearing a coat!

yet another strange thing to factor into all of this.

The one thing I am please about is that the McCann's have hired this new agency made up of all FBI and CIA etc, I am pretty certain if we are wary of this sighting, then they will be too and they will be finding everything there is to know about this out, no fear!

I would say we could expect further developments on this at some stage.

Rosiepops wrote:There are far too many inconsistencies here and a kilt is a strange thing to be wearing in August, the child has no coat on, the man walking behind has a T shirt on, it is a bright sunny summer day, yet this woman is wearing a coat!

yet another strange thing to factor into all of this.

The one thing I am please about is that the McCann's have hired this new agency made up of all FBI and CIA etc, I am pretty certain if we are wary of this sighting, then they will be too and they will be finding everything there is to know about this out, no fear!

I would say we could expect further developments on this at some stage.

rosie i agree with you, and i do feel madeleine is cuming home soon !!

Something strange going on. Where is this pregnant woman? Why have they not found her yet? Nothing has been reported about her other than they are trying to find her? The man who claimed this is his daughter should take the police to her? Mmmm.....

IM not ruling out this latest on madeleine yet.....not until it as been confirmed properly by fbi agents analysing the cctv.To me it all seems a little bizarre.Im not sure whether maybe this was an attempt to contact the parents via the parade of the child...maybe to prove to them she is infact alive still.Maybe the reason the media as suddenly been halted and all negative responses published regarding the sighting is due to this.

Usually everything is reported etc.The results from the usa were due back within 48 hours...why havent they been released yet????

Why hasn't this woman in the punjabi outfit been found??

Why did the ice cream van say he saw the fleck in her eye...was he lying?

Just because the papers say the Belgium authorities have ruled it out means nothing...lets her that its truly truly been confirmed that this was not madeleine.No more on this story???Suddenly it as been shoved away.....not spoken of anymore and no more news.
Such a sudden end to something that was sooo convincing...something could have very well been madeleine...something that had there whole world waiting with baited breath as suddenly been dropped...just like that?

I feel like a child being told a white lie to stop me probing for something.... ''Oh its Ok the girls dad as come forward she was out with her morrocon nanny on that day..alls well forget it lets move on !!!!''

nuff said??I don't think so.

ON the other hand lets hope this is the case becasue if it is...then they would only be doing this to protect madeleine from any harm.