The validity of Martin Smith's identification is not the issue. The issue is whether the BBC mislead the public when claiming that he had withdrawn that identification and as they have now cut that claim from the Panorama programme it would appear they did.
Re-read my post, Faith.
2nd column, 3rd full paragraph
“…But then the story of the Smith sighting took another bizarre twist as allegations emerged in the media that the family had retracted their statements. The public were being told that their potentially critical development was just another red herring. “
Where was it alleged that the family had retracted their statements?
Statements concerning what? That they’d seen a man carrying a child? If so, news to me.
Next… re the Panorama programme: “Richard Bilton told viewers that the
Smiths had changed their mind about seeing Gerry McCann and now believed they had seen someone else.
Smith or Smiths? Which ones?
What IS plausible (although I haven't had time to double-check) is that Bilton may have said that Martin now felt he may have been mistaken about being convinced that it was Gerry without checking with him personally.
If ever that's the case, and if that's all that it's about, it doesn't mean that Martin or anyone else "retracted" their statements.
Russ later wondered if Murat was indeed the person he initially stated he'd seen, but in the end chose to stick with his earlier statement, presumably based on his impression at the time.
What did Bilton actually originally say, and what was supposedly edited? She doesn't say (at least in the part I've read so far).
Why hasn't she provided a copy of the original and edited versions? That way, we'd all be clear as to what any potential edits actually were.
