The Strange Case of Nora Quoirin

The family is stating that only Matthew Searle from the Lucie Blackman Trust is authorized to speak on their behalf:

https://www.thesundaily.my/local/nora-anne-concerns-raised-over-parties-claiming-to-represent-family-IX1275695

SEREMBAN: Nora Anne Quoirin’s family today stressed that they have only appointed Matthew Searle of the Lucie Blackman Trust as the family’s spokesman, and expressed concern over certain parties who claimed to act on behalf of the family.

The family said the only comments and statements relating to the disappearance, death, investigation and any other matters that are actually from the family are those released via the Lucie Blackman Trust.

The message was conveyed in a statement issued by Lucie Blackman Trust, a British charity which supports its nationals in times of crises overseas.

The family, according to the statement, also urged media to rely only on Lucie Blackman Trust statements and comments from now on.

“Nora’s family is concerned that continued reporting of comments such as those recently reported are unhelpful and may hinder any investigations, as well as causing confusion and distress for them.

“The Lucie Blackman Trust is arranging the repatriation of Nora’s body and no further information regarding this will be released at this point,” said the charity body.

Nora Anne, together with her parents Sebastien Marie Philipe and Meabh Jaseprine Quoirin, had arrived in Malaysia for a two-week holiday and checked in at the eco-resort on Aug 3, the day before her disappearance.

The post-mortem findings Thursday ruled out foul play and revealed that Nora Anne, a special needs teenager, died of internal bleeding likely due to starvation and stress.

The family of Nora Anne claimed the Irish teenager’s body from the Forensic Medicine Department, Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital here at 12.42am today after documentation was completed.

Just to add to the above, there have been a lot of comments recently from Nora's French grandfather, who has been steadfastly insisting that there be an investigation into a criminal act as he's believed from the beginning that Nora couldn't have gone anywhere by herself and that, since her body was found, a criminal act definitely took place and he wants it investigated thoroughly.

The full statement from the parents seems to be saying that they disagree with what he's saying and that he doesn't speak for them.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-nora-quoirins-family-hit-18950927
(It's from The Mirror, I know, but it does make it more clear that this is what they're reacting to).
Nora Quoirin's family hit out at 'distressing and unhelpful' comments by other relatives

The family has issued a statement raising concerns about the effect some are having on the investigation into her death in Malaysia

ByBenjamin Cooper
Tom Horton
Sam Rkaina

04:34, 17 AUG 2019Updated07:18, 17 AUG 2019

The family of Nora Quoirin have requested the ending of "unhelpful" comments by family members or those claiming to act on their behalf following the death of their daughter in a Malaysian jungle.

The 15-year-old's unclothed body was discovered on Tuesday 1.6 miles from a holiday resort where the family had been staying.

Early on Saturday the teenager's family issued a statement asking the media to only rely on comments issued on their behalf by the Lucie Blackman Trust (LBT).

"Any other comments and views are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the immediate family or an accurate portrayal of the facts," the statement said.

"Nora's family are concerned that continued reporting of comments such as those recently reported are unhelpful and may hinder any investigations, as well as causing confusion and distress for them.

"The Lucie Blackman Trust is arranging repatriation of Nora's body and no further information concerning this, including dates or destinations, will be released at this point."

Malaysian police said following a postmortem that Nora starved after her disappearance and there was no evidence of abduction or kidnapping "for the time being".

The family confirmed in Saturday's statement that no reward payments were made prior to the discovery of Nora's body, and noted that a police hotline remains open for those with information on the case.

After meeting Malaysia's deputy prime minister on Friday, her family said they are "struggling to understand the events of the last 10 days".

The statement, issued on their behalf by LBT, added: "The initial postmortem results have given some information that helps us to understand Nora's cause of death.

"But our beautiful innocent girl died in extremely complex circumstances and we are hoping that soon we will have more answers to our many questions."

Malaysian police said Nora is likely to have spent a week in the jungle on her own.

The London teenager, who was born with the brain defect holoprosencephaly and was described by her family as "vulnerable", went missing from the resort of Dusun on Sunday, August 4.

The 15-year-old had died between two and four days before her body was discovered, a postmortem examination revealed.
THE FAMILY'S FULL STATEMENT

The family of Nora Quoirin would like to clarify several comments that have been attributed to the family or to people claiming to act on behalf of the family.

They wish it to be made absolutely clear that the only comments and statements relating to the disappearance, death, investigation and any other matters that are actually from the family are those released via Matthew Searle of the Lucie Blackman Trust.

The family have only appointed Matthew Searle to act as a spokesman for them.

Any other comments and views are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the immediate family or an accurate portrayal of the facts.

The family urge media to rely on Lucie Blackman Trust statements and comments only from now on. The charity will release updates and statements when appropriate.

Nora's family are concerned that continued reporting of comments such as those recently reported are unhelpful and may hinder any investigations, as well as causing confusion and distress for them.

The Lucie Blackman Trust is arranging repatriation of Nora’s body and no further information concerning this, including dates or destinations, will be released at this point.

Meanwhile here's Nora's grandfather quoted in The Irish Times:

Nóra Quoirin's grandfather
'Dark areas need to be cleared up for the family to be able to grieve in peace'; Suspicions grow that 15-year-old was kidnapped and murdered

The Irish Times

August 15, 2019 Thursday
Lara Marlowe, Annette Gartland

The French grandfather of Nóra Quoirin has said he believes "someone put" the teenager's body in the place where she was found in Malaysia on Tuesday following a 10-day search operation.

Sylvain Quoirin told The Irish Times he believes the circumstances surrounding Nóra's death are a criminal matter.

The ravine where the 15-year-old's unclothed body was found, some 2.5km from the rainforest resort where she was staying with her family, had previously been searched a number of times.

"She wasn't there yet [during previous searches]. Someone put her there, to get rid of her," Mr Quoirin said.

Postmortem

The cause of Nóra's death has yet to be announced, and a postmortem, which began yesterday, is to continue today.

Mr Quoirin, the mayor of a small town in Burgundy, said there are "dark areas that need to be cleared up for the family to be able to grieve in peace".

He discounted theories that Nóra could have wandered outside on her own or been enticed out by a stranger.

Nóra suffered from holoprosencephaly, a congenital defect that limited her development. She clung to her parents and siblings and was easily frightened, Mr Quoirin said.

"Can you imagine her walking 2.5km, naked and barefoot, over rocks, in the middle of the night?" Mr Quoirin asked. "For me, that's absurd."
Malaysia's deputy prime minister, Wan Azizah Ismail, who studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, said yesterday she was "very sad" about Nóra's death.
'Tragic death'

"I pray for strength for [Nóra's family] to go through this difficult period," she posted on Twitter. "We believe the police will do their utmost to unravel this tragic death."

There are growing suspicions that Nóra may have been abducted and murdered. The Paris prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary investigation for kidnapping and sequestration, and her family have established their status as civil plaintiffs in a possible future trial by filing a lawsuit against unknown persons, as allowed by French law.
Reward

A reward of 50,000 Malaysian ringgit (about EUR 10,700) had been offered on the day before her body was found. Nóra, her parents and two younger siblings arrived at the Dusun rainforest resort on August 3rd. She disappeared during their first night there.

Since Nóra's disappearance, her family have said they believe she was abducted. Malaysian police have not ruled anything out, but so far say there is no evidence of foul play. They found fingerprints on an open window in the downstairs livingroom of the family's bungalow, but have made no further announcement.

"Nora is at the heart of our family. She is the truest, most precious girl and we love her infinitely," her family said yesterday in a statement released through the Lucie Blackman Trust.

"The cruelty of her being taken away is unbearable. Our hearts are broken. We will always love our Nóra."

I've not read all the links yet in detail but interesting - presumably a reference to certain McCann case charlatans as well as to relatives.

P.S. Another link added - this definitely isn't a straightforward case. 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/nora-did-not-get-to-waterfall-by-herself-malaysian-search-team-expert-claims-it-would-have-been-impossible-for-15-year-old-to-reach-ravine-where-she-was-found-starved-to-deathas-family-consider-second-postmortem/ar-AAFU7KL?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

I have to say that, personally, I tend to side with the grandfather and the Malaysian volunteer searcher.

I think it highly improbable that she would have got that far on her own, especially barefoot. We haven't read the autopsy report but I would have thought they'd have looked carefully at the state of the soles of her feet. Some scratches on her legs were mentioned, but if her feet didn't show that she'd been walking barefoot on rough jungle trails and rocks, etc, for a week, I'd be very suspicious.

Some other things I'd want to know - the claim that the window was broken - investigators would have to check this with the previous occupants of the cottage, as well as the people responsible for maintenance at the resort. If the window was broken, was it broken when the previous occupants were there? Was it reported?

I suspect the investigators are now scouring the jungle area for Nora's clothes - the underwear she was reportedly wearing when she was discovered missing.

If they're unable to find her clothes, that will tell us something as well.

Problems with the story, whichever way it is spun.

As there are no signs of an intruder, how was she removed without any of the family hearing anything?

This was a 15 year old of apparently average height & weight and limited mobility, so how did an abductor manage to carry this live person through the jungle for several days before leaving her near the waterfall?

This is a very precise detailing of the events surrounding the case - initially the parents were adamant that she'd been abducted and are on record as being very very sceptical that she could have walked out on her own. The parents' family members echo those sentiments in their statements.

It seems that the parents are now wishing that the speculation from family members and others, about an abduction, stop. It seems, to me anyway, that this is very strange. Why would the parents do an about-face on this?

They are awaiting the results of toxicology and DNA tests. The police confirm (in another article) that no request has been made by the parents for a second autopsy.

https://extra.ie/2019/08/17/news/irish-news/nora-quoirin-family-timeline-disappearance

Timeline: Dream holiday became nightmare for Quoirin family after Nora disappearance
Catherine Fegan
By
Catherine Fegan -
17/08/2019

It was supposed to be a dream family holiday for the Quoirins — a long awaited two-week trip to Asia, starting with a stay in the Dusun resort south of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

The cluster of cottages in this beautiful eco resort is bordered by tropical rainforest, in a setting renowned for its tranquil beauty.

It must have seemed like heaven — children Nora, Innes and Maurice so excited, parents Meabh and Sebastien looking forward to the fun they would all have together.

But within 24 hours of arriving at their jungle sanctuary near Seremban, the dream turned into every parent’s worst nightmare. Nora, the eldest child in the family, vanished without a trace.
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She had been missing for 10 days before she was found. Pic: LBT/Family handout/PA Wire

Each twist and turn of the increasingly desperate search for the missing child was documented in the media, accompanied by the now familiar pictures, her mother Meabh’s haunted face from the press conference juxtaposed with smiling images beside her firstborn, her sweet ‘Nora bean’.

The hope was that she was lost but still alive and somehow safe somewhere in the dense jungle.

That hope faded daily as the intensive search — which continued day and night — failed to yield even a trace of Nora. Here, we retrace the days that lead to the tragic and devastating discovery of the teenager, whose disappearance and death still remain a mystery.
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A postmortem examination has taken place to determine Nora’s cause of death.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3: NORA, 15, who lives in London with her French father Sebastien and Irish mother Meabh, arrives in Malaysia for a two-week holiday with her family.

The jet-lagged Quoirins — including Nora’s siblings Innes, 12, and eight-year-old Maurice — check into the Dusun resort near Seremban, about an hour south of Kuala Lumpur and located in the foothills of the Titiwangsa mountains and next to a forest reserve.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4: Nora is reported missing at about 8am after her father discovers she is not in the bedroom she had been sharing with her two siblings at the Dusun Resort. A window is also open in a room on the ground floor. Family friend Catherine Cook says: ‘It’s out of character for Nora to go wandering off.’ A search team of around 120 people that include firefighters and police officers is deployed to look for the teenager.
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Nora’s body was found on Tuesday. Pic: The Lucie Blackman Trust/Family via AP)

MONDAY, AUGUST 5: A British charity says Malaysian police are treating Nora’s disappearance as a potential abduction, but officers deny there is any foul play involved.

The Lucie Blackman Trust, a charity supporting missing people abroad, says police believe Nora could have been taken. However, Che Zakaria Bin Othman, deputy police chief of Negeri Sembilan, says: ‘So far there’s no indication of foul play, however investigations are still ongoing.’

More search personnel are deployed to look for her. The search area is expanded to include the nearby village and town, as well as the outer parts of the resort. The Irish embassy in Kuala Lumpur says it is providing consular assistance to Nora’s family.
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Pic: EPA/ROYAL MALAYSIAN POLICE / HANDOUT

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6: Nora’s family say they think she may have been kidnapped. A statement released on Tuesday says: ‘Nora’s family believe she has been abducted. We are especially worried because Nora has learning and developmental disabilities, and is not like other 15-year-olds.

‘She looks younger, she is not capable of taking care of herself, and she won’t understand what is going on.

‘She never goes anywhere by herself. We have no reason to believe she wandered off and is lost.’ Speaking from Belfast, Nora’s aunt Aisling Agnew says: ‘Nora’s parents and relatives in Ireland and France are distraught by her disappearance. Nora would not know how to get help and would never leave her family voluntarily, and we fear for her safety.

‘We now consider this a criminal matter. We are appealing to everyone to assist the local police in any way they can and to pass on any information that would help locate our beloved Nora without delay.’ A helicopter joins the search party, which now comprises nearly 180 people from various government agencies.
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More than 200 people were drafted in to search for Nora, but the Quoirin family ultimately got tragic news. Pic: EPA/FAZRY ISMAIL

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7: Police say they are analysing unidentified fingerprints found in the family’s hotel suite. The prints were at an open window in a downstairs hall — not in the bedroom upstairs where the girl was sleeping with her siblings, deputy police chief Che Zakaria Othman says.

Matthew Searle of the Lucie Blackman Trust says the Malaysian police’s approach is ‘causing frustration’.

‘The family don’t go with this theory at all [that she left the property]. They are terrified at the prospect that not everything that can be done is being done,’ he tells Extra.ie. ‘They know Nora and what she is capable of and don’t feel that they are being listened to.’

Describing Nora as a girl who ‘would not venture into her own garden without a family member holding her hand’, Searle says her family members are getting increasingly frustrated and are all exhausted from lack of sleep.
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Nora’s Quoirin’s family want more answers about her death. Pic: Reuters

Malaysian authorities say the local community, including the Orang Asli people, have volunteered to join the search mission. For the first time, police say they are not ‘ruling out any possibility, including criminal elements’ in the case.

Forensic experts retrieve fingerprints from the window pane of Nora’s bedroom where she was last seen. As the hunt enters its fourth day, a small team of divers searches a river running through the forest near the resort.

A helicopter, two drones, sniffer dogs and 214 people from various government agencies have already been deployed in the search for the girl.

Police say they believe Nora is still in the area of jungle where the search is focused.

They also say they have questioned around 20 people.
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Police also say there is no evidence of foul play but there are many unanswered questions for the Quoirin family. Pic: Family Handout/Lucie Blackman Trust/PA Wire

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9: Police investigate whether footprints found in the forest where Nora went missing belong to the missing teen. Nora’s family also reveal more about her condition, holoprosencephaly, as search crews play recorded messages throughout the forest, in the hope that a familiar voice might draw out the timid youngster if she is in the jungle.

Officials play a recording of the girl’s mother Meabh calling ‘Nora, Nora darling, mummy’s here’, through loudspeakers.

Voices of other family members have also been recorded and will be used, says the Negeri Sembilan police chief.

The family say in a statement: ‘Nora is not like other teenagers. She is not independent and does not go anywhere alone.

‘Nora can read like a young child, but she cannot write more than a few words. She has a good memory but she cannot understand anything conceptual… She cannot make or receive phone calls independently.’ Nine drones equipped with heat detection technology are deployed, as authorities step up the search.
Quoirin Family
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Police believed that Nora had left the house of her own volition. Pic: EPA

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10: Nora’s family thank the search teams involved since the teenager’s disappearance. Her mother and father, Meabh and Sebastien, say: ‘To be with us here, it means the world to us. We are so grateful for everything that you are doing for us, everyone who is helping here and not from here.

‘We are extremely impressed by the effort — your expertise, your dedication and we hope you find Nora. And thank you so much.’ In a statement, police say they have narrowed the search area as they step up their efforts. They also confirm they are looking into people with criminal backgrounds around the area and have searched the homes of hotel employees.

SUNDAY AUGUST 11: Malaysian authorities activate a hotline for the public to call in and give tip-offs.

Negeri Sembilan police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop says that no missing person has been reported in the past decade, apart from hikers who lost their way in the jungle who were usually found within 48 hours.

He says police are investigating all angles, including reports that villagers heard the sound of a truck early on the morning when Nora disappeared.

Mr Yusop says: ‘We are very worried about her safety. We don’t know how long she can survive.’
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Pic: EPA

MONDAY, AUGUST 12: A Visibly emotional Mrs Quoirin makes a further appeal. She tells TV reporters: ‘Nora is our first child. She has been vulnerable since the day she was born. She is so precious to us and our hearts are breaking. We are appealing to anyone who has information about Nora to help us find her.’ A reward of £10,000 — donated by an anonymous Belfast business — is made available for information leading to Nora’s safe return.

Several police officers from England, France and Ireland are helping local police in the investigation, say Malaysian authorities.

The search area is extended to a 6km radius, according to Negeri Sembilan police.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13: After a ten-day search, a naked body is found near a waterfall in an area previously combed by searchers. The remains are winched by helicopter and taken to a nearby hospital morgue, where Nora’s family identify her later that evening.

At a news conference, deputy inspector-general of police Mazlan Mansor says Nora’s naked body was found beside a small stream about 2.5km from the Dusun resort. The police do not say if there were any signs of injury on her body.
Quoirin Family
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The body of Nora Quoirin was airlifted to hospital, where her family formally identified the remains. Pic: REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 14: Nora’s family issue a statement released by the Lucie Blackman Trust. ‘She is the truest, most precious girl and we love her infinitely. The cruelty of her being taken away is unbearable. Our hearts are broken,’ the statement says. ‘We will always love our Nora.’ ‘The family expects the police to do a thorough investigation into the incident, including criminal angles,’ says their lawyer Sankara N Nair, clarifying an earlier comment that the family ‘won’t press for anything’ did not mean they opposed a full inquiry.

A hiker who was part of the team that found Nora’s body says she ‘looked like she was sleeping’ as she lay in plain sight.

Sean Yeap says the body was not hidden or covered and says Nora was lying with her hands behind her head. He says the place where her body was discovered was not easy to find. Although he says she looked like she was asleep, the search and rescue team knew she was dead. Mr Yeap says: ‘It looked like she was sleeping. Her head was resting on her hands. But we all knew she was dead.’
Quoirin Family
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Nora’s body was discovered on Tuesday, ten days after her disappearance. Pic: EPA

THURSDAY, AUGUST 15: Malaysian police say Nora died from internal bleeding likely due to prolonged hunger and stress.

Speaking at a press conference a day after an autopsy was conducted at Tuanku Jaafar Hospital, Negri Sembilan state police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop says that there is no evidence that the 15-year-old had been raped.

‘The cause of death was upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal ulcers complicated with perforation,’ he says.

Mohamad says pathologists have confirmed the body is that of Nora and that she had likely been dead for two to three days. ‘The perforation in her intestines is likely caused by prolonged hunger and stress,’ he says.
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The Quoirin family got the news they dreaded when the body of Nora was discovered during a jungle search. Pic: AP

Lawyer Charles Morel says Nora’s parents are treating the autopsy results with caution and that it is too early to rule out any criminal element to her disappearance.

He tells RTE’s Miriam O’Callaghan: ‘We have to be very cautious about the interpretation of the first result of the autopsy.

‘The risk is that if you exclude the criminal hypothesis, it’s too early to say that. We don’t want the media to interpret the first result of the autopsy excluding the criminal hypothesis.

‘She [Nora] was very shy, dependent on her mother and it’s not in her temperament to go out in the night after a long trip in a place she doesn’t know, in the jungle.

‘And even the place where she was found, two kilometres from the resort, it’s very strange that she could go there by herself alone so we cannot exclude the criminal hypothesis.’
Quoirin Family
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Police believe that she just went missing as the Quoirin family holiday turned into a nightmare. Pic: PA Wire

He adds: ‘The family still finds it difficult to understand that she would have gone into the jungle on her own. They are concerned that she did not leave on her own. They cannot understand how she could leave by herself.’

Meanwhile, Nora’s French grandfather says he believes ‘someone put’ the teenager’s body in the place where she was found.

Sylvain Quoirin tells The Irish Times he believes the circumstances surrounding Nóra’s death are a criminal matter.

‘She wasn’t there yet [during previous searches]. Someone put her there, to get rid of her,’ Mr Quoirin says.

Mr Quoirin, the mayor of a small town in Burgundy, says there are ‘dark areas that need to be cleared up for the family to be able to grieve in peace’.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16: Malaysia’s deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Ismail visits the Quoirin family and meets with investigating officers in Negeri Seremban for a ‘comprehensive explanation’ of the 15-year-old’s death.

froggy wrote:Problems with the story, whichever way it is spun.

As there are no signs of an intruder, how was she removed without any of the family hearing anything?

This was a 15 year old of apparently average height & weight and limited mobility, so how did an abductor manage to carry this live person through the jungle for several days before leaving her near the waterfall?

If we're going to speculate (cautiously) about a "criminal element" I might suggest (somewhat fantastically, I admit) that she might have been initially drugged with something that is not easy to trace in a PM (insulin, for instance) and left in the jungle for dead, but that the overdose was not enough to kill her. This would have been unknown to the perpetrator, who would have assumed she was dead. She "woke and wandered" from the place where she had been left, and was found eventually where she laid down and died.

All just a suggested theory on my part.

When children disappear in mysterious circumstances it is usually necessary to rule out family members and those known to the child as possibly having something to do with the disappearance or knowing something about it. I suppose the investigation will be looking at who last saw the child before she disappeared and also who discovered that the child was missing in terms of understanding timelines etc.

I would imagine that the investigation would also need to look at the family background of the missing child to see if it might shed any light on the situation.

Sadly of course as we know, the majority of murdered children met their end at the hands of relatives or people known to them. Stranger abductions are very rare.

The last one I can think of in the U K was that of Sarah Payne in 2000.

Aaaand...here's the first news story asking the obvious questions...

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2019/08/19/cops-looking-into-lawyers-claim-that-nora-annes-family-involved-in-her-death/


Cops looking into lawyer’s claim that Nora Anne’s family involved in her death
FMT Reporters -
August 19, 2019 4:34 PM

PETALING JAYA: The police are looking into claims by an Irish lawyer that the family of Nora Anne Quoirin was complicit in the teenager’s disappearance and death, FMT understands.

Authorities had attributed Nora Anne’s death to internal bleeding probably due to prolonged hunger and stress.

However, in a heated Facebook post this morning, lawyer Anne Brennan, who is also a child activist, accused the Quoirin family of doing “everything in their power to subvert the course of justice”.

Brennan said the family’s recent announcement that they were leaving Malaysia with the teenager’s body was highly suspicious.

She also alleged that Nora Anne’s parents, Meabh and Sebastien Quoirin, had “high-tailed” it out of the country upon receiving a guarantee that they would not be investigated for any involvement in the teenager’s disappearance and death.

“(They) somehow convinced the Malaysian authorities to abandon their murder inquiry and release Nora’s body without producing the necessary forensic and toxicology reports that form part of every standard criminal death investigation,” she said.

Calling the entire matter a “cover-up”, Brennan said the Quoirins had given no account of their movements in the hours before they reported their daughter missing.

“All the simple routine things that happen in a missing child case and criminal investigation failed to happen in the case of Nora.”

Brennan also said the police had confirmed there was no evidence of a “third party” entering the family’s villa on the night Nora Anne was reported missing.

“There was no evidence of a struggle. No fingerprints, footprints, or screams. Nobody heard anything.

“Malaysian police said that Nora did not go alone. A third party was involved, and the third party was someone known to Nora.”

Nora Anne, who was reported missing on Aug 4, was found dead in a ravine about 2.5km from the resort where her family had been staying.

Police said small scratches were found on her feet but that the forensic pathologist who conducted the post-mortem had ruled that these would not have contributed to her death.

They also said there was no evidence of sexual assault or element of abduction or kidnapping.

On Aug 15, police arrested a 29-year-old man for alleging that Nora Anne was raped by an Orang Asli.

This is Anne Brennan's Facebook page - it's available for anyone to read. Not sure if you need a FB account.

https://www.facebook.com/WarOnWomenIreland/

Just reading a few of the postings she's made about the Nora case. Fascinating reading.

Thanks for the info, canada12.

I'll look at Anne Brennan's page next.

Speaking generally, sometimes when it seems too dreadful to think that a stranger has been responsible for someone's death, it turns out that the guilty party was not a stranger after all.

Here is a rebuttal from the Lucie Blackman Trust of her claims.

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2019/08/19/uk-charity-denies-noras-family-involved-in-her-death/?fbclid=IwAR2ng6EEW3VIQjh-iy6hDRDu6-nzt4a8J5f1yhhrI3zv1LPA02f_uLzeXfs

Interesting :-)

Anne Brennan believes that the Quoiron family is very powerful (via the grandfather's political connections in France).

Here's her personal FB page, which is different from the link I posted above (which is a different FB page she has for some of her work) - but the Nora info is there also.\

https://www.facebook.com/anne.brennan.14418

I must admit that I am surprised at some of the things she says - as a lawyer she must be aware of the laws regarding slander and libel.

It's good to see that she doesn't believe the McCanns either but to call one of their clueless hangers-on a paedophile is a bit much!

She sounds unstable to me.

Freedom wrote:I must admit that I am surprised at some of the things she says - as a lawyer she must be aware of the laws regarding slander and libel.

It's good to see that she doesn't believe the McCanns either but to call one of their clueless hangers-on a paedophile is a bit much!

I admit I was a bit taken aback also by the claims she's making - and some of the info she's presenting as fact...

It's interesting that she states that on the first day of Nora's disappearance, her mother claimed that Nora was really excited about seeing the "waterfall", but that info was erased from all press reports soon afterwards. I started paying attention to this case almost immediately and I don't recall reading that, but my memory may be faulty.

There are all kinds of red flags though... including the "help" provided by Jim Gamble.

It's also interesting that she states that Nora's mother's erased all of the family photos from her FB page as soon as Nora disappeared.

And then there's the odd "family" photo, which purports to show the family, but the man shown there is not Nora's father.

I've been reading comments on CMoMM about Anne Brennan and the very good poster Phoebe said this.

"If this Anne Brennan is who I think she is, I would ignore anything she spouts. Let us just say that she has not practised for a long time and has a long history of mental health issues".

Yes, that might be the case. So difficult to know.

http://www.justjustice.org/

Here's the family photo which Ms Brennan says doesn't include Mr Q. It's not clear enough in my opinion for any positive ID to be made.

Do we have any evidence other than from her that it's claimed to be him? It could be a friend or other relative.

She also claims that Mrs Q deleted photos from her Facebook page after Nora disappeared. How could she know that;  she would have had no reason to look before then.

Freedom wrote:Sadly of course as we know, the majority of murdered children met their end at the hands of relatives or people known to them. Stranger abductions are very rare.

The last one I can think of in the U K was that of Sarah Payne in 2000.

I had never really  read much about that case but there are some accounts that question the conviction.

http://www.justjustice.org/cheshire.html


This comment questions whether Whiting could ever get a fair trial given the media furore around his arrest. The same could be said of Huntley, imo.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/feb/11/childprotection.comment

ETA: Mind you, this is what the justjustice website writes about the McCann case:

The behaviour of the McCanns over the loss of their little daughter has been entirely inconsistent with a cover-up of any kind, or with any guilt. Their persistence can only be explained by the parents' desire to keep in touch with the situation and their daughter�s plight and their need to have their daughter returned to them. Their campaign, and the media circus that went with it, seems to be the reason that they have been listed as suspects in the abduction.


http://www.justjustice.org/madeleine.html

canada12 wrote:This is Anne Brennan's Facebook page - it's available for anyone to read. Not sure if you need a FB account.

https://www.facebook.com/WarOnWomenIreland/

Just reading a few of the postings she's made about the Nora case. Fascinating reading.

I think she makes some good points. The minute Jim Gamble popped up supporting the family's version of events my radar went up. It's a very, very strange story. Why would Gamble be commenting on the case when there is still an active police investigation?

Guinea Pig wrote:I've been reading comments on CMoMM about Anne Brennan and the very good poster Phoebe said this.

"If this Anne Brennan is who I think she is, I would ignore anything she spouts. Let us just say that she has not practised for a long time and has a long history of mental health issues".

She does seem rather obsessed and in some cases is really reaching to make the facts fit her theory...

Getting a sense of deja-vu when reading the quote below. The Malaysian police appeared to have kept an open mind in this case, as did the Portuguese police in the McCann case which would be the only logical approach initially. Why would the family insist on one particular scenario if they genuinely don't know what happened? What more could be done - hundreds of people were searching the area?

Matthew Searle of the Lucie Blackman Trust says the Malaysian police’s approach is ‘causing frustration’.

‘The family don’t go with this theory at all [that she left the property]. They are terrified at the prospect that not everything that can be done is being done,’ he tells Extra.ie. ‘They know Nora and what she is capable of and don’t feel that they are being listened to.’

Describing Nora as a girl who ‘would not venture into her own garden without a family member holding her hand’, Searle says her family members are getting increasingly frustrated and are all exhausted from lack of sleep.

The theory that she left the property is not a theory - it is a FACT. Her family reported her missing when they went into the children's bedroom and found her gone. She therefore did leave the property (before the police searched it presumably) and was later, tragically, found dead. The manner in which she left the property is the key issue of course. And indeed the time that she left the property. We only have her father's word that he found Nora missing on the first morning of the holiday.

Do the siblings support this version of events? Surely the more likely scenario would be that one of the siblings would wake up and find Nora missing and run and tell the parents? Did the father immediately start searching the area around the villa and the reception area as for all he knew - if their version of events is to be believed - she could have simply gone outside the property and become confused or even sleepwalked, say.

ETA:  Talking of facts. It is a FACT that the family reported her missing when they allege they found her missing from her bed on the first morning of the holiday. And it is a FACT that she was found dead a few miles from the property over a week later by police. What happened, when, why and by whose hands is of course the mystery.  

The 'lack of sleep' comment is somewhat strange. There were quite a few family members so you would think that they would work out a rota system for searching for Nora while other members caught up on sleep?  

Hundreds of people appeared to have been searching for her. Who do the family think abducted her? What kind of person or persons? How did they abduct her without leaving a trace and without any sign of a struggle? Why didn't the siblings wake up? What was the motive for abducting her? When Nora was eventually found dead she was naked, apparently, and was not obviously harmed and not subjected to a sexual attack it is reported.  So, if, as the family claim, she was abducted then what was the motive for this? It would be quite difficult to take a girl of her age against her will such a distance with such difficult terrain. Why would a complete stranger do this for no apparent reason? In the majority of cases where children go missing in suspicious circumstances the person or people responsible are known to the child not complete strangers. This scenario always needs to be explored along with others.

And why is Gamble putting his head above the parapet? How does he know what happened or is he just speculating in which case why? He is a former police officer and surely must know that all lines of enquiry need to be explored?

An interesting analysis with good photos of the property and area.

One has to concur with the author that the choice of holiday resort and accommodation hardly seems appropriate for a child with Nora's special needs. Just look at those drops and that spiral staircase for a start.

Rather as in the McCann case, the open or closed window does seem to be the proverbial 'red herring'.

https://crimerocket2.com/2019/08/16/if-this-is-where-nora-quoirin-slept-the-night-she-disappeared-it-changes-everything/

I know you can't judge a book by the cover but there is something about the father's look that gives me the creeps. Why is the poor mother left to do all the talking? Why didn't he contribute?

https://crimerocket2.com/2019/08/13/nora-quoirin-tcrs-assessment/

Hmmmm.......

I think the father demonstrates the dreaded 'duper's delight' in this video clip. The darting eyes are one thing (Kate often demonstrated this, imo, especially when she wanted to assess whether she was being believed.) But the mouth area is incredibly sensitive and expressive. It's difficult to completely suppress emotions. If you slow down the footage and watch the father's face, but especially mouth area, at the 0.10 to 0.12 point at the start of the clip I think there is a slight increased upturn (smirk?) The mother is obviously giving extremely emotive information at this point. I think he demonstrates this again - slightly more pronounced with a twitch at the side of the mouth - at the 0.16 to 0.20 point when the mother is again asking a hugely pertinent question. It's very subtle but it's there. He also looks down, I think in an attempt to hide his emotional reaction.

We saw this, imo, in a much less subtle form with Gerry McCann when Kate was talking (especially about highly sensitive things) in media interviews.

Contrast the father's expressions with that of the Malaysian chief of police (or whoever he is) whose face is appropriately grim and glum throughout the entire video. There is no play of expression around his mouth or his eyes. Sombre, serious, grim.

If it hadn't been for Jim Gamble popping up I wouldn't have bothered to look further but in view of his conduct in the McCann case he has raised his own huge red flag around this case.

IMO as always.

https://crimerocket2.com/2019/08/13/nora-quoirin-tcrs-assessment/