McCanns' new spokesman is 'passionate about their innocence'

Last updated at 00:36 19 September 2007

• Comments (7)
• Add to My Stories

Clarence Mitchell, a married father of two, quit his £70,000-a-year Government job on Monday to become the McCanns' spokesman.

He said he believed so passionately in their innocence that he was "prepared to forgo" his career.
Scroll down for more ...

Spokesman: Clarence Mitchell spent almost a month with Kate and Gerry McCann after their daughter went missing

Read more...

• McCanns' fightback begins with dossier to demolish 'pathetic evidence'
• Smears against Kate and Gerry started within hours of Madeleine vanishing
• Madeleine's parents: 'We can't tell the twins she may be dead'
• Detectives want to question priests and analyse Kate's handwriting

Missing: Madeleine McCann

But should he prove successful in representing the couple while they remain official suspects in the case, he could have lucrative prospects in the PR industry.
The 46-year-old former BBC reporter and presenter was seconded by the Foreign Office in May to help the couple cope with the extraordinary media presence in the resort of Praia da Luz.
He spent almost a month with them, often working 14-hour days as he helped to set up their visits to different cities and briefed journalists.
Unlike his predecessor Justine McGuinness, he will not be paid from the £1million-plus Find Madeleine fund.
His unspecified salary will be met by "an anonymous financial backer".
Sir Richard Branson has donated £100,000 to the McCanns' legal costs. It was not known if his money was paying for Mr Mitchell.
Once the Madeleine case is over Mr Mitchell will continue to work for the McCanns' anonymous backer and will not return to Whitehall.

 

Explore more:

People:

Clarence Mitchell

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-482587/McCanns-new-spokesman-passionate-innocence.html#ixzz17F9fHKDg