Well-known Burgau pub landlord Robert (Rotten) Hurst has come out in print over the latest lunatic “revelations” in the British press linking his business with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and recently-outed alleged paedophile Clement Freud.
According to the Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Star, Freud was a regular at the Pig’s Head and he used to drink there with “former Madeleine McCann suspect” Robert Murat.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact Clement Freud only once stepped inside the Pig’s Head “over 20 years ago”, and Robert Murat similarly, “about eight years ago”.
It is hard to see which article is the most “factually ridiculous”.
The Sun’s goes furthest perhaps, describing the much-loved watering hole as a “pub for paedos”.
“It’s absolute lunacy,” Hurst told the Resident. “It wasn’t even an interview. Two people came in and had a drink, and then asked me a few questions as they were leaving.”
Reacting to the “exclusive” run by the Sun, Hurst wrote on the paper’s website: “As the landlord of the Pig’s Head, I can categorically state that this story is factually ridiculous. When asked if Clement Freud had been a regular in the pub, I told them he had been here once at least 20 years ago. Further, when asked about Robert Murat, I told them he had also been here once about eight years ago. How they managed to connect the two of them is another piece of nonsense… This kind of irresponsible journalism can do no good whatsoever for anyone. Heaven only knows what kind of feeding frenzy will be unleashed next year on the 10th anniversary.”
Hurst did, however, have one memory of Clement Freud’s visit to his establishment.
“He came in with a friend, who asked me whether we had any champagne,” he told the Resident.
“I said that we didn’t. He asked me ‘why ever not’, in a superior kind of way. I said because it might attract the wrong kind of clientele.”
Hurst claims “no one believes a word” of the latest stories, yet they even get a mention in national press today, under the headline: “Freud and Murat in the same bar.”
Considering the differing time-lines, this could be construed as ‘true’ if hugely misleading.
But the affirmations in all three British papers that both men were on “nodding terms” appear as bogus as the claims that Murat had anything to do with Madeleine’s disappearance.
Readers will remember that Murat won record damages from four British newspaper groups for slurs written against him.
The Sun, Star and Mail are all properties of the groups that were also forced to make public apologies.
Speaking outside the High Court in London eight years ago, Louis Charalambous, Murat’s lawyer, described the behaviour of tabloid journalists and editors involved in the slurs as “grossly irresponsible”, saying they had shown a “reckless disregard for the truth”.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
