To think that today's news offers a glimmer of hope

[boringnickname]

here that Madeleine could still be alive. I have always thought the worse but this being bought up again now seems to be quite out of the blue and i can't help but hope.

I know its bad form, but i just wanted to share the glimmer

I have my opinions but i will not say what i think so not to offend, but i don't think there is any hope even if she was abducted which would have been unlikely given the evidence.
I believe the british police will find answers and im guessing they are not going to be good.
Whatever happens i hope justice is done and the truth found out so the other mcann family members ie grandparents, aunts & uncles etc can rest knowing what happened to her and that justice is served.
In the small hope she is still alive somewhere which i doubt, i hope she is returned to another family member that is more responsible

pumpkinsweetie - that's exactly the kind of posts that end up getting these threads deleted. Heavily hinting like that - it's bloody clear what you think and not clever.

Well i am entitled to an opinion, like you are entitled to yours.
I could be wrong, i could be right but madeleine deserves justice whether she is alive or dead.
All i care about is what madeleine must have felt to be left alone and scared, she was the child in this situation and a child matters more than anyone else.
No matter what happened to her she was left alone and vunerable & that is the bottom line and all that matters now is that the other family members get answers and that justice is served to the perpatrator no matter whom that be

Someone else said it 'made them feel funny' when they saw the photo - me too. I guess most of us (despite the 'updated' photographs) still imagine her the same little girl as when she disappeared... it's a bit of a shock to realise how different she will be if she is found now (in all ways of course)... I mean you 'know' it, but to see it really brings home just how long she has been missing :(

I saw a little bit of something the other night with the McCanns where Kate was saying that Amelie was now wearing Maddie's shoes and they were all talking about her as they do all the time and the twins were saying that when she come home she can share their toys... it was just heartbreaking. I really can't imagine the strange life they are living.

My 'hope' is that she was kidnapped 'to order' for a couple who wanted a pretty little daughter & she's been treated really well & thoroughly adored. I know it's a lot to hope for ...

As for the future... for the McCanns I hope she is found, for Maddie - I don't know... I hope that whatever is best for her happens.

I can't see a small girl in a floppy hat like hers or hear the name Maddie/Madeleine without thinking about her - I just can't imagine the hell her parents are living through :(

But, to answer your question - I don't think it's especially great news, no - but it's better that they are still looking than not.

If she was my child I'd be moving heaven & earth to have everyone still looking for her and I don't blame them one little bit for getting every single scrap of publicity they can.

I think it's jarring to see her so much "older" because it still serves as a reminder of what was lost. All those years, watching your child grow from a 4 year old into a 9 year old - that's a lot of development, physically and from a personality perspective. That's never coming back, no matter what happens now.

With regard to pumpkinsweetie's post, there does seem to be something special about this case.

I have been on mumsnet for a long time now, and typically there is a level of discussion that always follows current events and news stories. Sometimes I think that this has gone too far, for example the vilification of one of the suspects in the Joanna Yeates case.

But in this case it seems that no kind of discussion is tolerated at all. I'm sure that no-one wants to jeopardise the future outcome of this case (whatever that is), but I do find it striking the way that anyone even 'hinting' at what they think (which in pumpkingsweeties post seems to be that stranger abduction is a possibility amongst possibilities) is shouted down. That isnt just on this thread, but whenever this topic comes up on mumsnet.

I'm not saying that it is bad for people to be a bit circumspect about their views on events like this, especially on cases when there isnt a settled 'official' view on what happened, but that doesnt seem to be the usual approach to current events.

There does seem to be something different about this case and the way that people and the and media respond to it.

"It must be awful for her parents (and siblings) to see the pics and get their hopes up yet again."

I thought they were behind the picture & the review that has been going on tbh.

catsareevil I think you're right, there is a sense of that.

At the time it happened, I was on another women's board, one that had a family and children section - so a lot of parents were posting. Even at the time, the threads got VERY heated and full of vilification of what the parents should or shouldn't have done, pre the discovery she was missing and post. It must be because deep down, it knocks something in our subconscious of how fragile our hold on the precious things in our lives are, how it could actually happen to anyone in that situation, thinking they were doing a perfectly normal, safe thing that tons of other parents were/had done in leaving them. I remember at the time that was a very strong theme - so many other parents posting, but MW holidays are all about children, they are safe - and that incomprehension that this had happened in the parameters of a place where it was absolutely not supposed to happen.

It's very difficult to comprehend after the fact because of what happened. Why did they do that??? kind of thing but to be an armchair psychologist for a moment...I do think a lot of the anger, blame, vilification comes from a deep-rooted fear that we can/might lose our children at any time? Fear turns into anger because it just hit too close to the bone for every parent, consciously or not.

Or maybe I am completely wrong :)

Catsateevil - I've notice this too, I wonder why? Perhaps it's because people feel a genuine emotional attachment that they don't with other news stories.

If (unfortunately I feel this is unlikely) she were found alive and well, what would happen to her? Would they move her straight back with her biological parents? Se may not remember them and feel like others were/are her parents... ?

Jazz - in the event she's alive, even if she's with people she thinks are her own family and have treated her brilliantly she'll still be put back with her own family (with masses of support at least - they may all stay in a residential centre initially)

its not like an family child snatching case, she wouldn't be able to stay with the new "family" even if she wanted to, because they'll be in prison for child abduction.

Also, these mythical rich families where children are adopted to order...dobthey exist? Have there ever been cases of children found safe and well with a rich couple who just desperately wanted a child? Baby snatching yes, but older children? There are easier ways to get a child if you're rich.

Children can be stolen to order but its not for pleasant purposes.

Cly, that's true that she wouldn't be able to stay with them but I would e surprised if she immediately went back to the McCanns - are there presidents set of what happens next iyswim?

I also don't think that the child ordering for a nice family is what happened but any alternative is awful

She isnt under the 'legal' care of her family at the moment, there was an application quite early on to make her a ward of court, so I suppose the court would need to decide what happened from that point? I dont know what the procedure is in cases like that, and this must be a particularly unique way for a child to end up under the guardianship of the court, where there wasnt an intention to remove the child from parental care?

Its such an appealing idea isnt it, to think that there could be a happy ending to this.

There does seem to be something different about this case and the way that people and the and media respond to it.

I think it strikes hard at two very emotive areas - the gut wrenching fear of losing a child, and at the same time the slightly odd way the parents behave/d (plus the statistical improbability of stranger abduction of kids that age) which sets up a huge tension in this particular case.

notactuallyme.. olympia has a point.. parents signed over guardianship of mm to justice hogg...

The portuguese would have opened the case at any time at their request so i think the money spent has been a waste. She is just too conspicuous looking with her eye to not have been spotted somewhere But who knows?

Did they behave strangely? That sounds like a challenge! No, I just mean...I can't remember, I just really remember Kate clutching her teddy and looking like the epitome of a living hell.

I had no idea about the signing her over to the courts early on - is that something her parents would have done? Why would they have done that?

I think the UK police are on tricky ground tbh as it was them who brought in the dogs and steered the investigation in the direction which led to the parents becoming arguidos and now they have an air of criticism of their actions when they suggested it! To re open the case and get everyone to do a timed reconstruction would at least prove their was a window of opportunity for a stranger to get in and out and leave no trace

noddy am with you on your points..betty to answer your question all i can say is (and to anyone else) do some research on the web..there are alot of documents online by impeccable and beyond approach witnesses who shed a light to the case...

If there are impeccable and beyond approach (do you mean reproach?) witnesses, why don't we know what happened?

clytae.. yes sorry i mean reproach..was early when i posted hun..as i said there is plenty on the internet if you want to dig furthur... you will be suprised when you dig..this is one hot potato

doormat: your comments are so cryptic. Not helpful.
I hope, really pray, that they find her alive and that she is able to rejoin her family. It would be a wonderful miracle.
My heart sinks at the thought of something like this happening to me. I cannot imagine how these 5 years have been for this family.

I wasn't having a grammar dig, I genuinely wasn't sure if you meant there are witness who cannot be approached for whatever reason! :)

I think the lack of witnesses is one of the problems.

Certainly there is a lot of stuff out on the internet; you don't have to look very hard. Some of it is complete tosh, but then you will read other, more thoughtful comments, which make you wonder, just exactly what did happen?

There are plenty of witnesses though for a reconstruction. ALl their friends inc one who actually saw someone carrying a child at a particular time and that Irish family who saw the same. It would be a start The group who were on holiday plus the staff of the complex could probably cover a fair bit of it. That would definitely make it look like something was actually being done wrt that particular night rather than all teh other stuff since which seems to have little to do with the little girl at all