To think the Met spending £5 million on Maddie McCann is unfair on others who have missing children

[Ilovemyself]

I know how retched I would feel if I were in the McCanns position, and would want no expense to be spared in the hunt for answers.

But I can't help but think that this case has been so high profile that other cases must have funding cut or not even be followed up as the budget is limited.

I honestly don't know what the answer is, but it does seem this case has benefitted in ways others wouldn't.

I feel bad for thinking its unfair on others, but just can't help wondering how other victims of serious crime feel.

Sorry, you said the channel but it is the least watched of the main channels!

Thank you pumpkinsweetie. And to add to that it was never many as a dig at the McCanns, more as a question about grow missing people are dealt with.

FGS!! It was on a British main TV station. There was a huge amount of publicity at the time, it was all over the papers and TV news.

You not knowing about it, shows how misinformed you are about the case.

As I said this whole thread is full of people making ridiculous statements mascerdaing as facts. It's full of shit.

So it was part of a channel 4 documentary? Not a police reconstruction ?

So were the police involved in this because I genuinely don't remember it?

And maybe since you are so well informed you could write the basic FACTS here if they differ in any way to the fact that she disappeared at some point that night?

From an unlocked appartment

It was actually widely reported that the mccanns and their friends would not take part in a reconstruction. Which is interesting, because one of the main purposes of a reconstruction of events is to highlight inconsistencies in detail- timings and so forth. As has already been said, a certain degree of inconsistency is totally normal. People don't synchronise their watches, monitor every movement and detail. In fact it would be far more suspicious if a group of people recounted events which matched precisely. So, a proper reconstruction would have helped in establishing the detail of the events. Inconsistencies in witness statements could have been resolved.

Yet the mccanns did not want this

I hate the way the press make the portuguese out to be idiots who cocked it up. It was the UK police who turned up and suggested they shift focus to the parents and Uk police who brought in the infamous dogs(which have had great success in other cases) This is how the investigation became focussed on them. The portuguese thought she had 'wandered off' iirc the british police suggested the alternative. It seems unlikely after all this time that this can have a happy ending there has just been too much publicity and her image is so high profile. The amount of money spent etc is OTT and other parents of missing children must find that hard to take. Even now the police are giving details re suspects etc to the press which I thought they ususally kept quiet for fear of making any suspects nervous

The police files are available to read online for anyone. There was no official reconstruction only something that didn't make any sense on CH 4. It is worth watching. The main problem with all of this is that the reconstruction wasn't done soon enough while the logistics were fresh in the minds of those who were there when she went. It would have produced an accurate timeline which would have shown how and when an abduction could have occurred. I am leaving this thread alone now as I got banned from Mn before for making comments based on things I heard from 2 people who worked on this (one a journalist) V complicated.

Well noddy, Journalists are always correct. It was a journalist who contacted the police about Robert Marat, which ended up with him being arrested.

Ilovemyself You can protest as much as you like that this thread wasn't a pop at the McCanns but it is, just read the title, OP and your subsequent posts! Unfortunately, there's no point putting in £5m to another missing child case if there are no leads (sad as it is, of course) but it would be negligent to ignore leads, whoever they may be - suspects or witnesses. Regardless of what anyone thinks about her parents leaving her and her siblings alone in an apartment, that child deserves justice.

I am amazed the thread is still here tbh. Maybe MNHQ have become a little more rational about it over the last couple of years. There was a time when it was virtually impossible to say anything which might be construed as in any way critical of the mccanns - posts would be deleted. I clearly remember having a post deleted a few years back for simply stating that I think it's wrong that the mccanns state that they know MM was abducted from out of the apartment. It is not a proven fact that she was, and it's not helpful for it to be bandied about as though it is.

There definitely seems to be a different set of rules for the McCann case.

YANBU OP. What Janey68 said-there is a budget & finite resources & it appears that preference is given to this case. Happy for money to be spent if it's ratified but does feel like a pr exercise. It would be amazing if she was found but seems so unlikely as so much as already been spent as it's so long after the event now.

The attitude of spend as much as it takes is unrealistic although we'd all want this is happen if it was our own dc. Logically the country is in a mess from overspending etc so every gov. Dept should be held to account for their budgeting. The attitude of 'it's a drop in the ocean that amount' in reference to this or e.g. The winter fuel payment really frustrates me as the ocean is made up of drops & budgeting is about being careful with all funds.

Time will tell & if it's controversial spending no doubt there will be a big investigation in a few years & an expensive report then to find the answers.....

Crash doll. Of course Madeline deserves justice. And no matter what has happened to her her parents deserve to know. That was never an issue.

Yes I have views about the case and I have only posted them in answer to other people's comments. And many of them seem to jump to the defence of the McCanns when there was no need.

What I object to is to is the lack of effort that goes into raising the awareness of other cases. It doesn't necessarily even have to be a police investigation. More needs to be done about raising the profile of many, not just a few.

Kate McCann says that she believes it is up to the families to try and make a campaign like theirs and I think she is wrong. Not everyone copes the way they have seemed to. I would probably fall to pieces in the first 5 minutes. And I doubt I would ever be able to create a campaign they way they have ( although I would try).

If we had a suitable missing persons unit like in the US it may help but I don't see that happening.

Evelynj. Yes I also hope the money results in a good outcome. I wish people would just stop being blinkered to the support the McCanns in every way and see what the real question here was.

I also think its entirely legitimate to question whether the £5000000 is a justifiable use of limited resources when it may be the case that anything emerging from this investigation could have come to light a long time ago if the family had agreed to cooperate with a police reconstruction.

The 38 persons of interest simply means potential witnesses. It will take a long time to track them down, come to agreements with the countries where these people live, and eventually question them. Now, of course we all hope this will lead to a resolution... But honestly? Realistically? Even if information comes to light it could have come to light many years ago with police reconstructions

The McCann case has taken on a life far bigger than any other case and its so easy to fall into the trap of assumptions. Why for instance do some people take it as a given that the Portuguese police were corrupt and useless (just because the McCann family didn't like the way they handled things) yet assume the Met will be paragons of virtue, efficiency and integrity... I mean, come on, apply a by of objectivity here!

The main Inspector on the McCaan case was corrupt.

www.theportugalnews.com/news/view/1012-2

Oh, right, and racism and corruption have never been part of the Met??!

Excuse typos - thanks for exemplifying my point brilliantly. There is a shedload of prejudice against the Portuguese police simply because, gosh, scary they are a foreign force, whereas our boys in blue never get it wrong do they

Btw I am not suggesting for a moment that the Portuguese police did everything brilliantly and contained no corruption. I'm simply pointing out that every accusation levelled against them can also be made against the Met

Yet some people persist in the belief that the Portuguese investigation was useless and that of course £5 million on a Met investigation is going to be so much better.
That is what the OP was getting at (I believe). There is a legitimate question over whether this is an equitable and productive use of limited funds

What I object to is to is the lack of effort that goes into raising the awareness of other cases. It doesn't necessarily even have to be a police investigation. More needs to be done about raising the profile of many, not just a few.

Well, OP, you have raised awareness of 2 so far on this thread. One, a child that was abducted by her own father, and one that disappeared in Germany 32 years ago. Are there any others that you wish to flag
up while you are at it?

Yet some people persist in the belief that the Portuguese investigation was useless

In what way do you believe it was useful?