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.

Ah, so Rebekah Brooks had that much clout over our PM? Scary. And wrong, especially as he has ignored a letter from Kerry Needham herself.

Ought he did reply to Ben need hams mum and she threw itin the bin.

Sorry v bad connection here

I was under the impression he hadn't replied. Which would be awful.

If he did reply, and she did throw it in the bin, that would suggest that the response was such to back Kerry Needham's belief that there is an imbalance over her and other cases compared with the McCanns.

She said she kept all the letters from the foreign office etc but his was so cold and blunt she threw it away,she begged him to give her family the same consideration as the mccanns but it was just a bog standard political reply with no interest in her case at all. They must have connections which is fine but unfair

Bridget yes that was the scenario. But he was left to play out of sight of his GM for quite a long while. She didn't see him be taken off on the moped only heard it and assumed and that's why she didn't report for so long.

I also was under the impression there was evidence of a large Building site on nearby land with large ground holes where they lived and it was presumed a real possibility that something could have happened to him there. This why I thought it was such a different situation.

Every situation is unique though. You cannot take from o e to give to another.

Exit - ok. But why is this one so special to warrant the difference?

Kiriwara if you think less effort is going into finding Ben I suggest you google Kerry Needham's open letter to David Cameron which has had no response to date and then come back and say the same thing.

F you scroll back to my first link you can read Kerry's recent interview re letters govt etc

Why do people think she definitely won't be found alive? It's possible she is still alive because nobody knows what motivation those who took her had.

I don't know. Probably because of the fabulous pr campaign her middle class parents have waged. And good fucking luck to them. Who amongst us would do any different? So they get preferential treatment. What should they do. Say no, no look for these other children first? Yeah right.

Personally I find all three cases are in the mind. I'm getting a bit fed up hearing one is above the other. I remember all three and hear pretty regular updates on all three.

Plainly so do many others or the arguements die? Money is spent where best immediately helpful. Now they think new evidence on the McCann. Next will be an anniversary of Ben and a new photo fit. I don't agree anyone is forgotten just details mean money is spent differently.

Every case on its merits after all.

I can't believe people still harp on about how they left Madeleine. What good does it do?? What are they trying to achieve by pointing this out, over and over and over and over...???? Surely the focus should be on finding her? Everything else just distracts and derails.

exit, ah, so the police and PM should give priority to those who can raise the most money for a PR campaign? That sounds about right.

Ah ffs. That was irony. But he who shouts loudest. Who pays the ferryman. How many other platitudes can I roll out? I am not saying it is right. Just that us the way the cookie crumbles

its not the shouting that counts, its all in the paying

and if they could afford a brilliant PR and legal team they could have afforded a babysitter for a few hours

They fucked up!

They didn't deserve what happened!

Actually Madeline didn't deserve it.

Her parents shouldn't have left her. Not an accident, an oversight or error of judgement. Just bad parenting.

Madeline of course should have any public money available alive or dead. There should be a debate about how much public there is available though.

I can see where you are coming from objectively.

But if it were my child I'm fairly sure all I would care about is that police effort was still going into finding him/her.

It's a difficult one. High publicity missing child cases can give the impression it's unusual for young children to go missing when it is not. And there is a racial issue re missing children that nobody wants to admit to beside it is "poor taste" but nonetheless exists.

Madeleine McCann and Ben Needam are the most high profile missing children in my lifetime. Both are white and blonde.

There is NOTHING wrong with the campaigns to find them but no such campaign exists for missing black/Indian/mixed race/Bangladeshi etc children who go missing. I think that is horrendously sad.

All children deserve to be loved,looked for,missed.

*because not beside

*the etc in my post wasn't meant to be dismissive,I meant it to include all ethnicities.

I feel so sad that so many children go missing and never get the kind of coverage Madeleine McCann and Ben Needam get. Not because they don't deserve it but because human kindness tells us we want to find those two children. If it were published then human kindness would want to find the other missing children. Colour,culture,religion doesn't come into it.

Alis agree in spades. My personal feelings about this case are sadness that it happened in the first place, sympathy for the McCanns but mostly anger that resources are directed at such a small strata of missing children. Hundreds of kids go missing in London every year and I think it's legitimate to ask the question of why resources like this aren't spread more evenly.

It isn't just the additional resources, or the volume of media coverage that set the McCann case apart as different. It is also the way the case has been handeled in the public sphere that is different. Whole forums were shut down to prevent discussion of the case, dissent from the official line was condemned as thoughtcrime. It was odd. I can remember posting about this case, particularly regarding my reservations about the PR campaign and apparent need to present the parents in the best possible light, and would attract just the most extraordinary, hysterical, irrational responses. Not for accusing the McCanns of anything - just for suggesting the PR was counterproductive, or that they ought to have agreed to a reconstruction.
Of course, there was also an equally hysterical, irrational cohort making wild and outlandish accusations against the parents, and a brigade of conspiracy theorists.
The closing down of forums was perhaps deemed necessary to prevent the former, but it certainly served to fortify the latter.

Currentbuns- excellent post. You have described so clearly what many of us feel. It is precisely this point- the difference in the way the McCann case has been presented- which colours everything about it.

You're spot on about the way discussion forums have been handled too... I distinctly remember feeling the world was going mad when MNHQ were deleting threads or posts where people were simply stating facts. It was a kind of collective hysteria: don't you dare say anything remotely negative about the mccanns because if it doesn't 'fit' the PR image then you'll be silenced. Oh and to boot, if you dare say anything which could be construed as negative, you'll be jumped on by the McCann brigade accusing you of being a cold hearted bastard who must believe they are child murderers!!

I clearly remember a couple of years back posting the simple fact that I didn't feel it was helpful for the mccanns to insist that MM had been abducted out of her bed. While this may be what happened, it is not a proven fact and therefore should not be presented as such. MNHQ deleted my post and never explained why. I guess things have moved on a little in that this thread is still here ( well, at the moment- who knows when it'll disappear in a puff of smoke!)

I also agree that in the long term it's been counter productive, this campaign to keep the parents image whiter than white.

The issue about their refusal to answer many questions and to do a reconstruction are fundamental, and it's possible that if they had cooperated with this at the start, the investigation could have taken different lines and we wouldn't even be in this position 6 years on of spending millions more

Of course, reconstruction would not have been good for the parents image.... A group of happy laughing adults eating and drinking while their children were left unattended in an unlocked apartment. Surely the importance of doing a reconstruction and addressing some of the inconsistencies in witness accounts should have taken precedence over the public image.

These are totally reasonable questions for debate.
I feel desperately sorry for the parents (though mainly for Madeleine). The parents are not suspects of any crime and I hate the conspiracy theories about them. BUT that doesn't negate the fact that there are a lot of odd things about the case and the course of events and people are entirely justified in debating the ploughing of massive funds and police resources into this one case