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Original poster

Netflix Madeleine McCann

999 replies

mumineedawee · 16/03/2019 17:57

AIBU to think that any coverage of her disappearance is a good thing. I watched two episodes of the Netflix programme and think that if it were to bring her back into the spotlight, then surely it’s worthwhile? I’m on my own in that opinion here in our house.

OP posts:
Anymom · 17/03/2019 11:51

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Puzzledandpissedoff · 17/03/2019 11:51

I didn't know the parents had apparently been told to keep up a "calm appearance" about this; does anyone know if it's a claim they made themselves or has someone else owned it?

Something that surprised me, though, was the father's frequent references to MM as "the child". Maybe this was all part of the "keeping calm" thing, but it seemed an odd term for a parent to use for their precious little girl

agirlhasnonameX · 17/03/2019 11:52

@NameChanger22 I personally wouldn't even leave my 11 year old alone in a foreign country, never mind three baby's, I'm just trying to make sense of what could go through someone else's mind who had decided to do that.

Minkies11 · 17/03/2019 11:53

Am not going to judge the McCanns.
But I think that absent parents at night coupled with the restaurant booking showing they were leaving children unaccompanied made it easy for an evil predator to snatch the poor child. They had a routine and someone took advantage of that. Who and what happened to her after I have no idea but it didn't help that the police were at best ineffectual and at worst negligent.

DeloresJaneUmbridge · 17/03/2019 11:54

“A cover up by Portuguese police” Hmm oh puhleese give your head a wobble.
Fact is they were hopelessly out of their depth in a case which attracted world wide attention. It’s far more likely that they made mistakes due to that than any kind of “cover up”.

Honestly....how stupid.

user1457017537 · 17/03/2019 11:55

Dogs and their handlers are highly trained. Why would they not be believed. They are used at airports, stations and in searches. It seems that everything is being discredited.

As a PP said why did the dogs just alert in the apartment and car and not all over the resort.

Lania790 · 17/03/2019 11:55

@agirlhasnonameX

I've said this earlier on in the thread, but pre-Madeleine McCann, dh and I used to leave our children sleeping a few minutes away while we went for dinner. It was very normal behaviour among our social circle & the people we went on holiday with - it never felt unsafe.

NameChanger22 · 17/03/2019 11:56

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acciocat · 17/03/2019 11:56

It feels uncomfortable to me that the parents insist that MM was abducted from her bed. This is not an established fact. It is one of a number of possibilities. I feel it’s this determination to try to control the case that makes many people critical of the parents.

SleepingSloth · 17/03/2019 11:57

I also wanted to say that I feel very guilty for posting on threads like this because I always think how the parents must feel when they read things online where everyone has an opinion on them when none of us know them. I do feel compelled to answer some of the comments people make that just seem to have no real thought put into them and seem to come from people who just repeat utter rubbish. I feel ashamed at some of the comments on here, not because my opinion matches them, but just because another human is capable of being so cold hearted towards Madeleine's parents in their grief.

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 17/03/2019 11:57

Unspiritual - Because I find it very surprising that people still defend the actions of the McCanns when they did this to their children. If they hadn't left them, none of this would have happened. People keep forgetting this

Nobody has forgot that. But why vilify then forever? They made a mistake that cost them their daughter.

Do you justified in forever holding them in contempt? Can you find it in yourself to feel some level of sympathy for their situation.

I take a dim view on anyone that can’t tbh.

Lania790 · 17/03/2019 11:58

I see it as a case of "there but for the grace of God go I."

We used to go on flotilla holidays in Turkey/Greece, pre-MM, and would leave our small dc on our small yacht sleeping in their cabins while we ate with the other adults in a restaurant on the harbour a few minutes away.

One night dd1 appeared at the restaurant in her pyjamas and when we asked how she got off the boat, she told us that "a man helped me." That man clearly wasn't a child abductor and was a good person, but if he hadn't been then we too could have ended up in the same situation, with thousands of anonymous people on the internet blaming us for our child's disappearance.

Loads of parents used to do this, not just the McCanns. They were just desperately unlucky that the minuscule chance of the worst possible thing happening happened.

NameChanger22 · 17/03/2019 11:58

I've said this earlier on in the thread, but pre-Madeleine McCann, dh and I used to leave our children sleeping a few minutes away while we went for dinner. It was very normal behaviour among our social circle & the people we went on holiday with - it never felt unsafe.

You had dinner in a few minutes??? It's not normal, safe or good. It never has been and I have never known anyone who has done this.

Lania790 · 17/03/2019 12:00

You had dinner in a few minutes???

I meant that we were a few minutes walk away and would check on them frequently. We would obviously be in the restaurant for a few hours.

NameChanger22 · 17/03/2019 12:01

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YogaWannabe · 17/03/2019 12:01

Slightly off topic but does anyone know why MN sensor so many things about this case?
I’ve never ever seen another topic be so closely policed on here?

agirlhasnonameX · 17/03/2019 12:01

@Lania790 with the room door unlocked?
That's more what I was trying to work out

DecayingOrbit · 17/03/2019 12:01

Lania, that is shocking to read.

Jellyonawonkyplate · 17/03/2019 12:02

The only reason people blame the parents and bang on about them leaving her to have a meal with friends, is because there is no perpetrator to shift that blame to. Had she been murdered and a perpetrator found then it's my belief no-one at all now would still be mentioning the fact that they left her and viciously blaming them for it.
In the most part there would be nothing but sympathy.

cheeseypizza · 17/03/2019 12:03

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cheeseypizza · 17/03/2019 12:04

@Jellyonawonkyplate even if there were a perpetrator, they wouldn't have been able to perpetrate a crime if the parents hadn't neglected their children.

user1457017537 · 17/03/2019 12:04

Lania790 you left young children alone on a yacht and went to dinner in a harbour. I’m speechless

itwaseverthus · 17/03/2019 12:05

Lania you have posted your story twice on the same thread, it's almost as though by repeating it you're trying to reinforce how normal this type of neglect is/was. I can assure you the story of how you left your children on a boat does not get less hideous in the retelling. It doesn't normalise leaving taking kids on holiday to put them in kids clubs by day and leave the alone by night either. Did you name change for these boat posts as they're all your posting history shows?

SleepingSloth · 17/03/2019 12:06

Then when the Panorama programme was aired, it wrongly claimed that Mr Smith had withdrawn his statement...most odd.

The documentary stated that the person seen carrying a small child by the Smiths could not have been Gerry McCann due to timings and witnesses seeing him at dinner.

Lania790 · 17/03/2019 12:07

with the room door unlocked?

With the hatch to the boat unlocked and open, yes.

Dd2 wouldn't have been old enough to climb up the ladder up onto the deck by herself, and we thought dd1 was old enough to be trusted not to jump off the boat. She was always a very sensible child.

In hindsight, it seems like absolutely terrible parenting, but at the time it seemed very normal & made far more sense than dragging them along to the dinner when they wanted to sleep. Besides, as we sailed to a new village everyday there was no way to arrange a babysitter.