To think the McCanns are being almost tortured by the media and the police?

[ArriettyJones]

See screengrab.

I said several days ago (on a thread here) that the letter was probably sent c/o Scotland Yard (and I wasn’t the only one to think so). If I can work that out why can’t the collective brains of German and U.K. detective teams PLUS dozens of European media outlets figure it out?

Why couldn’t Scotland Yard find a missing letter about a high profile, serious crime in their own building FGS?

How long has the delay been? Four or five days? This is cruel.

They need a new liaison officer now and the police need to pull themselves together.

I know it’s probably incompetence on both sides but I can’t help agree. It’s horrific and I think of them a lot at the moment

What I don’t understand is this guy is a suspect, he hasn’t been found guilty, what happened to innocent until proven guilty? In the public’s defence this is a high profile case and thousands of pounds of tax payers money has been spent on it.
So yes the parents must be going through a hell of a time, but I think a lot of people really feel for them.

I doubt a random mum who has always though them innocent of involvement in the crime (and said so), who is now expressing sympathy because they’ve been on the receiving end of yet more hurtful incompetence, (and from law enforcement) is going to figure very high on their list of irritants @Monty27

Almost tortured?

I suspect they both know the darkest depths of torture and pain already. Your post has no purpose.

List of irritants indeed OP.

The thing is no one presumably has any concrete proof .There are all sorts of accusations but nothing watertight .Maybe the police didnt want to upset the McCanns any further ,so held off sending the letter for the moment.The trouble with this case its taken by DM and the rest of the tabloids. MMC has become almost a headline for them ,and they wont miss any chance to print information about her "in the public interest" even though Gerry and Kate must find it upsetting and distressing .Unless they can bring charges and have found the perpetrator without any doubt.Surely this speculation is not helpful .

They've insisted for years that any correspondence regarding investigations goes through the British police so I think this is on SY.

Not sure why you're getting such a rough time for this post OP. It was written sympathetically or is no one allowed to discuss anything going on in the news on here?

"They" being the McCanns

I was horrified quite frankly to see the German prosecutors stating categorically that Maddie is dead, without informing the parents first.
They had to learn about their daughter's assumed murder with everyone else.

'The letter' should have sent in the first instance and received by the parents and Scotland, and then the media should have been informed.

The German authorities blandly saying she is dead and it is a murder inquiry, and that they know she is and they have the 'evidence' without even contacting the parents is barbaric. Horrific.

I understand the need to preserve the evidence to ensure the trial is successful, but the way they have handled this case is just dreadful.

It is the use of language as much as anything else. Using the words 'the girl' rather than using her name, calling it a murder inquiry without anything to support this theory being made public and the absence of compassion and empathy for the parents suffering is truly shocking. I wonder if they treat all suspected child murders this way??

**Yard

I agree you with you OP and hope they get the answers they need soon.

The media shouldn’t have been publishing any of this stuff in the first place.

Regardless of what has gone on within the police investigation, the media speculation on this, and the seeming need to pin every child disappearance in Europe for the past twenty years on this individual without any actual police statements, speculation which people on this very sight have been adding to, is awful.

Clearly whatever evidence the police may or may not have at this point isn’t enough or he would have been charged by now. People have been charged with murder without a body before, and if they have ample evidence that there is one then they could have charged him, but they haven’t.

If it hadn’t been for the fact he was already in prison for other offences he would have been released without charge by now, and the media would have had to stop speculating until something concrete was found. But the fact he’s in prison has seemingly turned it into a free for all for the press to post more and more vile speculation which may or may not be true.

As for the police telling the media they believed MMc to be dead before the family, the Portuguese police said at the very beginning they believed MM to be dead, and TBH I’m surprised if anyone didn’t believe that. But if the McCanns have been told that she isn’t dead then that one’s on the British police. They should always have been prepared for the fact that she likely isn’t alive.

DianaT@ harsh but fair comments. However you have to feel for them at the moment.

They've been vilified enough for their actions.

I was explaining it all to my 11 year old daughter after she had seen the news.

Yes, when it happened (and those sticking the boot in now, how old were you when it happened?) I was blaming them too. My son was 10, we lived through the constant news reporting.

I struggle to find sympathy for them now, but I have no doubts that they have been to hell and experienced torture for their decisions.

How it seems to me us they know she's dead, they know who did it, they just can't prove it yet.

Yes the McCann's should have been told before the German announcement. Why anyone thought a letter was the best thing to send during a pandemic is beyond me.

They suffered enough for the stupidity of leaving their children alone the day Madeleine disappeared without a trace. A large minority of people did similar at the time; this is a subject, which has been done to death. Her disappearance triggered a change in attitudes to leaving your children alone. I struggle reading just how lacking in fundamental empathy some people are for this couple, who have been tortured for more years than my 11 yo has been alive.

I agree with PP .This poor couple must have tortured themselves over a thousand times as to their decision on that fateful night.Their friends presumably made the same call ,and left their children for a few hours while they had Supper together .This was a family friendly resort and they felt the children would be safe (otherwise would never have left them!)Saying they wouldnt be in this position if they hadnt left the DC alone is stating the obvious!

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

I'm entirely cynical, and there's a bit of me that thinks the Met have no interest in acknowledging MM is dead because it would likely mean an end to their annual Portuguese golfing trips.

I read a similar comment on another thread recently and simply cannot understand the lack of thinking behind it. It's Portugal FFS who seriously thinks anyone who wants to go there for an actual holiday can't just go there rather than persist in some kind of police conspiracy.

Do you genuinely believe anyone in 2020 is doing that?

There have been awful cases over the years whereby an abducted victim has escaped from a cellar or secret annexe (ilk) after being kidnapped many years ago and in some cases even given birth in captivity. Very easy for me to say but part of me wonders if l would wish my child had been killed at the outset than be the subject of one of these horrendous long term kidnaps.
My sympathy is also reserved entirely for that poor little girl and whatever hell she must've gone through. I often think when l hear cases of children coming to harm after being left alone in cars or their home or wherever, that most people wouldn't dream of leaving a large sum of money or a valuable piece of jewellary on a car seat or on a bed with the door unlocked (or even locked for that matter) yet think it's acceptable to leave the most priceless precious treasure, a child in such a non secure setting.

Well done OP, another MM thread that turns bro a bashing the parents thread, you've really showed a great understanding and show of empathy to invite that .

*I read a similar comment on another thread recently and simply cannot understand the lack of thinking behind it. It's Portugal FFS who seriously thinks anyone who wants to go there for an actual holiday can't just go there rather than persist in some kind of police conspiracy.

Do you genuinely believe anyone in 2020 is doing that?*

This 100%, the ridiculousness of the original post regarding this is beyond belief!

I struggle to find sympathy for them now

You can’t find sympathy for parents who have lost their child and spent every minute of every day for the last 13 years in agonies wondering what happened to her? I find this so callous and, quite frankly, a bit disturbing. Yes, they made mistakes, but they have to live with that day in, day out for the rest of their lives. It’s almost as if people feel they should be punished for their decisions.