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.

People did this to Joanne Lees. Now they're doing it to the McCanns (Kate being the one who is vilified in particular).

Why? Because by other people's narrow-minded standards, they didn't grieve as they were expected to grieve, or respond as a trauma victim would be expected to respond (for the record, victims of trauma shut down and close off), and they refused to make a present of their private fears or feelings to the media. The response? Get them. And if some form of salacious scandal or judgemental misogyny can be thrown into the mix, so much the better. How DARE a woman appear emotionally strong when she's been the victim of a violent or traumatic crime?

It's voyeuristic gossip of the worst sort. And it can only be hoped that if this man is charged, his prospect of fair trial (the McCanns' best hope of answers and ultimate justice) won't be jeopardised because of it.

staying in a Mark Warner resort might have lulled them into a false sense of security

It's a fair enough point. You sometimes do behave in a more relaxed way on holiday than if you were at home. But I can't think any amount of lulling would have led me to the conclusion that it was safe to leave my children in an unlocked room, easily accessible from a public road.

Friends of my Mum were in Italy and their 11 year old DD went to the back of the outdoor bar, to go to the toilets. She was, never seen again. This was the 70's. Every year they went back to the same place on the date of their holiday, incase she ever returned. They did that until they died.

The Mother's reaction was very much like Kate's and not the weeping and wailing that some wanted. She was very closed off for the rest of her life.

For the reaction and holding herself together in public, Kate was criticised for, Denise Bulger was praised.

We do love creating saints and sinners.

I tend to agree with you HunkyPunky, but I also consider the factor of being a group where everyone else is doing it and everyone else thinks it's alright which might affect your judgement. They almost certainly wouldn't have done it if they had been on holiday alone.

Great post @TheCanterburyWhales

I haven't left my dc alone in the way the McCanns did but like most humans I am imperfect and have definitely made decisions and mistakes many times over that could have had terrible consequences. It is pure dumb luck that such consequences have not come to pass. I don't 'blame' them; if their actions made it possible for someone to harm Madeleine, the blame for the harm that came to her still lies with the person who did it, not her parents. If I leave my door unlocked and ajar and someone comes in and steals my TV, sure, people will think I was stupid and made it easy for the thief (and my insurance probably won't pay out!)- but they will still recognise that the person who took my TV is a thief, that they did wrong, that my negligence does not absolve the thief of responsibility for their crime.

Also, some of you sound very, very young. What the Mccans did was not massively unusual and the level of child supervision that is the norm now in 2020 has not been the norm throughout history.

@EmeraldShamrock

Ridiculous this letter wasn't brought safe and secure.

I’m glad someone else is still on topic!

I don't think anyone can say the McCanns did nothing wrong. I'm sure they are tortured every single day for what happened, they must never have a moment's peace. But they made a mistake, and what they did was more common before Madeleine was taken. It was very poor judgement for which they have paid the highest imaginable price and anyone who thinks they are not prone to occasional poor judgement themselves is just plain deluded, and probably has just been exceptionally fortunate that nothing that bad happened to them or their children.

Any other parents and they’d be in prison.

What's your level of knowledge about Portuguese law jkslays? Is this a professional opinion?

Some of the posters on here are absolutely disgusting. All huns, no doubt

Would it honestly have made you feel better if the parents had been prosecuted?

What about Ben Needham's grandmother. Should she have been prosecuted

What about wee Caroline Hogg. I don't remember her mother being vilified. She was 5 and at a funfair on her own

Do these posters also think rape victims deserve it. If they hadn't been drunk. If they hadn't worn a short skirt

These poor parents have paid the ultimate price for a mistake. Those who still bang on about that mistake, 13 years later, seriously need to reflect on the ugliness within them

Some of the posters on here are absolutely disgusting. All huns, no doubt

Anyone can be unkind. I agree the McCann-bashing is absolutely horrible, but let’s not start with the “all huns, no doubt”. I’ve heard minor gentry express similar views.

Also, some of you sound very, very young. What the Mccans did was not massively unusual and the level of child supervision that is the norm now in 2020 has not been the norm throughout history

Jesus it was 2007 not 1807. I’m similar ages to the McCanns, bit younger maybe, and leaving kids alone in holiday accommodation was not the norm when I was a child

@TerrapinStation

It's not a 'police conspiracy'.

I don't think it's a stretch at all to suggest that officers working the case might prefer to be out in Portugal rather than stuck in rainy London. Nobody works 100% of their day, and I'd be surprised if the MM case isn't seen internally as a bit of a jolly. It's still work, only with most of the attractive parts of a foreign jaunt to sunny climes along with it.

Jesus it was 2007 not 1807. I’m similar ages to the McCanns, bit younger maybe, and leaving kids alone in holiday accommodation was not the norm when I was a child

I didn't say it was the norm, I said it wasn't massively unusual. Because it wasn't. In any case, something not being the norm among people you knew as a child doesn't mean it wasn't the norm among other groups, does it?

@chrislilleyswig

Some of the posters on here are absolutely disgusting. All huns, no doubt

Would it honestly have made you feel better if the parents had been prosecuted?

What about Ben Needham's grandmother. Should she have been prosecuted

What about wee Caroline Hogg. I don't remember her mother being vilified. She was 5 and at a funfair on her own

Do these posters also think rape victims deserve it. If they hadn't been drunk. If they hadn't worn a short skirt

These poor parents have paid the ultimate price for a mistake. Those who still bang on about that mistake, 13 years later, seriously need to reflect on the ugliness within them

I suspect at least some of the individuals you mention were saved from vilification because their actions predated social media and the 24 hour news channels.

@SudokuBook, like everything it depends on where you live, your upbringing, your peer group/family behaviour. As said it wasn't said it was the norm, it just wasn't unusual.

Safeguarding, child protection etc isn't what it is today. Certain things weren't on people's radar and in their risk calculations.

like everything it depends on where you live, your upbringing, your peer group/family behaviour. As said it wasn't said it was the norm, it just wasn't unusual

Nonsense, it was 2007.

Completely abnormal to leave your a toddler and two 18 month olds night after night.

Had it been a one off, yes we all fuck up, i can certainly look back on my parenting and admit plenty of mistakes but never did it occur to me to leave my DD in a hotel whilst i got pissed at the bar 100m away.

Here jasjas.

Have a perfect parent badge.

Will that make you feel better

I must admit, I was incredibly shocked when I found out how common listening services were at the time. That behaviour simply wasn't done in my circle, and being quite young at the time I assumed if nobody I knew did it then nobody did it full stop. Then I found out what a listening service was and that it wasn't at all unusual for hotels and resorts to offer them.

So thankful that I am not the kind of awful person who is still beating these two people up 13 years after a tragic mistake.

As said it wasn't said it was the norm, it just wasn't unusual
It absolutely was unusual. I remember at the time everyone being dumb struck that they would leave babies and a toddler. I cant believe anyone would try and defend it tbh.

I was left in a hotel room in Spain at the age of 6.
I cried and anotger tourist came into my room, and took me to her room until my parents came back.
1971.
Not 2007.
It really was no longer the norm by 2007. When my daughter was born in 2003 me and my Mum reminisced about how children were left in prams outside shops, sent to the shops at 6 for a packet of n6 for dad etc. Again, the 1970s.

@chrislilleyswig. Ha ha. The smug parent brigade. With their superior parenting that they just need to tell people all about. Well done them. They do seem to have had an empathy bypass and are nasty vindictive people but they get the “never made a mistake” badge.