Met chief 'indicates' Madeleine McCann probe may be wound down

[Liketochat1]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/9497581/Yard-chief-suggests-Madeleine-probe-may-be-wound-down.html. The investigation has cost 2.5 million since it opened 15 mths ago at the request of David Cameron. Should the 'open cheque' continue for as long as it takes to find concrete evidence of what happened to her? Or should it be wound down as the Portuguese police refuse to reopen the inquiry? What do you think?

Whether it should have been started in the first place is questionable. But why stop now. I think that now they've started it should be seen through. Othewrwise it has achieved nothing and the money has been completely wasted.

Well if they expect the UK taxpayer to fund it then they should be doing everything to aid the investigation including asking the portuguese to reopen the investigation if that is what is needed and taking an lowcost down to Faro to take part in a reconstruction. they could have it down in one day if they really wanted to help.

Presumably they cant be made to do that though - I haven't seen anything suggesting that they could be forced.

They can't, but then why chose not to help out as much as you possibly can??

That's the puzzling thing - why not do everything possible to help the investigation?

I too would be interested in why the family and friends were very anti a reconstruction. In some respects the family have not done themselves favours by this apparent refusal to cooperate with some aspects of investigation.

Ultimately, I think it's highly unlikely that a review will throw up anything now, and it's absolutely right that a decision is made to end it if it's not a productive and economical use of public funds.
Emotive talk of 'what price can you put on a child's life' is so unhelpful, because in reality public funds are a finite amount. Every day we hear stories of people being denied certain medications or whatever precisely Because of cost.

In cases where missing children have been discovered after many years, I believe I'm right in saying this is usually through some 'fluke' of circumstances rather than as part of an ongoing investigation or review.
IF there is ever any definite conclusion to this very sad episode I think it will only be through some chance happening (eg death bed confession or chance discovery) which either will or won't happen, and has no connection on whether millions more pounds are being thrown at the case

I'm afraid I don't understand any of it. I don't understand why parents thought it was safe to leave such young children alone in an apartment. I don't understand why they wouldn't answer police questions. I don't understand why the review's been started and now halted without a proper conclusion. I don't understand why they didn't all want to do the reconstruction. What a shambles.

Vivienne the review hasn't been halted, the guy in charge wants to go full tilt until Xmas and then review if there is anything else worth following up.

I agree with rosa too.

I am always surprised when people on here refer to lie detector tests. As far as I know they have little or no validity (which is why evidence from them is not used in British courts). They are also controversial in other jurisdictions, but of course very popular in TV and film. Even if the McCanns took such a test, the police would discount it as evidence.

Although I do understand what people are saying re cost and, at the end of the day, deciding when it's time to realize that there is nothing more that can be done, it's imortant to remember that criminal invstigations are not just about the emotive needs of the victims. Criminal investigations are also about protecting the public, deterring future crime etc etc. In the case of the child's torso found in the Thames, there is no argument for saying, oh well it was one unknown child with very few leads - isn't this a waste of money/ resources? No, because as well as the more emotive sense of justice for the victim, there is the importance of the fact that there is a person or group of people in our society capable of murdering a child and throwing their torso into the Thames so it's important that this is investigated in order to stop them doing it again, in order to show anyone else tempted to do such a thing that it is illegal and will be properly investigated and in order to ensure the public feels secure that their children will not be murdered and thrown into the Thames.

Similarly, in the case of Madeline McCann, a crime has been comitted and should be investigated. If the victims of that crime have private resources which help them to publicise/ investigate that crime in other ways then that is irrelevant to how the police investigate that crime. The police in this country investigate all cases of missing children, not just the middle class ones, as could be seen from the Shannon Matthews case, the torso in the Thames, Tia Sharpe and so on and so on.

EldritchCleavage

Weren't the lie dectector tests suggested by the Mccanns tho?

Rosabud- I partially agree. I think some people have a very simplistic view that the police have devoted a lot more effort to the McCann case because she's middle class, which I think is fundamentally untrue because all missing children are investigated. A lot of the really high profile stuff in the McCann case has been through privately funded means which is separate from the police investigation. Of course, the fact that the parents are educated and middle class may have made it easier for them to mobilise that outside support, but that's a separate issue.

Having said that, I do think it's odd that a review was agreed in the McCann case at this particular time and it does make me wonder why it was deemed appropriate in this specific case. I cant see how it's a useful deployment of resources tbh. There is also far less evidence that a crime has been committed than in many other cases anyway.

Ps- to clarify that last point, in the torso in the Thames case, the dismembered body was clear evidence of crime, so there was a greater responsibility on the police to investigate for the reasons rosabud outlines

Lie detectors are not reliable.

There is a lot of evidence that social class and ethnicity do make a difference as to how much attention a missing child gets.

It is very well documented. See here about the UK and there is a US one here.

If lie detectors were infallible it would be marvellous, think of the money it would save, and justice could be better served, an fewer criminals would escape justice by dint of having clever lawyers.

Let's hope that in the future lie detector tests will be perfected so they become almost 100% reliable. That would make the job of the police a lot easier. Providing of course it was a requirement for people to take a lie detector test.

They never will be though because my understanding is that they just pick up on stress. If you're stressed because you've been arrested for murder, even if you're innocent, you could still be shown as lying.

Doesn't matter on the infallibility or not of a lie detector. It was the woman who said she would take one and offered it then withdrew her offer with no further comment.

As or the UK picking up the bill for investigation then that is bonkers. Note the UK police are not investigating any crimes alleged to have happened in Sweden are they despite the 40k a day police bill.

Giving this woman some form of special treatment when she could easily fly back to Portugal and ask the Portuguese to continue the investigation would be far better.

After all the UK police could not find a body in the same house that they had been in 5 times in one week.

It seems that your opinion is only allowed in the press or public on this matter if your mind is partly closed and definitely not open to the prospect that perhaps one of the family or friends were involved, Whether in covering up a tragic accident or otherwise. ALL avenues should be investigated and as so often it seems to be in cases like this, the truth lies very close to home.

After all, after this length of time she should be fluent in Portuguese and very au fait with their legal system though reading anything she can about it in order to ensure she gets her rights protected and exercised.

janey

What do you mean there is no evidence that a crime has been committed? A child existed one day and the next day she vanished! I can understand that people may be unsure as to who committed the crime, but surely a missing child is evidence of some kind of crime? I suppose you could argue she may have tragically wandered off on her own and got lost/ drowned in the sea but wasn't the holiday place locked?

I think the fact that the parents were middle class and able to afford what for many was an out-of-the -question, expensive holiday sparked envy and some kind of strange bitterness in many people. My own mother is adamant they were the worst parents ever yet she regularly left me alone at that age in the house at night and it was always terrifying to wake up and discover I was alone. I think people like to feel that this episode proves they are better than the McCanns and that this is some kind of evidence that they have misused or not deserved their more privileged position in society. This view has definitely clouded people's minds and made them want to think the worst of them.

I think back to all the silly spur of the moment mistakes I've made as a parent which could have ended in disaster, the heart-stopping road crossing moments etc etc and I just thank God that everything turned out OK. For this couple it didn't and what happened to them is a disaster and a tragedy for which they will always have my utmost sypmathy.

I'd hardly say people felt envious of the holiday they were on. It was a pretty shitty apartment complex on a back street away from the beach. It looked cheap as chips.

I think people were more confused by the strange behavior after the event like leaving her living children so she could fly to meet the Pope live on TV. etc. People who have lost a child seem to usually find the others to be even more precious and don't tend to leave them alone afterwards to galavant across europe than calling on a high priest. That the usually do for absolution and confession, do they not??

A reconstruction immediately after the event would have really helped. As they were employing a complicated checking system and the timings would have been crucial as to when an abductor could have got in and out of the apartment how long it took and who would have been a potential witness. There were only tiny opportunities.

Yes lie detectors don't read people's minds! They pick up merely on discomfort.

Therefore a pyschopath could possibly lie and it wouldn't be picked up.

Mark Warner - cheap as chips?

I agree with you rosebud.