Madeleine McCann investigation

[lyndie]

I saw today that possible excavations are to start in the resort where MM went missing.

Does anyone think the progress The Met have made is astonishing given the length of time that has elapsed? I can't help but wonder what progress could have been made if they had been involved at the start.

I really hope that somehow they can find out what happened and give her family some sort of closure. I know the ins and outs of what happened and her parents leaving her have been discussed at length on MN but from a crime point of view I would be very interested to see if the Portugese police had done enough or not.

Why wouldn't they be happy about using the picture and using her eye to draw attention to the case? Even if they didn't think it was thst noticable.

It explains in the link why they did it, it was all about keeping her image in the public eye and hoping someone would remember seeing her.

It doesnt really matter how noticable the eye was, I think most people saw that picture, most people know about the eye. It was just something they used to keep her image out in the open.

I was surprised that Brian Kennedy who was financially supporting the McCanns in the beginning was allowed to make direct contact with this family like he did.

How do you know he was financially supporting the McCann's? Was this the uncle or someone else with the same name?

If the eye was something they used to keep her image out in the open, why then state a few years later that they never made much of it, it was just a fleck, it was only really noticeable close up?

When I heard this statement 'we never made much of it' I thought 'you could have fooled me.' I subsequently thought to myself "if you want me to look for/help fund the search for your daughter, don't insult my intelligence by making the eye the key feature of Madeleine, but then 5 years later, pretend that you didn't."

He is a millionaire businessman who has openly funded them. I think he stopped paying for their spokesperson when the credit crunch hit though. I have no idea if they are related.

Wasn't he to do with double glazing?

Deux - what is not mentioned in the pj files on Martin Smith, is that at the time of that sighting, numerous witnesses placed Gerry McCann in the Tapas Bar.

They were told at the beginning that to publicise the eye could be dangerous for her if she was alive because it could make her too hard to hide. But they went ahead. Then denied it. They have got away with so many differing versions of the stories they just denied that. Even though it was patently not true. Yet still people will do anything to prevent people saying what they think of the handling of this case, and the conduct of everybody involved, unless it suited the McCanns version. If people believe in their version so implicitly, why are they so threatened by people pointing out things that do not add up?

I think it's fairly clear that the McCanns made some odd decisions, but wouldn't most people in their shoes?

They were in an alien culture when the worst event of their life happened. They expected there to be media appeals, but that's not usual in Portugal so they arranged their own publicity. They were desparate. I'd do the same.

It is also pretty clear that they received conflicting advice, so they made several difficult calls.

Gerry McCann is a highly intelligent man who is used to solving life and death problems and being in control (professionally). No surprise really that when faced with a disaster, he used his logic and energy to try to fight back and rectify the situation.

The Look poster and the call to health professionals to look out for a child with a coloboma in the Lancet were pretty clear. it wasn't until Kate said they didn't really put much emphasis on it to Piers Morgan that they decided it wasn't significant

I would imagine that if your child was missing, you would do anything, say anything, contact anyone at all who might be helpful in sheer panic and desperation. E.g. 5 years on these details might seem contradictory and you wouldn't of course remember what you said.

My dd broke her wrist on holiday. I was in a right state. It needed to be reset under GA - questions about what we had eaten and when were important. We were on holiday - I a vague notion of what time we had arrived, that we had had unpacked and had tea and some Jaffa cakes. The place was "safe" so we let dd go off to play on the swing unaccompanied. We actually had a conversation about (with walled off pool etc) how it would be great that dd could get a bit of independance and feel free to roam a little. 20 mins later we were in the car to a&e.

This was 3 years ago. My memories are hazy as to timings now and I couldn't have given an accurate timeline on the night itself to be fair if I had been asked. It passed in a blur of panic. Dd told the doctor she had had TEN Jaffa cakes I hadn't noticed...couldn't say if that was true or false...

*and Martin Smith himself accepts this.

Funny how the pj files missed out this important piece of information.

Where does Martin Smith accept it?

Yes, porto - 9 people on a relaxed night out on holiday are highly likely to give slightly different versions of the evening after the event - and especially after the shocking events that followed. They wouldn't be studying and noting times/timescales/minute order of events, thinking 'ooh, I might have to make a police statement about this in the morning.'

They made a list of times etc before the police arrived.

He accepted it because numerous eye-witnesses place Gerry McCann in the Tapas Bar at the time of his sighting. Gerry McCann may be clever, he may be a lot of things, but even he can't be in two places at once.

Haven't seen anything saying he accepted it in any of the stuff I've read but as you have that's fair enough

Well, it's not in the pj files, because the pj files are biased, misleading nonsense.

Where is it then? And who is saying gerry wasn't in the bar at that time? I have read several Smith interviews and no mention of Gerry or the bar and whether he was in it.

I would imagine that if your child was missing, you would do anything, say anything, contact anyone at all who might be helpful in sheer panic and desperation

Exactly. Take any decision made in panic and dissect it calmly several years later and there will be at least some odd elements to it, or things that could sound odd if you wanted them to.

I actually think the decision to emphasise the colmba is an example of the McCanns managing to listen to their rationality despite the panic. Maybe that's why some people find it so odd.

Biased misleading nonsense? Well that's a bit odd considering the mccanns still are very keen to see what's in those that weren't published. The PJ fils are just the interviews and the mccanns themselves have referred to them

is it me or is this thread a load of speculation? Ghoulish.

The Mccanns are innocent - end of - how much hurt and pain do people need to see in a family before they stop vilifying people. I don't know why they did the things they did. however I suffer from dreadful anxiety and I often don't know why I do the things I do. ????

@sabrina. I posted that link in reference to the poster who was asking about the Jane Tanner sighting, that's all.

GM is quite non-descript so I don't place much on Mr Smith thinking the man he saw was GM.

And as for bias in these files. I don't understand why you would say that as they are not a narrative analysis.

Just documents collected in the investigation.

How do you know they are innocent?