OMG. Anybody just seen GMTV? 3 yr old girl abducted on holiday on the Algarve.

[tiredemma]

kate said reports just in, cant find anything on bbc.

bloody awful.

I wondered about it being a hotel employee.

must be, I think - and presumably hasn't come to work yesterday/today.

George Burke, whoever he is might have seen it then. Might depend on timings. One risk is those holding her panic and kill her so it must be a hard job for police to get the right balance.

THe resort is based in and around a port then? I didnt realise.

Maybe she's on a boat then?

a port ? oh shit.

suggestion that it could be a hotel employee though is pure speculation. surely anyone who is clever enough to time an abduction so carefully as to be sure it occurred when no one was in the area, and to target a particular child like that, isn't so stupid that they then wouldn't show up for work the next day and immediately shift the suspicion on to themselves?

this is so truly awful. It could be an employee but it looks like quite a busy area with roads around it and access by the public so it is quite possible it could be any local person.

It is un nerving to think she has been individually targeted. She is such a beautiful little girl and was the eldest within their party so has obviously been 'chosen'

I just feel so heartbroken for these parents and can not begin to imagine their pain. I just think this is the worst kind of torture, not knowing what is happening to her. Worse in some ways than her being killed outright - not knowing if she's suffering.

I think laying any blame on the parents is disgraceful. We all do things differently. They are clearly loving, devoted parents and anything but prayer and support for them is totally un necessary and has no place on a parenting forum, imo.

and even suggestion that she's alive is only speculation, unless they have a negotiator in there or similar which is doubtful especially as they've said they're unwilling to release an image of the suspect so as not to put her in danger.

the reports were 6 hours ago, there have been no further updates. if they were that close to knowing where she was they would have found her by now.

if the resort surrounds a port, my guess would be that whoever abducted her would have been out of the country even before any ports could be notified. or if their motives were more sinister, a port is an ideal place to be if you want to get rid of a body.

don't think anyone feels anything but sympathy for the parents, and those that have expressed shock at the fact someone would leave their child aren't specifically blaming anyone, but those are valid questions, and once this is resolved, are questions that will almost certainly be asked of the parents by the media, and will be discussed in depth on tv/radio.

The Guardian newspaper today has 3 quotes from this discussion on its second page.
No-one should judge these parents. We all accept different levels of risk. I have fallen asleep while my DS (6) has been playing football in the back garden. Some parents would frown on that, others let their 6 year olds play unsupervised in the street. The real level of risk for this family was tiny, they could see the front door from where they were sitting and checked regularly. It is just unbeleivable what happened.

Any updates? been out all afternoon.

and the comments on some of the message boards of the papers are a whole lot harsher than those on this thread. no one has said the parents are to blame on here, people have simply questioned how a parent could go out and leave their child while they went for a meal, in the same way as people would question why a parent would drink and drive, or not strap a child into a car seat.

but some on other boards are suggesting that charges should be brought, and other children taken into care etc.

the parents aren't going to be coming on here to read what people are saying, really they aren't. and as inteligent, well educated people who have probably cast judgement over people in their own professions, they will be all to aware that not everyone will have viewed their actions as wise.

i do so hope she is found safe and sound.
do you think now is the time to debate the rights and wrongs of the parents actions.
lets all just send positive vibes and prayers that the little tot is found safe and sound.

but blame serves no purpose and guilt is a useless emotician.

Don't you think these parents are going to be beating themselves up for ever more? they don't need others joining in too.

I too hope that she is found safe and well, but I think that's unlikely.

Often police say that they think a child is alive, they did it when sarah Payne went missing, when Holly and Jessica went missing, they can say it while there's no evidence to prove otherwise, because for one it helps keep the parents' spirits up while they believe there is still hope, and secondly more people will generally help with a search if they think they're looking for a live little girl than if they think they're looking for a body.

uttermadness, the reports of parents on other boards casting such blame are truly disgusting.

"in the same way as people would question why a parent would drink and drive, or not strap a child into a car seat. "
Both those things are illegal. Both contribute to the statistics that make car travel a far far more dangerous activity than other 'normal' things we do in our lives.

I can understand that, though the chances of abduction remain really really small, some parents who would have sat within a holiday comples within sight of their children's room will now not choose too. And that is very different from saying 'well I would never had done what they did...' Why not, since it carries such a small risk compared to ordinary driving? And how is that helpful to these parents, dicussed on this thread, now? And it doesn't take 'discusion' to identify that on that night in that place, it WAS a dangerous thing to do....every parent, and all the non parents - in the land will be feeling the horror of it - it doesn't need 'discussion'- unles to say 'well, actually the risk remains tiny so once the emotional impact of this has faded for those of us who are not closely ivolved, we probably might do exactly as these parents have done.

But, Uttermadness, I am pleased you feel able to be confident about what the parents and their freinds and family might read, and how they will feel, and how they would interpret people saying 'I wouldn't have done it' - in contradiction to a MN parent who has recent experience of actually losing a child....

I meant to say that it is exactly the comparison between drin driving etc - and what has happened, that is so judgemental - the parents did nothing like an illegal act - they did what many people consider to be normal and actually go on hol to do. To make it comparable with thoise acts is highly judgemental!

absolutely. I have been one that has questioned how a parent could go out and leave their child, and I had asked whether the parents would be held to account if it turned out this little girl hadn't been abducted, but that wasn't asked in judgement, it was a genuine question as to whether they would be put through that additional hell, and while I think that the debate over whether parents should leave their children unsupervised like that is a very valid one, I think that if this doesn't have a positive outcome, those parents will have to live with their decision for the rest of their lives, and I certainly wouldn't want that kind of action taken against them.

Here - for those that are obsessed with raking over the parent's decision.

MN consideration of the question in hand, without attaching it to the current situation!

here!

oh just leave it now. It's gone far enough.

I would certainly leave children that age again in those circumstances and go and eat. It wouldn't change my views a bit just as I let the teenagers get night buses back from London. You just take your own view on risk. Most killing is done by people you know at home so being with loved ones is the most dangerous course you can take actually.

I think 30 people have called with information and possible sightings and it's interesting they would say she's being held within a mile radius if that were not so. I think the father's sister has been critical of the local police and their lack of initial concern.

One thing is her distinguishing pupil, which would help in finding her.

poor poor family.

The only thing i can say on this thread is...
There but for the grace of god!