MADELEINE MCCANN - News Updates (please try not to argue)

[MrsSpoon]

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Lets hope this is the one that contains the good news that she has been found alive and well.

'It seems to me that the Portuguese law is a criminal's charter! '

I hope no one Portuguese is reading this thread.

You know, it never even occured to me how Euros might be following this case.

Until several came into my office today and said, 'This just shows you why the British aren't very popular in many parts of Europe. They come over to our countries, treat it like their doormat or the play yard in their back garden and then do nothing but complain when things go wrong and immediately want their government to step in and take over.'

Now I am foreign, so maybe this is why they felt comfortable expressing these things.

But it did strike me as a different persepctive.

racism (n.) the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races

Mapleleaf - thanks for the definition of racism, I do hope that you are not accusing me of being a racist!

I don't see how my comment regarding the Portuguese legal system could be construed as racism, as I was not stating that one race, or indeed one police force was superior to another.

But I will say it again, the Portuguese legal system appears to ME to favour the criminal, by withholding vital information from the public domain, such as the description of a suspect.

Expatinscotland - I hope that someone from the Portuguese judiciary is reading this thread and gives some thought to the operation of their legal system.

I sincerely hope that the Portuguese police find Madeleine and that their methods are proved effective, I really do.

That is what we all want, the safe return of this poor little girl to her family.

Minnie

I don't think anyone in this case is in a postion to start throwing stones.

If it was my dc missing whatever was being done would not be enough. But let them do their job.

The McCanns chose to leave their children unattended. It does not matter what you think of that, thats what they did. The police are handling things in a manner that they see fit. Again wether you like it or not that is what is happening.

I agree with you Minnie. You ahve hit the nail on the head, saying "that their methods are proved effective" - this has yet to be seen!

There is and I believe, nothing in what you have said which is racist.

It is true, the PP have methods very different from our own, and it is the not 'knowing' what they are up to, that gives rise to speculation, accusation and doubt.(isation - if there were such an ation allowed on the end LOL) Equally, we are being spoon fed by the tabloids, and it is this data that adds fuel to the fire. But there is no smoke without fire, and people are not stupid. We can see, there is obvious evidence that there has been a lack of data imparted to the public. Im not sure we will ever know their reasoning behind it, but they have operated with this system it seems for decades, and it must work for them.

The problem with us becoming part of the European community, is that every nation then starts to expect the same rules, regulations, standards, policies (the list goes on) as a neighbouring nation. And that in its own right brings problems. A nation should be allowed to govern itself and not clone itself or be pressured into cloning itself on another countries 'way of doing' things; Its true, we can take Lessons Learnt, and observe how other countries 'do things' but I dont think we should be 'made' to do as they do (sorry, losing ability to think as DH rattling on in ear, so cant think what to say now)

I think you get my point.

But can I just close ladies, and ask that if we want to start a new 'political debate on the pros and cons of a federal Europe and its policies' we do so. I was really happy of late to see that this thread went back to being news updates about Madeleine only.

Wolfgirl - I disagree with you. I think in the case of tabloid reporting, there is very often smoke without fire.

I do think it seems a if they just cannot find evidence to arrest Murat but obv suspect him very strongly, hence calling in British phone experts to check out his whereabouts.

Glad to hear that they have called in phone experts from Britain. It worked for the soham situation and they nailed Ian Huntly with info from his and one of the girls mobiles. It does seem odd that what murat said about not speaking to malinka for a year does not add up as they spoke that evening and also murat was phoning or emailing someone at the marina who disappeared 3 weeks ago! I just hope that if he is involved it is because he arranged for madeleine to be taken for a childless couple and not for any other reason.

What I find hard to understand is why they take so long to do these things - couldn't they have done the telephone tracings a week or more ago? I'm sure they have a reason but it also feels like every day that goes by is a day's further pain for the family and goodness knows what kind of life for Madeleine.

I agreee IF. progress does seem slow. And all we do is ping pong from yes the PP are doing a good job, to what the heck ARE they doing!

Its painful, waiting. And more so for the family and of course, like you say, poor little Madeleine. Poor lamb. I pray and hope that if she is still alive, whoever took her are treating her well. Goodness knows what they will have told her, like 'oh, you are having a new mummy' I dread to think.

We can keep praying for her. xx

expat, here in Germany I haven't heard or read anything other than sympathy for the Mccann family. British criticism of the Portugese police isn't offending anyone here to my knowledge. The case is not receiving much coverage mind you but we do still remember quite well the in-depth coverage some time ago of the orphanage scandal in Portugal which mentioned police complicity and that had been ongoing for twenty odd years. So I think criticism, at least scepticism, about the Portugese police force is has some basis in fact, and is not entirely unjustified unfortunately.

I will see if I can dig up something about that...

www.prisonplanet.com/portugals_elite_linked_to_paedophile_ring.html

I meant this case but see now it was back in 2002. Article also mentions : "Investigators from the Swiss-based Innocence in Danger group, which claims children regularly disappear from the poorer streets of Portuguese towns and cities..."

I wonder then, with all the international coverage the PP have received, if their laws and by-laws will be scrutinised and eventually changed. And lets no forget, its not every police officer that has an indifferent approach to such things; There are always rotten apples in every barrel, and I dont expect that this scandal is peculiar just to the Portugal police - this type of thing goes on in loads of childrens institutions - whether overseen by secular or religious authorities.

I do believe however, that these types of atrocities (sorry spelling!) are being addressed worldwide, albeit very slowly. You only have to go back a hundered years or so and see how cruel the orphanages were back then; these things are not tolerated now, and will be exposed and dealt with as soon as they come to light.

Heck, I hope so anyway. !

I cannot believe there is no news at the moment. What are the police doing? What about the calls that they had? I don't know which is worse..news or no news.
Surely someone must know something? I am worried now that it has been 4 weeks that the press coverage will die down and people will forget. What will happen to madeleine then?

They have not given info to the media but that does not mean there is no news.It is a criminal investigation and the papers and news channels do not need to have every bit of info to rake over and print.

I know that noddyholder but it must be so frustrating for the parents who have not seen their little girl for nearly a month. I appreciate that we don't need to know everything but there are lots of people out there who would love to hear that madeleine is ok. As a mother of a DD the same age I really feel for the Mccanns.

Ben Needham disappeared in 1991 and its tragic he's not been found. Are we going to have threads going on for years and years if this little girl isn't found asking what is being done?

I understand people empathising with the McCanns but the place for 'news' is on news websites such as the BBC.

Just because it isn't all over the papers doesn't mean that the parents aren't being kept informed of police progress.We the general public who have oour own lives do not need to know

Just trying to say isn't it awful that there is no news and madeleine has still not been found. I know we that general public do not need to know everything was just saying that is all

Police have been checking information from psychics.

Source: Telegraph, Guardian Unlimited, This is London

Hope the psychic can help. If it were me I'd use anything I could to find out where my DD was.

I did read somewhere yesterday a well known psychic who is a friend of a friend of the McCann's was travelling to Portugal.

I read somewhere that the Portuguese police are following up on "information" from psychics as they think that maybe her abductor/s would use that as a cover story if they wanted to reveal her whereabouts to return her....

Also surely someone, somewhere knows something and even if they have no conscience, the reward money would be enough to make them "grass" on them?

Minnie

yes minthemoo I read that too. I am sure there are many pscychics out there that have contacted police etc. Some people do not believe psychics but I know if It were my child I would try anything to get them back

I feel so frustrated at the moment and dont feel like we are getting anyway. I really would like to see more people getting her picture at airports and taking them to holiday resorts across europe and giving them to their local reps to take to local schools, hospitals and doctors etc. I really feel we should all get together and set up something and help this family in getting their beautiful little girl back home again. If I can help in any small/big way please do not hesitate. I wake every morning hoping she has been returned and the pain is enormous, I cannot comprehend the pain of her family.

DNA found from someone other than the family in the apartment.