Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

Maddy seen in Holland?

124 replies

hecciesmum · 02/08/2007 12:54

Have not really been commenting on the Maddy stories very much on here, but I thought you guys might be interested to know that the Dutch press is carrying an article today saying that she has allegedly been seen in a cafe in the south of the Netherlands with a DUtch guy and an English speaking woman.

You'll have to excuse me as I'm translating from the DUtch here, but it appears the police were called and they took away the glass and straw she had been drinking from to do a dna test on, and that the people in the cafe got part of the number plate of the car she was driven away in, as well as a decent description of the people she was with.

I hope, hope, hope and pray that this is a real lead and that she is alive and well and that she can be tracked down....

OP posts:
Original poster
hecciesmum · 02/08/2007 13:37

I hope so....just to know she is alive would be such a step forward.....

OP posts:
belgo · 02/08/2007 13:38

anyway, I will keep my eyes peeled. (that's a horrible expression isn't it?)

SSSandy2 · 02/08/2007 13:40

www.hbvl.be/nieuws/limburg/default.asp?art=

If I'm reading it right ?
she is a child therapist and was made uneasy by the behaviour of the child.

belgo · 02/08/2007 13:44

the child therapist found the behaviour of the child suspicious, and said so to the student who was working there. The student didn't find anything strange about the child's behaviour.

I have to say, there doesn't sound much concrete evidence that it was Madeleine.

SSSandy2 · 02/08/2007 13:50

Thanks belgo

tiredemma · 02/08/2007 13:51

Would you realy take a child- who is searched the world over, for a coffee?????

KitsAndBits · 02/08/2007 13:52

maybe they though enough time had passed to take her out (and it being a different country too).

belgo · 02/08/2007 13:53

Or a fristi even? Fristis are berry flavoured milk drinks - they taste gross but kids love them.

hippipotami · 02/08/2007 16:28

Oh, my dc love fristies! The description said she had shoulderlength blonde hair - surely her kidnappers would have changed her hair by now??

I think it is a false lead.

By the way, I am Dutch, and I thought Limburg is a province of The Netherlands (the province bottom right, which looks like the lions foot/letg)

belgo · 02/08/2007 19:00

Limburg is also a province in Belgium

tegan · 02/08/2007 19:10

I actually had a lady stop me in the street on Tuesday and appologise for staring at dd2 but apparently she was checking her eyes because she said dd2 looked like maddy.

hippipotami · 02/08/2007 19:50

Really belgo - cool, you learn something new every day!
(They obviously thought not to tell us that in geography lessons at my dutch primary school )

MadEyeMisdee · 02/08/2007 19:56

tegan i had someone check my dd3 who is 2. i was [shocked] tbh because i was in ikea in wembley. and dd3 is small for her age, has more broen in her hair than blond and black eyes.

i dont know what to make of this sighting, probably a false lead again sadly.

tegan · 02/08/2007 20:18

It is a very strange feeling. dd2 is bleach blonde (natural obviously) and has bright blue eyes and is 3 .5 but big for her age (4 to 5 clothes) The worst thing was having a stranger stare so intently at dd

WendyWeber · 02/08/2007 23:56

Daily Mail report about this includes:

So calling her name has been tried; it is a logical thing to do if you are suspicious (but OTOH if you shout loudly towards a child, that child might turn to look at you anyway)

yelnats · 03/08/2007 00:04

loads of people have commented on how much my dd1 (3) looks like Madeleine. She is small for her age but has shoulder length blonde hair and bright blue eyes - one woman was actually staring at her eyes last week while her mother commented at how much she looked like her. It really brings home to us how easy it could happen to any of our children. Very frightening. I really hope it is her and they somehow manage to trace the couple and get the little angel back safe and sound.

wannaBe · 03/08/2007 07:46

But would a 4 year old still be acting strangely after three months? I know this sounds callas in a way but I don?t think she would.

At 4 children are very resilliant, and adaptable. Yes she would still know who she was and would still remember her family etc, but three months on, if she is being treated well she would have adapted to that situation and would probably be acting as any normal 4-year-old would. And if it is her, then the people who have her are obviously treating her normally in so much as that they are taking her out/doing normal child things with her such as taking her to cafes etc.

I think this idea that she would still be a ?very frightened little girl? is somewhat naive because I think that by now she would have built up a rapport with those who have her.

But am doubtful this was even her tbh.

totaleclipse · 03/08/2007 09:18

It would depend what she's been through wannaBe, surely.

SSSandy2 · 03/08/2007 11:32

If the girl was Madeleine, these may not be the people she has been with all along. She may have been passed on to this couple in which case everything is new and upsetting IYSWIM.

Wish DNA testing didn't take so long. They're saying results expected next week. Long time to have to wait to know whether it was your dc.

kookaburra · 03/08/2007 11:49

Wannabe - I agree entirely - a small child is adaptable and will habituate to new circumsatnces very rapidly. If she has been well looked after (obviously what everyone hopes) then she will have a new normality and memeories of her past will fade rapidly.
If hse is not being well looked after then she will be not be allowed out in public anyway.

wheresthehamster · 03/08/2007 11:51

I assume they will check the DNA against other missing children or is that not routine?

wannaBe · 03/08/2007 12:04

No, why would they check the DNA against other missing children? There is nothing to indicate that this child is a missing child, the only reason why the DNA has been checked at all is because someone believed it could be Madeleine. It was probably a family on an innocent outing to a café. Perhaps a newly adopted/fostered child getting used to her new parents/surroundings, perhaps a difficult 4 year old with challenging behaviour, perhaps a child just having a bad day. Just because a child acts ?strangely? (whatever that might imply) that shouldn?t automatically place the parents under suspicion.

Maybe if the child was acting up the parents ?fled? out of embarrassment, especially if they thought they were being watched by someone.

wheresthehamster · 03/08/2007 12:09

I see what you mean, I read it as though they were taking it seriously because of the witness's experience of unusual behaviours not because the child looked particularly like Madeleine.

belgo · 03/08/2007 12:12

Presumabley they will check her DNA against a DNA database. But you never know with Belgian police

totaleclipse · 03/08/2007 12:16

It has'nt reached the news report in Britain yet, has it? so probably not much credibility in it.

Swipe left for the next trending thread