OMG, Kate McCann is expected to be formally declared as a SUSPECT???!!!

[haychee]

I was watching the news last night re Kate McCanns requestioning by the Portuguese Police. I have updated on the events this morning and it appears she will be declared as a SUSPECT today. Im shocked about this, what do you all think? Surely she didnt have anything to do with it?

Not impossible at all, squeaky. There was a case in the US involving a woman called Susan Smith who pretended to have been carjacked and her car, with her two young sons strapped into their car seats, stolen by thieves.

She could have won numerous awards with the performance she put on all over the nation.

She drove her car off the pier with her sons in the back because she wanted to re-enter the dating scene as a single woman with no children.

v v strange really hope they havent had anything to do with it but agree with wannabe they must have something to lead Kate to be a suspect

I agree with wannabe

jeez expat that's horrible.

expat thats terrible !!! makes me very angry why bother having kids then what a prize bitch!! what sentence did she get?

The impression I've gathered of the Portugese system so far has not inspired me with confidence.

I strongly doubt that Kate harmed Madeleine and hope the truth will come out eventually. There are quite a few people who have been subject to the worst kinds of speculation and had all sorts of malicious gossip and lies made up about them. It's been horrible. All of those who are innocent of involvement are going to have a job clearing their name afterwards because mud sticks and that includes a lot of people whether it be Robert Murat, his mother, Sergei whatever, anyone in the Mccann family or party. I don't know if any of them had anything to do with this but they have all had the mud slung at them.

Personally I don't have a clue what really happened or who was involved and I frankly doubt the PJ are up to discovering the truth but I would love to be proved wrong.

Message withdrawn

It's not unusual for the perpertrator to want to stay geographically central to the investigation - even help with enquiries - so they know exactly where the police are up to.

I am not drawing a comparison at all

but by way of example - Ian Huntley - the most heplful witness ever, or so we thought. Say no more.

This is a different scenario obviously because it is a parent.

When I saw it on the news this morning it made me shudder.

I dont think anyone is in a position to say who is and isnt involved.
No one knows apart from the Portugese Police and the McCanns.

If they are declaring her a suspect, they will be doing it for a reason.
What that reason is, you'll never know.

It doesn't mean the same thing over there!

IIRC she was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Agree with Cod and Doodle et al. Poor woman. Not only has her daughter gone missing, but she's being condemned for not behaving in whatever way some people expect a traumatised parent to behave.

Unless you've actually been in that position - God forbid - you have no idea how you would react let alone how someone else would react.

There is lots of research on this, showing that people are swayed by their expectations of the way victims should behave. If rape victims manage to keep themselves together and not burst into tears in the witness box - perhaps they don't want to give the rapist the satisfaction - juries are more likely to find Not Guilty. Appalling.

Seems we are not so far from the days of 'chuck her in the river - if she drowns she was innocent, if she floats SHE"S A WITCH, let's burn her'. FGS.

I really hope the parents had nothing to do with this, but only they themselves know for sure. As to whether they could have generated all this publicity if they are guilty - of course they could, lots of people have done it to try and deflect blame. Not that i am saying they have anything to do with this, but you never know.

Also, i find it strange as to why people seem to be ok with Robert Murat as a suspect, but find Kate McCann almost incomprehensible. He has been a suspect for a couple of months and been vilified in the press for what seems to be no specific reason - why is there not a public outcry at the media treatment of this man? As it stands this man has done nothing, but it seems acceptable for most people to assume that he did it and the police can't pin anything on him.

Message withdrawn

I don't really think she had anything to do with this, not after all the publicity, visiting the pope and travelling the world for support. You would have to be seriously ill in some way to kill your daughter and then make sure that it stayed in the world spotlight.

But a tiny tiny part of me wouldn't be surprised as there have been a few cases over the years of relatives appealing for information only to be later arrested as the murderer.

I really hope that isn't the case - it could make so many people cynical and potentially unhelpful next time a child goes missing and the parents ask for help.

but the only info we have about the portuguese legal system, which I have read is very much the same as the legal systems across europe apart from the UK, is what we've read in the media. The media that has almost sainted this family, and have banned any comment from anyone who dares question the rights and wrongs of leaving three small children unattended in an unlocked groundfloor apartment. But let's not forget that this latest phorensic evidence was discovered, collected, and annalised by ... the Brittish police.

And Kate Mccann had previously requested to be declared an "assistente" which would have given her greater access to information about the case and the right to a lawyer etc but this was declined. wonder why?

McEdam - she is a formal suspect. Although this means that this affords her more legal protection (so is better for her) there is a reason why she should now need that protection.

She is a suspect - not the accused. So no comparison with witchburning tbh

True, binkle. Good point.

just spoke to my mum in spain
the news there is saying very clearly that the Mc Canns have REQUESTED "arguido/suspect" status as that means the police can ask the "difficult" questions outright. They're not allowed to ask many questions to people who are just witnesses. It also means they can have a lawyer present - with the portuguese media out to get them i don't blame them.

lol at no comparison with witchburning. Err that's exactly what will happen. In the press, on here (as it has already).

amidaiwish that's not what the family spokesperson has said. She said that the family are very angry and confused now about why this has happened. I read that they'd requested assistente status before and that this had been declined and that they had requested it again, but not arguito status.

If you feel you have a right to a lawyer and the right to remain silent you would feel this for a reason. If you'd done nothing wrong then you wouldn't need to remain silent would you?

What difficult questions? Why would any of them be difficult IYSWIM? If my daughter went missing I feel I'd want to give every possible bit of info that I could to establish quickly what had happened - whether that landed me in the sh- or not (ie sedation/gaps between checking etc)

Why on earth did they not take a baby sitter with them and not got into this appalling mess?

'If you feel you have a right to a lawyer and the right to remain silent you would feel this for a reason. If you'd done nothing wrong then you wouldn't need to remain silent would you? '

Not necessarily at all. There have been some very frightening and truly chilling miscarriages of justice based on this belief, which people unwittingly buy into without question and with a saavy and manipulative interrogator can use to his/her extreme advantage. That's far from unheard of.

I was amazed from the start that they werent suspects, if my child was missing and I wasnt considered a suspect then I would know the police were not doing their job properly as wannabe says "More often than not it's someone close to the victim"

If they were jobless parents rather than "professional" people they would have had a much harder time from the press than they have (im not saying thats right but its a fact of life)

I seem to remember there was another Brit who had been in a similar position who said his wife has been unfairly jailed by the portugese because they are desperate for it to be a foreigner - he said "sooner or later they will try to blame the mother"

It makes the police look completely incompetant that the apartment had been let to another family before they even checked/found the blood traces on the wall - surely the apartment should have been checked from top to bottom immediately.