Madeleine McCann

[morningpaper]

Instead of starting lots of new posts about Madeleine, could I politely request that anyone who wants to post on the subject please post on this one thread? (N.B. Duplicate threads may be flamed hysterically.)

Please note that this thread is not to criticise Madeleine's parents or family, as this is not in the spirit of Mumsnet.

Please can I take the liberty to quote from this article:

"This is the real life of Kate and Gerry McCann, and it must now have become a place of agony beyond all understanding. Pity them, if you have any compassion at all, and demonstrate the minimum of grace: the ability to desist from judgment."

There has been a statement issued saying that Gerry & Kate Mccann will not be returning to portugal unless asked to do so by the portugese police.

I think this is a good move because if they are in the country then if they are being framed no more evidence can be planted as such.

agree

They are also continuing paying for the hire car, so no-one else can hire it, until forensics examine the car again, another good idea.

If you think about it there move to actually stay in portugal has now bite them in the bum unfortunatly, if they had of gone home then there would be no hire car 25 days after Madeleine went missing, i think the best thing they have probably done is come home to there own house, i think there legal team has probably advised them not to go back.

THey might not be stupid but they've hardly covered themselves in glory. And it seems they aren't up to modern levels in handling DNA forensics. Or securing crime scenes. So it makes sense that they might misinterpret DNA results.

I have tried so hard to stay away from this one but I have to say two things.
1] We don't know what happened and maybe we never will, all we do know is a little girl (for whatever reasons) is missing, and however it came about the fact is something terrible has happened to her, be it taken by some sicko, wondered off and had an accident or something happened in her room.
Papers love sensationalism and every paper has said something different, none of it helpful.

2] I do wish that the papers would stop showing the McCanns other two children's photos as these poor little mites need to have some sort of normal life.

[disbelief] that so much time and energy is being ploughed into speculation

go and enjoy the sun fgs

Just a minor thing re Lindy Chamberlain, I'm in Australia and I watched the full interview on TV.

She didn't actually stand up for them. She told her own story and said what the similarities were.

She refused to be drawn on speculation.

She was asked whether she would be willing to talk to them and said yes, she would, but she wasn't sure it would be much help because people's experiences are all different. I had the impression she didn't think it was constructive.

The idea that she backs them is more media speculation.

Though I'm not afraid to say I back them 100% and would pay into a fund to help meet their legal costs if they set one up.

A statement has now been issued saying they are carrying on with there campaign "no stone untured" & are using £80,000 of the Madeleine fund to spread it across spain, portugal etc on billboards & other media.

one wonders if that would be money well spent. Surely you'd have to live in an igloo to not know about this story?

I can understand them wanting to DO something, but its pretty futile imvho. They'd be better donating the money to a childrens charity

I think the family have been framed. It's a pretty desperate attempt as the evidence is so weak. But it has achieved the desired effect (for the Portugese authorities) of taking the spotlight away from their incompetent/corrupt police force and of finding out what really happened.

Portugal is known for having paedophile rings with links high up in the state, and lax laws with regard to paedophiles. A very cursory google reveals this to be the case.
For instance:
www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,848412,00.html

The Algarve brings in millions of revenue to Portugal and is especially popular with families of children of all ages who chose it because they feel it is a safe destination. Unwelcome publicity about paedophile rings/state corruption would not be good for their tourist industry.

The unprecidented publicity about this case and the persistence of the parents was starting to case a spotlight on things that the Portugese authorities would rather remain hidden. Their secrecy laws, for instance, seem more designed to protect police from allegations of incompetence than anything else.

All in all, it's a pretty desperate attempt by the authorities to get rid of the McCanns, using the powerful threat of possible removal of their other two children. The audacity of the police charges makes you wonder: just how much do the Portugese authorities have to hide? What uncomfortable facts might emerge if it was discovered what really happened?

i agree with you. i spent every easter in the algarve as a child, i was always fond of Portugal and this whole episode and the police have really put me off going there with my children. Silly probably, but that's how i feel.

Why don't the Mc Cann's speak out? why are they "not allowed" to discuss it when every other party is? why don't they get their family/spokespeople to start talking / leaking whatever to the press?

all of it just doesn't add up.

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I have NO idea what has happened. I don't know if, incredible as it seems, they, or one of them, popped back from the restaurant after their starter, found that their kid was dead, hid the body in a disused apartment, then went off to enjoy a medium steak or two. And if the so called "incompetance" of the portuguese police is more to do with having been focussing on the mccans all along.

Or if their child has genuinely disapeared without trace, despite pretty much the whole world being on the look out for her.

I don't know. And, let us be honest, neither do any of you guys. The speculation here and in the paper owes more to a fondness for unsolved mystery than any real compassion for the mccans.

I do kind of understand the fascination a little. The Mccans have played the media quite fantastically. If my child was abducted, I would do the same.

What I find really unpalatable though is the whole "are they saints or are they sinners" approach.

The ridiculous "oooh kate mccan sometimes lost her temper with her 3 kids under 4, how shocking , she must therefore have murdered her child in cold blood" that some of the papers have been coming out with.

I actually don't think it matters that much how this child died. If they did kill her by accident-I cannot imagine a worse thing. They will be punished beyond anything the courts can come up with. Regardless, they deserve sympathy.

What a great article Cod. That sums it up so well.

I think that is an awful article. Really quite nasty.

i agree, it's really offensive tbh

For those of you asking about Ylena, the girl missing in Switzerland:
Her body has been found

I don't find anything offensive in it.

This whole circus will run and run. I'm waiting for the chat show rounds, the exclusives, the book, the film.

fillyjonk I don't think it matters what happened to Madeleine in terms of what needs to happen to the parents BUT I agree that the story has affected other parents and made people more jittery.

Many of us know what it feels like when suddenly you've lost sight of your child. Of course they tend to turn up but the notion that they can be swiftly taken from under our noses by strangers has been strengthened and rammed home for four months now. This has affected everyone. When I lost sight of my ds (2.5) in the park today my friend actually said to me, with panic in her voice, 'I saw a man going in that direction with someone who looked just like spiderboy'.
Actually ds had wandered to the cafe 10 yards away but I couldn't help the Maddy story flitting, albeit breifly, across my conciousness whilst I looked for him.

So first we anguished with the McCanns about what that might be like. Now we're faced with possibly having to anguish, with these already utterly distraught people about either a terrible accident at their hands OR an apalling miscarriage of justice.

We're weary of it. No-one can sympathise for that long. They've been in our face for too long now so it's hardly surprising the jokes have begun. I know that sounds terrible.

In a way, it would be better for us parents if the McCanns had accidentally killed her because death by sleeping pills is surely better than the horrifying, worst nightmare scenario which loomed before the suspicion fell on the parents.

oh I agree spider

BUT

EVEN if she was abducted and disapeared without trace, that is SUCH a bloody rare occurence that I don't think any of us actually do have much to worry about in our day to day lives.

The few cases where a young child has actually been abducted are SO incredibly rare.

The collective loss of life expectancy from child obesity (which, in part, results from kids not playing out, walking to school, etc, due to fear of abduction) far far dwarf the incredibly few children abducted.

"Madeleine sucked the carefree out of summer."

Madeleine, poor little soul, did nothing of the sort.
Whoever took her did.

it was very upsetting reading the time line of events for 3rd May in the paper today. It sounds like the family had had such a lovely day. Madeleine had got an ice cream and a waiter there had said how happy she was. And her last words to her mum about having fun.

so, so sad