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Original poster

Madeleine McCann

1606 replies

morningpaper · 11/09/2007 20:49

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."

OP posts:
UCM · 18/09/2007 18:54

Poor poor parents, having their lives picked over. I would be protesting my innocence big time.

totaleclipse · 18/09/2007 19:04

there has to come a time when they must resume normal life and accept the fact that Madeleine will probably never come home.

How on earth will they ever accept that, its thier daughter, thier flesh and blod, no human being could ever accept that when they dont know if they are dead or alive.

RubberDuck · 18/09/2007 19:10

Re: Gerry's blog. I would imagine the misspellings are completely deliberate for search engine optimisation purposes.

HorribleHorace · 18/09/2007 19:19

gosh utterMadness, that is a really harsh post. I could never, ever accept that my child was not coming home. Not until I'd seen proof and knew for sure I had done every single thing possible in my power to bring my child home safely.

These poor people can't win. Whatever they do is wrong. If they talk to the media and ask for help they are seen as 'playing the media' If they are too composed and don't show enough emotion they are called cold or un feeling. What would people say now if these parents just gave up the fight for Madeleine? They are not going to do that and nor should they. They need to know what happened to their girl one way or another and then and only then can they start to 'resume normal life'

kookaburra · 18/09/2007 19:43

UtterMadness - what you said - yes, wholeheartedly agree.

tazmosis · 18/09/2007 19:52

UtterMadness - your post...I cannot begin to comprehend how somebody can have so little compassion for others.

ELF1981 · 18/09/2007 20:04

I have often spelt my daughters name wrong when typing on Mumsnet it is easily done when other things are on your mind.

I did when I saw the press statement this morning about newspapers etc not printing pictures of the twins etc - its a very fine line between working with the media but also getting privacy.

rebelmum1 · 18/09/2007 20:09

It is tragic but they were very slapdash in their care

Kewcumber · 18/09/2007 20:26

I'm not sure that people whose children disappear and are never found ever "resume a nromal life". I met Diana Lamplugh years after her daughter disappeared and she had definitely not resumed a normal life.

Even more difficult if you are tortured by the thought that if you had done things differently...

Their life will never be normal again and crass to suggest it could be after just a few months.

utterMadness · 18/09/2007 20:58

But they have two other children. They at least deserve a normal life do they not? Or what hope do they have?

No-one is saying that these people need to forget their child, but there does come a point when you need to look forward not back. Their twins are still here, and they deserve that.

The Mccanns cannot live in the media spotlight for ever, or there is a risk the twins will be known as the brother and sister of Madeleine Mccann. What kind of a life is that?

HorribleHorace · 18/09/2007 21:04

of course they deserve a normal life. But they are not going to have one - not any time soon, anyway, no matter what the McCanns do. That is not down to them. That is down to the person who decided to snatch their sleeping child from her bed and walk away with her.

They can not 'sacrifice' Madeleine for the sake of the twins. Don't you think these people feel guilty enough? They have to know that they've done everything in their power to find her.

I don't think you have any right to sit in judgement on their responses and actions anyway. Until you have been in that position you have no way of knowing how you feel and react.

I know if it were me, I would never give up looking for my lost child. Yes, probably at the expense of my other children, I would search for ever for that child.

ELF1981 · 18/09/2007 21:12

assuming she was snatched from her bed.

I am in no way saying the McCann's did anything untowards as I DO NOT KNOW but in the same respect, nobody knows that she was "taken". Could she not have wandered off and unfortunately drowned in the sea searching for her parents? (Not sure how far they were from the sea).

daydreambeliever · 18/09/2007 21:20

I think its really dodgy that another little girl went missing in the same area in 2004 and the same police beat a confession out of the mother. Solves 2 problems for the police, someone caught, and troublesome mother carted off. Very very dodgy. You wouldnt catch me going to Portugal any time soon.

hunkermunker · 18/09/2007 21:25

Don't usually post on these threads, but I have a question. If the McCanns weren't trying to involve the media, if they'd not done interviews, if they'd not started a big search for Madeleine, wouldn't people be speculating that it was "because they know what's happened to her, because they did it"?

kentgirl73 · 18/09/2007 21:25

Also with the Portuguese Police spokesman resigning too...all seems like things are falling apart....I mean, come on an officer being investigated for allegedly beating a confession on a similar child disappearnce case and then he is put on another case, quite similar...lets face it would that happen here???

Being part of the EU isnt all its cracked up to be...if there is such a range in policing levels across Europe, is quite scary!!!

utterMadness · 18/09/2007 21:32

If the Mccanns hadn't involved the media so much then people wouldn't be talking about it. It's only because the media are so involved that people feel they should still be discussing it.

And if the spokesmaf for the Portuguese police's resignation is seen as signifficant then maybe the resignation of the Mccanns' previous spokeswoman should be seen so as well.

daydreambeliever · 18/09/2007 21:34

maybe the portugese police are involved?

dinny · 18/09/2007 21:36

my goodness, did the spokesman resign??? what reason was given then?

kentgirl73 · 18/09/2007 21:36

the way they have been treated, then you would want the best spokesperson, its not as if they can even speak ...and i would invite the media into my life if it was my child missing, like them i would leave no stone unturned and would never stop looking, would you honestly uttermadness???

ELF1981 · 18/09/2007 21:38

I dont think I could ever stop searching for my daughter. She is my only child at the moment, but I think I'd die looking for her, or just die without her. God forbid I have to ever put this to the test though

utterMadness · 18/09/2007 21:46

Having seen how the media have turned on this family no I wouldn't.

The media is notorious for building people up only to knock them down again. They do it with our celebrities, with our sports stars, and clearly now with this family.

hunkermunker · 18/09/2007 21:47

"Having seen how the media have turned on this family no I wouldn't."

But they didn't have the "luxury" of that knowledge.

HorribleHorace · 18/09/2007 21:48

their focus is on Madeleine. I have seen it written that they barley care what happens to them anymore as long as they find out what has happened to their daughter.

If my child was missing I would use the media, just as they have done.

On the whole, I think the media have been supportive. The only nasty stuff I have seen written is on internet forums from people judging from afar.

kentgirl73 · 18/09/2007 21:48

but if your child is still missing, that is the biggest loss, everything else thrown at you wouldnt even begin to match your feelings of losing your precious child and not having any answers, for the other childrens sake, you keep looking, they will take comfort in knowing how much you love and live for your children...

utterMadness · 18/09/2007 21:49

No they didn't. But anyone who goes through this in future will.

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