First topic message reminder :

[size=150:2hea4fx8]Madeleine McCann
I know it is not about all things Bulgarian, but I want to bring to all members attention the BBC's Crimewatch programme at 9.00pm tonight
After we have seen the programme let's have a debate as to what out thoughts are. It doesn't bare thinking about what the parents have gone through and how we would handle it if it happened to any of us

I'm wondering what would happen if, and probably a BIG IF, should the child be found (alive of course) and how her(Maddie) reaction would be, after all its been 6+ years since since she disappeared and possibly living a new life, and the upheaval on her life again (i'm sure she wouldn't come back to anonymity).
I followed the link [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] provided by Blink and spent the next 3 hours reading various parts of it, very thought provoking and well worth reading. Unusual thinking and reactions from the parents, mmmm??????

Great topic and one that could go on for many years not much I can add though as its all been said but one thing I will say is in my mind the main suspects are the parents.

Kidnapping aside,young children should never be left alone.What if they had hurt themselves or been sick?As an adult I wouldn't like to wake up unexpectedly alone in a strange place they do not need to take risks such as looking after themselves for the evening while thier parents go out for a nice meal with thier friends!!!!! I have never left my children alone under the age of 12---if you could leave them they would not need parents. The other parents - the 'tapas 7' (the McCann's holiday friends) also left their children alone night after night. They took it in turns to check on the children.The other parents were lucky it wasn't their child who was targeted. I often wonder how they feel, or whether they are still good friends with Madeleine's parents, whether they feel guilty etc? They have been very quiet and have never appeared on TV or given interviews that I know of ? The fact that on Crime Watch, the parents divulged that Madeline had asked where her parents were when she was crying on a previous night and knowing that at 3 years old, she was scared and frightened waking up in a strange place without her parents to comfort her. It makes my blood run cold, especially as they chose to continue to go out, leaving them alone again.

Call me paranoid but when we were on holiday and our children were young they always slept in the same room as us. I had remembered reading about a case many years ago where a child was abducted through a window whilst the parents slept in an adjacent room and it stayed with me. Admittedly we were usually camping and obviously you can't secure a tent so maybe that made me feel less safe but still, I slept in one room with our daughter while my husband shared a room with our son. Even now we all stay in the same room if we go to an hotel, mainly because it's cheaper but also so that we know they are safe. We have never left our children with a babysitter other than grandparents. I love spending time with them, it has never been a chore and I have never been so desperate for "
me time"
that I would endanger their safety.The only truly innocent victim here is Madeline the parents were just plain selfish.

I don't know what anyone else thinks but looking at the efit pics of the person seen carrying a child on the night she disappeared, what do you all think

There is an uncanny likeness but who knows the truth? The question I ask Is this the only unsolved UK child abduction since 2007? If not why does this little girls tragic case deem so much newspaper space, when presumably others get virtually none? How many cases could have been solved, and potentially lives saved, if all disappearances of children were given such lofty media attention? The standard of investigation for the well connected is so demonstrably higher than what normal families in the UK can expect. How many missing people could the police time and resources, as well as BBC prime time recreations could have been helped. While obviously not losing sight of what is a tragedy for the girl and her family it has long been time for everyone to move on. The new photo fits and ‘leads’ reek of a desperation.

That's uncanny..maybe that's why she didn't scream out!!

Daisy wrote:

I don't know what anyone else thinks but looking at the efit pics of the person seen carrying a child on the night she disappeared, what do you all think

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh, Police Constable Daisy, very interesting

Whilst everybody must wish for the safe return of Madeleine serious questions need surely to be asked about the police resource being put into such an old case. Would police time not be better spent on more recent abductions where a happier outcome may be more likely? Why are these questions not being asked in the press and at a political level? As a parent I feel for the family, but what about the parents of children abducted days or weeks ago who desperately need police action? Terrible thing for the family, of course, but bad stuff is happening to Brits abroad in countries with less than brilliant police resources. Nobody says the tax payer should step in.

The tragedy of this case I believe is the amount of police time and public resources wasted in Portugal, the UK and other countries searching for a child who may have died in her holiday apartment with the full knowledge of her parents and perhaps others. What other disasters have occurred that could have been avoided if all these resources had not been used up in what seems like a fruitless search? The extent of the damage caused by this apparently useless search may never be known because funding for other matters may well have been cut back especially in a country as poor as Portugal is. One very important part of an investigation into the disappearance of a child requires that the parents provide police with all the help they can in establishing beyond doubt that the child was indeed abducted. From what we know of the initial police investigation with sniffer dogs and also further investigation with the cadaver dog and the crime scene (blood detection) dog, all the evidence seems to point to Madeleine’s death in the holiday apartment and cover up by the parents and possibly their friends. They seem to have interfered negatively in the investigation rather than helped. My strong belief lies in the theory I read elsewhere that the McCanns appear to have wanted to avoid an autopsy on Madeleine’s body at any cost. Are they still allowed to administer medical treatment to their remaining children? That I believe would be scandalous. As for the apparent interference in this case by politicians in high places, do these politicians past or present, understand the meaning of the Westminster Convention of the Separation of Powers in that the executive government who legislate, are not allowed to interfere in the judicial process at any stage??? I would have thought that the initial stages of a police investigation are part of that process. British police were dispatched to Portugal to look at the evidence. To overlook evidence from the initial investigation and simply accept without doubt the word of the parents that the child was abducted regardless of any evidence to the contrary, appears to me to be a miscarriage of justice.

bgbazz wrote:

That's uncanny..maybe that's why she didn't scream out!!

So is this Al Capone
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In another life and in colour...maybe...but we digress!