Maddie McCann

jasonrh said:
I don't agree with some of the comments in this thread, but I do think that it is a matter of reasonable discussion since the family has made it a public issue.
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It was the /paper/ that first made the McCann's reputation a public issue when they published the original allegation!

The only matter of reasonable discussion is, "what is the evidence for the paper's allegations, and who is the source for these allegations." Everybody has been /very/ quick to ascribe malign motives to the McCanns for /responding/ to having their good names publicly dragged through the mud, but nobody here has spent a femtosecond actually discussing the allegations in the report.

Which, since we are talking about what's reasonable, seems a bit of a massive omission to me.
 
nickm said:
It was the /paper/ that first made the McCann's reputation a public issue when they published the original allegation!

The only matter of reasonable discussion is, "what is the evidence for the paper's allegations, and who is the source for these allegations." Everybody has been /very/ quick to ascribe malign motives to the McCanns for /responding/ to having their good names publicly dragged through the mud, but nobody here has spent a femtosecond actually discussing the allegations in the report.
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But we all know that there isn't any substance to the allegations, therefore that wouldn't exactly be a popular choice of discussion.
 
Reddish said:
But we all know that there isn't any substance to the allegations, therefore that wouldn't exactly be a popular choice of discussion.
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The amount of generalisation in this thread is ridiculous.

We don't "all" know at all. There are a lot of people only too ready to believe that the parents did it. People who thought that before the allegations, which have just confirmed it for some.
 
Livvie said:
The amount of generalisation in this thread is ridiculous.

We don't "all" know at all. There are a lot of people only too ready to believe that the parents did it. People who thought that before the allegations, which have just confirmed it for some.
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Jesus you're a drama queen in this thread.

By "all", I meant the posters who have responded to this thread. I think my statement was correct.
 
Incidentally, yesterday's Express front page was above average.

'MADELEINE: NEW ATTACK ON PARENTS' juxtaposed with a picture of a column of armoured vehicles on the move.
 
Reddish said:
I have a three year old brother.
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so, just for arguments sake say that someone abducted your young brother and while you and your parents were searching for him some newspaper comes out with a story saying that you probably killed him: how would you take that?
 
As an aside... a number of people have said that if they get the money they'll probably use it to fund their search. This is a couple who spent a chunk of money jetting off to Rome to see the pope. I'm almost certain he doesn't have Maddie.

They've done a very nice job of making this tragedy very much about themselves in the last 4 months. That's a very disturbing thing for me.
 
Yours and a few others views are very disturbing to me.

I would imagine their visit to meet with the Pope was a way of getting comfort in their time of need. Not my cup of tea but I am told it helps those that put their faith in God.

Also, has it never crossed your mind that it might have helped with raising the awareness of their missing daughter.

Every time I get drawn back into this thread I am saddened by peoples cynicism and lack of empathy.
 
jeez. if Wibble says he'd go to see the pope too you know that it must be serious. you think that they went there for his autograph?

the way I understood it is that this family are religious so it makes sense that they'd try anything, including the Popes prayers, to get their little girl back.
 
Marching said:
Yours and a few others views are very disturbing to me.

I would imagine their visit to meet with the Pope was a way of getting comfort in their time of need. Not my cup of tea but I am told it helps those that put their faith in God.

Also, has it never crossed your mind that it might have helped with raising the awareness of their missing daughter.

Every time I get drawn back into this thread I am saddened by peoples cynicism and lack of empathy.
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Sure Catholics can take strength from their religion, there's shed loads of churches and cathedrals dotted around the world for doing precisely that. There was no need for them to go to the See in person. If the Pope wanted to bless a photo he could have obtained one from just about anywhere. Their personal pilgrimage was a great way of getting their picture in the paper, rather than that of the little girl.

And are you trying to tell me there was a lack of awareness of their missing daughter before they went to see the Pope?

The fact that so much of the reporting about this story is about the parents leaves a very bad taste for me, and the thought of them going for money, if that's confirmed as to the aim of the court case, would only strengthen that feeling.

The concern in this case should be for the child, not the welfare of negligent parents.
 
spinoza said:
I get annoyed on a daily basis by people's LACK of cynicism and misplaced empathy...
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I am saddened but not surprised you get annoyed on a daily basis.

Life's too short.
 
lynchie said:
This is a couple who spent a chunk of money jetting off to Rome to see the pope.
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Yeah, the selfish bastards, eh? Spending all of £100 or so to Easyjet that glamourous celebrity route from Gatwick to Rome, a distance of a few hundred miles, so they could keep the story of their kidnapped daughter in the public eye for one more day.

Christ alive.
 
lynchie said:
Their personal pilgrimage was a great way of getting their picture in the paper, rather than that of the little girl.

And are you trying to tell me there was a lack of awareness of their missing daughter before they went to see the Pope?
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That's not the point. The point was obviously to keep Maddie's story alive in the media for as long as possible. That means you have to give the media a new story or story angle /every single day/. They have clearly had expert advice on how to do this, whether commissioned or donated - I suspect donated. I am sorry your apparent ignorance of how this game is played has manifested itself as cynicism towards the parents.
 
"This game"?

Surely all of this UK based press and attention is misplaced anyway, as she is exceedingly unlikely to have been brought back to the UK having been kidnapped in a foriegn country, and with every man and his dog thinking they're 'looking for her' in the UK by donning t shirts and buying newspapers.

Murderers and kidnappers might be criminals, but they are not often so stupid as to have kept a child missing for two months having committed that big of a mistake.
 
spinoza said:
To be saddened as well as irritated, I suppose?

Empathy's overrated, especially when the vast majority of the human race are not deserving of it.
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There are a lot who don't deserve it, but I think the vast majority of the human race - the ones you never hear from - are decent people.
 
spinoza said:
Perhaps. I haven't met many decent people. I actually counted, sad as it may sound.
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That is sad - not that you counted, but that you've not met many decent people. :(

I feel like I should put my counsellor hat on and invite you to lay on the couch and talk about it.
 
Livvie said:
That is sad - not that you counted, but that you've not met many decent people. :(

I feel like I should put my counsellor hat on and invite you to lay on the couch and talk about it.
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:lol:

Thank you, that's a kind offer, and I feel I should put you on my decent people list (I only counted people whom I met in person...).

But I don't hold a grudge against anyone, and I'm actually quite a happy person. I just don't think that it's a good idea to make the default assumption that people are nice underneath.
 
spinoza said:
:lol:

Thank you, that's a kind offer, and I feel I should put you on my decent people list (I only counted people whom I met in person...).

But I don't hold a grudge against anyone, and I'm actually quite a happy person. I just don't think that it's a good idea to make the default assumption that people are nice underneath.
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Thanks Spin. If there was a kissy smiley I'd use it. :)

I can see where you're coming from - I've been let down too many times by people I thought were nice. But made of rubber, me. I've also met some lovely ones.

Maybe it's just best not to pre-judge either way.
 
Spoke there to a few of my Media contacts from my days with the sun and it looks like every Media broadcaster is waiting on on a breaking News Story in relation to this investigation - if what is coming out in the Media circles in relation to Gerry & Kate McCann is true, I cannot help but feel emotional about this.

I hope that this girl is still alive and her parents have been telling the truth all along. I cannot think of any parent who would lie in relation to their children. I have watched news unfold in relation to Jamie Bolger, Holly Wells & Jessica Chapman this if true goes beyond belief.

I hope to christ for the sake of every parent out there that Maddy McCann's parents have been honest from day 1.
 
If this has been an elaborate cover up then these people have some balls....

i dont want to feed the rumour mill and would prefer to deal with facts alone, but if this is true it will be beyond belief.
 
Police to quiz Madeleine's mother

Kate McCann will attend the police station without her husband
Portuguese police are to re-interview the mother of missing Madeleine McCann.

Kate McCann and her husband Gerry have previously been interviewed over the disappearance of their daughter from an apartment in Praia da Luz on 3 May.

Mrs McCann will be accompanied by a lawyer for formal questioning as a witness. Police have previously said the McCanns are not suspects.

Separately, Portuguese detectives confirmed they had the partial results of forensic tests by a UK laboratory.

Four-year-old Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared from the family's holiday apartment while her parents were eating in a nearby restaurant.

Mrs McCann is expected to arrive at Portimao police station in the Algarve at 1400 BST (1300 GMT) on Thursday.

The BBC's Steve Kingstone, in Portimao, said: "It's our understanding that what will take place here will be a formal police interview.

"This is not an informal meeting of the type the McCanns have had regularly with detectives since Madeleine disappeared."

He added that a family spokeswoman had stressed Kate McCann will be questioned as a witness not as a suspect.

Mr McCann is thought to face further questioning himself on Friday.


Portuguese police spokesman Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said partial results from tests had been received but would give no further details.

Samples, including suspected traces of blood, were recovered from the McCann's holiday apartment.

The UK's Forensic Science Service has spent the past month analysing samples.

Last week, the McCanns launched a libel action against a Portuguese newspaper which claimed they killed their daughter.

But a public statement from the director of police followed saying the McCanns had never been viewed as suspects.

Kate McCann, together with her husband, has travelled extensively through Europe to raise awareness of the search for her daughter.
 
henno said:
If this has been an elaborate cover up then these people have some balls....

i dont want to feed the rumour mill and would prefer to deal with facts alone, but if this is true it will be beyond belief.
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Even if they have recovered DNA from some blood, so what? You don't know how much blood, where it was, why it was there. So perhaps you are being a bit premature with statements like, "if this is true it will be beyond belief". If WHAT is true, precisely? I mean, it's not as if kids don't graze themselves, is it.

Edit: for that matter, finding blood is still consistent with the abduction theory. It is easy to see how a kid struggling to get away from an abductor might bang her head on a wall.

Yet another drip in the drip-drip-drip of unproven allegations.

Innocent until /proven/ guilty, remember.
 
I thought someone might post that when I read it.

Utter bollocks, they didn't kill her themselves, nobody would be stupid enough to do that and then pull all of the publicity together that they did.
 
What I have heard and I think it has been reported in the last few hours in Portugal is that the British sniffer dogs detected smell of cadaver in the parents clothing and in the room
 
I wouldn't put it past the police to cook up something to make themselves look better as they've made such a complete hash of the whole thing.

I can't believe the parents did it. There's absolutely no motive.
 
It's obvious that the Portugese Police could have handled this investigation better but to suggest that they would try to "cook up" against the McCann's in order to divert attention from poorly handled investigation is ridiculous. Given the nature of this case and the fact that the eyes of the world are on them, in the event that they decided to charge the McCann's with anything, they would have to have very solid evidence. Their investigation techniques are already under intense scrutiny, they now have to show that they are considering every eventuality and examining every lead, and that's all they are doing by re-interviewing the parents.
 
Smith Cove said:
It's obvious that the Portugese Police could have handled this investigation better but to suggest that they would try to "cook up" against the McCann's in order to divert attention from poorly handled investigation is ridiculous. Given the nature of this case and the fact that the eyes of the world are on them, in the event that they decided to charge the McCann's with anything, they would have to have very solid evidence. Their investigation techniques are already under intense scrutiny, they now have to show that they are considering every eventuality and examining every lead, and that's all they are doing by re-interviewing the parents.
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I don't know about ridiculous - maybe some of the cynicism in this thread has rubbed off on me.

The facts are that parents do kill their children, and police forces can be corrupt.

We'll just have to wait and see.
 
Livvie said:
I don't know about ridiculous - maybe some of the cynicism in this thread has rubbed off on me.

The facts are that parents do kill their children, and police forces can be corrupt.

We'll just have to wait and see.
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Yes ridiculous. Although you can find examples of police corruption from all over the world, given the nature of this case and all of the publicity that has been generated, and the fact that you have police forces from two separate jurisdictions involved in collecting the evidence, it is ridiculous to suggest that you could get all of the police involved to agree conspire to act in such a manner as to cast suspicion upon the McCanns in order to protect the Portugese police's reputation. Even if you think that every Portugese policeman involved in the investigation would agree to such a conspiracy there have been English police officers involved in the collection of evidence in a case involving the disappearance of a British National. Do you honestly think that they would conspire to act in such a way just to protect the Portugese reputation.

I seriously doubt that the McCann's murdered their own child, the same way that I seriously doubt that there is any police conspiracy against the McCanns. In cases such as this multiple interviews are commonplace, the police are just ensuring they don't miss anything.
 
About 15 years ago a young boy from Sheffield was abducted from a beach in Greece. It was of course headline news at the time but after a while it just slipped off the news radar. Still missing. Still an anxious mother in Sheffield.

Its easy (for everyone including me) to snipe at the fact that the McCanns are middle class, professional people. They are articulate. But the pain in losing a child to abduction must be just as painful for articulate middle class people as for a couple from an ordinary background. The problem in part is that the family RIGHTLY wanted as much publicity for their missing daughter that they could get..but the downside is that when you turn the spotlight on yourself (as they needed to do) you cant always control it.
Bringing in former journalists (BBCs Clarence Mitchell for example) as an advisor, releasing info to the press pack and seeming to stonewall on other questions tended to heighten the "suspicions" of journalists.It tended to create a barrier between the press and the story and the press didnt like it.

Nor did it help that the Portuguese police have a different culture of Silence when investigating cases. Put the British spotlight on a small town police force (in Portugal) and it come accross like Portugal is the Third World. It isnt.
I actually quite like way the Portuguese system is "silent". Thats not to say that the investigation has been good or bad.

At one time the BBC had seven ...SEVEN reporters in Portugal. Put that many BBC, ITN, Sky and print journalists on one small street in Portugal and they feed off scraps of info. The viewers and readers wanted a happy ending and as yet none has been provided. Starting off with the resources they used the Media need CLOSURE. They still need in their view...a story.

Fact is we are all in a range from very cynical to slightly cynical and I expect our emotions change almost daily. We watch the latest report, scrutinise faces and say to our wives or whatever....well we discuss it dont we. And rush to judgement one way or another.
Every murder we have ever seen on TV News we watch the Press Conference. We scrutinise the words and body language of "the grieving boyfriend", "the stepfather" etc. And we jump to conclusions and sometimes we are right...sometimes wrong.
And lets be honest.....even the Police look closely at videos of press conferences.
Point is ......we just dont know.
Some hard things are being said about the McCanns because they are articulate and middle class. Thats cruel. But the other side of that is that they have generated more publicity for their daughter than an inarticulate working class couple could have hoped for.
Lets hope Maddy is found safe and well and lets hope that young boy (now a young man) from Sheffield is found alive and well.
Happy closure for all.
 
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