Madeleine McCann #6

[Boring Monday]

I have absolutely no idea about the case at all … it’s always been about the way the media reported and the way spin was employed for me. I think the media people sent to report … and some of the officialdom who stepped in to help …. saw the holiday group as somehow an extension of themselves and their friends. Their life experiences tallied to some extent so they were predisposed to go with their accounts.

The number of opinion pieces to say ‘we did the same thing … it’s not the fault of the parents, its the fault of the abductor’ when scratch below the surface and no one had done the same thing at all. It just shows the importance of the first reporting which is still parroted even now. No, it wasn’t a hotel. No, there wasn’t a listening service, No, the doors weren’t locked. No, the windows weren’t jemmied/jimmed. Yes, the area was searched and searched thoroughly, over the course of days. Get that first account out hard and fast and it will stick.

I don’t think anything flummoxed me more than the way Eddie and Keela were treated though. Sent over at the behest of the English arm of the operation, The Sun had a front page article showing Keela in a WWI helmet extolling the virtues of ‘our’ world beating canine support team. A couple of woofs later and they were mere mutts who can’t tell the difference between a dead body and a rasher of bacon and just bark for treats anyway. I defy anyone to tell me that would have been the same if they had some much as wobbled a lip in the direction of any other suspects garden.

 

[griftalo]

In 2007 I was 22 and had my first baby.

Even I knew it was not okay to leave children alone.

This pair are doctors! Not exactly lacking intelligence. The ‘unexplainable’ things make them look awful, IMO. They should have been charged with neglect.

My first born is very very close in age to Madeleine, and I was away with two kids at the time it happened, I took two pushchairs away so they could sleep while out if needed, a lay flat one and a McLaren Volo. Older kid had the volo in the daytime and the lay flat at night, and the younger in a sling to sleep. Leaving them never crossed my mind, and honestly if I met a family who thought that was okay I don’t think I’d have held my tongue. Another holiday I had to put the mattress on the floor so if they rolled out of bed, it was less than six inches to the tiled floor which I put a few towels on to soften the impact. I might be very cautious as a parent but nearly every dickhead in the world knows you don’t just leave your kids miles away in a room with a tiled floor, it’s asking for a tragedy.
However, I’m not even convinced they did leave all the kids, but… they say they did so should have been charged with neglect.
---

Kate has said that she bitterly regrets the decision. I understood that social services did look into the family and found no cause for concern.

I’d say having a child vanish was a huge concern!!

 

[susan1375]

I think the priest knows what happened but can never say.

 

[Miss Perla]

They need the investigation to go back to the beginning. Get everyone back in to do statements, check phone locations. Triple check case files. The Germans have decided they want to take the glory for 'cracking the case's so have decided to pin it on one of their own. He may need locked up for life but I don't think he took Madeleine. I still think there was an accident in that apartment and Madeleine died. The McCanns disposed of her body before they went for evening meal. I'm sure I read they turned up late to the tapas bar. They then went through the whole charade. They had far too much to lose. This is my opinion anyway and pretty much never changed .

 

[Phil Anne Throw Pee]

I know it is a very popular viewpoint but I have never quite understood the reasoning that they were somehow protected just because they were middle-class. Why do people think that? It seems like a very reductive argument.

I don't think many working class parents in that situation who were either unemployed or working minimum wages jobs would have been granted an audience with the pope.

 

[JellyDonut]

I feel really sorry for the twins. Imagine growing up with absolutely everyone knowing what happened to your sister, and knowing that your own parents left you alone at under 2 years old.

When (if) they have their own children it might hit them more, too.

I certainly wouldn’t be asking them to babysit

 

[grumpy-nosy-cow]

Cardiologist, currently working in research, isn't he?

I've heard stories previously that he's got a terrible bedside manner with no empathy or compassion whatsoever.

hes a professor at Leicester University but if you mention/ ask anything about Madeleine in his lessons or lectures he will have you removed from the course!

 

[InTheDollsHouse]

I don’t absolutely believe they were responsible - accidentally or deliberately - but I do believe that they were grossly negligent and they are extremely lucky to have avoided facing the courts on that. They are to blame no matter what happened while those children were alone.

 

[Rita Chevrolet]

As much as the parents actions are suspect it did seem like early in the investigation the police were very focused on them rather than exploring all avenues. I still think there is a good chance she was abducted but that the parents were more neglectful then they made out eg. Didn’t check on the children for many hours and may have given them something to keep them asleep. Once the lies were told they didn’t back out of them. They didn’t want the twins to be removed from their care. They chose to save face and didn’t want to be arrested for neglect. In their minds Maddie was still taken and why would their lies about timelines and her being potentially sedated affect the handling of finding her. I would argue it did. If the police had known the window of the crime taking place was wider they could open up lines of enquiry to earlier in the evening, and knowing she had been sedated means she was more easily taken and could more easily be hidden in plain sight during the abduction. Eg put in a large holder vs being carried. A tourist appearing to be carrying luggage earlier in the evening vs a figure carefully carriering a sleeping / running off with a crying child later in the evening is a very different scene.

Indeed and the FACT is that had they not decided to leave their precious children alone in an unlocked apartment then none of this would have happenned
They might not be implicated in what happenned to their daughter ultimately but they are certainly guilty of being responsible by their negligence and therefore NOT INNOCENT!

 

[Kiwigirl]

The neighbour reporting they heard the children screaming a couple of nights before when they had gone off into the town but still leaving them the night after
Gerry having to return to Leicester to bring something with Madeline's DNA for testing as there was only 1 toothbrush
Setting up a charity within 24 hours
Lying about the window
Lying about the door being locked
washing cuddle cat

I could go on and on but it doesn't answer any questions just throws more and more doubt about what they were up to

They did it 100%!! May have been accidentally - but they knew what the consequences would be for their lives if found out, hence the bizarre behavior following the alleged abduction, and a cover up followed.

I don't know a single parent, that would conduct themselves in that way following that kind of tragedy ( and I know some of you will come at me to say, how do you know how you'll react until it happens to you?? )

Not buying it........

 

[griftalo]

I’ve said this on a previous thread but it still perplexes me so I shall say it again.

One of the dogs detected cadaverine in the apartment.
Kate replied with wtte of “the dogs are wrong.”
How would she know that?

If my child had gone missing and the dogs had found that I think my first instinct would be “God please no!“ I’d be inconsolable thinking that they’d killed my child in the apartment and then removed their body. I’m pretty sure I wouldn't just dismiss it as “the dogs are wrong.”

Yes I know she may have been in denial but to immediately dismiss it as incorrect (when in theory she wouldn’t know either way) seems odd to me.

All of this. None of the parents reactions are normal for anyone not sociopathic.

 

[Princesst]

For some reason I’ve never felt like this creep was actually involved in the Maddie case at all. His disgusting face just fits, he’s done some horrific things and may have been in the area so it makes it believable to some maybe. He’s become like the poster child of a the suspect everyone expects it to be but I don’t think they have anything on him at all. For some reason it’s just all smoke and mirrors and they keep putting out breadcrumbs that come to nothing. I really don’t think they have anything on anyone or any true suspect

 

[50sGirl]

Its just so far fetched. Where did they put her body? Keep in mind they had no car and didn’t know directions anywhere remote. This was before google maps. Did they just leave her decomposing body under the bed until they rented a car weeks later? It would have smelled out the whole apartment complex.

They had keys to the church so they had 24 hour private access.
The priest said he was deceived by them. Make of that what you will.

I’m just sick of another £100k being thrown at the case. Enough already.

I doubt we will ever find out the truth of what happened to poor, innocent Madeleine. Let down by the 2 people who should have looked after her and who should have known better.

 

[Liverbird2003]

I'm shocked that even for a serious crime, priests cannot inform the police. I'd be an awful clergywoman because I'd have to tell the police and get kicked out.

 

[InTheDollsHouse]

Imagine knowing your parents left you alone for hours on end regardless of being checked every half hour because they wanted to enjoy their nights out child free and then the unimaginable happens to your sibling which could have been you

And they chucked you back in kids club the next day so they could play tennis

 

[albertman]

I lived in a small town Spain for a while and visited similar towns in Portugal. If someone was intent on kidnapping children they could spend an afternoon visiting half a dozen town’s and capture half a dozen children,

The notion that someone was watching Maddie in particular and was waiting to pounce I find absurd because if you’re going to kidnap a child it’s quite an awkward and risky way to do it.

 

[Moley1]

So many self righteous people on this thread saying how they would have acted so differently. The truth is no have no idea how you'd react unless you found yourself in the situation of your daughter going missing and presumably murdered.

I have no idea whether the Portuguese police were incompetent or not. I do know that the McCann’s were incompetents parents. Who in their right minds leave young children alone in an apartment? I know exactly what I would do. I would either arrange child care or I wouldn’t leave the children on their own. I expect everyone else on this thread would do likewise. I would also cooperate with the local police 100% and answer all of their questions. Wouldn’t you?
---

I don't think many working class parents in that situation who were either unemployed or working minimum wages jobs would have been granted an audience with the pope.

I think we can be pretty sure that working class parents in the same circumstances would have been pilloried by the media in the UK. It is also highly unlikely that we would still be talking about their child now.

 

[cazellie]

In fairness if you get a lawyer they will always advise you to not answer any questions. She was in a foreign country scared she was about to get falsely charged. I wouldn’t have answered either if a lawyer told me not to.

I would do anything to help find my daughter. They did nothing. They went running together, probably to get their story straight, and as soon as they realised they were suspects they hot-footed it back to England.

 

[Vanelope]

I am acquainted with a former journalist who worked for one of the tabloids at the time and was part of the pack of press that went to Portugal. The consensus apparently among the gutter press at the time was that Maddie died in their apartment and there was a cover up. Cadaver dogs, shifty behaviour, all indicate that the Mccanns were not being truthful.

 

[InTheDollsHouse]

I think the priest knows what happened but can never say.

Me too and I think the priest is probably left absolutely distraught by it. Saying they deceived him makes me wonder if they used the church itself for something when they had the keys - secret meetings and conversations away from other ears maybe.

It’s the washing of cuddle cat that makes me believe they were involved or responsible. Why would any parent ever wash their missing child’s comfort toy? Unless it had traces of medicine on it or Maddy’s hair etc that they couldn’t risk being tested.

I can’t help but wonder what the twins think now they’re old enough to have read it all for themselves and form an opinion. And perhaps piece it together with snippets of memory.
It must be so hard for them.