Madeleine McCann has been missing for 54 days.
Madeleine McCannMadeleine McCann has been missing for 54 days.
Dr Crippen remains appalled at the unsympathetic tone of some of the comments and emails that he has received. A few are downright spiteful.
There is continuing criticism of Gerry and Kate McCann for leaving Madeleine and the other children unsupervised in their holiday apartment. I do not know the full facts and I suspect that none of the commentators do either. I do know, as a father of four children, that over the years we have made the odd error of judgment in terms of child care. Fortunately, there have been no tragedies in our family. I do not know if Gerry and Kate McCann made an error of judgment. I do know that Madeleine McCann is a much loved daughter and, if Gerry and Kate McCann did make an error, they will have been living with that every day for 54 days.
There is an unpleasant stream of logic underlying these comments. Gerry and Kate McCann made an error. It is their fault. So we need not bother to hunt for Madeleine.
Gerry and Kate McCann are both highly intelligent people. They are acting exactly as I would. They are doing everything they possible can to keep Madeleine in the news for they know that that is the best strategy they have to find her. To maintain an international media campaign you need financial support. Such a campaign is beyond the means of a hospital doctor and his wife (who is not, incidentally, in full time employment – Kate McCann works as a locum. If she does not work, she does not get paid.)
Madeleine McCannHow can any decent person criticise two parents for fighting as hard as they can against all the odds to find their daughter?
The McCanns are wealthy people, they have no right to beg for money from those less well off than themselves. Nobody else could afford to give up their jobs for as long as they have. What about Gerry's patients? Presumably they are well down in the pecking order of concern. I reckon the majority of Middle England is now heartily fed up with the ongoing publicity, none of which has resulted in anything significant. (source)What appalling remarks. Beneath contempt.
The search for Madeleine McCann has been going on for 54 days. Kate McCann is not regularly employed and so is not taking time off work. Gerry McCann is. He may have holiday outstanding. His hospital may have given him paid compassionate leave. I hope they have. If not, he may be taking unpaid leave.
What about Gerry's patients? Presumably they are well down in the pecking order of concern.How can anyone say that? Women take six months off work for maternity leave. Are you really going to begrudge someone 54 days off work when their daughter has been kidnapped?
Next there are the commentators who say that many children go missing, but only Madeleine McCann gets this amount of attention. That is true. But it does not mean that Madeleine gets too much attention. It means the others get too little. It does not mean that Gerry and Kate McCann are doing something wrong by continuing to publicise Madeleine’s kidnapping.
I wish there were a way of finding all missing children. There is not. But just because we cannot do everything does not mean that we should do nothing.
Why should Dr Crippen and NHS BLOG DOCTOR single out Madeleine McCann for so much attention? Personal choice, certainly, and a personal choice I am perfectly entitled to make. We all have our favourite charities, and Find Madeleine McCann is one of mine. And yes, of course I am influenced by the similarities between the Crippens and the McCanns. Two doctors, one a consultant and one a GP, and both with a large family.
All parents are affected when a small child is abducted. We have been particularly affected by Madeleine McCann.
The most recent comment on Madeleine McCann came in today, and precipitated this article.
I wonder when the time will come that Dr.C has to rescind on his pledge to keep photo+bumpf on the front page? Of course, I sincerely hope she is found and that she doesn't need to stay in the public eye.The answer, Miss Bliss, is not for a very long time. Not, I hope, until Madeleine McCann is found and safely back with her parents.
missbliss
Those who are sympathetic to Gerry and Kate McCann, and I am sure that is the overwhelming majority of people in the country, can keep themselves updated by visiting the Madeleine McCann website:
How you can help?Madeleine McCann must be found. It is not time to give up.
If you have any information you can call:
• Portuguese Police direct on 00351 282 405 400
• Or British Police on 0800 096 1233
You can give also give information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
If you were in Praia da Luz or the surrounding area in the two weeks leading up to Madeleine's disappearance on Thursday May 3, the police may be interested in any photographs you took while there.
In particular they would like any pictures that have people in them who you don't know as opposed to scenery shots or pictures of just your own family. You can submit them to the police via the internet here.
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Previous posts
Madeleine McCann - the website
Cast not the first stone
Madeleine McCann - the search goes on
Madeleine McCann - photo montage
Labels: Madeleine McCann
61 Comments:
My opinion about Gerry and Kate McCann
I don’t believe, as a journalist, that the McCanns are, in any way, related with the abduction of Madeleine. I’ve been following this case, not only in the Web – I was also at Praia da Luz, for one week (May 17 to May 23). For the last two months, I also have followed the news on the Net very carefully and closely.
So, based on all the information I collected, either during my stay in Praia da Luz or in the Net, as a journalist, I CAN’T SEE THE SLIGHTEST EVIDENCE THAT GERRY AND KATE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH HER DAUGTHER DISAPEARENCE. And I AM ABSOLUTELY SURE, WITH THE INFORMATION I HAVE, NOW, THAT THERE IS NOTHING THE MCCAN CAN BE ACCUSED OF, FROM A LEGAL OR CRIMINAL POINT OF VIEW. I may be wrong, but I STRONGLY BELIEVE THE CHANCE OF BEING WRONG IS VERY SMALL: 0,1 per cent, as I'm 99, 9 per cent sure of what I say.
As a human being, a common man, father of two boys (one, 22 years old, the other 11) let me tell you this: I was at an arm’s distance from the McCanns, when they gave a Press Conference at Praia da Luz (1). I looked into the eyes of Kate McCann and I saw so much pain and suffering that I had to take a deep breath to control myself, to avoid tears coming to my eyes and not let emotion overcome me! I was schocked to see so much pain in her eyes and in her look! That's someting that only people that has kids can understand and feel!
(1) http://gazetadigitalarquivo.blogspot.com/2007/05/copyright-warning-pictures-posted-here.html
Paulo Reis
pjcv.reis@gmail.com
Gazeta Digital
http://gazetadigital.blogspot.com
Come on, it's been two months. She's dead and it's time to let go.
How many children of that age who have vanished have turned up alive?
the comments on begging are not unreasonable. Many children die all over the world for the want of far less money than this girl, cursed with not being born in Britain with white skin and blonde hair.
The money would be better sent to a missing person's charity, where it might benefit far more than one child, whom despite exhaustive searches and publicity costing millions of euros (or more?) has not been found
I think it is perfectly normal for the McCanns to use the media as much as they can - if your child goes missing you will exploit every option available to you and you will not give up until the child is found, even if that means in vein for the rest of your life.
In the same way, the media are using the McCanns as it is a heart breaking story that will sell. It does not mean to say they aren't touched by it, but this is a two way relationship where both sides are getting something out of the deal.
As for the rest of us, how can you ignore or walk away from the story on the basis that there are other children missing and you ignore them so why bother about the McCanns? The point is, we are involved in the story now. If you are fed up with it, then fine but there is no need to write spiteful things about the family.
"What about Gerry's patients? Presumably they are well down in the pecking order of concern." Well I should think they are - if I had a kid go missing, my job and everyone else would be the least of my concerns.
"Nobody else could afford to give up their jobs for as long as they have." - well they can, it seems. You can hardly blame them! Though I very much doubt they are going to come out of all this financially sound. And right now I doubt they care very much at all.
Just being picky, but 'Find Madeleine McCann' is not a charity. The Charity Commission refused permission for it to be registered as a charity, as charities have to be for the greater good of a section of the public - and this isn't. They had to register as limited company, and so have no obligation to provide detailed accounts. It is this reason that stops me donating to the fund.
Thanks john i think much of what you said had to be said. As a parent, there by the grace of god etc, I too have looked at Kate McCann during their press conferences and I have found myself shivering, her pain is so palpable. As for them being able to stay in Portugal, well if they have been able to do that, who are we to criticise? I personally wouldn't begrudge Gerry McCann if he were staying with his wife and children rather than performing my operation. No one, but no one is indispensable. Maybe performing surgery is not something he wishes to do right now!
At the risk of being the next victim of Dr Crippen's ire, I have this to say:
I think the McCanns were mildly irresponsible. That certainly doesn't make what happened to them their fault. If it weren't for some sleeze-bag (or sleezebagess) they would have returned to their room with Madeleine safe and sound. Let's put the blame where it belongs... on the shoulders of the child stealing scum that took her.
That said, I understand that for the McCanns doing everything they can to get their daughter back is really the only option. I'd do the same in their shoes.
What I find disgusting are the publicity leeches that donate millions to the McCann fund. Where were they when the hundreds of kids a year that go missing needed help?
The reward on offer now for a single child could run a charity that finds children full time for years, possibly saving hundreds of kids.
The only reason Madelein has so much more publicity and so much more effort put into finding her is because her parents are rich enough and influential enough to make a big enough fuss to be heard.
Think of the poor, destitute mother who has had her daughter snatched from her pram in the supermarket and must now watch all these millions of pounds rushing to find someone else's daughter while she helplessly clings to the hope scant offered by an overworked police force and an underfunded charity.
Any parent in that situation will do anything they can. You don't refuse expensive cancer drugs for your children because so many other children can't get them. And there is no point in criticising people who donated money either - it's their money and maybe this case that touched them will make them think of others. And when one of my children was seriously ill my husband and I took compassionate leave and then unpaid leave, it was the only option and it was for months. Not easy financially but we were lucky we could do it. In this situation anyone who could, would. I can't imagine they would find it easy to concentrate on work anyway. People are amazing, they way they can criticise and pontificate about outher people's agony.
There is one fact which, I think, is pretty hard to get away from: The money being given to the McCann family now could, by almost any measure, be better spent elsewhere.
Now, I completely respect the right of people to donate money to whomever they choose, but other charities could find more children, save more lives, and generally spend the money more wisely and provide a greater return on investment.
A visit to the Pope? Come on, that is not a good use of anyone's money or anyone's private jet.
I feel sorry for the McCanns but now is the time for them to focus on printing posters, raising awareness, not brushing shoulders with celebrities. And, if you have money to give to charity, I struggle to see a compelling reason to give it to a charity who may very well make no good come of it. Sad, but true.
If, as I understand it, the McCanns are Catholic, I don't blame them for seeing the Pope. If I was a Catholic believer and was in a similar horrendous situation to theirs, I might take up an offer of seeing the Pope in the hope that he might intercede directly to the Big Man. I'm sure I would grasp at such straws in my desperation.
They have my greatest sympathy; I can't comprehend the pain they must be in. This does not mean that I would have no sympathy with any other family in a similar position. Sympathy is rarely mutually exclusive.
I am shocked and appalled by some of the comments left here regarding the McCanns. I hope and pray that Madeleine is found very soon but in the meantime I am very much in support of people like Dr Crippen and news agencies who keep Madeleine's plight in the public eye. Thanks Dr C.
There is an unpleasant stream of logic underlying these comments. Gerry and Kate McCann made an error. It is their fault. So we need not bother to hunt for Madeleine.
I don't see that. I don't think that pointing out what was certainly a lapse of judgment (I can tell you that my parents would never have left me asleep without an adult in a hotel or a holiday home for an evening, not for fear of abduction but just for fear that I might have an accident or hurt myself) is the same as saying that no one should look for Madeleine, and I am quite unhappy about the opposite view, which is that you are an unfeeling monster if you point out that they did make a mistake. But that doesn't mean that Madeleine shouldn't still be looked for.
I think there is a strong feeling that there is an element of unfairness in the way that everyone has rallied to find Madeleine but other children remain lost without any publicity. The argument that the Maddy campaign will have a knock-on effect on the search for those children would hold more water if, for example, the backers of the Find Maddy campaign had decided to expand their remit to publicise the plight of lost children generally (which would probably also have entitled them to charity status).
None of this means that people shouldn't continue to search for Madeleine, but it does mean that (a) people should be entitled to point out that perhaps leaving a 3 year old alone in a room in a strange country isn't a good idea, and (b) it's a shame that not all missing children and their parents are having the same amount of money, time and publicity thrown at them.
Anyone who thinks that Gerry McCann's patients are more important than his daughter needs his or her head examined.
Would people still feel the same sympathy for the McCanns if it turns out that their unsupervised daughter wandered out of the apartment and was hit by a car or if she fell in a ditch and drowned?
I can't believe some of the comments here - ignore them Dr C and keep on highlighting this case. All missing children deserve this attention and by highlighting one perhaps people will be moved to do more about the others. And I see good old "anonymous" is responsible for most of the really vicious comments.
What is your point? Madeleine didn't walk out and get hit by a car. If she did, I doubt we'd have heard about it. Are you saying if she did get hit by a car then we could all wipe our hands of this and not have to care anymore, despite the child losing its life? Why is this case judged on the merits of whether the parents are to blame or not? A child has been abducted. Shouldn't there be some sympathy for the child, at least? Whether you agree with the McCann's parenting technique or not is irrelevant. How can you pass off all sympathy based on whether you agree with how the parents look after their child? The child is still missing and deserves to be respected regardless of what you think of the parents.
A worrying number of comments seem to be looking for an excuse for this story to go away. I am sure most people who come up with these arguments do nothing for other lost children either. If you don't care, that is fine but criticising the parents and those who do care is slightly twisted.
Why do people keep saying she was abducted?
All we know is:
1) Three toddlers were left unattended in an unlocked room
2) One of them is now missing
I'm sorry, but there is still no evidence of abduction.
How on earth do you know she didn't get hit by a car, the driver panicked and drove away, and the body is left lying half-buried in a ditch somewhere?
Seems just as plausible to me as a mystery abductor who happened to only take one of the three children available.
And yes, it does make a significant difference - they are getting sympathy because their child was abducted. A child lost purely due to their carelessness would start provoking talk of punishing the parents.
In any event and whatever happened to her, the child has my sympathy, the parents do not.
As a mother of four my heart goes out to Maddie's parents and all parents who have a missng child I cannot imagine the pain. Only a parent who has never left a child for a moment and that includes leaving them in bed when you are in the garden, or falling as;eep on the sofa when they are upstairs, could criticise them at this terrible time. I don't believe any honest parent could swear that they have never done anything potentially dangerous and if you have been such a paragonthen at least show compassion for the rest of us imperfect mortals. Whatever their transgression the Mc Canns did not deserve this punishment.
As for Gerry's patients they should be no where in his thoughts your children must come first and I defy the person who made that comment to say that in all honesty they would go back to work while their child was missing. As for money without your child it is meaningless and I expect they are living on credit.
Would you tell the parent of a stabbed teenager to stop grieving because thousands of children die eveyday-only if youhad no heart or soul.
I cannot believe some of the comments being left here. Firstly, there is no doubt that Madeline was abducted; there was a locked window which had been forced. Secondly, it's high time that the media was challenged over the way that it handles stories like these. Too often, missing children make lurid headlines for a couple of days and then the media move on to the next story. The McCanns have challenged them to use their considerable influence to keep this going, and have also challenged the lassiez faire attitude that has been taken towards child disappearances. Just because we get sick looking at a face in the newpaper, is no reason to forget. Reminders cost us nothing.
We had a child who disappeared here in Coatbridge years ago, called Moira Anderson and it was like the town wanted to forget her. It was put down to stranger abduction. It turns out it was a lot nearer to home than that; there was a paedophile ring and it is suspected that they abducted and killed her. There is a place called the Tarry Burn where it is thought that her body was dumped, but the police won't drag it, because they say it would take too long; about a month. Moria Anderson has been missing for 40 years and her family have never been able to put her to rest. That's what parents like the McCanns are up against. Keep going and keep pricking peoples' consciences, that's what I say.
Julie - the door was left open, the shutters and window were not forced! Police and hotel management have confirmed this.
It astounds me that people believe whatever they read in the tabloid press. The original claim of a break-in, made by McCann's relative who was in SCOTLAND at the time has been refuted, and was done weeks ago.
I repeat:
There is no evidence of abduction. Portugese police are classing the case as a 'missing child', not an abduction
One of the earlier posters said that they're probably living on credit. In fact, they are probably living off the donations, as explicitly specified in their company's aims on their website:
"Donations of £823,010.23 have been received to the fund to date."
Funds will be paid to Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited: Company Registration Number - 6248215
3. The objects of the Foundation are:
3.1.1 To secure the safe return to her family of Madeleine McCann who was abducted in Praia da Luz, Portugal on Thursday 3rd May 2007;
3.1.2 To procure that Madeleine’s abduction is thoroughly investigated and that her abductors, as well as those who played or play any part in assisting them, are identified and brought to justice; and
3.1.3 To provide support, including financial assistance, to Madeleine’s family.
3.2 If the above objects are fulfilled then the objects of the Foundation shall be to pursue such purposes in similar cases arising in the United Kingdom, Portugal or elsewhere.
I would not dream of criticising the McCanns, for going out to dinner or for taking advantage of the media or for going to see the Pope or anything else. They've lost their kiddie, how much more grief could anyone deserve?
But you have to admit that the media response has been disproportionate. A visitor from Mars would be forgiven for thinking that Madeleine was the only UK child to have gone missing in the last five years.
I hope she is found safe and well, or at the very least, that her body is recovered and her family can move on. But I hope it for the McCanns no more or less than I hope it for the hundreds of other families in similar situations, and as such, I would sooner support a generic Missing Children's charity than the specific Madeleine one.
"We all have our favourite charities, and Find Madeleine McCann is one of mine."
This is my problem with it... I have no doubt that the McCann's are suffering terribly and as individuals I feel for them. However, I can't find any justification for favouring a cause that spends £823,000 (at present count) to find one missing person when that money could easily help thousands of people.
It seems to be the emotional equivalent of an environmental footprint, with the priveleged consuming vastly more resources than the deprived.
Poor kid. And her poor parents. Whatever mistakes they made, they did not deserve this.
I do feel for the parents of other lost children who cannot muster the resources and airtime to ensure their children are also kept in the public eye.
Interesting comments here
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?June2007&1
many thousands of people think that it was disgraceful to leave children unattended in a room night-after-night deliberately while on holiday
it is also deeply, deeply wrong that a consultant and a GP, who would together earn over £200,000/year, should take a penny for their own living expenses. They no doubt own property and have substantial personal assets, and it is absolutely wrong for them to take this money when clearly given their wealth they can afford to at least cover their living expenses.
If my child had been lost I would not beg for people to pay my expenses, as I also earn over £100,000, and think it wrong for others to pay for me when I can afford to pay for myself and the money could be used for GENUINE charity, such as saving the lives of people in the third world. The irony of the fact that the 'charity' takes money to pay the living costs of a wealthy DOCTORS, whose purpose after all is to save lives, when that money could actually save lives of thousands of people less fortunate than them.
I see no reason why these doctors should have their living costs paid while in countries such as Burma infant mortality rates are high due to LACK of money to pay for doctors and the parents in those countries will NOT get any money off the British public when their children die through lack of medical care.
Then again - perhaps they've not taken any money from the fund. Certainly the terms of the fund explicitly permit them to do so.
They could go a long way towards alleviating this kind of complaint if they were open about the disposition of the monies so far.
Off topic, I know, but...
According to the BBC, Hewitt's resigned!
I just hope we're not out of the frying pan...
The resentment and nastiness of many of the comments are very striking. I admit that I'm surprised that so many natural Labour supporters visit your blog, Dr C.
Blair and Hewitt Gone!!!! Should be an interesting reshuffle of the cabinet!!
can anyone just IMAGINE if a working class family with a working class accent on holiday in Benidorm had abandoned their children in their room every night of their holiday to go drinking in the hotel's pub, out of sight of them boozing it up.
Because that is exactly the analagous situation.
And no, they would not be getting sympathy
also doesn't anyone find the website odd. It is registered using secret proxy registration, and is excluded from google cache and archive.org. There is no archive of the 'blog'. And misspellings of the child's name to boot.
So why are they not coming home? Well rumour has it that they would be proscecuted. Mr McCann came back to England on a very quick visit. In and out. You medics stick together. No doubt.
Off topic, I know, but...
According to the BBC, Hewitt's resigned!
I just hope we're not out of the frying pan...
-------------------------------
She hasn't resigned, just Brown isn't keeping her as SoS for Health.
And on the charity thing, the fund isn't a registered charity, the McCanns can spend the money on whatever they want and they have no obligation to tell the nice people that donated it what they spent it on. Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole!
it is also NOT made clear on their website that they are not a charitable clause. Clearly this has duped many people as Dr Crippen describes them as one of his favourite charities, when they are nothing of the kind.
They need it in big letters
"WE ARE NOT A REGISTERED CHARITY"
Secondly, the objects of their charity are unenforceable - they are not a registered charity, so they can do what they like with the money. It is accordingly misleading to list these objects (which are after the manner of a real charity) when they have no force.
THe accounts will not be published unti 2009: I am not sure how detailed they have to be. Am not seeing any commitment to transparency and honesty from the McCanns on the VAST sums of money they have received.
Crikey, there is some bile swilling about on here.
I'm with Anon Tues 10:28:00. I find it hard to believe ANY parent with a touch of insight could look at the McCanns and NOT say "there, but for..."
As to the volume of coverage they have received, and its tone, no doubt it would have been very different if they were a working class family of six on benefits, the kid was a spud-faced lad and the parents had gone for seven pints. Your point being? The contrast tells us a lot about the UK's class system, and the media's story picking and faux moralising, but nothing much about the McCanns.
It is ludicruous to find fault with the McCanns for doing everything they think might help get their daughter back. When all is resolved, one way or another, will be the time for making sniffy remarks about what they did with the cash in the fund. Doing it now makes me wonder what goes on in some people's heads.
I am a middle-class parent and I go on holiday regularly, but I would not dream for a minute of leaving my children in the hotel unattended because I was too cheap to pay a baby sitter.
The point about the beer-swilling family in Benidorm is not that they would not get sympathy, but that they would be arrested for their behaviour.
Does any parent with a touch of insight REALLY abandon their children in the room of a hotel in a foreign country while they go several hundred yards away out of sight? And EVERY NIGHT?
Seriously?
Again, if they were a working class family there would no doubt be tabloid newspapers snooping around their home and making up stories about them regularly leaving the kids at home while they went down their local boozer.
Although in the present case the evidence does rather suggest that they were habituated to leaving their children in this manner.
Are we expected to believe that they are a cause or, as Dr. Crippen would have it, 'charity', more deserving than say Oxfam?
Relieved parent - 'some bile'? Virtually all the bile seemed to come from 'anonymous' who may be one and the same anonymous. So possibly a troll and therefore not worth responding to.
Or possibly just people like me who can't be bothered to register on Google or Blogger to post here! :)
anon (also the anon of postings at 3:39, 8:16, and 9:42)
Yes, damn that 'anonymous', what a silly name to have, and why is he making so many posts. I wonder if he is related to 'Bill Posters'.
If you are reading via Google there is no need to register with either Google or Blogger. All one does is to choose 'other' at the 'choose an identity' part of the comment form and then fill in you name or pseudonym in the 'name' box and enter the word verification in the appropriate box. There is, of course, no need to enter a webpage unless you wish to.
Bill Posters?
The name's Stickers, Bill Stickers.
I suppose personally I wouldn't leave the kids like they did. But
that is beside the point. I thought Dr C's post on this was spot on because ALL parents have had their dozy moments. All. No exceptions. That is one reason why I wouldn't be slagging the McCanns them off. Another bigger one is that they have lost their daughter.
Re "deserving-ness", charitable donations don't work like that. With other one-off appeals, there is no evidence (as I understand it) that giving to the McCanns, or Live Aid, or the RSPCA, on the spur of the moment following a TV Appeal means there will be less regular donations to Oxfam. Regular "stealth taxes" like the National Lottery is something else.
Anyway, not sending money to the McCanns is one thing - calling them "financially dodgy" is quite another. Like I said, a time and a place.
And as for work, who would want to have their new heart valve put in by a cardiac surgeon whose mind was understandably on his missing child? I presume they will go back to work when they can face it and are ready. They may be fortunate to be able to afford to take extended time off, but again there is no "moral" aspect to that.
'It astounds me that people believe whatever they read in the tabloid press.' Anon
Could you perhaps enlighten us then, anonymous, as to where you're getting your information about the McCanns from? Do you know them personally or are you, like the rest of us, getting your information from the press?
'the door was left open, the window and shutters were not forced!' Police and hotel management have confirmed this.'
I have searched the internet for two hours to try and confirm what you say and I have found nothing. What paper did you read it in? What I read in the Herald (a Scottish broadsheet, not a tabloid), was that the police intitially denied that there had been a break-in and then some days later, lifted a fingerprint from the window.
I think the example of Belgium experience with not taking child abduction seriously, should be a lesson to us all. This is not just about Madeleine McCann- it is about all children that a paedophile ring might abduct because the police or media get bored with the story. I mentioned the case of Moira Anderson in Coatbridge. One of the men thought to be involved, was jailed for attacks on five other girls. If he had been caught at the start, they wouldn't have been attacked.It may be that other children who have gone missing in Portugal, have been victims of the same ring. Madeleine McCann today, someone else's child tomorrow.
I am not sure what you were doing during your 2 hours on the internet, because I searched for 15 seconds, and found this:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_headline=madeleine--the-evidence&method=full&objectid=19131210&siteid=89520-name_page.html
It says "abductor entered McCann apartment by unlicked [sic] patio doors, left open to allow access for parent's checks on the children."
And 5 seconds later this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=454466&in_page_id=1770
"Mr Kirby, who led the investigation into the abduction and murder of Liverpool-born toddler Jamie Bulger, revealed that it was the unlocked patio doors of the apartment that allowed Madeleine to be taken away swiftly and quietly. "
You do not need to be Hercule Poirot to figure that one out.
"Gerry and Kate McCann would have used the patio doors as they checked on their daughter and her twin siblings during their meal near the Mark Warner holiday complex swimming pool and it is these doors that were left unsecured.
The McCanns and all their friends on the holiday left their patio doors ***OPEN*** throughout the evenings for fear of fire. "
I am not quite sure I understand their logic, I can't see tiny sleeping unaccompanied children escaping from a fire, doors unlocked or not.
Also:
"Mr Kirby told The Mail on Sunday: "I had a very interesting chat with the officer in charge. The window shutters are not an issue.
"Their mechanism makes them almost impossible to open. The door was left unlocked. They did that every night. "
It is a criminal offence to neglect or abandon children under the age of 15. Given the door being open and unlocked the chance of the child walking out seems high, so it is hard to see how their behaviour does not amount to neglect.
They were 150 yards away, out of earshot, out of sight, and apparently having left the children at 8, left them there till 9pm and checking again at 10pm. That is an excessive amount of time to leave children in an unlocked room.
There does not actually appear to be any real evidence of abduction - just child neglect.
The family originally said
She said: "They had put the kids to bed at 7pm and checked on them every half-hour as they had dinner nearby with the rest of the party. Gerry said the window was open, the shutters broken and the door, which had been locked, was hanging open."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/06/nmaddy06.xml
Yet subsequently they said the doors were definitely left open, every night, and the shutters were untouched.
So why did they say that things had been broken and forced when they hadn't?
I pray that Madeleine will be back were she belongs with her mum and dad. The media attention this has rec'd is like a Hollywood movie. I think that a private investigator from the start would do more than a Bryan Adams song. I do not want to pass judgement but that is reality at this point since it has become so public. I dont think there should be any charges
against the Mccanns .Why would any one leave their children ALONE? and get such positive publicity who do they know???? Please do not compare maternity leave to a commpassionate leave with this case. The reason he needs the leave is VERY different. I am basing my opinion on things i read maybe when facts come out we will have a better view. I dont want to rip the parents apart that is the last thing they need. They will have to suffer forever with this. Hopefully they will NEVER do this again. Lesson learned dont let your guard down!!!
Cath, thanks very much for the 'other' hint - have to admit that I never really noticed that option before!
Re: calling the McCann's "financially dodgy" - I don't think anyone actually has, have they? I think the complaints are more about people being unaware of exactly what they're giving money to, about it being pushed as a charity when it does not have charitable status, and about inappropriate objectives of the fund.
Re: "dozy moments". Everyone does have dozy moments, it's true. However, unless you're claiming this is the only time they ever left their children alone in a unsecure location (and at least one of the quotes above claims it's something they did every night), I don't see how you can write it off in this fashion.
Re: "Why did they say things had been broken and forced when they hadn't?". I would not be surprised if this detail was just made up out of whole cloth by the press.
"Re: "Why did they say things had been broken and forced when they hadn't?". I would not be surprised if this detail was just made up out of whole cloth by the press.
Actually no, Gerry McCann's sister is on VISUAL record saying it. He told her, she told the press.
There are too many lies and inconsistencies in this case.
Oh and Julie, yet again your gullibility and lack of common sense is showing. "A fingerprint was found on the window" NO SHIT SHERLOCK! It's a holiday complex, with hundreds of people coming and going. There are guests, staff, etc. They don't forensically sterilise every surface once a week! A fingerprint, tchah. Next you'll be telling me there was DNA.... ;)
(thanks to oter anon for pointing Miss "Too daft to Google" in the right direction.
My fellow anoner, do you have any direct reference for the McCann's sister saying that?
Not calling you a liar, it's just a bizarre thing for them to invent so I'd like to see the details myself.
Of course, it could be that the window (say) was damaged before they moved into the apartment and they just didn't notice and then that was interpreted as it being forced, but you're right that it's a rather odd detail to get completely wrong.
According to the BBC, a fairly reliable source that is unlikely to have made it up entirely:
"They last checked at half past nine and they were all sound asleep, sleeping, windows shut, shutters shut.
"Kate went back at 10 o'clock to check. The front door was lying open, the window had been tampered with, the shutters had been jemmied open or whatever you call it and Madeleine was missing... "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/6623127.stm
However:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/abduction-fear-huge-hunt-fails-to-find-girl/2007/05/05/1177788475424.html
Says
""He went back at nine o'clock to check the children. They were all sound asleep, windows shut, shutters shut," the aunt said."
Not 9:30. 9:00.
I am not sure why the reports differ so much.
And:
"Jon Corner, a close friend of Mrs McCann and godparent of the twins, said she telephoned him in the middle of the night distraught.
He said: "She just blurted out that Madeleine had been abducted. She told me, 'They have broken the shutter on the window and taken my little girl.'
"They had left the apartment locked while they were having their meal, but when they went back the last time they saw the damage."
I do not know why they told multiple family friends that the had left the room locked, and that the window had been forced when neither was true.
9:00 is also the time given here http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23395014-details/Parents%20cling%20to%20hope%20for%20snatched%20Maddy/article.do
Cheers Anon.
No longer anon - there was also video footage of McCann's sister on news.bbc.co.uk saying the same thing.
This is why this case has me flummoxed. Kate's cries of "Oh my God they've taken her" and the lies about the unlocked room and alleged damage make me suspicious.
If my kid was missing I'd say just that, "She's gone" or "I can't find her", not something so definite as "They've taken her"
Why the lies about checking the kids, leaving the room open? I think they're trying to divert attention away from themselves.
Ah, the Mirror and the Daily Mail. And there's me avoiding their websites just in case I was thought to be a gullible tabloid reader. And of course, all criminals wipe the surfaces in an apartment that they break into, before they put their hands on them, so that forensics can get a really good print.
Anyway, mud-slinging apart, maybe here's the explanation for all the differing accounts from the BBC; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6660621.stm
Apparently, the Portuguese police do not bother to correct inaccurate stories in the media. They only intervene when something true is reported, because it could prejudice the court case. And just in case you think this shouldn't be taken seriously as an abduction, I can tell you that the British police are taking it as an abduction. A friend of mine knows someone who has been posted out there and she says that if he's on the case, it's an abduction.
Finally, have a look at this post. This is about Portuguese kids that have gone missing; if you think that too much fuss has been made about Madeleine, then read this.
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1765
I'm afraid that the fact that the British police are treating it as an abduction doesn't make it so. What evidence (or publicised evidence, at least) points to anyone else being involved?
The article you reference was published on May 9th (about a week before Murat's arrest). The "kidnap to order" theory sounded weak then and sounds weak now. What evidence is there for it bar wishful thinking?
Sorry, last post was mine but I forgot to click the 'other' button.
Dear Dr. Crippen,
I know that you said some of the comments toward the Mccanns were unkind, and I wonder if there is a cultural difference.
Here in the U.S., I have a friend who is a lawyer who works in foster care, and she told me that what the Mccanns did (whether or not Madeleine disappeared) is a criminal offense as it is considered neglect. In fact, her office is prosecuting a similar case.
I don't know British law, but you should know that here in the states, the Mccanns committed a criminal act, and many of us Americans would believe, although we do want Madeleine found safe and sound, that the parents must be answerable.
@Superthrifty:
Yes this kind of thing is normally considered neglect in the UK too.
In fact, I have yet to meet one person (face to face) who would argue otherwise. There seems to be plenty of people showing sympathy and support for the McGrubs and quite rightly so as they have lost/mislaid a child but there's an equal amount of disgust for their actions too....both before and after Maddie went missing.
They have turned losing a daughter into a business with more PR stunts than an average Max Clifford headline story!
@Julie:
I hope you are not as stupid in your professional life as you appear to be on this blog.
First you condemn someones posts based on the fact they got their information from a tabloid, you then use the BBC (which in many people's opinion is as low brow as tabloid type journalism can get) to back up your claims and then top top it off, you say that the Portuguese police only intervene when the truth is published...so can we all rest assured knowing that the info you base you thoughts on is as inaccurate as everyone else's????
test
I am not even going to comment on the fact that they left three young children alone, out of sight and earshot, a considerable distance away from them in an unlocked apartment, off the secured portion of the resort, in a foreign country.
I am going to say that there is much more troubling to this case and with regard to the McCanns than that.
The fact they have not lifted a finger to physically search for her themselves is one.
The fact that they have stated in at least one interview that they would not hire private investigators (and this was relatively early on when the trail might still have been 'hot', so to speak) is another.
The ever growing staff at their disposal and in their camp. An uncle quitting his job to act as director on the fund. Family flying in and out of Portugal and the uncle stating today that some pretty big bills for travel and accommodations are coming due for payment. The McCanns, until recently did not have to pay for their accommodations. Whose accomodations? The ever growing number of people involved in the 'campaign'?
Wouldn't the fund monies be better spent on activities and actions which are far more likely to find Madeleiene such as actually looking for her instead of putting out a new poster?
I just don't get it.
Dr.C,
You tell us that "Find Madeleine" is one of your favourite charities. But it isn't a charity- if by that word you mean an organisation registered with the Charity Commissioners.
You are not the only one to have been "duped". I wonder just how many others buying those tacky wristbands realise they are pouring cash into a private company with no public scrutiny?
t
Please help me to help the McCann Family in its time of crisis by sending them a Family “Blessing from God” certificate from the website http://.www.godsblessingsforyou.com
The McCanns will gain great strength and comfort when they receive one of these tasteful Blessing from God complete with your personal best wishes.
God bless you
Reverend Thomas
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