Madeleine McCann - two arrests in Spain
Previously unreleased McCann family handout of Madeleine McCann taken at 2.29pm on May 3 - the day she went missing from the family's holiday apartment (Kate McCann/PA)The first possible good news although, sadly, there is no suggestion that Madeleine has been found.
Two people have been arrested in Spain on suspicion of kidnapping Madeleine McCann from the bedroom of an Algarve holiday apartment. An Italian man and a Portuguese woman were arrested in a dawn raid in the port town of Algeciras, in south west Spain. The arrest by the elite anti-kidnapping group of the Specialised and Violent Crime Unit of the National Police who were assisted by Portuguese detectives. The arrest took place at 5am this morning and detectives later spent several hours searching a house linked to the arrest. It is the most significant breakthrough in the hunt for Madeleine, four, following her abduction 56 days ago from the resort of Praia da Luz. (The Times)
The port town of Algeciras has a fast ferry service which means that Morocco can be reached in less than an hour. Mr and Mrs McCann, both doctors, had visited the north African country last month to promote the search for their daughter.And now let us consider those appalling comments from a handful of unsympathetic and callous commentators in the light of this:
Kate McCann may quit as GP to fight child traffickingSo much for the callous cynics
THE MOTHER of Madeleine McCann may give up her job as a doctor to campaign against child trafficking and raise awareness about missing children. Kate and Gerry McCann, whose four-year-old daughter vanished in Portugal 45 days ago, are alarmed that child trafficking is not taken seriously enough.
Kate, 38, is now considering leaving her job as a GP to campaign full-time.
A family friend said: “They have come to realise that this is a major issue. If they can act as figureheads then that’s all well and good.
Kate said last week, ‘This is my job now. I can see this becoming my full-time career, with this whole issue of child welfare and opposing paedophiles’.”
Her plans come after meeting child welfare groups and politicians on trips to European capitals.
The McCanns hope to lobby politicians to create an international system that would alert police, media and the public within hours of a child going missing. In Madeleine’s case, border posts were not told until 12 hours after her abduction.
John McCann, Madeleine’s uncle, said: “We are at the stage where we’re feeling comfortable about broadening the issue. Criminal abductions of children are happening fairly regularly across the world. It’s horrible. It’s a political issue that’s low on the agenda but should be higher.” (The Times)
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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:
Labels: Madeleine McCann
46 Comments:
It seems as though the Madeleine story has taken a back seat in the media- unless there's something they can to sensationalise for their own publicity. It's good to see someone who cares keeping us all informed.
I just hope that they can find a lead from these arrests and she is found safe and well.
Some people have been saying that it has gone on for so long, she is dead and that Kate and Gerry are extremely irresponsible; but these things happen all the time and it just so happens that some of these incidents end up in a bad way.
Ok, the parents did wrong for leaving her alone; but haven't we all done something wrong in our lifetime? Have we all not done something we regret? The parents must be feeling the true force of what they have done and I think that's punishment enough; to have to live with the guilt. We should stop criticising Kate and Gerry and pull together to help find Madeleine.
If your child was missing would you not do everything possible, including the use of the media's influence, to help bring them back?
Now is not the time to criticise and we can only hope that good news will come to the ears of a waiting world.
"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." -- Martin Luther King, Jr
Why would she quit to fight child traffickers? As yet there is no evidence of anything other than a child being left in a hotel room for several hours with the door open.
And as far as I can see the most harmful thing there is the suggestion that
"Criminal abductions of children are happening fairly regularly across the world."
I don't believe that for a minute that it is regular at all. Paedophiles can get children from their families/stepfathers etc., abduction is extremely rare.
" It’s a political issue that’s low on the agenda but should be higher."
People already live in fear, children not free to go anywhere, wrapped up in cotton wool, and statements like this will cause more unnecessary fear and in from parents.
If they really wanted to campaign to reduce abduction, the best advice would be:
* do not leave your children alone, especially if you have not locked the doors
* pay for baby sitting facilities from a reputable source to ensure your children's safety, rather than leaving them home alone.
But again, I'm not sure this is an appropriate lesson for them to be giving, as we were told that it was a paedophile ring, then it was some strange English guy who had left his young daughter with his wife after divorce, now it was an arrest in Spain, which just turned out to be people profiting from the case (the only thing that there is proof of), but the reality really is that there is still, despite unprecedented international publicity, no evidence of abduction or paedophiles or anythig.
First doc - The two arrested tonight were being questioned in relation to an attempt to fraudulently claim reward money by offering false 'leads'.
Second - why won't you give up on your attempts to canonise Team McCann?
I can't wait till the truth comes out and you have to admit you were wrong.
grypx said...
First doc - The two arrested tonight were being questioned in relation to an attempt to fraudulently claim reward money by offering false 'leads'.
Second - why won't you give up on your attempts to canonise Team McCann?
I can't wait till the truth comes out and you have to admit you were wrong.
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I wasn't going to comment on this poisonous contribution... but the last paragraph had me reeling.
"I can't wait till the truth comes out and you have to admit you were wrong."
What on earth do you mean by that?
John
dr c.: good question. The comment does have sinister overtones, and it would perhaps be best if grypx does not speculate too much.
BUT from day one, they have been saying the child was abducted because of doors/windows being forced. And then that a certain 'dodgy bloke with porn on his PC' was definitely guilty.
And now the newspapers (and you) report an arrest as 'suspects of kidnapping', when they are nothing of the kind.
In every case the claims made about any abduction have turned out to be baseless and false. And yet we are still insistent it is an 'abduction'.
Certainly some truths have been revealed, but whether or not she was abducted still remains to be revealed, but the precedents to date suggest perhaps not.
And the last comment in your previous thread is I think very interesting:
If you were on holiday in an exclusive resort where you felt comfortable enough to leave your children alone in a (deliberately) unlocked room, if on your return you found one of your children missing from the room, would you:
(a) assume she had woken up, looked for her mummy/daddy, and wandered off out of the unlocked and open doors
or
(b) immediately conclude that she had been abducted, call up friends saying this, and falsely claim that the shutters and doors had been forced when they had not.
If my son disappeared in these circumstances, let me tell you, I would not be immediately jumping to the conclusion that he had been abducted.
This is very strange behaviour, even if you have lost your child.
btw, how much would someone with this background earn:
"Gerry McCann trained as a doctor in Scotland. He joined University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust seven years ago as a Specialist Registrar at Glenfield Hospital. For the past two years he has served as a consultant cardiologist working as a key member of a team of ten cardiologists. Gerry is the team's cardiac imaging specialist using high technology MRI and CT scanning equipment to help treat adult patients with all types of heart problems. He also provides echo cardiography - ultrasound scanning."
Please stop asking us to be more sympathetic for these parents. They left their 3 children un- supervised night after night, all the couples there did . That is very odd. You ask us to stop judging. Would you leave your children with the Mccanns? What if their nanny left the children. Would they be sympathetic to her NO. Why? Because it is wrong to leave children neglected. It is against the law to leave children alone. I feel awful for poor Madeleine but lets face it there is NO concrete proof she was abducted we can only presume it. Alot of questions need to be answered. If they want this to reach around the world they will have to face alot of critical questions and people that is was publicity is all about. Stop asking us to find sympathy for them. It is an insult to caring parents that do everything to keep their children safe and teach them of all dangers in this hell of a world we live in. If Kate Mccann wants to quit as a GP it is out of guilt that she lost her daughter .
I pray that Madeleine is found safe. I am not usually an angry person but this case has got be boiling. This never should have happened.
Thank you Dr. Crippen, for continuing to blog about Madeleine. I am both appalled and saddened by some of the heartless comments people keep making about this case. We all want Madeleine found. People want someone to blame when something awful like this happens. That is human nature. But let's tone down the rhetoric and be logical. Blaming the parents for this because they made an error in judgement before this awful thing happened is illogical (and cruel). They are obviously loving, caring parents whose world revolves around their children. The person to blame is the monster who took Madeleine. This horrible thing has happened. Second-guessing does no good, and it does not change the fact that this has happened. No - it shouldn't have happened, but we live in a broken world, where evil does happen. And it might have happened even if her parents had been in the next room. Channel your anger about this situation toward the truly guilty party - the person who kidnapped Madeleine. There is a little four year old girl who has been stolen from her family and she needs to be found. We need to be helping in whatever way we can to help find Madeleine.
Terry said
"Would you leave your children with the Mccanns"
NO NO NO NO NO
terry @ 4:14 makes a good point.
What if the McCanns had left the child with the hotel babysitter/maid, some poor local woman? If this babysitter had done the same - leave the children in the room while she did other things, checking only occasionally, and a child went missing because of her neglect - THAT BABYSITTER WOULD BE TOSSED STRAIGHT INTO PRISON for her neglect and would be languishing there today
You seem to be suggesting a class thing going on here, and sadly I think you might be right. We do treat people differently depending on who they are and what their role it. However I still think that people are just too quick to criticise the McCanns when actually we have all done stupid things from time to time.
By the way, the ability to be anonymous on blogger comments seems to be helping these trolls!
Julie, just because people hold opinions that don't concord with yours doesn't make them trolls.
You want to see trolls on this case - I've seen people who post graphic details of what they hope's happened to the little girl. *Those* are trolls - the people posting here, at worst, are just fed up of the Dianafication of the McCanns. No one here is wishing bad things to happen to their children!
Public Health Warning -
Mute your computer before clicking on the Find Madeleine website unless you want to have Bryan Adams inflicted on you.
I don't see how blogger is helping trolls (for which I understand you mean "anyone that disagrees with you") julie.
The old haloscan comments are/were anonymous too - people had to type in a name (any name), but it seems to me that actually blogger isn't helping the 'trolls' as you call them, because multiple people go by the name of 'anonymous', allowing you to write them all of as (possibly the same 'troll'.
Hey Anonymous of Friday, June 29, 2007 12:53:00 AM, who asked "btw, how much would someone with this background earn?"
Here's your answer: Who gives a fuck?
How is that relevant to a couple losing their daughter, the worst thing that can possibly happen to anyone?
Why are people begrudging the fact that these grieving parents, desperate to find their daughter, are using all their available means to do so? If I lost a child like this I too would give up my job and devote all my time to tracking down the bastard that took her. And no, I wouldn't care about my patients. Who would, when their child is missing? That's why there are locum agencies.
"Here's your answer: Who gives a fuck? How is that relevant to a couple losing their daughter, the worst thing that can possibly happen to anyone? "
It's relevant only because they are asking for people's money to fund their living expenses. It would not have been relevant if they had not started a limited company and asked people to pay them.
I read some comments on their website, something like
"I wanted to help you, but I couldn't afford to send any money, so I held a sale and used the money from that"
This person is poor, and yet is sending money to a consultant who could earn £100,000? £200,0000? (I don't know THAT'S WHY I ASKED) Isn't there something WRONG?
There are many people who make enormous sacrifices due to personal tragedies. You hear of people with high-flying careers who have their partners suffer complete disablement, and they give up their job and lose their luxurious lifestyle to look after their husband/wife/child.
Such is life, and is totally WRONG to be soliciting money from others less fortunate than yourself when you yourself are quite clearly capable of paying your own living costs.
"It's relevant only because they are asking for people's money to fund their living expenses. It would not have been relevant if they had not started a limited company and asked people to pay them............"
Why didn't they bother to pay a reliable babby sitter.....or is that question too obvious for this blog
A *very* good question.
They have a full-time NANNY in England.
Apparently, they claim, they didn't trust a local babysitter, but didn't bring the nanny, and thought it was ok to just leave three children in a room with the door open??? And when the child disappeared immediately decided she had been abducted?
The complete silence from the nanny is deafening - she presumably has been told/paid not to speak to the media.
"The complete silence from the nanny is deafening - she presumably has been told/paid not to speak to the media." Perhaps. Or perhaps she believes that restraint, courtesy and kindness are virtues.
Clearly, leaving the three children in a hotel/resort room with no supervision was a shocking lapse of judgment. As a parent, it makes absolutely no sense that they did so; in the UK or the US, if you leave your kids home alone (much less in a hotel alone, and get caught, there's a really good chance that your family will end up under investigation by child welfare.
Thank goodness the other two kids are safe.
Unfortunately, young Madeline probably paid for it with her life, and they will pay for it for the rest of theirs. I can not imagine the burden of guilt they will continue to carry -- that their rash decision got their daughter kidnapped. They will have to carry that guild forever.
Rightfully so, in my opinion. One expects doctors to have better judgment than that, and it doesn't speak well to their common sense.
There is no evidence that this rash decision caused this girl to be kidnapped - because there's no evidence that she WAS kidnapped.
Why is everyone saying that she has been???
dearieme: newspapers would certainly find her, doorstep her, etc. Do you not know how journalists work? They will hang outside people's houses for weeks on end. The silence is a bit odd.
Dear Anonymous - I believe everyone is saying the poor child was kidnapped because a four year old really won't travel very far on their own. At least at night, in the dark and with no one else around. If that had been the case (i.e. if she had wandered out, alone) and had come to some trouble they would have found her by now. As a matter of fact, they would have found her very quickly. Because they have been looking very hard. And if it comes out, by some bizarre turn of fate, that she's found in the vicinity of the hotel and there was no foul play - please don't break your arm while patting yourself on the back or choke on your crowing. But if you do happen to break your arm or choke - please note that we will not mourn because we will know there was no foul play involved.
I am so fed up of this arguement. If you don't like what the McCanns are doing in terms of publicity, then don't read about it.
If you don't like them asking for money, then don't give them any. They make it quite clear that they will utilise some of the cash for living expenses. If everyone agrees that is wrong, then they won't get any donations. So what the hell is your problem?
And finally, you all have an opinion and so does Dr C. He is entitled to his just as you are entitled to yours. And he is entitled to voice that opinion on his own blog - you act as if it's the bloody BBC website or something!!!
For goodness sake if a four year old child had wandered out of the room she was sleeping in she would have known where to go. Her mum and dad wern't that far away. How often have you sat outside in the garden, only to find your little one next to you having woken up from their day time nap. Usually kid cry when they wake up. Rarely do they wander off. The child was taken. Get over it. I'm anonymous but my name is:
Sandra.
Brodie: by exactly the same logic, if you don't like the argument - stop reading about it.
I do not agree that it's made clear how the money will be spent. Most of the donations will not come from people who have investigated that in any detail.
Sandra: Children may 'rarely' wander off, but being abducted is even rarer. We'll have to wait to see what comes out in the wash.
I don't agree with those who are saying that the nanny not being interviewed (didn't even know they had one) is suspicious. Says good things about her if she avoids the press IMO.
Actually, children wander off all the time....
My four year old has done it, and to say "she would have known where to go" is absurd - you evidently don't have a child. I've *told* my four year old where are I am, and he's still gone the wrong way to find me, let alone waking up in a strange room in a strange country.
"Clearly, leaving the three children in a hotel/resort room with no supervision was a shocking lapse of judgment ,,,,,,,,"
So why wern't they prosecuted for neglect. I mean if I left anyone of my 5 children (at a time when they were very junior age) I'd have got a knock on the door from the NSPCC the Police &/or Social Services.
Dr. Crippen, I'm sorry to say I haven't been paying much attention to this.
I figured the child was either kidnapped for ransom, or killed.
Do I understand correctly, that the suspicion is the child may have been abducted by child traffickers?
.......arf
Crippen,
Give it a rest. It's a terrible personal tragedy for these people - but that's it - it's personal. People throughout history have suffered worse - and will do in the future. There's nothing to be done. We should let them come to terms with their loss privately - not encourage them to flaunt it to no avail - as you are guilty of doing.
Crippen,
Give it a rest. It's a terrible personal tragedy for these people - but that's it - it's personal. People throughout history have suffered worse - and will do in the future. There's nothing to be done. We should let them come to terms with their loss privately - not encourage them to flaunt it to no avail - as you are guilty of doing.
+++++++
I keep deciding not to respond to these callous comments, but then get out raged by them.
Clearly you are not a parent.
"We should let them come to terms with their loss privately - not encourage them to flaunt it to no avail - as you are guilty of doing."
And how many days would you look for your lost daughter before you gave up?
I am not going to "give it a rest" but you are free not to read it.
John
I stayed in Praia da Rocha (a resort which is located quite near to Praia da Luz)in 2002, during the month of May. At that time, there were posters all over the resort seeking the whereabouts of a young British man who had gone for an early morning walk 3 months previously and had gone missing. On the second week of my holiday this man's body was washed ashore. It transpired that he accidently drowned. Perhaps Madeleine McCann woke up and wandered from the apartment looking for her parents and God forbid met with a similar fate. I hope not and pray that she will be found alive.
John,
I did not think I was being callous. I am simply fatigued by the heart-on-sleeve-wearing mentality we collectivly seem to have succumbed to, of which Diana's death seems to have been the catalytst.
For what it's worth, I am indeed a parent. And I would go on looking for my lost child as long as I had hope. Wheher or not I would consider you to be assisting in this is a moot point - I have doubts about your motives here, however well-intentioned you might think they are.
Steve Holmes
Doubts about his motives? That seems a bit harsh to me.
It's clear from what Dr Crippen has written before that he identifies quite closely with the family so I believe that his motives are well-intentioned unlike some of those involved for whom it's another bit of 'reality entertainment' on a par with Chantelle's divorce from Preston, or the latest Paris Hilton gossip.
The utility of it (or of putting up posters of Madeleine in places like Wales) is another matter!
"I wanted to help you, but I couldn't afford to send any money, so I held a sale and used the money from that"
This person is poor, and yet is sending money to a consultant who could earn £100,000? £200,0000? (I don't know THAT'S WHY I ASKED) Isn't there something WRONG?"
No, you insensitive heartless evil shit, there is NOT something wrong!
Why is it relevant what he is capable of earning? He is certainly not capable of earning it anymore. If that happened to me I don't know if I'd ever be able to work again. My life would be ruined. This person who held a sale and raised money to help grieving parents find their child possesses qualities you don't: empathy and inner goodness. They are able to see beyond social class, which you are evidently obsessed with, and realise that these people are both grieving and terrified for their little girl, who may be alive or dead. Money isn't the be all and end all of everything. People are what matter. And these people are doing what they can and using ALL resources at their disposal to find their child. Like any good parent would. I don't have children yet, but if I did, and this happened, I would do whatever it takes and take whatever I could to do it.
That's possible, burntoutdoc. It's also possible, and I think more likely, that the person who gave the money had no idea what doctors are paid.
OK, I have a genuine question for any parents here. What is the likelihood of getting three very young, excitable children to sleep at exactly the same time every night? Remember, these are children on holiday, who've spent all day away from their parents at a Club with other children, playing and having fun. (and no doubt up to the eyeballs with ice-cream and festive drinks!)
So sit and think about it for a second. Don't flame me or ask the relevance. Just ponder it. 18 month old twins, and a three year old, high on life, only back at the apartment for an hour or two. Excitedly telling their parents about their day, before they're all asleep at the same time, and by the same time every night. Is that not odd? Those same three children never stirring as their parents leave the apartment? This is honestly troubling me. In all of my experience with children I've never encountered such model examples. Someone always wants a drink, or a cuddle, or a wee. Someone always wants to know where Mummy or Daddy are going, what they're doing. This whole thing just seems a bit too Stepford to be right.
Like I said, no flames please. Just think how unlikely this scenario is. Why was Kate so sure, when questioned, that there was no way her almost 4 year old could've got out of bed on her own? Anyone?
Martha you pose a good question. I know my kids are great sleepers that crash on vacation but to say that would fall asleep together at the same time may not be likely when they are charged up and excited. To bank on them staying alseep while you leave them is odd. I know when my kids go to bed early 7pm-8pm there is a huge possibility they will be up in acouple of hours to curl into to bed with mom and dad. For the parents to state that there was no way they would wake up is naive.
"That's possible, burntoutdoc. It's also possible, and I think more likely, that the person who gave the money had no idea what doctors are paid."
They certainly don't usually have enough loose change lying around to fund international media covered searches for missing children, if that's what you mean.
Yes, with them both working hard in the health service they may together have earning potential of approx 150K a year. Gerry McCann was only very recently made a consultant, so previous to this would have been on not exceptionally good NCHD wages. Kate is a locum GP, which I myself am doing at the moment, and, while it pays the smaller bills, won't cover the mortgage without my hubby working. They have three kids and probably a mortgage to cover.
So the only conclusion I can draw here really is this: If you studied hard in school to get good grades, worked hard in college and then worked REALLY hard in work for a number of years to ensure you got a good job and had a good career, you are NOT entitled to aid and help in the event of a family tragedy? Only those who earn below a certain cut-off wage are entitled to this, sort of a like another social welfare type thing? Ah, now I see. Forgive me, I had the wrong end of the stick.
So I guess it's not only doctors' kids then that don't deserve any financial aid to help them be found and keep their parents able to keep looking. I can extrapolate from the above lesson that also bankers' kids, lawyers' kids', MPs children, pharmacists children, actuaries and tax consultants offspring etc etc etc in fact all middle class kids will all have to be extra careful and not get lost because if they do, and their parents want to find them, they will be expected to fund this all themselves.
You all make me sick.
"You all make me sick"
Put it this way, do you think all the people who have donated money would have done so if they'd known:
a) the salaries of the people they were donating money to
and
b) that the money could be used to 'financially assist' the family?
I persoally think the little nipper was DD, and the shame of this to the family has led to her 'disappearance'. If you look at pics it does look as if something is 'lacking' there.
DD?
So even though an international media fuelled expensive search for a child costs thousands per week to keep up, not to mention the search and accommodation etc while staying abroad looking for her, we shouldn't want to help because the McCanns can potentially earn over 100K? Would you tell me, anonymous, what the cut off income level is before people should finacially assist? Is it 40K a year? 50k? Less than 20K? What is the cut off? This is important to know, so we can avoid giving anything at all to people who make even 1 pence over it. Let me know your cut off criteria. Or else quit being a heartless fuck. The people who donated money did so because a little girl went missing. They didn't pause to financially analyse the family she came from. They just wanted to help her family get her back. What is wrong with you? It frightens me that people are this shallow, callous and cruel.
What is wrong with you? You're the one emotionally ranting with nary a glance to logic.
I'll make the point one more time and then save my breath: the people who gave the money thought they were donating to help fund a search for the little girl - I have no objection to that and I doubt many other people do. I do think that the money could be much better spent than for a search for one person who is almost certainly dead, but that's a side-issue.
What I object to is that money being used, as the findmadeleine.com site states, to 'financially assist' people who are much better off than those donating, and who are unaware that that is what their money is going to. The website gives no breakdown of how the money is spent, and I think they have a duty to do that for the people who have given money they could ill afford.
I don't think that saying that makes me shallow, cruel, callous, or a heartless fuck for that matter. YMMV.
to the commenter who asked what difference it makes how much money the mccanns make?
it makes quite a bit of difference when you take into account they could readily afford a babysitter.
it also makes a difference in whether they are in jail or not right now. bc if you dont know that parents without money would be in jail by now, whilst the mccanns are not, then you dont even need to bother respond, as you are too ignorant to think on a rational level.
thats what difference it makes.
a BIG one.
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