Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,835
So the Metropolitan police are to review the Maddie McCann case at the cost of one million pounds plus. Does anyone else feel sorry for all the other parents and relatives who have a missing family member who did not get all the publicity etc that might have helped them.
Although I am sorry for Maddie I admit to being biased against the McCanns who chose to leave their children unattended while they had a meal with friends at a nearby restaurant. They were completely irresponsible, if this had happened in the UK they could have been charged with child abandonment and the involvement of social services.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
people do strange things when they are on holiday, especially if it is abroad.
they get too relaxed and drop their guard, i thought that they were eating just a few yards from the little girls room.
the portuguese police don't appear to have done a good job on this one, maybe the met will go through the evidence and find something that has been overlooked?
However we judge those parents - and my Old Man has similar thoughts to Jans and I have to say there is no way on earth, holiday or not, that I would have left any of mine at that age, even just for a moment and even just around the corner! - the fact is they have lost a child. Hard enough, but also with the attention of the world and the incompetence of the police to contend with. And the bald fact is that most police forces do not take missing persons and missing children as seriously as they should, and the Portuguese seem to have outdone the keystone cops for incompetence and insensitivity.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i think the problem with the portuguese police was that the local force down in the algarve should have called in the big chaps from lisbon or porto straight away instead of thinking that they were qualified to deal with serious crime.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,835
From what we have been told I agree with Bern and Howard about the Portuguese police.
With regard to the publicity the McCanns did actively seek it at the beginning that was understandable but I am not so sure about the need for it now. That poor little girl is either dead or growing up thinking she is someone else.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,890
JAN;
i think like any other parents who have missing children they want to get the maximum publicity an we shouldnt fault them for that.
don't think we can realy get into the blame game it must be hard enough for them, to know they are at fault without everyting else that went on
maybe the friend who popped in to see them but didnt open the door wide enough to see them could also be blamed, but blaming anyone solves nothing, and im sure if you would were the parents you would, since the dissappearance do nothing differently, and look for maximum publicity
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Jan, the money will go to Police experts who will do the shopping and re-invest it in the economy, it's not lost money!
One cannot equiperate children in distress to money factors. Children must always have priority!
We adults are supposed to guarantee this to the young ones, who can't defend themselves.
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,701
How do we know that the local police were incompetent?
Oh yes because the high quality, unbiased, honest foreigner friendly British press told us so
Oh yes because the distraught, guilt ridden parents told us so
Funnily enough the police in Portugal are fairly competent much like in the rest of Western Europe, what didnt help was the fact that the parents and relations didnt speak or read Portuguese and struggled to understand the process and wanted to find someone other than themselves to blame.
The local police force have thoroughly investigated this, as have investigators paid for by the family. why should money be diverted from investigating crimes in London to deal with this? Is it because it makes the government appear to have a compassionate side? is it because the parents are well educated, articulate and able to keep this in the public eye?
Do you honestly think if this had happened to the daughter of some blue collar family from Dover that the PM & the Met would be taking it up?
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
the local police in the algarve have admitted that they made mistakes due to having no experience in such a case.
it is the same all over the place(including britain) that local forces like to keep everything in house and resent people from the big cities coming in and grabbing the glory.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Have to agree Ross.
When this thread first appeared I posted something similar..in that had the parents been from a council estate in deepest Brumland,smoked and had a drink that night (as the McCanns had and did not have site of their apartment regardless of the reports-look it up on google maps/earth) then the emphasis would have shifted from the search and the police to the parents.
This was parental neglect and poor young Maddie has paid a terrible price for their arrogant stupidity.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
It is so true that Wayne and Waynetta would have received a very different response. That is wrong but it doesn't make the McCann response wrong either. I think I would do whatever it took to try to find my child.
Guest 705- Registered: 23 Sep 2010
- Posts: 661
A very upsetting state of affairs. So Marek, are you saying then that because there is a view of culpability on the part of the McCanns-Maddie is less entitled to the attention of the authorities? I'm sure that if the PM ordered equal priority action from the police on all missing children-they'd have time for nothing else-neither would he. So we must assume that the more sensational the case -the more assistance they get. The McCaans are both doctors highly intelligent and able to conduct themselves competently( in spite of their apparent bad judgement on the night of their girl's abduction) when marketing their case. I am not saying that Wayne and Waynetta are dim-but would they be articulate enough enlist the same level of support? Unjust world innit?
Never give up...
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,835
My problem with the McCanns is that I can not help but feel they enjoy the publicity and being in the public eye and the story now is more about them than their poor little girl. They have now gone to Ireland to promote the new book, that has nothing to do with finding Maddie, they would have gone to Portugal for that, more to do with self promotion.
The investigators hired by the McCanns as far as I know came up with nothing and that is with all the world-wide publicity and money that was raised previously.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,835
I have just read your post Richard and it is a very unjust world because Wayne and Waynetta do not get the same media publicity which is so important if a relative goes missing.
I saw the BBC1 programme this morning about a young man who had travelled to France and just disappeared, this was the first I time I had heard about him. Along with so many others these people just vanish, media publicity could help so many families.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Jan, some people fly to the Bermudas and vaish, others are said to have flown into another dimension.
Who are Wayne and Waynetta? And more importantly, why are the Police not looking for them?
Whatever happened on the Portuguese island, it was probably someone following the family and observing their movements so as to abduct the child.
With all this jazz about living in one country called Europe, we still see that when international cooperation is needed, such as calling in experts on the spot with sniffer dogs to search for a missing child, or sending helicopters to search the surrounding sea for a run-away boat, nothing is done!
In fact, the most obvious thing the Police should have done was an on the spot search using trained dogs who would have picked up the scent of the child's clothes, any item of previously warn clothes, and followed the trace from the room.
This must be done straight away, without any dilly dally. The international community obviously failed there, as no Police experts were called in straight away, either from mainland of Portugal, Britain or any other country!
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Ross
The only 'neglect' I have been able to find from reports are
1. the Portuguese police failed to inspect the moblie phones used in that area that day and
2. they marked the file''sensitive'' which prevented the McCanns and others having sight out its contents.
My concern is that this case is high profile and being treated as such by the PM with money being flung at it from the Home Office reserve funds. No one as yet to explain where when or what this 'fund' is actually used for and how much is lying in it.
Secondly what about the other 100,000 youngsters that go missing every year.
Like everyone else my concern is for the kid but let us not lose sight of the others .Lets treat them all equally not just those that can afford an ex BBC reporter as a spokesman or those that have got financial backing from JKRowling.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 705- Registered: 23 Sep 2010
- Posts: 661
I guess also to a great extent,the ones who get the most backing, are the ones who provide the most lucrative media event. Certainly the McCaans have been able to create that,though who can blame them?
Never give up...
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,835
There is one thing I have never understood with the planned abduction theory. Why were the other children not taken as well as or instead of Maddie, was she taken to order.
Marek, I could not agree more that was the whole point of my opening sentence. All those missing people that the police try and trace but have to give up on because the trail goes cold, their families would have benefited from the media exposure that the McCanns have sought and received. I am sorry to say this but I think Mrs McCann possibly enjoys being in the public eye, but as I said before I am prejudiced against them.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,890
I go with p;ost 11 on this one, for all the faults by the mc canns, like any other parent i would do everything possible to find my child.
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Keef
Don't cop out or in your case 'pcso' out.
Anyone who doesn't have any concerns for Maddie is a complete *wat.
The points I am trying to make but obviously failing to do so are
1. Why is Cameron making this case 'exceptional'. To use your terminology any parent would do everything to find their missing child.
2.Where is this 'slush' fund coming from? How much is in the slush fund.
3. What authority will the Scotland Yard rozzers have to investigate the Portuguese police.
4. I can't imagine them being allowed to investigate our police.
5. Why weren't the McCanns questioned over why they left not just Maddie but their 2 other kids alone whilst they went out with friends for a meal and consumed alcohol.
6.Transparency is required on all sides.
7. Let all cases have the same amount of publicity and financial help the McCanns have been granted. ALL children are of utmost importance to their parents.
8.We should also bear in mind what this adverse publicity is doing to the villagers where Maddie went missing. The McCanns are hated there and their response is that no Portuguese family would leave their kids 'home alone'.
So please no more cop out phrases...about doing everything one can. That goes unsaid what we need is a missing child policy that will be a future guideline and blueprint for the future
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)