Lost child - Madeleine McCann

[TillieTrotter]

Thats very noble of you MP. I think people, especially parents, feel the need to discuss cases like this in the same way you discuss other nightmarish issues. At the moment I wake up and first thing I watch the TV for any news on the little girl and last thing at night. It may not be any of my business, but am feeling it personally.

[mockney piers]

I'm sure you do Tillie, I just felt I had nothing to contribute to the thread really, but had just read that article over lunch and thought it may be of interest.

[dulwichmum]

That was an interesting article - I read it much earlier today when you posted Mr Mockney.

It really does not look good for the family now, it has all been far too long. This is simply dreadful.

DM

[Ko]

Tillie - I'm like you - I keep switching on the TV hoping that there will be some good news. Its so terrible.

[dulwichmum]

I have just read that there has been a 2.5 million pound reward offered for the safe return of Madeleine. As we are all aware, today is her fourth birthday. I cannot even begin to imagine what the family must be feeling today, but I am heartened to see that Madeleine remains in the news and in everyones thoughts until she is found.

DM

[ratty]

A local villa is being searched and a british man "helping with enquiries". It all sounds a bit Huntley at the moment! :(

[dulwichmum]

OHMYGOD Ratty.

Thank you so much for this. I'm off to turn on the TV...

[TillieTrotter]

This situation with Mr Durat is making me feel a little uncomfortable. If he didnt do it then his life is well and truly up the proverbial Swanny, sh*t sticks no matter what. Then again, thinking of the Huntley case, the fact that he has made himself so busy around the scene leaves me with the chills!. Trying hard not to be too judgemental but I dont think its particularly constructive to be naming this guy yet. What do the rest of you think?

[georgia]

I agree with you TT - he hasn't even been arrested, yet the press have almost decided that he is guilty.

[Michael Palaeologus]

I agree.

It did feel to me like journalists creating a story in the absence of anything from the Police. So, single bloke, living with mother, showing "too much" interest in the press and being "too close" to the investigations - lets shop him to the Police, make our own story and then bang on self-righteously about what a value to Society the journos are.

I think not..

[Nero]

Right now, I feel sorry for the man in question. His life is ruined because the police are doing their job. If he turns out to be guilty, fair enough, but for people to tick off the checklist - 'lives with mother, custody battle over daughter who is also 4, made show of helping police, lives nearby' - and think the worst is abominable behaviour. The right thing to do is to regard him as innocent while at the same time acknowledge our suspicions and put them on one side. His mother and uncle must be perplexed too. And before anyone starts, my sympathy for him does not negate that for the McCanns. Nero

[Ant]

Innocent until proven guilty [start shouty]unless you're a filthy paedo perv, and if we say you are you must be, you perv[end shouty].

It just makes the whole thing even more sickening, and it was bad enough to begin with.

[TillieTrotter]

In a nutshell Nero

[dulwichmum]

This has all gone on far too long. When are they going to find the poor baby?

DM

[spadetownboy]

it does have echos of the huntley affair,almost too close to the mark infact,but its an established fact that murderers do tend to return to the scene of the crime whilst the investigation is still live,whether its an attempt to gloat or to throw investigators off the scent has yet to be decided, but police will always pay particular attention to crowds around a murder scene in an attempt to pick up some clues esp from a persons non-verbal behaviour.thats one reason when in a lot of murder cases family members are always encouraged to give press conferences not just to raise profile of the case but precisely because the plod will be scrutinising their behaviour for any tell-tale signs of guilt,because as it stands stranger murder is still very rare,most victims are known by their killer.

[Incitatus]

Spadetownboy, your point about police and press conferences reminded me. I lived in Oxford when a student Rachel McClean went missing, the police wheeled out a very sweaty boyfriend/murderer - John Tanner- who broke down in tears at the press conference said he loved her, pleading for her to get in contact, he also did a reconstruction waving her off at Oxford train station. Later it turned out that right from the get-go the police knew she'd never got on a train and thought he'd killed her.

[dulwichmum]

Just lets try to keep the focus on the child, remembering to think of her (and pray for her) every day until she is found. I hate to think that this will soon become old news, and she will simply be forgotten about.

DM

[Asset]

I don't want to put any more of a downer on this as the whole case has really upset me being the mother of a young daughter and all that, but I have read that in cases like this a specific ploy of the police to keep the public aware is for the family to make statements saying they believe the child is alive. If the public think the child is dead then it becomes a search for a body and people lose interest. However usually if they are not found within 24 hours the child is dead. Frankly the alternatives to her being dead are too awful to contemplate. I just hope this reaches some conclusion for the sake of the parents unlke the parents of the boy in Greece already mentioned above.

In re. the British man - I think the similarities with Huntley are spooky, I remember seeing Huntley being interviewed just after the girls went missing and feeling suspicious of him. I would say that the journalist who reported the British guy did not do it lightly and really felt something was wrong.

[James]

Is anyone else finding the media circuses around Madeleine and that BBC reporter a bit odd? I think both cases are truly horrifying and my sympathies go out to the families. And yet the blanket media coverage is a bit mystifying when there is no real news in either case. Meanwhile how many are dying in Zimbabwe and Iraq every day?

[Keef]

I know how absolutely ridiculous and beside the point this is, but I only saw the other night that she has a coloboma (key hole pupils cos part of the iris is missing). I have that, and we're very rare... Just made me feel sad... Like I say, completely nonsensical, but there you go. On the bright side, it makes her that bit more recognisable!

[georgia]

I have to say that I agree with James. Children go missing every day but they do not all get this level of media coverage. And most of the time there is nothing to report. I do feel for her poor parents but there are other things going on in the world.

[TillieTrotter]

Never heard of that condition. Does that come with any problems? i.e, does it effect your sight?

[Keef]

It does indeed, acuity and visual field... I do have to agree with Georgia and James, in that as bad as this is, there are plenty of things out there that are just as bad! How would you feel now if your child was missing, and this one particular case was getting all the attention? That said, it doesn't make it wrong of people to care.

[TillieTrotter]

For sure, but if I were in their position I would be doing the same. And they are taking the best advice that it must be kept as fresh as possible otherwise people do become bored, which I think is in evidence already.

Excuse my ignorance Keef, what is acuity?

[mockney piers]

I'm can't see how maintaining a high profile in the press can possibly help matters concerning the investigation, which surely is the only real thing of import here. Finding the girl and putting away whoever abducted her.

Whether read about it on the front pages, or whether we find out about every nuance of the accuseds' lives in a trial by press is neither here nor there and, frankly, a little disturbing.

I appreciate many of you with kids can empathise and are genuine in your thoughts and prayers, but it's none of our business ultimately. We don't know these people and we never will.

Sorry, I'll back off again.