[Closed] Madeleine McCann investigation receives 150k more government funding

I can't see there being any form of closure in this which is acceptable to all but the time has now come to end any further public funding, The parents must accept that the chance of any worthwhile information coming from this is vanishingly small. The additional funding won't buy much investigatory support. The whole subject has been subject to past threads so there's not much more to say - other than the level of support the McCann's have had will build an expectation that any other parents in a similar situation will receive substantial support - and certain sections of the print media will take up their cause.

So what’s the scale of human empathy here exactly?

For me, a missing child is a horrific thing for any parent to have to suffer.

Where does my empathy end? About 10 years and 10 million ago.

I wouldn’t care if her parents had committed genocide, it wasn’t her fault and an appropriate effort to find her should have been made.

The case has been massively disproportional compared to other missing children cases, the likelihood of finding her fit and well now is near zero, yet millions has been spent, millions that could have been spent finding children who could be found if only the police had the resources in this age of austerity. The McCanns get ‘special treatment’ because they’ve got the profile and ‘the fund’ to cause a big stink of they don’t get their way.

My personal opinion is that at the very least, to avoid being accused of negligence they aggressively and ruthlessly attacked anyone who dares to speak ill of them in the public domain.

And no, I wouldn’t leave my 3 small kids to sleep in a ground floor apartment and go drinking with my friends for 3 hours it was a stupid and selfish thing

My Mum used to leave me outside the house in the pram. Of course that was safe back then we were 50 miles from Manchester and Saddleworth Moor.

Well my Mum used to leave me outside the pub in the pram and we were 2 miles from Saddleworth moor.

My mum left me outside co-op in corporation street - only prob was she didn’t realise until she got home 😄

GrahamS, lets just take the stance that the parents don’t know anything at all about what happened.

so, if they were at the hotel room with their children, not in a restaurant/bar with their friends, would Maddie be alive?

I personally take fatherhood as a responsibility. It is judgemental from me, but yes the parents have a level of responsibility and culpability.

And no I don’t believe the tax payer would be paying for a working class missing person case. This isn’t unique, but what is unique is the amount of tax payer money that has been used.

I don’t believe the parents were asking for it. But if they didn’t do it, if they didn’t leave their toddlers at home to go drinking with friends, then their child could well be alive.

That's 50 extra front line police for 4 years salary and contributions eaten up there in funding.

There's a couple of petitions on Change.org if you wish to object.

I was listening to this girl's https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Charlene_Downes mother on the radio a couple of weeks ago. It struck me how different these two cases were dealt with.<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> </span>

<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">It took the police 6 months to even start investigating her disappearance.   Working class, troubled not worth investigating.  Messed up two trials, probably never bring the culprits to justice.</span>

Middle class, doctors as parents, pretty girl £11 million still no leads.

For the record, I don't think additional funding is warranted, and I think leaving their kids alone was a terrible decision.

However, I despair at the people saying that it was the parent's "fault" that she was kidnapped/killed.  It wasn't..... the only person responsible was the person who kidnapped/killed her.

If you believe that Maddie was killed/kidnapped by a third party (which I don't btw), then that person must have targeted her and have been watching/waiting for an opportunity to kidnap her.  If it hadn't have been then, it would have been at the beach/playground, whatever.

I think it was the mum.

There's no evidence MM was abducted. Seems to me she just woke, wandered out of the apartment as 3yos tend to do, fell in a hole in one of the building sites around the area or somesuch. In the morning cement gets poured in and that's it.

A lot of people were saying similar for years about Ben Needham and it turned out to be, most likely, true.

Accidents are common - murdering peados are rare. Accidents don't sell papers though, peados do.

I have 2 questions around this case.

1. Why have the parents ever been charged with child abandonment at the very least?

2. When did the Mets jurisdiction extend to Portugal? The only reason I can see is because the Portuguese keep coming back to the parents as their main suspect

It is clear that the McCanns are very well connected and have made an awful lot of money out of this crime

1. Why have the parents ever been charged with child abandonment at the very least?

I suspect because they're suffering enough and because as a deterrent to others the loss offf a 3yo is more powerful than a fine/short prison sentence.

2. When did the Mets jurisdiction extend to Portugal?

That's a pretty good point. What has it got to do with the Met?

It is clear that the McCanns are very well connected

And it is clear that a lot of people seem to resent them for this.

I agree that the case absolutely has had disproportionate publicity and funding.. but I can hardly blame the parents for that.

When would you give up if it was your child? Would you honestly decide not to use your connections because it might be seen as a bit "unfair"?

Stop talking about this, you're supposed to be distracted by Brexit!!

At this rate someone will mention the Gaspar Statement...

"When would you give up if it was your child?"

Wouldn't have been and never was an issue. We didn't ever leave our 3 year old daughter alone, 100 meters up the road while we went for a drink nor left her upstairs on her own in the hotel room while we went down stairs to have some food. Not until she was a surly teenager who would rather stay in than be seen with her parents anyway.

By leaving your child in the hotel room while you go for food, you are placing your child at a heightened risk of misadventure. That's your choice. *Most parents would deem that risk too high. That's why most parents don't do it.

*At least this would appear to be the case.

No parent would disagree that losing a child must be the worst thing that can happen, worse than losing a parent or sibling or friend, especially when there's no body and hence a suspicion that your child is suffering in some way. In those circumstances I bet no parent would be willing to give up the search or turn down any offer of help. In the McCann case I think there was a lingering suspicion that the child had been stolen to order by professionals and that this could be the tip of a very big iceberg, which is why I think so much money was spent on the case. It's my belief that she was taken somewhere where fair-skinned children would be very much prized like the Gulf or Africa and that by now she is so completely indoctrinated that there's no chance of her escaping or making herself known, unless something unforseen happens like a house fire and somebody asks questions.

That’s a pretty good point. What has it got to do with the Met?

Dark skinned people stealing white children really is the most racist of tropes

In the McCann case I think there was a lingering suspicion that the child had been stolen to order by professionals and that this could be the tip of a very big iceberg, which is why I think so much money was spent on the case. It’s my belief that she was taken somewhere where fair-skinned children would be very much prized like the Gulf or Africa

Which is obvs quite a well known occurrence and outcome. Why  would you go to Portugal to steal a fair skinned child?

"I agree that the case absolutely has had disproportionate publicity and funding.. but I can hardly blame the parents for that."

I think you can - they could have called a halt to the whole charade years ago.

Wouldn't it be great if this extra cash pulled in the one piece of evidence that was enough to convict them.

Wouldn’t it be great if this extra cash pulled in the one piece of evidence that was enough to convict them.

GrahamS - are you trying to play Devils Advocate or do you have links to them?

Interesting theory that... would it tie in with these facts?

http://laidbareblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/20-facts-about-disappearance-of.html

The blog above provides the other side of the story seldom reported in the media and as such isn't entirely neutral, however, I encourage anyone to thoroughly fact check everything stated in the link, as in this day and age, it's hard to know who to trust.

FYI, this is how the media like the portray Working Class people who leave their kids to go socialising.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6176619/british-couple-arrested-abandoning-kids-majorca-holiday-hotel/

If they'd have been quaffing Pouilly-Fumé it'd be alright as that would fit in with the McCann's narrative.

Crap parents are crap parents irrespective of social class

GrahamS – are you trying to play Devils Advocate or do you have links to them?

Neither. and I've already said I think the case has received disproportionate funding and media attention.

I am just disgusted by the number of people expressing variations of "It's their own fault. What did they expect, leaving their three kids asleep 60 metres away in a locked room while they had dinner? Obviously they are going to get murdered."

Whatever you think of their parenting, it was not their fault. It was the fault of whoever abducted or killed the child. No one else.

Even if you think it was "child abandonment", that shouldn't be a death sentence and doesn't make them any less deserving of justice.

FYI, this is how the media like the portray Working Class people who leave their kids to go socialising.

I've been to a fairly wide variety of places on holiday. I've been in the Alps and seen quite young kids skiing apparently unaccompanied. I've been to caravan parks and seen unsupervised kids running feral at midnight while the adults sit in the bar and play bingo. Neither is ideal. People are not perfect.

ElShalimo
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GrahamS – are you trying to play Devils Advocate or do you have links to them?

or just a coincidence in the Nationality and career of partners.

Disappointed in the justification

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IMO leaving your kids in the hotel room is not good, never mind in a restaurant that is not in the same building.

I would never call my self a good parent, just a parent but is a having a meal uninterrupted really worth the risk?

And what was acceptable in the good old days leaving prams in street is totally irrelevant now.

what was acceptable in the good old days leaving prams in street is totally irrelevant now.

That picture was from now. It is common practise is some countries.

Whatever you think of their parenting, it was not their fault. It was the fault of whoever abducted or killed the child. No one else.

Proof of needed for that statement, unless you are a supporter of the McCanns obvz..

Thanks

HRH

I don’t know a great deal about the case and do have empathy for the parents. However, to those saying it’s the fault of the abducter or the killer, is there definitive proof for either of those two scenarios? Is it not possible that the child wandered off and was involved in a tragic accident?

 Is it not possible that the child wandered off and was involved in a tragic accident?

The fault of the child then? (since most have it that the parents aren't culpable).

 Is it not possible that the child wandered off

From a locked bedroom?

From a locked bedroom?

Locks usually stop people coming in not going out.

Was never left outside a shop as a toddler, because of....

Of course that was safe back then we were 50 miles from Manchester and Saddleworth Moor.

This.

I'd like to see a resolution to this, if only for her parents.

Wasn't there something about a shutter that was supposedly damaged by someone trying to break in?

As I said, I don’t know much about the case. Didn’t know the door was locked. I’ll go do some reading, but I’m assuming the lock was forced? If the kid did wander off then it’s the parents fault as they are (I’m presuming) her legal guardians. As a parent that would be some serious guilt on your shoulders.

If she was abducted then it’s a bit of bad parenting and a boatload of bad luck.

Mmmm, ages ago I watched a number of vids by Richard Hall and iirc the door wasn't actually locked.

Also it wasn't always M's parents who were doing the checking, other parents did as well.

It's funny isn't it how many people want them to be guilty because of their class and their sense of entitlement. I don't understand the first but I can see how the second riles people. A thread like this though shows just how easy it is for the desire to believe something to overcome all rational judgement, some of it is akin to lynch mob mentality.

I've no idea who did it, though I think t highly unlikely it was either of the parents. As for the money it really isn't something I think the public should any longer be contributing too, there are more pressing needs in policing. If the parents want to keep funding the search then fair enough, I understand why they will never give up.

They are very hard to empathise with though and I find myself almost disinterested in them and the case. Conversely my emotional response to another case, the search for Keith Bennett would have every inch of Saddleworth Moor being dug up. There was something unbearable in his mothers loss and her desire to find his body before she died. It's utterly irrational I know but that's the problem with something like this, it'd very hard to be rational about.

I originally thought the parents guilty of her death but now I do not for the simple reason if it was they would have shut up a long time ago and disappeared.

What I loathe is the politicians bowing to the mail campaign over this and wasting huge sums that could be used for something more effective

they would have shut up a long time ago and disappeared.

It would seem like a very very committed and confident bluff to keep pushing for more and more investigation for 11 years, long after it would normally have been a forgotten cold case.

But maybe that's just what they want you to think 🙄

What I loathe is the politicians bowing to the mail campaign over this and wasting huge sums that could be used for something more effective

Yep!

They are just as deserving of justice as anyone else, but not more deserving.

The Daily Fail just want a mother and daughter sexy photo in their side bar of shame. Fectards.

Beyond all the anomalies presented by that link I posted on the last page, is it not a bit weird that Clarence Mitchell

(ex BBC Royal correspondent, who was working as director of the Government’s Media Monitoring Unit, controlling the flow of information to newspapers and broadcasters before becoming the McCann's spokesman)

ended up being the mouthpiece for Cambridge Analytica?

Is it weird that an experienced media and spokesperson got a job as a spokesperson?

errr... no..?

Aye, thinking about it, it's not really any weirder than Jill Dando's fiance becoming the Queen's gynaecologist and helping deliver all of the recent Royal offspring.

Or Brian Rice, a social services director criticized in the trials of both Frank Beck (which involved allegations against Greville Janner) and Fred West being a director of the Cheltenham Freemasons lodge, linked to both GCHQ and the Paedophile Information Exchange.

The reason I bring up these apparently not so odd cases are that Clarence Mitchell was heavily involved in both the Jill Dando and Fred and Rosemary West stories...

Not forgetting the unlawful killing of Princess Diana