Maddie McCann

[Uladh]

The point is that noone knows what happened. there may be many possible scenarios. the portugese police don't know obviously and we certainly don't. we were all in agreement months ago that the parents were hugely negligent and its a burden they will carry to their grave. i'm saying, how can anyone make the leap to convict them in the absence of even a shred of evidence.

you can't say "in the light of recent forensic results..." there have not been any results released. these reports are all based on leaks and guess work. you say i would be very quick to point the finger at you in the same circumstances but the reality is i would offer the same presumption of innocence to the dregs of society or even the cerebrally challenged.

[pintsofguinness]

The parents have to share the blame and that's why, from day 1, I had a hard time feeling any sympathy for them.

I thought I caught on the end of the news a week or so ago that social services where investigating them. 
Hopefully the rest of their party that also thought it was perfectly ok to leave their children alone will be investigated also.

[SidelineKick]

I thought I caught on the end of the news a week or so ago that social services where investigating them. 

about time, as i said if this had have been a lower class chav family there wud have been absolute otrage and no way would there have been the same support from the public.

[Capt Pat]

I will start at the beginning. there can be no doubt that from the outset the McCanns were guilty of something close to criminal neglect. The left their children alone in an unlocked apartment while they went boozing and as  result one of those children is missing. This is not contested by anyone as a result of this they will always have been police suspects in the disappearance of their daughter. The fact that the police did not jump in and make them official suspects from the outset is irrelelvant. The McCanns will also have realised that while people would have sympathised with them, their reputations as solid citizens and good doctors would be destroyed by leaving their children alone. A possible conviction for child neglect would have disaterous consequences for their careers.

From a very early stage the McCanns mounted a campaighn to highlight the disappearance of their daughter and keep it in the media spotlight. This helped to reinforce the beleif that their daughter was kidnapped by a paedophile. If the media bought this and they did to an enourmous extent the police were forced into acting as if they beleived this was the most likely outcome. The media then found Robert Murat a local character who aroused suspicion. No evidence was ever found linking him to the crime unlike the McCanns. Murat is still a suspec teven though no evidence linking him to the child has ever been found.

The McCanns media campaign has focused on finding their daughter, when the Portuguese police began linking the McCanns to the disappearancce of the daughter, the media campaign that the McCanns had created told the police to focus on looking for their daughter, they were trying to apply moral pressure on the police to investigate other leads instead of them.  By mounting the international campaiign the McCanns forced the police into following many false leads in countries all over Europe and North Africa. What has this media campaing acheived so far, has it done anything to help find the child? Or did it merely paint the McCanns as amazingly dedicated parents, which they were not having left their vey young children alone in an apartment to go drinking. It has also dragged the reputation of the Portuguese police into the mud very successfully. This could be handy in hte PR battle if the case ever goes to trial.

Lately the noises coming form the McCann PR machine have changed. Saying to the police find a body or you have no case, this shows that the mask might be slipping. Maybe there never was a campaign to find Madeleine, maybe it was all just a campaign to protect the reputation of the wonderful doctors and deflect attention elsewhere.

The McCanns also said they would carry out independent tests of the hire car. I found this to be very bold. Imagine an ordinary decent criminal whose DNA or finger prints have turned up at a crime scene demanding that he be able to have independent tests carried out to verify the truth of the police investigations. To me the notion of independent tests in a criminal investigation seems ludicrous. What makes the McCanns so special. If it comes to trial they will have lawyers and abudndant dna experts to challenge the evidence of the police.

I am keeping my powder dry as what may have happened as any opinion of mine is just idle specualtion.

[Hurler on the Bitch]

I am keeping my powder dry as what may have happened as any opinion of mine is just idle specualtion.

I am fed up with this speculation - could we maybe not call a 'truce' on this issue until we have something to mull over? i.e an arrest or something.

[Uladh]

Again TYP, none of this goes beyond the realm of speculation. a french newspaper claims to have seen DNA evidence? and reporting a journalist's "investigation" as incrimininating fact?

[Uladh]

Speaking of the dregs of society Uladh, how is your mother, I hear she hasnt been the same since the British Army went home. Maybe she`ll never find your father now.
I think petty name calling and attempted personal insults show how weak your arguments really are, a bit like yourself really, but I have offered before to meet you and sort out our differences and you declined. That offer still stands today, tomorrow or whenever you grow a set of balls.

you couldn't make it up. seriously, o'neill couldn't sit down and write some of your posts.

bad boy indeed.

[orangeman]

How can you trust anybody again - if and I mean IF these allegations about overdose etc are correct, how deep would you need to be to dream up this story and worse, carry it through ?? Sad story to begin with - but it could get much worse.

[gaagaa]

Face it, the police in Portugal made a mess of it, they were under pressure to get the McCanns out of the country coz it destroyed their tourism!
All these leaks are from the police trying to cover their tracks - and both sides are supposed to keep their silence.  I think the parents leaving the weans in the flat on their own was disgraceful but it doesnt change the fact that an innocent child has suffered.  There were lots of stories about police corruption & paedo rings with politicians / celebrities beforehand.  We should know more about police corruption than anyone else for God sake!!!  I gave money to the fund and I want them to use it to defend themselves.  If the police tab this on them then the wean will never be found.  Remembet the family in the US who got their child back after nearly a year.  And what about the girl in Belgium.  There's more to the Morocco link too - many children (and there have been quite a few!) are taken there to be brainwashed.

[Capt Pat]

gaagaa. Do you really beleive that. I think the McCanns have hoodwinked you. They have fooled a lot of people. Why on earth do you want people who are accused of causing the death of that child to use money from the "Madeleine fund" to allow them get away with such a crime. You are making no sense.

[blast05]

Why on earth do you want people who are accused of causing the death of that child  ....... 

Remind me when they were accused

Face it, the police in Portugal made a mess of it, they were under pressure to get the McCanns out of the country coz it destroyed their tourism!

Oh my God, after all that has been said on this thread, people still come out with posts starting like this. Face what ? facts for a start maybe ?!?!

[Capt Pat]

"When were they accused"

Of course they have not been directly accused yet but we are talking about the situation where if they are accused should they be allowed to spend money from the fund to defend themselves. Until they are accused they should not be spending money to defend themselves.

[blast05]

Of course they have not been directly accused yet but we are talking about the situation where if they are accused should they be allowed to spend money from the fund to defend themselves. Until they are accused they should not be spending money to defend themselves.

Jaysus, i don't know where to start        "Until they are accused"   ....  wtf

[Tyrones own]

  Well maybe you are all right about this based on your "facts" however if or hopefully when the child shows up alive
  or the parents are proven innocent i hope each and everyone of you hang your heads in shame.
Some of you should be writing scripts for CSI, Law and Order and the likes, Experts the lot of ye
In my mind, until they are proven guilty, they are extremely unfortunate parents going through an ordeal
that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. That for some reason seems to be lost on some of you here!

[gaagaa]

gaagaa. Do you really beleive that. I think the McCanns have hoodwinked you. They have fooled a lot of people. Why on earth do you want people who are accused of causing the death of that child to use money from the "Madeleine fund" to allow them get away with such a crime. You are making no sense.

Capt Pat - what about the delays in sealing off the site, allowing the apt to be rented out, failing to check apartments nearby which hadnt been rented out, the result of the police's other high profile disappearance, the delays in prosecuting paedos in Portugal, etc.  The paretnts leaving the children cant be excused.  But what if they didnt do what they are being accused of behind closed doors?  What if they are framed and the people who abducted the child arent caught?
I can only comment on how I want the money I gave to be spent & Im sure Im not alone.