Parents killed madeline?

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Could this be? there now suspects! what are your guys thoughts about this never ending case?

[Ferral]

I've had suspicions since this whole thing started. If this happened to one of my kids for example me and my wife would be in serious trouble for neglect etc and we would suffer the consequences. You don't leave children in an apartment in a foreign country whatsoever, every parent knows this.

Thing is though these 2 have got away with that side of things and a media circus has been created. Way I see it is one of two reasons, first one is that their daughter has genuinely been kidnapped or possibly worse (I really hope she is still alive and ok somewhere) and the parents are wanting her back. Secondly though which is what I've been thinking for a while now is that they have something to do with it and have created this whole media circus to take the whole worlds eyes off them.

[Koolpc]

It is hard to believe they have anything to do with the disappearance of Madeline. I hope they find the girl alive somewhere. Maybe the Police are clutching at straws? Time will tell i suppose.

[GoNz0]

i said all along they should both have been arrested and charged over this. the police are halfway there at last.

about time they pulled the plug on the free round the world trip the parents seem to be on.

[shelley bda]

I honestly don't know what to make of this... One minute you see the Parents squakking on tv for their Kid, next minute they are jetting off to meet the Pope, what's that all about? while they are staging tearful walks along the beach, I always think, "what about your other kids? Where are they? what sort of effect is this having on them, also they are happy to accept Money for their Find Maddy Fund, how is that going to help apart from attracting weirdos and timewasters.... what is that Money being used for, like I say, don't know, just get the feeling that something dodgy is going on

And even if they aren't guilty of killing her they are guilty of neglect certainly, you don't leave 3 small Children alone asleep at night on Holiday or otherwise...

[Saracen]

I still think it's far to early in the latest developments to jump to conclusions, let alone to be calling for arrest or charges. That should ONLY take place if the evidence supports it.

Bear in mind that almost everything we hear beyond the fact that both parents have been re-interviewed and Mrs McCann declared "arguida" is speculation .... because the police will say nothing much more than that, and aren't allowed to do so.

There is speculation that Mrs McCanns re-interview and change in legal status is linked to the results from forensic tests. But even if that is the case, and it is currently still just speculation, being declared arguida does NOT necessarily mean the police think she did it. It simply means she's a suspect and questions can then be put that otherwise couldn't be. It also works in her favour, because it affords her protections (like the presence of a lawyer) that she wouldn't have as a witness.

Much the same sort of principle applies in the UK. You can be interviewed as a witness, but as soon as police consider you a suspect, you should be cautioned and at that point, you have a right to legal representation, etc. The details of the change in legal status in Portugal and the UK are, so far as I can tell, a bit different, but the principle involved is identical.

Oh, and Robert Murat was declared arguido ages ago, but still hasn't been charged ..... and even being charged doesn't mean someone's guilty. So if he's arguido and she's arguida, which of them did it? It seems unlikely it's both.


Mrs McCann should NOT be tried either in the court of the international media, or that of public opinion, especially when both are being fuelled by speculation, innuendo and accusation, and beggar-all actual fact. If the evidence is there for an arrest, trial and conviction, great - fry her ass. But if not, and as yet we simply don't know, then she ought to be given the benefit of the doubt. After all, she may still be innocent, at least of anything more than leaving her kids alone for brief periods, and if innocent, has certainly been through a horrible ordeal with Maddy's disappearance. So, my attitude is that until such time as she's charged, tried and convicted, I'm not going to leap to conclusions ...... either way.

[Saracen]

....

And even if they aren't guilty of killing her they are guilty of neglect certainly, you don't leave 3 small Children alone asleep at night on Holiday or otherwise...

Agreed. But if comments from other participants are accurate as reported, then :-

1) The apartment was within their view from the restaurant.
2) Of the group the McCanns were part of, one member of the group checked on the kids every 10 minutes or so, on a rota.

It's still not exactly satisfactory, but nor is it as if they put the kids to bed and went out for several hours leaving them unattended.

Moreover, did it make any difference to the risk the kids were at? If they'd been in the next room watching TV, and someone broke in through a window, it's conceivable Maddy would still have been abducted. Is leaving the kids unattended in one room while you're watching TV, or asleep in bed yourself, less safe than a 10-minute rotating checkup?

[IBM]

Can you imagine the backlash, if something like this turned out to be true?

I was in the back of a cab on the way back from the airport the other day, and there was a 'find madeline' poster, the one where all the O's are drawn to look like her eye with the freaky bit. You get all those working class people on your side, and they find out they've been duped, you won't last the week.

[Splash]

I'd hope if someone broke in through a window I'd hear them from the next room, if not the breaking glass I would expect some sort of noise that would make me want to check. Would you hear that from a restaurant?

I'd just like to be clear that I'm not saying that the McCanns had anything to do with it, I just think it's about time that the awkward questions were asked. The redtops appear to have decided that they couldn't possibly be negligent parents (which I personally think they are - as Shelley said where are the other 2 kids while this media circus has been ongoing?) because they have respectable jobs etc. I suspect a wind change sometime soon (not read the papers this morning yet, so this may already have happened)

[JPreston]

Readers of Private Eye will have seen the relentless demonisation of Robert Murat, following his request to be made a suspect (for the increased rights this confers over a witness).

Now that Kate McCann has been (unwillingly) made a suspect, I wonder if the tabloids will have us burning her in effigy by the end of the weekend?

[Saracen]

I'd hope if someone broke in through a window I'd hear them from the next room, if not the breaking glass I would expect some sort of noise that would make me want to check. Would you hear that from a restaurant?

If it involved breaking the glass, maybe. But if it involved forcing the frame open? Or using glass-cutters?

Or ... if you were watching an action movie, would you hear it? Or if you were using headphones so as to not disturb the kids?

All I'm saying is that we shouldn't leap to too many conclusions without having the facts, rather than media reports where an overt absence of hard fact is filled by rumour, speculation, potentially distorted third-hand snippets and, quite possibly, an element of outright fabrication.

[shelley bda]

Moreover, did it make any difference to the risk the kids were at? If they'd been in the next room watching TV, and someone broke in through a window, it's conceivable Maddy would still have been abducted. Is leaving the kids unattended in one room while you're watching TV, or asleep in bed yourself, less safe than a 10-minute rotating checkup?

I hear what your saying and if that was the case then i'd find sympathy for them from somwhere, as it is I have found it hard to sympathise with either parent, despite being a parent myself and working with small Children and their families... what does that say about me? of course I want the little Girl found one way or another to give the Family closure but that's it. I think making the decision to go out for dinner, drinks or whatever and leaving your Kids alone in potential danger is something you can't comapre with being in the next room with or falling asleep...

Also, if the McCanns were on the dole/ single parents/ drugtakers and they went out and left the kids unattended then what would the media say then?

[Saracen]

...... I think making the decision to go out for dinner, drinks or whatever and leaving your Kids alone in potential danger is something you can't comapre with being in the next room with or falling asleep...

I agree ..... but what if the McCanns had been at home, having a barbecue with 6 or 8 friends, and they were in the back garden while the kids were asleep in a bedroom that faced the front of the house? Does the fact that they were 100 yards down the road, within clear sight of the apartment, mean the kids were at higher risk than if they'd been having that barbie? What risk would the kids have been at during that notional barbie?

My point ..... quite where do you draw the line? According to press accounts, Mrs McCann checked on the kids twice within an hour or so, and two or three other members of the group checked the kids in-between those visits.

If, as appears to be the case, the McCanns could see the apartment, and the kids were checked on every 10-15 minutes (by one of the group), is what they did so wildly unreasonable? I agree that it shouldn't have, but in terms of the risk the kids were exposed to .... well, if this is a stranger-predator abduction, it's VERY hard to totally protect kids from it. It strikes me as the kind of thing many people could have done, especially in the context of a relaxed attitude at a quiet, sleepy holiday resort where, according to locals, this kind of event is (or at least was) unheard-off.

[JPreston]

According to press accounts, Mrs McCann checked on the kids twice within an hour or so

Technically, it's "According to Mrs McCann's account"....

[Saracen]

Technically, it's "According to Mrs McCann's account"....

There was a TV interview I saw a few days ago with one of the others at the restaurant. I don't remember which TV news, or the name of the person, which was why I phrased it in an open fashion. But it was more than just her account.

[JPreston]

Yes for sure; and Jerry McCann also and so on. I was just pointing out that there are no objectively verified accounts of what went on when who went back alone to do what. Since both parents are now suspects, this casts a new light on much of what has been reported to date.