madelline

[stokemaveric]

so the portugese police say that they may now beliveve that the little girl may now be dead.if they had handled the case better in the first place maybe she wouldnt.or if the parents had not left her alone maybe she wouldnt what a mess and what a waste of a young life if she is no longer with us.all involved should hang their heads in shame,and whoever is responsible should be hung.i know this post has been on here many times but someone should be accountable.i hope they are wrong and she is safe somewhere.

[Salas]

The parents are to blame, when they return home they should be prosicuted for neglect and have their other children taken from them.

A bit harsh I hear you say but in the cold light of day, it is a parents job to look after their children and by leaving them alone in a foreign country while they have fun is not responsible parenting. I holiday in the Algarve every year and up until this year (he is now 12) have not let my child out of sight. Maybe over the top parenting but at least I know where mine is.

Personally I feel that the parents should be investigated more as suspects.

[stokemaveric]

salas i do agree with you and i applaud your parenting skills,i have 2 sons and years ago we were at blackpool pleasure beach,my eldest son who was 6 at the time was crying to go on a ride and my other son who was 4 at the time wanted to go on another ride my wife was having her photo done,mayhem yes,im sure you can imagine a fairground, a woman seeing my dilema offered to take my youngest on the ride he wanted to go on with her own son i stupidly agreed to pacify my eldest son,after a micro second i realised my stupidity and told her thatx but no thanx.so i cannot see how the mcanns could have pre meditated to leave their children alone.my sons are now 23 and 17 respectivley but that moment still haunts me to this day,to think that i let a woman take my youngest away for just 5 seconds even tho it was a well intended gesture still makes me feel what an idiot i was.so i cannot imagine what the mcanns are going through.

[Salas]

I agree, if inocent then the anguish must be terrible.

These are learned, well educated Doctors, not some scroaty couple who never look after their kids. So I still cannot see their reasoning in leaving them.

I

[bensmum]

I think their pain must be dreadful and not knowing whether their daughter is alive or dead must be eating them up. Leaving the children was stupid and misguided and is a decision they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. I too hope that Madeleine will be found alive.
I still think however that the McCanns being an attractive, married professional couple has helped to get so much publicity for the case. If this had been a single, maybe unemployed, less articulate parent the press would have crucified them and I bet social services would have been on the scene quickly enough.
That can't be held against the McCanns - they are onlty doing what any parent would in the circumstances.

[Smurf Queen]

I think blame could be apportioned like this

50% abductor
35% the parents
12% police
2% public indifference
1% Madeline

(personally I give 0% of a toss)

[stokemaveric]

tut tut smurfqueen how can you not be touched by the little girls plight?

[Smurf Queen]

because life is tough and it goes on after people die

[B00]

Jesus smurf queen that's a bloody terrible thing to say!!

Regardless of who's to blame or who we think is to blame the bottom line is that a 4year old child is missing. To say something along the lines of what you have shows a total lack of empathy which quite frankly is scary.

[Petal~flower]

What a terrible thing to say Smurf Queen. how can you not be touched by this. I think most people would agree that the parents should never of left those children by themselves. And that will be with them till the day they die. They will never forgive themselves.

[radiogaga]

this family will be profoundly affected by there decision to leave there children alone. who are we to judge, take there other children away?? why do that, this family are suffering enough and will do so even if wee maddie is found safe and well.
everyone is entitled to an opinion i suppose.

[Smurf Queen]

ill paraphrase - i dont give a toss about this story nor the debate

the arbitrary figures were intended to satirize people who talk way too much about a random tragedy

i cared 100 days ago maybe even felt that dreaded word 'empathy' did it help anyone?

BOO ask yourself when does pride in your own empathy come at a cost of proportionality?

do i live the rest of my life in empathy for a three year old? (frankly to call her a four year old is to posit an alternative reality)

should i have empathy for all missing children or just this particular one?

[stokemaveric]

smurf queen your use of the english language is indeed quite impressive but i have 3 words out of the whole english dictionary which sums you up perfectly CALLOUS,MEAN,COLDHEARTED.

[chitchat]

Smurf Queen - the fact that you have taken time to reply to this debate on more than one occasion would indicate to the contrary.

[Oneeyedvic]

Going back to the original question, I am curious as to how stokemaveric you know how the Portuguese Police handled the case.

Under Portuguese law they do not speak to the press (unlike our system) so the media in this country have portrayed them as poor purely because the media in this country have not had answers to any of their questions.

[stokemaveric]

oneyedvic im sure you would agree that the portugese police have handled the case badly the law in their own country is their own business ,but detective work is the same all over the world isnt it?the police HANDLING of this case has been poor ie in the DETECTIVE work being done, not the PUBLIC RELATIONS side of things......

[leewayne]

How was it 1% madeleines fault smurf queen,poor little girl,its not her fault at all. I partly blame the pairs,they made a terrible judgement on leaving there children in a room on there own in a foreign country,even if madeleine wasnt taken,anything else could have happened to them children in a split second i.e choking,blanket over face,madeleine could have wondered off also if she see her parents werent there regardless of them checking on them every 10 mins.I wouldnt leave my children alone just to pop to the corner shop!! I hope she is alive and well but sadly i dont feel she is. I cant begin to imagine what there going through not knowing where there child is. Yet again i would never even think of leaving my children for a split second at such a young age

[leewayne]

meant parents sorry

[Oneeyedvic]

stoke - I must confess that I haven't followed this case very much - however it has been very clear from the start that the media in this country are portraying the Portuguese police badly purely because they are not informing the media as to what is happening.

I can't say if they have behaved well or badly simply because i (like every one else including the media) don't know what they have or haven't done

[alijangra]

I dont know how anyone can claim to know how the police are conducting their investigation.