Maddie

I am not clear about the expectations of the investigation. Are they looking for a child's body, or a young woman who is still alive? I am assuming that cases are closed when there are no further leads, so I imagine there are some or they could not justify asking for more funding. But it does seem to be taking a long time; and it is very hard to think that the investigation has been on-going consistently all this time with no clear leads, but now they have one. Who knows?

Altogether a sorry case.

I too remember her parents being ‘persons of interest’.

No one is expecting the parents to give up, but the taxpayers should not be expected to continually fund a search for one child. All missing children should receive the same attention, as all parents are equally heartbroken.

If alive , the girl would be a teenager now.
If not, there can be no more stones unturned by now, so I can’t see any amount of money now helping, sadly.

The parents never called her Maddie - ever. What makes anyone on this thread think they have the right to decide what her name is?

Urmstongran I'm sure at some point we were told it wasn't paid for by the taxpayer. The case has received so much media attention that money was pouring in. Is that no longer the case?
Even if taxpayers are paying, so much public money is spent on wasteful things and useless things this is neither a better nor worse use of money.

Harsh as it is for the parents, no other missing child is afforded the financial investment of the search for Madeleine Mccann. Either it's standard policy for ALL missing children or none. I appreciate the parents will be devastated at the run down of the operation, but the money can be spent in areas more likely to garner a result.

Personally I think that looking for Maddie is only a part of what’s going, I believe and I may well be wrong, but I personally believe that this is much bigger than maddie and that she holds the key to perhaps breaking a worldwide ring

I don’t believe this money is about finding one little girl I think she is the pin.

Her parents called her Madeleine.
The press and media call her Maddie. I don’t suppose the McCanns care as long as her case is kept in the spotlight in the hope of finding her. If they minded I’m sure they would have instructed their team to correct it.

You are harsh in your judgements MaizieD and often quick to shoot posters down in a mean way. You must enjoy it and I shouldn’t be surprised. But strangely it stings and I always am.

Just after Madeleine disappeared my DiL lost her own young child. If she can have the compassion to say that ‘at least we know what happened to xxxxx. It must be so much worse never knowing what happened to Madeleine’ then surely those on here who’ve never had to suffer the loss of a child should think again.

Can’t you all look to a bigger picture I don’t believe for one minute all the expenditure is to find one little girl it just doesn’t happen like that for ten years We do not know what goes on behind the scenes or what the police are actually searching for
If it saves one child from being abducted or sexually exploited then it would have been worth it

Why did Scotland Yard not investigate the disappearance thoroughly from the beginning? To assume she was abducted and start from there is contrary to normal police procedure.
There are so many conflicting witness statements, the behaviour of the parents rang false (and continues to, to this day), and the cadaver dogs had never been wrong in 200 investigations.
In many people's opinion, including the local police, Madeleine died in that apartment and lay there for long enough for the cadaver dogs to show where (behind the settee). There were spatters of blood on the wall which made the local police conclude that she had climbed onto the window ledge (trying to see outside for her parents?) and presumably fallen.
When checking the children the parents did not go into the apartment but merely stood outside to hear if there was any crying.
That night a witness saw a man carrying a ?sleeping? child away from the complex and provided a photo fit which looks eerily like the missing child's father. The witness then contacted the authorities after he saw a news clip showing the father returning to the UK carrying one of the twins and identified him as the man he saw on that night.
There is much more evidence but the media in the UK were selective about what was reported.
The parents were taken in as suspects but with the absence of a body charges were never laid.
Enough money has been wasted on this investigation and the farce needs to be stopped now.

Here we go again, the parents put their child’s body in the boot of their car , not immediately, they kept the little body in the fridge untill the police and media had stopped surrounding the apartment, the father was seen disposing a fridge at a dump.

Not true, the parents went to the church in the night and
the priest helped them bury the little body under the
church.

Not true, there were road works near the apartment so the parents disposed of their child in a hole in the road.

I too wonder if this is an investigation around a paedophilic ring and bigger than Madeleine herself. I lost a four year old many years ago to cancer, my faith tells me I know where my child is and I said goodbye to him. I cannot bear the thought of not knowing what happened to your child, their minds must give them nightmares every day so I do feel sorry for them. However I would never have left my children on their own in a foreign country ( or anywhere) and think they must surely wish they never had. What a price to pay for a meal with friends! As to the money I don’t care about that, it’s only money if it brings good in the end it’s worth the spend.

The last 2 posters have made points that are very interesting and thought provoking. Espee I had read of these details and puzzled about why the case (a) gained such very high profile attention and (b) why the so called Tapas 7 clammed up as they did. I remember also there was a lot of speculation at the time when Mrs. McCann washed ‘cuddle cat’ straight after her daughter’s disappearance. Are these conspiracy theories or do they reflect a general unease in the publics perception of the case?

If you are on the right track BlueBelle (and a good many people support your view) why don’t the Met Police come clean and explain why so much money has been spent on this case and the need for more?

I’m sure I read somewhere that the McCanns had used a huge amount of the fund raised money to fight their own legal battles when they had been accused, which greatly annoyed donors as that wasn’t what they had given money for.

Enough money has been wasted on this investigation and the farce needs to be stopped now.

esspee if you believe all in your long post, why on earth would you want the investigation stopped?

I agree with Bluebelle.
If it saves one child it must be worth doing.
We can all say smugly with hindsight that we'd never leave our infants unattended. It will be the same in the aftermath of the tragic murder in Bute where no one will ever again leave a front door unlocked even when they are in the house.
We can't ever be 100% vigilant and as they used to say on crimewatch, don't have nightmares. These things are still very rare.

Scotland Yard are obviously on to something or they wouldn't bother. The search/investigation includes a " sensitive issue " of sorts which the police have obviously followed, so hopefully it'll bring some news of a positive nature.
No parent will ever give up hope, even if the outcome isn't as they expected as long as they find their child.

I wouldn’t have expressed it in quite that way, maryeliza54, however I do agree with the point you made. It was similar in the tragic case of James Bulger. Sections of the press and various television presenters referred to him as ‘Jamie’, not his name! and must have been hurtful for the parents.

I do agree with you Maryeliza but I thought the point wasn't worth raising.

Oh I do hope you are right Ellanvannin.

I would recommend the Amaral book to anyone interested in this case. It is available on the internet with some judicious googling.

The McCanns are surprisingly well connected people.

I do not think the investigation should continue.

There should only be continued funding if the police are still actually working on the case. What exactly are they doing? Surely by now, they will have followed up all leads, and investigated all possible explanations? I got the impression that the Portuguese police did their job efficiently but came up against a dead end.

If there are murky waters to investigate perhaps it’s taking time because it’s the police versus the Establishment with very good lawyers and connections.

I think it must be heartbreaking for the family but in my opinion they are pouring money into a bottomless pit. How long is long enough? 11 years ? 20 years? More?

I think my key question is what other criminal investigations are being ‘shelved ‘ through lack of funding to keep this one hanging on by a tenuous thread?

RosieLeah I got the opposite impression to you in that the Portuguese police did not do their job efficiently. For one thing, a spokesperson for them stated "we do not have paedophiles in Portugal" which was a very poor starting point for an open-minded investigation.

I remember at the time that it was reported that the large skip-type rubbish bins behind the apartment complex were allowed to be emptied the day after Madeleine disappeared when they had not been thoroughly checked.