Maddie

Yes Maggie I heard about that but the family still don't know what happened to Ben. I've seen his mum interviewed a few times and, while she has every sympathy with the McCanns, she has never understood why they got so much help/publicity.

Riverwalk
I don't believe the child is alive. After all these years the police, both abroad and from here have no leads. Why throw more money at the investigation?
The parents will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.

I find it odd that people are recommending the book written by Goncalo Amaral, who was taken off the McCann case and convicted of perjury and falsifying documents in another case of a missing child, Joana Cipriano. This 8 year old went missing in 2004 within 7 miles of Praia de Luz, and again her body was never found. Amaral was found guilty of covering up for other police officers, accused of torturing and beating Joana's mother into a confession of murder, which she retracted the next day.

The Ben Needham case was never closed, KatyK. Excavations were carried out in Kos just last year after a man (now dead) admitted that he had killed Ben by accident and hidden his body. I'm not sure this was proved conclusively to be the case, but forensic tests were carried out on some items found that were thought to have been Ben's.

I don't know if I agree with more funding or not. It's such a difficult one. However, some of the parents of other missing children, such as Ben Needham, must be very annoyed about all this.

I think the same Sparklefizz. It was always going to come out that they had left the children alone so what would be the point in it?

I personally think anyone who thinks the McCanns are responsible directly for the death of their daughter are totally deluded.

If that were true, Gonegirl , and she had hit her head and died, why would the parents just not call an ambulance? They are doctors, they know the procedures.

The book mentioned elsewhere on this thread is on you tube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_ZdDTsFC2g It suggests that Madeleine heard her father talking outside the apartment, got out of bed, climbed on the sofa to open the window, fell and hit her head.

I didn't know this. Maybe it's a better possible conclusion than if she had been taken by a paedophile, which is an unbearable thought.

I don't know what to think but don't enquiries publish findings? Is there no accounting for the money?

There's an endless public appetite for unsolved mysteries. Look at us!!

There are those we thought were solved like Anastasia the Tzar's daughter, president Kennedy's assassination.
The moors murders.
Jack the Ripper
Even the princes in the tower..
someone will come up with a new theory to keep us wondering.

I don't know what to say really. They'll never get over losing Maddie but the money could maybe be better spent on more recent events now. Twelve years is a long time and the trail of any forensic evidence must have gone cold. It's a very sorry situation for all concerned.

.... or even checked at all !!

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Oh I do hope you are right Ellanvannin.

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

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.

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 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.

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?

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.

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.

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.