Madeleine McCann suspect

Yes, chewbacca, I remember the case of Azaria Chamberlain and the dingo in the Outback.

I also remember the case of Joanne Lees and her partner, Peter Falconio. They were attacked in the Outback and the partner was murdered, but Joanne Lees was slated by the media because she didn't react the way they thought she should and she was branded as guilty. She hid in the bush all night in the pitch dark, but no one seemed to think that she might be utterly traumatised by what had happened.

To me, Kate McCann has looked haggard and traumatised and haunted all these years. Someone posted further back that the McCanns are "lucky" their marriage didn't fall apart with the strain. I doubt that luck had much to do with it, more a case of working hard to keep the marriage together for the same of the bereft twins whose childhood has been wrecked by what happened to Madeleine.

Oopsminty he boasted apparently.
Caroline Hogg was at my DS nursery school though not at the same time.
Susan Maxwell's parents were friends of my in-laws.
I think the McCann parents have a strong faith which comforts them

The work on this bloke has been ongoing for 3 years I believe

Very difficult to get any evidence apparently

The German police appear to be very sure

We'll just have to wait and see

If it is him , big if as we have no idea, I'd like to think he'd own up and tell the McCanns where they will locate their little girl

It seems this guy has already been tried and convicted on gransnet and other media. Unless he can come up with Madeleine's whereabouts or remains, there a lot of investigating still to be done.

Why didn’t the police take more notice of him at the time? He was known right at the beginning but not seen as a suspect at the time. Also the twins are teenagers now, how awful for them to see all this publicity again. I wonder what they think of their parents decision now they are old enough to understand?

It's odd that this suspect has only just come to light after all these years, I find it incredible. I often wonder how the parents of this little girl have lived with themselves. The guilt, the terror of that night, what happened to their child and what could have happened to the twins. We'll never know what they were thinking when they left those kids alone that night. The only saving grace is that the twins were spared.

I was always paranoid about my children’s safety which wasn’t helped by the murder of Caroline Hogg who disappeared from up north but whose body was found near to Twycross Zoo. If my memory serves me right it had a knock on effect of Paddy Consadines father being wrongly implicated. We used to go to the zoo a lot when the children were young and it always upset me when we drove round that area.

I remember that case very well.

Trial by media is particularly nasty because a lot of people believe the the lies, innuendos, and news that has no relevance to the case that is printed. I remember very well that at the time that Maddie disappeared I was teaching, and at the end of the school day the cleaner came into my classroom. She leant on her brush and stuck up a conversation with me about Maddie’s disappearance. She told me ‘I think it was them that done it.’ I wondered how she could possibly say that, given that she could have no firsthand knowledge about it. She informed me that she read it in the paper!

I’m sorry folks, I can’t remember which paper it was though.

Does anyone remember the case of baby Azaria Chamberlain 30+ years ago? The family were camping in the Australian Outback when a dingo entered their tent and ran off with baby Azaria. Whilst it was widely known that hungry dingos were dangerous, and their had been other cases of children being attacked by them, the media at the time put the mother Lindy Chamberlain, on trial because she came across as being "too calm and not upset enough" at the inquest. She was subsequently sentenced to time in prison for the murder of her baby. Years later, evidence of their claims that a dingo was to blame was finally upheld and the Chamberlains were exonerated.

Trial by media. All because someone doesn't react to a situation the way we think they should.

maddyone, I too am hoping for some solid police work, I am hoping that we don't have trial by media in respect of the latest suspect . I agree that he appears to be very unsavoury but let's await developments and any trial before we decide on guilt.

I never said they were guilty just that I found the behaviour strange. I suggest you read the above official documentation ( it could take a while) before you blame the police. The Police may have made mistakes but they were not to blame for her disappearance.

Why on earth would a parent not change their clothes? What has changing earrings got to do with anything? They had two little children still to care for, so of course they would maintain some kind of daily routine, despite the appalling circumstances. Running is a huge stress buster. If a person is under the kind of stress that this couple was under, running would be beneficial to coping.
Oh no, they must be guilty because they changed their clothes. Or her earrings. Or went for a run!
Well I for one don’t believe in trial by tabloid. I believe that good solid police work, evidence, forensic evidence, and behaviour such as previous convictions or known paedophile; these are the criteria by which guilt should be judged.
And it helps when the police don’t trash the crime scene before any proper investigation has taken place. Not to mention the decision ‘the parents must have done it‘ because it’ll be much easier to convict them than actually conduct a proper investigation. And then we can write a money making book about it. Job done.

Well no, I don’t think so!

I thought at the time she had wandered out of the unlocked apartment and fallen into an open manhole or drain. Like others I found the parents behaviour strange ie the daily jogging and changes of earrings and clothing or the no comments when being interviewed. The police were overwhelmed with information and I'm sure the answer is the files. I've looked at a fraction of it mainly witness statements and a few suspects. The answers are here somewhere.

www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/sitemap.htm

I was made to feel like a fussy overprotective mother when I refused to leave my baby in one apartment with a neighbour listening out next door. This would never have been done in my family but seems quite normal and acceptable to others.

Having trained as a doctor the mother was probably more adept at controlling her mental anguish than most others and that didn’t sit well with the judgemental keyboard warriors.

If the German man proves to be the murderer I guess living in a camper van gave him a different kind of mobility and flexibility especially as the police were fixated on the parents and did little else to uncover the truth.

Being a parent means that and to be foolish and leave children alone is beyond comprehension. A poster says we are inclined to follow others and if it feels safe, you don't ask questions.
I would ask questions because they are my children and nobody else is responsible for them.
Another poster says that this family have undoubtedly suffered and people should not make disparaging remarks, I expect they have suffered and they have had to come to terms with their loss, the whole case has been sad. I have compassion and much of it for Madeleine even in all the photographs that are shown of her on T.V. and in all of those photographs I cannot help but look in her face and just see an Angel not sure why but she was a beautiful child.

Being a parent means that you do question!
Only foolish or uncaring parents would have done this.
Saying ‘it felt safe’ is just an excuse.These were intelligent people.There are no excuses, it was a negation of all parental duty and love to leave them alone IMHO ( for those who demand opinions have this tagged on.)

I find it difficult to believe that after all this time and undoubted suffering of this family that people still wish to make disparaging comments. They have suffered and will continue to do so whatever the outcome of the investigation. Let's hope for a resolution and some peace. How about some compassion?

What?

An analogy for anyone who finds it hard to accept that the McCanns could leave their children asleep while they ate with their neighbours:
Picture a seaside scene and the shallow water is full of happy bathers. You see them in the sea and run to join in.

Picture a second scene: Same beach but nobody in the sea and instead a big flag saying Beware of Sharks.
Do you run in?

Just saying. We are all inclined to follow what others do, and if it feels safe, you don't question.

I really hope this new lead will lead somewhere.

As t the McCanns, yes, awful,they will live with this forever.
I can still say though, that they were so wrong to leave three young children on their own for so many nights.It wasn’t a one off, they met friends every night at a tapas bar.
People say it was ‘only metres away’ well, 77 metres to be exact.
Nobody expects a man to break in, and abduct a child but there could have been an electrics fire or simply an accident or illness or the children being frightened on their own.
It’s something we would never have considered doing even once ( very few are perfect parents but leaving children on their own either at home or on holiday is a step too far.)
The Portuguese police were soon exposed as useless.
Poor child, it doesn’t bear thinking about.

Kate and Gerry McCann have had to live with the mistake they made of leaving their three children alone in that apartment on that fateful night. Nobody can be without sympathy for that probably terrified 3 year old child and I have always believed that she was probably killed soon after she was abducted. (Bless her may she be sleeping in the arms of the Angels) It is beyond full comprehension why an intelligent couple as they were thought it okay to leave the children without a babysitter and unsupervised, the fact that themselves and friends were going backwards and forwards to check on the children was not enough and someone saw their chance and abducted her.
It has been many years and whatever happens in regard of this latest suspect I hope the police investigation comes up with something as little Maddie deserves the right to a sacred resting place and closure to this story that has gone on for long enough.

The poor parents! At least reviving public awareness about the poor little girl and her parents means people still remember her

Keffie
Excellent post.

To some, blonde haired people imply a superior physical race, going back to the teutonic age. Reading your comment ladymuck did suddenly lead me to Germany and a shiver went down my spine about the German suspect, also blonde. Maybe he thought people wouldn't be suspicious if he were seen carrying a child who was similar to him in appearance?

Blonde haired children have also been perceived as being cleaner (purer), though the more beautiful children are usually dark. (I studied some of this in Art lessons).

The theory that she was abducted because there is a market for blonde, blue-eyed children has never made sense to me. Surely the younger girl would have been the choice in that case.
This latest theory opens up so many questions about the investigation at the time.
The media have kept her in our thoughts all these years, (just as they did with poor Keith Bennett). It would be a great relief to the public as well as her parents to finally discover the truth about what happened.