Madeleine McCann

I wouldn’t dream of leaving young children in a chalet, especially two toddlers on their own- they would be with us. That restaurant wasn’t that near.
Hundreds of kids go missing every year, I don’t understand all the attention this case is receiving.
I doubt we will ever know the reason why she went missing.

I don’t think that questioning the narrative that she was abducted is a conspiracy theory. Who would be conspiring with whom, and why?

I hope that CB is never released, as he is a dangerous man who should be locked up for life; but there is no evidence (AFAIK) that he was involved in the MM case. I hope, for Madeleine’s sake, that he wasn’t.

I don’t think it was the norm in 2007 to leave babies and toddlers alone when parents were out drinking. My children were 90s babies and nobody I knew would have dreamt of doing that. Also, the bar was not a similar distance to the bottom of the garden (unless you live in somewhere like Downton Abbey). It did not have a view of the apartment and was a five minute walk from the window (further to the door if anyone had planned to go in and look at the children).

The families had been at a different bar on the previous night (twice as far away) until after midnight and Madeleine (by her mother’s admission and evidenced by witnesses) had cried for her for over an hour when she woke and found herself alone. Would you go out (particularly when there was a crèche and a babysitting service on tap) knowing that your three year old had cried for hours the night before?

I can’t justify any of that, but agree that child neglect is not the same as murder, and that a lifetime of guilt is a huge cross to bear if neglect is ‘all’ they are guilty of.

I don’t think they did kill her, but I do think that there are questions to be asked about the timeline and the truth about the supposed checks on the various children of the group in the bar.

Obviously there would be reputation damage (at minimum) for all of the people in their group if they were found guilty of neglect leading to death of a small child, so there was a definite incentive to cover their tracks. Staff at the various bars have said that regular checks were not made.

The fund set up for MM and other missing children has not, as far as I know, paid out a penny to anyone else.

I don’t claim to know what happened (how could I?) and am not interested in persecuting anyone, but I do think that there should be a proper investigation that is not centred on the assumption that Madeleine was abducted. If a body is ever found I think that might happen, but I suspect that that no body will be found.

There is a lot of interest in the case - partly because of the huge sums of money and the amount of high-powered support for the case, and partly because the parents’ account of what happened just doesn’t add up. The Portuguese policeman initially in charge of the case was removed when he suggested that the parents may have sedated the children which led to Madeleine’s death. Trained dogs found both cadaverine (basically the scent of death) and blood traces in the apartment and in a car the McCanns hired long after Madeleine was declared missing. The window of the apartment was closed, not jemmied open as KM claimed - there was no evidence of a break-in at all. The parents refused to allow blood samples to be taken from the twins to check whether the children had been sedated by the abductor until months afterwards when many substances would have left no traces - why?

I don’t know- it was all a long time ago now, but one way or another that little girl lost her life, and I believe she has a right to justice. If the parents are guilty of nothing beyond neglect they would, presumably, be pleased to be exonerated- so why do they use the fund to prosecute anyone who suggests they might have been involved? In their shoes I think I would be delighted to give as much information as I could in the hope that my daughter’s abductor could be found.

I am sure Madeleine McCann’s parents would never,ever leave their children unsupervised again. A hard lesson and there is no point in slamming them, I just feel sad for them.

Another one agreeing with dragonfly. It's no use blaming the parents. They and their friends set up a checking system which they thought was adequate but it wasn't. We all know better now.

I simply cannot believe anyone thinks the McCanns are involved in their daughters disappearance in some criminal or violent way. It is a monstrous thought. I feel a lot of compassion towards them. We have all been less than perfect parents at times.

I agree with dragonfly.

This suspect will be released from prison in September providing he can pay fines relating to other cases. If he is unable to do that he will not be released until January 2026.
The German Police who have funded this latest search were hoping to find evidence to link him with Madeleine's disappearance. He is an extremely dangerous man where all women are concerned. He is in prison at the moment for raping a lady in her eighties. The Police fear he will go to ground and will continue his criminal activities.

Of course it wouldn't but blaming parents won't bring the child back. It has changed things though, I doubt many parents leave their children now. Butlins and similar holiday camps used to have this monitoring system as did many big hotels. We've rented villas with an outside eating area and sat outside whilst children were asleep in downstairs bedrooms. It would have been easy for someone to have entered via the window and taken a child. Sophie Hook was taken from a tent on a campsite in Wales. Children are taken whilst playing in their garden or walking home from school. It's the people who take these children that we should blame not the parents who, in some people's eyes, failed to keep them safe.

Have none of you had children that you put to bed and family and friends are there, with patio doors open you sit just outside on the patio, that is the distance I believe those parents were from their children, in sight. They made a mistake, they were good loving parents, how that guilt must have racked them, they were both doctors and helped people.. A paedophile targeted them, a random premeditated crime. I feel nothing but compassion, has no one never made a mistake?Holding your child's hand in a crowd and they wriggle free, Lost sight of one for an instant. I didn't leave mine, we were lucky if we got a week in a caravan in Wales, whilst there numerous families put their children to bed and sat outside chatting, not us we were as tired as the children after a day out.
They were probably the same distance away as the McCanns.

Please let’s not open the conspiracy theories that put blame on the parents. They must have suffered torture every single day for the last 18 years. The main problem lay with the Portuguese police who didn’t secure the site so trashed any evidence there may have been. This evidence (DNA, fingerprints etc) may possibly have led to Christian Brukner straight away. or indeed another suspect, and would have saved the heartbreak of the last 18 years. Instead they tried to cover up their incompetence by making the poor parents suspects.

Don't forget, other parenrt9feel this pain too...

"In the United Kingdom, an estimated 112,853 children are reported missing every year.
National Crime Agency, UK Missing Persons Bureau."

globalmissingkids.org/awareness/missing-children-statistics/#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20Kingdom%2C%20an,Agency%2C%20UK%20Missing%20Persons%20Bureau.

What is happening to find these precious ones?

It's all terribly sad . I have had all the mixed emotion thoughts and flash back memories of when my children were young . I made many mistakes like others have said above . I don't think we will ever know what happened and the parents and siblings live each day in a never ending nightmare . I see the pictures of the beautiful baby girl and my heart breaks . The thought -judge not lest ye be judged comes to my mind to remind me of my mistakes as a young working mother with no support or help . I do believe they each checked , maybe not as often . Maybe the children should have been with them eating . Maybe they should have done things differently, all with hindsite . They and the baby girl paid the price , because a vile human being who sadly still walks this earth chose to do what he/ they did . 💔

ViceVersa

The 'British culture' to leave children alone? Not where I come from - and as I said, I genuinely do not know a single parent who would have done that. None of us know what really happened to Madeleine - but the cold hard truth is that it probably wouldn't have happened if three very young children had not been left alone.

Well, of course it wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t been left on their own, she wouldn’t have wandered off or someone wouldn’t have been able to abduct her, but the parents must have lived with that for the last 18 years.

Sadly, you can’t turn the clock back.

‘If Only’ - two of the saddest words.

The 'British culture' to leave children alone? Not where I come from - and as I said, I genuinely do not know a single parent who would have done that. None of us know what really happened to Madeleine - but the cold hard truth is that it probably wouldn't have happened if three very young children had not been left alone.

Knowing how guilt has weighed heavily on my mind after the many mistakes I made as a parent without such a terrible outcome, I can't imagine how the McCanns have got through the years since she disappeared.
It would be a relief if her body were found, but how would they be able to cope with the removal of any hope or not knowing what did happen to her.
Since her disappearance I doubt any parents or grandparents would leave children alone in a chalet, but it was not an unusual thing to do see the Butlins examples above.
I agree she probably woke and went outside to find them and was then abducted. So very sad as are all the cases of missing children.

It's what many parents did on holiday. The British culture was for the children to have an early tea and for parents to eat later once the children were asleep. Hotels and holiday resorts with apartments advertised baby listener devices with staff who walked round checking on children. The McCanns paid a dreadful and unbearable price and I for one, don't want to add to it. The Portuguese police were useless and whoever took the child is a monster fgs let's leave the family alone they have suffered so much already.

Agree ViceVersa - I made plenty of mistakes whilst bringing my children up, but I would never have left them alone like that. Someone taking my child would probably have been least from my mind, I’d worry more about choking and things like that, anything can happen if 3 young children are left alone.
The parents have suffered yes, but Madeleine paid the ultimate price.

Yes the McCanns have suffered incredibly but there seems no closure in sight. Every so often there’s another search with no results. It’s heartbreaking.

Whatever happened to Madeleine, what saddens me most is the fact that children go missing all the time yet their cases do not attract a fraction of the attention or money spent on them as this case has. Are they any less important?
And yes, I'm sure we've all made mistakes as parents, but I can honestly say that I never left mine alone on holiday, nor do I know anyone else who would do the same.

I find it very upsetting that people are still believing the conspiracy theories about the McCann’s. They are local to me and I have followed the case closely.
Yes they were wrong to leave the children in the chalets and maybe Madeleine did go looking for them although I believe she told them that the night before a man had been in the room, but I don’t believe for a minute that they had anything to do with her disappearance.
They have suffered enough.

I watched a recent documentary about the Madeleine McCann case, focusing on the suspect Christian Bruckner.

He seems a dreadful character, can well imagine he ‘did’ it, though must admit her waking up and wandering off does seem more likely than being snatched. And then him coming across her….

Whatever happened, the parents must have gone through hell the last 18 years. The ‘not knowing’ is the worst thing, at least if a body were to be found, it ends the wondering if somehow she is still alive and grown up, a captive somewhere ….

I do know that the press can make and take a story any way they wish and in Madeline’s case they wanted to torture the parents probably because of their stature in life.

Apart from the disappearance of the child, the above has always interested me.
The way the UK press got onto the story so quickly - it was the father's sister in Scotland who organised all this.
The way the press followed the parents' every movement in Portugal for weeks and kept the story alive by reporting finer details.
The way in which the press presented the family - their background, their jobs etc.
The amount of money donated through newspaper appeals for the search, the amount of money spent on the search.
The weight that even politicians gave to the importance of the case.
And yet, we are still no further on than that fateful night 18 years ago.
Very sad.

This case has always intrigued me. I am another who wonders if Madeleine wandered looking for her parents and was then taken. Like BlueBelle I feel the parents behaviour in that era. was normal for many. My brother used to do the same with his children! I too remember how things were at Butlins with the night chalet patrols!! The parents have suffered so much and I pray one day Madeleine will be found.

It’s always been a mystery from day one but I ve never felt the dreadful vitriol towards the parents that many do just awful sorrow I think what they did was more normal for the era it happened in, I never went on holidays when the children were young (well never really went on holiday at all ) but I m old enough to remember how people who went to Butlins and other holiday camps etc often went out in the evening leaving their children in bed and using a listening service The children would be in the hut alone, with someone walking around just listening at the doors once an hour or similar and if they heard crying the parents would get a tanoy message ‘Number 4 parents go to the hut’ or something similar
I believe the McCanns were not very far from the chalet and one or other were going back to check regularly (although
you re saying differently now dodlebug
but ….
I have never felt someone got in the chalet I think it much more likely the child wandered out to try and find her parents and that would be why only she came to harm not the babies
I personally think the parents have double suffered all these years losing their little girl and the awful vitriol they have received and still are I think losing the child is surely punishment enough

I haven’t followed this case in the same way as obviously you have doodlebug but I do know that the press can make and take a story any way they wish and in Madeline’s case they wanted to torture the parents probably because of their stature in life
It’s totally tragic all round and I doubt we ll ever have any answers

The poor parents, such pain