Police Re-Open Madeline McCann Case

[Si Hunt]

David Cameron has ordered an investigation into the Madeline McCann enquiry.

Many people responding to this news are starting to feel annoyed. It goes without saying that her parents have gone through the worst thing imaginable, but why all the (tax payer funded) effort and attention on this particular case? Millions of kids go missing every year. Someone wondered how the parents of Ben Needham must feel reading this news.

It does feel as if these parents are rich, so they have a right to demand their missing child gets attention above all others. Is this fair? I don't think the fact that the McCann's were apparently negiligant with looking after their daughter, allegedly partying in another building while leaving their 3 kids unsupervised, has helped evoke much sympathy. Some people are even wondering why they haven't been charged with child neglect and even why they are still allowed custody of their two other kids.

So what do you think about this? Is it right that this child, as desperate and tragic as her dissapearance was, gets this special attention? The PM today called it an "exceptional case". But why is it exceptional?

Si.

[Rob McCow]

I don't know.

Good luck to them in finding their child, anyway.

[Jason Thompson]

I agree it's a complicated situation. I can't imagine what it is like to lose a child, but like you, I fail to see what is so exceptional about this one case above all others. What did they think they were doing leaving children that young alone in a hotel room on holiday in the first place? Why does their case deserve so much more media attention and effort than any other? David Cameron calls it an 'exceptional case', but surely it is only exceptional because it has had so much media attention?

[Alex]

I agree with Jason. It's an awful situation, obviously, but I can't help but feel it's a waste of money. It's been estimated that it will cost £3.5 million, which could of course pay for so many other things (nurses, hospital beds, investigations in to other crimes), and I can't see what else can be done. The British police have been involved since the beginning, anyway, the original crime scene was contaminated to a ridiculous extent apparently, so they can learn nothing from that, and all of the leads of the time have been exhaustively explored.

If it wasn't for the fact that people are (now) sympathetic towards the McGanns, and they're white posh people, I don't think Cameron would have done this at all, and it stinks of being a bit of a PR stunt if you ask me...

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I think it's a bit disgusting really. Not that I'm not sympathetic, but I do think that the Prime Minister should always be above begging letters. No matter what the sums of money, or how good the cause, it can't be right that the PM can just give chunks of treasury money out to good causes on a whim. It's setting a dangerous precedent.

[Stuart Wallis]

It's sad that Madeline's missing, but she's been gone for so long now that part of me now fears the worst, and the rest of me thinks that if she's still alive, how would anyone recognise her after all this time? The story may only have legs to this day because the parents keep it in the public eye. I really would like to be generous and think that they're doing so because they've realised Madeline's gone because they turned their back for ten minutes and want to make up for it, rather than it gives the press something to write about.

[Jason Thompson]

I really would like to be generous and think that they're doing so because they've realised Madeline's gone because they turned their back for ten minutes and want to make up for it, rather than it gives the press something to write about.

Even if we generously assume that to be the case, why shold they get millions of pounds' worth of help at the taxpayers' expense to make up for their own shocking lapse in judgement as parents?

Children disappear or are abducted depressingly often. One cannot watch them all the time, and it only needs a small lapse in concentration in a crowded supermarket to lose a child for the short time it needs for someone to snatch them away or for a tragic accident to befall them. Worse, in some cases a trusted family friend may be responsible, or perhaps they disappeared on the walk home from school. The McCann's were on holiday and quite wilfully left their very young children alone and unsupervised in an unlocked ground floor hotel room so they could go and have a nice dinner. What sensible parent does that?

[WhiteCrowNZ]

It's hard to really say stuff about this. I know it polarises a lot of people.

Personally I find something very uncomfortable about the media circus and celebrity this couple has courted from the off. It would be nice to get to the truth - although as Shannon Matthews case has shown, sometimes the truth is that the parents have been keeping something secret.

So far all this case has to show is a vague description from some people at the Tapas bar, and a wild goose chase all over the world of hysterical people who've seen a blonde girl with black haired parents ...

[Rob McCow]

Given the world-wide media hunt, I think if she was alive then they might have found her by now. As far as I'm aware, they haven't found any suspects, leads or even vague clues as to whether anyone broke into their flat and stole the child.

I also think that alienating and villifying the Portugese police was a really, really bad idea. If anyone was in a position to investigate the case, it would be the local police force.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I think that's the problem, the whole thing has felt like a circus from the beginning over a "hunt for a little girl".

[Stuart Wallis]

Even if we generously assume that to be the case, why shold they get millions of pounds' worth of help at the taxpayers' expense to make up for their own shocking lapse in judgement as parents?

As Mike said, it's difficult to say something negative or sarcastic about the parents without being thought of as being bad-spirited where the child's concerned, especially considering the number of parents who use this site. My point was, I'd like to be generous towards them but...