Would it have been better if the McCanns had given up on Madeleine years ago?

[Alfred R Jones]

If someone didn't take Madeleine away from her family, would it have been better all round (for you, for the country's coffers and general well-being, for the McCanns themselves) if they had just accepted that fact and got on with their lives quietly?

It would certainly have been much better for the McCanns in such a circumstance, but the fact is they didn't choose that path did they?  Try and answer my question properly now.

[Alfred R Jones]

You are assuming that the parents drove everything that followed. The parents made very strong statements in the beginning. Madeleine had been taken from her bed, they weren't neglectful, they were innocent.

They got hordes of people supporting them. Friends, family, football and rugby stars, legal firms, politicians and the media. The bandwagon was rolling along after that with or without their input. We don't know if they ever tried to get off it. Madeleine wasn't their exclusive property she had a wider family and now, thanks to the publicity, hordes of people interested in her and her parents. It's possible that events were driven by others just as much as by them. Maybe it just proved too difficult to stop the bandwagon rolling along even if they wanted to.

That is sheer nonsense.  No one forced them to write a book or petition the government.  Kate could have pretended to have a nervous breakdown, they could have said that for the good of their remaining children they were withdrawing from the spotlight, anything. 

[G-Unit]

Do you view the bandwagon as a bad thing & do you think they are still riding high on it?

The bandwagon was a bandwagon, it can't be said if it was a good thing or a bad thing, it was a mixture. The cast changed - Esther McVey , Brian Kennedy, J K Rowling, Gordon Brown, Tony and Cherie Blair to name but a few. Is it still rolling? I think not. Now and again a twitch in the media but not a bandwagon any more.

[Alfred R Jones]

The bandwagon was a bandwagon, it can't be said if it was a good thing or a bad thing, it was a mixture. The cast changed - Esther McVey , Brian Kennedy, J K Rowling, Gordon Brown, Tony and Cherie Blair to name but a few. Is it still rolling? I think not. Now and again a twitch in the media but not a bandwagon any more.

And when do you believe this bandwagon stopped rolling?  All those names associated themselves with the case in the first year or two, there have been many years since in which the McCanns could have quietly drawn a line under their daughter's disappearance and slipped away from the media and any attention.

[misty]

The bandwagon was a bandwagon, it can't be said if it was a good thing or a bad thing, it was a mixture. The cast changed - Esther McVey , Brian Kennedy, J K Rowling, Gordon Brown, Tony and Cherie Blair to name but a few. Is it still rolling? I think not. Now and again a twitch in the media but not a bandwagon any more.

Do you think the bandwagon was largely responsible for getting this Tory government to address the whole issue of child abuse/trafficking, both current & historical?

[G-Unit]

That is sheer nonsense.  No one forced them to write a book or petition the government.  Kate could have pretended to have a nervous breakdown, they could have said that for the good of their remaining children they were withdrawing from the spotlight, anything.

Was the book her idea or someone else's? I don't know. I do know the deciding factor was money because she said so.
Was it their idea to petition the government? I don't know. I do think they wanted the Portuguese investigation completely discredited. Hence the request for a review, not an investigation. Had they gone into obscurity they would have been forever suspects.

[Lace]

You are assuming that the parents drove everything that followed. The parents made very strong statements in the beginning. Madeleine had been taken from her bed, they weren't neglectful, they were innocent.

They got hordes of people supporting them. Friends, family, football and rugby stars, legal firms, politicians and the media. The bandwagon was rolling along after that with or without their input. We don't know if they ever tried to get off it. Madeleine wasn't their exclusive property she had a wider family and now, thanks to the publicity, hordes of people interested in her and her parents. It's possible that events were driven by others just as much as by them. Maybe it just proved too difficult to stop the bandwagon rolling along even if they wanted to.

No,  I don't believe that it was because of the numerous people giving them support.

They had all of that support before the case was shelved,   they could easily have said there was no more that could  be done now that the PJ had shelved the case.

Instead they hired private detectives and petitioned for a review of the case.

[Lace]

Was the book her idea or someone else's? I don't know. I do know the deciding factor was money because she said so.
Was it their idea to petition the government? I don't know. I do think they wanted the Portuguese investigation completely discredited. Hence the request for a review, not an investigation. Had they gone into obscurity they would have been forever suspects.

That's not right G-Unit,   the McCann's had always said they wanted an investigation as a matter of fact Gerry said it in the Leveson inquiry and that's on video.

[Lace]

If the test is boiled down to continue searching v stop searching, then I would have continued searching.

Beyond that, the list of things I would have done differently is too long to itemise.  The de-emphasis of Smithman from when he emerged to the current time is shocking, to put it mildly.

The McCann's made it very clear that Smithman was important,  Kate wrote about him in her book too.

[Mr Gray]

That's not right G-Unit,   the McCann's had always said they wanted an investigation as a matter of fact Gerry said it in the Leveson inquiry and that's on video.

the idea that the mccanns wanted a review and not an investigation is another sceptic myth

[Alfred R Jones]

Was the book her idea or someone else's? I don't know. I do know the deciding factor was money because she said so.
Was it their idea to petition the government? I don't know. I do think they wanted the Portuguese investigation completely discredited. Hence the request for a review, not an investigation. Had they gone into obscurity they would have been forever suspects.

The deciding factor was raising money for the Madeleine Fund.  No one put a gun to her head to write it.  If it wasn't the McCanns' idea to petition the government then whose idea do you think it was?  They didn't have to do it, and the Portuguese investigation had already been thoroughly discredited in the media long before the review even began so your mooted motive doesn't hold water I'm afraid.  And finally - they are forever suspects as far as the "sceptic" community is concerned whether they'd gone into obscurity or not, as we can plainly see both here and elsewhere on the net.

[Alfred R Jones]

the idea that the mccanns wanted a review and not an investigation is another sceptic myth

Yes, what do "sceptics" imagine would have been the point of the government agreeing to push for a review that did not lead to the case being re-opened or at least some further positive action required? 

[Alfred R Jones]

Why has no "sceptic" yet agreed that it would have been far better for everyone if the McCanns had just slinked (slunk?) away under a stone once the initial investigation was shelved?  Surely from all the criticism you "sceptics" have for their nauseating media performances since then, the vast and profligate spending of taxpayers' cash by the government on the review and reinvestigation, the "Barbara Cartland-esque" novel that makes you sick to read etc, the evil bullying lawsuit against the poor wronged ex-cop,  surely you must agree that your lives would have been hugely enhanced if the McCanns had faded away into obscurity and not taken part in any of these repugnant activities over the last 7 years?

[ferryman]

Why has no "sceptic" yet agreed that it would have been far better for everyone if the McCanns had just slinked (slunk?) away under a stone once the initial investigation was shelved?  Surely from all the criticism you "sceptics" have for their nauseating media performances since then, the vast and profligate spending of taxpayers' cash by the government on the review and reinvestigation, the "Barbara Cartland-esque" novel that makes you sick to read etc, the evil bullying lawsuit against the poor wronged ex-cop,  surely you must agree that your lives would have been hugely enhanced if the McCanns had faded away into obscurity and not taken part in any of these repugnant activities over the last 7 years?

Yes!

In the immediate wake of Madeleine's abduction, I do recall some sceptics confidently predicting that the McCanns would crawl away anonymously into the woodwork, never to be seen or heard of again.

When that didn't happen, all the criticism was of their efforts to keep the investigation open and keep Madeleine's profile in the public eye high.

There's just no pleasing some folk ....

[stephen25000]

Yes!

In the immediate wake of Madeleine's abduction, I do recall some sceptics confidently predicting that the McCanns would crawl away anonymously into the woodwork, never to be seen or heard of again.

When that didn't happen, all the criticism was of their efforts to keep the investigation open and keep Madeleine's profile in the public eye high.

There's just no pleasing some folk ....

What abduction ferryman ?

Keep to the proved facts.

Abduction isn't.