I'd like to address the protestation that it would be impossible for the McCanns to appear 'normal' in a situation where they were aware that some tragedy had befallen their child
Within a matter of days of their three year old daughter having been snatched from her bed, and carried off into the darkness by a predator ( according to them ) the McCanns were photographed smiling broadly as they left church on what would have been their daughter's fourth birthday
Within two weeks of Madeleine's disappearance both Kate and Gerry were going for runs, and Gerry was playing tennis with the the Mark Warner tennis coach. There were no tears when interviewed, and Gerry McCann was filmed on a balcony, laughing and gesturing animatedly
When people remarked that all this seemed a bit 'off' they were scolded for not understanding that how people deal with personal tragedy is entirely unpredicible, and that no-one knows how they might react until they are faced with that trauma themselves
Which always sounded fair and reasonable to me
Here's the question though ... how can any of us predict how the McCanns would have behaved that night ( if they were aware that some tragedy had occurred ) ?
We accept that their situation is outside anything we can imagine, and their behaviour entirely unpredictible as a consequence ... so how can we say, with certainty, that they would not have been able to behave 'normally' ?