The parents of a missing child don't matter.

[pathfinder73]

And The Parents  aren't Suspects.

Man no longer wife murder suspect
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7856110.stm

Woof woof - good boy Eddie.

[Benice]

Then may I respectfully suggest that those people who cannot get their heads around how an account can change subtly from the witness, to the statement taker, via the translator and back again, need to get a serious grip on reality.  How anyone can claim that their sympathy for the parents of a missing child evaporated because of these slight, completely understandable (given the circumstances) discrepancies is beyond me.

I agree. 

IMO it is never taken into account that the files have been translated back and forth by different people - including amateurs -  and that it is highly improbable that no mistakes were ever made?    Even the interpretors have included notes at times saying that it was not possibe to accurately translate - and so simply did their best in the circumstances.

Also - why is the possibility of human error never taken into account?    For example - much is made of Gerry's apparently 'strange' comment to Mrs. Fenn that... 'A little girl is missing' .   Could he actually have said  ''OUR little girl is missing' - and Mrs Fenn simply misheard him?   The latter seems to make more sense to me.

If the files are accurate why would the McCanns pay £100,000 to have them professionally translated?

Treating every word in the limited number of files that we are privy to as 'gospel' and picking out a few words here and there to prove a point is a waste of time and energy IMO.   We do not have the 'full set' and what we do have are not reliable enough for them to be used for such meticulous exercises IMO.

 An example of how translating and retranslating can produce errors is mentioned in Kate's book about her diary which was translated from English to Portuguese and then back to English.

Quote

''I was really upset'' had become ''I was fed up''

''I never felt that relaxed''  had become  'I'd never felt so relaxed''
Unquote

In that last example by changing just two  little words i.e...............

''I''..... to..... ''I'd''

and

''that''..... to.... ''so'' 

............the opposite meaning of what she had really said was wrongly conveyed to the reader.

In view of the above anyone claiming that 'changing stories' as shown in the files is a valid reason not to sympathise with the parents is misguided IMO.

[Brietta]

An eight year campaign of the type waged against Madeleine McCann's parents raises a lot of questions in my mind none more so than the ludicrous beliefs on which it based and which are the 'excuse' to get the boot in.

For example ... the new leading light has forty eight questions she would like addressed and her intellect shines clearly through each one.

   &%+((£    Question 7. Where is Madeleine's pink blanket now, we know it was on her bed 4th May?   &%+((£

[slartibartfast]

If the files are accurate why would the McCanns pay £100,000 to have them professionally translated?

If the McCann translated files fix the "inaccuracies" why haven't they released them?

[Alfred R Jones]

If the McCann translated files fix the "inaccuracies" why haven't they released them?

For whose benefit?  Yours?

[Benice]

If the McCann translated files fix the "inaccuracies" why haven't they released them?

SY will have them - and they are the only ones who matter.   

[slartibartfast]

For whose benefit?  Yours?

Surely, anything that helps removes suspicion about them is to their benefit? They have spent the money, they have a website, why not publish?

[slartibartfast]

SY will have them - and they are the only ones who matter.   

Why would SY have them?

[Brietta]

SY will have them - and they are the only ones who matter.   

They will also have all the files.  As well as access to all the information which has come in since Madeleine's case was archived and since the case was reopened.
Why anyone would think that they have superior knowledge and superior information than the PJ and SY is a mystery to me.
Why they feel justified in using incomplete, flawed and poorly understood material to malign Madeleine McCann's parents in the way they have been for over eight years is an even bigger mystery.

[Brietta]

Surely, anything that helps removes suspicion about them is to their benefit? They have spent the money, they have a website, why not publish?

Let me see now  &%+((£ ... Hmmm really going to have to give it a lot of thought why all the details of an active investigation are not published throughout the investigation ... I mean ... that is what the police do isn't it?

[G-Unit]

Strange how one statement saying there were cigarette ends on a balcony can lead to pages of posts about just who was lurking there. Perhaps that statement was mistranslated? If we can't rely on the McCann's statements being correct then we can't rely on any of them.

Leaving the PJ files out of what about Madeleine's eye? Either she had a coloboma or she didn't. if she had the parents would have known because she would have been tested. If she didn't then they shouldn't have publicised it as a coloboma. it was on all the early posters 'Look for me'. It was included in the  appeal in the Lancet;

'The McCann family has asked health professionals to look out for Madeleine McCann, a 4-year-old English girl with a coloboma of her right iris, who was abducted while on holiday in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007'

Gerry admitted he used it;

Gerry McCann: "We thought it was possible this could hurt her. Her abductor might do something to her eye. But in marketing terms it was a good ploy."

Then they spoke to Piers Morgan;

K. MCCANN: If I'm honest, we haven't put too much emphasis on her eye, because I think you have to be very close to her to see it. But her eyes are slightly different colors, and one of them has this brown fleck in it. But you do notice, particularly on photographs, but --

MORGAN: Slightly distinctive eye colors and a little fleck.

MORGAN: And do you know if that would be still there if she's now eight years old?

G. MCCANN: Certainly believe it wouldn't have changed. I think there's been a pattern to be still there. That it's -- the technical term is coloboma, where there's a defect in the iris. I don't think it is actually. I think it's actually an additional bit of color. She certainly had no visual problems.

For years people have been looking for a child with a quite distinctive line in her eye which has suddenly become 'a little fleck'. Not much chance of her being identified then? It is strange tales such as these which have led to people doubting the McCanns and wondering about them. Sympathy is not forthcoming unless honesty is observed imo.

[Benice]

Strange how one statement saying there were cigarette ends on a balcony can lead to pages of posts about just who was lurking there. Perhaps that statement was mistranslated? If we can't rely on the McCann's statements being correct then we can't rely on any of them.

Leaving the PJ files out of what about Madeleine's eye? Either she had a coloboma or she didn't. if she had the parents would have known because she would have been tested. If she didn't then they shouldn't have publicised it as a coloboma. it was on all the early posters 'Look for me'. It was included in the  appeal in the Lancet;

'The McCann family has asked health professionals to look out for Madeleine McCann, a 4-year-old English girl with a coloboma of her right iris, who was abducted while on holiday in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007'

Gerry admitted he used it;

Gerry McCann: "We thought it was possible this could hurt her. Her abductor might do something to her eye. But in marketing terms it was a good ploy."

Then they spoke to Piers Morgan;

K. MCCANN: If I'm honest, we haven't put too much emphasis on her eye, because I think you have to be very close to her to see it. But her eyes are slightly different colors, and one of them has this brown fleck in it. But you do notice, particularly on photographs, but --

MORGAN: Slightly distinctive eye colors and a little fleck.

MORGAN: And do you know if that would be still there if she's now eight years old?

G. MCCANN: Certainly believe it wouldn't have changed. I think there's been a pattern to be still there. That it's -- the technical term is coloboma, where there's a defect in the iris. I don't think it is actually. I think it's actually an additional bit of color. She certainly had no visual problems.

For years people have been looking for a child with a quite distinctive line in her eye which has suddenly become 'a little fleck'. Not much chance of her being identified then? It is strange tales such as these which have led to people doubting the McCanns and wondering about them. Sympathy is not forthcoming unless honesty is observed imo.

[/b]

We have all seen the photograph showing a defect in one eye.    What does it matter if it is called a coloboma, a little fleck, a distinctive line or a defect?   We all know she has one - so what difference does it's description make in the grand scheme of things?    Are you saying that because of the different ways it has been described that  people will no longer regard it as a means of identification?   Surely not.

Sorry G-Unit but this is pure nitpicking IMO.

 

[slartibartfast]

Let me see now  &%+((£ ... Hmmm really going to have to give it a lot of thought why all the details of an active investigation are not published throughout the investigation ... I mean ... that is what the police do isn't it?

That is a complete non sequitur, the translations were publish, why not the McCann translations? Nothing to do with active investigations.

[Brietta]

Strange how one statement saying there were cigarette ends on a balcony can lead to pages of posts about just who was lurking there. Perhaps that statement was mistranslated? If we can't rely on the McCann's statements being correct then we can't rely on any of them.

Leaving the PJ files out of what about Madeleine's eye? Either she had a coloboma or she didn't. if she had the parents would have known because she would have been tested. If she didn't then they shouldn't have publicised it as a coloboma. it was on all the early posters 'Look for me'. It was included in the  appeal in the Lancet;

'The McCann family has asked health professionals to look out for Madeleine McCann, a 4-year-old English girl with a coloboma of her right iris, who was abducted while on holiday in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007'

Gerry admitted he used it;

Gerry McCann: "We thought it was possible this could hurt her. Her abductor might do something to her eye. But in marketing terms it was a good ploy."

Then they spoke to Piers Morgan;

K. MCCANN: If I'm honest, we haven't put too much emphasis on her eye, because I think you have to be very close to her to see it. But her eyes are slightly different colors, and one of them has this brown fleck in it. But you do notice, particularly on photographs, but --

MORGAN: Slightly distinctive eye colors and a little fleck.

MORGAN: And do you know if that would be still there if she's now eight years old?

G. MCCANN: Certainly believe it wouldn't have changed. I think there's been a pattern to be still there. That it's -- the technical term is coloboma, where there's a defect in the iris. I don't think it is actually. I think it's actually an additional bit of color. She certainly had no visual problems.

For years people have been looking for a child with a quite distinctive line in her eye which has suddenly become 'a little fleck'. Not much chance of her being identified then? It is strange tales such as these which have led to people doubting the McCanns and wondering about them. Sympathy is not forthcoming unless honesty is observed imo.

I've been unable to find the quote you have used coming from the horse's mouth ... plenty of attributes on various sites ... wonder if you can help with a proper cite you have it in quotation marks so he must have said it or something approximating it ... but where?



Gerry admitted he used it;
Gerry McCann: "We thought it was possible this could hurt her. Her abductor might do something to her eye. But in marketing terms it was a good ploy."

[sadie]

Strange how one statement saying there were cigarette ends on a balcony can lead to pages of posts about just who was lurking there. Perhaps that statement was mistranslated? If we can't rely on the McCann's statements being correct then we can't rely on any of them.

Leaving the PJ files out of what about Madeleine's eye? Either she had a coloboma or she didn't. if she had the parents would have known because she would have been tested. If she didn't then they shouldn't have publicised it as a coloboma. it was on all the early posters 'Look for me'. It was included in the  appeal in the Lancet;

'The McCann family has asked health professionals to look out for Madeleine McCann, a 4-year-old English girl with a coloboma of her right iris, who was abducted while on holiday in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007'

Gerry admitted he used it;

Gerry McCann: "We thought it was possible this could hurt her. Her abductor might do something to her eye. But in marketing terms it was a good ploy."

Then they spoke to Piers Morgan;

K. MCCANN: If I'm honest, we haven't put too much emphasis on her eye, because I think you have to be very close to her to see it. But her eyes are slightly different colors, and one of them has this brown fleck in it. But you do notice, particularly on photographs, but --

MORGAN: Slightly distinctive eye colors and a little fleck.

MORGAN: And do you know if that would be still there if she's now eight years old?

G. MCCANN: Certainly believe it wouldn't have changed. I think there's been a pattern to be still there. That it's -- the technical term is coloboma, where there's a defect in the iris. I don't think it is actually. I think it's actually an additional bit of color. She certainly had no visual problems.

For years people have been looking for a child with a quite distinctive line in her eye which has suddenly become 'a little fleck'. Not much chance of her being identified then? It is strange tales such as these which have led to people doubting the McCanns and wondering about them. Sympathy is not forthcoming unless honesty is observed imo.

These days coloboma is hidden by cosmetic prosthetic lenses

http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.%2fi4EXVYM77YZajiUD3OFTw&w=214&h=145&c=7&rs=1&qlt=90&o=4&pid=1.1



Tell a little girl like Madeleine that they are very pretty but they have "snake" eyes or something similar and she would soon be happily wanting cosmetic cover ups.  Any colour she liked !


http://www.giancarlofalcicchio.it/images/prosthetic20lens.jpg



I am afraid that no longer can the coloboma, whether fleck or line, be relied upon as an instant identification feature.  And neither can the eye colour.