The parents of a missing child don't matter.

[G-Unit]

There you go again posting your opinions as if they were facts.   I speak from personal experience when I say that strong emotions can be controlled.  I was devastated when my husband died.    He and my grandson who was 4 at  the time adored one-another.  Everytime I saw my grandson I was reminded of what he had lost (a wonderful grandfather) as well as what I had lost.  I was so sad for him - but I managed to never cry in front of him. 

I didn't cry in front of my kids either when they came to visit me.   They were upset enough without me adding to their distress by sending them home worrying about me -  as well as coping with the loss of their beloved dad.

As soon as I was on my own again - it was a different story.

That is how I behaved, but I would not be so arrogant as to tell people who handled things differently that  unless they behaved like me - there was something wrong and unnatural about them.

There are no right or wrong ways to deal with grief.   You don't seem to understand that.

I don't intend to be arrogant at all. I shared a little of my life because I was accused of being cold and uncaring. I learned the difference between losing someone who is older and has had a good shot at life and losing someone who had great promise which remains unfulfilled. My grief wasn't for myself, it was for a young person who never got to experience those things which older people have done. It's very painful when a life is cut short.

[Brietta]

How true. The McCanns were convinced they knew better than the Portuguese Police. They thought their Private Investigators were more able to solve the case than the Portuguese Police. They thought they should be given all the evidence collected by the UK and Portuguese Police so they could carry out their own investigation. They thought is was acceptable to re-interview witnesses and harass them. They thought they could demonstrate the unreliability of the dogs. They thought they could control the media.

They didn't control it ... but you cannot deny they made a damn good job of using it ... they got their message out and they got the maximum publicity for their daughter.  Well done them!

Unfortunately they were not alone in getting a message out.

RECORDED FROM TRANSMISSION: BBC ONE
DATE: 19:11:07

MAY 5th
We would again like to appeal for any information, however small, that may lead to the safe return of Madeleine.

BILTON: First appeals are made, but what we didn't know at the time was that some Portuguese detectives are already telling Portuguese journalists that they don't believe the McCann story.

JOSE MANUEL OLIVEIRA

Crime reporter, 'Diario de Noticias'

Information started circulating from sources connected to the Portuguese police that the story was full of holes from the side of the McCanns and their friends.

Indeed within two days of Madeleine disappearing, this crime correspondent was filing this piece in the Portuguese Daily: Diario of the Noticias: "Headline: a badly told story."

We started to receive information according to which the police suspected the theory they had apprehensions, didn't believe the theory that she had been kidnapped.

To conclude, the police started to suspect the parents from the word go.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7106086.stm

[stephen25000]

They didn't control it ... but you cannot deny they made a damn good job of using it ... they got their message out and they got the maximum publicity for their daughter.  Well done them!

Unfortunately they were not alone in getting a message out.

RECORDED FROM TRANSMISSION: BBC ONE
DATE: 19:11:07

MAY 5th
We would again like to appeal for any information, however small, that may lead to the safe return of Madeleine.

BILTON: First appeals are made, but what we didn't know at the time was that some Portuguese detectives are already telling Portuguese journalists that they don't believe the McCann story.

JOSE MANUEL OLIVEIRA

Crime reporter, 'Diario de Noticias'

Information started circulating from sources connected to the Portuguese police that the story was full of holes from the side of the McCanns and their friends.

Indeed within two days of Madeleine disappearing, this crime correspondent was filing this piece in the Portuguese Daily: Diario of the Noticias: "Headline: a badly told story."

We started to receive information according to which the police suspected the theory they had apprehensions, didn't believe the theory that she had been kidnapped.

To conclude, the police started to suspect the parents from the word go.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7106086.stm

and the message has achieved what ?

DON'T LEAVE VERY YOUNG CHILDREN BY THEMSELVES WHILST GOING OUT DRINKING, perhaps  ?

[Anna]

It's too late.

The horse has bolted.

The mccanns or anyone else won't be prosecuted.

There is a need though for clear unequivocal laws , as regards leaving children unattended.

So you are saying that it is too late, so why do you keep telling us of their neglect, if nothing can now be achieved by doing so?

[G-Unit]

They obviously have a different way of showing grief, shock or crumbling as you call it.
Anger and loss of control, is what they appear too have experienced by the look of it.
Gerry was on his knees howling like an animal and Kate was hitting out at anything, to the point of leaving herself bruised.
And who was she blaming.......Herself. "We let her down Gerry" or words to that effect.

Which makes them seem very emotional people, not reticent and in control. Then it changed to the complete opposite. Iron discipline and control thereafter. I do agree with Kate Mccann, they did let Madeleine down with tragic results.

[stephen25000]

So you are saying that it is too late, so why do you keep telling us of their neglect, if nothing can now be achieved by doing so?

I will rephrase what I said.

They are unlikely to be prosecuted for clear neglect.

Too much egg on too many faces for that to happen.

The Portuguese should have charged them whilst they were still there after her disappearance, and of course they can't be charged in this country, but they feared extradition.

[Anna]

Which makes them seem very emotional people, not reticent and in control. Then it changed to the complete opposite. Iron discipline and control thereafter. I do agree with Kate Mccann, they did let Madeleine down with tragic results.

Like you G, I had a someone that I loved dearly, a brother in fact who died very young. I was angry and blamed everyone including myself. I was so angry that I broke a mirror when I threw an ornament which  hit it, instead of the wall in my bedroom.
Publicly, I had to be strong for my mother and younger siblings. 
I cried in private and I walked around the village for hours at a time, trying to make sense of it all. I guess that is why I am as I am now.
I never saw my parents cry either.

[Brietta]

Which makes them seem very emotional people, not reticent and in control. Then it changed to the complete opposite. Iron discipline and control thereafter. I do agree with Kate Mccann, they did let Madeleine down with tragic results.

Mr Amaral apparently thought the phrase had a medical connotation meaning Madeleine was dead ... perhaps that is something he should have checked out with someone who might have been able to assuage his prejudices on that.

Between that and wanting to see a priest ?? case closed.

I can just see why there has been a cultural misinterpretation here.  I find it extraordinary that Brits still quote it as 'evidence' of guilt (check the gofundme comments) and justification for hounding Madeleine McCann's parents.

                         You would think they would know better, but apparently not.

[Anna]

I will rephrase what I said.

They are unlikely to be prosecuted for clear neglect.

Too much egg on too many faces for that to happen.

The Portuguese should have charged them whilst they were still there after her disappearance, and of course they can't be charged in this country, but they feared extradition.

They weren't charged in Portugal, because they were found to be not guilty of abandonment.

How do you know that they feared extradition?

And back to the original question: What can be achieved now from reminding us on a daily basis, that they left their children to go and have dinner. Character assassination?

[Mr Gray]

If the mccanns were trying to cover up any crime it would have been easy to feign emotion...they haven't...another sign of their innocence

[G-Unit]

Like you G, I had a someone that I loved dearly, a brother in fact who died very young. I was angry and blamed everyone including myself. I was so angry that I broke a mirror when I threw an ornament which  hit it, instead of the wall in my bedroom.
Publicly, I had to be strong for my mother and younger siblings. 
I cried in private and I walked around the village for hours at a time, trying to make sense of it all. I guess that is why I am as I am now.
I never saw my parents cry either.

How awful, please accept my sympathies. Things like that leave deep wounds, don't they?  Yes, anger too. Anger at anyone and everyone, at God if you're a believer, at fate if not. Eventually you find an answer which enables you to carry on, but it takes a long time. The answer we found was that living might have been worse for him, strange as that sounds. I never actually cried, but filled up and had to stop speaking at times.

[stephen25000]

They weren't charged in Portugal, because they were found to be not guilty of abandonment.

How do you know that they feared extradition?

And back to the original question: What can be achieved now from reminding us on a daily basis, that they left their children to go and have dinner. Character assassination?

Don't you know Anna, they hired a lawyer whose expertise in extradition proceeding is well known, and has been mentioned on this forum numerous times.  &%+((£

Which is one aspect I have noted among mccann supporters

Even though information has been supplied before, they still want cites.

My memory is excellent by the way.

Michael Caplan.

As to character assassination, they did that all by themselves.

[Anna]

Don't you know Anna, they hired a lawyer whose expertise in extradition proceeding is well known, and has been mentioned on this forum numerous times.  &%+((£

Which is one aspect I have noted among mccann supporters

Even though information has been supplied before, they still want cites.

My memory is excellent by the way.

Michael Caplan.

As to character assassination, they did that all by themselves.

Because they hired this lawyer does not necessarily mean that they feared extradition, does it?  To be honest, I must admit that it would scare me too.

If you believe they have assassinated their own character, all by themselves, then I am sure they don't need the intervention of others.

[Anna]

How awful, please accept my sympathies. Things like that leave deep wounds, don't they?  Yes, anger too. Anger at anyone and everyone, at God if you're a believer, at fate if not. Eventually you find an answer which enables you to carry on, but it takes a long time. The answer we found was that living might have been worse for him, strange as that sounds. I never actually cried, but filled up and had to stop speaking at times.

My sympathies to you too, G. It is hard to lose a loved one, no matter what the circumstances.
I get the lump in my throat thing too at times, but I can soon shrug it off, if in company. You can cry all night without causing embarrassment, but the red piggy eyes gives you away in the morning.

[stephen25000]

Because they hired this lawyer does not necessarily mean that they feared extradition, does it?  To be honest, I must admit that it would scare me too.

If you believe they have assassinated their own character, all by themselves, then I am sure they don't need the intervention of others.

Caplan is an expert in extradition.

Why would they fear extradition, if they had told the truth and fully cooperated with the PJ ?