A few questions....?

Question

"We have a good relationship with them and, as well as the British officers who are in Portugal, we can feed any information sent to us back in to the enquiry through an English Speaking detective." Gerry.

1- How can that be ethical? Should Gerry be allowed to "filter" info that goes directly to him, before giving it to the PJ?
2-Has the McCanns case set a precedent that its a "lesser" crime to leave your kids alone? Wouldnt this woman have been jailed, before all this McCann publicity?
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1011/1011651_home_alone_mum_walks_free.html
3- Matthew Oldfield said he knew the shutters were open because there was more light in the room than the last time he checked. Would the shutters really let in more light, if it was dark outside? Even if a street light was near? And he,s comparing it to what?? It was his first check of the night!

4- Why have none of the media here printed that Russell O'Brien is also a suspect?
http://66.249.91.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=fr%7Cen&u=http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

And, just read this..
"McCanns are having the major forums monitored with a view to future action. "
So the last question is- Are they here???

Yep, my thoughts exactly MissPrinciple. I was banned because of the Freemasons posts, had abusive e.mails just like you have, been threatened, just like you have, so I really do think someone to do with the McCanns is posting on here. Perhaps they hope members of the public who question them, can be "scared away"?

Another question-

Just WHO is in charge of this case?

"The three friends - Fiona Payne, Russell O'Brien and Rachael Oldfield - were allowed to grill the British expatriate in a five-hour session at a police station."

Allowed to GRILL him for 5 hours?? oh my god!!!

Bobby, about the window shutters (that was a brilliant post by the way!) and the mystery of the "broken" shutters, part of the write up advertising the apartment, by the owners, does mention a problem with the shutters. It says
"The window shutters are very temperamental so please handle gently! At the side of each window is a pulley strap – pull out firmly from the bottom, but then ease the blind up/down gently or they shoot up/down and jam or break. Please also ensure all doors and windows are locked when going out. The front door has a double lock on it so you need to turn the key around twice to lock/unlock. "

You can read it here, scroll down past where it says "Eating in", to the next paragraph.

"http://www.bookmyvillas.com/villadetails.asp?villaid=10002

mshighwater, why did you put "Its interesting you didnt quote this bit though" and proceed to quote to me something? I dont understand? The reason I didnt quote the bit you seem to want me to, is because I was ASKING questions on the points Ive raised here. Or are you assuming I should only ask the questions YOU want me to? I didnt deliberately "miss out" that certain question, I just didnt need to ask it. I ask what I want, not what someone else wants me to.

Answer 1

I'm beginning to wonder BB after the sh** i got this morning and what action will they take against us they are the ones who commited a crime we are just commenting on it .

Answer 2

Sorry about this, everyone. It’s not a pleasant topic, but it is very much in the news and has been for months.
On point 3, BB, the shutters issue is interesting. Even apart from whether or not they were 'jemmied' - which I don't think will be cleared up until a trial - there were early statements which indicated that there had been a violent abduction. The apartment was meant to be in a mess and it was 'obvious' there had been an intruder. Hence, it was clear to the family immediately that the child had been abducted.
But it emerged the door had been left unlocked in order to make checking easier.
The view then became that the intruder must have entered by the window and left by the door - no-one would seriously break out of a room with a child via a window if they had entered by an unlocked front door.
However, this would make it less likely that the family had been actually under surveillance by an evildoer. If they had been, the intruder would have known the door was unlocked and would have entered and left by that route.
Somehow, there are two theories welded together here. One, that the abduction was effected by the rear of the apartment, through breaking open the shutters, entering that way and legging it down the street via the front door or returning out the window carrying the child. Such a theory might fit with surveillance but would seem to be unnecessarily awkward given the door was unlocked. It would fit more easily with a hasty plan.
Two, that the family must have been observed for some time and the abduction was a carefully-planned affair, where the intruder strolled through the door and made off with the child through the front door at a time they knew there would be no-one about.
The first makes sense of the broken shutters and the obviousness of an abduction, but doesn’t fit with a carefully-planned kidnap. The second doesn’t explain the broken shutters at all or why anyone would think immediately there had obviously been a kidnap.
All of this, by the way, comes from quoted statements from family members. And there is the additional complication of why there was such a delay in calling the police if a kidnap had been so obvious to everyone.
Just wondering, folks!

Answer 3

It's interesting that the European press is far more forthcoming with information than the UK press, isn't it? Whilst I have never been keen on the McCanns, due to the fact that the children were left alone EVERY NIGHT, not just the night in question, I was always sceptical of the conspiracy theories. Now, however, I can understand peoples suspicion entirely. There seems to have been a catalogue of misinformation, secrecy and media white-washing that is quite alarming in its scale. So much information and evidence has been contradictory or just plain unbelievable. Poor Maddie has long since ceased to be a focus of this "campaign", apart from her pictures

It's terrifying that a precedence has been set, which basically gives parents free rein when it comes to leaving children unsupervised. "Well, the McCann's did it" may well start to be a new form of defence.

I fear that we will never know the truth of what happened that night, that we will never know what happened to that poor, defenceless child and that an innocent person might, (just might) end up being charged, simply due to some less-than-convincing evidence.

Oh and as for the "they made a mistake" defence. I beg to differ. Parents are not superhuman, I'm well aware of that (being one myself), but a mistake is leaving the baby gate open for a second, leaving the front door open, not checking the pushchair straps properly etc etc. A mistake IS NOT leaving three children under three in an unlocked room, while the parents are far more than "a hundred feet away" for FIVE nights in a row. That is carelessness and negligence. For those who wish to argue that point, here is a definition of negligence from Dictionary.com:

"Failure to exercise the degree of care considered reasonable under the circumstances, resulting in an unintended injury to another party."

Sound familiar?

Edit: Thumbs down already? I'm flattered.

Answer 4

1. The quote doesn't mention the word "filter". That is your word, I presume. To "feed" information and to "filter" it mean two quite different things.

2. I have no idea but I doubt that she would have been jailed. Her children are too young and I suppose that the judge wished to give her a chance to make amends and to not punish her children unnecessarily by removing them from her care. There will have been social enquiry or background reports from a social worker before she was sentenced. I expect she will also be supported to improve her parenting skills. I hope it works.

3. Do you know whether there was a full moon that night? Why would shutters not let more streetlight in when they were open than when they were closed. If there was light in the room you would almost certainly assume that the shutters were open whether you had been in the room before or not. It is a preposterous question.

4. Where did you get that quote? I would not be surprised if they were monitoring sites like this. Isn't it a shame that anyone involved in trying to find Madeleine McCann has to waste time trawling through some of the drivel that is posted here by the likes of dave s and co.

Edit: Interesting that you didn't mention this bit (translated by Babelfish):-

"McCann are not suspects!!
July 11, 2007


"Parents of Madeleine and their friends of holidays suspectés in removal!!??

The group thus formed would have made a pact of silence...!!??"


It is a substance what reported the Portuguese weekly magazine "solénoîde".

Contradicted information!
Information was contradicted since by the door word of the PJ which did not change its position and does not regard the parents of Madeleine as suspects."

Answer 5

Ms Highwater, the Portuguese police have a very narrow view of the word 'suspect'. There is only one. But there are many 'witnesses' and among those are the two McCann parents. A witness can become an 'arguido' at any time. The friends who supposedly grilled Robert Murat last week, according to the british press, were actually having their stories re-examined at the same time. Imagine if they were found to be deliberately faulty statements. It is a possibility.

Answer 6

Wouldn't surprise me if forums are being monitored.
The last thing the Mccann's want is for the truth to emerge.
As for O'brien, how long was he missing from the dining table? And what was he doing whilst Gerry was extravagantly establishing an alibi?
As for prosecuting anyone who questions them, that would seriously backfire on them, they would have to reveal what really happened on May 3rd. Most likely they will (successfully) attempt to prevent such questions being asked on forums such as this. So much for Freedom of speech.

Answer 7

until today, i had no conviction that there was a conspiracy,i was simply against the three ring circus that has spawned around this unfortunate neglected child
however, given the vile abuse that i and others have received today, and given the multiple identities that have been created i am now firmly convinced that something sinister is going on
in short their attempts to frighten me have sadly backfired upon them
my simple theory with regard to the babbie's disappearance was that her "mothers" checking had disturbed and woken the child, that the apartment had not been properly secured, the child had wandered out into the night and spirited away by some chance pervert.now i am not so sure.
could somebody enlighten me please as to who, apart from the parents (and abductor) was the last to see her alive?is there any proof as to the fact that she was put to bed that night at all?

Answer 8

i know that some people were trying post comments onto the leicester mercury online forum but if it was a comment questioning anything about the mcanns and basically not swooning over them, the post was deleted almost immediately. very suspicious. what legal action would they take then? this country has free speech and questions have been raised that have not been dealt with.

Answer 9

I totally agree that somone is trying to control eveything said and it is possible that four headed monster going round is very anti what is being said from any perspective, but that would not be the behaviour of someone trying to silence the critics, more someone whose escaped from somewhere. Yahoo would be the only ones prosecuted in that case, not the indvidual comments, they are the facilitators and would be the ones questioned.
You have highlighted one area I question myself, and it is the way Gerry is able to discuss his movements and relationship with the police, something that would usually be gagged. I think the same about Murat and how on earth he is allowed to speak out the way he has. It is a circus and there are mainly clowns in it and I could say something spiteful about the odd elephant but will refrain...

Answer 10

I mentioned before, I think there is a lot more going on behind the scenes, a lot of powerful people and a lot of money involved. I don't think we'll ever know all the facts or get a truthful outcome.

Answer 11

A very famous quote by Voltaire - I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it. This is called democracy. What has happened to our democratic right to have our say and censorship of what is our right to question? The McCanns and their so called influential friends have no right to stop opinions or comments which conflict with theirs. They have no right to pacts of silence. They have no right to hinder the police. THIS IS YOUR DAUGHTER, MADELEINE - REMEMBER?