Madeleine McCann

[Suffolk_fox]

Shocking!

I'm going to hell. I smirked.

Meet you there. If you're there first, save me a good seat. Preferably not too near Ultra....

[Finnegan]

Meet you there. If you're there first, save me a good seat. Preferably not too near Ultra....

We'll be in a different circle to him, I'd imagine. No worries.

[Phube]

I ed!!!!

Sicko!!!

[Kilworthfox]

New book out....

LMFAO

[Zingari]

LMFAO

i'm disguted at myself , i found that funny

[Yaxx]

Still, there are many things which have not been adhered to, such as preservation of the crime scene, proper searches being carried out, best evidence etc.

Indeed so, and therein lies the problem. You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to see that the Portugese police have made a complete dogs dinner of the investigation thus far. They are clearly way out of their depth, bungling around in a Clouseau-like fashion and hiding behind a wall of secrecy. It's taken a few 'words of advice' and 'guidance' from the Metropolitan police, amongst others, to get the investigation onto any kind of sensible footing. Too little, too late, I'm afraid.

There has been lots of claim and counter-claim in the press, especially in Portugal where wild speculation is rife. The truth is we just don't know what's happened, and the worrying thing is I don't think the Portugese police do either. If the McCanns were responsible for the death of their daughter then, let's face it, they've put up one hell of a charade. Nevertheless, their behaviour has been rather odd at times it has to be said, and don't be surprised if a forensic psychologist or two hasn't been called in to look and listen and give their opinion. It's also not unheard of for events such as interviews, press conferences etc.. to be 'stage-managed' by the investigators in order to psycho-analyse those they suspect. For the McCann's to pull off such an act over such a long time would indeed be extraordinary. Yet Faith and denial often go hand in hand.

Then again, it could simply be a question of the police adding two and and two together and making five, or perhaps even seven in this case. Potentially finding samples of Madeline's blood in the apartment means very little in itself. However, if samples of her blood or DNA have indeed been found in the hire car than that raises some serious questions - not least as to how it got there. It is not fantasy to suggest the possibility of it being 'planted'. It would certainly be convenient from the police's point of view and such things do happen, particularly where careers are at stake. Similarly, the Forensic Science Service hasn't exactly covered itself in glory over the last few years and have made some appalling errors.

Given the events of the last few days, it is likely the McCanns will be charged with murder. Any trial will undoubtedly be a fiasco. The McCanns have enormous resources at their disposal and any police failures or fuzzy forensics will be harshly exposed. Rightly or wrongly they will probably be aquitted. And the world will be none the wiser as to what really did happen.

[Webbo]

Then again, it could simply be a question of the police adding two and and two together and making five, or perhaps even seven in this case. Potentially finding samples of Madeline's blood in the apartment means very little in itself. However, if samples of her blood or DNA have indeed been found in the hire car than that raises some serious questions - not least as to how it got there. It is not fantasy to suggest the possibility of it being 'planted'. It would certainly be convenient from the police's point of view and such things do happen, particularly where careers are at stake. Similarly, the Forensic Science Service hasn't exactly covered itself in glory over the last few years and have made some appalling errors.

Where would the police get a sample of Madeleine's blood to plant?

[Fez of Mahrez]

THIS IS A MAJOR WORLD NEWS STORY. I MUST HAVE AN OPINION ON IT DESPITE A COMPLETE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ON THE SUBJECT.

[Jon the Hat]

THIS IS A MAJOR WORLD NEWS STORY. I MUST HAVE AN OPINION ON IT DESPITE A COMPLETE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ON THE SUBJECT.

Never stopped you before.

It seems to me that had two intelligent people accidentally killed their daughter, they would be far far far more likely to call an ambulance, or the police that to try and cover it up. Where exactly would they have hidden the poor kid? Not exactly locals are they. And now their faces are everywhere would someone not have identified them? How under the scrutiny of the worlds press are we to believe they went out and moved her body 25 days after her disappearance? Seriously? They were being followed absolutely everywhere. Do we have any confidence that the police with apparently limited forensic experience have the procedures in place to avoid cross contamination of samples?

[DB11]

How the hell would they have "accidentally" killed her

[Zingari]

How the hell would they have "accidentally" killed her

overdose of some form of sleeping pills perhaps ;

[Mort]

How the hell would they have "accidentally" killed her

Any number of ways you can die from what might initially seem an innocuous incident, fall and hit your head, suffocate, drown, as i say any number of way a little kid could have an minor incident and die.

Having said that, i'm still doubtful that they were involved so directly it could well be the Portuguese getting desperate, you just don't play the media in the way that they have and on the scale that they have if your trying to cover up the accidental death of your daughter... of course could all be that we've been had for suckers on this one, but the case does remind me of the "dingo baby" case in OZ were the police at a loss to explain the disappearance of the child sought to pin it on the parents.

[Phube]

It seems to me that had two intelligent people accidentally killed their daughter, they would be far far far more likely to call an ambulance, or the police that to try and cover it up.

Unless it was the sleeping pill theory. Not only have they killed their daughter, but they've lost their other children, careers etc... sooo much to lose in one go. Could you keep a level head in that situation.

Again this is all pure speculation, but perfectly possible. I doubt we'll ever find out what happened.

[davieG]

Unless it was the sleeping pill theory. Not only have they killed their daughter, but they've lost their other children, careers etc... sooo much to lose in one go. Could you keep a level head in that situation.

Again this is all pure speculation, but perfectly possible. I doubt we'll ever find out what happened.

I'm not an expert, obviously but wouldn't it have been easier to hide/talk themselves out of that - e.g the child found and took them, terrible accident etc than try to hide a body and con the world into believing it was a kidnapping

[Tommy G]

Unless it was the sleeping pill theory. Not only have they killed their daughter, but they've lost their other children, careers etc... sooo much to lose in one go. Could you keep a level head in that situation.

Again this is all pure speculation, but perfectly possible. I doubt we'll ever find out what happened.

Im sure we will. Such a massive media story like this is unlikely to fizzle out or fall by the way side

[Mort]

I'm not an expert, obviously but wouldn't it have been easier to hide/talk themselves out of that - e.g the child found and took them, terrible accident etc than try to hide a body and con the world into believing it was a kidnapping

You have thought so... thats what makes me unconvinced by the hypothosis that the McCanns "did it".

If you were trying to cover up the accidental death of your daughter, would you go to the lengths they have done to drum up interest in the case? (flying round europe, endless press conferences and interviews, meeting the bloody Pope!)... doesnt seem to add up to me.

[Yaxx]

Where would the police get a sample of Madeleine's blood to plant?

Yes, quite true in the literal sense.... I was alluding more to deliberate cross-contamination with DNA or blood samples taken from elsewhere - such as the apartment for example. Whilst it might sound a little fantastical it's certainly not outside the realms of possibility, or even probability. Such things do happen - often where police are convinced of a suspects guilt but lack the hard evidence to prove it. Or the motive could be more to avoid the humiliation of failure. I'm not suggesting that this a common occurance, or that this is what has happened in this case, but it shouldn't be discounted either.

On the other hand, such cross-contamination could be purely accidental. The Portugese police haven't exactly followed textbook procedures (or any procedures for that matter) when it comes to crime-scene analysis and preservation. A good analogy would be that of Barry George, serving life imprisonment for the murder of Jill Dando yet is almost certainly not guilty. The whole case hinged on a particle of gunshot residue that was found in a jacket pocket. A particle that it is admitted could easily have got there by cross-contamination because of negligent forensic procedures. Nevertheless, everyone has stuck their head in the sand and he remains in prison. Similarly Sion Jenkins, who almost certainly did murder his foster daughter Billy-Jo, remains at large - principally because of fuzzy forensics.

Looking at it another way, if the McCanns were involved in their daughter's death would they really have been so sloppy as to leave traces of blood on the key fob to the hire car, as has been alleged - especially given their clinical background and their overall behaviour so far?

[Mort]

Where would the police get a sample of Madeleine's blood to plant?

Whats the difference between Madeleine's blood and that of her brother and sister? (who IIRC are twins)... can they reliably say "this is Madeline's bloody and not that of either her brother or sister"?

[Daggers]

I think it was the Pope, in the bathroom with a candlestick.

[FilboFox]

You know that I can't really see the parents having done it... they wouldn't have made sure a fuss in the media if they had and also to get soooooo many people behind them and wishing the best for the family... if they had done it, they would INCREDIBLY sick people!

[Mort]

You know that I can't really see the parents having done it... they wouldn't have made sure a fuss in the media if they had and also to get soooooo many people behind them and wishing the best for the family... if they had done it, they would INCREDIBLY sick people!

Agree... although i think stupid rather than sick, unless it was friends and family who wound up driving the campaign to find the girl (though from the amount of exposure they got personally i doubt that!).

[Webbo]

I think it was the Pope, in the bathroom with a candlestick.

You've been reading Dan Brown.

[Daggers]

You've been reading Dan Brown.

Nope - watching Nuns Go Wild III

[Milky]

Suprise, suprise, they now want to come back to England all of a sudden.

[davieG]

Nope - watching Nuns Go Wild III

Damn I thought that was a link