I stayed up, despite being ill, to watch Crimewatch last night. I wanted to know the latest in the Madeleine McCann case now that the Met have taken over. Like most people I know, I have followed the case over the years, followed it with the awareness of a mother and with the secret dread that it could happen to me and my children. What happened to Madeleine is every parent's worst nightmare.
When the programme finished I went onto my Facebook page and couldn't believe my eyes. Whereas I had come away from the programme feeling desperately sad for the McCanns and hopeful that the new leads would end in her discovery, other people had different ideas. I read with dismay a timeline filled with vitriol and bitterness - people blaming the McCanns themselves and calling for them to be punished. Their anger shocked me.
The people making these judgements were filled with anger and yet they were basing their demands on hunches, supposition. I couldn't see that any of them had any firm evidence on which to base their allegations. It was a case of "Did you see their body language?" "I always thought they looked shifty" "Who leaves their kids on their own like that?"
I felt so sad, and a little angry myself, that the milk of human kindness seemed to have passed them by completely. Yes, the McCanns made a mistake. If you saw Crimewatch you would have seen Kate McCann admitting that she spent years blaming herself for leaving her children in that room. With hindsight she made a mistake. They made a mistake. But who expects there to be a stalker out there who will watch and break in and steal your child? It is the stuff of nightmare. Yes, in hindsight people will think of Madeleine McCann and will not leave their children in a room that they check every half hour. But at that time they thought they, she, was safe. They thought that in a nice, quiet holiday resort, with nice people, off season, they were ok to do what they did.They, more than anyone else in the world would go back to that night and change the way they did things, but they can't and that is the torture they live with every day.
So what good does it do to rage against them? How does it help Maddie? Do people really think that the Met would not have looked at every angle of this case and arrested them if they had been involved? So how can people with no knowledge of the real facts of that night make such sweeping accusations? Surely we all need to support and comfort and help the McCann family in their quest to find their daughter?
The ultimate aim of all of us should be to get Maddie back. That is what matters most, not cruel sniping and allegations.
I read a post by Actually Mummy tonight in which she raised these points and asked how many people had not lost sight of their children in a park, or left their back door unlocked by mistake overnight. Surely we have all, as parents, found ourselves thinking " Blimey, that was a close one" or thanking God that our child is safe after a lapse of concentration? We all do our best to keep our children safe and if someone is bent on harming or taking them (the very thought makes me shudder) they will do it. It is they we should revile.
So ... what now? Like Actually Mummy I really think we would be better spending our time and energy helping to find Madeleine.
Madeleine was taken on Thursday 3rd May 2007 from Praia da Luz, Portugal. She is now 9 and may well look like this.
When the programme finished I went onto my Facebook page and couldn't believe my eyes. Whereas I had come away from the programme feeling desperately sad for the McCanns and hopeful that the new leads would end in her discovery, other people had different ideas. I read with dismay a timeline filled with vitriol and bitterness - people blaming the McCanns themselves and calling for them to be punished. Their anger shocked me.
The people making these judgements were filled with anger and yet they were basing their demands on hunches, supposition. I couldn't see that any of them had any firm evidence on which to base their allegations. It was a case of "Did you see their body language?" "I always thought they looked shifty" "Who leaves their kids on their own like that?"
I felt so sad, and a little angry myself, that the milk of human kindness seemed to have passed them by completely. Yes, the McCanns made a mistake. If you saw Crimewatch you would have seen Kate McCann admitting that she spent years blaming herself for leaving her children in that room. With hindsight she made a mistake. They made a mistake. But who expects there to be a stalker out there who will watch and break in and steal your child? It is the stuff of nightmare. Yes, in hindsight people will think of Madeleine McCann and will not leave their children in a room that they check every half hour. But at that time they thought they, she, was safe. They thought that in a nice, quiet holiday resort, with nice people, off season, they were ok to do what they did.They, more than anyone else in the world would go back to that night and change the way they did things, but they can't and that is the torture they live with every day.
So what good does it do to rage against them? How does it help Maddie? Do people really think that the Met would not have looked at every angle of this case and arrested them if they had been involved? So how can people with no knowledge of the real facts of that night make such sweeping accusations? Surely we all need to support and comfort and help the McCann family in their quest to find their daughter?
The ultimate aim of all of us should be to get Maddie back. That is what matters most, not cruel sniping and allegations.
I read a post by Actually Mummy tonight in which she raised these points and asked how many people had not lost sight of their children in a park, or left their back door unlocked by mistake overnight. Surely we have all, as parents, found ourselves thinking " Blimey, that was a close one" or thanking God that our child is safe after a lapse of concentration? We all do our best to keep our children safe and if someone is bent on harming or taking them (the very thought makes me shudder) they will do it. It is they we should revile.
So ... what now? Like Actually Mummy I really think we would be better spending our time and energy helping to find Madeleine.
Madeleine was taken on Thursday 3rd May 2007 from Praia da Luz, Portugal. She is now 9 and may well look like this.
If you see a girl you think might be Madeleine you need to:
- Contact your local police
- Contact Operation Grange on 0207 321 9251 (in the UK) +44 207 321 9251 (non-UK) or Operation.Grange@met.pnn.police.uk
- Contact CrimeStoppers in confidence on 0800 555111 or www.crimestoppers-uk.org
The official Find Madeleine website is www.findmadeleine.com and here you can read all the information you might need as well as see photofits of men the police want to find.
If you are a blogger you can help by tweeting or blogging and sharing with all the relevant information and the hashtag #blogging4madeleine
Someone out there knows what happened to this little girl.We need to try and find her so she can be back with her family where she belongs.The fundamentally important thing is that there is a little girl out there who has been taken away from her brother and sister, her mummy and daddy, and that is wrong.
Please share this post if you can, maybe write your own. Let's try to do something positive.
If you are a blogger you can help by tweeting or blogging and sharing with all the relevant information and the hashtag #blogging4madeleine
Someone out there knows what happened to this little girl.We need to try and find her so she can be back with her family where she belongs.The fundamentally important thing is that there is a little girl out there who has been taken away from her brother and sister, her mummy and daddy, and that is wrong.
Please share this post if you can, maybe write your own. Let's try to do something positive.
