I’m up at this ridiculously early hour on a Sunday thanks to a sad puppy who wanted a bottle of milk and lots of cuddles. He’s finally gone to sleep on my lap, so at least I can type lol.

Hope you had a good day at the beach - it was wonderful weather here yesterday (just like summer should be), so hopefully you had the same. My eldest walked at 10 months … it always looks so sweet to see such a tiny child toddling along under their own steam My house was full of stairgates - I lived in a 3 story house at the time - getting up and down the stairs was like breaking into fort knox LOL.

Thanks for the words of encouragement about D … I know she will be fine and it will teach her some valuable life lessons along the way. You are perfectly right - Parenting IS bloody hard work!

I’m a glass half empty sort of person, but today I’m going to borrow your optimism - Thank you for that!

As to Frances … I’ve been racking my brains over her ‘revelation’ but I just can’t think of why she would make something up like that. How could anyone take money for defending something they believe in??? Beyond contempt.

Enough of her however … there are still plenty of decent people around, of which you are one - have faith in that reality and enjoy your day

Bubbles (the puppy - named so that I can say ‘My Bubbles’ in the manner of Finding Nemo) is now thoroughly asleep so I think I may chance trying for another hour or so of snoozing… one of the luxuries of having older kids is getting a Sunday lie in back lol.

Take Care Jane

Molly x

It’s hard isn’t it? Some days I’m really positive and others I get overwhelmed by what feels like futility. Even when I’m asleep I seem to be dreaming about babies all the time - which is really wierd and hard to shake off in the mornings. Do you think we will ever know what really happened to her?

Very mixed emotions about D flying the nest - on the one hand I am immensely proud of her… she has come through a lot and at only 18 is sensible, hard working, great company and very grown up. She is a full time student but works as well and has decided to move out and live locally now, so that when she moves down to London for work in 10 months she will already be used to being independant. That way she will have us close by while she gets used to living by herself. See what I mean about sensible?

On the other hand she’s my baby, and I can’t help but worry about how she will manage, whether she will eat properly, if her college work will be done properly - it’s hard to let go and accept that I can’t watch over her every move for ever. Plus it makes me feel so damn OLD!!!!

Take Care and have a good day - it’s sunny here so hope you have some much needed sunshine too! Take the littlies to feed the ducks … it’s hard to feel down around ducks - they always make me laugh ((((HUG))))

Molly x

Mind you, I’m not so sure that hugging my boss is going to go down too well … perhaps I’ll skip that one

Take care of you and yours and have a good day with your little ones - they are not little for long enough. My eldest is leaving home next week and it doesn’t seem more than a blink of an eye since she was the age of your youngest … where did all those years go?

Molly

Me too … I took a break from both news and internet over most of the weekend and logged on today, hoping against hope that something, anything, new might have come up… but no - just the same re-hashing

Frustrating AND depressing … so have a (((HUG)))

Molly

These are 3 weeks old and absolutely huge … we have had to start supplementary bottle feeding as Mum is only a small dog and just can’t cope - they are simply adorable though.

They are loving their new indoor pen - starting to toddle around and play now. I am so going to miss them when they go to their new homes!

Molly

I certainly have no fundamental objection to a National Identity card - and legitimate, law abiding citizens are pretty much nannied and watched by the state anyway, to pretend otherwise seems delusional to me. If it could be used to provide extra security for children then it can only be a good thing … God knows the systems we have in place seem to fail them far too regularly

Have a good day - I’m off to build a pen for my now mobile puppies, who are daily reminding me what hard work it is to have babies around LOL

I think its going to take as long as it takes, like everyone I’d love to hear she has been found alive and well and untraumatised. The Police must have informers, international and otherwise,well they do as they have raised some names already. I think though we are probably trying not to anticipate our darkest fears that her body will be found,and maybe look on it as no news could be the better option?
But as has been pointed out frequently some are never found, and some turn up after years, so I guess this may be one of the long haul ones?

The 400 going missing every week was in the Press at the time of Madeleine disappearing, and its the average annual statistic, doesn’t seem to vary much either.

Just a passing thought too, Praia de Luz must be the safest place now to take children on holiday, if not a very happy place

Slightly off topic … but while typing this (it’s a quiet Friday afternoon in the office thank goodness) I just had a thought:

If we had a National Identity Card, which included a National Database with fingerprint and iris recognition technology … with every citizen included on the ‘register’ from birth would it not enable an awful lot of missing people to be accounted for through fingerprints/irises? If they were adults and wanted to stay ‘missing’ as far as family and friends were concerned then that should obviously be honoured in that their whereabouts would not be disclosed - but it might ease an awful lot of heartache for a lot of people and considerably reduce the amount of people who are officially listed as missing… just a thought and doubtless one which would be dismissed instantly under the Civil Rights flag.

Back to Madeleine and the Portuguese Police … I’m given to understand that, unlike here - where the Police can arrest somebody under Suspicion of committing a crime, the Portuguese Judicial System requires that the Police have enough evidence to take a case to court (and almost guarantee securing a conviction) before they arrest someone. This may be why the process seems to be slower.

Molly

The more haste the less speed, no point in making an unsafe arrest because the punters are getting impatient, a slow and thorough investigation and a sound arrest may take more time. There is no hard and fast time limit on this.
Most of the evidence will now have to come from Madeleine, hopefully found alive with indisputable evidence of where her whereabouts were/are, or in the case of her body being found from post mortem evidence.

A section of Interpol would be the best way for international police efforts, but the laws of the country where the event happens must be respected.

On the subject on childen who are missing, then end of the news isn’t too good a place, most people are either kettle or loo bound, but a seperate prog for what have become routinely missing children, and an alert news breaking for the newly missing which interrupts tv programmes.

Of course sadly, people ’see’ missing children everywhere and dealing with the hoaxers will be a problem, and the genuinely mistaken another.
Given also that since May3rd some 4,500 other people have gone missing, a lot of them children, a difficult task for the tv companies to administer

I think Police discretion is much the better option, after all its real crime , not a tv prog.

But more often than not it isn’t the police who find the body of evidence (I’m using that phrase, as I truly hope she is alive somewhere) but a member of the public, or even their dog.

I’m not at all convinced about Murat’s guilt either, in fact with each passing day and he remains free his innocence becomes more and more obvious in this matter, and maybe just a topic for the Inland revenue and not the Police.

But, returning to your topic of International Child kidnap, I do think that is a good idea, both for an International team of police experts to be formed, and a regularly updated file kept on all known paedophiles and other abusers of children, including parents who have harmed their own children. This wouldn’t include 17yr old boys who have seduced their 15 yr old girlfriends, that is a seperate issue and should be kept well apart.

So much time has passed, and so much evidence obscured and/or dead ended, the time has come for deeper questioning.

On another matter I was witness to an attempted murder, in fact I was one of 3 instrumental in bringing the matter to light,(I can’t say as its still subjudice) But our evidence of what we saw, and subsequent tests of the victim, who is still alive, confirmed both what we had witnessed and shed light on some questions that the tests threw up. But the time lapse was only a few days to allow the tests to be conducted, but our statements were only hours after the event, not months later.

Although it is true to say that once a culprit has been found then the truth, and therefore Madeleine’s whereabouts, will become clear, it is still possible that a culprit may never be found. Although the papers over here are leaning towards Murat, I remain unconvinced, and given that this is a tourist resort with so many of the people (any one of whom could theoretically be responsible) in PDL at the time, now scattered and largely untraceable it is not inconceivable that no amount of going over the existing statements and further questioning will elicit any answers.

If however a body (and I fear that it probably will be a body) is found, it may well yield at least some answers and possibly some leads which may come to fruition in terms of identifying a culprit.

Molly

The facts still remain the same, the apartment was contaminated and made forensic technology useless. A lot of very unreliable ‘witnesses’ both in the McCann party and others at the resort. The trail went cold very quickly. None of the above are down to poor policing. Most of the people involved as witnesses were on holiday, it was late at night, not surprisingly they will have consumed a few drinks, I am NOT saying people were legless, far from it, but even so their judgement and memory will be impaired, and time plays some wonderful tricks combined with the actualite and what could have been.

All the suspects/witnesses do need to be questioned very carefully by psychatrists/psychologists under caution, the truth is there somewhere, it just needs bringing out, and then the whereabouts of Madeleine McCann will be known.

Perhaps public opinion and pressure could be used to push both Police Forces to collaborate on this? Not through the media but from personal letters and representations? I have already written to my MP and Gordon Brown asking that all parents of missing children be given the same level of support as the McCanns have received in terms of help with publicity and so on. I wonder who would be the best ‘targets’ on both sides to push for co-operation in a massive search of Portugal? I know that a lot of people are not confident in letter writing, but ‘form’ letters could always be posted on all forums for people to copy, paste, print and send (or even email) - complete with all the relevant addresses - what do you think?

At least it would be something concrete and positive to do rather than brooding, and surely no-one, whatever ’side’ of the fence they are on, could object?

Lets gloss over what my Portuguese friends say - they desperately want Madeleine found, but the parents’ welcome is wearing a little thin shall we say.

Sorry for the delay in response with this one - my posting tends to be fitted in during lunch breaks during the day, and in the evenings anything involving the computer depends on my ability to shoehorn one or the other of the kids off of it first lol! Early weekday mornings are my only guaranteed time on the PC and even then the amount of time depends on how long I have walked the dogs for… some days they are bouncier than others!

Its been so many years since I had little ones that it is a stretch to remember just how stressful and demanding they can be … Have a good day all of you - I’ll be thinking of you as well as Madeleine today

Molly

I’m actually English - why did you assume I’m American? (just out of curiosity - it isn’t really important lol).

I have a couple of Portuguese friends, and my parents live in Europe. Most European Police Forces work in a similar fashion to the PJ in respect of secrecy and limiting information released… I guess it makes a lot of sense in some ways as it does reduce the chances of tipping off criminals and of de-railing any future court cases, but for us here in the UK it is incredibly frustrating!

I really do not believe that they are inept, although Portugal is a small and relatively poor country with very little serious crime so the police force is underfunded and has limited experience in this type of ‘big’ case. Unfortunately I don’t think that the criticism by the British Press has encouraged any major co-operation between British and Portuguese police, which might have helped in terms of manpower and resources. It is also possible that the hunt for international child traffickers spread the investigating forces even thinner, giving the trail time to go cold - to be honest I feel that the British media are partly to blame there as well by applying so much pressure that the PJ were forced into following that avenue, when perhaps, if left to their own methods and ideas, they might have chosen to investigate along more local lines in the first place.

I’m not sure what the protocol in Portugal would be in terms of searching empty properties - although I totally agree with you that every one of them should have been gone through, inside and out, with a fine toothcomb. Even over here the Police would have needed a warrant to search each and every property - if that is the case in Portugal (or even if it is even more complicated and would need property owner co-operation) then it would be a logistical nightmare.

It isn’t only empty properties though … in Portugal there are still a lot of wells, disused or otherwise, drainage pipes and systems, farm outbuildings, shepherd huts and of course all the unpopulated shrubland - so very many places where a small child could be hidden un-noticed for a long time. Whenever a child goes missing over here we always see the images of police and public combing over whole areas in a fingertip search - literally leaving no pebble unturned, yet we don’t seem to have seen that at all in Portugal - perhaps because of the original insistence that Madeleine must have been taken out of the country?

With the PJ now saying that they believe Madeleine to still be in Portugal, wouldn’t now be a good time to go back to basics and hold a full on inch by inch search? That is certainly what I would be pushing for - I know that it is a lot of ground to cover, but she must be SOMEWHERE, and it feels like a logical place to start, don’t you think?

Molly

I know what you mean - thinking about the possibilities from Madeleine’s perspective (which is what comes naturally for me, rather than from her parents’) is just too horrific for words. I think that that is why I tend to stick to anger at G & K, logic, facts and statistics… I can deal with those, unproductive though the anger aspect may be

I would be a basket case myself - I’m guessing that it is complete Denial which enables them to behave as they do… despite my anger at them, any other possibility is just too outlandish to even contemplate. The mind is a very resourceful and complicated tool, especially when it comes to survival.

Molly

Did we have the same Mother? Mine instilled exactly the same rules in me, and I can still vividly remember a very similar incident happening to me, and the neighbour being equally outraged.

I think about her too - it’s a hard story to shake, especially with no closure. I guess that people don’t really ’see’ things unless they appear out of the ordinary … we are all so wrapped up in our own concerns and thoughts that we just don’t really observe and take notice of what goes on around us. I know I’m guilty of that - not with people I know obviously, but I walk to work and back, go shopping, walk the dogs - all the stuff of daily life, without really LOOKING at other people.

This is a busy tourist resort, where people are presumably used to seeing kids in PJ’s being ferried around in the evenings. As long as Madeleine wasn’t screaming or drawing attention in some other way then I don’t suppose anyone would have given her a second glance

I’d love to believe that she is still alive, but I am at heart a realist (I’m sure that you will understand that life has made me that way), and statistically it is tragically unlikely … poor little scrap.

Molly

No, you’re right - there is no pill to make the pain go away for my H, and he has had some hard times with it over the years … he’s the survivor though, and I’m proud of him for rising above it - and proud of my kids for coping with all that they have had to deal with.

Abuse really has touched my life far too closely over the years - and it is the knowledge that I have gained from that, and concern for Madeleine which keeps me hooked to this case…. as we go through life there are indeed certain cases which touch us - and yes they do usually involve children… particularly when those children are of a comparable age to our own.

You are a compassionate person, (as indeed am I believe it or not lol). We are just both compassionate from slightly different angles and about different things. that doesn’t make either of us wrong - just different

Molly

“A personal knowledge of the other person’s personality is pretty much essential if the empathiser is to truly ‘know and feel’ what the other is feeling.”

Yes. However, I think we can all empathize with a lost child without knowing her personally. I guess you’re saying that most people are empathizing with her parents rather than with her.

Your pregnant colleague analogy doesn’t quite work in this case. Normal people respond to a pregnancy with a range of emotions from distress to delight. You are right that one would have to know the person involved to empathize with her feelings about pregnancy. But, normal people respond to their child missing with a narrower range of emotions. Yes, people are projecting “how I would feel” but they are unlikely to be far off the mark.

In this case, some people read the McCanns as not “normal” because they left their children unsupervised. Hence they don’t believe that the McCanns’ response to their missing child is a normal one, and hence they don’t have sympathy. I understand that.

“the ‘normal’ reaction (and the one I see most of in daily life) is probably the most healthy… that of an initial ‘how sad’ followed by a mild interest for the duration of each accidentally encountered news item. In other words, no more or less interest than in any other of the news stories of death, destruction and carnage that bombard us on a daily basis. That is human nature - in order to carry on our own lives in a functional manner we must be able to detach from the majority of bad things which happen to others or risk becoming completely overwhelmed/depressed/non-functional.”

I completely and absolutely agree with you. We do and should detach from the “majority of bad things which happen to others.” But we do and maybe should respond to the minority.