Yeah,there is a lot of those cases. The parents can’t give up and I think it’s great that we are reminded every year in the off chance one of us actually sees her or she stumbles upon a picture of herself! Until there’s a body,there’s hope. Thats how I’d feel if this was my kid

i doubt they or any other parent could get closure until they definitively know one way or the other, i know i could not

Have to agree with Marykate if she was taken for sex I really hope she died soon after being taken, I have a three year old daughter and would prefer to think she was at peace now rather than endure years of torture……..

Agreed. my money is on us looking at a photo of her as a young woman. still one will go on for years to come….

If,by chance,she was snatched and given to people who wanted a family and were actually going to look after her then you can guarantee they wouldn’t tell her where she came from. They would tell her she was an orphan and they adopted her.
That would be best case scenario. 3 is too young to remember when there’s so much else going on. You’d probably have a feeling that something happened but I can’t imagine you’d recognise your parents easily.
I really really hope that they find her alive. But I’m not sure I believe they will. If it was my kid though I would never give up. I would give up everything to get my child back. I have no doubt they are doing everything they can and I support them 100%
Even finding a body at this point would give them some relief. It’s the not knowing that would drive you insane

Unfortunately there are all too many people capable of hurting a three year old. In the absence of facts, people must put aside their fears and cling to hope.
Obviously it would be wonderful if she were unharmed , and we’ll all- well most- continue to hope for this but I’m sure her parents have reconciled themselves to the possibility of horrible news. I think closure of any kind would be something now.

this was in reply to Allan Brown’s original comment which has now been deleted, leaving this without context

Lets call a spade a spade, the circumstances are not the same as every missing person. If a child went missing here it would be in the headlines constantly, like it was, with poor Robert Holohan.

And this is even more extreme because it was a blatant kidnap. At the end of the day, in the Western World, genuine non family related child kidnappings are so rare that each of them have their own hype.

Maybe it has got more coverage because the McCanns have done more than most to keep Madeline’s name in the news?? And you are sick of hearing her name? I hope you continue to be sickened then because I personally would have no problem hearing her name every day until she is found.

@Seamus
Fed up, I don’t feel ill from hearing her name.
Slight difference.

Well don’t bother clicking in to the story then! Simples

Liv, do you not think they have suffered enough? With what you propose the other kids would then also lose their parents.

I’d have to agree with Liv even though there’s no proof that Madeline was killed the McCann’s were totally irresponsible that night and while the price they paid has been horrendous there’s no escaping the fact that they behaved like selfish idiots leaving several young children on their own.

I agreed Liv, why they weren’t charged with child neglect is a mystery. I have two grown up kids and I would NEVER have left them in the car to run into the shop for a newspaper never mind to go for dinner! That’s not to say I wish they find their daughter, but the more time goes on the less likely this is. They have a living sentence, like many other parents and families.

It’s a class thing. If the McCann’s were a working class family who abandoned the kids to go get pissed while being too cheap to pay for the hotels baby sitting service they’d be widely condemned for such an act.

Liv, it was a discussion. I asked you a civil question there’s no need for the “I am most certainly entitled to my opinion as are you so scroll down and on to the next individual who you don’t agree with”.

Thanks Gavin. I read the statement and there is absolutely nothing in it that we wouldn’t already know and adds ZERO to what happened to her other than a man might have taken her. Am I missing something?

Perhaps you need to read more yourself. Delusional. Just the type of waster that would be out burning witches during the middle ages. Christ is said to have spoken about such stone throwers.

It’s sicking to see you hoping that someone will never have children just because they don’t agree with you. Probably one of the most offensive comments I have ever seen on this website.

Because you know the mind of a child snatcher?
I’m sure if you were a parent of a kidnapped child you’d have to hope upon hope that they were still alive. There have been note able cases in the states of girls being found years after their abductions.

@ Sean, if it was your child and there was a 1% chance that she was alive, there is no way that you would give up. I know I wouldn’t. The likelihood is slim but it is there. I wish them well.

I agree 100% with Sean. The biggest piece of evidence in this case, was Madeline herself, and due to the media hype, any person holding that information/evidence, would of had to get rid of it. Its common sense, and stupid to consider someone as having the ‘mind’ of a child snatcher. As a mother, that 1%, I would like to think I would be logically and not to let the theory eat me up, but realistically I’d probably clutch onto any hope too.

Interesting theory as to how people who kidnap kids might think and thank you for sharing that with us. Let’s just hope they aren’t thinking like you.

Your very welcome!

I agree with you Sean that is is more than likely dead but not for the reasons that you mention, although they would have a bearing on it. The main reason I believe that she is dead is because of her coloboma in her right eye. This is very rare http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7256513.stm Any doctor in Europe treating a female child would be very suspicious. In Ireland (based on BBC figures) there are about 2250 girls around her age which is not a lot considering that’s for the whole of Ireland. Divide that by the number of doctors and I dare say each doctor sees 1 case in a blue moon.

If she didn’t have this condition then you might get away with it but the thing is that the condition is too recognisable. If the abductor didn’t free her then the only other conclusion is that he/she killed her. I would hope that this is not the case and that is also what the police are hoping but anybody who knows anything about child abduction cases would tell you that the hopes of finding her are extremely slim if not none. Hope is always there and no parent would ever give up.

If you don’t mean to be insensitive, keep your view to yourself…. Idiot!

I totally agree with you Paul and so do an awful lot of other people it seems. It’s creeps like Claffey that make my skin crawl and I just hope to goodness he never has kids of his own.

Sean is right in thinking what he thinks, sure the police think it! I have 3 kids, the thought of something like this happening to one of them is unthinkable but to be honest, I’m a responsible parent and would never leave my children alone in a room in a foreign country while I wine and dine in the restaurant!

Sean…
I would very much agree with you.
Whoever abducted Madeleine had to dispose of her because of the global media hype.
Maybe this intensive media coverage was a mistake.

yeah, but what was the right thing?
Maybe the media could have helped found her?

True. I don’t think keeping it quiet would have been an option. And in most cases the media helps in situations like this. However, with the entire world looking for her, in my opinion the last thing anybody would want is to risk being caught.

Yeah, you’re right. there’s no way they couldve just done nothing, and the Mc’Canns had to do something. Who knows whether media helped or didnt help.
Maybe the media attention prevented others from abducting small girls like Madeline?

I dont think that thhis site is compatible with thinkers,,,

Very strange to leave kids alone, full stop.

Why? And how could you possibly know?

Seamus, it’s an opinion, the only person who will ever know what happened is the person who was there that night.

On the balance of probability, my opinion is that she was killed and buried somewhere she will never be found.

Wow, I was going to argue with you until you called most people here defenders of child neglect. I shall leave you to enjoy your day and the rest of your days as the idiot you seem to be. Good day sir.

I agree that the parents were stupid for leaving their kids like that. Even at home I don’t go out the back garden for more than a few minutes at a go without checking every now that he’s ok in bed and that all the windows and doors are locked,also the dogs have to stay in the hall so they can alert me. Maybe that’s over the top but it gives me comfort and better safe than sorry. As for when on holiday?my son stayed in our hotel room either in the bed with us or on the ground beside us with us closer to the door and only one of us could leave at a time!! I couldn’t ever leave my kids in a strange room on their own like that. But I bet they’ve paid for it every single day since!!!

You thought that from day one Gavin? Based on what – a feeling? A hunch? Because it could not have been anything else, given that on day one nothing much was known.

Assuming your hunches are not correct (and it’s just an assumption, I don’t know what happened) I imagine that they must have tortured themselves repeatedly with what ifs, and must regret beyond bitterly taking what they believed was a safe decision that turned out not to be. Perhaps they were careless, they certainly made a terrible mistake but I think to call them neglectful parents is a stretch.

Most of us do our very best to keep our children safe, but in spite of that I don’t know a single parent who has not at least once had that terrifying heart-stopping experience when you momentarily lose sight of a child or think that you’ve lost them, for whatever reason. 99.9 times in 100 it’s nothing at all and ends quickly in relief – but you are still gripped by the feeling that this is the one time when there is reason for your fear. If every parent who has ever experienced this is to be called neglectful, so be it. But it will be a lot of people.

Yet another clueless wally who hasn’t a clue himself about family and kids. Safe enough in his own clueless certainty to be able to attack a good family.

Jesus Gavin you can’t make accusations like that based off of the red tops reporting at the time. You’re basically alligning yourself with Daily Mail readers the world over. There was NO PROOF whatsoever that the McCanns killed their child. If there was one iota of proof you would have seen it by now.

For one moment Gavin, put aside what you have come, for whatever reason, to believe and consider this. Suppose you had a three year old child who was abducted. Suppose you have nothing to prove that this child was not still alive.

Would you not do everything in your power and use anything you could – birthdays, anniversaries of the abduction, anything at all – to bring the case to public attention and keep the image of your missing child fresh in people’s minds? And at what point would you stop pushing, pushing, pushing for continued police investigation – would you give up on your child after a year, two years, when?

Answer those questions before you start making insinuations about something you (like everyone else) have no definitive explanation for.

Is that the only comma’ you can make? :)

keeping it simple for ye,,,

Is there proof therefore that there was NOT one? As you’re suggesting?

that’s a therapists dream patient in about another 15 years!

I read Kate’s book last summer. A very sad story.

William, name one successful find that was solely achieved through the use of a charlatan/spychic. Not one. Not a SINGLE verified find.

I said “Spychic”. That’s right up there with “I carried a watermelon”. *facepalm*

A psychic? Are you for real?

Distraught (and, it has to be said, foolish) people who resort to charlatans like psychics put pressure on police investigating cases to follow up in the inane utterances of these fools, the police find it hard to flat out refuse to do so when faced with desperate people. Nothing EVER comes of it. The only thing achieved is wasting police time.

Yes, genuine psychics have been used extensively in places likes the United States where they’re not quite as backward or as ignorant as some of the commentators on here.

Yet nobody has named such a case as David asked. Can you? Do you have a link to verified information where a psychics played a critical role in solving any cases? Even just one case?

http://www.kval.com/news/local/34780489.html

You’ll have to try again. That’s an interview with a psychic who says she gave information to the police about two cases – which remain unsolved. The internet (and the world) is littered with drivel like that.

I’m looking for an actual solved case where a psychic was acknowledged as having provided critical information. There isn’t one. Anywhere.

And you know this because……

We got your pointless thick comment the first time you fool.

@Karl, remember Joey Fritzl?

yes i do remember mr fritzel sean. i was seeing would he try to ellaborate on his fairly insensative comment. Obviously he wouldnt make commments like that if he had kids of his own. as mr murphy pointed out he is just a fool.

Troll!

I think you should go underground in Austria, live with the rest of the worms much like yourself :-)