The case of Madeleine McCann

[maggie]

Hi Mags  I know what you mean I use to go on a "girls night out" and we would be in the pub till closing time one of the girls was a single Mother and she use to leave her small daughter home alone asleep I once asked her what would happen if the child woke up she said oh she wont do that.  Of course now you would be, quite rightly so, be prosecuted  for such a thing.  The thoughts of leaving my boy alone gives me goose bumps even now.

I know susie, that's really awful, but I suppose people did it.

[Neil]

Back in the day at British holiday camps, parents would get their children off to sleep and head off to the entertainment centre for a drink.  Staff would patrol the chalets and if they heard children crying inside, the chalet number would come up on a display in the entertainment hall, to alert the parents. 

The McCanns apartment was within sight of the bar they were eating/drinking at.  My guess is that the abducter knew the McCanns routine and took their opportunity.  I found the treatment that they received after Maddies disappearance, very unsavory.  I can't imagine the stress that they must have been under.

[maggie]

Back in the day at British holiday camps, parents would get their children off to sleep and head off to the entertainment centre for a drink.  Staff would patrol the chalets and if they heard children crying inside, the chalet number would come up on a display in the entertainment hall, to alert the parents. 

The McCanns apartment was within sight of the bar they were eating/drinking at.  My guess is that the abducter knew the McCanns routine and took their opportunity.  I found the treatment that they received after Maddies disappearance, very unsavory.  I can't imagine the stress that they must have been under.

It's true Neil, at least they could see the apartment, when in a dining room or bar at an hotel you couldn't even see the room, it could be miles way.  No one thought, there may be a fire nevermind someone creeping in through a patio door or something and pinching them.
It is sadly, because of the dissappearance of Madeleine McCann that we are now so much more aware. 

[Neil]

It's true Neil, at least they could see the apartment, when in a dining room or bar at an hotel you couldn't even see the room, it could be miles way.  No one thought, there may be a fire nevermind someone creeping in through a patio door or something and pinching them.
It is sadly, because of the dissappearance of Madeleine McCann that we are now so much more aware.

Quite right Maggie, I bet no one would dare leave their kids in such circumstances after that.  I couldn't leave my kids like that, just because I would feel really mean. 

[maggie]

Quite right Maggie, I bet no one would dare leave their kids in such circumstances after that.  I couldn't leave my kids like that, just because I would feel really mean.

Yes, Neil the thought of them waking up in a strange room on their own worried me too much, I do feel for the McCann's and anyone else it has happened to, it's the worst possible nightmare.

[guest154]

Although they could see the apartment, they couldn't see all angles of the complex and they couldn't see the room in which the children where in.

To me it seems like looknig at your front door and waiting for something to happen, when all along you've left the back door out of view.

[Neil]

Although they could see the apartment, they couldn't see all angles of the complex and they couldn't see the room in which the children where in.

To me it seems like looknig at your front door and waiting for something to happen, when all along you've left the back door out of view.

Of course you are right Mat but physiologically, perhaps being able to see the apartment gave them a false sense of security.

[guest154]

Of course you are right Mat but physiologically, perhaps being able to see the apartment gave them a false sense of security.

Yeah that's a good point.

[mike tesko]

Funny thing about the night Maddie went missing - none of the other members iof the so called tapas group knew that the McCanns had left the patio door on the poolside of the apartment open until just before the 9:30pm check, when two group members volunteered to go and check apartment 5A on behalf of the McCanns...

Key feature in my opinion relating to her disappearance...

[guest154]

Mike, by left the doors open do you mean unlocked or open as in not closed?

[mike tesko]

Mike, by left the doors open do you mean unlocked or open as in not closed?

My understanding is that the McCanns had always left the patio door which leads out on  to the veranda unlocked (but pulled too) when they went out to wine and dine at the poolside tapas bar, and that they did not alert anyone to this fact, and no-one amongst their group suspected them of doing it,  until just before 9:30pm, on the evening that Maddie went missing. This came about because one of the volunteers asked for the key to the apartment and he was told by Kate McCann that there was no need for use of such a key because the patio door on the pool side of the apartment (which could just about be seen from where the McCanns were situated) had been left unlocked and could be slid open? You then had the check made by the two volunteers, and the contradictory accounts about whether they went into the apartment, or listened at the patio door?  One thing is for sure and that is that Maddie was not taken from the apartment by anyone using the patio door visible from the poolside tapas restaurant...

Now...

If Maddie had already been taken by the time these two volunteers offered to go and check the McCann apartment at about 9:30pm, how strange that any would be abductor would know not to use the unlocked patio doors on the poolside of the building, considering that no-one knew this to be true, until Kate told one of the two volunteers at about 9:30pm, and that as a result of this information being passed by Kate to the volunteer, that he should go along to the apartment with another and return saying that everything was tickety boo, with the McCann kids at that time? Oddly, the other volunteer did not return back to the tapas bar, until much later, which begs the question did this volunteer play any role in Maddies disappearance? If Maddie was in bed inside apartment 5a at the time of the 9:30pm check, then one of the two volunteers was away from the tapas bar at about the right moment when Maddie was taken after the so called 9:30pm check...

[mike tesko]

I have personally stood on the veranda by the aforementioned patio doors (of apartment 5a) and looked back across to where the tapas bar restaurant was / is situated and even at night you would be able to see any activity if anyone went into the apartment through these patio doors from the vantage point of where the McCanns claim they were when the 9:30pm check was made or undertaken - and it is rather peculiar that neither parent claims they saw either of the two volunteers enter the apartment via the unlocked patio doors?

[guest154]

My understanding is that the McCanns had always left the patio door which leads out on  to the veranda unlocked (but pulled too) when they went out to wine and dine at the poolside tapas bar, and that they did not alert anyone to this fact, and no-one amongst their group suspected them of doing it,  until just before 9:30pm, on the evening that Maddie went missing. This came about because one of the volunteers asked for the key to the apartment and he was told by Kate McCann that there was no need for use of such a key because the patio door on the pool side of the apartment (which could just about be seen from where the McCanns were situated) had been left unlocked and could be slid open? You then had the check made by the two volunteers, and the contradictory accounts about whether they went into the apartment, or listened at the patio door?  One thing is for sure and that is that Maddie was not taken from the apartment by anyone using the patio door visible from the poolside tapas restaurant...

Now...

If Maddie had already been taken by the time these two volunteers offered to go and check the McCann apartment at about 9:30pm, how strange that any would be abductor would know not to use the unlocked patio doors on the poolside of the building, considering that no-one knew this to be true, until Kate told one of the two volunteers at about 9:30pm, and that as a result of this information being passed by Kate to the volunteer, that he should go along to the apartment with another and return saying that everything was tickety boo, with the McCann kids at that time? Oddly, the other volunteer did not return back to the tapas bar, until much later, which begs the question did this volunteer play any role in Maddies disappearance? If Maddie was in bed inside apartment 5a at the time of the 9:30pm check, then one of the two volunteers was away from the tapas bar at about the right moment when Maddie was taken after the so called 9:30pm check...

That's interesting. That's actually...compelling.

I have personally stood on the veranda by the aforementioned patio doors (of apartment 5a) and looked back across to where the tapas bar restaurant was / is situated and even at night you would be able to see any activity if anyone went into the apartment through these patio doors from the vantage point of where the McCanns claim they were when the 9:30pm check was made or undertaken - and it is rather peculiar that neither parent claims they saw either of the two volunteers enter the apartment via the unlocked patio doors?

From the tapas bar what windows/doors are there that wouldn't be in sight?

[mike tesko]

That's interesting. That's actually...compelling.

From the tapas bar what windows/doors are there that wouldn't be in sight?

The door and the all the windows on the road side of the apartment, and the window on the gable end of apartment 5a...

[mike tesko]

Lets look at this from a different perspective - we have the second volunteer staying behind at his own apartment to look after a sick child at about the time Maddie goes missing from apartment 5a - and his partner just so happens to be the witness who claims she saw a long haired zombie type of a man carrying off a child in his arms earlier in the evening in the general direction of Robert Murats villa? She is also absent at the time Kate leaves the tapas bar to do her 10pm check at the time she discovers Maddie to have been taken - "They have taken her, Maddie is gone"...