McCanns

Why is Kate McCann coming in for more criticism than Gerry McCann on this thread. They were both with their children on holiday both were aware that the children had been left.
Yet it's Kate McCann that's getting most flak.

 

Predominantly male dominated posters on this board, standfast Helen in this thread. Subconscious bias forces the blame (If there is any) on the woman whose stereotype is to look after the kids. Phycologist would have a field here.

 

I agree, they were both culpable. I think the focus was on Kate because she raised the alarm.

 

I heard they were looking for a bloke called Pepe Silvia... seems to have gone quiet.

 

Basically, this. On more than one occasion when I've been in a rush, doing more than one thing at the same time, been distracted momentarily when I'm supposed to be supervising my child doing something which requires adult supervision to stay safe and the like, I've looked at the situation a few moments later and shuddered as to what potentially could have happened if events had conspired against me. One that particularly sticks in my mind is when (in Portugal of all places) we'd been out for dinner in the small fishing town where we were staying, and on the way back to our apartment we stopped at a playground so our daughter, then aged two and a half, could have a run around. My wife and I were sitting on a bench on the other side of the playground, which was very small, so about 10-15 metres away from our daughter. She was in full view, and there was only one other family in the playground. Suddenly and inexplicably, she decided to run off, out of the playground and into the street. She wouldn't have even been able to get out, except somebody was walking in and had opened the gate at the exact moment she decided to make a run for it. We immediately jumped up and ran after her, shouting for her to stop, but she started laughing and ran faster. I don't remember whether we caught her or somebody else stopped her, but it was extremely stressful. The point being that there was only a very narrow pavement between the playground and the road. Not a busy or fast road, but a road all the same, and not one on which a driver would be able to see a two year old bolting out in front of his car at twilight. The other point is that my wife and I had consumed alcohol. Not a great deal, probably a pint or two and half a bottle of wine each over the course of a few hours, with food. We're we drunk? Absolutely not. But I'm guessing we were still well over the drink-drive limit. Had the unthinkable happened, it would not have been very difficult to have put an extremely negative spin on our capabilities as parents.

 

No parent is perfect. We've all taken our eye of them for a minute, made a mistake. Tragically some people are punished beyond belief for those mistakes.
This is different though, if the McCann's story is to believed they drugged their daughter. And night after night chose to leave her without adult supervision. It's not comparable to briefly looking away while they are in a play area.
If to err is human, I'd say to wilfully neglect your child is inhuman.

 

I agree with Redstone, we've all done stuff that could have ended badly, but there's a huge difference between that and leaving three young children in a room in a foreign country unsupervised, 150 yards away out of clear eye shot and doing this repeatedly night after night.

People keep saying they must really suffer. That is assuming they think and feel like us- I don't know them and neither does anyone else on here. It doesn't cancel out what they did, multiple times. They are a total disgrace.

I've never seen one clip of them showing any genuine remorse for the circumstances that led to this. If anyone can show me that perhaps I will change my mind. Otherwise I have zero sympathy for them and my thoughts lay purely with Maddie and her siblings.

 

My view on the whole sorry episode is that the one thing the McCanns are guilty of is stupidity and they made a decision that they’ll spend the rest of their life regretting, I genuinely don’t think they were involved in the disappearance of their daughter, surely if they were guilty the police would have found enough evidence by now to charge them,

 

That is a very different scenario, if she was left in the park with the gate shut but not locked, you were out of sight having a glass of wine while she played that would be more comparable. . You weren't negligent.

 

Stupidity doesn't do it justice. Wilful neglect would be a better description.

 

If Madeleine wandered out this unlocked apartment onto the road, the sea, the pool and died would it still be stupidity? Because statistically they were way more likely, as was slipping on a tiled floor and banging her head

 

Can’t disagree mate

 

Two reasons why in my opinion Kate acted the way she did... drink and panic.

I don’t think they did it, but we’re negligent in leaving them.

 

I took my eye off for a second ( distracted) and whoosh. Grandchild gone. The most horrendous 5/10 minutes of my life. Till found ( in a theme park) I cried like a baby with relief. Torture missen every time this type of thing crops up.

 

If

 

Sky news now reporting that there is "enough evidence" to suggest she is dead.

 

Leave a 9 year old alone with a dog in the next caravan. Get 2 years in prison.

Leave a 3 year old at the other side of an holiday resort with unlocked doors, drugged up in a foreign country and get your mortgage paid.

 

although we all make mistakes, I can honestly say that although personally I have never been desperate enough to go out that I would have left the kids unattended .I am particularly baffled and appalled that anybody WOULD be so desperate to go out they would leave a child so distressed about being left that they had to sedate her!

 

The children were a hindrance to the mccanns. Other than feeding them they spent their holiday without them. I honestly think they just got in the way if their adult fun and if they could have left them at home while they jetted off they would have done.

 

an older relative recalls going to Butlins in the 60's - children inc babies could be left unattended in the chalets in the evening for parents to go to a show/cabaret. Redcoats would patrol the chalets (not allowed in) and if they heard crying they would contact the entertainment venue and the number of the chalet with the crying baby/child would be flashed on a screen and the parents hopefully return to the chalet.