Madeleine McCann

[louisa]

Considering the McCann's were both doctors, I consider it unlikely that she overdosed on medication.

However, it is a very real possibility.

Doctors make mistakes all the time. I suspect that after Maddie had told her that she had woken up the previous night and cried for her mum Kate made a mental note to give Maddie a little extra that night before they went out.

Stranger things have happened.

The McCann's knew their children would not wake until morning and this could be why they felt they did not need the hotel's checking service whereby, for a fee, somebody from the hotel goes round the apartments checking on guests sleeping children.

[John G]

However, it is a very real possibility.

Doctors make mistakes all the time. I suspect that after Maddie had told her that she had woken up the previous night and cried for her mum Kate made a mental note to give Maddie a little extra that night before they went out.

Stranger things have happened.

The McCann's knew their children would not wake until morning and this could be why they felt they did not need the hotel's checking service whereby, for a fee, somebody from the hotel goes round the apartments checking on guests sleeping children.

But what could Maddie have been given? Mention has been made of Calpol, however, that meditation only contains paracetamol, which has no sedative effects whatsoever. And as the McCann's were both GPs they would have to have been totally incompetent not to understand such a basic, and obvious, fact.

[John G]

Quite possible yes, why not. However that still does not excuse the parents for leaving her home alone...

Yes, I absolutely agree. In fact, I wonder if social services would have been notified of the parents had been, say, a couple on welfare benefits, rather than middle class GPs. Methinks they would, at the very least, have been far more vilified.

However, I find it difficult to believe the McCann's were responsible for their daughter's death, i.e. as a consequence of a medication overdose. For instance, how would they have disposed of the body without attracting any attention suspicion, especially when you take into account that this was a foreign country? Not only that but to be so successful in that endeavour that no remains have ever been found.

[Geddy2112]

For instance, how would they have disposed of the body without attracting any attention suspicion, especially when you take into account that this was a foreign country? Not only that but to be so successful in that endeavour that no remains have ever been found.

Not that I'm 100% clued into the case as it where but we have had talk of dogs smelling the scent of a body in the room was it and the car? Was there not blood in the car? Also folk have mentioned they had access to a boat etc etc. Sorry can't remember all the 'facts' but just random snippets that have been banded about.

You are indeed correct that someone lower down the social ladder would have been crucified even if just by the press like the woman who supposedly trolled the family but was then in turn trolled by Sky News so she topped herself.

[Geddy2112]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/british-holidaymaker-arrested-spanish-cops-8937042?ICID=FB_mirror_main

....I'll just leave this here.

[John G]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-n...FB_mirror_main

....I'll just leave this here.

Regarding social privilege, I think that just about says it all. Unbelievable!

[MsWeatherwax]

Regarding social privilege, I think that just about says it all. Unbelievable!

Yet not one single charge was laid to any of the people who were at that Tapas bar - all of whom were professional people, and were fully and completely aware of their responsibilities under child protection laws. They couldn't even claim ignorance. Absolutely disgraceful.

Any sympathy that I might have had for them vanished when they deliberately publicised the Maddie's eye defect, directly against the advise of the police. Assuming that their story is true to begin with, the already remote possibility of finding her alive evaporated completely when they did that. The arrogance is incredible.

Also, Kate McCann's book - some of the stuff in that is frankly abnormal. Particularly if, as she claims, she wrote it for the twins. I'm sure when the twins are old enough to read that book, they'll already have plenty of awful mental images to contend with, without their own mother filling in the graphic details.

[Abby Normal]

Yet not one single charge was laid to any of the people who were at that Tapas bar - all of whom were professional people, and were fully and completely aware of their responsibilities under child protection laws. They couldn't even claim ignorance. Absolutely disgraceful.

Any sympathy that I might have had for them vanished when they deliberately publicised the Maddie's eye defect, directly against the advise of the police. Assuming that their story is true to begin with, the already remote possibility of finding her alive evaporated completely when they did that. The arrogance is incredible.

Also, Kate McCann's book - some of the stuff in that is frankly abnormal. Particularly if, as she claims, she wrote it for the twins. I'm sure when the twins are old enough to read that book, they'll already have plenty of awful mental images to contend with, without their own mother filling in the graphic details.

How at the very least these losers weren't charged with child neglect is beyond me. Well actually not, because DA /lawyers are some of the biggest cowherds you will ever meet. They plea bargain to avoid going to trial, won't bring charges unless they think it's a slam dunk for conviction because theyre afraid of losing and hurt they're "winning" record, and wilt against powerful rich suspects who can hire good defense. Prosecuters-Do your job!!!

[louisa]

However, I find it difficult to believe the McCann's were responsible for their daughter's death, i.e. as a consequence of a medication overdose. For instance, how would they have disposed of the body without attracting any attention suspicion, especially when you take into account that this was a foreign country? Not only that but to be so successful in that endeavour that no remains have ever been found.

The McCanns could safely rest easy knowing the best detectives in the world and sniffer dogs would never be able to find remains once Maddie's body had been dumped into the sea from one of the other doctor's boats the same night (or the next day) she was 'discovered missing'. This is speculation on my part though.

As for giving the children drugs to keep them asleep while the parents caroused, well it has been known to happen, and the McCanns were probably quite convinced that they had given the appropriate dosage. But mistakes happen.

As to the drug itself - a GP will know a lot more about these things than mere lay people like us. Somebody mentioned Calpol and Paracetamol. I doubt if these smug GPs would have used anything you can buy over the counter because these oral liquids and pills just aren't balanced enough to give an exact dosage and have side effects. I would suggest morphine or a similar type of opiate could have been used, in tiny doses. (My tiny Pomeranian dog is on Buthanol injections and the amount we have to inject is miniscule. Buthanol is an injectable morphine derivative)

The mayhem that went on in that apartment on that night and that morning....and the twins slept right through it all.

As for those friends, the other doctors who closed ranks around the McCanns - there was talk of their mobile phones and computers being confiscated and examined, but that never happened, mainly due to the outcry from the British public who wanted the McCann's left alone.

Anyone who spoke out publicly against the McCann's found themselves gagged, including the Portuguese detective Amaral who wrote a book giving his own theories about what happened to Maddie. The McCanns successfully banned the sale of it in Britain.

It seems that the British public find it hard to accept that one of their own can be guilty of a crime in a foreign country, even when the evidence is overwhelming. "They're British so they must be innocent!"

I'm thinking mainly of the nanny Louise Woodward who was found guilty in an American court of shaking a baby to death while the parents had gone out for the evening.

As soon as the British public got wind of this they were up in arms! How dare they lock up this lovely 17 year old girl in a horrible US prison - look at her....pitiful creature with chained ankles.

So what happened next? In towns and villages across the country people organised fund raisings to Free Louise. Our PM had to listen and liaised with the US government and Louise came back home to loud cheers. People had tied yellow ribbons outside houses, even those who had never met her.

I can imagine how the parents of the baby she shook to death felt about all this.

Then the balloon burst when it was discovered that her parents had used the fund to pay off their mortgage plus other bills, exactly as the McCanns did with the money raised to find Maddie.

And somebody mentioned reading the book by the McCanns. That would be as pointless as reading an autobiography - they're too self serving and the author only tells us what they want us to think. A bit like the book written by the Ramseys. They should both be on the Fiction shelf.

As I recall the Ramseys were asked (during a TV interview) what became of the money that was in the JonBenet Memorial Fund. The Ramseys hedged their answers like the finest politicians.

[John G]

The McCanns could safely rest easy knowing the best detectives in the world and sniffer dogs would never be able to find remains once Maddie's body had been dumped into the sea from one of the other doctor's boats the same night (or the next day) she was 'discovered missing'. This is speculation on my part though.

As for giving the children drugs to keep them asleep while the parents caroused, well it has been known to happen, and the McCanns were probably quite convinced that they had given the appropriate dosage. But mistakes happen.

As to the drug itself - a GP will know a lot more about these things than mere lay people like us. Somebody mentioned Calpol and Paracetamol. I doubt if these smug GPs would have used anything you can buy over the counter because these oral liquids and pills just aren't balanced enough to give an exact dosage and have side effects. I would suggest morphine or a similar type of opiate could have been used, in tiny doses. (My tiny Pomeranian dog is on Buthanol injections and the amount we have to inject is miniscule. Buthanol is an injectable morphine derivative)

The mayhem that went on in that apartment on that night and that morning....and the twins slept right through it all.

As for those friends, the other doctors who closed ranks around the McCanns - there was talk of their mobile phones and computers being confiscated and examined, but that never happened, mainly due to the outcry from the British public who wanted the McCann's left alone.

Anyone who spoke out publicly against the McCann's found themselves gagged, including the Portuguese detective Amaral who wrote a book giving his own theories about what happened to Maddie. The McCanns successfully banned the sale of it in Britain.

It seems that the British public find it hard to accept that one of their own can be guilty of a crime in a foreign country, even when the evidence is overwhelming. "They're British so they must be innocent!"

I'm thinking mainly of the nanny Louise Woodward who was found guilty in an American court of shaking a baby to death while the parents had gone out for the evening.

As soon as the British public got wind of this they were up in arms! How dare they lock up this lovely 17 year old girl in a horrible US prison - look at her....pitiful creature with chained ankles.

So what happened next? In towns and villages across the country people organised fund raisings to Free Louise. Our PM had to listen and liaised with the US government and Louise came back home to loud cheers. People had tied yellow ribbons outside houses, even those who had never met her.

I can imagine how the parents of the baby she shook to death felt about all this.

Then the balloon burst when it was discovered that her parents had used the fund to pay off their mortgage plus other bills, exactly as the McCanns did with the money raised to find Maddie.

And somebody mentioned reading the book by the McCanns. That would be as pointless as reading an autobiography - they're too self serving and the author only tells us what they want us to think. A bit like the book written by the Ramseys. They should both be on the Fiction shelf.

As I recall the Ramseys were asked (during a TV interview) what became of the money that was in the JonBenet Memorial Fund. The Ramseys hedged their answers like the finest politicians.

The difficulty I have is that no one has produced a convincing argument to suggest the McCann's were responsible for their child's death. As I noted earlier, the Calopol argument is ridiculous, as this medication contains only paracetamol, which is not in any way a sedative.

Frankly, they would have to be completely insane to give a 3 year old child an opiate, particularly considering they were both doctors.

A sedating anti histamine is another option. However, as they were both doctors they must have been aware of the risks they would be taking with their own child's wellbeing. In that case they would have to be pretty much psychotic to take subject their own young child to such dangers.

And what if a sedative anti histamine had been used? Promethezane, probably the most risky of this type of drug, is contraindicated in infants younger than 2-Maddie was 3. However, even in this extreme case I don't believe there have been any fatalities in children older than 2: see http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/720608_5

[louisa]

They would have started with a tiny dose of a drug that caused drowsiness, and the McCanns were well placed to know ALL the drugs that were suitable for restless children.

In one TV interview Kate said that Maddie had woken up the night before (the supposed kidnapping) crying for her mummy and she had asked Kate why she didn't come to her.

From that I had to presume that Kate and Gerry were not in the apartment the night before either.

After hearing what her daughter said Kate may have made a mental note to give Maddie a bit more of the drug (whatever it was) before she and Gerry went out that evening.

The hotel had a 'listening service' in place whereby a nanny patrols the apartment complex listening out for crying children, paying special attention to the people who have asked, and paid, for this. The McCanns had ticked the box for No.

Maybe they already knew their children would sleep right through the night?

[Abby Normal]

The difficulty I have is that no one has produced a convincing argument to suggest the McCann's were responsible for their child's death. As I noted earlier, the Calopol argument is ridiculous, as this medication contains only paracetamol, which is not in any way a sedative.

Frankly, they would have to be completely insane to give a 3 year old child an opiate, particularly considering they were both doctors.

A sedating anti histamine is another option. However, as they were both doctors they must have been aware of the risks they would be taking with their own child's wellbeing. In that case they would have to be pretty much psychotic to take subject their own young child to such dangers.

And what if a sedative anti histamine had been used? Promethezane, probably the most risky of this type of drug, is contraindicated in infants younger than 2-Maddie was 3. However, even in this extreme case I don't believe there have been any fatalities in children older than 2: see http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/720608_5

I wouldn't put anything stupid enough past these morons. Anyone dumb enough to leave there three young (and I mean really young- 3 years and younger)children alone in a hotel room in a foreign country is capable of anything idiotic.

[John G]

They would have started with a tiny dose of a drug that caused drowsiness, and the McCanns were well placed to know ALL the drugs that were suitable for restless children.

In one TV interview Kate said that Maddie had woken up the night before (the supposed kidnapping) crying for her mummy and she had asked Kate why she didn't come to her.

From that I had to presume that Kate and Gerry were not in the apartment the night before either.

After hearing what her daughter said Kate may have made a mental note to give Maddie a bit more of the drug (whatever it was) before she and Gerry went out that evening.

The hotel had a 'listening service' in place whereby a nanny patrols the apartment complex listening out for crying children, paying special attention to the people who have asked, and paid, for this. The McCanns had ticked the box for No.

Maybe they already knew their children would sleep right through the night?

But the difficulty is: hypothetically what sedating drug could Maddie have been given which could have resulted in a catastrophic situation? The obvious one would be phernegan (promethazine) . As noted, that s drug is contraindicated in children under two, and there have been a number of examples of serious incidents, i.e. fatalities and severe breathing difficulties. However , even with this drug I'm not aware of any serious problems involving children older than two.

I believe there have been fatalities with diphenhydramine, even with adults, due to overdose. But this drug should not be given to a 3 year old, and the medically qualified parents must have been aware of this.

[Fleetwood Mac]

The difficulty I have is that no one has produced a convincing argument to suggest the McCann's were responsible for their child's death.

Very similar to Amanda Knox and the little American girl in the OP.

None of these three cases would ever have even made it into a British court of law because there simply isn't enough evidence to put together a case against any of them.

It boils down to people 'acting strange'. Christ, if that were the criteria for a court case we'd all be well and truly ****ed when in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Abby Normal]

Very similar to Amanda Knox and the little American girl in the OP.

None of these three cases would ever have even made it into a British court of law because there simply isn't enough evidence to put together a case against any of them.

It boils down to people 'acting strange'. Christ, if that were the criteria for a court case we'd all be well and truly ****ed when in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Well this post would qualify you that's for sure.