Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
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Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
candyfloss Thu 16 Mar 2017, 2:20 pm
Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Andrew Thu 16 Mar 2017, 2:31 pm
The McCanns: Too Many Questions and Too Few Answers
Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA
There are few couples in Britain who are better known than the McCanns. And yet the paradox is that there are few public couples about whom less seems to be known. They are surrounded by mystery, confusion, controversy and contradictions. Has any couple ever sought publicity quite so determinedly and yet managed to remain quite so enigmatic? Has there been a crime in British history so well publicised and yet so full of unanswered questions? Has there ever been a crime where the truth has become quite so lost amidst rumour and what seems to me to be a lot of spin – some of it apparently organised by professionals rather than a pair of doctors on a holiday.
I know of no other couple in British history about whom so many questions have been asked and yet so few answers seem to be available.
Whatever the truth, we should not forget that the McCanns left their daughter unattended and so have to accept a good part of the responsibility for whatever crime occurred. And in February 2017, a judge in Portugal’s highest court pointed out that the McCanns have not been ruled innocent.
There still seem to be many unanswered questions and puzzles about this enormously high profile case. There are a host of contradictions. And yet millions of pounds of public money have been spent investigating Madeleine’s disappearance. Since we are now approaching the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, it seems time for a summary of what we still don’t know.
The questions in this article are all genuine questions. I do not know the answers to any of them. (If I did I would write them as statements.) But I think it is in the public interest that the questions are asked. And I hope that one day they will all be answered.
Isn’t it about time a relatively small amount of money was spent taking the McCanns to court so that their story could be properly investigated? (I write as a doctor who has investigated many subjects and who has worked as a police surgeon.)
Surely a trial would help the couple by enabling them to answer many of the often asked questions? The suspicions will never go away. Indeed, I fear that the suspicions and doubts and rumours will grow stronger as the years go by. It is almost certain that whatever any of the Tapas Nine do with their lives, the first sentence of their obituaries has already been written.
I suspect that some parents might welcome an opportunity to put all the available evidence in the public domain and to have witnesses and critics properly and publicly questioned under oath.
Some might think that discussions about the case have in the past been limited by the McCanns’ alleged reluctance to answer some of the questions which have been asked, and by their willingness to take legal action against critics. It has been reported that the McCanns are threatening to sue Goncalo Amaral, if the Portugese policeman’s book The Truth of the Lie is published in the UK. This is odd because I believe that an English translation of Goncalo Amaral’s book has been freely available on the internet for some time.
It seems to me that the McCanns, the police and the politicians (how they became involved is a mystery in itself) have made things worse by what appears to be an endless publicity circus, which it seems to me was to some extent made worse by them or their associates. Precisely, what did Tony Blair and Oprah have to do with helping to find a small girl? What on earth made Prince Charles think he needed to get involved? It has, I understand, been claimed that in such cases, too much publicity can actually be harmful and can frighten abductors into doing something which they might not have planned. I suspect that is true.
Would not everyone – especially Madeleine – benefit if all the confusions and contradictions could be cleared away by a clear cut, forensic examination of all those involved and a proper analysis of the available facts? Would not questions asked, and answers given, under oath, help clear away the rumours and the fabrications – whatever their source?
Why I am constantly reminded of the confusion after the death of Dr David Kelly?
Over £12 million of taxpayers’ money has, it is said, been largely spent on looking for the alleged paedophile ring that the British police apparently believe is responsible for abducting Madeleine. To some, the police seem to be following the McCanns’ strong assertion, right from the start, that Madeleine had been abducted rather than following the possibility that she might have wandered or been killed in the locality.
The police will, of course, know that 70% of child murders are committed by people who know, or who are in some way close to, the child who is the victim.
(In reality, if Madeleine had wandered off then surely she would have been far more likely to have encountered someone who would have taken her home than that she would have happened to meet a wandering paedophile or paedophile gang?)
Is it true, as Kate McCann is reported to have claimed, that the shutters to the window of Madeleine’s room had been forced up? Or is it true, as others have suggested, that they might not have been forced? This is a simple and crucial question.
And here’s another mystery.
The loss of any human being is a tragedy.
But £12 million and more on an investigation into one missing child seems a good deal when other children go missing without any notable expenditure of public funds.
To put this in perspective, the current official ‘value of a prevented fatality’ in the UK is £1.83 million. In other words, that is how much the Government thinks it is reasonable to spend to prevent a single death. Every year, thousands of people die because the Government doesn’t think it is worth spending taxpayers’ money on drugs or surgery that would save their lives. This same figure must be used to justify road safety improvements. The NHS would not spend a fraction of the money spent on the search for a possibly imaginary paedophile gang even if it knew for certain that a life could be saved. This is of significance because the nation’s financial resources are inevitably finite. David Cameron, when Prime Minister, authorised the spending of this huge sum in this seemingly quixotic way.
Why was that?
Why are the McCanns apparently considered so very, very special and more worthy than thousands of other parents, grieving in similar circumstances? A growing number of people seem to feel that this is one of many mysteries that ought to be aired. It isn’t entirely absurd to say that anyone whose child goes missing abroad and who doesn’t have at least a bus load of Government employees fawning over them within a week should now feel cheated. And anyone who doesn’t have at least three cabinet ministers on the phone might also feel hard done by. Is it true that special branch officers escorted the McCanns back from Portugal? If so, is this now normal practice for all parents in such circumstances?
Surely, there could be no complaint if a little more public money were now spent on a proper investigation in a court of law. Indeed, would the McCanns themselves not benefit from an opportunity to put all the facts before a court?
Would not an independent analysis of all of the evidence help in finding a conclusion to this tragic case?
There are, it seems to me, a vast number of questions which could usefully be asked in a courtroom.
Here are just a few of the obvious questions which might usefully be asked and which would help remove for ever any undoubtedly unjust fears and suspicions some people might still have about Madeleine’s disappearance:
1. Is it true that the McCanns left their children at a crèche or play area in the mornings and the afternoons, and then left them unattended on at least some of the evenings while they were in Portugal? This seems odd to me because I would have thought that most people would, when taking their children on a family holiday, want to spend most of their time in their company. What was the relationship like between the McCanns and Madeleine before the trip to Portugal? Was Madeleine seen at the crèche or play area on the afternoon of the day she disappeared? And if so, by whom?
2. Is it really true that when the McCanns left their children unattended in the apartment, one of the doors was unlocked? I suspect that some people wouldn’t leave their camera or mobile telephone in an unlocked, rented apartment in a holiday area. Doesn’t it seem strange to leave three small children in such a situation? Have the McCanns ever taken public responsibility for their behaviour? Have they ever apologised for their behaviour? Is it true that Gerry McCann was playing tennis within days of Madeleine’s disappearance?
3. There is some confusion about how far away the McCanns were when they were dining. It has been said by Kate McCann that dining at the restaurant was akin to having a meal in the garden with the children upstairs in a nearby bedroom. (‘We were sitting outside and could just as easily have been eating on a fine spring evening in a friend’s garden, with the kids asleep upstairs in the house,’ she writes in her book.) But there seems to be evidence that the dining table was between 70 and 150 yards away from the apartment (different reports give differing figures) and it seems to me unlikely that anyone dining there could see or hear what was happening in the apartment. (I have seen it claimed that Gerry McCann has suggested that they were ‘essentially performing (their) own baby listening service’, though I find it difficult to understand this claim.) It has been claimed that the couple could see the apartment but this has been disputed. What is the truth? And even if they could see one outside wall of the apartment then, unless they are claiming to have X-ray vision, they wouldn’t be able to see what was happening inside.
4. The law in Britain is that if parents leave a child alone, and in such a way that the child might be at risk, then the parents can be prosecuted. Hundreds of parents are arrested every year for leaving their children (sometimes much older than the McCann children and sometimes for much shorter periods of time) without adult supervision. One father was arrested for leaving his child alone for just two minutes. Why was the behaviour of the McCanns considered acceptable? Since the McCanns claim that Madeleine was abducted (and this theory seems to be accepted by the British police) and that she must, therefore, have been left at risk, why have the McCanns not been charged by the British police? I believe the McCanns claim that their actions were ‘within the bounds of responsible parenting’ but is it not also the law in Portugal that it is an offence to leave children unattended? Why did social workers not take action over the fact that three small children had been left ‘at risk’? Would a single mother living in a council flat have been treated with such leniency if she had left three young children alone in an unlocked apartment? (In her book Kate McCann writes: ‘…we had a meeting with a social services manager and a local child protection officer. They went through various formalities with us and, while they took care to keep everything on a totally professional footing, I could tell they felt uncomfortable about having to subject us to this sort of scrutiny. But we’d resigned ourselves to it. We’d expected it, accepted it and we had nothing to hide.’) Whatever happened to Madeleine, there are doubtless many who find it difficult to avoid the feeling that her parents were at least partly responsible and that the authorities have behaved very strangely in taking no action. Am I alone in thinking that the McCanns should have been charged with child neglect? And should they have been allowed to remain in charge of their two remaining children? These are surely serious questions.
5. It has been alleged that Madeleine was a poor sleeper who occasionally walked in her sleep. Is this true? If so, was not it particularly risky for two doctors to leave her unattended in a strange, unlocked apartment in a foreign country? Did it not occur to either of them that a young child who was a poor sleeper and possibly a sleep walker might wander off through the unlocked door and then come to some harm? Is it not true that a babysitter could have been hired?
6. Prior to the holiday, was Madeleine ever given any form of medicine to help her sleep? Is it true that none of the McCann children was given anything at all by the McCanns to help them sleep during a holiday where their restlessness or failure to sleep might prove particularly inconvenient? Were any of the children given medication by anyone else?
7. How much alcohol did the McCanns consume while dining with their friends? Precisely how often did they check on their children? Are there no independent witnesses who can provide precise answers?
8. It is alleged that after Madeleine’s disappearance, the McCanns received telephone calls and/or support from Cherie Blair (the Prime Minister’s wife), Gordon Brown (the Chancellor of the Exchequer, due to become Prime Minister within weeks), Margaret Beckett (the foreign secretary) and the Pope. The local Ambassador is reported to have been involved. Is there any explanation for all this high profile support? The official figures in the UK show that a child goes missing every three minutes – well over 100,000 children a year. Do Cabinet Ministers telephone the parents of all these missing children? According to these figures, it is reasonable to estimate that several hundred children went missing on the same day that the McCanns lost their child. Did all those parents receive the same level of official support? If not, why not? Did Blair and Brown really provide the McCanns with a public relations representative? Who paid the bill? Can it conceivably be true (as has been alleged) that the British Government threatened to use the McCann investigation as a reason not to sign the Lisbon Treaty? Were SIS (MI5 and/or MI6) officers involved? Was it just a coincidence that alleged paedophile Sir Clement Freud had a holiday home close to the McCanns’ apartment? Is or was Gerry McCann a member of the Freemasons or any other private body? Has he signed the Scottish Bill of Rights?
9. Is it true that the McCanns continued to take their remaining children to the children’s play area after they had lost Madeleine?
10. What is the truth about the trained sniffer dogs which allegedly picked up the scent of a dead body in the McCanns’ apartment and in their hire car – as well as on Madeleine’s toy? Were these findings of any value? Were the dogs reliable? Was blood really found in the McCanns’ holiday apartment? If so, is it true that the blood was identified as Madeleine’s? If not, whose was it? There seems to be confusion about all these issues.
11. Is it true that Kate McCann refused to answer some of the questions posed by the Portuguese police? If so, why was this? Were any or all of the McCanns’ children conceived using IVF? Was Gerald McCann the father of them all?
12. Is it true that the McCanns have appointed a number of PR experts and high-powered lawyers (including extradition specialists and libel lawyers)?
13. Is it true that the McCanns’ friends had a ‘pact of silence’? If so, what was the reason for this?
14. Is it true that the McCanns refused to take a lie detector test? If so, what was the reason? Even if the test had not been admissible in court, it might have silenced some critics.
15. Is it true that the McCanns deleted some mobile phone records and that the Portuguese police were refused permission to examine medical, financial and credit card records? If so, why was this? Were the Portuguese police helped in every way possible by the British authorities?
16. Why did the McCanns form a fund raising company within less than a month of Madeleine’s disappearance? How did their limited company manage to spend £141,747 on administrative expenses in less than the first year? And was it really necessary to spend £26,113 on media monitoring? Precisely how has all the money donated to the Madeleine fund been spent? It has been claimed that the McCanns did not receive any remuneration from the fund but is it true that some of the money was used to help to pay the McCanns’ mortgage? If so, was that really what donors expected their money to be used for? Exactly how much of the money donated has been spent on legal fees on behalf of the McCanns? What was the McCanns’ financial situation before Madeleine’s disappearance? Why did directors of the fund resign? Why did last year’s accounts for Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited (as published on the ‘beta.companieshouse.gov.uk’ website) show that Madeleine’s Fund had £490,839 in ‘investments’? What were the ‘investments’?
17. As mentioned above, the British police are alleged to have spent £12 million of taxpayers’ money on investigating one particular possibility – the abduction by a gang. Have they spent any effort (and any of our money) on investigating other possible scenarios – such as, for example, the one which appears to be favoured by the Portuguese police chief who investigated Madeleine’s disappearance? If not, why not? Are not taxpayers entitled to know exactly how their money has been spent? What was the police reaction to the fact that a number of people thought that one of the photo fit suspects looked remarkably like Gerry McCann? (As an aside, the Portuguese police investigation seems to me to have been extremely thorough and professional.)
18. Why, within months of Madeleine’s disappearance, did Gerry McCann go to the United States of America to appear on television and visit the White House? Was there ever any suggestion that Americans might have been involved in the alleged abduction? Was there a theory that Madeleine might have been taken to the USA? Might it not seem odd to some that a parent should fly across the Atlantic when their daughter had gone missing in Portugal?
19. Have all the friends with whom the McCanns were dining been thoroughly investigated and cleared by the British police?
20. The chief of police who was initially responsible for the search for Madeleine has made some serious allegations. Have any or all of these allegations been investigated by the British police?
21. Is it true, as has been claimed by a former British Ambassador (though not to Portugal), that British diplomatic staff were under instructions to put pressure on the Portuguese authorities? Is it true, as has been alleged, that British authorities were ordered to be present at every contact between the McCanns and the Portugese police? If so, who initiated these orders? And why?
These are all simple and straightforward questions and to most of them there should, surely, be some simple and straightforward answers. There are, of course, many more questions. How many photographs of Madeleine did the McCanns take with them to Portugal? What happened to Gerry McCann’s sports bag? Were the contents also missing?
Given all the circumstances, the questions do not seem to me to be intrusive or unfair and they are not intended to be.
And surely the answers to them might, just might, help the police. It seems to me hardly believable that after ten years there is still so much mystery over some of the answers.
Might not the answers also help members of the public understand the background to Madeleine’s disappearance a little more clearly? And might not some of the answers help counteract some of the remarkable rumours, insinuations and assertions which now surround this case?
The McCanns seem to have been protected by some very powerful individuals. Inevitably, there are questions being asked. Why did three Prime Ministers, a Foreign Secretary, a Pope, much of the Foreign Service, a Prince, the police and most of the mainstream media put so much effort into protecting a fairly ordinary pair of middle class doctors from the sort of natural suspicion which would, in any normal circumstances, be considered perfectly proper and reasonable? Why was the abduction claim (made so immediately and without much if any serious evidential support) be regarded as the only real explanation for Madeleine’s disappearance?
Might not lessons be learned which could help other parents and help prevent something similar happening in the future? Every few minutes a British child disappears. The problem of missing children is a huge one.
Surely every step should be taken to safeguard all other children.
Isn’t that what everyone wants?
Copyright Vernon Coleman 2017
There are two other articles about the Madeleine McCann mystery in the ‘Miscellany’ section of this website. All material on this website can be accessed free of charge. And there are no advertisements.
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Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA
There are few couples in Britain who are better known than the McCanns. And yet the paradox is that there are few public couples about whom less seems to be known. They are surrounded by mystery, confusion, controversy and contradictions. Has any couple ever sought publicity quite so determinedly and yet managed to remain quite so enigmatic? Has there been a crime in British history so well publicised and yet so full of unanswered questions? Has there ever been a crime where the truth has become quite so lost amidst rumour and what seems to me to be a lot of spin – some of it apparently organised by professionals rather than a pair of doctors on a holiday.
I know of no other couple in British history about whom so many questions have been asked and yet so few answers seem to be available.
Whatever the truth, we should not forget that the McCanns left their daughter unattended and so have to accept a good part of the responsibility for whatever crime occurred. And in February 2017, a judge in Portugal’s highest court pointed out that the McCanns have not been ruled innocent.
There still seem to be many unanswered questions and puzzles about this enormously high profile case. There are a host of contradictions. And yet millions of pounds of public money have been spent investigating Madeleine’s disappearance. Since we are now approaching the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, it seems time for a summary of what we still don’t know.
The questions in this article are all genuine questions. I do not know the answers to any of them. (If I did I would write them as statements.) But I think it is in the public interest that the questions are asked. And I hope that one day they will all be answered.
Isn’t it about time a relatively small amount of money was spent taking the McCanns to court so that their story could be properly investigated? (I write as a doctor who has investigated many subjects and who has worked as a police surgeon.)
Surely a trial would help the couple by enabling them to answer many of the often asked questions? The suspicions will never go away. Indeed, I fear that the suspicions and doubts and rumours will grow stronger as the years go by. It is almost certain that whatever any of the Tapas Nine do with their lives, the first sentence of their obituaries has already been written.
I suspect that some parents might welcome an opportunity to put all the available evidence in the public domain and to have witnesses and critics properly and publicly questioned under oath.
Some might think that discussions about the case have in the past been limited by the McCanns’ alleged reluctance to answer some of the questions which have been asked, and by their willingness to take legal action against critics. It has been reported that the McCanns are threatening to sue Goncalo Amaral, if the Portugese policeman’s book The Truth of the Lie is published in the UK. This is odd because I believe that an English translation of Goncalo Amaral’s book has been freely available on the internet for some time.
It seems to me that the McCanns, the police and the politicians (how they became involved is a mystery in itself) have made things worse by what appears to be an endless publicity circus, which it seems to me was to some extent made worse by them or their associates. Precisely, what did Tony Blair and Oprah have to do with helping to find a small girl? What on earth made Prince Charles think he needed to get involved? It has, I understand, been claimed that in such cases, too much publicity can actually be harmful and can frighten abductors into doing something which they might not have planned. I suspect that is true.
Would not everyone – especially Madeleine – benefit if all the confusions and contradictions could be cleared away by a clear cut, forensic examination of all those involved and a proper analysis of the available facts? Would not questions asked, and answers given, under oath, help clear away the rumours and the fabrications – whatever their source?
Why I am constantly reminded of the confusion after the death of Dr David Kelly?
Over £12 million of taxpayers’ money has, it is said, been largely spent on looking for the alleged paedophile ring that the British police apparently believe is responsible for abducting Madeleine. To some, the police seem to be following the McCanns’ strong assertion, right from the start, that Madeleine had been abducted rather than following the possibility that she might have wandered or been killed in the locality.
The police will, of course, know that 70% of child murders are committed by people who know, or who are in some way close to, the child who is the victim.
(In reality, if Madeleine had wandered off then surely she would have been far more likely to have encountered someone who would have taken her home than that she would have happened to meet a wandering paedophile or paedophile gang?)
Is it true, as Kate McCann is reported to have claimed, that the shutters to the window of Madeleine’s room had been forced up? Or is it true, as others have suggested, that they might not have been forced? This is a simple and crucial question.
And here’s another mystery.
The loss of any human being is a tragedy.
But £12 million and more on an investigation into one missing child seems a good deal when other children go missing without any notable expenditure of public funds.
To put this in perspective, the current official ‘value of a prevented fatality’ in the UK is £1.83 million. In other words, that is how much the Government thinks it is reasonable to spend to prevent a single death. Every year, thousands of people die because the Government doesn’t think it is worth spending taxpayers’ money on drugs or surgery that would save their lives. This same figure must be used to justify road safety improvements. The NHS would not spend a fraction of the money spent on the search for a possibly imaginary paedophile gang even if it knew for certain that a life could be saved. This is of significance because the nation’s financial resources are inevitably finite. David Cameron, when Prime Minister, authorised the spending of this huge sum in this seemingly quixotic way.
Why was that?
Why are the McCanns apparently considered so very, very special and more worthy than thousands of other parents, grieving in similar circumstances? A growing number of people seem to feel that this is one of many mysteries that ought to be aired. It isn’t entirely absurd to say that anyone whose child goes missing abroad and who doesn’t have at least a bus load of Government employees fawning over them within a week should now feel cheated. And anyone who doesn’t have at least three cabinet ministers on the phone might also feel hard done by. Is it true that special branch officers escorted the McCanns back from Portugal? If so, is this now normal practice for all parents in such circumstances?
Surely, there could be no complaint if a little more public money were now spent on a proper investigation in a court of law. Indeed, would the McCanns themselves not benefit from an opportunity to put all the facts before a court?
Would not an independent analysis of all of the evidence help in finding a conclusion to this tragic case?
There are, it seems to me, a vast number of questions which could usefully be asked in a courtroom.
Here are just a few of the obvious questions which might usefully be asked and which would help remove for ever any undoubtedly unjust fears and suspicions some people might still have about Madeleine’s disappearance:
1. Is it true that the McCanns left their children at a crèche or play area in the mornings and the afternoons, and then left them unattended on at least some of the evenings while they were in Portugal? This seems odd to me because I would have thought that most people would, when taking their children on a family holiday, want to spend most of their time in their company. What was the relationship like between the McCanns and Madeleine before the trip to Portugal? Was Madeleine seen at the crèche or play area on the afternoon of the day she disappeared? And if so, by whom?
2. Is it really true that when the McCanns left their children unattended in the apartment, one of the doors was unlocked? I suspect that some people wouldn’t leave their camera or mobile telephone in an unlocked, rented apartment in a holiday area. Doesn’t it seem strange to leave three small children in such a situation? Have the McCanns ever taken public responsibility for their behaviour? Have they ever apologised for their behaviour? Is it true that Gerry McCann was playing tennis within days of Madeleine’s disappearance?
3. There is some confusion about how far away the McCanns were when they were dining. It has been said by Kate McCann that dining at the restaurant was akin to having a meal in the garden with the children upstairs in a nearby bedroom. (‘We were sitting outside and could just as easily have been eating on a fine spring evening in a friend’s garden, with the kids asleep upstairs in the house,’ she writes in her book.) But there seems to be evidence that the dining table was between 70 and 150 yards away from the apartment (different reports give differing figures) and it seems to me unlikely that anyone dining there could see or hear what was happening in the apartment. (I have seen it claimed that Gerry McCann has suggested that they were ‘essentially performing (their) own baby listening service’, though I find it difficult to understand this claim.) It has been claimed that the couple could see the apartment but this has been disputed. What is the truth? And even if they could see one outside wall of the apartment then, unless they are claiming to have X-ray vision, they wouldn’t be able to see what was happening inside.
4. The law in Britain is that if parents leave a child alone, and in such a way that the child might be at risk, then the parents can be prosecuted. Hundreds of parents are arrested every year for leaving their children (sometimes much older than the McCann children and sometimes for much shorter periods of time) without adult supervision. One father was arrested for leaving his child alone for just two minutes. Why was the behaviour of the McCanns considered acceptable? Since the McCanns claim that Madeleine was abducted (and this theory seems to be accepted by the British police) and that she must, therefore, have been left at risk, why have the McCanns not been charged by the British police? I believe the McCanns claim that their actions were ‘within the bounds of responsible parenting’ but is it not also the law in Portugal that it is an offence to leave children unattended? Why did social workers not take action over the fact that three small children had been left ‘at risk’? Would a single mother living in a council flat have been treated with such leniency if she had left three young children alone in an unlocked apartment? (In her book Kate McCann writes: ‘…we had a meeting with a social services manager and a local child protection officer. They went through various formalities with us and, while they took care to keep everything on a totally professional footing, I could tell they felt uncomfortable about having to subject us to this sort of scrutiny. But we’d resigned ourselves to it. We’d expected it, accepted it and we had nothing to hide.’) Whatever happened to Madeleine, there are doubtless many who find it difficult to avoid the feeling that her parents were at least partly responsible and that the authorities have behaved very strangely in taking no action. Am I alone in thinking that the McCanns should have been charged with child neglect? And should they have been allowed to remain in charge of their two remaining children? These are surely serious questions.
5. It has been alleged that Madeleine was a poor sleeper who occasionally walked in her sleep. Is this true? If so, was not it particularly risky for two doctors to leave her unattended in a strange, unlocked apartment in a foreign country? Did it not occur to either of them that a young child who was a poor sleeper and possibly a sleep walker might wander off through the unlocked door and then come to some harm? Is it not true that a babysitter could have been hired?
6. Prior to the holiday, was Madeleine ever given any form of medicine to help her sleep? Is it true that none of the McCann children was given anything at all by the McCanns to help them sleep during a holiday where their restlessness or failure to sleep might prove particularly inconvenient? Were any of the children given medication by anyone else?
7. How much alcohol did the McCanns consume while dining with their friends? Precisely how often did they check on their children? Are there no independent witnesses who can provide precise answers?
8. It is alleged that after Madeleine’s disappearance, the McCanns received telephone calls and/or support from Cherie Blair (the Prime Minister’s wife), Gordon Brown (the Chancellor of the Exchequer, due to become Prime Minister within weeks), Margaret Beckett (the foreign secretary) and the Pope. The local Ambassador is reported to have been involved. Is there any explanation for all this high profile support? The official figures in the UK show that a child goes missing every three minutes – well over 100,000 children a year. Do Cabinet Ministers telephone the parents of all these missing children? According to these figures, it is reasonable to estimate that several hundred children went missing on the same day that the McCanns lost their child. Did all those parents receive the same level of official support? If not, why not? Did Blair and Brown really provide the McCanns with a public relations representative? Who paid the bill? Can it conceivably be true (as has been alleged) that the British Government threatened to use the McCann investigation as a reason not to sign the Lisbon Treaty? Were SIS (MI5 and/or MI6) officers involved? Was it just a coincidence that alleged paedophile Sir Clement Freud had a holiday home close to the McCanns’ apartment? Is or was Gerry McCann a member of the Freemasons or any other private body? Has he signed the Scottish Bill of Rights?
9. Is it true that the McCanns continued to take their remaining children to the children’s play area after they had lost Madeleine?
10. What is the truth about the trained sniffer dogs which allegedly picked up the scent of a dead body in the McCanns’ apartment and in their hire car – as well as on Madeleine’s toy? Were these findings of any value? Were the dogs reliable? Was blood really found in the McCanns’ holiday apartment? If so, is it true that the blood was identified as Madeleine’s? If not, whose was it? There seems to be confusion about all these issues.
11. Is it true that Kate McCann refused to answer some of the questions posed by the Portuguese police? If so, why was this? Were any or all of the McCanns’ children conceived using IVF? Was Gerald McCann the father of them all?
12. Is it true that the McCanns have appointed a number of PR experts and high-powered lawyers (including extradition specialists and libel lawyers)?
13. Is it true that the McCanns’ friends had a ‘pact of silence’? If so, what was the reason for this?
14. Is it true that the McCanns refused to take a lie detector test? If so, what was the reason? Even if the test had not been admissible in court, it might have silenced some critics.
15. Is it true that the McCanns deleted some mobile phone records and that the Portuguese police were refused permission to examine medical, financial and credit card records? If so, why was this? Were the Portuguese police helped in every way possible by the British authorities?
16. Why did the McCanns form a fund raising company within less than a month of Madeleine’s disappearance? How did their limited company manage to spend £141,747 on administrative expenses in less than the first year? And was it really necessary to spend £26,113 on media monitoring? Precisely how has all the money donated to the Madeleine fund been spent? It has been claimed that the McCanns did not receive any remuneration from the fund but is it true that some of the money was used to help to pay the McCanns’ mortgage? If so, was that really what donors expected their money to be used for? Exactly how much of the money donated has been spent on legal fees on behalf of the McCanns? What was the McCanns’ financial situation before Madeleine’s disappearance? Why did directors of the fund resign? Why did last year’s accounts for Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited (as published on the ‘beta.companieshouse.gov.uk’ website) show that Madeleine’s Fund had £490,839 in ‘investments’? What were the ‘investments’?
17. As mentioned above, the British police are alleged to have spent £12 million of taxpayers’ money on investigating one particular possibility – the abduction by a gang. Have they spent any effort (and any of our money) on investigating other possible scenarios – such as, for example, the one which appears to be favoured by the Portuguese police chief who investigated Madeleine’s disappearance? If not, why not? Are not taxpayers entitled to know exactly how their money has been spent? What was the police reaction to the fact that a number of people thought that one of the photo fit suspects looked remarkably like Gerry McCann? (As an aside, the Portuguese police investigation seems to me to have been extremely thorough and professional.)
18. Why, within months of Madeleine’s disappearance, did Gerry McCann go to the United States of America to appear on television and visit the White House? Was there ever any suggestion that Americans might have been involved in the alleged abduction? Was there a theory that Madeleine might have been taken to the USA? Might it not seem odd to some that a parent should fly across the Atlantic when their daughter had gone missing in Portugal?
19. Have all the friends with whom the McCanns were dining been thoroughly investigated and cleared by the British police?
20. The chief of police who was initially responsible for the search for Madeleine has made some serious allegations. Have any or all of these allegations been investigated by the British police?
21. Is it true, as has been claimed by a former British Ambassador (though not to Portugal), that British diplomatic staff were under instructions to put pressure on the Portuguese authorities? Is it true, as has been alleged, that British authorities were ordered to be present at every contact between the McCanns and the Portugese police? If so, who initiated these orders? And why?
These are all simple and straightforward questions and to most of them there should, surely, be some simple and straightforward answers. There are, of course, many more questions. How many photographs of Madeleine did the McCanns take with them to Portugal? What happened to Gerry McCann’s sports bag? Were the contents also missing?
Given all the circumstances, the questions do not seem to me to be intrusive or unfair and they are not intended to be.
And surely the answers to them might, just might, help the police. It seems to me hardly believable that after ten years there is still so much mystery over some of the answers.
Might not the answers also help members of the public understand the background to Madeleine’s disappearance a little more clearly? And might not some of the answers help counteract some of the remarkable rumours, insinuations and assertions which now surround this case?
The McCanns seem to have been protected by some very powerful individuals. Inevitably, there are questions being asked. Why did three Prime Ministers, a Foreign Secretary, a Pope, much of the Foreign Service, a Prince, the police and most of the mainstream media put so much effort into protecting a fairly ordinary pair of middle class doctors from the sort of natural suspicion which would, in any normal circumstances, be considered perfectly proper and reasonable? Why was the abduction claim (made so immediately and without much if any serious evidential support) be regarded as the only real explanation for Madeleine’s disappearance?
Might not lessons be learned which could help other parents and help prevent something similar happening in the future? Every few minutes a British child disappears. The problem of missing children is a huge one.
Surely every step should be taken to safeguard all other children.
Isn’t that what everyone wants?
Copyright Vernon Coleman 2017
There are two other articles about the Madeleine McCann mystery in the ‘Miscellany’ section of this website. All material on this website can be accessed free of charge. And there are no advertisements.
There are hundreds of free articles on www.vernoncoleman.com and www.vernoncoleman.co.uk
For a biography please see www.vernoncoleman.org or www.vernoncoleman.net
And there are over 60 books by Vernon Coleman available as ebooks on Amazon.
I’m afraid, however, that you have to pay for those. (But not a lot.)
Andrew- Posts : 13074
Join date : 2014-08-29
Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
espeland Thu 16 Mar 2017, 4:38 pm
What have the British police got to prosecute the McCanns with? At the moment, nothing. Double Jeopardy applies in Portugal, so the PJ won't prosecute for negligence as they clearly believe the McCanns are guilty of more.
It seems to me that the best way to get the McCanns into a court - either in the UK or Portugal - is via GA, but he may be held up from taking action by the McCanns' appeal to the SC (the last I heard of him was that he was on holiday in Switzerland weeks ago - is he still there?).
I am surprised that the T9 haven't been forced back to Portugal to help the PJ with their inquiry.
espeland- Posts : 239
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Mimi Thu 16 Mar 2017, 4:58 pm
"Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited (as published on the ‘beta.companieshouse.gov.uk’ website) show that Madeleine’s Fund had £490,839 in ‘investments’? What were the ‘investments’?"
That sum is just enough to invest in a nice house in, say, Leicester somewhere.
And I see the Mcs house was bought for £459,950 in 2006. It`s now worth £552,000 according to Zoopla.
That sum is just enough to invest in a nice house in, say, Leicester somewhere.
And I see the Mcs house was bought for £459,950 in 2006. It`s now worth £552,000 according to Zoopla.
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Mimi- Posts : 3616
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Andrew Thu 16 Mar 2017, 5:49 pm
A decent article written up by Vernon Coleman. Didn't have time to read it when I posted it up before but just soaked it up now.
Can't say that I've ever heard of him myself though... But a good read nonetheless.
Can't say that I've ever heard of him myself though... But a good read nonetheless.
Andrew- Posts : 13074
Join date : 2014-08-29
Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
unreorganised Thu 16 Mar 2017, 6:03 pm
Andrew wrote:A decent article written up by Vernon Coleman. Didn't have time to read it when I posted it up before but just soaked it up now.
Can't say that I've ever heard of him myself though... But a good read nonetheless.
He wrote Mrs. Caldicot's Cabbage War, if that's any help.
unreorganised- Posts : 2057
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Bampots Thu 16 Mar 2017, 6:52 pm
Come on you two......he has written for lots of newspapers for a long time.....his main income was from the Sun itself.....so i suppose this is pretty major coming from his background....unreorganised wrote:Andrew wrote:A decent article written up by Vernon Coleman. Didn't have time to read it when I posted it up before but just soaked it up now.
Can't say that I've ever heard of him myself though... But a good read nonetheless.
He wrote Mrs. Caldicot's Cabbage War, if that's any help.
http://www.vernoncoleman.com/biog.htm
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Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts
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Bampots- Posts : 2320
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
coppernob Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:30 pm
Is he the same Coleman as this one?
https://thecolemanexperience.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/rip-madeleine-mccann/
I seem to remember he wrote another piece about the Mccanns back in the early days i'll try and find it
https://thecolemanexperience.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/rip-madeleine-mccann/
I seem to remember he wrote another piece about the Mccanns back in the early days i'll try and find it
coppernob- Posts : 110
Join date : 2014-09-26
Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
candyfloss Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:34 pm
Bampots wrote:Come on you two......he has written for lots of newspapers for a long time.....his main income was from the Sun itself.....so i suppose this is pretty major coming from his background....unreorganised wrote:Andrew wrote:A decent article written up by Vernon Coleman. Didn't have time to read it when I posted it up before but just soaked it up now.
Can't say that I've ever heard of him myself though... But a good read nonetheless.
He wrote Mrs. Caldicot's Cabbage War, if that's any help.
http://www.vernoncoleman.com/biog.htm
It is major Bampots, at one time he was very popular on television.
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
coppernob Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:34 pm
I think this is what I was thinking of
http://www.vernoncoleman.com/wouldyouhire.htm
Would You Hire The McCanns As Babysitters?
(What really happened to Madeleine McCann?)
Vernon Coleman
The mystery continues to fascinate the world. Watching the McCann industry at work is like watching a slow motion train wreck.
Friends, relatives, neighbours - everyone now seems to be in on the act. Despite asking for privacy the McCanns seem keen to keep supplying the media with quotes and self-serving information.
But what did happen to the unfortunate three-year-old at the centre of this tragedy?
Here's my summary of the possibilities:
1. A gang sussed out the territory and, knowing that the McCanns were out having dinner, wandered in and `abducted' her. This would probably not have happened, of course, if an adult had been present. Many commentators have played down the responsibility of the parents (`they only did what thousands of other parents do' seemed a popular argument, and one can only assume that a good many people in the media are accustomed to leaving their kids alone and felt guilty about it). But it seems to me that if this is what happened then the parents must bear much of the responsibility. An unemployed 16-year-old mother who left her child alone while she went out for chips would have social workers on her doorstep within minutes. Two doctors ought to know better.
2. A lone paedophile, wandering past, spotted Madeleine, was tempted, snuck in and took her away. This would probably not have happened, of course, if an adult had been present. Once again, the parents must bear much of the responsibility if this is what happened. If they hadn't been out having dinner with friends, Madeleine would now be at home in Leicestershire.
3. Madeleine got up by herself, wandered out of the apartment and somehow disappeared into a hole in the road or the sea. Once again, the parents must bear the responsibility if this is what happened.
4. A parent, hurrying to get ready to go out to dinner, became cross with Madeleine and hit her (or went to hit her). The blow (or intended blow) resulted in Madeleine falling and hitting her head. She died. To avoid trouble with the authorities the accident was covered up. The body was hidden and subsequently buried privately.
5. Madeleine had been playing up. One or both parents decided to give her something to quieten her. A sleeping medicine, perhaps. Madeleine reacted badly and died. To avoid trouble with the authorities (and, possibly, serious trouble with the General Medical Council) the death was covered up. The body was buried privately.
There are several other bizarre possibilities.
But these five are, presumably, the most likely.
Though there must be a real chance that we will never know exactly what happened.
There seems to be some surprise, and dismay, among some sections of the population that the McCanns are being considered as suspects.
Why?
Back in May 2007, when I first wrote about this tragic affair, I pointed out that in most cases where a member of a family disappears the first suspects usually include the closest relatives.
I asked then if the McCanns had ever even been considered as possible suspects in the disappearance of their child. And if not, why not?
Although I am not, of course, for a moment suggesting that they are in any way guilty, I am surprised by the fact that for a long while no one seemed to have regarded the couple as potential suspects. When anyone is murdered the first people usually considered as possible suspects are other members of the family. Exclude those closest first usually seems to be the standard police policy.
But the public and the media seem to be in love with the McCanns. (And they seem to me to have taken to the cameras with some enthusiasm.)
Meanwhile, the number of things that confuse me continue to grow.
Why don't the McCanns go back to work? They wouldn't be the first parents to have to return to work after a tragedy.
Work would provide some distraction from the tragedy (a good thing) and it would enable them to earn some money for their legal fees (another good thing). It would also encourage the media to back off a little. (And it would give the McCanns a good reason to demand that the media do back off.)
The longer the circus continues the more difficult it will be for the family ever to have a normal life again. In my view it won't be long before their fame will make the McCanns unemployable as doctors.
Some of the other media stunts seemed to me to be intended to attract publicity to the parents rather than to the cause.
Did Gerry really have to whizz off to America?
How and why did Gordon Brown get involved?
How was the Pope ever going to help find Madeleine?
To be frank, some of the stuff I've read sound more like political spin than the heartfelt cries of grieving parents.
And why don't the family and friends all shut up?
They may think they are helping but I can't see that they are. Many of the comments seem to me to just stir things up - and attract attention to the McCanns.
If the McCanns really want to be private then they should keep their heads down - and tell their relatives to go back to their own lives.
The media (and a large section of the public) seem to regard the McCanns as victims - and deserving of our sympathy and support.
I wonder if I'm the only person to have found the McCanns to be a rather unappealing pair?
And the strange thing is that the more I see of them the more I dislike and distrust them.
Perhaps that's just me...but here's a question for you: Would you hire the McCanns as babysitters?
Copyright Vernon Coleman September 2007
There are two other articles about the McCanns in the 'miscellany' section on this website.
There are hundreds of free articles on www.vernoncoleman.com and www.vernoncoleman.co.uk
For a biography please see www.vernoncoleman.org or www.vernoncoleman.net
And there are over 60 books by Vernon Coleman available as ebooks on Amazon.
I?m afraid, however, that you have to pay for those. (But not a lot.)
http://www.vernoncoleman.com/wouldyouhire.htm
Would You Hire The McCanns As Babysitters?
(What really happened to Madeleine McCann?)
Vernon Coleman
The mystery continues to fascinate the world. Watching the McCann industry at work is like watching a slow motion train wreck.
Friends, relatives, neighbours - everyone now seems to be in on the act. Despite asking for privacy the McCanns seem keen to keep supplying the media with quotes and self-serving information.
But what did happen to the unfortunate three-year-old at the centre of this tragedy?
Here's my summary of the possibilities:
1. A gang sussed out the territory and, knowing that the McCanns were out having dinner, wandered in and `abducted' her. This would probably not have happened, of course, if an adult had been present. Many commentators have played down the responsibility of the parents (`they only did what thousands of other parents do' seemed a popular argument, and one can only assume that a good many people in the media are accustomed to leaving their kids alone and felt guilty about it). But it seems to me that if this is what happened then the parents must bear much of the responsibility. An unemployed 16-year-old mother who left her child alone while she went out for chips would have social workers on her doorstep within minutes. Two doctors ought to know better.
2. A lone paedophile, wandering past, spotted Madeleine, was tempted, snuck in and took her away. This would probably not have happened, of course, if an adult had been present. Once again, the parents must bear much of the responsibility if this is what happened. If they hadn't been out having dinner with friends, Madeleine would now be at home in Leicestershire.
3. Madeleine got up by herself, wandered out of the apartment and somehow disappeared into a hole in the road or the sea. Once again, the parents must bear the responsibility if this is what happened.
4. A parent, hurrying to get ready to go out to dinner, became cross with Madeleine and hit her (or went to hit her). The blow (or intended blow) resulted in Madeleine falling and hitting her head. She died. To avoid trouble with the authorities the accident was covered up. The body was hidden and subsequently buried privately.
5. Madeleine had been playing up. One or both parents decided to give her something to quieten her. A sleeping medicine, perhaps. Madeleine reacted badly and died. To avoid trouble with the authorities (and, possibly, serious trouble with the General Medical Council) the death was covered up. The body was buried privately.
There are several other bizarre possibilities.
But these five are, presumably, the most likely.
Though there must be a real chance that we will never know exactly what happened.
There seems to be some surprise, and dismay, among some sections of the population that the McCanns are being considered as suspects.
Why?
Back in May 2007, when I first wrote about this tragic affair, I pointed out that in most cases where a member of a family disappears the first suspects usually include the closest relatives.
I asked then if the McCanns had ever even been considered as possible suspects in the disappearance of their child. And if not, why not?
Although I am not, of course, for a moment suggesting that they are in any way guilty, I am surprised by the fact that for a long while no one seemed to have regarded the couple as potential suspects. When anyone is murdered the first people usually considered as possible suspects are other members of the family. Exclude those closest first usually seems to be the standard police policy.
But the public and the media seem to be in love with the McCanns. (And they seem to me to have taken to the cameras with some enthusiasm.)
Meanwhile, the number of things that confuse me continue to grow.
Why don't the McCanns go back to work? They wouldn't be the first parents to have to return to work after a tragedy.
Work would provide some distraction from the tragedy (a good thing) and it would enable them to earn some money for their legal fees (another good thing). It would also encourage the media to back off a little. (And it would give the McCanns a good reason to demand that the media do back off.)
The longer the circus continues the more difficult it will be for the family ever to have a normal life again. In my view it won't be long before their fame will make the McCanns unemployable as doctors.
Some of the other media stunts seemed to me to be intended to attract publicity to the parents rather than to the cause.
Did Gerry really have to whizz off to America?
How and why did Gordon Brown get involved?
How was the Pope ever going to help find Madeleine?
To be frank, some of the stuff I've read sound more like political spin than the heartfelt cries of grieving parents.
And why don't the family and friends all shut up?
They may think they are helping but I can't see that they are. Many of the comments seem to me to just stir things up - and attract attention to the McCanns.
If the McCanns really want to be private then they should keep their heads down - and tell their relatives to go back to their own lives.
The media (and a large section of the public) seem to regard the McCanns as victims - and deserving of our sympathy and support.
I wonder if I'm the only person to have found the McCanns to be a rather unappealing pair?
And the strange thing is that the more I see of them the more I dislike and distrust them.
Perhaps that's just me...but here's a question for you: Would you hire the McCanns as babysitters?
Copyright Vernon Coleman September 2007
There are two other articles about the McCanns in the 'miscellany' section on this website.
There are hundreds of free articles on www.vernoncoleman.com and www.vernoncoleman.co.uk
For a biography please see www.vernoncoleman.org or www.vernoncoleman.net
And there are over 60 books by Vernon Coleman available as ebooks on Amazon.
I?m afraid, however, that you have to pay for those. (But not a lot.)
coppernob- Posts : 110
Join date : 2014-09-26
Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
candyfloss Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:35 pm
coppernob wrote:Is he the same Coleman as this one?
https://thecolemanexperience.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/rip-madeleine-mccann/
I seem to remember he wrote another piece about the Mccanns back in the early days i'll try and find it
Yes, think its the same one.
_________________
Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.......... Dr Seuss
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Age : 71
Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
coppernob Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:39 pm
He also wrote this on 19 May 2007
Are Madeleine McCann's Parents Guilty Of Neglect? (And Is This Really The Biggest News Story In Britain?)
Vernon Coleman
Thousands of people go missing every year but the media doesn't usually bother.
However, the disappearance of a three-year-old British girl from her parents' holiday accommodation in Portugal has become a massive news story.
I suspect that the media has persuaded us that the Drs McCanns deserve our sympathy because they are nice middle class parents and Madeleine is a pretty photogenic child. The fact that there are lots of pictures available helps.
Family and friends have used a compliant media to build the story into a variety of mass hysteria matching that which followed Diana's death.
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been considered such a good story that British television has consistently led with it as the main news item for weeks. Most newspapers have kept the story on their front page.
But has this really been the most important news story? For example, on May 17th, one of days that the two week old story of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was considered the most important news item in Britain, here are some of the news stories that were considered less important:
* Gordon Brown was officially announced as Britain's next Prime Minister
* The World Bank met to consider whether or not to get rid of its President Paul Wolfowitz
* The Government announced that it would close a fifth of all Post Offices in the country. (A total of 2,500 villages and communities deprived of their link with the outside world.)
* The Israelis launched air strikes on Palestinians in Gaza
* The British Army and the Government decided that Prince Harry would not serve in Iraq because it was too dangerous for a member of the Royal Family to fight there. (Despite this, Harry decided that he would stay in the army though it was not made clear precisely what he would do.)
* War criminals Tony Blair and George Bush met in the USA to defend their war record. Blair described Bush as a great leader.
* British soldiers continued to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (though without members of the Royal family).
***
When three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared she was alone with her younger siblings in a ground floor holiday apartment rented by her parents. They had gone out to dinner.
Let's get this straight.
The Drs McCann didn't have to rush out in an emergency. They could, presumably, have hired a baby sitter. They chose not to. They chose to leave their three very small children in a flat in a foreign country while they went out to have a good time in a restaurant.
What is going on here?
Why haven't the parents been interviewed by social workers?
Is it now legal for British parents to leave their tiny children alone while they go out for fun?
The McCanns left three children alone. The oldest was three-years-old.
The last time I looked, teenage mothers got into trouble if they popped out to the shops to get a pint of milk and a loaf of bread and left their children alone.
Under British law parents can be charged with neglect or abandonment if they leave their children alone if it is unsafe to do so.
It clearly was unsafe to leave these three small children alone. One of them is now missing.
The McCanns chose to go out to have a good time leaving three small children alone in a flat in a foreign country.
These were not impoverished teenagers who didn't know any better. They are thirty-eight-year-old doctors.
What sort of example were they setting?
What sort of example are media commentators who excuse them setting?
Where are the interfering, busy body social workers when they're really needed?
Most media commentators seem to think that the McCanns did nothing wrong. The arguments seem to be that parents must be able to leave their small children alone in the world and that parents are entitled to lead lives without having their children around them all the time.
Huh?
People who become parents take on enormous responsibilities.
Small children are vulnerable. They fall over. They wake up frightened. They see ghosts in shadows. They fall out of bed. They are vulnerable.
Small children are vulnerable.
But society rewards parents in many ways for their decision. And having children is a choice.
If the Drs McCann wanted to have romantic holidays in the Algarve without having their fun evenings spoilt by children they shouldn't have had any children.
(And they could, remember, have hired a baby sitter.)
They chose to have children. And they chose to take them away to Portugal. And they chose to leave them alone while they went out to dinner.
Personally, I'd arrest the pair of them for child neglect.
Whatever happened to Madeleine they must take a huge amount of responsibility.
Personally, I don't think either of them are responsible enough to work as doctors.
Responsible parents don't leave their children alone in a foreign country.
Being a parent is a 24 hour responsibility.
***
The media and the public seem to regard this pair as victims.
But in my view there is only one victim.
Madeleine is the victim.
Whatever has happened to her is clearly awful.
I feel so, so sorry for her.
But the parents?
Sorry, but I just don't think they deserve our sympathy.
The parents have now taken indefinite leave from their jobs.
(I wonder if they're still getting paid for any NHS work they aren't doing? Just a thought.)
They and their family and friends seem to have become media celebrities. Other celebrities are falling over themselves to get involved.
The parents are alleged to be hiring a professional public relations adviser and two London lawyers. A trust is allegedly being set up to handle the money being raised. Why? What the hell is going on?
Why do they need lawyers and a publicity adviser?
And why do they need a trust?
These aren't impoverished people. They are both doctors.
Their combined annual income is probably the best part of £200,000. Personally, I would not be surprised to see the Drs McCann on Celebrity Big Brother next year.
A cynic might say that at least they won't need to bother getting babysitters for whatever children they might have got left by then.
They could just leave 'em at home alone.
Are Madeleine McCann's Parents Guilty Of Neglect? (And Is This Really The Biggest News Story In Britain?)
Vernon Coleman
Thousands of people go missing every year but the media doesn't usually bother.
However, the disappearance of a three-year-old British girl from her parents' holiday accommodation in Portugal has become a massive news story.
I suspect that the media has persuaded us that the Drs McCanns deserve our sympathy because they are nice middle class parents and Madeleine is a pretty photogenic child. The fact that there are lots of pictures available helps.
Family and friends have used a compliant media to build the story into a variety of mass hysteria matching that which followed Diana's death.
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been considered such a good story that British television has consistently led with it as the main news item for weeks. Most newspapers have kept the story on their front page.
But has this really been the most important news story? For example, on May 17th, one of days that the two week old story of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was considered the most important news item in Britain, here are some of the news stories that were considered less important:
* Gordon Brown was officially announced as Britain's next Prime Minister
* The World Bank met to consider whether or not to get rid of its President Paul Wolfowitz
* The Government announced that it would close a fifth of all Post Offices in the country. (A total of 2,500 villages and communities deprived of their link with the outside world.)
* The Israelis launched air strikes on Palestinians in Gaza
* The British Army and the Government decided that Prince Harry would not serve in Iraq because it was too dangerous for a member of the Royal Family to fight there. (Despite this, Harry decided that he would stay in the army though it was not made clear precisely what he would do.)
* War criminals Tony Blair and George Bush met in the USA to defend their war record. Blair described Bush as a great leader.
* British soldiers continued to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (though without members of the Royal family).
***
When three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared she was alone with her younger siblings in a ground floor holiday apartment rented by her parents. They had gone out to dinner.
Let's get this straight.
The Drs McCann didn't have to rush out in an emergency. They could, presumably, have hired a baby sitter. They chose not to. They chose to leave their three very small children in a flat in a foreign country while they went out to have a good time in a restaurant.
What is going on here?
Why haven't the parents been interviewed by social workers?
Is it now legal for British parents to leave their tiny children alone while they go out for fun?
The McCanns left three children alone. The oldest was three-years-old.
The last time I looked, teenage mothers got into trouble if they popped out to the shops to get a pint of milk and a loaf of bread and left their children alone.
Under British law parents can be charged with neglect or abandonment if they leave their children alone if it is unsafe to do so.
It clearly was unsafe to leave these three small children alone. One of them is now missing.
The McCanns chose to go out to have a good time leaving three small children alone in a flat in a foreign country.
These were not impoverished teenagers who didn't know any better. They are thirty-eight-year-old doctors.
What sort of example were they setting?
What sort of example are media commentators who excuse them setting?
Where are the interfering, busy body social workers when they're really needed?
Most media commentators seem to think that the McCanns did nothing wrong. The arguments seem to be that parents must be able to leave their small children alone in the world and that parents are entitled to lead lives without having their children around them all the time.
Huh?
People who become parents take on enormous responsibilities.
Small children are vulnerable. They fall over. They wake up frightened. They see ghosts in shadows. They fall out of bed. They are vulnerable.
Small children are vulnerable.
But society rewards parents in many ways for their decision. And having children is a choice.
If the Drs McCann wanted to have romantic holidays in the Algarve without having their fun evenings spoilt by children they shouldn't have had any children.
(And they could, remember, have hired a baby sitter.)
They chose to have children. And they chose to take them away to Portugal. And they chose to leave them alone while they went out to dinner.
Personally, I'd arrest the pair of them for child neglect.
Whatever happened to Madeleine they must take a huge amount of responsibility.
Personally, I don't think either of them are responsible enough to work as doctors.
Responsible parents don't leave their children alone in a foreign country.
Being a parent is a 24 hour responsibility.
***
The media and the public seem to regard this pair as victims.
But in my view there is only one victim.
Madeleine is the victim.
Whatever has happened to her is clearly awful.
I feel so, so sorry for her.
But the parents?
Sorry, but I just don't think they deserve our sympathy.
The parents have now taken indefinite leave from their jobs.
(I wonder if they're still getting paid for any NHS work they aren't doing? Just a thought.)
They and their family and friends seem to have become media celebrities. Other celebrities are falling over themselves to get involved.
The parents are alleged to be hiring a professional public relations adviser and two London lawyers. A trust is allegedly being set up to handle the money being raised. Why? What the hell is going on?
Why do they need lawyers and a publicity adviser?
And why do they need a trust?
These aren't impoverished people. They are both doctors.
Their combined annual income is probably the best part of £200,000. Personally, I would not be surprised to see the Drs McCann on Celebrity Big Brother next year.
A cynic might say that at least they won't need to bother getting babysitters for whatever children they might have got left by then.
They could just leave 'em at home alone.
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Guest Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:41 pm
He asks good and legitimate (and obvious) questions - and if anything this puts into perspective just how dodgy the McCanns' abduction claim is, along with the subsequent 10 years of investigations on the part of the UK.
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
candyfloss Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:44 pm
Thanks coppernob, it's good to be reminded of that article back in 2007, and as he now says, 10 years on, all that money spent, all that investigation and he and the rest of us still have all those unanswered questions.
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Andrew Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:45 pm
Heard of Vernon K but genuinely not C. Will look through the additional links later (tomorrow)
Does he have a pic.... That might refresh the old memory.
I thought the Coleman Experince was the conspiracy chap....
Does he have a pic.... That might refresh the old memory.
I thought the Coleman Experince was the conspiracy chap....
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Dee Coy Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:48 pm
Dr Vernon Coleman has been a hero of mine for a long long time, since the 80s when he was very vocal about the testing of drugs and cosmetics on animals. As a doctor his position was clear, such testing is useless because animals are not human.
So I guess he has not been a popular figure amongst the establishment for a long time - note what he says about the death of David Kelly. There was also that other famous article he wrote about the McCanns earlier on in this fiasco.
Wish there was a way to send the above article viral!
So I guess he has not been a popular figure amongst the establishment for a long time - note what he says about the death of David Kelly. There was also that other famous article he wrote about the McCanns earlier on in this fiasco.
Wish there was a way to send the above article viral!
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
candyfloss Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:51 pm
Andrew wrote:Heard of Vernon K but genuinely not C. Will look through the additional links later (tomorrow)
Does he have a pic.... That might refresh the old memory.
I thought the Coleman Experince was the conspiracy chap....
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
coppernob Thu 16 Mar 2017, 7:59 pm
candyfloss wrote:Thanks coppernob, it's good to be reminded of that article back in 2007, and as he now says, 10 years on, all that money spent, all that investigation and he and the rest of us still have all those unanswered questions.
You are very welcome, Candyfloss. Not sure if the Coleman experience is him but wouldn't surprise me
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Dee Coy Thu 16 Mar 2017, 8:22 pm
coppernob wrote:candyfloss wrote:Thanks coppernob, it's good to be reminded of that article back in 2007, and as he now says, 10 years on, all that money spent, all that investigation and he and the rest of us still have all those unanswered questions.
You are very welcome, Candyfloss. Not sure if the Coleman experience is him but wouldn't surprise me
Oh yes... I wonder._________________
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
candyfloss Thu 16 Mar 2017, 8:33 pm
Dee Coy wrote:coppernob wrote:candyfloss wrote:Thanks coppernob, it's good to be reminded of that article back in 2007, and as he now says, 10 years on, all that money spent, all that investigation and he and the rest of us still have all those unanswered questions.
You are very welcome, Candyfloss. Not sure if the Coleman experience is him but wouldn't surprise me
Yes it is the same one the other two articles are in the Miscellany section of his website. ' Would you hire the McCanns as babysitters' and 'Are Madeleine McCann's parents guilty of Neglect' . Scroll down near the bottom of this list they are almost together.
http://www.vernoncoleman.com/main.htm
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Andrew Thu 16 Mar 2017, 8:47 pm
Will get back to the footy/bet/beer... but the Coleman Experience and this Vernon chap are not one and the same.
Surely.
Surely.
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
candyfloss Thu 16 Mar 2017, 8:57 pm
Andrew wrote:Will get back to the footy/bet/beer... but the Coleman Experience and this Vernon chap are not one and the same.
Surely.
No, I think I have got confused now, I was referring to the Coleman who wrote the other two articles on his website, but the Coleman experience can't be the same one.
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Freedom Thu 16 Mar 2017, 9:09 pm
I couldn't believe that the two Colemans were the same.
The blog The Coleman Experience is full of wild claims with absolutely no proof - and filthy language thrown in.
https://thecolemanexperience.wordpress.com/
By the way, he seems to have shut up shop as he hasn't posted anything for nearly a year.
P.S. This is an example of his "factual" information, talking initially about the death of Peaches Geldof.
"Was her mother, Paula Yates, also murdered?
Most certainly, yes.
You see, her father, Hughie Green, was a BBC presenter for many years.
He must have known child-raping filth, Jimmy Savile.
Hughie Green was a great fan of Margaret Thatcher, who in turn was close chums with Savile".
Paula Yates didn't even know that Hughie Green was her natural father until after the latter died so he certainly wasn't telling her all the scandal he knew about at the BBC. I don't think that, apart from an early stint on BBC radio, he ever worked there anyway!
Absolute nonsense.
The blog The Coleman Experience is full of wild claims with absolutely no proof - and filthy language thrown in.
https://thecolemanexperience.wordpress.com/
By the way, he seems to have shut up shop as he hasn't posted anything for nearly a year.
P.S. This is an example of his "factual" information, talking initially about the death of Peaches Geldof.
"Was her mother, Paula Yates, also murdered?
Most certainly, yes.
You see, her father, Hughie Green, was a BBC presenter for many years.
He must have known child-raping filth, Jimmy Savile.
Hughie Green was a great fan of Margaret Thatcher, who in turn was close chums with Savile".
Paula Yates didn't even know that Hughie Green was her natural father until after the latter died so he certainly wasn't telling her all the scandal he knew about at the BBC. I don't think that, apart from an early stint on BBC radio, he ever worked there anyway!
Absolute nonsense.
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Re: Dr Vernon Coleman - The McCanns: Too many questions and too Few Answers
Mimi Fri 17 Mar 2017, 12:11 am
Andrew wrote:Will get back to the footy/bet/beer... but the Coleman Experience and this Vernon chap are not one and the same.
Surely.
No definitely not.
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