Madeleine McCann

[febbyfab]

I am glad to see I am not the only one disgusted by the media frenzy currently going on with the disappearance of this little girl. Simon Jenkins, The Guardian commentator, says it very well in this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,, ( Read more... )

Comments

[silentbobuk]

And as for this contributing to the find Maddy fund, what the hell is that money meant to go to? Pay for more police officers, pay for full blown newspaper adverts, bribe informants, what?

All it's done is raised the profile of the girl so she's become highly recognisable, and with that sort of money on offer it means that witnesses will be quick and keen to report information. This makes her a major liability, and I suspect all the media attention and the insane amount of money will indirectly lead to her death.

I believe the money will be given for information leading to her safe return, so if she's dead will the money simply be forgotten, or will the many people that have donated to the cause be happy to allow the money to be used by the Portuguese and/or British police forces to help in future cases?

It was suggested a while back that she may have been taken abroad, it's quite easy to move around Europe. It's also been suggested that she walked out of the apartment by herself.

[febbyfab]

But she was already high profile even before the money business turned up. I don't the money as having done anything positive. It makes her more likely to be killed (if she was still alive before that), it reeks of some form of dishonesty/exploitation (look at all the companies jumping on it, free PR huh?), it will increase the pointless calls to the police (anyone who genuinely knows where she is isn't going to do it for the reward) and it makes the media the story rather than reporting the story.

If as a result of all the media and all the money, she is killed. Do you expect to see any soul searching and remorse? It is like reporting Prince Harry going to Iraq, they printed the location of the base, the date he was going etc. Where is the responsible journalism?

[silentbobuk]

It makes her more likely to be killed (if she was still alive before that)

I suspect she was alive, if she'd been killed immediately then it's quite likely that the body would have been found. If she wasn't killed immediately then there's a good chance they planned on keeping her alive (I can't see them demanding a ransom, but they might have looked to sell her on, presumably for someone to abuse her), but now no one would be willing to take her off their hands. So their only choice is to sufficiently change her appearance/keep her hidden (or trapped) for many years - such as what happened to Natascha Kampusch in Austria - or kill her and hide the body. Okay, they have other choices too, such as handing over the child and going to prison.

It depends how much the young girl saw, if she knows too much they'll kill her, otherwise they might let her go.

But what do I know?

[silentbobuk]

it will increase the pointless calls to the police (anyone who genuinely knows where she is isn't going to do it for the reward)

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91210-1266570,00.html

Detectives hunting missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann fear people purely motivated by the cash offered by the huge rewards for information are hampering their investigation.

Which is exactly what we've been saying.