.......and as it most certainly is in Portugal. If anyone is incompetent here it's the parents.

Thought so, never can trust *any* of the media to get their stories correct, the simplest of facts and they still get it wrong :rolleyes:

They should now be prosecuted for breaking the Law, as a lesson to others.

Sorry.... but they'll gain NO respect at all from me

You see people everyday keeping it topgether until after the funeral etc....it only falls to bits when you have closure. This is something this family don't have so understandably they are busy doing what they can.

Especially considering the guilt that must be ripping them to bits at the moment. Damned sure I'd be keeping myself busy :mad:

So their choices are; see the Pope and hope that the additional publicity might help in some way, or, because of the twins, stay put in Portugal and carry on as before, or drag them all the way to Italy just so that they can physically "see" them.

Come on, those kids have probably got armed guards around them at the moment, there is absolutely NO appreciable risk from the parents leaving them. Whether a trip to the Vatican will make any difference is another matter.

Si - Fair enough but the fact that you and I are writing about it means that what they are doing is working.

Where and when was it reported that the mother had returned to the UK?

It wasn't Tel,

It was reported this morning that *both* parents had NOT left Portugal since Maddie went missing

Errr - they made no secret that it was a staged event, it was even announced as such on GMTV.

Again, where and when, Sonic? You can't just criticise "the media" like that without being specific. The father's brief return to the UK was widely reported.

The father came back to the UK, don't think the mother did though

"As such", on GMTV? Ok, if we're resorting to breakfast telly's opinions, i'm not going there.

It was on Radio One News this morning, approx 8.30am

I know the Father returned to the UK, I saw his pictures plastered all over the tabloids

My point is that this morning on the 8.30 news on Radio 1, it was said that the Parents are to visit the Pope, and it will be the 1st time that THEY have left Portugal since Maddie went missing

Ok well i didn't hear it, Sonic, so can't comment, but if that's what they said then yes they made an error.

They had been in touch with the press to tell them thay would be taking the walk, they didn't want to answer questions but they were happy to be filmed taking the walk. That's a staged event.

I'll eat my hat if it was the parents who made that information available, rather than friends or relatives who thought/hoped the pictures would raise public awareness. Don't tell me you think the mother carrying the girl's bed toy was deliberate too?

You mean you use your own judgement to process and evaluate information rather than using second/third/fourth hand information and heresay?

Wierdo ;)

Indeed, and my thoughts exactly.

I appreciate the need to maintain the publicity, but an audience with the Pope? What about every other family who has had a child abducted for reasons other than their own negligence?

Will the Pope be holding audiences with them as well?

Tel, get a grip dude. The media get it wrong more often than not.

Give me another specific example relating to this case. I'm not defending the media per se, but "more often than not" is an exaggeration by anyone's standards.

If they didn't think that talking a walk along a public beach after their daughter had been abducted wouldn't gain significant media interest then they are even more naieve than their original act of leaving her in the first place suggests.

Of course carrying the bed toy was deliberate - for all the right reasons, but deliberate never the less.

I can't on this specific case, because I've been trying to avoid it like the plague lately, to be honest.

However if you are not either aware of, or accept that the media generally make mistakes with alarming regularity accross the entire news spectrum, then you are less savvy than I gave you credit for.

You're more cynical than me, Devildog!! I think using words like naive to describe their actions in the days after their daughter had been abducted is a little misplaced, i wouldn't be surprised if they can't even remember taking that walk now! I was referrring to the toy in the context of being "staged", not deliberate in the literal sense of the word.

Alarming regularity isn't the same as "more often than not". That's the point i was making.

Anyway big brother starts tonight so this will all be forgotten by the "british public"

I'd agree with you on that!! :(

Rannoch - totally agree with you.

I can't believe parents that had "lost" a child (ugh, sounds like they misplaced their car keys or something) would then go galavanting off to Rome leaving their twins out of their care.

I'm not a parent but I would imagine if similar happend to me, I would be struggling to let my other children out of my sight ever.

Personally, I wouldn't give a rats arse what the UK public or indeed anyone on the planet thought of me and my actions if I thought for a moment it would bring my daughter back safely. I actually find it more sickening that the media have lost interest.

They do appear to be strange people and when your in a foreign country on holiday the last thing you do is leave your child. These people have already shown their naivety of the world by thinking their child would be safe alone. The media could quite easily manipulate these people for their own ends to sell papers.

Big Brother gets a mention on this thread - what an excellent display of audience manipulation that is!? BB can portray any one of those people as the devil himself purely through manipulating what we see and hear.

Soon after she went missing a high ranking police officer from Portugal was on breakfast news and he said the reason why UK media is slating them is because they don't tell thier own media anything about serious crimes in case it cocks up the investigation (happens plenty here). Whether they really have acted incompetently remains to be seen.

I have no idea what has gone on their and I'm not saying that I'm right and the parents have something to do with it (if they did I think she would have been found by now). What I am saying is that if my daughter went missing I'd do every single thing I could to get her back - irrespective of what people thought of me.

I don't think the parents are involved and I also think the child was probably taken on to a boat and has never come back :( It also wouldn't surprise me if whoever did this was from the UK. Portugal and neighbouring spain addore kids.

Wish I had a child..... then I'd 'lose it' ;) , meet Max Clifford, do a few Sunday papers then ask for an audience with U2.... Yeah! :thumb:

Interesting the amount of kids who go missing yet they recieve little or no coverage

UK Police National Missing Persons Bureau

United Kingdom - Missing Children Website

I do hope they find her but there should be questions asked about the way in which the parents "look" after their kids