Madeleine McCann's parents

The law says that parents can be prosecuted if they leave a child unsupervised ‘in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health'
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children under 12 are rarely mature enough to be left alone for a long period of time
children under 16 shouldn’t be left alone overnight
babies, toddlers and very young children should never be left alone
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Src: https://www.gov.uk/law-on-leaving-your-child-home-alone
 
Castiel said:
Just because the consequences of that evening led to something far worse that also negatively impacted them doesn't imply that they should not face the legal consequences of their actions, it would only mitigate the sentence, not remove the charge to answer...whether that is simply a recognition by the authorities that they did deserve censure or that, like the Edwards Case, deserve something more is not really the point...the point is that they, as anyone else, should be held accountable for their indifference to the welfare of their Children...not only Madeline, but also the twin babies, in fact more so the Babies.

If we follow your logic then in any case where a case of negligence is suspected, the consequences of that neglect whether direct or indirect would determine whether the person(s) are to be held accountable (investigated and prosecuted) for the initial negligence...I do not think that can be justified in a fair objective legal system.
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What annoys me about them is that they have a large powerful lawyer firm on standby to lay the law down on anyone who makes comments they don't agree with... i hate them as people
 
realBabelfish said:
eh? i know you are joking (hope so) but i regularly leave my car out. i wouldnt dream of going out for the night and leaving my son home alone.
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But who would you blame? yourself or the or nasty person who nicked it? :)

I'm fed up of people posting the same thing page after page so I thought I would give them something else...and it worked ;)

People we know all this about the parents now can we move on......................PLEASE
 
deuse said:
But who would you blame? yourself or the or nasty person who nicked it? :)

I'm fed up of people posting the same thing page after page so I thought I would give them something else...and it worked ;)

People we know all this about the parents now can we move on......................PLEASE
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i don't think the two are comparable... leaving a car or leaving a 3 year old child... seems stupid
 
A disgrace that they haven't been punished, AND had the remaining kids removed. Just a complete disregard for their children, I mean what brain-dead moron leaves 3 small kids alone for 5 mins, let alone in a hotel room in a foreign country? Both doctors, yet neither concerned that the twins could have choked to death / stopped breathing? Maddy could have fell, messed with a plug socket, drowned, wandered off. I have two girls, one is 5 and the other is 2, I wouldn't leave them alone in a room and 'pop' back every hour to make sure they are ok.. I wouldn't leave them in my own house whilst at a next door neighbours either.. (while popping back every hour)

Maybe I'm a mad paranoid parent, or maybe I realise what responsibility is, I also realise that if anything happened I'd never forgive myself. The McCann's should have lost their other kids as well, and been chucked into prison for neglect, not creaming in loads of cash, as well as costing the tax payer 5 mill for their contempt at being proper parents. As regards to their 'pain' I hope it destroys them, if you act like an uncaring selfish monster, don't be surprised if karma pays you a visit.
 
Castiel said:
If we follow your logic then in any case where a case of negligence is suspected, the consequences of that neglect whether direct or indirect would determine whether the person(s) are to be held accountable (investigated and prosecuted) for the initial negligence...I do not think that can be justified in a fair objective legal system.
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I am neither presenting logic nor suggesting a course of action - merely raising questions. Perhaps they should be censured or punished but I am interested in the views of others as to what should be done to them and the purpose that such would serve. Again, assuming Madeleine was abducted, much of what is said seems to be tailored towards accusations that the McCanns are effectively complicit in the abduction.
 
Castiel said:
Just because the consequences of that evening led to something far worse that also negatively impacted them doesn't imply that they should not face the legal consequences of their actions, it would only mitigate the sentence, not remove the charge to answer...whether that is simply a recognition by the authorities that they did deserve censure or that, like the Edwards Case, deserve something more is not really the point...the point is that they, as anyone else, should be held accountable for their indifference to the welfare of their Children...not only Madeline, but also the twin babies, in fact more so the Babies.

If we follow your logic then in any case where a case of negligence is suspected, the consequences of that neglect whether direct or indirect would determine whether the person(s) are to be held accountable (investigated and prosecuted) for the initial negligence...I do not think that can be justified in a fair objective legal system.
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agreed. take the driver dad who was speeding, lost control and crashed, killing his son. he is doing a few years now. i would say speeding is a lesser crime than leaving your child alone

deuse said:
But who would you blame? yourself or the or nasty person who nicked it? :)

I'm fed up of people posting the same thing page after page so I thought I would give them something else...and it worked ;)

People we know all this about the parents now can we move on......................PLEASE
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well, for one i would blame the car thief. but then again leaving my car locked and unattended isnt a crime ;)
 
kokuten said:
Their neglect caused the disappearance and no doubt the death of their child... why should this go unpunished by the law? let us not forget that the same people whose neglect caused this whole scenario have 2 other children in their care, surely their ability as parents should be called into question?
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I am not saying that it should not go unpunished. I am asking what punishment would be appropriate and what purpose would it serve.
 
DanielMMS said:
I am not saying that it should not go unpunished. I am asking what punishment would be appropriate and what purpose would it serve.
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The punishment should be for neglect maybe the maximum available, also there should be a stipulation that the parents can't make a penny from books, much the same as murderers can't profit from their books.
 
The problem for the authorities, however, will be as to whether the actions of the McCanns will technically constitute neglect. The definition of neglect is:

The persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child's health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child's basic emotional needs.
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From this, it is not simply sufficient for child not to be supervised adequately but there must be "persistent failure" to do so - and that will be difficult not only to prove but even to define.
 
DanielMMS said:
The problem for the authorities, however, will be as to whether the actions of the McCanns will technically constitute neglect. The definition of neglect is:



From this, it is not simply sufficient for child not to be supervised adequately but there must be "persistent failure" to do so - and that will be difficult not only to prove but even to define.
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But didn't the parents admit that they had left them unattended 5 nights in a row? surely that shows pattern enough?
 
kokuten said:
But didn't the parents admit that they had left them unattended 5 nights in a row? surely that shows pattern enough?
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I imagine persistence suggests a longer period than just 5 days. It would also be necessary to consider whether this type of behaviour was prevalent whilst at home - and I seem to recall reading something that they were particularly stringent in their home child care arrangements. Which does rather make their holiday behaviour more peculiar.
 
DanielMMS said:
The problem for the authorities, however, will be as to whether the actions of the McCanns will technically constitute neglect. The definition of neglect is:



From this, it is not simply sufficient for child not to be supervised adequately but there must be "persistent failure" to do so - and that will be difficult not only to prove but even to define.
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Yes it's hard to prove, but when you consider that if your kids are playing at home and have a fall, even being supervised and require hospital treatment, there is usually a massive fuss involving social services etc. Well I'd call the child disappearing a little more serious than a broken bone or bruising, wouldn't you?
The fact the disappearance is solely down to the idiocy of the parents, which they both admitted really galls me. The victim is their daughter, but the main instigator is the decisions made by the parents. If they let a 3 year old climb a cliff and it fell and died they'd still be held accountable if they didn't supervise the child whilst near the cliff wouldn't they? I also think their profession is affording them immunity, when a normal Joe Bloggs would have had the book thrown at him.
 
DanielMMS said:
The problem for the authorities, however, will be as to whether the actions of the McCanns will technically constitute neglect. The definition of neglect is:

From this, it is not simply sufficient for child not to be supervised adequately but there must be "persistent failure" to do so - and that will be difficult not only to prove but even to define.
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There is legal precedence that over-rules this I am afraid. A single event can be used to prosecute for Criminal Negligence or Endangering the Welfare of a Child (as opposed to persistent child neglect) this again is illustrated by the conviction of Gareth and Amanda Edwards where there was no evidence presented of a persistence of neglect, the case and their guilt was determined on the event in question only.

In this case however, there is supportable evidence that there was a persistent failure to support the welfare of the McCann children by their Parents, the fact they were left on consecutive nights, warnings were given to them regarding break-ins and the reported complaint to her mother by Madeline on a previous evening all could potentially go toward building a picture of persistence with regard an accusation of Child Neglect, although the endangerment of the welfare of their children in the night(s) in question would potentially be easier to justify rather than the longer term Child Neglect.

Effectively it comes down to whether the risk and degree of that failure to perceive it, constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe?...given the attitudes prevalent I would suggest that they are and the McCann's have a case to answer in regards to their conduct regarding the welfare of their children during the period leading up to Madeline's disappearance.
 
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Madwelsh said:
The fact the disappearance is solely down to the idiocy of the parents...but the main instigator is the decisions made by the parents.
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These are the comments i cannot understand. Are you forgetting that a man, possibly an organised group of men (or women) scoped out a vulnerable child and snatched her from her family.

I mean, the person who took her is the sub human scumbag here. It troubles me to think that people exist in this world that think taking a child from their family is ok. What the McCanns did was terrible in exposing their children to a situation that lead to this happening, but lets be clear here, the real monster is the one who took her.

A small part of me hopes that maybe it was them all along. Because the thought of her dying accidentally and being buried somewhere is far more pallatable than to imagine a horrible man breaking in and stealing a poor innocent child to do whatever with them.

Had she not been taken and you were told about parents who had done that you would probably think - wow that's bad parenting. You probably wouldn't be calling for their children to be taken away from them.
 
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