Hotel room with a locked door. Most people would assume that's secure.
Madeleine McCann investigation 'cost £10 million to date'
- Thread starter lude1962
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Hotel room with a locked door. Most people would assume that's secure.
so then no matter what happened that makes them responsible and they should have been held to account.
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They also did a pretty good job of not letting the case lie dormant - appearing to do their utmost to keep it in the public eye. Would have to be a pretty ballsy pair of murderers to do that.
Of course, I bet that's what they wan't us to think
This. I do not think they killed her. You could maybe blame them for neglect, but even this is probably a bit much.
At the same time, I do feel that the case has run it's course. Madeline is most likely (unfortunately) dead.
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To what extent, what punishment do you think they deserve?
I agree to an extent but would it even be beneficial to lock them up or serve them a harsh punishment?
Of course not, it would just be costly.
Of course, that makes it sound like they have gone out on the town all night leaving the child "Home Alone".
They were basically in the same building. Mother was checking every half hour or so. Its a child, Not a desperately ill patient in an ITU bed needing constant medical supervision.
I know somebody who lives in a large rambling old house. The number of footsteps between the childs furthest bedroom and the TV room is about the same distance as the distance between the hotel room and the bar in the this case. (Not as the crow flies, Its not that big, But up and down a couple of stairways on different floors)
Were his children being "Unsupervised" and "uncared for" if he decided to spend the evening watching TV?
My thoughts exactly. Although what happened was tragic and I don't believe there was any kind of conspiracy, I've always been amazed that the fact the kids were left alone is rarely mentioned. This should have been used as an example of why you don't leave your kids unsupervised, as if that wasn't obvious to anyone with common sense.
no idea what punishment they deserve but they are ultimately responsible for what ever happened, they left their children alone,
have they taken any responsibility for their actions?
the restaurant was 120 yards away at the other side of the complex and out of sight of the room plus in testimonies there are holes in the story that they checked every half and hour and one time was 90 minutes.
So no different if i left my kids at home and went to my local pub. Would i be critiscised for that? Hell yeah.
i could well be wrong, but wasnt a window left open?
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She was their responsibility but if your punishment serves no purpose other than to punish the parents for the sake of it, its pretty pointless.
Any amount of prison time would be costly and wont achieve anything.
Have they taken responsibility for their actions?
Well to an extent i guess by dedicating their lives to investigating her disappearance. I find it odd how you can feel so strongly that they should be held accountable but have no idea how you would do that.
What are you trying to achieve by punishing the parents, to deter other parents from leaving their kids alone?
I dont think any punishment given to the parents will be more of a deterrent than the actual story and disappearance of their daughter.
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Not me, because I know that there's at least 4 other keys in circulation that will open that door.
I'm sure it's been said before but if they had been 'Mick and Chelsea' from an inner city council estate this story would have been forgotten about years ago, and the press would have ripped into them at the time for being dole bludging chavs who neglected their kids on holiday. The police, would have probably revisited the case every few years, if they got new information like the Ben Needham case.
Connections in high places count for a lot, but it can't go on forever.
Connections in high places count for a lot, but it can't go on forever.
According to the wikipedia page, there was a metal shutter closed over the window when they left and was later found open.
Gerry said he tested it and found that the shutter could be opened from the outside, the police said it could only be opened from inside.
Although...the patio door was left open.
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I know this post is old, but they didn't "pay off their mortgage" with the money.
I agree with all of the posters above in that the blame lies pretty firmly with the parents - who on earth leaves children alone in a situation like this!?
Yes they were responsible. The Portuguese police did not charge them with neglect because they would need to have proved intent, which was not possible.
Yes they have. Repeatedly.
yeh its a hard one, you could say they have been punished enough, I have no idea what happened buy in the end it still comes back to the fact that they left their children alone,
if they did that in the UK wouldn't that be neglect and an offence?