Maddy McCann missing in Portugal

[alan45]

I am surprised and disappointed that the members of this forum have not discussed the disappearence of this little child. For her mother and father it must be the most distressing time of their lives. I'm not interested in the rights and wrongs of why they left her and her brother and sister to pop out for a meal. Some of us on here have children, others have nieces or cousins of the same age. Please take time during your busy day to think of this poor wee child and her family.

Im always checking teletext just in the hope that there is news of her safe return although as the hours and days pass this seem less likely.

So no matter who your God is please spare a prayer to him or her at this time for the safe return of Madeline.

Of course I dont know the family but Im just a human being with a consience

So please think of her and her family at this time

[Luna]

i agree alan we should all be thinking of her at this time.

I am slighly shocked by this mornings annoucment that they may be scaling back on the search they should be increasing it in my own opinion.

[Siobhan]

I was thinking about her and her family all the time.. I don't need a forum to discuss this. I don't see how us talking about the disappearence is going to help the family get their daughter back and it would have turned into a blame game.

Any child going missing is a big thing and the parents must be going up the wall with worry.

[alan45]

I was thinking about her and her family all the time.. I don't need a forum to discuss this. I don't see how us talking about the disappearence is going to help the family get their daughter back and it would have turned into a blame game.

Any child going missing is a big thing and the parents must be going up the wall with worry.

I wasnt getting at anyone in particular and have no doubt that lots of us are thinking about her. Its just that the only mention of this tradgedy was on a thread about Corrie and yet we all start and post in threads about silly mundane things and I thought this was worth more than a passing mention. So apologies to anyone who thought I was getting a dig in. I know this is a soap forum but I just posted my thoughts.

[Siobhan]

Nothing personally and not an attack on you at all Alan... As this is a sensitive topic and I would not like to see it turn into a blame game. I feel for the parents and I am sure how the disappearence happened has nothing to do with them at all.. It could have been any child just playing near parents... I know many families, including my sister, who goes to the same resort and it is just tragic what has happened.

I hope they find Maddie save and well.. thing like this should never happen to you on holidays

[Trinity]

Things like this should never happen ever - but they do.

A week has gone by now - Maddy's parents must be out of their minds with worry. Just think how you feel when you loose sign of your young child for 60 seconds in a supermarket. A week. It doesn't bear thinking of.

[DaVeyWaVey]

I have been thinking about this poor little girl too, i'm glad you've started a thread on this Alan as i was considering to do so myself. This really is a tragedy and i really pray that she's found unharmed, but as the days go past, it does seem unlikely. I've heard people blame the parents for this, but i just find it disgusting, as i really don't have a first thought of what they're going through.

Watching the news last night, a British holidaymaker apparently saw a sighting of a strange man shifting round the resort,a few weeks before Madeline was taken and now they suspect he is a paedophile and may have snatched Madeline. I really do pray they find her soon...i don't have the most slightest single clue what her parents must be feeling right now, my heart goes out to them totally.

[Chloe O'brien]

I can't bear to think what little Maddy's parents must be going through at this time. Whenever I think of her I remember the incident when a young blond haired boy who went missing in Greece a few years ago while he was on holiday and he was never found.

It's even more frustrating that there is little news about trying to find her coming from the police in Portugal. I would have thought they would have thought they'd have holiday makers out searching for her when she was first discovered missing, but perhaps they have different procedures for dealing with missing children.

What ever information and leads the police are following up on let's just pray that Maddy is found alive and can be reunited with her family.

[Luna]

Searches in and around the Portuguese resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared eight days ago are coming to a close, say police.
Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa said ground searches, which have covered nearly 80 square miles, were being scaled back as the results were "zero".

However, he insisted police were doing everything they could to find the girl.

Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, on 3 May.

Reward offer

There are reports that a businessman from Scotland has offered a reward of £1million for information leading to the return of Madeleine.

The Times newspaper said the proposal from Stephen Winyard, owner of Stobo Castle in Peeblesshire, was being considered by the McCann family after being passed on by the Foreign Office.



Map of resort
Police with dogs searched the McCann's apartment again on Thursday evening.

Officers said it was the last time they would search the block to look for clues. The wider search in the area is expected to end in the next few days.

Mr Sousa said Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and several of their British friends, had been interviewed again on Thursday, but there were "no suspicions on them".

He insisted that police were doing everything they could to find the little girl, adding that so far ground search results "are zero".

Police and volunteers had searched a 200sq-km (77sq-mile) area - and some locations more than once, he said.

On Thursday, teams, including many British volunteers, again scoured the area for anything that might lead them to the child.




Madeleine hunt in pictures
Show reconsiders kidnap plot
City vigil for Madeleine

The BBC's Alison Roberts said media reports about leads had focused on CCTV footage from a petrol station on the night of Madeleine's disappearance.

It was thought to feature two men and a woman driving a car with a British number plate.

Police declined to confirm or deny reports about any possible leads, citing Portuguese law.

They have checked various CCTV images but no arrests have been made.

But Mr Sousa did say "images of video surveillance" had been collected from several locations.

A vigil is planned on Friday in Glasgow, where Madeleine's father comes from.

Celtic and Aberdeen footballers will show solidarity by wearing yellow armbands during their match on Saturday.

British child abduction experts have flown to Portugal to assist the investigation.

The UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), which works to tackle child sex abuse, has launched a poster campaign appealing for information on Madeleine's disappearance.

The international number for Crimestoppers is +44 1883 731 336. People with information about Madeleine can call anonymously.

[alan45]

What a generous offer by the Scottish businessman.

I thought Maddy's mother looked absoluteley wretched on the news last night. I just cannot comprehend what pure hell this poor family is going through. Someone somewhere knows something. I just wish and pray that the police could just get that vital breakthrough that would help them find her. To have her home with her parents would be the greatest birthday present she could ever have for tomorrow