Thoughts on Madeleine McGann

I have seen in the press, and on a newsgroup, varing speculations about Madeleine McGann, and I think these say more about the media and those speculating. Some examples of what people say on one MSN group:

 

"My opion is that her life was taken close to home , but it was an accedent Im also not sure that she was ever back in the hotel room when the alarm was raised that she was missing!

The truth will come out !"

 

"when this little girl went missing and it came on the news i was sat watching and listening and i truely believe  the mother knows more than she is letting on and she didnt appear to show any emotion and now that the police have started to look at them  now you can see  that they are worried but if this little girl had vanished how they say surely  they would of been devestated and  full of worry and fear for the little girl but it just didnt seem the case and this is my view "

"She never makes eye contact with any reporter or photographer, and as you say it is every parents night mare you would be inconsoble not running around giving interviews and the like."

 

a) Very deep shock does not always express itself in emotions, but at first there is a numbness, an emptiness, while people come to terms with what has happened. The shock may come later, especially in private.

 

b) When faced with a battery of instrusive photographers, and flashing lights, microphones, cameras, I am not sure I would stare at them, or make eye contact (if you can behind the glare of the flash-bulbs and camera lights).

 

c) The rumour mill (and the mob) have always been fickle. At first they were all out praying for the grieving parents, and now, like a wild beast, have turned on them. Apparently there were hisses and boos and jeers when the mother was last in Portugual. This says to me not much about her guilt, but a lot about the way in which the people there are behaving, which is pretty appalling. It reminds me more of the hysterical reaction of a witch hunt than a rational assessment.

 

d) A few very small bloodstains (unidentified) have been found in their bedroom. I can think of quite a few innocent ways in which people leave traces of blood around. I note, however, that the characteristic splatter pattern of (for instance) the killing of the Newells in Jersey is not present.

 

The press feed on this, and - like the mob - don't really care much as long as it sells stories. In this anniversary of Princess Diana's death, we should really learn to see lesson, because it was precisely a media frenzy  which led to her death.

 

There is also a lot of pressure (by the media) for the Portuguese police to be seen to come up with a solution, any solution, and there is a danger they will try to take shortcuts. It should be remembered that some abduction cases are unfortunately not solved. No one still knows what happened, for example, to Genette Tate, who vanished in 1978 from a leafy Devon Lane. Although the Moors murderers were caught, many of their victims are tragically missing. The general public (and the press) does not like that kind of uncertainty, but while the enquiries go on, we must learn to live with it.