BB FANS

I know sometimes that you do hear about parents killing or hurting their children and their is Munchausen syndrome by proxy but my gut instinct is that the parents are completly innocent and the Police are as you say Alan, trying to place suspicion on them, as the parents have showed how inept they have been in the investigation. I read today that they are suggesting that blood found in the family's hire car could be Madeline's, even though the parents didn't hire out the car until a month after the child disappeared.

I do think, sadly though that she is already dead.

Maddy parents are police suspects

Madeleine McCann's parents have both been named as suspects for her disappearance by Portuguese police.

Gerry McCann was given 'arguido' status early this morning by officers around 12 hours after his wife Kate was also named as a suspect.

No bail conditions or charges have been set against the couple, who both deny any suggestion of being involved in the tot's disapparance in May.

But they will have to see a judge within the next 48 hours, who will decide what restrictions to place on the couple's movements.


The news comes amid claims the detectives who grilled Kate McCann for 16 hours are said to have offered her a deal if she confessed to killing Madeleine.

They allegedly promised her a "lenient" two-year jail term if she revealed what she had done with the four-year-old's body.

Sister-in-law Philomena McCann said last night: "Basically the police have accused Kate of murdering her daughter.

"They are suggesting that Kate has in some way accidentally killed Madeleine, then kept her body, then got rid of it. "They tried to get her to confess by offering her a deal through her lawyer.

They said 'If you say you killed Madeleine by accident and then hid her and disposed of the body, then we can guarantee you a two-year jail sentence or even less'."

The alleged offer came as police yesterday made both Kate and Gerry McCann "arguidas" - formal suspect. Kate is said to have told them: "How dare you! How dare you use emotional blackmail to try to get me to confess."

Detectives accuse her of accidentally killing Madeleine in the McCanns' holiday flat in Praia da Luz. They believe she desperately tried to cover it up by initially hiding the body, then later moving it by car.

The theory is apparently based on traces of Madeleine's blood allegedly found in the boot of a Renault Scenic car hired three weeks after she went missing on May 3.

Philomena said police had also suggested a sniffer dog detected the scent of a corpse on Kate's clothes and in the car boot.

She added: "For some unknown reason there's something about a sniffer dog sniffing Kate. Suddenly a dog can talk and says it smelled a death."

Philomena said the inquiry now seemed to centre on Kate rather than husband Gerry. She added: "All the allegations appear to be about Kate. From what we hear, the evidence they seem to be producing focuses on her. Gerry's not the main suspect."

Detectives directly accused Kate, 39, of killing Madeleine as they questioned her for 11 hours on Thursday and for five more yesterday at their HQ in Portimao.

The mum, who also has twin two-year-olds, repeatedly denied having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.

Kate left the police station at 3.30pm yesterday after the gruelling sessions. She was not charged but must appear before a judge within 24 hours.

Police began interviewing Gerry, 39, half an hour after finishing with Kate.

He was still being questioned last night in a session that was expected to go on for some hours. A senior investigation source said Gerry, a cardiologist, was likely to also become a formal suspect. The source added: "Just because police questioned Kate first and over two days does not mean she is their only or even their main target."

Before going in to the police station, Gerry said: "The suggestion Kate is involved in Madeleine's disappearance is ludicrous."

A large crowd of locals jeered and booed Kate as she arrived at the police station for her second questioning session yesterday morning. But one British voice yelled: "We believe you, Kate."

Relatives claim Kate is being set up to take the fall for Madeleine's death.

Philomena said: "As far as I can see all they're trying to do is fit Kate and Gerry up now because they haven't found this perpetrator, who's wandering around free."

Madeleine's blood was allegedly found in tests carried out by Birmingham's Forensic Science Service on samples taken from the car boot. But many of the McCanns' outraged relatives say the crucial evidence must have been planted.

The couple are said to be on the point of pleading that British police or another outside agency be allowed to undertake a review of the entire case.

One friend said: "They want an independent inquiry to look at everything. Other agencies such as the FBI have much more experience in this field than the Portuguese police.

"The forensics done on the night Madeleine disappeared were extremely slapdash. The man who came out only had gloves to protect him from contaminating the scene. He didn't even wear a face mask.

"He took Kate and Gerry's fingerprints that night but they were done so badly they had to be redone the following day."

Another family friend said Kate gave her twins a huge hug when she finally got back after her ordeal with the police.

The friend added: "Kate is devastated by the thought Madeleine could be dead, let alone that she is suspected of having something to do with her death. Madeleine was an IVF baby and a very wanted child."

Friends who were on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine vanished are expected to be interviewed again next week.

Kate, a locum GP, and Gerry, 39, have scrapped plans to return home to Rothley, Leics, on Sunday.Mirror

I think the police should be looking for the real culprits instead of wasting time with Kate and Gerry. I don't think they would have done it themselves, although I don't know what evidence they have. The evidence I have heard about so far, doesn't prove anything as far as I am concerned.

It's bad enough for the other 2 children to have lost their sister, without potentially losing their mother for a while as well, especially if she is innocent.

If the parents are guilty, then why did they stay in the country for so long and why did they spend so much time and money going to other countries spreading the word?

Also, there have been reports of several strange goings on at the place they were staying at before they arrived - someone entered the apartment above, a strange man chatting to the children there etc. Why are the police ignoring these clues?

From what I have heard today Christine, they say they found blood in the hire car which matches Madeline's. The hire car was hired three weeks after her disapperance, so they are suggesting that her parents hid her body and moved her. This seems strange as from the minute the child went missing, the press followed the parents around all the time, so I wonder when exactly they were supposed to have moved the body. I hope they get some more independent forensic tests and get this all cleared up one way or another.

I don't wish to sound harsh on the McCanns but the police do have to follow this up, I've read and seen people from their family saying this line of enquiry is ludicrous and they would never harm their children, hopefully this is true but it's an understandable emotional response. The law has to detach itself from emotion to bring justice.

imo the evidence is not strong enough to bring a conviction but they may charge them.

No I can't understand how Madeleine's parents are supposed to have hidden the body either.

Also, they say that sniffer dogs could smell a corpse on Kate's clothes and in the back of the car, but I don't know how you can necessarily believe that when dogs can't talk. Maybe it is just Madeleine it can smell on Kate's clothes, which would be understandable as she is her mother.

I expect the person who really did this, is laughing their head off right now.

The police should, to quote the phrase used by Madeleine's parents, 'leave no stone unturned', that's for sure.

Much discussion about this amongst work colleagues and family, in the past couple of days.

It's chilling to contemplate what the police have apparently alleged.

Forensic evidence seems to be vitally important in the McCann case. I hope it's correct. For a long time, I believed that the Birmingham Six were guilty, because of forensic evidence.

If a parent did something which resulted in the accidental death of their child, and felt that they, and possibly the other parent would end up in prison, (which in turn would cause suffering for the other children in the family), it's indeed feasible that the parent would hope that the police wouldn't find out the exact details, and no blame would be attributed to them.

But that's a whole different scenario to actually 'getting rid of the body'.

'The body' wouldn't be some random person or casual acquaintance whom the parents would have encountered, but their own flesh and blood.

This case brings to mind people all over the world who are grieving the loss of loved children, or still hoping for news of missing children, and I recall how bereft I felt when my then 7 year old daughter went away for a long weekend - being afraid to wash her bedlinen, just in case (she was spending the weekend in a friend's family's holiday home by the sea, and I worried about drowning, house fires, etc. )

Now that she's a teenager, both of us have grown up, a bit, but I cannot imagine what it's like to lose a child.

Great points Ellie, Christine and gerbilgranny.

It's possible that this case is even more upsetting than it already is.

Around the world, and for decades (centuries?), politicians, police forces, judges, media, lawyers and social workers have been guitly of covering up and often directly being involved in cases of child murder, abduction and abuse.

I am not saying this is the case here. But the behaviour, (deliberate?) incompetence and callousness of the police is disturbing.

Also, they say that they have found Madeline's blood in the car the McCanns hired about 25 days after her death - if they had accidentally killed her with sedatives, why would they then cut her to make her bleed? Surely if they had over-sedated her, they would feel bad enough about it, without making her bleed before disposing of the body and where they are supposed to have kept the body, I'll never know.

Also, they are both Doctors, so should know how much sedative they can give to a child more than most people would, but then on the other hand if they had over sedated her, the fact that they are both Doctors, would mean that they wouldn't want to be found out.

I don't think they did kill her though.

McCanns abandon plans to leave Portugal ITV

Just listened to something on the news on telly about this. The hire car at the centre of this, is still being used by the McCanns. Well that is ridiculous. If the Police really suspected them, surely the car would have been impounded as potential evidence?

I was talking to my brother this afternoon, who has already jumped to loads of conclusions about the case and is blaming Maddy's parents. He thinks they went to see the Pope because of their own needs for forgiveness.

I'm finding it all very weird. We know so little. Even on Channel Four news last night the reporter was saying there is "tons of forensic evidence" which hasn't come out yet (not a very journalistic phrase, but there you go)

I hope and pray that it turns out the McCanns have nothing to do with this. The backlash could be horrendous and to a certain extent has started already.

But I stress there is so much we don't know yet.

McCanns 'to face judge in days'

The parents of Madeleine McCann will this week face a judge who has the power to charge them in connection with the death of their daughter, detectives told journalists last night.

DailyMail

Are Portuguese media smears a police tactic to break the McCanns?

Gerry and Kate McCann faced a barrage of allegations yesterday in the Portuguese media - all of which were reported to have come from police sources.

Reports in the Portuguese Press claimed police believe Mrs McCann may have been "mentally unbalanced", that the McCanns refused to answer questions about traces of blood in a hire car and that Mr McCann admitted he had "sedated" his children on the night Madeleine disappeared.

The allegations were said to have come from police sources - banned under Portuguese law from discussing the case - in an escalation of what appears to have become a psychological battle between the police and the McCanns.

MAIL

Now this could be taken as possible evidence that they accidentally killed Madeleine, but it could also explain why the other children didn't wake on the night she was taken. That could also back up the family friend who said that they had seen a man carrying a child at about the time she was taken (if she was sedated, then he would probably be carrying her).

However, I also realise that the family friend could be lying to protect kate and Gerry.



Well she may be now after all this (who wouldn't be?) but she is a Doctor, so I wouldn't have thought someone who was 'mentally unbalanced' would be allowed to be a Doctor.

The question does arise though, why did they sedate their children? I can only think that this was a selfish act, because they wanted them to sleep so that they could have their meal in peace.