dwaindibley

Both I and my wife feel so much sorrow for what has happened and our thoughts are with the parents and our prayers with Maddy.

However, what they did in leaving 3 young children alone at night is child abuse, and deserves prosecution when they get home, just like they would be prosecuted if they went on holiday leaving an 8 year old home alone, or left the three children home alone here in the uk whilst they nipped to the pub.

This was a holiday apartment, I am guessing with a kitchen what would have happened if the children had decided to cook, put the kettle on, play with the knives whilst they were out, a parents duty is always to the safety and well being of your children at whatever personal cost, or don’t bother having children if you want to come first.

Feelings of sympathy can not escape the fact that these well educated parents did a stupid and selfish thing compounded by the fact that the apartment has a baby sitting service they turned down! Considering that the children were conceived through IVF for parents then to treat them this way is criminal, children are for life not until you want a bottle of wine and some private time.

Unfortunately because they have money no prosecution will take place, personally I think they should be prosecuted.

Our prayers are with Maddy, the twins and everyone who have to live with the consequences of the selfish actions of the parents.

lelchelle

Totally agree with you there ,how many of us who consider ourselves "good parents " could actually put there hands up and say they have never made a mistake in there lives....not many i think.
Maddies parents must be going through hell at the moment and saying they should be prosecuted is unbelievable.As was said earlier its the Monster that took her who is the criminal not her parents who i,m sure will be blaming themselves whatever the outcome for the rest of there lives!!

RooksieJ

absolutely mate - agree 100%

rebnatoli

I totally agree the parents are being punished enough and should not be prosecuted, however leaving 2 year old twins and a 3 year old alone is not a 'mistake' it is downright irresponsible for many of the reasons given by dwaindibley above. Some of the 'close by' arguments are rubbish if you see the photos of the layout. If one of them had woken up, 1/2 an hour is an eternity for young children to be alone in the middle of the night, my children would be scared and frightened to wake up and find we weren't in the house, more so in a holiday apartment. I just hope that some good comes out of this and other people will think twice before doing the same.

Like others though I want nothing else than to see Maddy back with her parents and the people responsible locked up and the keys thrown away.

smiling4

agree with all that is being said......I have a 10 and 8 year old....whilst my 10 year old might be left for 5 minutes under strict instructions of things not to do, he is also aware of my friend who is available for him. The 8 year old no way.....when we were on holiday last year, we hired someone from the hotel, to sit in our room with our two and some friends that we had made, their two, so we could go out.....no way would I leave them alone, for that length of time.....I just pray that she will be found safe and well, with no harm of come to her.

RooksieJ

i thought it was just me who thought like this - its outrageous isnt it :curse:

Kapri

I've had problems with my 6 year old girl wanting to go to toilets on her own when we are in restaurants, at Butlins, supermarkets etc.
It's caused no end of arguments when I insist on going with her.
In the end, although I didn't want to frighten her, I told her that there are bad people who might take her away.
I don't want to be a 'paranoid parent' but this kind of thing frightens the life out of me.

curly

I know I get that with my 9 year old lad, he hates having to come into toilets with me, he moans as he thinks he's too old to have to go into women's loo's - but there is no way I would allow him to go into men's loo's alone

Jaycee1

I sincerely hope that Maddie is found safe and well.
But as others have stated, had the parents not been doctors I feel that the press would have slated the family.
I live in a bought council house and the stigma is that had the family been from a council estate or of a lower class they would have been prosecuted.
My prayers are still with the family x
J x

Tiggs+Graz

I just thought that this was me being over-sensitive as usual.
i walked past a little blonde girl in the shopping centre today and got quite upset.

i hope and pray they find her ok.

RooksieJ

well educated .... maybe. common sense .... sadly lacking

jules29

We were on holiday when she was taken. We had all 3 kids with us and we took them out at night with us to eat. We just put the youngest in her buggy and she slept. Occaisionally the 7 yr old was just too tired and we had to go home early. Annoying - yes but thems the shakes. They are our children and they come first. Thats What you do when your a parent.

I personally wouldn't want to leave my kids in as I would want them to remember their holidays as a fun time spent as a family. Not mum and dad going out on the lash while they stayed in an apartment alone.

I wouldn't consider leaving your kids alone "a mistake":curse: . It is an act they considered and planned. Forgetting to move a knife or leaving a baby on a bed whilst changing the nappy is a "mistake".

Whilst I sincerly hope the little girl is safe I worry that the parents deserve to have her returned to them. I would hope at the very least they would have social services involved as would happen over here or are made to take parenting classes!

Jules

Kapri

I don't think all the facts are fully known so it's a bit harsh to judge.
They were in a group of people and I believe that they'd all left their kids in the apartments and were taking it in turns to check.
I know it seems unbelievable to us sitting here with the benefit of hindsight but people often do things on holiday that they would not do at home.
I read a news report that said they could see the door of the chalet. This may or may not be true but one thing is for sure - The McCanns are suffering the worst kind of agony imaginable.
I personally prefer to empathise rather than judge.

Vash the Stampede

It wasn't a chalet, it was an apartment. And no, they could not see the door.

Here's a photo of the location:



I defy anyone to see through an entire apartment block to the other side of the building, where their children are sleeping in an unattended room with direct access from the street. (X-ray vision, perhaps? That might do the trick).

At the very most, they might have been able to see main entrance on one side of the apartment block (the side which is facing the bar). But even if true, this is irrelevant - because they couldn't see the side on which their own apartment was located. So they had no possible way of knowing if their children were safe or not.

Bottom line: they left their children unattended, and paid the price.

Kapri

They certainly did