I doubt there are gangs trampling round "looking"
However, there would be "spotters" who may well have been given a "shopping list" passing back info to the gang.

But there are 2 other possibilities
1. A chance snatch by someone who thinks they could make money from it
2. A snatch by someone for their own purposes

the younger (twins?) were too young and would need more attention especially for any period where there is only one person involved.

if it wasnt the parent(s) then considering the reported limited amount of forensic, there is a possibility the child woke up and went looking for parents.
but wasnt seen by anyone so someone picked her up, but once the fuss started didnt want to get further involved.

hundreds of children of various ages go off the radar every year and are never heard of again

Alien abduction ? unlikely.

Have you heard yourself?

I've always thought so!

I went along with the Portuguese police's theory that the poor child had died of natural causes and the distraught parents realised they would both be imprisoned for child neglect and disposed of the body.

But I've changed my mind since then, after watching numerous interviews and appeals by the parents over the last year or so. They are obviously intelligent and highly trained medical professionals, but no one could keep up a pretence for so long, certainly not two people, together.

Or their friends who were with them that evening. They would not all help to cover up such a heinous crime, somebody would have cracked by now.

The case, and similar ones, have shown that countries like Portugal are way behind in their policing and investigative methods, even allowing for their language problems when dealing with foreigners. That apartment should have been thoroughly forensically examined as soon as it was realised the child was missing, and as soon as suspicion fell on the parents, they should have been taken in for questioning, not weeks later with all that 'suspect' status nonsense.

However, I still think that the investigation should be continued, it now appears by a new team from Scotland Yard, irrespective of the cost.

Christ, look at the money being spent on that daft Levenson enquiry? Phone hacking? We all know that it was widespread, it doesn't need a daft enquiry at a cost of millions to tell us that.

have to agreee with you on this, there would be a crack or three by now - they firmly believe their own story. They have even stayed together, although that may be another strain as most couples would be apart by now, full of self recrimination.

the impression the PT police gave from the beginning was that of a bannana republic, they botched the investigation, they mucked up the forensics, they lashed out and arrested people without any evidence.

but didn't that also happen in Japan a couple of years ago, it was the girl's fault she ended up dead in a bath in the basement ??

there are many instances where the parent(s) have spent several lifetimes savings proving the police wrong. these cases are generally not in the UK or US, but still are in so called major countries.

as to cost - well better to solve such disappearances with existing police resources, the staff would be paid anyway, irrespective of the case they are working on. No one makes comment about the cost of investigating a murder case (whatever that cost may be).
Levenson is just a good example of a public washing of hands. Most of us have been in situations where our personal/business drinking/eating partners have been involved in something that could (and sometimes does) make us look tainted - no matter how clean we are. This is an additional cost that should be unnecessary, but regrettably, the police and probably the CPS cannot be trusted to investigate themselves. They will probably charge people just to thwart the investigation.

,

the impression the PT police gave from the beginning was that of a bannana republic, they botched the investigation, they mucked up the forensics, they lashed out and arrested people without any evidence.


Well that's the impression that the British media gave usWhat about the British dogs they got a bit excited in K. McCanns wardrobe. She claimed the death scent on her jeans was because she had visited dead patients I think they come across as a shifty couple, keeping the "dream" alive to raise money to pay their expensive lawyers.

The case will never be solved, complete waste of resources which could be used on local policing.

Although that same dog positively identified as human remains a child's skull which eventually turned out to be coconut shell in the infamous child abuse scandal in the Channel Isles. So I wouldn't put a lot of credence on that story, even though it was a Brit dog!

Just when you thought you'd heard the worst of what human beings can do.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...babies-corpses

To be hoped they don't put them in the Chop Suey at some Chinese restaurant.

It wouldn't be the first time.

the number of stray dogs reduces when a new Chinese takeaway opens, so I have heard

I recall a case a few years back where a Hong Kong restaurant owner had been serving up human rump steaks and getting away with it for quite a while, until his brother who worked in a morgue was caught red-handed one day carving the steaks of dead bodies.

I know I've had some unrecognisable meat served up in Chinese restaurants before, especialy down here in Spain.

Dogs,Cats,Rats,...who knows ?

I see that the dreadful Derek Acorah is getting some publicity about all this.
TV psychic Derek Acorah apologises for 'Maddie is dead' claim

He is the biggest waste of space. Used to have a silly little caravan going around telling peoples fortunes. Now calls himself a psychic, it really is laughable.

Rosemary

Anybody flicked through the Spanish TV channels and seen all those fortune tellers using mainly tarot cards I believe and all with their own TV channel ?

Surely the Spanish must be very naive to be up for that sort of stuff in such a big way, or am I missing something ?

Not just the Spanish - there are plenty of Brits who believe in such stuff.