Levenax wrote:
I still feel you're being a little harsh. This case hit the headlines because the McCanns had the resources to generate the publicity. A consequence of that publicity was an intense scrutiny of every aspect of their actions, inactions, characters and their well heeled lifestyle so obviously something they did was going to attract negative comment. Mr McCann came over as unsympathetic and cold and his nasal whiny voice didn't help. His wife looked odd to many observers and she was tinged with that well off veneer that the underclass don't like. The result was that the gutter press had a feeding frenzy. Unfortunately only The Express and its spastic sister The Star eventually got shot down for their disgraceful behaviour.
Dozens of other kids disappear without trace and we know nothing of it. When I was on holiday in Sicily in April I saw two different posters just like the McCann ones in different towns with pictures of bonny wee lassies who had vanished without trace a year or two ago. It happened at the other end of Europe, the parents may have been poor or ill educated and so it didn't make the news.

Levinax
I think your assessment of this case is spot on.

I like to think that if nothing else the new alert system may help children like Maddie.

It is strange though how determined her mum is that she is still alive. Like Claire I have some not so Godly thoughts about if she is still alive. If someone has her I hope it is as a child to love and keep as their own and maybe one day she will be old enough to find her way home.
My nephew moved to Holland at age four and he still has vivid memories of his family life in Scotland, he is over thirty. We don't know anything, and I think that must be the terrible torment for her parents. I often think though what a lifetime of terrible nightmares for one bad decision.