The Pope

[Lyndsey731]

Sorry to bring this up again, but what the hell is going to see the Pope going to do about finding your lost child, unless he's been kindly looking after her for them. Is this the beginning of an all expenses paid (by the fund) european tour?

Hope the twins are in good company!

[Highlander1]

I think it's to do with keeping the publicity up so people across the continent will be looking out for the wee lass.

If it was one of my kids I don't think I could cope with the stress. I don't suppose seeing the pope can bring the wee lass back but if it helps keep her in the public eye does it really matter. I can't imagine there really interested in an all expenses paid Euro tour.

 :o

[Bunnie]

on a different note tho and i think its been mentioned before while wanting to keep people aware shes still missing, who ever has her all be it hopefully still alive they could be come nervous and do things they didnt plan on doing. to me the obvious thing would be to leave her some where and then phone police saying were she is if they are afraid of what might happen to them. i'm sure gettign there little girl back is far more important than attacking the person who took her.

[Welshbreed]

watch "man on fire" it's a kidnapping revendge film, and why people are motivated to kidnap peole. it also stars Denzil Washington and is on the whole a good film.

[Lee_D]

Sorry to bring this up again, but what the hell is going to see the Pope going to do about finding your lost child, unless he's been kindly looking after her for them. Is this the beginning of an all expenses paid (by the fund) european tour?

Hope the twins are in good company!

  :roll: Because theres more to faith than difflockers and sump guards. If it is the start of a tour paid for by the fund then what actually is the problem with that if they are trying to raise the profile and find their child  :?:  I'm pretty certain that given the choice they would far sooner be back home with all the kids and never have been in the position they are now.. tour or no tour.

Would you just come home then and write it off as one of those things?

I have to say I'm more and more stunned by the lack of compassion demonstrated on this subject. This isn't a pet cat we are talking about.  

[hairyasswelder]

This isn't a pet cat we are talking about.

If it was people would be falling over to get their money in to help  :?
Its a bloody strange world  :?

Steve

[v8kenny]

I have to say I'm more and more stunned by the lack of compassion demonstrated on this subject. This isn't a pet cat we are talking about.  

Oh I reckon there is plenty of compassion for the poor wee lass - I really really hope she is found safe and well although this is increasingly unlikely as time passes  :(
I think the main issue with the parents is their new found celebrity status - I mean, come on - an audience with the Pope ?
If that was my wee yin I would be pounding the streets of Portugal day and night looking for her - not off on my jollies
The other problem is unfortunately kids go missing all the time - only their parents dont have slush funds to spend looking for the kids - oh, and it probably wasn't the parents fault that the kids went missing in the first place     :x
Bottom line is if that had been a couple on benefits or God forbid a single mum, then the press would have turned on the parents right away !
As professional people I hope they can live with themselves for what has happened
Poor wee soul

[thermidorthelobster]

This isn't a pet cat we are talking about.

If it was people would be falling over to get their money in to help  :?
Its a bloody strange world  :?

Well, the fund stands at £375,000, and the reward is £2.5m, so do you really think people aren't digging deep?  I just can't really see how £375,000 is going to help get the child back.

Having seen children in various parts of the world living in abject poverty I find it odd that people will spend hundreds of thousands to try to save one British child whilst overlooking the millions of others around the world who are starving, disease-ridden, torn apart by war, etc.  Saving lives is an honourable thing to be doing, but why the imbalance?

[Keri]

Sooner or later tho and its been a month now there going to have to come to terms that there never going to see her again! Surly all this is just putting off the grieving so to speak,  or are they going to continue searching for years driving themselves insane and being no good for there other kids who will just feel neglected now and in later life!

Why don't you all plaster your cars with all the kids that have gone missing and not being found in the last 2 months, you might not even fit them all on!

Or why not after this has passed its sell by date, have your care re-done with another missing childs photos.......
Whats so important about this case.... Youc could even help out looking for missing kids in YOUR area.

And in all honesty would it be fair for the rest of her life if she's found alive to have to grow up wrapped in cotton wool with the constant reminder of what some sick perv did to her years ago. With it effecting every choice she makes in life and creeping into every dream she has!

I hope she is found alive and well BUT that doesn't mean all will be well she'll be stuck with it haunting her for the rest of her life....

Please don't take this as im being funny because im not... But im also saying what a hell of alot of other people will be thinking.

*prepares to be flamed*

[L90OOK]

i'm sure gettign there little girl back is far more important than attacking the person who took her.

They obviously weren't too bothered about there little girl before she went missing...not PC but thats my opinion.

As has been said, if the little girl came from a less privelaged family the finger would be pointed at the parents.
I do so hope they find her safe & well & that the reward money gets paid to a worthy charity like NSPCC who can put children into safe places where they are not neglected or worse...then take action against the offending so called responsible adults.

Rant over!

[Lee_D]

Why don't you all plaster your cars with all the kids that have gone missing and not being found in the last 2 months, you might not even fit them all on!

Or why not after this has passed its sell by date, have your care re-done with another missing childs photos.......
Whats so important about this case.... Youc could even help out looking for missing kids in YOUR area.

I'm unaware of any other British infants who have gone misisng on holiday having been abducted currently.

As for your comments about looking for local kids - I do Daily and as the Inspector of the Local constabulary control room I have an overview of exactly who is and isn't reported missing in my area but thanks for the suggestion all the same. Indeed were there a infant missing locally in such circumstances I'd be out there every hour of my rest days.

If any other infants go missing in similar circumstances I'd gladly plaster my car with them too to raise the profile in areas where the profile needed to be raised. I can say that no infants in my area have been abducted for the last 4 weeks and as such I don't currently have my car plastered.

This isn't a flame reply it's pretty much fact.

[Keri]

I just don't get all the hype about one person, when there are other equally bad things happening all over the place.Its just seems to have gone far over board......

Surly its not good for you or your family for you to be "taking work home" in your rest days!

I don't have kids but i don't think you need to have kids to understand how a loss feels tbh

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

Trying to be the person sitting on the fence here. There are a lot of points raised that are viable. If it was my kid missing, I would be prepared to sell my soul to Old Nick himself to get her back, and I would probably do everything legally possible (as well as a few illegal things) to try and find the kid.
I don't have any faith, I find it all too hypocritical for words, but if it raises awareness, so be it. If the parents seek solace from seeing the Pope, then good for them.
As someone who has been involved in countless searches for missing people over the years, I will echo what Lee D says.
You do get emotionally involved, and yes it does hurt when the worst happens.
I suggest that we give support in any way we can whenever a person goes missing.
Is it worth while as an organisation that covers the entire Country and parts of the Continent, that we make approaches to all Authorities offering our help re people and vehicles to help with searches.

[Sider]

Without getting into the polemics of wether they should have left the child alone, or whether the fund is right or not, or any of the other shenanigans...

Has anyone stopped to think that Portugal (as indeed Spain, France and most of South Western Europe are still predominantly catholic countries????

I'm not too sure my English is good enough to convey the thought properly, so bear with me:

You'd be surprised to see what religion means to some people, more so a religion like Catholicism, where guilt is something you are born with, educated and fed on. It would not be unheard of for some tough guy to give himself up after a chat with a priest, or for some wacky character to see the sudden light and decide to walk the pious path. It springs to mind the case of a rather nasty spate of murders in Southern Spain in the 60s, where the Police were clueless, and out of the blue this chap walked into a police station and confessed to the murders, only because he had watched the Archbishop of Madrid on TV giving a sermon about the case. (It was just coincidental, BTW, not any kind of special programme, just the usual Sunday broadcasted mass).

There is actually a relativelly realistic chance of this meeting resulting in someone having a serious attack of the good ole conscience, and either confessing to the abduction or spilling the beans on the abductor.

At the end of the day, any good catholic (and quite a few bad ones) still believes in eternal damnation...

[hairyasswelder]

This isn't a pet cat we are talking about.

If it was people would be falling over to get their money in to help  :?
Its a bloody strange world  :?

Well, the fund stands at £375,000, and the reward is £2.5m, so do you really think people aren't digging deep?  I just can't really see how £375,000 is going to help get the child back.

Having seen children in various parts of the world living in abject poverty I find it odd that people will spend hundreds of thousands to try to save one British child whilst overlooking the millions of others around the world who are starving, disease-ridden, torn apart by war, etc.  Saving lives is an honourable thing to be doing, but why the imbalance?

not quite what I meant  :oops: more that SOME people would give their last penny to save a cat and the value of human life is .... well..... not worth a second thought  

Steve

[Welshbreed]

FCO Facts and Figures

The FCO is a network of 16,000 people working at 260 diplomatic posts worldwide. We employ around 6,000 UK civil servants and 10,000 staff are recruited locally at our posts.

Supporting British nationals overseas
In 2005/06 we:

Dealt with over 3.1 million enquiries from British nationals overseas.
Issued nearly 450,000 British passports.
Helped more than 27,000 people in serious distress.
Made over 5,200 visits to people detained abroad.
Supported over 100 British families affected by new cases of international child abduction.
Helped around 200 British nationals to escape from forced marriages overseas.
Our online travel advice on 219 countries is visited nearly 323,000 times a month.
Our rapid deployment teams were in action ten times in 2006, assisting British nationals caught up in international crises.
We sent our largest-ever rapid deployment team of 116 staff to help with evacuating 4,600 people from Lebanon in July 2006.

Source: http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1161588728518

My point being, does anyone remember the names of just 50 of those children who were abducted ast year? and as it says "over 100 new british childeren kidnappings in the year 05/06 alone"

Did we hear about all 100 kidnappings? I didn't

[Lee_D]

They aren't abductions as in snatches off the street though. They are in the main abductions as in taking your own child out of the country mid divorce and your partner cries abduction.

So you won't have heard about them because the Child isn't at High risk and also It's with a parent / carer in my experience who is unlikely to harm the child. They just don't have the relevant authority in the eyes of the law it really is that simple.

Again alot of these situations come about from forced marriages which in turn if you look at statistically affects certain cultures . Our Force takes Forced marriages very seriously and I'd like to think we would look after anyone who came to us for help.

[wizard]

Well, god forbid if one of my kids went missing, but if it took a meeting with the pope to help get them back then so be it.
Hundreds of kids go awol every year, but hundreds of parents dont pull out all the stops to get them back.
If getting extra publicity means using  the media and sucking upto the pope so be it.
Stop whinging and start helping.

wizard :twisted:

[Bishops Finger]

Think its a tad sick...can't see the Pope popping over to Baghdad to help the kids blown up or orphaned after attacks....or religion helping in Darfur....    

[hairyasswelder]

Think its a tad sick...can't see the Pope popping over to Baghdad to help the kids blown up or orphaned after attacks....or religion helping in Darfur....    

Baghdad mmmm a good catholic town  :?  :?  :?  :? Why the ...... wold the pope go there.

If religion is your thing and you get comfort from it then why not ?????

Steve

[richo]

Why don't you all plaster your cars with all the kids that have gone missing and not being found in the last 2 months, you might not even fit them all on!

Or why not after this has passed its sell by date, have your care re-done with another missing childs photos.......
Whats so important about this case.... Youc could even help out looking for missing kids in YOUR area.

I'm unaware of any other British infants who have gone misisng on holiday having been abducted currently.

As for your comments about looking for local kids - I do Daily and as the Inspector of the Local constabulary control room I have an overview of exactly who is and isn't reported missing in my area but thanks for the suggestion all the same. Indeed were there a infant missing locally in such circumstances I'd be out there every hour of my rest days.

If any other infants go missing in similar circumstances I'd gladly plaster my car with them too to raise the profile in areas where the profile needed to be raised. I can say that no infants in my area have been abducted for the last 4 weeks and as such I don't currently have my car plastered.

This isn't a flame reply it's pretty much fact.

There was a toddle went missing in greece a few years back and they never found him i belive .Still i do hope that they find the little girl safe and well reguardless who thinks who's fault it is .

[Discohugh]

yawn. We are all forming opinions based on MEDIA reports. nuff said.