Madeleine McCann: taking the ‘dreamers’ seriously

DID you know that 30 children have “gone missing” in Portugal since Madeleine McCann disappeared five years ago? The Sun says this figure “contradicts Portuguese claims her case was unique and abduction was rare”. We do not know how many of that 30 were abducted, or for certain if any were. Child abduction by a stranger does seem to be rare. But it does, of course, happen.

Madeleine McCann was 4 when she vanished. We do not know what happened to her. The facts end there. But the Sun says 30 children under 18 have gone missing in the Portugal in the past five years.

The Sun provides no source for this information.

The Star, meanwhile, has news of “CLUES”.

COPS ‘TOO BUSY’ TO INVESTIGATE 100 NEW MADELEINE MCCANN CLUES

These “clues” turn out to mostly dreams experienced by psychics who called Crimestoppers. The Leicester police force was, apparently unable and unwilling to take any more calls and asked Crimestoppers to stop sumbmitting them. Now Crimestoppers have handed over all files – it continued to document the calls – to the Met’s Operatioan Grange, the review into the information gathered on the child’s vanishing thus far.

The Star calls the dreams “clues” and “leads”. It calls the people who experienced them “dreamers”. Should the police take “dreamers” seriously?

Can psychics help?

Peter Kirkham, a former detective chief inspector with the Metropolitan Police, is quoted:

“As soon as you have a high-profile case you get a range of people coming forward. I’m certainly not aware of any case that’s been solved by psychics.”

In the Star, a “source close to Madeleine’s doctor parents Kate, 44, and Gerry, 43”, says:

“There have been some cases of psychics tipping police off then acting as a go-between between the authorities and a kidnapper.”

We are not told when this has occurred. But any psychic who can find Madeleine McCann could win $1m, or a book deal. But physics do risk a damaged reputation should they be proved wrong.

But what about those 30 missing children?

The Policia Judicaria has a list of missing persons. These re the minor featured on its website:

NAME: Michael Angelo Moreira of the Incarnation
CURRENT AGE: 19 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 07/14/2009

NAME: Sara Sofia Lopes dos Santos
CURRENT AGE: 6 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 01/01/2009

NAME: Madeleine Beth McCann
CURRENT AGE: 8 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 03/05/2007

NAME: Paula Mesquita Tatiana Mendes or Odette or Odette Freman Araujo Araujo Freman Frima
CURRENT AGE: 13 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 01/05/2005

NAME: Sofia Catarina Andrade de Oliveira
CURRENT AGE: 10 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 22/02/2004
LINK:

NAME: Pedro Miguel Moreira of the Incarnation
CURRENT AGE: 18 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 07/14/2009

NAME: Jorge Duarte Lopes Manuel Sepúlveda
CURRENT AGE: 35 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 08/15/1991

NAME: John Joseph Gomes Teles
CURRENT AGE: 30 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 06/10/1998

NAME: Rui Pedro Teixeira Mendonça
CURRENT AGE: 25 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 03/04/1998

NAME: Claudia Alexandra Silva e Sousa
CURRENT AGE: 25 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 13/05/1994

NAME: Andreia Filipa Pereira Miranda
CURRENT AGE: 15 years
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 10/22/2008

NAME: Jose Vargas Suárez Jeremi
CURRENT AGE: (picture shows young boy)
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE: 03/01/2007

The figure of 30 is mentioned in Publico, a Portuguese newspaper.

How this helps police find the missing child is unclear. All we know is that children do go missing.

Such are the facts.

Anorak

Posted: 4th, May 2012 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink