Questions I Would Like To Ask The McCanns

Questions I would like to ask the McCanns about the evening of Thursday 3rd May 2007.

1. You said you thought leaving your children alone while you ‘dined’ at the Tapas bar was like ‘eating in your garden on a fine spring evening while your children sleep upstairs’

Can I ask how many normal people have a 120 meter long garden with a public pool plus a public pathway in the middle of it? Can I also ask of those lucky enough to have such a garden and regularly dine in it while their kids are asleep if they would dine right at the end of the garden or would it not make more sense to dine at the end near the house?

2. You say never for an instant did you feel it wasn’t safe to leave your children sleeping alone in an unlocked and accessible apartment. The idea of an ‘abductor’ never crossed your minds. So did the thought of choking, vomiting, falling over, escaping, getting very distressed, falling I’ll, screaming, needing the loo, needing a drink, needing a cuddle, having a nightmare, did not one of those things cross your mind either? Not for one second? How long does it take to choke on your own vomit? Less than 15 minutes I would think! Was Madeleine trained in first aid? To give assistance to the twins in case of such an incident?

3. Was Madeleine aware of where you were? If she woke up and was scared or upset or just needed you, was she aware you’d left the patio door open for her to come and find you? Would she know where to go? Wouldn’t she be scared in the dark ally trying to navigate her way to the tapas bar? Did you warn her to be careful near the pool?

4. You said afterwards that one of the reasons you didn’t hire a babysitter was because it would mean leaving the children with a stranger, which you felt would be unwise. Can I ask did you think it was unwise because if the children woke up they would be more scared to find a ‘stranger’ in the apartment than they would to find themselves alone and abandoned? Or, as is the subtle sense I got from this statement, were you implying that your children could be at risk of abuse or neglect from such a babysitter? If that is the case then how come you were more than happy to leave the children all day everyday in the care such strangers in the creche? You seemed to have no such qualms about that arrangement? What is the actual difference may I ask?

5. You state you would not have left the children with a strange babysitter at home either, can I ask when you were at home before this holiday, did you ever leave your children alone sleeping in their beds? With the door unlocked? Either while you were dining 125 metres away or while you popped to the shop or the local pub? If not why not? Is there a higher risk of an abductor in Rothley than in Prai de Luz? Did you believe that the children slept more soundly in Portugal than at home? What is the reason you would not leave your children alone in the same manner as you did in Prai de Luz?

6. One thing I would really like to know if you could answer 100 per cent honestly is, while happily dining and sipping wine and cocktails in the Tapas bar, was there a moment, or perhaps a few moments where your heart constricted and jumped and a knawing worry played on your mind as a vision of your 3 babies alone in the dark crying, cold, perhaps dirty or thirsty floated around in your head. Was there a second where you wanted to jump up and shout ‘good God what am I doing here??’ Before tearing back to the apartment and flying in through the door to gather the most precious things in the world into your arms, reassuring them that you are here, you will never leave them again, and that you’re sorry, so sorry, while mentally thanking God they’re OK, they’re OK and you can have a second chance.

7. Finally I’d like to ask if anything you told the police, your family, friends the media, the whole world, about that holiday, and in particular, that night was true?

And if since that holiday you have ever wished you had done anything differently? Anything at all?.

By Debbie Parker