Kate's maternity leave

by Nereid 01.10.13 10:50

In Leicester Police's letter of 16 May 2008 with Background Information on Kate, they mentioned that she was on maternity leave.
"She works for the local NHS as a GP in Latham House, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. She is currently on maternity leave".

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First of all, the date on the letter is 16 May 2008, which seems a bit late: a year after Madeleine's disappearance. Did Leicester Police get it wrong and meant compassionate leave?

The twins were born in January 2005. I'm assuming the pregnancy leave refers to Kate's situation when Madeleine went missing. So that means she was on maternity leave for about 2 years and 3 months.

On [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] says:

"Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks. It’s made up of:

26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave
26 weeks of Additional Maternity Leave

You don’t have to take 52 weeks but you must take 2 weeks’ leave after your baby is born (or 4 weeks if you work in a factory). "

What would be the reason that Kate's maternity leave was extended for so long?

by Woofer 01.10.13 11:42

I would guess that she went off on maternity leave in the Autumn of 2004, maybe leaving work earlier than most as carrying twins is quite draining. (She was part-time though so this may not be the case). This would mean that she would be due to return to work in about Autumn 2005 if her employers are sticking to the statutory rules. Some employers vary these rules and I suppose could extend maternity leave, but the rate of pay is significantly reduced or even goes down to nil. In June 2008 she would have been on maternity leave for about 3.5 years.

I tend to think they are confusing it with compassionate leave.

by Casey5 01.10.13 11:58

Or possibly a career break. They're quite common now. And you get your job back at the end of it.

by Liz Eagles 01.10.13 12:05

KM must have been working just prior to going to PDL as she mentions coming into contact with cadavers and taking cuddlecat to work.

by Casey5 01.10.13 12:10

aquila wrote:KM must have been working just prior to going to PDL as she mentions coming into contact with cadavers and taking cuddlecat to work.

Yes but Kate's a liar don't forget aquila. big grin

I bet there's nobody on this forum ever taken their child's favourite soft toy to work with them? and I bet any money that Kate never did either.

by Liz Eagles 01.10.13 12:14

Casey5 wrote:
aquila wrote:KM must have been working just prior to going to PDL as she mentions coming into contact with cadavers and taking cuddlecat to work.
Yes but Kate's a liar don't forget aquila.
I bet there's nobody on this forum ever taken their child's favourite soft toy to work with them? and I bet any money that Kate never did either.

Well I did arrive in the car park at work to find I was still wearing my slippers but I didn't wear ganga pants to work, deal with corpses and then wear the same trews on holiday. big grin

by Guest 01.10.13 12:47

I can remember turning up to work to find odd things which my son had put in my bag.

Not that Kate's account is believable as Madeleine supposedly never went anywhere without her toy.

by susible 01.10.13 14:30

Well I turned up at work one day with Hamish the Hamster in my bag, that daughter had slipped in on the car journey to school...only discovered it when I reached into my bag later to get my diary out and could feel this furry object...nearly had a heart attack lol (BTW it was a toy hamster not a real one)

by Liz Eagles 01.10.13 14:44

I know this is digressing from the thread but I've laughed at the previous two comments and it's reminded me of an incident.

I went for an interview for a very posh company. I sat perched on the sofa in an equisite office opposite the Managing Director who sat behind a magnificent desk. She was asking me questions but there were very strange noises coming from her desk...groaning noises...lapping noises...and THEN came the SMELL.

I didn't know where to put myself. It was hard to concentrate on answering the questions and even harder not to throw up.

On the way out of the interview, this lovely woman thanked me and her golden retriever appeared from underneath the desk and the two of them escorted me out of the office.

I got the job and afterwards told her what had happened during the interview. She bellowed. I suggested 'Holly' the retriever should not be included in interviews. laughat

by Nereid 01.10.13 16:05

Casey5 wrote:Or possibly a career break. They're quite common now. And you get your job back at the end of it.

So it was either maternity leave as Leicestershire Police stated or compassionate leave, or a career break, or she was working. As always no real clarity here.

Does anyone know why it took over a year for this background check to be done? I thought PJ had some suspicions from the start and might have requested this background info pretty early on in the investigation.