Dear Mr Gamble

Written by Mike Hitchen

Two days ago I received an email from CEOP (I am on their mailing list) in relation to the, "A Minute for Madeleine" campaign. The email implores, "Please take a minute of your time for Madeleine McCann and help spread this special message around the world."

Below is the response I sent to CEOP.

Dear Mr. Gamble,

With regards to "A Minute for Madeleine," with all due respect, I would like to point out that I have spent two and a half years seeking truth for Madeleine, which is more than can be said of the parents who betrayed her love and trust, every single night of what is rather misleadingly referred to as a "family holiday".

Sadly, my search techniques were not quite up to the standard of Mr. and Mrs. McCann, as I am a bit too long in the tooth to go jogging while others search, nor do I have a constant stream of dinner friends that need collecting from Portuguese airports. It is to my regret that I do not have mortgage installments that can be paid from a fund that is constantly incorrectly referred to as a charity. Nor do I have a missing daughter's favorite toy to wash as soon as it becomes an item of interest to those who had given up their own family lives to find answers as to why a little British girl suddenly went missing without a single trace of evidence suggesting the involvement of person or persons unknown to Madeleine McCann.

Instead, I have relied on asking the sort of questions and raising the type of issues that the British media have - and will continue to be - reluctant to ask. The sort of questions and issues that would be raised elsewhere but are strictly taboo in the UK.

I dearly hope that Madeleine is found and placed in the care of a responsible family who will ensure her safety and welfare - which rather rules out the McCanns, whose idea of safety and welfare of children seems to consist of employing the world's youngest baby sitter to look after even younger siblings - even if they do manage to sleep soundly with a room full of strangers running around. Perhaps it is just as well that retired doctor Kate McCann never followed through on her much publicized media-friendly promise to give up her part-time career to focus on child welfare issues.

Since the McCanns failed to secure their children's safety, the phrase, 'Every parents nightmare" has become an over-used cliché. It is regrettable that the same media outlets that use the phrase so freely, don't stop to think that being left to cry alone every night in a strange environment, in a country different to their own, would be every child's worst nightmare.

Now that CEOP has created a precedent, would I be correct in thinking that the parents of every missing British child, regardless of race, background or photogenic qualities of the child, will receive the same amount of exposure and backing as the McCanns have constantly received? Or is it a case of "available to approved applicants only. Terms and conditions apply. For further information please contact your nearest old boys club"?

I also sincerely hope that regardless of who they might be, those who have always known the answers that will allow a vulnerable little girl to have justice and dignity, will realise it is never too late to speak up. There have been too many people unwilling to provide answers to questions about little Madeleine -

Including the little girl's own mother.