Maddie's Sticker Book

by Ribisl 06.05.12 0:15

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No big deal but this has always niggled me every time T9's timeline is mentioned. Their daughter has gone missing and one of the first things Gerry and Kate do is to rip off the covers of her sticker book and write down agreed timelines in order to avoid being accused of child neglect, at the same time allowing a window of opportunity for the abductor.
Putting myself in the same situation
1. I would be frantically looking for her
2. It wouldn't occur to me to destroy anything that belonged to her (including a Sainsbury's freebee)
3. It wouldn't cross my mind whether I might be accused of anything and frankly I wouldn't care

by tuom 06.05.12 0:23

Ribisl wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

No big deal but this has always niggled me every time T9's timeline is mentioned. Their daughter has gone missing and one of the first things Gerry and Kate do is to rip off the covers of her sticker book and write down agreed timelines in order to avoid being accused of child neglect, at the same time allowing a window of opportunity for the abductor.
Putting myself in the same situation
1. I would be frantically looking for her
2. It wouldn't occur to me to destroy anything that belonged to her (including a Sainsbury's freebee)
3. It wouldn't cross my mind whether I might be accused of anything and frankly I wouldn't care

Exactly ! My husband and I have discussed this , and because we have never left the kids alone we can not really identify with it , but I take your point 1 to begin with , that would be my first reaction, search everywhere , no one would stop me, search the pool, the kids club, reception, the restaurant etc etc , I think the reason a lot of us cannot identify with the MC is that we would not have left the kids alone in the first place [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

by jd 06.05.12 0:24

The PJ thought the same too. And what is even worse is they ripped off the back of Maddies sticker book 'hours' later

by russiandoll 06.05.12 10:42

Maybe in the bigger picture of events this appears to be not a big deal, however it is a perfect demonstration of what/who was being prioritised that night.
One or more of the group went to reception to ask about police response I believe, there would have been notepaper available.
There was holiday reading in 5a, at least Gerry's crime novel.
Why were the front and back covers of this not removed to write a timeline or two?
No, this is a truly disgusting thing to have done, and as slight as it might seem in light of other issues, a major indicator of a lack of care and total disrespect for this little girl.

by Mariita 06.05.12 12:27

They knew she wouldn´t be using the stickerbook any more, no Madeleine would ever ask why pages were ripped from it...

What happened to the stickerbook anyway,did it follow back to UK and is now kept in Madeleine´s room together with her other things? Buying a completely new one is of course another alternative that fits in this charade.....

by Upsy Daisy 06.05.12 12:27

sounds to me like they all knew she wasn't coming back therefore not using the book again, so didn't care that they were defacing it. Of course if they thought she may be coming back, why destroy someone's property, whether child or adult. Would you just go and rip up someone's book without them being around ?? How demeaning to the child.

by Mariita 06.05.12 12:30

Upsy Daisy , we were having the same thoughts the very same minute!!!!!!

by Nina 06.05.12 14:50

They had to get their act together though and produce the timeline and the sticker book cover was the only blank paper to hand, and Madeleine was of so little consequence that the thought of her being hurt at the defacing of her book just never entered their me me and only me heads imo.

by Upsy Daisy 06.05.12 15:25

yes indeed Mariita! Hoping that the ignorant out there who eventually find their way to this site, will agree too. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

by uppatoffee 06.05.12 16:23

This is not "normal" behaviour in the case of a missing child. Didn't see Kerry Needham or Katrice Lees family doing this. Just another indicator that something is not quite right.

by Shibboleth 06.05.12 22:26

Would it not be possible to extract DNA from the sticker book? Small particles of dead skin may be adhered to the stickers.

by tuom 06.05.12 22:38

uppatoffee wrote:This is not "normal" behaviour in the case of a missing child. Didn't see Kerry Needham or Katrice Lees family doing this. Just another indicator that something is not quite right.

Exactly ! I am sure that all of us posting here have been touched by a sad or tragic event , while not making light of tragedy but one kind of "goes with the flow" , you try and keep strong , console those most effected , there does come a time when you need to make some calls but the behaviour of these people is just so OTT it beggars belief that they would actually THINK of writing down what had happened ...... weird [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

by jmac 07.05.12 5:21

Both the front and back cover were ripped off of the sticker book. I can imagine that if a person was hard pressed for writing material that they might use the inside cover of the book. That is, if there was a desperate need to come to an agreement about the timeline, although that is another thing which is puzzling. But actually ripping off the covers shows no respect at all for the little girl`s belongings. In fact, the opposite. In the circumstances, it is very difficult to understand.

by Ross 07.05.12 9:47

Ribisl wrote:3. It wouldn't cross my mind whether I might be accused of anything and frankly I wouldn't care

This is a stand out point. Fortunately, I have no direct personal experience of losing a child, but there was an occasion when something horrendous happened to a loved one and the state of mind that engendered was quite unlike anything else I've experienced. It was a different level of consciousness, ego, self-interest, even the wider world generally, just disappeared and a deep, primal focus took over. Every micro-second was a swirling nightmare, the central point so dark and immense it just filled my entire conscious being.

To discover your child is missing then immediately start to prepare your own alibi is utterly inconsistent with the wider narrative they presented.

by OpenMind 07.05.12 21:16

Any of us who have lost sight of our kids for even a moment in a crowded street know the sheer panic that is inbuilt in our nature as parents and the sheer lunacy that follows soon after if they are not immediately found. Over the years I have taught myself to stay calm for at least 30 seconds before I move into that zone of terror and begin randomly screaming and running around (normally dragging my unsuspecting other children with me for fear of losing them too). My sites for these episodes have included a cinema snack area, the supermarket (twice), a playground in Amsterdam, a caravan park and most embarrassingly, the school playground (when the teacher had to make me a cup of tea whilst I recovered). I have never got past the 2 minute mark without finding my lost child and can only imagine how my fear and desperation would increase and envelop me to a point where I literally had to be sedated for my own safety.

Not once in my multiple brief child-loss lapses have I thought of the need to account for my own behaviour. And even in circumstances where I have helped other desperate screeching parents to look for their own briefly-missing kids, I have never once wondered why they lost them. To have been calm and rational enough to write or contribute to the writing of the timeline does not seem to me to be the actions of a distraught parent, or a close friend of such. I can only imagine that in the same situation, myself and my friends would be wandering the streets sobbing and desperately checking even the most unlikely spots for the missing child.

Also do we know who wrote the timeline? Who in the goup was thinking clearly enough and was level headed enough to even hold a pen?

by Ribisl 07.05.12 21:36

Estimated time 11.15 pm - The first officer to arrive at Ocean Club was handed two lists by Russell O'Brien, written by him on the ripped-off cover of a child's "sticker activity book".
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by jd 07.05.12 23:15

So at the moment they discovered Maddie had gone missing, it was more important to rip the back of her sticker book and write 2 timelines which contradicted each other than go search for her (and delete their mobile phone messages). Anything but search for Maddie!

by **tigger** 08.05.12 6:21

What is it with these people? Is it because they are doctors and their opinion is important, so they expect people to listen and believe what they say?

Their story is so ridiculous and counter to all human instinct and common sense in that situation, that it beats me how anyone could believe it.

But they are doctors, they give their diagnoses, opinions and these are usually taken as gospel. That might be it. Not listening to patients is another problem doctors have in my experience. There are exceptions but a great many of them must choose that profession because it suits their character.

by tuom 08.05.12 14:06

tigger wrote:What is it with these people? Is it because they are doctors and their opinion is important, so they expect people to listen and believe what they say?

Their story is so ridiculous and counter to all human instinct and common sense in that situation, that it beats me how anyone could believe it.

But they are doctors, they give their diagnoses, opinions and these are usually taken as gospel. That might be it. Not listening to patients is another problem doctors have in my experience. There are exceptions but a great many of them must choose that profession because it suits their character.

In red above ............... enough said this could be the start of EVERY post on this forum[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

by jmac 09.05.12 3:26

Losing a child has got to be the worst thing that can happen to a parent. I think Ross`s description of what happens is an accurate one. The experience is all encompassing. I think the McCanns have had a lot of sympathy for this very reason.

However, when it comes to ripping up Madeleine`s sticker book in order to write down a timeline, or jetting off to see the Pope and leaving the two other children behind, it cannot be said that these are the actions of two distraught parents searching for Madeleine. These actions are too pointless for that. They are more like the actions of two people desperate to save their own image.

That does not strike me as quite normal. As for jogging and holding hands in front of the cameras, and not doing any real searching, this tells me that they do not know HOW to behave normally in these circumstances.

The sticker book incident is telling us something quite revealing I think.

by kimHager 06.02.14 17:41

OpenMind yes that feeling of utter craziness where your heart races and you react.You dont rationalize your running on fear and adrenaline.Ive had my toddler wander off in a store before and it was nuts..in walmart actually but found her. I also have saw first hand in a shopping center a child went missing and they locked down the stores until child was found..thank God} but the only thought in my mind was find her .To rip off pages of a sticker book is beyond crazy.I wonder if maybe they realized their actions was bit odd considering and tried to act responsible? who knows what was on their mind all we know for sure is it wasnt finding maddy asap!

by mysterion 06.02.14 18:01

A lot of us parents can remember vividly how we felt and what actions we took when one of our children went missing even for a short period. Doesn`t bear any resemblance to the McCann`s.

by worriedmum 06.02.14 20:22

Shouldn't we ask WHY they felt prompted to write the timeline?

by Guest 06.02.14 20:51

worriedmum wrote:Shouldn't we ask WHY they felt prompted to write the timeline?

.... because they are guilty?

The last thing you would be doing at that moment in time is writing not 1 but 2 timelines down if your child had vanished. Goes without saying you would be out there searching.

Yes, writing a timeline down in the presence of the police much later on to establish possible 'windows of opportunity for an abduction', but not before the police arrive after collaborating with your buddies to get your stories 'right'.

Casting my memory back, the tapas timeline was probably the very first thing that arose suspicion which convinced me of there guilt. I found that out before the dogs etc and the squillion other discrepancies which i have since found on this fantastic site.

by brixham 06.02.14 21:22

I think that one thing that this episode demonstrates is that whatever happened to Madeleine, did happen that night. Ripping up her book seems a very strange thing to do but if that was the only paper available to you and you need to get the story straight before the imminent arrival of the police then it would just have to do. If anything had happened to Madeleine in the preceding days there would not be such a last minute panic. Just a thought and only my opinion.