How can Karen Matthews (mother of allegedly missing Shannon Matthews) be charged with child neglect (amongst other things), whilst Kate and Gerry McCann remain uncharged with child neglect for leaving three pre-teenaged children completely unattended whilst they swanned off for a meal and drinks with friends?
Is this one law for the professional class (Kate and Gerry are both doctors) and another law for the lower class?
Or do those who bring such prosecutions think that abandoning three young children is somehow less neglectful than Karen Matthews’ actions?
Why do you think the law is being applied so unevenly?
Well, let’s have a look at the rest of the ‘tapas 7’ for a moment:
* Dr Matthew Oldfield and his wife Rachael. They have apparently known the McCanns for some time. They have a two-year-old daughter.
* Dr Russell O’Brien and his partner Jane Tanner. They have two children, the elder is the same age as Madeleine. This daughter was ill on the night of the disappearance yet Dr O’Brien and his partner still attended the tapas bar for most of the evening.
* Dr David Payne and his wife Dr Fiona Payne. They have no young children.
* Dianne Webster, mother of Fiona Payne.
So we have six – yes SIX – medical doctors who all feel there is nothing wrong with leaving six – again, SIX – pre-teenaged children unsupervised while the adults go for a drink and a bite to eat.
These pieces of information should make everyone stop and think.
Not just about the collective wisdom of six senior medical practitioners.
But also think about the medical profession and how it might be tarnished by six senior medical practitioners following child care practice which is illegal in both this country and also the country in which the offence occurred.
Could this be the reason why child neglect charges haven’t been brought against the McCanns and Drs Matthew Oldfield, Russell O’Brien and their partners?
It’s worth mulling over, next time you think we live in a society of equality.
B.
Fantastic post. So sad and so true.
You may be right …
But on the other hand, committing a crime is all about ‘mens rea’ (i.e. having a ‘guilty mind’/ criminal intent).
The McCanns believed their daughter was safe, therefore no criminal itent. If what is being said about KM is true, then she did have a guilty mind/ criminal intent – she wilfully neglected her child/ faked the abduction or whatever.
(Just a thought!)
I am avidly following this story and keen to hear what actually happened.
Did you see that documentary that was made by (I think) Channel 4 whilst Shannon was missing? If the abduction was a set up, then KM is a bloody good actress.
What do you think happened?
I’m not sure what I think.
Good questions SG, good questions. I don’t have the answers to these either.
What is apparent to anyone who remains unblinkered to the ongoing spin, PR exercises and unbalanced news feeds concerning either of these stories, is there are a significant number of questions unanswered and issues unresolved.
Interesting.
In the USA, it’s always said that you get better coverage for a missing child if he/ she is white, blond, pretty… on the other, if the family is Black/ Hispanic etc. chances are the parents will be accused right away and the medias won’t be interested as much.
Sad.
Do we really know enough of the circumstances of the Matthews’ case yet to make any interpretations? I’ve followed it, but it certainly isn’t clear yet exactly what the foundations of the charges are… it certainly seems quite murky from what little is known.
I think you’re absolutely right but hte other question you have to ask is that will/would the McCanns be charged with something if/when their daughter is found? Until Shannon was found there was no inkling of any kind of investigation into her mother.
There are interesting comparisons.
And I believe the class issue has been firmly hit by the media. Kate is fairly photogenic and Karen looks like an inbred munter, but I am astonished at the fairly easy ride given to Madeline’s parents.
My boys are 8 and 5, and we would never and have never left them them in a situation anything like the McCanns did, it’s bloody wrong, pure and simple.
But one was a tapas bar in an upmarket sports resort, and the other was on a dog rough council estate, how quickly we judge.
Shannon’s stepfather was arrested for possession of child porn.
I think letting a man like that into a home with seven children counts pretty highly as child neglect.
Also, she’s been charged with the possibility of having hidden evidence of Shannon’s whereabouts from the police. I think that could go towards her as child neglect too.
Yes, the McCanns are foul creatures, but so are Shannon’s parents. I doubt very much that they’ll be able to work as Doctors again…who wants a Doctor who neglects their child like that? If they neglect their own flesh and blood, why the hell should they pay attention to their patients?
It’s just a sick, sick world in general. Both Karen Matthews, her partner and the McCanns are evidence of this.
First and foremost we need to recognise that there is no such thing as equality in our society and there never will be in any society. The only possible way to achieve equality (and frankly I don’t see the point) is by tearing down the more successful and more talented to the level of the least successful and least talented -see the damage done to state education by successive Labour governments in following this ideology.
Secondly I utterly fail to see the connection between the McCanns and Matthews cases.
We have covered before the apparent existance of a lumbering, dysfunctional underclass and if ever there was an example of this fact it is the Matthews ‘family’ (and I use the word loosely). This is startling evidence that people like this actually exist in an ultra developed, modern Britain.
Somehow that noble concept of the Welfare State has been twisted and bastardised to such a degree that it has spawned this seemingly amoral bottom feeding class in our society. Feral children run wild filming murder on their mobiles, a kid in Croydon is stabbed over a Big Mac and now straight out of Harry Enfield we have Waynetta from Dewsbury.
In an attempt to force or engineer equality in our society, this government’s ‘commisars’ have manipulated the Welfare System into paying whole under educated sections of society to stay out of work and fester in shite built 70’s estates; and then they wonder why we end up like with a Frankenstein’s monster like Karen Matthews. To quote David Sexton in yesterday’s Evening Standard: “In truth, this story never was about Shannon Matthews herself at all, but everybody else around her, a whole deprived milieu. And the determining fact there is precisely the degraded family structure, despite the flappings of pompous feminist commentators.
While the burdened middle-classes find they can afford only one child or none, the freedom of welfare dependency has helped to create sprawling parodies of families that dishonour parenthood and devastate childhood. That’s why the name of Shannon Matthews deserves to be remembered …”
With the help of other members of her impressively extended family, Karen Matthews used her daughter to falsify a kidnap story.
The ‘family’ then, with intent, tried to gain financially from this scam by squeezing money from the media and by approaching the McCann fund for a substantial donation.
The stepfather is a deviant who has has been charged with possession of a paedophile image bank.
The uncle of said stepfather has been arrested for the original so called ‘abduction’ of Shannon and is being investigated for paedophile crimes against her.
Conversely for all the attempts of the media here and abroad to uncover some sinister side to the McCanns, all they have uncovered is an honest, hard working and now truly shattered family.
There is no comparrison.
You say many things that are right Harry. You draw distinction eloquently.
But on one point I take issue; the McCanns may be, in your opinion, an honest, hard-working family but – in my opinion (and my opinion is formed from their own statemented admissions to the Portuguese police – and I really don’t care by what mechanism that statement comes to the public gaze) the McCanns are guilty of serial child neglect.
The continued attempt to sanctify and beatify them must be stopped. There is nothing honourable or good about parents who repeatedly neglect their children and for this offence alone, the McCanns should be punished (for their guilt is not in doubt through their own statements).
And no, I don’t consider the loss of their daughter to be sufficient punishment. That tragic event came about through their neglect. The law should deal with them separately.
Yes Brennig
I should have perhaps explained in more depth my stance on the McCanns. However I was wary of hogging the issue on this your site (blog etiquette). I do spout on at times. Plus I think I may have covered this subject here on a previous posting.
But yes I agree with you there is certainly a charge of negligence that can be layed at the McCanns feet. And yes we must avoid turning them into the next Princess Di but I suppose I just don’t consider this so much a crime on their part as a disasterous and indeed yes I suppose – callous miscalculation. But bugger me they were unlucky.
In that respect and in my mind it simply doesn’t compare with the immoral, premeditaded and exploititive actions of that scum family in Yorkshire.
And now I’m going to stop otherwise there may follow another diatribe. But note Brennig that the only reason I take the time to respond in detail on your blog is because your blog is worth the extra care and attention. Keep up the good work.
Harry… you’re brilliant. Thanks.
There are those who know me who understand that sometimes I’ll take a stance just to provoke a response. It’s all about the dialogue and the chemistry and you are one of the most eloquent conversationalists I’ve had the pleasure to encounter.
My own personal opinion is that they did not want to go with neglect, they know what happened but they don’t know how and when. I really think they are going at this from another angle to try and crack this case and that angle being Metodo3. I suspect if things get to hot for Metodo3 they will sing like a bird and then give the evidence needed to re-open the case. Just because the McCanns were released from arguido status in July 2008 does not mean they can’t be made arguidos at any time. Time will tell in this case, but I do think things are slowly moving in the right direction to get Justice for Madeleine.
Also I think they knew if they went for the neglect alone they would have been vilified by the British Press and also that the sentence would have been lenient and not even custodial.