Madeleine McCann suspect: 'I have no sympathy for parents'

**TheMoog** · July 16th, 2007, 02:42 AM

Madeleine suspect: 'I have no sympathy for parents'

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann claims to feel no sympathy for her parents and is "only bothered" about himself.

Robert Murat, 33, even believes more people are now praying for police to admit he's innocent than for the four-year-old's safe return.
"I have not thought about Gerry and Kate McCann or what they are going through because all I am bothered about is myself and what is going to happen to me, not them," the expatriate told the Sunday Express newspaper.
"I can't carry on living like this, no human being could," Murat said from his villa, Casa Liliana, which is located 100 yards from where Madeleine was snatched in Praia da Luz on the Algarve. Scroll down for more...

Robert Murat says: 'I have not thought about Gerry or Kate McCann or what they are going through because all I am bothered about is myself'

"I am an innocent man. I am not a paedophile or the other things I have been called. I have done nothing.

"I wake up with this nightmare every morning and I go to bed with it every night. This has had a terrible effect on my family both here in Portugal and back in Britain.
"I am the only suspect and it could take years for them to release me from the investigation. I was questioned all last week but it's still far from certain what is going to happen.
"They have to find enough evidence to present a judge with a case, and it appears they do not have enough information to do that.
"If they let me go it will look like they have no idea and they do not want to do that. There is a huge difference in the mentality of the Portuguese police and detectives in the UK," Murat added.
Last week Murat underwent four days of interrogation by Portuguese police over contradictions in the alibi he gave for the night of 3 May when Madeleine was snatched from the family's holiday complex. Scroll down for more...

Madeleine McCann, aged 4, was snatched on 3 May

"When anything bad happens in Portugal people disappear, they run and they hide and now I understand why they do it.
"I have thought about it but it would not be fair on my family. The law here dates back to the days of fascism and it shows. I am putting my life at risk just by speaking like this.
"At the start of this, people were praying for the little girl to be found but now these same people are wanting me to be cleared. They are thinking about me and my nightmare. The attention is on me.
"I have a four-year-old daughter but I have not been able to see her while all this has been going on." Scroll down for more...

Gerry and Kate McCann are back in the UK meeting child abduction experts

Murat says he is trying to lead a normal life despite being under constant police surveillance.
"The police are just going over the same ground over and over again and I am not even allowed to tell my side of the story. It makes me so angry... Certain people think I should be in prison but the police obviously cannot find enough evidence to do that, so why should I be made to live like this?
"I refuse to hide myself away from the world but my fate is in the hands of the police. I can see no light at the end of the tunnel."
Yesterday Madeleine's mother Kate, 38, flew to Britain to join her husband, Gerry, who is meeting child abuction experts. It is the first time since her daughter's disappearance 73 days ago, Kate has returned to the UK.

Madeleine suspect: 'I have no sympathy for parents' | the Daily Mail

**A*O** · July 16th, 2007, 03:19 AM

I've read one or two UK commentators say it's time for these parents to go home and try to restore some kind of 'normal' family for their other two children who I am sure need their parents' focussed love and support as much as poor Madelaine (who I believe is dead

) After 73 days it's time..............

**Chilly Willy** · July 16th, 2007, 03:47 AM

Maybe he is innocent?

**crumpet** · July 16th, 2007, 08:46 AM

If he is innocent, I can easily see how his thoughts could be consumed by the accusations against him.

**Sweetie** · July 16th, 2007, 09:08 AM

If he is innocent I wouldn't feel for them either.

**Laurent** · July 16th, 2007, 09:43 AM

If he's innocent, I can understand his bitterness.

Sad story that most likely won't get a happy ending.

**Novice** · July 16th, 2007, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by A*O

I've read one or two UK commentators say it's time for these parents to go home and try to restore some kind of 'normal' family for their other two children who I am sure need their parents' focussed love and support as much as poor Madelaine (who I believe is dead

) After 73 days it's time..............

ITA that they need to give their other 2 kids a "normal" life, but I think that they're staying in portugal for this long is linked to their guilt in that they went to dinner & left the kids in the unlocked holiday appartment with no baby-sitter to look after them, going back to check on them every 30 mins.

**Mel1973** · July 16th, 2007, 10:22 AM

If it were my kid missing, I'm not sure that I'd be capable of providing normalcy to anyone until I had some answer. And I wouldn't want this guy released until he was cleared of snatching my child. I hope someone snatched her because they wanted a child and not because they were a pedophile... seems to be the best case scenario, unlikely, but I'd rather believe that.

**Novice** · July 16th, 2007, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by Mel1973

If it were my kid missing, I'm not sure that I'd be capable of providing normalcy to anyone until I had some answer. And I wouldn't want this guy released until he was cleared of snatching my child. I hope someone snatched her because they wanted a child and not because they were a pedophile... seems to be the best case scenario, unlikely, but I'd rather believe that.

I hope so too; and I can't say how I'd feel...tbh. Deverstated probably.
There's been a number of comments on the newspaper stories pages about this as they left 3 little kids to go to dinner nearby, without a babysitter & that is when she was snatched. A number of people have said that if it were a single parent there would have been an outcry about the parent being not responsible, but as the guy at least is a dr, there is nothing in the press abot that.
And can I just say that the dad gives me the creeps. *shudder* I'm sure he's nothing to do with it, but.......

**Honey** · July 16th, 2007, 02:52 PM

The police need a scapegoat so it looks like they are doing their job well.

This case still riles me big time though, there are so many kids missing

**LynnieD** · July 16th, 2007, 03:17 PM

This is a horrible, terrible thing. I feel absolutely horrible for the parents, the entire family and if this guy IS innocent, I feel for him too.

HOWEVER, I have to ask this (and maybe this has been asked already in a previous thread, I just haven't seen it), but, what is up w/the parents leaving their kids ALONE in a foreign country???? Not saying I'm a perfect parent, but that is just not something that you do right???? Am I wrong here?

I'm sure they feel incredibly guilty, its a horrible story. I just wondered if I am the only one that thinks perhaps this??

**A*O** · July 16th, 2007, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Novice

And can I just say that the dad gives me the creeps. *shudder* I'm sure he's nothing to do with it, but.......

You know, I always thought the same thing. Am I bad? There's just something about him that makes me uneasy. IF he had anything to do with this it wouldn't be the first time a 'grieving' parent was discovered to have been involved in their own child's disappearance.

As for leaving the kids home alone 'in a foreign country' I don't think it makes any difference. It could have happened if the kids had been left in their own home. They were staying in a rather upmarket holiday resort in Portugal, not Pluto - which makes it odd that nobody appears to have seen anything. The only factor in this happening overseas was the apparently slack police response and investigation. Police proceedures in Portugal are notoriously 'secretive' and they don't involve make public appeals for information which in cases like this is vital. I guess it explains why the parents have been pushing to keep the whole thing high profile but I still think it's time for them to go home now and be parents to their other two kids.

**TheMoog** · July 16th, 2007, 03:57 PM

They have to find enough evidence to present a judge with a case, and it appears they do not have enough information to do that.

If the police have nothing to go on regarding this man, he should be released not used as a scapegoat.

**LynnieD** · July 16th, 2007, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by A*O

As for leaving the kids home alone 'in a foreign country' I don't think it makes any difference. It could have happened if the kids had been left in their own home. They were staying in a rather upmarket holiday resort in Portugal, not Pluto - which makes it odd that nobody appears to have seen anything. The only factor in this happening overseas was the apparently slack police response and investigation. Police proceedures in Portugal are notoriously 'secretive' and they don't involve make public appeals for information which in cases like this is vital. I guess it explains why the parents have been pushing to keep the whole thing high profile but I still think it's time for them to go home now and be parents to their other two kids.

I have to disagree with you---I think it DOES make a difference that they were left alone. If a third party kidnapped this child, it more than likely wouldn't have happened if they were not alone. They (the parents) bear some responsibility in this, sorry, but its true. I feel for them, I do. And as I said, I'm not perfect either. But you don't do that--upscale resort or not. No one seems to be talking about this aspect of the situation though...and that is bothering me a bit. Guess I'm the only one.

**pacific breeze** · July 16th, 2007, 04:59 PM

I had more sympathy for the parents before than I do now after returning from an upscale resort where at least half the parents didn't have the slightest interest in taking care of their own kids. This included at the pool and the lake where children as young as 3 were left unsupervised, i.e. other parents and guests were expected to mind their screaming brats. And the fact that they were obnoxious is the parents' fault, not the kids, although it didn't make their behavior any easier to tolerate.

It was so bad one night that my husband, the most mild-mannered man on the planet, freaked out. It was dark, 10 p.m. and three kids under the ages of 7 were playing in the lake without a parent in sight while toddlers were screaming unsupervised in the pool and hot tub. He woke up the manager who told us that it was a common occurence, that he had given up, and that he had already spoken individually with each of these parents, who had snottily told him to mind his own business. We found out later that other parents and even B&B guests (this was a lodge with cabins and B&B rooms) had complained to these parents with similar results.

Signs were posted everywhere about supervising your children etc. but I guess they must have applied to everybody but these people, all of whom were doctors by the way!!!!