Should they be allowed.....

[Julian]

According to the BBC website the parents of Madelaine McCann have used money from a fund set up to help find their daughter to pay their mortgage.
Do you think they should be allowed to do so or do you feel they are taking the piss?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7068760.stm

[Diva]

From that article, it seems they have handled it appropriately. They have both been on unpaid leave since this began. Their resources have been going into finding the girl (ostensibly), which makes sense as it's cash readily available for them to use for the purpose, easier and more appropriate than applying for cash from the fund before you've used your own financial resources. By allowing them to make the two mortgage payment they were able to keep focusing on the search which is exactly what the fund was intended for. They stopped using the fund the moment they were made official subjects.

Had they used the fund to pay off their mortgage in its entirety, that would have been inappropriate in the extreme, but to use it to make two individual payments which allow them and their family to keep focusing on the search is fine.

All that said, should they be proved guilty of murdering her or should it come out they knew what happened all along and the search was merely a diversion, then I think they should pay back all money used from the fund, for ANY purposes directly related to Madeleine or their family, and the fund should be used to bolster the search for other missing children (assuming the law there allows for donations to be used for purposes other than those defined in the original fund raising).

Personally, I find it unlikely the McCanns killed their girl and this was all a big have. Why keep the attention focused on the case if you are the killer? No one would have thought anything of it if, like other cases, they had allowed the media attention to die a natural death and just kept up appearances of looking for their daughter for a decent length of time. Not to mention that the media attention has maintained pressure on the Portuguese police to find the girl or find her killer. If they had killed her it would be in their best interests to simply do what most parents of missing children do, not what they did. And if they were doing all this to get access to the highly-scrutinised funds, their spending from it hardly weighs up against the loss of income from being on unpaid leave, from what that article says. It just makes no sense, any of it, if they killed her.

[flygirl]

Agree with Diva. It's completely appropriate for the McCanns to use the fund to make individual mortgage payments while their other resources (income) have been put on the back burner in favor of the search for their daughter.
I even think that they might still be justified in doing so, even though their status has changed. After all, they are preserving their daughters home. Even though it's highly unlikely, there remains the possibility that she's still alive. If she is, she needs a home to come home to.

[holychicken]

Had they used the fund to pay off their mortgage in its entirety, that would have been inappropriate in the extreme, but to use it to make two individual payments which allow them and their family to keep focusing on the search is fine.

[Brandywine]

Those parents ARE INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, and until they are proven guilty I support their search for their daughter. OBVIOUSLY, a parent's worst nightmare is to find your child missing. I'm sure they are distrout, and feeling emotions beyond what any of us can even dare to imagine. They are SEARCHING for their child! Could you work knowing your child is missing or possibly dead? How can you pay bills, let alone a mortgage, when you aren't working and devoting your time to finding your daughter? When I donate money to families of sick children or missing children, I am donating the money with the intention of helping THE FAMILY, however that might be. If they want to use my $20 to buy themselves a meal, then I fully support that. Which, I have donated money to the McCann family, so I am happy that they were able to use that money to rid themselves of one stress, one worry in their life. If in the end they are proven to be guilty, then they will answer for this mistakes/choices in life, not only with the law, by with God. I will still have no regrets about donating money.

[Raven]

nothing more I can add to what Diva, FlyGirl and Brandywine said other than :agree:

[Pops In]

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7651/mccannometerqu4.jpg
Private Eye

[Jory]

In theory they are innocent til proven otherwise (though they're guilty in part because they were negligent at least).
Why keep the attention focused on the case if you are the killer? No one would have thought anything of it if, like other cases, they had allowed the media attention to die a natural death and just kept up appearances of looking for their daughter for a decent length of time.

Susan Smith used the media to keep up her charade. I don't know how long it would have gone on if she hadn't tripped up. People can be diviantly smart when it comes to covering their butts. I don't think they're doing it for a scam, but they could be doing it to look innocent. Not saying they are, but it deception is the name of the game.

As far as how they're using the money, I don't see a problem with it either. It isn't as if they are living extravagantly off of it.

[Diva]

Susan Smith used the media to keep up her charade. I don't know how long it would have gone on if she hadn't tripped up. People can be diviantly smart when it comes to covering their butts. I don't think they're doing it for a scam, but they could be doing it to look innocent. Not saying they are, but it deception is the name of the game.

Haven't heard of Susan Smith so I wouldn't know, but I suppose you're right that people can be devious. It wouldn't have made them look any more guilty to let the media circus fizzle out while keeping up the charade of searching for her privately though. The only thing that would have looked suspicious would be if they stopped searching altogether.

[JPSartre12]

Susan Smith drove her kids into a lake, drowning all of them. She claimed that her car was hijacked and the media ate it up for over a week before she finally confessed to killing them.

[Terrell]

Haven't heard of Susan Smith so I wouldn't know, but I suppose you're right that people can be devious. It wouldn't have made them look any more guilty to let the media circus fizzle out while keeping up the charade of searching for her privately though. The only thing that would have looked suspicious would be if they stopped searching altogether.

An article on what Susan Smith did. (http://www.commondreams.org/views/091400-101.htm)

Wikipedia: Susan Smith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Smith)

[Terrell]

Susan Smith drove her kids into a lake, drowning all of them. She claimed that her car was hijacked and the media ate it up for over a week before she finally confessed to killing them.

D'oh, you hit the post button before me.

[Diva]

Thanks for the link. I hardly think the two cases are comparable though, even if the McCanns ARE guilty; one week of encouraging the media circus is a completely different thing than 5 MONTHS of actively SEEKING, even CREATING media attention. One week is the barest minimum of fuss you'd expect a distraught parent to make in the media; five months is far more than a guilty parent would need to do to look innocent, in fact, I'd almost say it crosses the line into making an innocent parent look guilty. If your aim is to find your child, it's effective; but if your aim is to make yourself look innocent, the attention and pressure that creates is counter-productive.

[JPSartre12]

D'oh, you hit the post button before me.

Sorry. My wife and I have a close friend named Sue Smith. .......no relation to THE Susan Smith, but the name is notable.

[Pops In]

The only thing we know with any certainty, is that the McCanns left their children alone while they were out "dining". So no, I don't think they should be using money raised to find the missing child for another purpose.

[Terrell]

Sorry. My wife and I have a close friend named Sue Smith. .......no relation to THE Susan Smith, but the name is notable.

There probably TONS of women in the US named Susan Smith, or some variation thereof like Suzy Smith. Smith is a very common name. :D