[Z]

My opinion of them always sways... sometimes I think they're suspicious and the only reason they've gotten away with being found out so far is because they're intelligent medical professionals who, considering their jobs, probably know how best to deal with a dead body better than most people and just like Mark Bridger (April Jones case), managed to get rid of the body without anyone ever finding it. Unlike him though, they weren't deranged psychopaths; but rather panicked parents who had time to think about what to do next because no one was going to raise the alarm until they did so they had time to get rid of the body calmly (well, as calmly as you could possibly be if your daughter had died and it was down to your negligence...) - which explains the cold, unemotional media presence because they haven't gone through the emotional shock of her disappearing and fearing the worst; they already know what happened to her and that's why they were straight into the fund raising and setting up all these smoke screens... why would you become media centric and be setting up fundraisers instead of hoping, praying and assuming the police would get her back...

On the other hand, why should they be judged for not acting in the "proper" way? Has anyone here ever had their child go missing and never come back? Who are we to assume they're guilty just because Kate isn't the mother in constant tears and Gerry isn't the stoic-but-fighting-back-tears father comforting her and pleading for her return like we've seen in the past in other missing child cases? Everyone is different and maybe they just felt broken and defeated from the moment it happened because they felt guilty for leaving them and this ended up happening? Even if they don't admit it publicly, they must be absolutely heartbroken and feel full of guilt at what happened - it wouldn't have happened if they'd been there or had taken Madeleine and the babies to dinner; so many things they could and should have done to prevent this from happening, they must find it hard to sleep at night - of course that's going to take its toll on you and affect the way you react to things emotionally; I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them were completely depressed and unable to express the emotions that other parents of missing children have expressed in the past... what could Holly and Jessica's parents have done? What could Ben Needham's family have done? What about April Jones' parents? They can't blame themselves for what happened; the McCanns can and plenty of people have done it for them even if they don't...