[user104658]

Originally Posted by Livia

You think that because I don't think the McCanns should be vilified forever but treated with a certain amount of pity, then I can't fully grasp what may have happened to that little girl? They don't know for sure their daughter is dead, and even if she is they can't even lay her to rest... they will probably never know what happened to her and have to live with that thought forever. But that isn't enough, is it. They did something incredibly stupid and negligent and now some people are delighting in their suffering and the constant trolling, slandering and libelling is uncomfortable to watch.

I don't delight in any of it, I would love to see justice served properly in this case, meaning that both of them should have faced prison time for negligence. Frankly, if they weren't middle class doctors with political connections they probably would have.

I have a massive, massive problem with what they did being excused because of the fact that they are suffering anyway - it sends a message that their actions were OK / normal / understandable / just unlucky rather than criminally negligent. They didn't just leave them alone. They almost certainly put them under sedation with over the counter antihistamines. This sort of thing is SHOCKINGLY common and a message has to be sent, whatever the cost, that it is not OK or normal or vaguely acceptable to endanger your children in this way.

Anyone can make an absent minded mistake. Anyone can get distracted and endanger someone in their care. This is not that. This was deliberate, calculated, blatant negligence. If they have to suffer more in order for just one more person to get the message that their actions were mind-boggling complacent then so be it.