Kerry Needham speaks for the nation in calling for more help for parents of missing children (other than just Madeleine McCann)
Kerry Needham’s son Ben has been missing since 1991; Gerry and Kate McCann’s daughter Madeleine has been missing since 2007. £10.1 million has been spent on the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance (and a further £2 million has been pledged); just £800,000 has been spent on the campaign to find Ben.
Nobody in their right mind would suggest that either child deserves anything but justice (and the right to hopefully be found alive), but what shines through is that the respective campaigns have been treated so very differently by the authorities and the media. Kerry Needham is an ordinary lady with few connections; Gerry and Kate McCann count the “Chanel-clad” Lady Meyer and the hapless Home Secretary Theresa May amongst their supporters.
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On Monday, however, Ms Needham told The Mirror she was “shocked and hurt” after the McCanns closed a Twitter account campaigning for their daughter and cited the reason for doing so to be based upon actions by supporters of missing Ben’s family.
Needham commented: “It feels like a personal attack on me. It is deeply, deeply hurtful. I have myself had massive amounts of slanderous abuse from supporters of the McCann campaign in the past but I have never taken that personally. It’s freedom of speech. But it is getting the names of two missing children out there which is really important”.
She is right. It is time Theresa May got her priorities in order and it is time that she accepted that such vast resources should not be devoted to finding just one child. The many other missing matter also and someone other than the lone voice of Kerry Needham should be shouting that from the rooftops.
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Readers have their say
14 comments
Missing children are a terrible tragedy and a consuming heartache. Not know their fate is horrible. After all the years of diligent investigation there comes a time, unfortunately to begin to accept the fact that these children are either are dead or don’t want to be found, or have been so brainwashed by their captives that they have accepted the fact of the loss of their free agency.
I stopped commenting on Steeples Times because of the anti-McCann agenda set by you people and now you go and do this. It is appalling that you support Needham over dear Gerry and Kate McCann. Gerry and Kate have done so much on their own to find their beloved daughter Madeleine and you should be supporting them not others. FIND MADELEINE, FIND HER NOW. Shame on you.
It is appalling that you support Needham over dear Gerry and Kate McCann. Gerry and Kate have done so much on their own to find their beloved daughter Madeleine and you should be supporting them not others .
Are you for real????????,Kerry needs as much support as she can get,i think mr mrs McCann have had FAR TO MUCH support where money is concerned,after all what happened to ALL the money that was in the Madeleine Fund as it certainly was NOT used for searching. GOOD LUCK Kerry Needham,i hope others take up your plight.
Ha! What a ridiculous comment to make!
Look at the facts of both cases and then come back and see who needs the support! Kerry has done a lot more on her own, as well as funded it!
More like shame on you for saying that others shouldn’t be allowed support!
Gillian Trott … “trott” off to whatever planet you came from because you certainly dont live in the real world with a nonsencical comment like that. Every missing person matters … NOT any one more than the next, a concept you obviously have no clue about!
At first I thought it was the 1 April when I read your opening comments, but no, it’s the 6th October. No one is suggesting that Madeleine shouldn’t be found, God knows we, the UK tax payer have funded the £11 million search for her, but how dare you suggest that Madeleine is more important than any other child that goes missing. Kerry Needham has searched for her son for the past 23 years with very little support from the Government. Why shouldn’t Ben be afforded the same amount of time and effort that Madeleine continues to get? I hope something like this never falls at your door, Shame on YOU more like it
And here is more TRUTH http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2015-10-04/find-ben-needham-twitter-blocked-by-official-find-madeleine-mccann-account/
And what did Kate McCann the Admin do? Deleted their twitter account, and blamed Kerry and those who agree Madeleine was not abducted, died in 5A, and her parents were involved in disposal of her corpse.
Oh not you again. We are not anti McCann we are pro Madeleine McCann and wish to see justice served on her killers and on those who disposed of her body using the car that Gerry and Kate hired 25 days later. (Woof Woof!) That pair are the same people who think that money should not be given to the other fund
I decide where I spend my money and it is not on the “Find Madeleine Pocket Money Fund” run by the two McCanns. I want justice for Goncalo- that’s the policeman who thinks there was NO ABDUCTION and who wants them behind bars . I suggest that you read this Forum- https://www.facebook.com/groups/jkjoannekilcoyne/ and see the truth.
I cannot believe you wrote that with a straight face. Kerry Needham has maintained her dignity throughout and deserves more support. The McCanns abused the initial support and now attract derision for their self serving agenda and rightly. Kerry Needham was open and honest, the same cannot be said of the McCanns who have sued anyone who dared to question their version of events.
What, exactly, have the McCanns done to find Madeleine, Gillian Castle?
Kate McCann refused to answer police questions and admits they didn’t search themselves.
The money donated to find Madeleine was (mis)used to pay off their mortgage, hire Pinochet’s extradition lawyer, sue anyone questioning the abduction story (for which zero evidence exists) and Gerry called for their detractors to be made an example of, resulting in Brenda Leyland’s death.
Await your reply with interest.
I agree with Paul.
Another important distinction appears to be that Kerry understands free speech and is big enough to ignore any unwelcome comments that may be made by complete strangers.
Instead of obsessively monitoring the Internet (Twitter, Facebook, various fora etc.) and using generously donated money to manage her own reputation, she is focused on doing all she can to find her missing child.
For example, it is inconceivable that Kerry would have paid Lord Bell £500,000 to keep her and her husband (and not her missing child) “on the front page of every single newspaper for a year”.
There’s a lot of money being thrown at strange things instead of being used for “the search” for Madeleine. I also find it odd how the McCann’s have so many supporters who don’t spend their time searching but trying to trap those who don’t believe a word the McCann’s say – because quite frankly, everything they say and do is more and more bizarre and changes every time they’re challenged over something that’s easily proven. Everything the McCann side does seems to turn to poison. So many lives ruined through malicious litigation. I don’t get it.
I believe that all Kerry Needham was saying is that the same resources should be used for all missing children and not make it look like they are favouring one. The country is sick and tired of reading about slanderous remarks being thrown at the parents of these poor missing children its disgusting have some compassion for goodness sake. As for the comment I’ve just read about we need to accept that they don’t want to be found are you actually for real no parent of a missing child could ever stop looking and praying as its all they have left and no one else should give up either.
Gillian Trott is nothing more than a vile,twisted mean minded troll and every time she comments on this website she drops her ‘dear Gerry and Kate’further into the mire [if that were possible] In fact she makes me so cross that I shall add another donation to Goncalo Amaral. Now there’s a man with integrity.