Cor who would have thought it? And certainly not planted.

[Mr Creosote]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7326006.stm

I thought it was only Muslims who had been shot for not being terrorists that kept kiddie porn on their 'puters?

What's the betting he confesses his guilt to his cellmate?

[Morris Onions]

1. In this case,

I reckon there might be something in it.

Just a hunch.

[non sociopath skin]

2. For what it's worth ...

... one of the sad facts that those of us who are working with those from dysfunctional families come up against time and again is the "abusive cycle". A mother who has been abused as a child subconsciously seeks out similarly abusive males as partners in the hope of somehow "making up for" her "inadequacy" in being abused.

So, ipso facto, they choose abusive partners - and their children become victims in turn...

Social services and police psychologists who are involved in cases like Shannon's got the t-shirt long ago ... which is why she wasn't returned home straight away IMHO.

If I were involved in the case, I would be actively investigating the possibility that the "abductor" really thought that he was rescuing Shannon from an abusive situation. And that she went with him because she was being abused or feared being.

No religion. No politics. No police heavy-handedness. Just the darker side of human psychology ...

The Skin

[moggie]

3. I wondered about that

But if the "abductor" was really a "rescuer", how could he expect to get away with it for long? He couldn't keep the kid under wraps indefinitely. Maybe she went to him for help, and he didn't know what to do.

[Mr Creosote]

4. All of which may be true

and clearly they think something is amiss. And yet...having had plenty of time to question the child and the alleged abductor, and the family, all they come up with is kiddie porn on a PC.

[non sociopath skin]

5. ALL they come up with, Mr. C?

I would have thought that a guy who enjoyed downloading child pornography moving in with a mother and her young children was an accident waiting to happen.

And I suspect that it happened.

The Skin

[Mr Creosote]

6. Well it may have done

but he hasn't been charged with anything else so despite having had a very long time to investigate him they don't seem to have found much evidence of anything else. And he hasn't been found guilty of downloading child porn either yet.

[non sociopath skin]

7. Perhaps my hunch is wrong, Mr C ...

... and your hunch - that this guy is blameless (other than enjoying sexual pictures of children) is right.

We shall see.

The Skin

[Mr Creosote]

8. Actually my hunch is

that he is blameless of enjoying sexual pictures of children. As to the other I have no hunches either way.

[non sociopath skin]

10. Entitled as you are to your opinion, Mr C, I fail to understand why ...

... you're quite so adamant on this point.

But, as I say, we'll see ...

The Skin

[Mr Creosote]

11. Well...the thick plottens

judging by the recent arrests and charges it begins to look like it might have been some kind of scam. Fascinating.

[moggie]

12. Scam?

Do you know more than has been reported? So far, in addition to the supposed abductor, the arrests have been:

The stepfather, on suspicion of possession of child porn;
His sister, on suspicion of assisting an offender;
His mother, on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice;
And now the child's mother, also on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The BBC says "Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice can cover a wide range of actions but one suggestion is that when Shannon first disappeared, Ms Matthews might have known more about her daughter's whereabouts than she told police". So I think the charges so far are consistent with the stepfather being an abuser, and all the other adults involved knowing that, and either assisting him, or at least not reporting him.

One way or another, it's looking like an ugly situation, but I don't see why you conclude it's a "scam".

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. I think your take on it seems quite likely

The arrests of mother, sister and wife may well just be about covering up for the stepfather's child porn (assuming that's a true charge - but I agree with others above that the police wouldn't have much reason to plant it on the stepfather for reasons to do with Shannon). It could be possible that they knew, before or after, about the porn (or the police think they must have known) and helped in covering it up. Whether the stepfather is involved in the abduction seems impossible for us to know, so far - I'd imagine the police would have done a search of any computer accessible to the close family members some time during the case, and maybe they just found the stuff without it having a direct relevance. Or maybe it does. :shrug:

[non sociopath skin]

16. Or, with respect, maybe we should just wait and see.

It's not a TV Soap. It's real.

The Skin

[Morris Onions]

14. Imagine 'em sitting about their house...

scoffing turkey twizzlers & chips and chugging down the Special Brew when on the box comes the news.

While desperately searching beneath the discarded fag packs, pizza boxes and general household detritus for the telly remote so they can switch over to Eastenders or whatever, one of the brighter ones hears something that makes his ears prick up...

"Oh I say!" he remarks, "Did you hear that?"

"No, please enlighten us."

"Well, it appears that the parents of the McCann child who has most unfortunately disappeared on the continent have raised a rather large sum of cash from well wishers keen to help with the search."

"Oh really? You don't say. Did they happen to mention how much?"

"Well, unless I am very much mistaken, a figure of one million pounds was mentioned....."


All eyes turn to Shannon.....



Just a thought! ;)

[moggie]

15. You should submit a script to ITV

Maybe you could get a two-part post-watershed drama out of this. What's the endgame, though? Either the kid needs to be found eventually, at which point the gravy train is in serious danger of going into reverse (you can't expect a 9-year-old to reliably present a convincing story), or she needs to be killed and disposed of before cops are crawling all over. Did the uncle get cold feet about strangling and burying her?

It's possible. But until more facts emerge, I prefer to go with the simpler scenario.

[Morris Onions]

17. ITV? Never!

It's Auntie Beeb or nothing!

Incidentally...

Shannon Matthews' mother 'may have copied TV kidnap plot'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/08/nshannon108.xml

[non sociopath skin]

19. And on the other hand, the Torygraph may have made it up.

I'd rather wait for the real outcome, thanks.

The Skin

[Morris Onions]

22. oh, without a doubt!

[non sociopath skin]

18. Interesting, isn't it, that the caricature of "chavs" now seems as acceptable ..

... on left-of-centre sites as it is among the Daily Mail crew.

Guess I'm old enough to remember when the Working Class were figures of admiration rather than figures of fun and derision.

The Skin

[moggie]

20. As a kid of a working class family

I agree wholeheartedly.

[Morris Onions]

21. Then I guess you must also be old to remember when..

the Working Class actually did some work!

;)

This and the above all very much tongue in cheek Mr Skin!

[non sociopath skin]

23. Tongue-in-cheek and foot-in-mouth often go together, Mr. Onions

I sometimes wonder where "having a bit of fun" ends and "trolling" and "flaming" start ... :evilgrin:

The Skin

[Morris Onions]

24. Eh?

?

[non sociopath skin]

25. Granted!

:evilgrin:

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

9. I tend to agree with non-sociopath-skin here...

In the case of Menezes, there was a pretty obvious motive for planting. There doesn't seem to be an obvious one here.

Of course, people are innocent till proved guilty, and we *could* turn out to be wrong.