Missing Person Investigations

It's 10 years today since Madeleine McCann went missing and it mentioned on the news this morning how much this investigation has cost the police so far.

I was thinking about it and wondering why some missing persons investigations are so well known and have so much time and money spent on them, yet there must be hundreds if not thousands of people missing that we never hear about and never have this sort of media coverage.

Does anyone have any idea why this happens?

Is it a difference between missing children/adults??

I'm just curious as to people's thoughts on this one.

I suppose some missing adults want to be missing...not the same with kids..well,not the ones of Madeleine McCann's age anyway..

Oh I completely agree, and if it was one of my niece's missing I'd want the whole world to know and to help, but what I mean is there must also be many other children of her and Ben Needham's age missing that we never hear about. I just wondered why some do become so well known about but others don't.

I also wonder if it's when it happens abroad and there are cross country resources involved as with both of these cases.

The cynic would say its due to the McCans well oiled media machine.

Oh I completely agree, and if it was one of my niece's missing I'd want the whole world to know and to help, but what I mean is there must also be many other children of her and Ben Needham's age missing that we never hear about. I just wondered why some do become so well known about but others don't.

 

I also wonder if it's when it happens abroad and there are cross country resources involved as with both of these cases.

Could it be that there aren't many go missing and that's why they become headline news?

PR and media savviness. Oh and being in the masons probably helps a great deal too...

Could it be that there aren't many go missing and that's why they become headline news?

It may well be, I don't know. I do regularly see posts on Facebook about missing kids but more often that not they're teenagers and not of a very young age like both Madeleine McCann and Ben Needham.

Can we ask that this isnt turned into another Madeleine McCann thread?

If you have any comments regarding that specific investigation please post them on the existing thread here...

https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1239704

Thank you in advance.

It isn't a Madeleine McCann thread, its about missing person investigations in general, I was using her as an example as it is such a well known case, and I've also mentioned Ben Needham.

It isn't a Madeleine McCann thread, its about missing person investigations in general, I was using her as an example as it is such a well known case, and I've also mentioned Ben Needham.

The point still stands about the only cases we hear about are ones who manage to get the PR right. Here's some figures.

According to Google, 140,000 under 16s went missing last year. 99% were solved within a year. Assuming it's 99.0% and not 99.9%(which is MASSIVE difference) then that leaves 1,400 under 16s who haven't turned up or been found dead (sadly) within a year. That's a lot. A hell of a lot. Looking at the

http://missingkids.co.uk/missing/ page, you can see that some of the children still missing are 7 years old. Yet, I bet you've never heard of any of them nor recognise their names.

All the children under 12 have non-English names and went missing overseas. Without invoking Godwins law, I'd say that that is a huge part of why we've not heard of them yet we've all heard of Madeline McCann. Maddie was white, with white parents, middle class, British citizens, a photogenic family. Ben Needhams case is similar but his family weren't quite so photogenic and were less media savvy. From day 1 near enough the McCanns were able to secure media time making sure Maddie was in the public eye, the Needhams weren't able to do this but have managed to get more coverage since. Many of the children on that missing list have no chance. Their families don't meet the media savvy criteria, and I'd assume a large number of people will assume that it's not our problem due to their ethnicity.

Wasn't the remains of Ben Needham found last year?

madaline Mccan and Ben Needham whats the difference they both went missing abroad yet millions spent on maccan and Ben seems to be ignored ?

The McCanns had friends in high places.

The Needhams did not.