Letters to Sarah--A Child Lost Forever, a Mother's Grief and a Love That Will Never Die by Sara Payne

Author:Sara Payne [Sara Payne and Linda Watson-Brown]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786068187
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2017-04-05T04:00:00+00:00

And then it all happened again: another little girl, gone without a trace. It was in another country this time, but when Madeleine McCann disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on holiday with her parents in May 2007, the location didn’t matter. But this time two things have been different, princess: Maddie has never been found, and her mum and dad have been treated horrifically.

People have judged them in the most awful way. Kate and Gerry McCann were having a meal in their villa while their daughter slept inside. When they went to check on her, she was gone. And for that, no one has forgiven them. We’ve all made decisions we’ve regretted, especially on holiday when we’ve been more relaxed. They weren’t that far away, but for some reason the initial sympathy and concern of the public has turned to suspicion and something very close to hatred. I don’t understand it.

The McCanns paid more than dearly – they lost their child and what can be worse than that? Only that child knows what truly happened and she still hasn’t been found. For me the seventeen days were horrendous while you were missing, Sarah, so I don’t know how they’re coping. Hope is such a cruel thing but you need it to stay alive. You’re frozen in the moment and that’s what will be happening to Gerry and Kate now.

There has been a team of journalists working on the story that I know and I was asked to do TV very quickly, to talk about being in that position, but as with other cases, I will only ever do that if the parents ask me. I’d do it then. As soon as a child goes missing, my phone is red hot, but I know that I’m associated with the worst outcome. I was so horrified by how the McCanns have been getting treated and I wouldn’t add to that for the world. I think the way people have taken a dislike to them all boils down to the first view. People judged Kate on how she first reacted and that’s wrong; she was a rabbit stuck in headlights and she was the one that bore the brunt – the mother, the woman. My heart went out to her and when people went after them, I was so upset. I felt sick that they were judged as if they deserved it. The balance tore me in two – how could I help without making it worse? You have to think in these cases – what if the missing child is watching? All the child needs to hear is ‘We’re coming to find you’. People are easily distracted, they forget; when they went after Kate and Gerry McCann, they seemed to forget how supportive they had been of me. And there’s the apathy – they scapegoat the mother rather than ask the hard questions. It all needs to be offloaded – let the courts decide who is guilty in a case like this, not people who get emotional and only look at one aspect.

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