Mikaeel the toddler from Edinburgh ....................

[dark_castle1]

has been found dead in Fife 34 miles from home.

What I do not understand is from listening to the radio yesterday is a lot of people were supposed to have come forward and said "they saw a toddler matching his description wandering alone in the very early hours of the morning" !, so why did they not approach him and ask was he with someone or was he alright or at least hold his hand and phone the police !

Ok it looks like it was not Mikaeel as his mother is being held in connection with his death but are these other people that said they saw a toddler just looking for their name in the paper or did they actually see a toddler and do nothing about it ?

[fishpieface]

Indeed, did they actually see a toddler or did they just want attention?  However, some people

would think twice before doing anything, especially if they are male, incase their good intentions

were misconstrued.  That said, I wouldn't hesitate to do something if I saw something like that

and have on a number of occasions helped a lost child.

Poor little boy, may he rest in peace.

[dark_castle1]

I understand what you are saying and can see why some might do nothing but at least they could have phoned the police and followed at a distance informing police of their whereabouts until they showed up.

May the boy rest in peace and if it transpires it was his mother I hope she gets severely punished and not have this oh she was unstable so we must give her a short sentence and try to help her.

[fishpieface]

Yes, they could definately have done that Corgi, I agree.

[millielilac]

Quite honestly I think that the vast majority of people would NOT ignore a lone toddler wandering the streets in the early hours .....

Although it is sensible not to approach children who can sometimes appear to be lost ( angry parents can appear quite suddenly ) most adults would keep an eye on the child to assess if they were really alone and then once it became obvious would take some action.

Those who stated that they did see the child should hang their heads in shame ....shameful that they would actually confess to seeing a young child of that age wandering alone and would ignore the situation....and shameful that they could possibly admit to seeing something they did not ....

[cee-dee]

At least one sighting was backed up by CCTV but the child depicted couldn't be positively identified.

[electric*mayhem*band]

Something very odd about this from the word go IMO. Would an infant of three years old, have had the wherewithal to don his coat and shoes before he went outside ? I know a search of the area would have been inevitable, but perhaps this should have started alarm bells ringing initially.

[sir_arthur_strebe-grebling]

It's very sad but not at all surprising that the mother appears to be involved in the child's disappearance/ death. There are, on average, one or two children killed every week in Britain (up to 100 a year), and about 95% of them are killed by someone close to them. About five a year are killed by strangers.*

But the 'child protection' industry, and the tabloid media, make everyone think it is the other way round, that every man is a paedophile, so that any man approaching a child must have evil intent. They encourage vigilante gangs to attack anyone they suspect. Britain's sick society has found a clever way of letting the perpetrators (the child's 'family') avoid responsibility and shift the blame on to others: strangers and social workers.

So, I would certainly ignore any child in the street, and I expect that most men would.

* I know that many people won't believe these horrific figures so try reading

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/more-than-100-children-die-of-abuse-and-neglect-every-year-die--tw...

http://straightstatistics.org/article/how-many-children-are-murdered-britain-every-year

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/one-child-in-britain-is-killed-like-baby-peter-every-week...

[electric*mayhem*band]

True Arthur, very true. And if the child's body hadn't been found when it was, would we have had the mother holding a press conference, pleading for the return of her toddler ? If indeed she has some involvement in the infant's death, of course.

[tommy.irene]

On the Spain news .the mother has 5 kids ..the missing one is a twin ..he was last seen on 18 December by people...//???????????????    The body was found in an Aunts house..???

[rose2008-2008]

How awful,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, knew there was something odd from the get go!!!,, when they said no sign of anyone breaking in!!. Well its got to be mum or the estranged father who maybe has entry.

May he rest in peace now .

[chickengrandma-2008]

I think his body was found in woods near to the house where he was born, now owned by the grandparents I think.  I heard he has a twin sister too.  Perhaps he was staying overnight that night at the grandparents house?  Why would whoever did it leave his body so close to home?  It did sound suspicious right from the start, didn't it.

[clifford2031]

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/mothers-male-friend-was-killed-in-alleged-shooting-inci...

[al**bear]

This whole area, is Edinburghs dumping ground , in housing terms

Pennywell, upper Drylaw & Muirhouse areas, are places you would not like to walk around at any time, never mind late at night, has been like that for 40 odd years

-------------------

Clifford

That is a turf War over territory & money in the Heroin trade

[lhasa.two]

In answer to the OP, It IS a very sad reflection on our society that no one would help a very young child alone late at night. 

Blame the media for scaring most men into thinking they would be accused of paedophilia if they turned up at a police station with a very young child...

This is such a sad story and those statistics from the links in Sir Arts post make interesting but sombre reading. It's also troubling that there is not one reliable single source of child deaths held by the government. Statistics mostly seem to be drawn from child protection agencies.

Here's one from the NSPCC.

Child Murders

Between one and two children are killed by care-givers each week

Five to six children are killed by strangers each year

49 per cent of perpetrators are the child's father, stepfather, or mother's partner

33 per cent of perpetrators are the child's mother

4 per cent of perpetrators are siblings

The rest of the perpetrators are unrelated but providing care to the child

40 per cent of deaths due to homicide occur before the age of one

20 per cent of deaths due to homicide occur between ages of one and four

The remainder occur between the ages of five and 15

Statistics compiled by Dr Jane Wynne for the NSPCC report (who is also a Trustee)

[angela_mills]

Ferry Gait Crescent is in Silverknowes, though, and is a modern private development, even though the press are calling it Muirhouse.

[ilove2patch]

She has been charged.