Hard to believe that twelve months have passed since Gerry and Kate McCann left their three children alone in an unlocked ground floor apartment in Portugal while they went out for a meal with their friends which resulted in the disappearance of their three year old daughter Madeline.

The parents have been criticised for leaving their children (all under three years of age) alone while they ate and drank at a nearby restaurant despite the availability of a babysitting service and a crèche.

A lady called Pamela Fenn, who lives in the flat above the one the McCann's were in had told police that on the Tuesday night before the disappearance that she had heard Madeleine crying for about 75 minutes before her parents returned from dinner. In an interview with the BBC on 25 May, the McCanns admitted to leaving the children alone for this amount of time that Tuesday night and spoke of the guilt they felt.

A petition to the Prime Minister was started on 12 June requesting that Leicestershire Social Services fulfil their statutory obligation to investigate the circumstances which led to Madeleine and her siblings being left unattended in an unlocked, ground floor hotel room. Crown Prosecution Service lawyers are still to decide whether any offence may have been committed under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, which deals with ill-treatment, cruelty, neglect and abandonment of these children all under 3 years of age.

The McCann's said the calls to prosecute them were hurtful and unhelpful. The fact is they were guilty of neglect and if they had remained in the company of their children on holiday as most responsible parents do, they would not be in the current situation.