I don't read newspapers except the free paper on the train, and I don't watch or listen to news programmes on radio or TV, but even I knew what Maddie McCann looked like after a week. I wouldn't be able to identify Shannon if she came up to me in the street - there is definately a huge difference in the press reaction to this case. Maddie was front page news every day for months - I've seen possibly one front page picture of Shannon in the 3 weeks she's been missing.

As a parent, I'm glad for her mother that she is alive and well, as a human, I'm sad that these things happen, but as a person who tries very hard to treat all equally, I am furious that this poor girl was relegated to the inner pages because she wasn't so photogenic, she wasn't the product of a middle-class upbringing or she was just those few years older and presumably more able to make cognitive decisions herself.

I had heard nothing of her upbringing until I read this thread - but suddenly the lack of people talking about it, becomes all too clear to me.

LTS