The terrible anguish when your child is abducted

I suppose it happens somewhere, sometime, every day of every week but here in Britain, the nation has been absorbed for 12 days in the search for four year old Madeleine McCann, abducted as she slept from her holiday villa in Praia da Luz, Portugal by person or persons unknown.



This is not the place to vent my opinion on what I would do to anyone who committed such a heinous act but my heart goes out to Gerry and Kate McCann the child's parents who have maintained such a dignified and brave face over the 12 days of their child's disappearance.



Parents all over the world suffer tragedies and sadness with children - illness, disability, sometimes even death - but there must be a unique dimension to having a dearly loved child taken away from you and you not knowing if she is dead, alive, suffering....what? The distress that must cause is almost inconceivable unless ..heaven forbid...it ever happens to you.

Meanwhile as I write the police have arrested three people, we are not yet sure whether they are responsible, accomplices or just witnesses, nor is there any clue as to whether the child is safe somewhere or not.

I am not a religious man but I can only hope with all my heart that there is a happy outcome to all of this.