Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton has offered a grim warning to the parents of missing
four-year-old Madeleine McCann, saying the police and public are likely to
invent a conviction if answers to the case are not found soon.
In an exclusive interview with A Current Affair tonight, Ms
Chamberlain-Creighton said she was glad not to be in the same shoes as Kate and
Gerry McCann.
She also appealed to the public "not to run ahead" and judge the couple.
RELATED LINKS
PHOTOS: Lindy's battle
VIDEO: Maddie's aunt speaks
Tests 'point to body in McCanns' boot'
"The public want answers, and if they haven't got them they are going to invent
them. And the police are under pressure and have been trained to find answers,"
Ms Chamberlain tellsACA.
"I certainly wouldn't want to go through it again and be in their shoes. There's
nothing you can do, but I think as the public, we want to be careful not to run
ahead."
Portugese police reportedly believe Kate McCann killed her daughter accidentally
and later disposed of the body with her husband's help.
The McCanns have strenuously denied any involvement in their daughter's
disappearance.
Ms Chamberlain-Creighton said the McCann case reminded her of her ordeal in the
media and courts during the 1980s, after her daughter Azaria was taken by a
dingo.
Azaria's body was never found. Ms Chamberlain-Creighton was convicted of her
murder in 1982, but was exonerated six years later.
"It's certainly looking like its having far more echoes of mine than I would
wish on anybody," she said.
"Answers are going to come from somewhere or another — whether it is the right
answer is a very worrying problem."
"We've had a number of months now where we have had no answers. It's time we did
because we want to solve this episode and you can be guaranteed that there is
nobody who wants those answers more than [Madeleine's] parents do."
Ms Chamberlain-Creighton's own conviction was overturned after new evidence
showed "blood" found in the family's car after Azaria disappeared, could
actually have been motor oil.
But she has warned Madeleine's parents that there is no easy way to handle the
pressure of being under public and police scrutiny.
"There is no textbook to say, 'this is how you handle it, this is what happens
next, this is the way you can go through it'. It doesn't happen."
"All you you can hope for is that you learn to swim, and you don't get too many
deadly gulps of water while you are doing it."
Ms Chamberlain-Creighton said the media could turn out to be the McCann's only
ally.
"If (Madeline) is not dead already, then their only friend is the media keeping
up the pressure on whoever has got her, so that they're too afraid to do
anything and hopefully, she will be found," she said. |
