My heart goes out to the parents of these two girls. Being a mother myself really brings it home to me just how precious children are. I hope to God that no harm has come to them and that they are reunited soon.

It is a truly awful time for everyone involved. Lets pray that they are safe

Soham is quite close to where I live so our local newspapers are full of the story. It makes me go cold to think that these children are out there on their own. Fingers crossed that they're found safe & well.

The local news are continuing their investigations relating to the girls email/chatroom activities on the offchance that they have made contact with someone and thus been abducted by someone they *thought they know*

I don't want to drum it into people using this site (as most of you are old enough to know better) but again, if these lines of enquiry appear to be true - it does show the dangers of giving people too much information.

I feel heavily for the parents who on the first interviews were insistant that each of their children would not normally wander off, but I suspect that the girls probably thought they would be safe in such a remote town.

Here's hoping they are found alive and safe.

Okay, i must admit i haven't read the stories in the papers on this, because i don't find these sorts of news stories interesting, but can i just be the cynical one and ask two questions...

1) Where were the parents?

2) What were 10 year old girls doing wandering the streets on their own?

I know you can't keep kids locked up, but people should know better than to let small children (especially small girls) roam the streets.

Maff, I was a little rusty on the news the first few days - but it appears that there was a gathering at one families house.

There is a picture appearing in the newspapers of Holly & Jessica both wearing Man U tops which was taken around 5pm Sunday, just after the children were upstairs and used a computer (what for is not determined yet). The parents obviously thought the children were still upstairs but had presumably left the house not long after using it as the CCTV sighting has pinpointed them outside a leisure centre down the round at just after 6pm

The latest maps show their suspected routes and last sighted whereabouts ... with an unconfirmed sighting at around 7pm to a garage on the outskirts of Soham. One of the girls was carrying a mobile phone which lost its signal around the garage area at the same time. In a horrid twist of fate the garage CCTV cameras were broken due to a lightning storm that afternoon

I'm sure there are better online sites giving a better breakdown of the information.

As for why they were *wandering the streets* there is no obvious answer, but at 5.30-6.30 on a Sunday it would have still been daylight.

I don't think it being daylight should make any difference really. It's not safe for kids to be wandering the streets on their own at any time of the day, which has been proven time and time again.

I know where you are coming from in the fact there are so many dangers around for kids, but at *what* age does it become acceptable for children to walk down a street during the day. In fact, its not safe for many women young and old nowadays

First, let me echo what others have said and hope they are both found soon.

Secondly, I don't think it's a case of the parents being negligent. Anyone who has seen the press conferences can tell that both sets of parents are distraught. Both girls were last seen going up to one of the bedrooms to go on a computer. They snuck out of the house without the parents knowing. That could happen to any parent, ot's not a case of them knowing they were going off on their own down the street. And, from what the parents tell us, when they did go out togther, they were in constant contact on mobile phones telling their parents where they were. It had been drummed into them that they should tell their parents where they were at all times. Their parents were trying to allow them some freedom as long as they were responsible with it. I don't think you can criticise the parents for that approach.

And they certainly can't be criticised for the disappearence of two youngsters who left the house on the quiet.

I'm more concerned with the press, yet again, offering cash incentives to encourage people to come forward. I know the priority is to get them both back safely but such rewards also bring at the seriously disturbed and it can hamper efforts.

After all, it hasn't helped find Milly Dowler yet...

(Edited by Whistler 10/08/2002 00:24)

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by Whistler
I know the priority is to get them both back safely but

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I have to disagree here i'm afraid. The primary priority of all the newspapers that are offering rewards is to sell more papers. Offering a reward sells them more papers because people are interested to see how much it is, how they can get it etc.

It's all about the money

(slight tangent i know, but well... look at the name of the site)

I didn't mean the prioroty of the papers, I meant the priority of the parents, and then the public. And that the press are playing on that. Hence why I called into question the cash rewards.

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by Whistler
Secondly, I don't think it's a case of the parents being negligent. Anyone who has seen the press conferences can tell that both sets of parents are distraught. Both girls were last seen going up to one of the bedrooms to go on a computer. They snuck out of the house without the parents knowing. That could happen to any parent,

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I don't think its the parents fault either, I don't even think its the fault of the children - I mean who hasn't nipped out of their house once in their lifetime thinking *nobody will notice, we'll be back soon* I don't suppose abduction goes through a child's mind at all when they are having a bit of fun larking about .... its just a huge shame there are so much danger out there for children and parents to worry about, and its not until cases like these keep re-appearing that time and time again parents everywhere must become so paranoid for weeks after.

I saw a tv quiz earlier showing clips of the old "Charlie says" adverts, and hubby and I both agreed that these sorts of adverts should still be shown, if not more so in this time

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After all, it hasn't helped find Milly Dowler yet...

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and the most tragic cases are always the ones where the children seem to have been so close to home

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by Maffrew
1) Where were the parents?

2) What were 10 year old girls doing wandering the streets on their own?

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OK yes, we live in a (scarily)different age to when I was growing up, but there sholdn't be any thing wrong with allowing 2 10 year old girls out on their own.

A pair should be enough to avoid any "strangers" & such like & also be aware enough toward off any potential (singl) attackers.

Could someone please clear something up for me ??? Am I right in thinking that they were seen twice walking along a mian road laughing and smiling a couple of days after they went missing ??? Are the police therefore suggesting that they were abducted sometime after that ??

I was confused as the inital reports mentioned that they had both been seen and then suddenly they had been abducted...I'm all confused!! Sorry if this makes me sound stupid!

I really hope that they are found safe and well.

I think that has since been discounted.

There was a family barbecue at one of their homes.. and you know, call me old fashioned, but shouldn't one of the girls at least have told their parents they were going out, where they were going and what time they were coming back?.. maybe they already had done, but that was something drummed into me from an early age (when my dad allowed me to go out that was, and that wasn't often ). That hasn't been reported.. not that it's relevant now.

My heart aches for both sets of parents, i can't imagine the type of hell they are going through at the moment. I really hope that they are found and found soon and catch whomever has taken them. Everytime i tune into the news i pray the girls have been found. *fingers crossed* that its very soon.

I really hope these girls are found soon, it really breaks my heart when I hear about stuff like this, so I cant imagine what the families are going through.

I really hope this is a warning to other young children not to go wandering around without telling their parents.

My thoughts are with their families

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by Whistler
And they certainly can't be criticised for the disappearence of two youngsters who left the house on the quiet.

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Not in the slightest. As far as they were concerned the girls were playing upstairs in one of their bedrooms.

With 10 year olds I don't think there is the need to check up on them every 10 minutes, like I do when my two are playing upstairs (aside from the fact I can hear them crashing around up there ). One thing 'tho my 10 year old would never be allowed to have a computer in their bedroom and if they had to have an email account I would make sure I knew their password (like I did with the ex )

But going back to being serious. How much freedom do you give children? I have friends who let their 3 year olds play in the street and go over to other friends houses on their own. I have to sit at the window if mine are even playing in our fully enclosed back garden. You never know how a child is going to react if they are ever threatened by an adult, but I have it drummed into my 5 yr old that on these occasions he'll be allowed to kick, scream, punch and swear as loudly as he likes to draw attention to himself.

Here's hoping that they are found safe & well really soon.

(Edited by Teresa 10/08/2002 11:03)

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by Keenangel
...but shouldn't one of the girls at least have told their parents they were going out, where they were going and what time they were coming back?..

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But that's the point that's being made, hun. They had always, in the past, told their parents where they were going. But on this occasion they, obviously, knew that they wouldn't be allowed to go off and meet whoever they had been speaking to on the computer (as the police believe). And kids being kids, even the responsible ones, will sometimes do things that they wouldn't be allowed to do if they were excited enough about it. Heck, even responsible *adults* do that from time to time as I'm sure a lot of us on here will attest to.

The point I'm making? Even the most responsible parents ,who bring up their kids to be aware of the dangers of society, can't anticipate every eventuality that may occur. This is just one of those moments that every parent must be saying, "There but for the grace of God...."

Children can be very cunning if they want to do something or go somewhere they know they won't be allowed to. I know I've done some *very* stupid things, very dangerous things when I was younger that I would never consider doing now. Even though I have always had a very open and honest relationship with both my parents, they always encouraged me to talk to them about things I wanted to do, and mostly I did, and they let me... but there were times I was very irresponsible.

I'm not trying to blame the parents at all, but I do wonder what on earth they were doing letting ten year old children on the internet unsupervised/in another room? I know there are ways kids will get around that, but still... I would like to think if I had children that I knew what they were doing up there. Especially cnsidering that nowadays most kids know more about the net than their parents.

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by Desire
I'm not trying to blame the parents at all, but I do wonder what on earth they were doing letting ten year old children on the internet unsupervised/in another room? I know there are ways kids will get around that, but still... I would like to think if I had children that I knew what they were doing up there. Especially cnsidering that nowadays most kids know more about the net than their parents.

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Unfortunately, hindsight is always 20/20...

And, as you say, kids often *do* know more about the inetnet than their parents and perhaps the parents were a bit naive about letting them have unsupervised access to the internet. All of us here have extensive experience of using the 'net and know all about the dangers. But maybe these girls parents weren't quite as aware as they should have been.