Katie Hopkins sparks Twitter frenzy with attack on Madeleine McCann's parents
The outspoken columnist said it was “time to speak out” after Kate and Gerry McCann fronted a campaign to raise awareness of the Child Rescue Alerts scheme, which sends out text messages and emails if a child goes missing.
Ms Hopkins, a mother of three, wrote in
her Daily Mail column that the couple were “too self-assured to hire a babysitter and too self-centred to care” before the three-year-old disappeared in Portugal in 2007.
She also said Kate and Gerry McCann "didn't deserve £11million of our cash to look for Maddie."
“If you really must blame someone, then Kate and Gerry are right there in front of you,” she wrote.
“Show me a family from a council estate who left their child alone to go out eating and drinking who have been lauded with such support and the protection of the state.”
She added: “The McCanns put their own children in harm’s way. Those kids were in danger. Because of their parents ...
"Now the faces I associate with neglect are being used to promote the Child Rescue Alert campaign ...
"Maddie wasn’t lost because someone took her. She was lost because she was left to be found."
The article has provoked a massive reaction online and sharply divided opinion among readers. Many backed Ms Hopkins on social media while others criticised her for “victim blaming” the McCanns and “rubbing salt” into their wounds.