Yes, to be politically incorrect but honest, I appreciated the couple of laughs as well!!!
It IS hard to observe the police being so clueless. I feel sorry for them. Unless of course, they do know more than they are letting on. I used to work alongside police (not as a uniformed officer though) and I DO know that it all comes down to EVIDENCE. In many cases, police may suspect or even 'know' something in a way that humans know, but in order to act on something, let alone make it public, a case needs to be pretty water tight. They may have some bits and pieces at this stage, but it's not providing a coherent picture.
Even with the Gary Tweddle case, I think they had 'information' for some time as to what might have happened and who could have been involved, but even information on its own is not enough. I think they knew for weeks. But they actually had to catch a 'known' drug dealer in the act of netting a deal, to apprehend him.
Just to pick up on something raised a few posts back on how soon police arrived: So the family noticed William missing at around 10.30am. They spent 20 to 25 minutes searching. Then they called the police and they arrived within six minutes. So, there was a time lag of around 30 minutes all up, before police arrived. However quite possible longer still before police actually physically started searching, as they would have had to allow time to be fully briefed by the family first. Police dogs reportedly arrived 'later that afternoon'.
It does make you wonder who (if there was human intervention) could have pulled something like this off. No trace. Someone very experienced and smart? Or just someone incredibly lucky to have gotten away with it so far?
It's right about how someone said that, no matter what, no one at the house at that time had 360 degree visibility, no matter how good the view was. Perhaps family are saying that in the interests of their own accountability? I'm not quite sure where the kitchen is where that cup of tea was being made, but like someone else said, it would have overlooked one part of the street or the other, not both. My guess is the abduction happened pretty close to that corner. There is only that one window with lace curtains facing that corner plus the roller door. And it would be easy to make a quick exit in any of three directions from there.