Pais de Maddie perdem recurso contra Gonçalo Amaral
Ex-inspetor da PJ ganha no Supremo e já não vai pagar meio milhão de euros em indemnização.
O casal McCann perdeu o recurso no Supremo Tribunal contra Gonçalo Amaral, ex-inspetor da Polícia Judiciária.
A informação é avançada pela SIC Notícias.
Gerry e Kate recorreram ao Supremo contra o ex-inspetor da PJ. Gonçalo Amaral que escreveu um livro - "Verdade da Mentira" - onde defendia que os pais de Maddie foram os verdadeiros culpados pelo seu desaparecimento em 2007 na Praia da Luz, no Algarve.
O Tribunal da Relação anulou, em abril de 2016, uma sentença que obrigava o ex-inspetor da PJ a pagar uma indemnização ao casal inglês. Os pais de Maddie recorreram para o Supremo: a sentença esta terça-feira conhecida revela que Kate e Gerry perderam de novo para Gonçalo Amaral.
Maddie’s parents lose appeal against Gonçalo Amaral
Ex-PJ inspector wins at the Supreme and no longer will pay half a million euros in indemnity.
The McCann couple lost the appeal in the Supreme Court against Gonçalo Amaral, ex-PJ inspector.
The news is reported by SIC Notícias
Gerry and Kate appealed to the Supreme against the ex-PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral who wrote a book – “The Truth of the Lie” – where he defended that Maddie’s parents were the real guilty ones for her disappearance in 2007 from Praia da Luz, in the Algarve.
The Appeal Court annuled, in April 2016, a sentence which made the ex-PJ inspector to pay an indemnity to the English couple. Maddie’s parents appealed to the Supreme: the sentence known this Tuesday reveals that Kate and Gerry lost again to Gonçalo Amaral.
Oh, this is such good news, in a world surrounded by madness and negativity this has made me really happy, and am proud I made a donation to help his legal fund. :):):):) Thanks for updating us and your excellent blog/work. We are the good people.
MADDIE COURT BID QUASHED Maddie McCann’s parents lose court appeal to silence cop who claims they covered up daughter’s death
Goncalo Amaral had worked on the investigation to find Maddie after she disappeared in May 2007
By GERARD COUZENS 31st January 2017, 3:30 pm
MADELEINE McCann’s parents have lost their new court appeal to silence the ex-cop who claims they covered up their daughter’s death, Portuguese media reports.
Portuguese Supreme Court judges met to resolve the couple’s fight against a lower court’s decision last April to reverse their 2015 libel win against Goncalo Amaral.
The hearing took place in private in Lisbon this morning. And Portuguese newspapers also reported the country’s Supreme Court had ruled against their new bid to try to silence Amaral’s claims. The couple could now face a huge legal bill, which had been frozen until the outcome of the final appeal.
The decision is a major milestone in Gerry and Kate McCann’s eight-year fight over a book written by Amaral, who led the initial hunt when then-three-year-old Madeleine vanished from their Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007.
Amaral was ordered to pay Kate and Gerry £430,000 plus interest in damages after losing round one of their libel battle in April 2015 over his hurtful book ‘The Truth of the Lie.’
Appeal judges reversed the initial ruling by a court in Lisbon in April last year, siding with the former police chief and overturning a ban on his book.
The decision sparked a fresh appeal by the McCanns to the country’s highest law court.
The McCanns’ Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte lodged the couple’s new appeal last May after vowing to fight the U-turn by judges over Amaral’s book.
Criticising the ruling in favour of the ex-police chief, which a friend of the McCanns said had left them “seething,” she said: “This decision was an appreciation of the law and not the facts.
“We can appeal to the Supreme Court which we will do as we have instructions from our clients.”
The judge who ruled in the McCanns’ favour in April 2015 said Amaral’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression were conditioned by the fact he had been in charge of the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance until shortly before the publication of his book.
She concluded he played on his status as a long-serving police officer to present personal opinions and claims about the high-profile case as fact.
The appeal judges said Amaral’s right to express his opinions overruled any duty of confidentiality he had as an ex-police chief heading the Madeleine McCann investigation once the case files were put into the public domain.
Amaral is understood to have earned £344,00 from his book before it was banned and a subsequent TV documentary.
He claimed in the book Madeleine had died in their holiday flat and they had faked her abduction to cover up the tragedy.
The book was released just three days after Gerry and Kate were told their status as formal suspects had been lifted on July 21 2008.
The McCanns told the Lisbon court staging the Amaral libel trial in the summer of 2014 they were left “devastated and crushed” by his allegations.
BREAKING NEWS: Madeleine McCann's parents 'lose their appeal against failed libel claim over Portuguese detective's book claiming they covered up their daughter's death'
Portuguese Supreme Court has ruled the McCanns cannot sue Goncalo Amaral
The former detective who investigated the case published a book in 2008
He alleged parents of Madeleine McCann were involved in her disappearance
But today a court ruled the claims are protected by freedom of expression laws
By Gerard Couzens for MailOnline Published: 16:02 GMT, 31 January 2017 | Updated: 16:20 GMT, 31 January 2017
The parents of Madeleine McCann have lost their appeal to Portugal's highest court over ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral's hurtful book claiming they covered up their daughter's death.
Portuguese Supreme Court judges met this morning in Lisbon to resolve the couple's fight against a lower court's decision last April to reverse their 2015 libel win against the former detective.
The hearing took place in private and an official public decision is not set to be sent to lawyers acting for the litigants until later in the week.
But a source close to the long-running case said this afternoon the decision had gone against the McCanns and they would now face a massive legal bill.
And Portuguese newspapers also reported the country's Supreme Court had ruled against their new bid to try to silence Amaral's claims.
The decision would be a major milestone in Gerry and Kate McCann's eight-year fight over a book written by Amaral, who led the initial hunt when then-three-year-old Madeleine vanished from their Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007.
Kate and Gerry axed PR expert Clarence Mitchell after nine years last year as they faced uncertainty over the future of the £12 million British police investigation - codenamed Operation Grange - into the disappearance of their daughter.
Amaral was ordered to pay Kate and Gerry 500,000 euros plus interest in damages after losing round one of their libel battle in April 2015 over his hurtful book 'The Truth of the Lie.'
Appeal judges reversed the initial ruling by a court in Lisbon in April last year, siding with the former police chief and overturning a ban on his book.
The decision sparked a fresh appeal by the McCanns to the country's highest law court, which was lodged last May but heard today.
The McCanns' Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte was 'out of her office' and not immediately available to comment.
Speaking ahead of today's hearing, a source close to the case said: 'The Supreme Court judges can either confirm the first court's decision that ruled in the McCanns' favour or the Lisbon appeal court judgement that went in Goncalo Amaral's favour.
'The ruling itself will take at least four or five days to come out officially but it's possible there'll be some unofficial guidance by the end of the day on what the ruling is.'
'My feeling is that Amaral cannot make another appeal if this goes against him as there is only the European courts and that's too expensive and if it's a decision based on the law and not the facts it's difficult to go to the European court.
'The same would probably be true if the McCanns lost the case.'
Criticising the ruling in favour of the ex-police chief last year, which a friend of the McCanns said had left them 'seething,' Isabel Duarte said: 'This decision was an appreciation of the law and not the facts.
'We can appeal to the Supreme Court which we will do as we have instructions from our clients.'
The judge who ruled in the McCanns' favour in April 2015 said Amaral's constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression were conditioned by the fact he had been in charge of the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance until shortly before the publication of his book.
She concluded he played on his status as a long-serving police officer to present personal opinions and claims about the high-profile case as fact.
The appeal judges said Amaral's right to express his opinions overruled any duty of confidentiality he had as an ex-police chief heading the Madeleine McCann investigation once the case files, made available on the Internet by Portuguese authorities, were put into the public domain.
Amaral is understood to have earned 400,000 euros (£344,000) from his book before it was banned and a subsequent TV documentary.
He claimed in the book Madeleine had died in their holiday flat and they had faked her abduction to cover up the tragedy.
The book was released just three days after Gerry and Kate were told their status as arguidos or formal suspects had been lifted on July 21, 2008.
The McCanns told the Lisbon court staging the Amaral libel trial in the summer of 2014 they were left 'devastated and crushed' by his allegations.
Mrs McCann, 48, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said Madeleine's twin siblings Sean and Amelie, now 12, knew about Amaral's allegations.
She told the court in July 2014 after applying to make a statement: 'I believe that's what's in Mr Amaral's book and the documentary is very distressing to adults. To a child it could be very damaging.'
Asked by the judge how she felt after reading the book, she said: 'I was devastated. It made me feel quite desperate because of the injustice I felt towards my daughter and our family as a whole.
'It was very painful to read and I felt sad for Madeleine. I also felt anxious and fearful because of the damage I felt it was doing in Portugal.'
She went on to accuse Amaral of 'consistently smearing' her and Gerry and claimed they feared the book may have stopped people coming forward with information about their daughter's whereabouts.
The ex-police chief, removed as head of the investigation into Madeleine's May 3 2007 disappearance after criticising British detectives, has always denied defamation and insisted what he wrote was based on case files which had already been made public.
Amaral's lawyer Miguel Cruz Rodrigues claimed in court the McCanns had taken legal action against his client 'to rid themselves of guilt for their negligent conduct' in leaving Madeleine and her siblings alone while they ate tapas with friends nearby.
He also claimed their lack of cooperation with the Portuguese police authorities had led to the archiving of the investigation in 2008.
Portuguese prosecutors reopened their probe into Madeleine McCann's disappearance in May 2014, and are now working in close coordination with Scotland Yard's scaled-down Operation Grange probe into the youngster's fate.
Last year Kate and Gerry revealed they had told their twins 'everything' about Madeleine's disappearance and said the youngsters still remember her and talk about her often.
Madeleine McCann parents lose appeal against author who alledged they were involved in her disappearance
Former Portuguese detective blames Kate and Gerry McCann for their daughter's disappearance in his 2008 book
Samuel Osborne @SamuelOsborne93 24 minutes ago
Madeleine McCann's parents have lost an appeal against the author of a book who alleged they were involved in the toddler's disappearance.
Portugal's Supreme Court ruled Kate and Gerry McCann can't sue the former Portuguese detective who published the book for libel.
In 2015, a Lisbon court ordered Goncalo Amaral to pay Kate and Gerry McCann 500,000 euros (£429,000) in compensation for the allegations made in his book, Maddie: The Truth of the Lie.
The book was published in 2008, three days after Portuguese authorities formally closed their inquiry and cleared the McCanns of any wrongdoing.
Mr Amaral argued in his defence that the claims in his book stemmed from the police investigation.
He also noted Portuguese media had already reported the possibility the parents may have played a role in Madeleine's disappearance.
More than £50,000 was raised in support for the detective, donated via a Go Fund Me page, after he was ordered to pay damages.
The McCanns had sought 1.2 million euros (£1 million).
However, an appeals court overturned the conviction last year before reaching Portugal's top court.
Madeleine disappeared from a holiday home in Portugal's Algarve region in May 2007, days before her fourth birthday.
British police are still investigating her disappearance.
Oh, don't worry - I couldn't help my tears from falling. Don't be ashamed. People have invested many years of emotion into this damned case. Just rejoice for now, that one huge crack has appeared in the evil defences - many more will come!!!
Wonderful news. Thank you for informing us Textusa, first to the post as always. May Snr Amaral be able to take up the pieces of his shattered life and look forward to the future from now onwards. Justice has prevailed. Very, very happy for him today.
Notícias ao Minuto - McCann perdem recurso contra Gonçalo Amaral. Livro regressará às bancas “Entretanto, fonte do STJ revelou à agência Lusa que os juízes conselheiros do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça entenderam que, "numa situação de conflito entre o direito à honra e o direito à liberdade de expressão, o critério da ponderação de interesses, actuando segundo o princípio da proporcionalidade e a especificidade do caso, aponta no sentido de ser a liberdade de expressão do réu (Gonçalo Amaral) credora de maior proteção". A decisão foi tomada por Roque Nogueira (relator), Alexandre Reis e Pedro Lima Gonçalves, da 1.ª Vara Cível do STJ.”
https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/ McCann perdem recurso contra Gonçalo Amaral. Livro regressará às bancas Os pais de Madeleine McCann perderam o recurso interposto no Supremo Tribunal de Justiça contra contra o ex-inspetor da Polícia Judiciária Gonçalo Amaral, adianta a SIC Notícias.
O casal McCann viu indeferido o recurso apresentado no Supremo Tribunal de Justiça contra Gonçalo Amaral. O ex-inspetor da Polícia Judiciária alegou, no seu livro ‘Verdade da Mentira’, que os pais de Madeleine McCann foram os responsáveis pelo desaparecimento da menina, em 2007, na praia da Luz, no Algarve. Em abril de 2016, o Tribunal da Relação anulou a sentença que obrigava Gonçalo Amaral a pagar uma indemnização ao casal. A decisão havia sido tomada pela primeira instância, mas a Relação entendeu que o ex-inspetor era livre de exprimir a sua opinião e o livro poderia voltar às bancas. Kate e Gerry McCann não se conformaram e, logo na altura, adiantaram que iriam recorrer da decisão para o Supremo Tribunal de Justiça. O recurso foi apresentado pela advogada no final de maio do ano passado. A decisão do Supremo foi agora conhecida. Segundo a SIC Notícias, o recurso foi indeferido e o casal McCann perdeu contra Gonçalo Amaral, não tendo agora mais oportunidades para reverter a decisão. Uma vez ilibado, o livro ‘Verdade da Mentira’ do ex-inspetor poderá voltar às bancas. Entretanto, fonte do STJ revelou à agência Lusa que os juízes conselheiros do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça entenderam que, "numa situação de conflito entre o direito à honra e o direito à liberdade de expressão, o critério da ponderação de interesses, actuando segundo o princípio da proporcionalidade e a especificidade do caso, aponta no sentido de ser a liberdade de expressão do réu (Gonçalo Amaral) credora de maior proteção". A decisão foi tomada por Roque Nogueira (relator), Alexandre Reis e Pedro Lima Gonçalves, da 1.ª Vara Cível do STJ.
As far as we know, SIC Notícias (SIC News) was the first media outlet to put out this news at 15:24 (just 9 minutes after we first published at 15:15 in a FB post (https://www.facebook.com/bronte.textusa/posts/946868778783107)), so we thought best to bring the article over to the blog:
McCann perdem recurso no Supremo contra Gonçalo Amaral
31.01.2017 15h24 João Tiago Jornalista Última atualização às 16:25
O antigo inspector da PJ Gonçalo Amaral não vai mesmo pagar qualquer indemnização ao casal McCann, por defender a tese de que os pais estiveram envolvidos no desaparecimento da filha, Maddie. A SIC apurou que o Supremo Tribunal de Justiça negou esta tarde a revisão da decisão do Tribunal da Relação.
Há menos de um ano, a Relação tinha anulado a sentença da instância anterior que condenava o antigo inspetor da PJ ao pagamento de 500 mil euros ao casal.
Os juízes conselheiros recusaram-se a rever essa decisão, entendendo que “numa situação de conflito entre o direito à honra [do casal McCann] e o direito à liberdade de expressão”, é “a liberdade de expressão do réu [Gonçalo Amaral] credora de maior proteção”, lê-se no acórdão emitido esta tarde.
O problema foi provocado pela publicação de um livro em que Gonçalo Amaral expõe os factos que levaram à suspeita dos pais no desaparecimento. O coletivo, que teve como relator o juiz conselheiro Roque Nogueira, concluiu que o “exercício de liberdade de expressão” do antigo coordenador da investigação ao desaparecimento da menina inglesa da Praia da Luz não foi abusivo: “está dentro dos limites admissíveis numa sociedade democrática e aberta, o que exclui a ilicitude de uma eventual lesão da honra [dos McCann]”.
Fica assim confirmado o acórdão do Tribunal da Relação de Lisboa proferido a 19 de Abril de 2015. Na altura, os juízes entenderam que não se pode negar a Gonçalo Amaral o direito de opinião e de expressão de pensamento.
O antigo coordenador do Departamento de Investigação Criminal de Portimão da Polícia Judiciária, à data do desaparecimento de Madeleine McCann – 3 de maio de 2007 – não só fica isento do pagamento de indemnização ao casal, como pode recolocar à venda o livro “A Verdade da Mentira”.
“McCann lose appeal in the Supreme against Gonçalo Amaral
The former PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral is really not going to pay any indeminity to the McCann couple, for defending the thesis that the parents were involved in the disappearance of the daughter, Maddie. SIC has determined that the Supreme Justice Court has denied this afternoon the revision of the Appeal Court decision.
Há menos de um ano, a Relação tinha anulado a sentença da instância anterior que condenava o antigo inspetor da PJ ao pagamento de 500 mil euros ao casal.
Less than a year ago, the Appeal had nullified the sentence from the previous instance that condemned the former PJ inspector to the payment of 500 thousand euros to the couple.
The counsellor judges refused to review that decision, in the understanding that “in a situation of conflict between the right to the honour [of the McCann couple] and the right of freedom of expression”, it is “the freedom of expression of the defendant [Gonçalo Amaral] that is to be credited greater protection”, can be read in the sentence issued this afternoon.
The problem was caused by the publication of a book in which Gonçalo Amaral exposes the facts that led to the suspicion of the parents in the disappearance. The collective, that had has narrator the counsellor judge Roque Nogueira, concluded that the “exercise of the freedom of expression” of the former coordinator of the investigation into the disappearance of the English girl from Praia da Luz, was not abusive: “it is within the admissible limits in an open and democratic society, which excludes the illicitness in an eventual lesion to the honour [of the McCann]”
It is then confirmed the sentence of the Lisbon Appeal Court, rendered on April 19, 2015 (sic). At the time, the judges had the understanding that Gonçalo Amaral could not be denied the right of opinion and expression of thought.
The former coordinator of the Criminal Investigation Department of PJ of Portimão, at the time of the disappearance of pf Madeleine McCann – May 3 2007 – is not only exempt of indemnity payment to the couple, as he can place again for sale the book “The Truth of the Lie”.”
Statement from Gerry and Kate McCann Regarding Portuguese Supreme Court Ruling
What we have been told by our lawyers is obviously extremely disappointing.
It is eight years since we brought the action and in that time the landscape has dramatically changed, namely there is now a joint Metropolitan Police-Policia Judiciaria investigation which is what we've always wanted.
The police in both countries continue to work on the basis that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm.
We will, of course, be discussing the implications of the Supreme Court ruling with our lawyers in due course.
http://portugalresident.com/node/47952 ECHR? If they tried to It probably would not be accepted It could take years It wouldn't stop the consequences of current court decision It would cost a lot of money And it would expose them to widespread publicity, so if they lost, a lot to lose.
Supreme court rejects Mccanns’ appeal: Amaral vindicated for second time
In a case of “second time proved right” former PJ coordinator Gonçalo Amaral has seen a national court take his side in the long-running civil action taken out by the parents of Madeleine McCann.
The Supreme Court has today convened to consider the case, and is reported by SIC television news as having “dismissed it”.
This means that Supreme Court judges do not consider there are grounds to appeal against the decision given in April last year by Lisbon’s Appellate Court, and which ruled that Amaral was well within his rights of freedom of expression when he wrote the book: “Madeleine: The Truth of the Lie”.
SIC’s report claims the McCanns have now “lost the case against Gonçalo Amaral” as “there are now no further opportunities to reverse the decision” of the Appellate Court.
Whether this is in fact the truth, remains to be seen. The McCanns lawyer Isabel Duarte has intimated to British press that the couple could take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if they lost in Portugal.
We think that the principal behind the ECHR is... human rights!
These can only be transgressed by the states, entities that can legislate and apply that legislation on humans.
When a human disrespects, in whatever degree or violence, another human human's rights that is a crime and has to be solved within the sovereign judicial system of that country.
That said, the claim can only be against Portugal (its courts) and not against oen of its citizen, in the case, Mr Amaral.
We would say that unless he decides otherwise, this is the end of the road for him on the case of his book.
Jerry Lawton @JerryLawton Gerry and Kate #McCann lose Portugal Supreme Court libel ruling over ex-cop Goncalo Amaral's book & must pay his substantial legal costs
AnneGuedes AnneGuedes – @aacg @JerryLawton @AnnaEsse Not only his legal costs ! Interest for the 8 yrs he was deprived of his assets ! And prohibited to sell his book ! 14:24 - 31 jan 2017
This is not correct.
As we have repeatedly said, what is due to the McCanns is the legal costs of the process (from its beginning until now) and THEIR legal costs.
Mr Amaral will have to pay his legal fees, as in he has to pay his lawyers out of his own pocket.
His assets were frozen by the state and not by the McCanns. They proposed that they be frozen but the decision was that of the judicial system, so all interests involved is something to be solved between Mr Amaral and the Republic of Portugal.
To be very clear, Mr Amaral will NOT receive a single cent, directly or indirectly from the McCanns.
The money from the McCanns has only only 2 destinations in Portugal: the Portuguese judicial system and their lawyers (Rogério Alves and Isabel Duarte and others)
As we think the lawyers involved are not cheap and as the process went all the way to the Supreme Justice Court, we would agree with you that it is going to be an expensive outcome for the McCanns.
GA's assets were frozen with the required benediction of the tribunal, but at the request of the MCs who obviously had to obtain the justice order, the argument being that it doesn't make sense to ask more than a million to a guy who through some tricks would suddenly own only a penny. This is not the tribunal's job to make sure defendants condemned to pay X to the plaintifs will be able or wanting to do it but it is its job to appreciate the financial situation of the defendant and prevent legal expenses money to run away. The tribunal has enough on its shoulders making sure that the protagonists will pay their respective legal fees. Any taxpayer is entitled to exoect this.
Would you pay a lawyer who sent her assistant (in fact a guy in charge of protecting her from unprofessional photographers) to declaim the final allegations? A guy who read them in such a monotonous way that everybody fell asleep in the court room ?
You might be interested in reading this part of the CPC, Textusa.. Art. 533 about "as custas de parte". http://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?artigo_id=1959A0533&nid=1959&tabela=leis&pagina=1&ficha=1&so_miolo=&nversao=#artigo
I have spoken from knowledge of a case I was aware of personally, in a lawsuit in which a close friend and had to pay court costs and in the detailing, which I read, there was no payment due to the other side’s lawyer. That was before 2013.
I know that one cannot allege ignorance of the law so I’ll plead guilty to the felony of not knowing about this latest update, and I thank you for enlightening me.
However I’ll not “concede” defeat, not out of stubbornness but because there is the question that, as the law is of 2013, whether it applies to proceedings that have started in 2009.
Best we wait, as suggested by Mercedes, for the court’s decision on what has to be paid by the McCanns.
But the point we wanted to make, which is really what matters, independent of you being right and me wrong the McCanns do not pay a single cent to Mr Amaral, as, IF the court determines they have to pay his lawyers, it will be under ‘court expenses’.
That would only mean that Mr Amaral wouldn’t lose the money he has spent on lawyers and not getting any from the couple.
We think that this should be closely followed up by the PJGA, for the sake of transparency, as it involves donations from people to the GoFund that was set-up.
Madeleine McCann's parents set to appeal libel case that could 'leave them penniless'
Ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral is set to sue Kate and Gerry McCann for hundreds of thousands of pounds after winning the long-running legal battle
ByMartin FrickerGerard Couzens 20:01, 31 JAN 2017 Updated20:33, 31 JAN 2017
Kate and Gerry McCann will launch an appeal after losing a libel court case appeal against the cop who led the bungled hunt for their daughter.
Ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral is set to sue the couple for hundreds of thousands of pounds after winning the long-running legal battle.
The McCanns originally sued him after he penned a book claiming they were responsible for Madeleine’s “death”.
Amaral, 57, was ordered to pay them £360,000 in damages in 2015 for the shocking claims he made in ‘The Truth of the Lie’.
Kate and Gerry began their legal battle with Amaral in 2009 after he claimed in the book they faked her abduction after she “died” in their Praia da Luz holiday apartment in May 2007.
But he successfully overturned the ruling last April - forcing Kate and Gerry to lodge an appeal in Portugal’s Supreme Court.
Senior judges sided with the ex-cop in a behind-closed-doors hearing in Lisbon.
It paves the way for Amaral to sue the couple, claiming the legal battle cost him money and harmed his reputation.
A source close to Kate and Gerry accused him of waging a “relentless battle” against them.
The friend said: “They only took civil action against Mr Amaral in the first place to stop him spouting his malicious lies.
“Now it looks like they will be repeated again and he’s talking about suing them. It’s almost laughable.
“It’s exasperating for them and they don’t need this on top of everything else. Mr Amaral has profited from their pain.
“It was never about them winning damages which will now be put on hold while they appeal. This could continue for years.”
Crucially Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leics, will now also have to pay his legal fees - believed to be a six-figure sum.
On top of their own lawyers bills, it could wipe out their ‘Madeleine’s Fund’ and leave them broke.
The limited company, set up just 12 days after Madeleine disappeared, has around £700,000 in the coffers.
According to accounts filed last month, nearly £500,000 of that was invested last year in an unknown venture.
More than £4.2m has been donated to the fund in the nearly ten years since Madeleine vanished.
Sources close to the McCanns said they had no idea about the Supreme Court defeat until it was reported in the Portuguese media.
Kate and Gerry, both 48, may still decide to take the case to the European courts in a last-ditch bid to win their appeal.
"The judges decided Amaral’s “right to freedom of expression” was worthy of greater protection than the “right to honour” of the McCanns." Stating it like this would be against the principle of the law, those personal rights having equal weight mutatis mutandis. They said that GA's right to express an opinion didn't affect the MC's right to good name. Slightly different, at least in expression. And they allueded to the MC shouting abduction from the roof tops... The problem with the MC (not only with them..) is that they want the butter and the money to buy it.
Kate McCann’s Missing People Choir brings Britain’s Got Talent judges to tears with heartbreaking secret audition
Bosses have tipped choir as potential winner of the show after performing tear jerking song I Miss You
Exclusive BY LUCY JONES 31st January 2017, 10:32 pm
KATE McCann is part of a heartbreaking bid to win Britain’s Got Talent by families searching for lost loved ones.
The Missing People Choir, which includes chef Claudia Lawrence’s dad Peter, reduced onlookers to tears during secret auditions.
The Missing People Choir is made up of families in search for lost loved ones
Kate McCann is a choir ambassador and may become more heavily involved
Madeleine’s mum Kate, 48, is choir ambassador and may get more heavily involved if they progress to the live shows, sources say.
They performed the tear-jerking song I Miss You on stage on Sunday — and were immediately tipped as possible BGT winners.
It includes the lyrics: “I never thought I’d be without you.
“I always thought you’d be here safe with me.
“Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up to find you.”
An audience member in London said: “Images of some of the missing people they were linked to also flashed up on the screen which had everyone in tears.
“Judges Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon were particularly moved.
“Amanda said they were an inspiration.
“The choir said they had only performed together about seven times.
“You could tell in their voices how much it means to them all.”
Madeleine McCann disappeared on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007
The performance is expected to be shown on ITV in May, marking exactly ten years since Madeleine went missing from Praia Da Luz in Portugal.
Peter’s involvement comes after cops announced a probe into Claudia’s suspected murder will be scaled back this month.
The retired solicitor, 75, said he was “hugely disappointed and depressed”.
But he vowed never to give up looking for Claudia, who vanished on her way to work at the University of York in 2009.
Dad Peter Boxell wrote I Miss You about his son Lee who vanished in Sutton, South London, in 1988.
A BGT source said: “Their story is unbelievably moving so it’s certain to capture the hearts of the nation.
It’s ten years since Maddie went missing so if they got through to the live shows it’s possible Kate will want to be involved.”
BGT boss Simon Cowell, 57, has previously urged fans to back the choir’s charity, Missing People.
Madeleine McCann Maddie vanished while on a family holiday with mum and dad Kate and Gerry in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. She was three. Her whereabouts remain unknown despite a huge search.
Claudia Lawrence Chef Claudia, 35, was reported missing on March 19, 2009, after failing to turn up for work in York. Dad Peter has made appeals for information. Police, who ¬suspect murder, have found no body.
Lee Boxell Cops believe Lee, 15, was killed after disappearing en route to watch Charlton play football in 1988 but have never charged anyone.
Luke Durbin Luke became one of UK’s highest-profile missing people when he vanished, aged 19, after a night out with pals in Ipswich in May, 2006.
Sandra Hall The body of Sandra, 56, was found after a four-week hunt in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, in 2013. Police said the death was not suspicious.
Lucia Hawkins Lucia went missing in 2009 in Perugia, Italy. She was aged 42. Sister Violeta said the choir helped her “deal with my sense of loss”.
Charles Horvath Charles was 21, when he vanished hitchhiking in Canada, in 1989. Mum Denise has visited British Columbia regularly to look for him.
Quentin Godwin Just 18 when he vanished on way to work in West Auckland, New Zealand, in 1992. An inquest in 2014 concluded Quentin was dead.
Alice Gross Anorexic Alice, 14 was found dead under logs in the River Brent, West London, after a five-week search. She was murdered in a sexually-motivated attack by Latvian Arnis Zalkalns, 41, who killed himself later.
I'm sorry, call me heartless, but pass me the sick-bucket. When will these 'people' ever stop? What has happened the UK where every sentiment is turned into commercial pap?
oh goody one million pound prize money will pay for the McCann legal fees I am sure kate will use her charms to convince the rest to let her have the prize money in her search for the only missing person that seems to matter
CAN WE EVER GIVE UP HOPE OF FINDING MADELEINE MCCANN?
Kate and Gerry McCann have lost their appeal to Portugal’s highest court over ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral’s book which claimed they covered up their daughter Madeleine’s death.
Will the British public ever give up hope of find out what happened to Madeleine when she was kidnapped in 2007? And if that was YOUR child, would you ever lose hope?
Madeleine McCann's mother Kate and her choir made up of families of missing people hope to win Britain's Got Talent after reducing judges to tears with a heartbreaking performance in secret auditions
Madeleine McCann's mother, Kate, is involved with the Missing People's Choir The choir includes Peter Lawrence, whose daughter Claudia vanished in 2009 Choir reduced onlookers to tears during the BGT auditions with song I Miss You Judges Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon said to have been particularly moved
By Sam Tonkin For Mailonline Published: 01:47 GMT, 1 February 2017 | Updated: 12:54 GMT, 1 February 2017
Kate McCann is the face of a choir that brought Britain's Got Talent judges to tears as families searching for lost loved ones took part in a heartbreaking secret audition.
Among them was the sister of missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, who disappeared 22 years ago today, the father of chef Claudia Lawrence, and the family and friends of murdered schoolgirl Alice Gross, 14.
The Missing Peoples's Choir launched an emotional bid to win the ITV talent show with auditions that left Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden particularly moved, onlookers said.
Madeleine McCann's mother Kate, 48, is an ambassador for the group, which is expected to appear on the talent show in May. It will mark ten years since her daughter's disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia Da Luz, Portugal.
Although she has not been singing in the choir during the auditions, Mrs McCann may become more involved if they progress to the televised stages.
The choir reduced onlookers to tears during the BGT auditions with their tear-jerking song I Miss You, written by Peter Boxell, whose son Lee went missing from Sutton, south London, in 1988.
The song includes the lyrics: ‘I never thought I’d be without you. I always thought you’d be here safe with me.
'Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up to find you.'
A BGT source told The Sun said: 'Their story is unbelievably moving so it’s certain to capture the hearts of the nation.
'It’s ten years since Maddie went missing so if they got through to the live shows it’s possible Kate will want to be involved.'
Among those in the choir are Ros Hodgkiss and Nina Gross, the mother and sister of Alice Gross, 14, who was murdered by convicted killer Arnis Zalkalns.
Denise Horvath Allan, the mother of missing Charles Horvath Allan, is also part of the group, which is led by Missing People choir director Jim Hawkins.
Peter Lawrence's involvement comes after police announced in January that the investigation efforts into his daughter’s suspected murder would be scaled back.
Retired solicitor Peter, 75, expressed his disappointment but vowed never to give up searching for Claudia.
Britain’s Got Talent boss Simon Cowell has previously given the Missing People campaign his support, along with celebrities including Stephen Fry.
The choir also includes the sister of Lucia Hawkins, who went missing in 2009 in Perugia, Italy, at the age of 42.
Last November Kate McCann told how every day brings fresh hope that her missing daughter Madeleine will be found.
The former GP revealed her continued heartache during an impassioned speech as she joined forces with the mother of murdered Alice Gross to launch a new charity.
The appeal, Find Every Child, aims to raise money so the charity Missing People can reach out to the thousands of youngsters who disappear each year.
Speaking at the launch event in London, Ms McCann said: 'We go to bed every night with the agonising feeling that just maybe tomorrow we will find something to lead us back to Madeleine. To let us know what happened. To give us hope.'
Mrs McCann shared the stage at the Corinthia Hotel with Ros Hodgkiss, whose 14-year-old daughter Alice was found dead in September 2014 after she went missing for five weeks.
Together, the mothers - united it grief over the loss of their daughters - highlighted the plight of 140,000 youngsters who go missing in Britain each year.
Mrs McCann then made an impromptu speech in which she urged the public to give their support.
'When my little girl first disappeared, on that horrendous night that changed our lives forever, I could never have imagined that nearly 10 years later we would still be in the same position.
'That I would be stood here in front of you tonight talking about the issue and how important it is that we look for each and every missing child.
'Giving hope is what Missing People do day in and day out. Please help this wonderful charity in their ambitious goal to Find Every Child.'
Madeleine, three, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz nearly 10 years ago in May 2007.
Mrs McCann and her heart doctor husband Gerry, both 48, from Rothley, Leicestershire, believe their daughter – who would now be aged 13 – could still be alive.
So it's Kate McCann's choir although she isn't in it. As usual she is trying to align herself with people who are genuinely grieving, like Alice Gross's mother and sister. However, should the choir get through to the televised rounds she may deign to join in the singing, without having attended any rehearsals. Words fail me.
Poor mum, she put herself, or her husband put both of them, in a paradoxical situation where genuine grief is prohibited, certainty of loss being unmissable. Hence the abuse of all kinds of proxies.
Très heureuse pour Mr AMARAL, the hero and his family. Really. BRITAIN's GOT TALENT :"Kate McCann is a choir ambassador", yes, another "good marketing ploy", n'est-ce-pas, Gerry !!!! Trop c'est trop ! Please, pass me the sick-bucket too, anonymus 1 FEB. Yes Drs McCann, there is evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm. Next step : "Truth...not only convicts the T9 it also involves many others in the obstruction of justice and body concealment... ".
'It's not about money... this is PERSONAL': Kate and Gerry McCann's fury at losing battle over 'false smears' of Portuguese detective who accused them of covering up Maddie's death
Kate and Gerry McCann have lost their bitter libel fight with Goncalo Amaral Portuguese detective claimed in a book Maddie died and couple covered it up Maddie's anguished parents told a friend that they are furious at the decision Couple could now face financial ruin over the decision by the Portuguese court But pair told a friend case had become personal and was never about the money Said they brought action to stop Portuguese detective 'spouting false smears' They said his claims that they were involved hampered the search for Madeleine
By Tracey Kandohla And Gerard Couzens For Mailonline Published: 13:38 GMT, 1 February 2017 | Updated: 13:38 GMT, 1 February 2017
The anguished parents of Madeleine McCann today told of their fury at failing to silence a Portuguese police chief from 'spouting false smears' over their daughter's disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann said their eight-year libel battle with detective Goncalo Amaral, who claims Maddie died and they covered it up, had become deeply personal - and was not about money.
The 'devastated' couple could face financial ruin after losing their fight with Amaral, on the eve of their twins Sean and Amilie's 12th birthday.
But a close friend today insisted their legal fight wasn't about compensation, but to gag their 'tormentor-in-chief' whose theories they felt hampered the search to find her.
'It was never about winning big libel damages,' said the friend. 'It's always been more of a personal battle. They are bitterly disappointed they have lost but not totally surprised.
'It was all about them silencing him to stop him spouting untruths. The whole point of the libel action was to try and stop Mr Amaral spreading false accusations, which they felt hampered the search for Madeleine.
The friend went on: 'Any award would have gone into the Madeleine's Fund to help find their daughter and would never have been used for Kate and Gerry's own use.
'They are considering whether to appeal the decision and need to take advice from their Portuguese lawyer. But I think they just want to draw a line under it.'
The friend said the couple are now considering whether to appeal and will seek advice from their legal team in Portugal before deciding on their next move.
But the source added: 'To say they are upset and angry would be an understatement. But their main and only focus is to find Madeleine who has been missing for nearly 10 years. They will be able to concentrate on this totally now.'
In the bitter legal battle, the McCanns successfully sued Amaral for €500,000 damages, whom they branded 'a poisonous liar'.
But a higher court reversed the decision and judges in Lisbon have upheld the U-turn.
The payout would have been added to the official Find Maddie Fund set up through public donations and boosted by big-hearted celebrities to finance the worldwide hunt for the missing girl.
The Fund once stood at £1million but is now closer to £300,000 and could be wiped out by the Portugal's Supreme Court shock ruling.
A source close to the family said: 'This news is devastating, not just for Kate and Gerry but for Madeleine wherever she is.
'It's not good news. We just don't know what to do but we need to sit down with our lawyer and discuss it.
'We've gone to the pinnacle of the Portuguese legal system and we've lost. We now have to pay a sizeable amount in costs.'
As the Scotland Yard search for Madeleine – who disappeared as a three-year-old from a holiday apartment in the Algarve's Praia da Luz – is being wound down the McCann's had been keeping the soon-to-be-obliterated fund as a life-line to pay for their own ongoing search the moment the investigation, codenamed Operation Grange, ends.
Ex GP Kate and heart doctor Gerry, both 48, from Rothley, Leicestershire, live in hope that 'a miracle' will one day reunite them with their daughter. If still alive, she would turn 14 in mid May.
The appeal hearing in Lisbon which ruled against the McCanns was held in private.
A spokesperson from their lawyer's office said: 'This is a big disappointment and very bitter for us and for Mr and Mrs McCann.
'We know the libel decision has gone against us but we do not know the basis of the ruling and will not find out until Thursday.'
Mr Amaral, 56, who the McCanns first sued for libel in June 2009, won the lengthy legal fight after judges decided he had the 'right to freedom of expression.'
Madeleine's parents could now lodge an appeal to the highest court in Europe, the European Court of Human Rights.
But a source close to the exasperated couple said: 'I think the fight is finally over. They want to concentrate on finding Madeleine and don't think they have the time or energy to lodge yet another appeal.'
Mr Amaral, who led the initial bungled search to help find their daughter, claimed in a once banned book that Madeleine was dead.
He was later sacked for criticising the British police handling of the case.
He has since made a fortune from his best-seller 'The Truth of the Lie' in which he claims Madeleine is dead and her parents 'staged a cover up'.
It has been translated into six languages and sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide.
It led to libel action from the distraught McCanns and action in a civil court, an appeal court and finally the Supreme Court.
Amaral is understood to have earned 400,000 euros (£344,000) from his book before it was banned and a subsequent TV documentary.
He claimed in the book Madeleine had died in their holiday flat and they had faked her abduction to cover up the tragedy.
The book was released just three days after Gerry and Kate McCann were told their status as arguidos or formal suspects had been lifted on July 21, 2008.
Amaral's lawyer claimed the McCanns had taken legal action 'to rid themselves of guilt for their negligent conduct' in leaving Madeleine and her siblings alone while they ate tapas with friends nearby.
He also claimed their lack of co-operation with the Portuguese police authorities had led to the archiving of the investigation in 2008.
The McCann's fiercely deny his allegations. In a 36-page writ, lodged nearly eight years ago, they describe him as a self obsessed, manipulative money-grabber and accuse him of libel and breaching their human rights.
In documents they describe in detail the pain and anguish he has caused the family by repeatedly smearing them, and say his slurs have left them 'totally destroyed' and most importantly had hindered the search for Madeleine.
Scotland Yard are busy investigating one 'last throw of the dice' lead in a bid to end the family's torment but time could be running out as police now have just two months left of guaranteed Government funding to continue to unravel an 'important' new tip.
Detectives on the Madeleine inquiry recently revealed they are working on a final theory that the youngster was kidnapped by a European trafficking gang.
The 'spotters' are believed to have targeted the blonde toddler taking photographs of her while she was playing on the beach and beside the pool at her holiday apartment.
Interesting, the concept of "final theory". How credible is it for an investigation force to say: "look, we are investigating this line of inquiry but, whatever we find, it's the last thing we do"? Ludicrous is the word that comes to mind.
I tend to abandon the MCs to their unfortunate destiny, but what about journalists (supposing this is the right way to name them) taking us for fools, repeating nonsensical stories totally bereft of appeal ?
Suing anyone who tries to sell this book in the UK or anywhere else for that matter shouts out loud the mcs are guilty of something and don’t want the facts and truth to be freely available. It’s a non starter for many reasons, firstly the cost. IF there is any money left in the fraudulent fund after GA’s success it will show that it was meant for legal fees not searching for M, just as G’s brother said all those years ago when the fund was set up. IF there are any remaining mc believers they will be given more evidence by this action that they are desperately doing a King Canute trying to hold back the tide of public opinion about their guilt.
Any publicity about trying to ban his book will have the Streisand effect and make many who haven’t already read it curious and increase sales. If it’s printed in English it could be sold from outside the UK so how many suppliers would mcs have to go after? It reminds me of the Mary Whitehouse effect when she tried to ban songs being played on the radio which had the effect of increasing record sales as the public wanted to know what the content was.
The Mcs trying to stop free speech the Portuguese courts have ruled is legitimate shows their arrogance but also damns them.
"Detectives on the Madeleine inquiry recently revealed they are working on a final theory that the youngster was kidnapped by a European trafficking gang."
I fail to see the fundamental difference between that final theory and the initial one promoted by the media 10 years ago? Sounds like saying: we will stick the kidnapping into your throat, anyway.
Have Op Grange/ Nicola Wall ever said directly "Our last line of inquiry is a European child trafficking gang"? Seems to me to be it's something fed to press from friend/family/close to investigation sources. A gang that took photographs of M on a beach! Why did Mitchell say the McCanns had visited Zavial beach and that the sighting of a man taking photographs was important? Followed by release of PJ files with a statement from a restaurant owner, confirming what he had told the press: that the McCann family had visited his restaurant. However, nothing in the files to show the family had ever left PDL. Then Summers' book also denies the beach visit happened. So who is lying? And why is this beach photographer story re-emerging in the latest press stories? The only beach trip described by K in her book was on a rather dreary day and no mention of seeing anyone taking photographs.
The article where Mr Mitchell confirms the McCann visit to the Zavial beach:
http://themaddiecasefiles.com/topic15345.html
Family dinner that may have led to tragedy
Sunday Express By Matt Drake 10 August 2008
A PAEDOPHILE with orders to snatch a young girl may have targeted Madeleine McCann as she played on a naturist beach plagued by voyeurs.
Police raised serious concerns about the McCanns' day trip to the remote Praia da Zavial beach on the weekend before she vanished.
Unaware the area is a notorious nudist attraction, Gerry and Kate McCann innocently dined with their three small children at a restaurant on the beach.
It is feared this was when the abductor first laid eyes on Madeleine playing in the sand with siblings Sean and Amelie.
A report by the local naval authority shows a search team swept Praia da Zavial six days after she disappeared.
The case file highlights how the flawed Portuguese investigation ignored warnings of a sinister Englishman caught taking pictures on the beach.
Officers interviewed nine bathers and questioned the manager of the Zavial beach restaurant, Ernesto Joaquim Muchacho, who vividly recalled meeting the young family. In an inconclusive final paragraph to the report the investigator states: "It is interesting to observe that Praia da Zavial is usually frequented by naturists and that consequently attracts some voyeurs." Naval officers also combed several other beaches along the rocky Algarve coast but found no trace of Madeleine. Last night Mr Muchacho, 23, told how he warned police about the worrying behaviour of the English voyeur. He said: "The police came here just after Madeleine vanished.
"They had had complaints from people about a man behaving strangely at this beach and others in the area.
"I told them I had seen a tall, thin Englishman in his forties taking a lot of photographs. He was weird, a strange guy.
"Madeleine came here for lunch with her parents not long before she disappeared. I don't know if this guy took a picture of Madeleine. It's impossible to say. But he took a lot of photographs.
"He came into the bar a few times. He said he was taking pictures of the birds – the flying variety – but I wasn't so sure.
"I saw him around here a few times after Madeleine went missing. The police thought he might have been a watcher, a voyeur." Several naturist websites have reviewed the secluded sandy beach 10km west of Praia da Luz.
Zavial offers privacy as it is remote from any resort and only accessible by driving up a long track.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell last night confirmed the family had visited the beach but said they had no idea it was a notorious nudist beach. He said: "It is important information because we have always believed that Madeleine was targeted by an abductor who watched the family.
"Kate and Gerry were enjoying an innocent holiday and did not know that Zavial attracted nudists.
"Anyway, just because people are nudists does not mean they are perverts. We are looking into anything that is relevant to the days before Madeleine was taken and this is clearly important information.
"Sadly we have no idea what the Portuguese police did with this complaint or if they bothered to investigate it further." Last week it emerged that British police were tipped off that Madeleine had been snatched by members of an international paedophile ring who photographed her three days before she was apparently abducted.
According to an email sent by the Metropolitan Police, a child abduction ring based in Belgium placed an order for a "young girl''.
Madeleine was spotted while on holiday by someone connected to the gang who took her picture.
The photograph was sent back to Belgium, where the paedophile ring agreed that she should be abducted.
The email, sent by an intelligence officer on the Met's vice squad on March 4 this year to counterparts in the Portuguese and Leicestershire forces, is a significant development in the case.
Maddie: We warned Portuguese, say vice squad BRITISH police did everything in their power to investigate claims that Madeleine McCann had been snatched by an international paedophile ring, they insisted last night.
By Martin Evans PUBLISHED: 00:00, Fri, Aug 8, 2008
Officers working for CO14, a special¬ised vice unit within the Metropolitan Police, wrote to their Portuguese counterparts in March warning them they had intelligence that the three-year-old had been kidnapped to order by a Belgian gang.
The Policia Judiciaria then contacted Interpol and asked them to investigate further. But just weeks later Portuguese police chiefs shelved the line of inquiry, claiming it lacked credibility.
Private detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann are now urgently examining the information to see if any more could have been done to check out the anonymous tip-off.
An email sent by John Shord of the Metropolitan’s Vice and Clubs Unit in March to Leicestershire Police – who were coordinating the UK end of the Madeleine case – read: “Intelligence suggests that a paedophile ring in Belgium made an order for a young girl three days before Madeleine McCann was taken.
“Somebody connected to this group saw Maddie, took a photograph of her and sent it to Belgium.
“The purchaser agreed that the girl was suitable and Maddie was taken.”
Interpol contacted its departments in London, Belgium, Germany and Finland to gather more information about European paedophile gangs.
But detective Paulo Rebelo, head of the Madeleine inquiry, ruled that all but the German intelligence showed “lack of credibility”.
As a result, the Scotland Yard tip-off was added to the massive file of evidence considered during the hunt for Madeleine.
Belgium is less than 100 miles from Amsterdam, where there have been two highly credible possible sightings of the missing youngster.
McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell refused to comment on “sensitive” information found in the Portuguese police case files.
He said: “Clearly, with any information of that nature, Kate and Gerry would hope that the Portuguese police in conjunction with Interpol have acted to the absolute best of their ability in following this up.”
"In the Zavial area, a few kilometres from Vila da Luz, there lives a 46 year-old British citizen, who is suspected of paedophilia by his neighbours. The English police inform us that he doesn't have a record and that he is not on file. In Portugal too, there are no complaints registered against him. He has not been seen hanging about in the areas of Vila da Luz or the beach. The lead goes nowhere."
'THEY WILL BE SUED' Kate and Gerry McCann vow to take legal action if cop’s book claiming they covered up her death is published in the UK The search funds set aside to help find Maddie McCann could be wiped after the couple lost their legal challenge against the cop
By BRITTANY VONOW, NEAL BAKER and GERARD COUZENS 2nd February 2017, 1:09 am
MADDIE McCann’s parents have threatened to sue anyone who tries to release a book, written by a former cop accusing them of covering up their daughter’s death, to the UK public.
The warning comes after Kate and Gerry McCann slammed the “untruthful and malicious” allegations made by the ex-cop, with the couple now facing a huge bill that could wipe out funds set aside for searching for their missing daughter.
Former cop Gonçalo Amaral helped to investigate the missing person’s case in its initial stages, with the author cleared of breaching libel laws and now hoping to have his work published abroad, the Daily Star reported.
But in a stern rebuttal of the cop’s hopes for the book, the McCann family’s lawyers have now warned that they will take swift legal action if the book is published in the UK.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “If it does appear, whoever is responsible will be sued.”
Supreme Court judges in Portugal met on Tuesday to resolve the couple’s fight against a lower court’s decision in April last year to reverse their 2015 libel win against the former detective.
Although the hearing took place in private – and an official public decision is not set to be sent to lawyers acting for the litigants until later in the week – it emerged that the case had gone against Gerry and Kate McCann.
The ruling was handed down on the eve of their younger twin children’s 12th birthdays.
A close friend told The Sun: “It was never about winning big libel damages but all about them silencing him to stop them spouting his untruthful and malicious lies.”
“It has always been more of a personal battle and they are bitterly disappointed they have lost but not totally surprised.”
The friend added: “Any award made would have gone into the Madeleine’s Fund to help find their daughter and would never have been used for Kate and Gerry’s own use.
“And the whole point of the libel action was to try and stop Mr Amaral spreading wicked and false lies which they felt hampered the search for Madeleine.”
It's a blow to the couple who have committed thousands of pounds in the search for Maddie, and who hoped to force the former detective to pay more than £1million in compensation.
If they are ordered to pay Mr Amaral's legal costs, the money may have to come from the Find Madeleine fund - which has dwindled to around £480,000.
The McCanns could also be forced to use money from the fund if a Home Office grant for the Scotland Yard investigation, which runs out in August, is not renewed.
The couple now face the nightmare prospect of being sued for damages by Amaral, who led the initial hunt when Madeleine vanished aged three from their Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the couple said: "What we have been told by our lawyers is obviously extremely disappointing.
"It is eight years since we brought the action and in that time the landscape has changed dramatically, namely there is now a joint Metropolitan Police-Policia Judiciaria investigation which is what we've always wanted.
"The police in both countries continue to work on the basis that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm.
"We will, of course, be discussing the implications of the Supreme Court ruling with our lawyers in due course.”
The ruling also means the former detective will not have to pay the McCanns the €500,000 (£430,000) he was ordered to give them after the first court ruling in 2015.
Another close family pal said on Tuesday: "This news is devastating, not just for Kate and Gerry but for Madeleine wherever she is."
A source added: "It’s not good news.
"We just don’t know what to do but we need to sit down with our lawyer and discuss it. We’ve gone to the pinnacle of the Portuguese legal system and we’ve lost.
"We now have to pay a sizeable amount in costs."
It marks a major milestone in Gerry and Kate McCann’s eight-year fight over a book written by Amaral, who led the initial hunt when then-three-year-old Madeleine vanished from their Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007.
Amaral was ordered to pay Kate and Gerry £430,000 plus interest in damages after losing round one of their libel battle in April 2015 over his hurtful book ‘The Truth of the Lie.’
Appeal judges reversed the initial ruling by a court in Lisbon in April last year, siding with the former police chief and overturning a ban on his book.
The decision sparked a fresh appeal by the McCanns to the country’s highest law court.
The McCanns’ Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte lodged the couple’s new appeal last May after vowing to fight the U-turn by judges over Amaral’s book.
Criticising the ruling in favour of the ex-police chief, which a friend of the McCanns said had left them “seething,” she said: “This decision was an appreciation of the law and not the facts.
“We can appeal to the Supreme Court which we will do as we have instructions from our clients.”
A couple of notes to BRITTANY VONOW, NEAL BAKER and GERARD COUZENS:
- Mr Mitchell no longer is the family spokesman. He was fired, remember?
- The funds are until the end of the Fiscal Year, April and not August.
And interesting to note that the couple has to consult with their lawyers about the way ahead but have already, at least so says the article, already done that about suing anyone who dares publish the book in the UK.
"It is eight years since we brought the action and in that time the landscape has changed dramatically, namely there is now a joint Metropolitan Police-Policia Judiciaria investigation which is what we've always wanted.
"The police in both countries continue to work on the basis that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm.
Quote from the article. So how exactly will GA’s book being published in the UK harm the ‘search’ for M if both police forces are still working on it and have been for a long time during their legal battle which they could have halted at any time? It seems like a cynical ploy to bankrupt everyone who fights them, nothing to do with ‘harming the search’. The book doesn’t have to be published in the UK to make sales anyway. Even if not translated to English I would buy a copy from any country and in any language just to have one.
The threat to sue whoever would dare to publish "the truth of the lie" seems to be an old quotation. “Any award made would have gone into the Madeleine’s Fund to help find their daughter and would never have been used for Kate and Gerry’s own use." Let's laugh ! It's been years since the accounts are reduced to the minimum required by law. The marketing ploy for "Madeleine" was that all royalties would finance the search. Where has the money gone ?
I'm no expert on the Portuguese law, but from what I've been able to understand, the spirit of the law is that the court costs, and only the court costs are shared in accordance with sentence.
When both parties are granted success in some of their claims, the judge determines what share each party must pay.
Logic dictates that when a party wins all, it's up to the other party to pay them.
This would appear to be clear when it's the plaintiffs that lose, as is the present case, because it was theirs the initiative to go into court in the first place.
But, as it happened in this case, at a certain point in time, the defendant, Mr Amaral decided not to accept a deal offered by the McCanns and so from that moment on, he was also a "volunteer user" of the courts.
One thing I think never happens in Portugal is for one side to pay lawyer costs of the other side.
As you say, the sentence will determine the costs and who has to pay.
As to the lawyers, I'm certain each will submit a detailed account of expenses to their clients.
"at a certain point in time, the defendant, Mr Amaral decided not to accept a deal offered by the McCanns and so from that moment on, he was also a "volunteer user" of the courts." Such a deal is a private agreement, it has nothing to do with courts of justice. Once reached that agreement, in civil law courts, the claimant has to renounce and normally the defendant is asked to sign. It implies legal costs.
The MC 3 kids were claimants in the first instance and lost. They made no appeal, which showed pretty well what this trial really was.
Textusa I'm sorry, but I have no patience left to deal with all this claptrap referring to Kate and the singing!
Why give publicity to the McCann team on such utter drivel?
Why waste time and energy on such banal rubbish?
Ah,I know, "All McCann publicity is relevant because it has a purpose", you will say.
However, I'm seriously struggling here to read how the Media is responding to the Lisbon verdict.
Apart from the obvious links, the McCann team are clutching at the last vestiges of a desperately flawed straw.
Anything to continue their hoax. Anything to keep the 'kerching' flowing in to replenish the diminishing coffers and to keep the public unaware of the existence of the PJ Files. Anything to confuse, mislead and provoke sympathy whilst prostituting themselves on the altar of the despairing!
Pardon me for remaining 'Stony Faced'
That there was never ever, any evidence of an abduction or 'Jemmied shutters' and that Madeleine died in the apartment and that they, according to the official police files, were responsible for the occulation of the body.
Give me strength. Surely they've gone down every possible avenue they can venture down now! It'over! Stop taking us for fools ! We are cleverer than that and do not like 'cover ups' which is what this is. A sick Pantomime. A Hoax. A 'Cover Up' A Lie
This case has been over for a very long time.
Meanwhile, Kate is still to sing for 'Missing People' I've not heard her singing voice, but if her singing voice is as bad as her writing skills in her so called 'Bewk',then best get the ear defenders out now!
Shame on the cover ups. Shame on those in power who can ignore their consciences and morals and in so doing deny long awaited justice to an innocent child .
Everybody starts being an innocent child.. so special.. The bewk, as KMC pronounces it, isn't badly written, it's not written. Don't blame the ghostwriter.
Comments are welcomed, but its reserved the right to delete comments deemed as spam, transparent attempts to get traffic without providing any useful commentary, and any contributions which are offensive or inappropriate for civilized discourse.
http://www.cmjornal.pt/portugal/detalhe/mccann-perdem-recurso-no-supremo-contra-goncalo-amaral?ref=Modalidades_BlocoFimPagina
ReplyDeletePais de Maddie perdem recurso contra Gonçalo Amaral
Ex-inspetor da PJ ganha no Supremo e já não vai pagar meio milhão de euros em indemnização.
O casal McCann perdeu o recurso no Supremo Tribunal contra Gonçalo Amaral, ex-inspetor da Polícia Judiciária.
A informação é avançada pela SIC Notícias.
Gerry e Kate recorreram ao Supremo contra o ex-inspetor da PJ. Gonçalo Amaral que escreveu um livro - "Verdade da Mentira" - onde defendia que os pais de Maddie foram os verdadeiros culpados pelo seu desaparecimento em 2007 na Praia da Luz, no Algarve.
O Tribunal da Relação anulou, em abril de 2016, uma sentença que obrigava o ex-inspetor da PJ a pagar uma indemnização ao casal inglês. Os pais de Maddie recorreram para o Supremo: a sentença esta terça-feira conhecida revela que Kate e Gerry perderam de novo para Gonçalo Amaral.
Em Atualização
Our translation of the above CdM article:
DeleteMaddie’s parents lose appeal against Gonçalo Amaral
Ex-PJ inspector wins at the Supreme and no longer will pay half a million euros in indemnity.
The McCann couple lost the appeal in the Supreme Court against Gonçalo Amaral, ex-PJ inspector.
The news is reported by SIC Notícias
Gerry and Kate appealed to the Supreme against the ex-PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral who wrote a book – “The Truth of the Lie” – where he defended that Maddie’s parents were the real guilty ones for her disappearance in 2007 from Praia da Luz, in the Algarve.
The Appeal Court annuled, in April 2016, a sentence which made the ex-PJ inspector to pay an indemnity to the English couple. Maddie’s parents appealed to the Supreme: the sentence known this Tuesday reveals that Kate and Gerry lost again to Gonçalo Amaral.
On update.
JUST THE BEST NEWS so far in this never ending debacle!!!! Lets see how the MSM report it,hopefully ,truthfully.Tex,thank you .Lynn.
ReplyDeleteThe MSM will still try to help the McCann's come out of this smelling like a rose. But don't forget - a rose has to die!
DeleteOh, this is such good news, in a world surrounded by madness and negativity this has made me really happy, and am proud I made a donation to help his legal fund. :):):):) Thanks for updating us and your excellent blog/work. We are the good people.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2750157/maddie-mccanns-parents-lose-court-appeal-to-silence-cop-who-claims-they-covered-up-daughters-death/
ReplyDeleteMADDIE COURT BID QUASHED Maddie McCann’s parents lose court appeal to silence cop who claims they covered up daughter’s death
Goncalo Amaral had worked on the investigation to find Maddie after she disappeared in May 2007
By GERARD COUZENS
31st January 2017, 3:30 pm
MADELEINE McCann’s parents have lost their new court appeal to silence the ex-cop who claims they covered up their daughter’s death, Portuguese media reports.
Portuguese Supreme Court judges met to resolve the couple’s fight against a lower court’s decision last April to reverse their 2015 libel win against Goncalo Amaral.
The hearing took place in private in Lisbon this morning.
And Portuguese newspapers also reported the country’s Supreme Court had ruled against their new bid to try to silence Amaral’s claims.
The couple could now face a huge legal bill, which had been frozen until the outcome of the final appeal.
The decision is a major milestone in Gerry and Kate McCann’s eight-year fight over a book written by Amaral, who led the initial hunt when then-three-year-old Madeleine vanished from their Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007.
Amaral was ordered to pay Kate and Gerry £430,000 plus interest in damages after losing round one of their libel battle in April 2015 over his hurtful book ‘The Truth of the Lie.’
Appeal judges reversed the initial ruling by a court in Lisbon in April last year, siding with the former police chief and overturning a ban on his book.
The decision sparked a fresh appeal by the McCanns to the country’s highest law court.
The McCanns’ Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte lodged the couple’s new appeal last May after vowing to fight the U-turn by judges over Amaral’s book.
Criticising the ruling in favour of the ex-police chief, which a friend of the McCanns said had left them “seething,” she said: “This decision was an appreciation of the law and not the facts.
“We can appeal to the Supreme Court which we will do as we have instructions from our clients.”
The judge who ruled in the McCanns’ favour in April 2015 said Amaral’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression were conditioned by the fact he had been in charge of the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance until shortly before the publication of his book.
She concluded he played on his status as a long-serving police officer to present personal opinions and claims about the high-profile case as fact.
The appeal judges said Amaral’s right to express his opinions overruled any duty of confidentiality he had as an ex-police chief heading the Madeleine McCann investigation once the case files were put into the public domain.
Amaral is understood to have earned £344,00 from his book before it was banned and a subsequent TV documentary.
He claimed in the book Madeleine had died in their holiday flat and they had faked her abduction to cover up the tragedy.
The book was released just three days after Gerry and Kate were told their status as formal suspects had been lifted on July 21 2008.
The McCanns told the Lisbon court staging the Amaral libel trial in the summer of 2014 they were left “devastated and crushed” by his allegations.
Oh - this is just excellent news !!!! So happy for Goncalo Amaral.
ReplyDeleteWonderful!!!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4176546/Madeleine-McCann-s-parents-lose-appeal.html
ReplyDeleteSame reporter as Sun article, but includes other details:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4176546/Madeleine-McCann-s-parents-lose-appeal.html
BREAKING NEWS: Madeleine McCann's parents 'lose their appeal against failed libel claim over Portuguese detective's book claiming they covered up their daughter's death'
Portuguese Supreme Court has ruled the McCanns cannot sue Goncalo Amaral
The former detective who investigated the case published a book in 2008
He alleged parents of Madeleine McCann were involved in her disappearance
But today a court ruled the claims are protected by freedom of expression laws
By Gerard Couzens for MailOnline
Published: 16:02 GMT, 31 January 2017 | Updated: 16:20 GMT, 31 January 2017
The parents of Madeleine McCann have lost their appeal to Portugal's highest court over ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral's hurtful book claiming they covered up their daughter's death.
Portuguese Supreme Court judges met this morning in Lisbon to resolve the couple's fight against a lower court's decision last April to reverse their 2015 libel win against the former detective.
The hearing took place in private and an official public decision is not set to be sent to lawyers acting for the litigants until later in the week.
But a source close to the long-running case said this afternoon the decision had gone against the McCanns and they would now face a massive legal bill.
And Portuguese newspapers also reported the country's Supreme Court had ruled against their new bid to try to silence Amaral's claims.
The decision would be a major milestone in Gerry and Kate McCann's eight-year fight over a book written by Amaral, who led the initial hunt when then-three-year-old Madeleine vanished from their Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007.
Kate and Gerry axed PR expert Clarence Mitchell after nine years last year as they faced uncertainty over the future of the £12 million British police investigation - codenamed Operation Grange - into the disappearance of their daughter.
Amaral was ordered to pay Kate and Gerry 500,000 euros plus interest in damages after losing round one of their libel battle in April 2015 over his hurtful book 'The Truth of the Lie.'
Appeal judges reversed the initial ruling by a court in Lisbon in April last year, siding with the former police chief and overturning a ban on his book.
The decision sparked a fresh appeal by the McCanns to the country's highest law court, which was lodged last May but heard today.
The McCanns' Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte was 'out of her office' and not immediately available to comment.
Speaking ahead of today's hearing, a source close to the case said: 'The Supreme Court judges can either confirm the first court's decision that ruled in the McCanns' favour or the Lisbon appeal court judgement that went in Goncalo Amaral's favour.
'The ruling itself will take at least four or five days to come out officially but it's possible there'll be some unofficial guidance by the end of the day on what the ruling is.'
'My feeling is that Amaral cannot make another appeal if this goes against him as there is only the European courts and that's too expensive and if it's a decision based on the law and not the facts it's difficult to go to the European court.
'The same would probably be true if the McCanns lost the case.'
(cont)
(Cont)
ReplyDeleteCriticising the ruling in favour of the ex-police chief last year, which a friend of the McCanns said had left them 'seething,' Isabel Duarte said: 'This decision was an appreciation of the law and not the facts.
'We can appeal to the Supreme Court which we will do as we have instructions from our clients.'
The judge who ruled in the McCanns' favour in April 2015 said Amaral's constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression were conditioned by the fact he had been in charge of the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance until shortly before the publication of his book.
She concluded he played on his status as a long-serving police officer to present personal opinions and claims about the high-profile case as fact.
The appeal judges said Amaral's right to express his opinions overruled any duty of confidentiality he had as an ex-police chief heading the Madeleine McCann investigation once the case files, made available on the Internet by Portuguese authorities, were put into the public domain.
Amaral is understood to have earned 400,000 euros (£344,000) from his book before it was banned and a subsequent TV documentary.
He claimed in the book Madeleine had died in their holiday flat and they had faked her abduction to cover up the tragedy.
The book was released just three days after Gerry and Kate were told their status as arguidos or formal suspects had been lifted on July 21, 2008.
The McCanns told the Lisbon court staging the Amaral libel trial in the summer of 2014 they were left 'devastated and crushed' by his allegations.
Mrs McCann, 48, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said Madeleine's twin siblings Sean and Amelie, now 12, knew about Amaral's allegations.
She told the court in July 2014 after applying to make a statement: 'I believe that's what's in Mr Amaral's book and the documentary is very distressing to adults. To a child it could be very damaging.'
Asked by the judge how she felt after reading the book, she said: 'I was devastated. It made me feel quite desperate because of the injustice I felt towards my daughter and our family as a whole.
'It was very painful to read and I felt sad for Madeleine. I also felt anxious and fearful because of the damage I felt it was doing in Portugal.'
She went on to accuse Amaral of 'consistently smearing' her and Gerry and claimed they feared the book may have stopped people coming forward with information about their daughter's whereabouts.
The ex-police chief, removed as head of the investigation into Madeleine's May 3 2007 disappearance after criticising British detectives, has always denied defamation and insisted what he wrote was based on case files which had already been made public.
Amaral's lawyer Miguel Cruz Rodrigues claimed in court the McCanns had taken legal action against his client 'to rid themselves of guilt for their negligent conduct' in leaving Madeleine and her siblings alone while they ate tapas with friends nearby.
He also claimed their lack of cooperation with the Portuguese police authorities had led to the archiving of the investigation in 2008.
Portuguese prosecutors reopened their probe into Madeleine McCann's disappearance in May 2014, and are now working in close coordination with Scotland Yard's scaled-down Operation Grange probe into the youngster's fate.
Last year Kate and Gerry revealed they had told their twins 'everything' about Madeleine's disappearance and said the youngsters still remember her and talk about her often.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-lose-appeal-goncalo-amarel-detective-involved-disappearance-a7555526.html
ReplyDeletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-lose-appeal-goncalo-amarel-detective-involved-disappearance-a7555526.html
DeleteMadeleine McCann parents lose appeal against author who alledged they were involved in her disappearance
Former Portuguese detective blames Kate and Gerry McCann for their daughter's disappearance in his 2008 book
Samuel Osborne
@SamuelOsborne93
24 minutes ago
Madeleine McCann's parents have lost an appeal against the author of a book who alleged they were involved in the toddler's disappearance.
Portugal's Supreme Court ruled Kate and Gerry McCann can't sue the former Portuguese detective who published the book for libel.
In 2015, a Lisbon court ordered Goncalo Amaral to pay Kate and Gerry McCann 500,000 euros (£429,000) in compensation for the allegations made in his book, Maddie: The Truth of the Lie.
The book was published in 2008, three days after Portuguese authorities formally closed their inquiry and cleared the McCanns of any wrongdoing.
Mr Amaral argued in his defence that the claims in his book stemmed from the police investigation.
He also noted Portuguese media had already reported the possibility the parents may have played a role in Madeleine's disappearance.
More than £50,000 was raised in support for the detective, donated via a Go Fund Me page, after he was ordered to pay damages.
The McCanns had sought 1.2 million euros (£1 million).
However, an appeals court overturned the conviction last year before reaching Portugal's top court.
Madeleine disappeared from a holiday home in Portugal's Algarve region in May 2007, days before her fourth birthday.
British police are still investigating her disappearance.
Thanks for sharing this fantastic piece of news. Happiness. Alegria.
ReplyDeleteWonderful news. One feels like crying, or lying down in a darkened room! Great news...
ReplyDeleteOh, don't worry - I couldn't help my tears from falling. Don't be ashamed. People have invested many years of emotion into this damned case. Just rejoice for now, that one huge crack has appeared in the evil defences - many more will come!!!
Deletehttp://news.sky.com/story/madeleine-mccann-police-officer-will-not-have-to-pay-compensation-over-book-10750294
ReplyDeleteWonderful news.
ReplyDeleteThank you for informing us Textusa, first to the post as always.
May Snr Amaral be able to take up the pieces of his shattered life and look forward to the future from now onwards.
Justice has prevailed.
Very, very happy for him today.
Hopefully the start....Madeleine next perhaps?
DeleteAn inspiring end to January
Bampots
Notícias ao Minuto - McCann perdem recurso contra Gonçalo Amaral. Livro regressará às bancas
ReplyDelete“Entretanto, fonte do STJ revelou à agência Lusa que os juízes conselheiros do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça entenderam que, "numa situação de conflito entre o direito à honra e o direito à liberdade de expressão, o critério da ponderação de interesses, actuando segundo o princípio da proporcionalidade e a especificidade do caso, aponta no sentido de ser a liberdade de expressão do réu (Gonçalo Amaral) credora de maior proteção".
A decisão foi tomada por Roque Nogueira (relator), Alexandre Reis e Pedro Lima Gonçalves, da 1.ª Vara Cível do STJ.”
https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/
McCann perdem recurso contra Gonçalo Amaral. Livro regressará às bancas
Os pais de Madeleine McCann perderam o recurso interposto no Supremo Tribunal de Justiça contra contra o ex-inspetor da Polícia Judiciária Gonçalo Amaral, adianta a SIC Notícias.
O casal McCann viu indeferido o recurso apresentado no Supremo Tribunal de Justiça contra Gonçalo Amaral. O ex-inspetor da Polícia Judiciária alegou, no seu livro ‘Verdade da Mentira’, que os pais de Madeleine McCann foram os responsáveis pelo desaparecimento da menina, em 2007, na praia da Luz, no Algarve.
Em abril de 2016, o Tribunal da Relação anulou a sentença que obrigava Gonçalo Amaral a pagar uma indemnização ao casal. A decisão havia sido tomada pela primeira instância, mas a Relação entendeu que o ex-inspetor era livre de exprimir a sua opinião e o livro poderia voltar às bancas.
Kate e Gerry McCann não se conformaram e, logo na altura, adiantaram que iriam recorrer da decisão para o Supremo Tribunal de Justiça. O recurso foi apresentado pela advogada no final de maio do ano passado.
A decisão do Supremo foi agora conhecida. Segundo a SIC Notícias, o recurso foi indeferido e o casal McCann perdeu contra Gonçalo Amaral, não tendo agora mais oportunidades para reverter a decisão. Uma vez ilibado, o livro ‘Verdade da Mentira’ do ex-inspetor poderá voltar às bancas.
Entretanto, fonte do STJ revelou à agência Lusa que os juízes conselheiros do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça entenderam que, "numa situação de conflito entre o direito à honra e o direito à liberdade de expressão, o critério da ponderação de interesses, actuando segundo o princípio da proporcionalidade e a especificidade do caso, aponta no sentido de ser a liberdade de expressão do réu (Gonçalo Amaral) credora de maior proteção".
A decisão foi tomada por Roque Nogueira (relator), Alexandre Reis e Pedro Lima Gonçalves, da 1.ª Vara Cível do STJ.
As far as we know, SIC Notícias (SIC News) was the first media outlet to put out this news at 15:24 (just 9 minutes after we first published at 15:15 in a FB post (https://www.facebook.com/bronte.textusa/posts/946868778783107)), so we thought best to bring the article over to the blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/pais/2017-01-31-McCann-perdem-recurso-no-Supremo-contra-Goncalo-Amaral
McCann perdem recurso no Supremo contra Gonçalo Amaral
31.01.2017 15h24
João Tiago
Jornalista
Última atualização às 16:25
O antigo inspector da PJ Gonçalo Amaral não vai mesmo pagar qualquer indemnização ao casal McCann, por defender a tese de que os pais estiveram envolvidos no desaparecimento da filha, Maddie. A SIC apurou que o Supremo Tribunal de Justiça negou esta tarde a revisão da decisão do Tribunal da Relação.
Há menos de um ano, a Relação tinha anulado a sentença da instância anterior que condenava o antigo inspetor da PJ ao pagamento de 500 mil euros ao casal.
Os juízes conselheiros recusaram-se a rever essa decisão, entendendo que “numa situação de conflito entre o direito à honra [do casal McCann] e o direito à liberdade de expressão”, é “a liberdade de expressão do réu [Gonçalo Amaral] credora de maior proteção”, lê-se no acórdão emitido esta tarde.
O problema foi provocado pela publicação de um livro em que Gonçalo Amaral expõe os factos que levaram à suspeita dos pais no desaparecimento. O coletivo, que teve como relator o juiz conselheiro Roque Nogueira, concluiu que o “exercício de liberdade de expressão” do antigo coordenador da investigação ao desaparecimento da menina inglesa da Praia da Luz não foi abusivo: “está dentro dos limites admissíveis numa sociedade democrática e aberta, o que exclui a ilicitude de uma eventual lesão da honra [dos McCann]”.
Fica assim confirmado o acórdão do Tribunal da Relação de Lisboa proferido a 19 de Abril de 2015. Na altura, os juízes entenderam que não se pode negar a Gonçalo Amaral o direito de opinião e de expressão de pensamento.
O antigo coordenador do Departamento de Investigação Criminal de Portimão da Polícia Judiciária, à data do desaparecimento de Madeleine McCann – 3 de maio de 2007 – não só fica isento do pagamento de indemnização ao casal, como pode recolocar à venda o livro “A Verdade da Mentira”.
Our translation of the above article:
Delete“McCann lose appeal in the Supreme against Gonçalo Amaral
The former PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral is really not going to pay any indeminity to the McCann couple, for defending the thesis that the parents were involved in the disappearance of the daughter, Maddie. SIC has determined that the Supreme Justice Court has denied this afternoon the revision of the Appeal Court decision.
Há menos de um ano, a Relação tinha anulado a sentença da instância anterior que condenava o antigo inspetor da PJ ao pagamento de 500 mil euros ao casal.
Less than a year ago, the Appeal had nullified the sentence from the previous instance that condemned the former PJ inspector to the payment of 500 thousand euros to the couple.
The counsellor judges refused to review that decision, in the understanding that “in a situation of conflict between the right to the honour [of the McCann couple] and the right of freedom of expression”, it is “the freedom of expression of the defendant [Gonçalo Amaral] that is to be credited greater protection”, can be read in the sentence issued this afternoon.
The problem was caused by the publication of a book in which Gonçalo Amaral exposes the facts that led to the suspicion of the parents in the disappearance. The collective, that had has narrator the counsellor judge Roque Nogueira, concluded that the “exercise of the freedom of expression” of the former coordinator of the investigation into the disappearance of the English girl from Praia da Luz, was not abusive: “it is within the admissible limits in an open and democratic society, which excludes the illicitness in an eventual lesion to the honour [of the McCann]”
It is then confirmed the sentence of the Lisbon Appeal Court, rendered on April 19, 2015 (sic). At the time, the judges had the understanding that Gonçalo Amaral could not be denied the right of opinion and expression of thought.
The former coordinator of the Criminal Investigation Department of PJ of Portimão, at the time of the disappearance of pf Madeleine McCann – May 3 2007 – is not only exempt of indemnity payment to the couple, as he can place again for sale the book “The Truth of the Lie”.”
https://www.facebook.com/Official.Find.Madeleine.Campaign/posts/10154990837539931
ReplyDeleteOfficial Find Madeleine Campaign
1 hr ·
Statement from Gerry and Kate McCann Regarding Portuguese Supreme Court Ruling
What we have been told by our lawyers is obviously extremely disappointing.
It is eight years since we brought the action and in that time the landscape has dramatically changed, namely there is now a joint Metropolitan Police-Policia Judiciaria investigation which is what we've always wanted.
The police in both countries continue to work on the basis that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm.
We will, of course, be discussing the implications of the Supreme Court ruling with our lawyers in due course.
Gerry and Kate
What implications??
DeleteHow do you sleep at night??????Time to go for a JOG !!!! UP THE HILL ,and back again!!!!
DeleteDream on G & K
Delete..... and in that time the landscape has dramatically changed, namely MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE READ THE PJ FILES AND ARE NO LONGER FOOLED BY YOUR LIES.
Deletehttp://portugalresident.com/node/47952
ReplyDeleteECHR?
If they tried to
It probably would not be accepted
It could take years
It wouldn't stop the consequences of current court decision
It would cost a lot of money
And it would expose them to widespread publicity, so if they lost, a lot to lose.
Bringing it over to the blog:
DeletePosted by portugalpress on January 31, 2017
Supreme court rejects Mccanns’ appeal: Amaral vindicated for second time
In a case of “second time proved right” former PJ coordinator Gonçalo Amaral has seen a national court take his side in the long-running civil action taken out by the parents of Madeleine McCann.
The Supreme Court has today convened to consider the case, and is reported by SIC television news as having “dismissed it”.
This means that Supreme Court judges do not consider there are grounds to appeal against the decision given in April last year by Lisbon’s Appellate Court, and which ruled that Amaral was well within his rights of freedom of expression when he wrote the book: “Madeleine: The Truth of the Lie”.
SIC’s report claims the McCanns have now “lost the case against Gonçalo Amaral” as “there are now no further opportunities to reverse the decision” of the Appellate Court.
Whether this is in fact the truth, remains to be seen. The McCanns lawyer Isabel Duarte has intimated to British press that the couple could take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if they lost in Portugal.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
Anonymous 31 Jan 2017, 22:46:00,
DeleteWe think that the principal behind the ECHR is... human rights!
These can only be transgressed by the states, entities that can legislate and apply that legislation on humans.
When a human disrespects, in whatever degree or violence, another human human's rights that is a crime and has to be solved within the sovereign judicial system of that country.
That said, the claim can only be against Portugal (its courts) and not against oen of its citizen, in the case, Mr Amaral.
We would say that unless he decides otherwise, this is the end of the road for him on the case of his book.
Refers to States:
Deletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Human_Rights
https://mobile.twitter.com/aacg/status/826556780150939652
ReplyDeleteThis will be expensive outcome, I'm happy to say
Jerry Lawton @JerryLawton
DeleteGerry and Kate #McCann lose Portugal Supreme Court libel ruling over ex-cop Goncalo Amaral's book & must pay his substantial legal costs
AnneGuedes
AnneGuedes – @aacg
@JerryLawton @AnnaEsse Not only his legal costs ! Interest for the 8 yrs he was deprived of his assets ! And prohibited to sell his book !
14:24 - 31 jan 2017
This is not correct.
As we have repeatedly said, what is due to the McCanns is the legal costs of the process (from its beginning until now) and THEIR legal costs.
Mr Amaral will have to pay his legal fees, as in he has to pay his lawyers out of his own pocket.
His assets were frozen by the state and not by the McCanns. They proposed that they be frozen but the decision was that of the judicial system, so all interests involved is something to be solved between Mr Amaral and the Republic of Portugal.
To be very clear, Mr Amaral will NOT receive a single cent, directly or indirectly from the McCanns.
The money from the McCanns has only only 2 destinations in Portugal: the Portuguese judicial system and their lawyers (Rogério Alves and Isabel Duarte and others)
As we think the lawyers involved are not cheap and as the process went all the way to the Supreme Justice Court, we would agree with you that it is going to be an expensive outcome for the McCanns.
GA's assets were frozen with the required benediction of the tribunal, but at the request of the MCs who obviously had to obtain the justice order, the argument being that it doesn't make sense to ask more than a million to a guy who through some tricks would suddenly own only a penny. This is not the tribunal's job to make sure defendants condemned to pay X to the plaintifs will be able or wanting to do it but it is its job to appreciate the financial situation of the defendant and prevent legal expenses money to run away. The tribunal has enough on its shoulders making sure that the protagonists will pay their respective legal fees. Any taxpayer is entitled to exoect this.
DeleteWould you pay a lawyer who sent her assistant (in fact a guy in charge of protecting her from unprofessional photographers) to declaim the final allegations? A guy who read them in such a monotonous way that everybody fell asleep in the court room ?
DeleteYou might be interested in reading this part of the CPC, Textusa.. Art. 533 about "as custas de parte".
Deletehttp://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?artigo_id=1959A0533&nid=1959&tabela=leis&pagina=1&ficha=1&so_miolo=&nversao=#artigo
AnneGueddes,
DeleteThank you for the heads-up.
I have spoken from knowledge of a case I was aware of personally, in a lawsuit in which a close friend and had to pay court costs and in the detailing, which I read, there was no payment due to the other side’s lawyer. That was before 2013.
I know that one cannot allege ignorance of the law so I’ll plead guilty to the felony of not knowing about this latest update, and I thank you for enlightening me.
However I’ll not “concede” defeat, not out of stubbornness but because there is the question that, as the law is of 2013, whether it applies to proceedings that have started in 2009.
Best we wait, as suggested by Mercedes, for the court’s decision on what has to be paid by the McCanns.
But the point we wanted to make, which is really what matters, independent of you being right and me wrong the McCanns do not pay a single cent to Mr Amaral, as, IF the court determines they have to pay his lawyers, it will be under ‘court expenses’.
That would only mean that Mr Amaral wouldn’t lose the money he has spent on lawyers and not getting any from the couple.
We think that this should be closely followed up by the PJGA, for the sake of transparency, as it involves donations from people to the GoFund that was set-up.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccanns-parents-set-appeal-9731071
ReplyDeleteMadeleine McCann's parents set to appeal libel case that could 'leave them penniless'
Ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral is set to sue Kate and Gerry McCann for hundreds of thousands of pounds after winning the long-running legal battle
ByMartin FrickerGerard Couzens
20:01, 31 JAN 2017
Updated20:33, 31 JAN 2017
Kate and Gerry McCann will launch an appeal after losing a libel court case appeal against the cop who led the bungled hunt for their daughter.
Ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral is set to sue the couple for hundreds of thousands of pounds after winning the long-running legal battle.
The McCanns originally sued him after he penned a book claiming they were responsible for Madeleine’s “death”.
Amaral, 57, was ordered to pay them £360,000 in damages in 2015 for the shocking claims he made in ‘The Truth of the Lie’.
Kate and Gerry began their legal battle with Amaral in 2009 after he claimed in the book they faked her abduction after she “died” in their Praia da Luz holiday apartment in May 2007.
But he successfully overturned the ruling last April - forcing Kate and Gerry to lodge an appeal in Portugal’s Supreme Court.
Senior judges sided with the ex-cop in a behind-closed-doors hearing in Lisbon.
It paves the way for Amaral to sue the couple, claiming the legal battle cost him money and harmed his reputation.
A source close to Kate and Gerry accused him of waging a “relentless battle” against them.
The friend said: “They only took civil action against Mr Amaral in the first place to stop him spouting his malicious lies.
“Now it looks like they will be repeated again and he’s talking about suing them. It’s almost laughable.
“It’s exasperating for them and they don’t need this on top of everything else. Mr Amaral has profited from their pain.
“It was never about them winning damages which will now be put on hold while they appeal. This could continue for years.”
Crucially Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leics, will now also have to pay his legal fees - believed to be a six-figure sum.
On top of their own lawyers bills, it could wipe out their ‘Madeleine’s Fund’ and leave them broke.
The limited company, set up just 12 days after Madeleine disappeared, has around £700,000 in the coffers.
According to accounts filed last month, nearly £500,000 of that was invested last year in an unknown venture.
More than £4.2m has been donated to the fund in the nearly ten years since Madeleine vanished.
Sources close to the McCanns said they had no idea about the Supreme Court defeat until it was reported in the Portuguese media.
Kate and Gerry, both 48, may still decide to take the case to the European courts in a last-ditch bid to win their appeal.
(cont)
(cont)
ReplyDeleteBut legal experts say they must prove they have a valid reason for appeal before any hearing would even be considered.
The hearing in Lisbon took place in private and an official public decision is not due to be sent to lawyer until later this week.
But sources close to the case insisted the ruling had gone against the McCanns, who did not publicly comment.
The judges decided Amaral’s “right to freedom of expression” was worthy of greater protection than the “right to honour” of the McCanns.
And they ruled his claims were “within admissible limits in a democratic and open society”.
After Amaral’s original appeal victory last year, his lawyer Miguel Cruz Rodrigues announced plans to sue the couple.
He said: “We are going to advance with a compensation claim. My client has suffered years of prejudice and losses.”
Mr Rodrigues added Amaral had suffered “years of financial losses in which his good name has been called into question.”
He may sue under Article 483 of Portugal’s Civil Code - which does not cap the amount of damages that can be awarded.
Amaral’s book, a best-seller in Portugal, was banned from sale in the UK but the injunction was later lifted.
Amaral is understood to have earned 400,000 Euros (£344,000) from his book - before it was banned - and a subsequent TV documentary.
Ex-GP Kate described it in court as “devastating and distressing” during the libel battle with Amaral.
He was thrown off the Madeleine investigation after publicly criticising British police involved in the long-running case.
He denied defamation and claimed everything in the book was based on police and court files on the case, which have been made public.
Madeleine vanished from her parents’ holiday apartment on the Algarve as they dined with friend at a poolside tapas restaurant.
The youngster’s twin siblings Amelie and Sean, who celebrate their 12th birthday today, were sleeping in the same room.
Despite a massive police investigation in Portugal and a four-year probe by British cops, Madeleine has never been found.
Her parents were dismayed last year when the Scotland Yard review into her disappearance was scaled back.
But it was reported in September last year that the case had received a £100,000 boost from the government to keep it open until April.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: “The resources required will be reviewed again at this point.”
Detectives are believed to be working on a final theory that Madeleine was kidnapped by a European trafficking gang.
"The judges decided Amaral’s “right to freedom of expression” was worthy of greater protection than the “right to honour” of the McCanns."
DeleteStating it like this would be against the principle of the law, those personal rights having equal weight mutatis mutandis. They said that GA's right to express an opinion didn't affect the MC's right to good name. Slightly different, at least in expression. And they allueded to the MC shouting abduction from the roof tops... The problem with the MC (not only with them..) is that they want the butter and the money to buy it.
Interesting article to be published at the end of the day they LOST their legal battle to Mr Amaral. Note the performance was 48 hours ago, on Sunday:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/2753198/kate-mccanns-missing-people-choir-brings-britains-got-talent-judges-to-tears-with-heartbreaking-secret-audition/
MADDIE MUM'S BID TO WIN BGT
Kate McCann’s Missing People Choir brings Britain’s Got Talent judges to tears with heartbreaking secret audition
Bosses have tipped choir as potential winner of the show after performing tear jerking song I Miss You
Exclusive
BY LUCY JONES
31st January 2017, 10:32 pm
KATE McCann is part of a heartbreaking bid to win Britain’s Got Talent by families searching for lost loved ones.
The Missing People Choir, which includes chef Claudia Lawrence’s dad Peter, reduced onlookers to tears during secret auditions.
The Missing People Choir is made up of families in search for lost loved ones
Kate McCann is a choir ambassador and may become more heavily involved
Madeleine’s mum Kate, 48, is choir ambassador and may get more heavily involved if they progress to the live shows, sources say.
They performed the tear-jerking song I Miss You on stage on Sunday — and were immediately tipped as possible BGT winners.
It includes the lyrics: “I never thought I’d be without you.
“I always thought you’d be here safe with me.
“Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up to find you.”
An audience member in London said: “Images of some of the missing people they were linked to also flashed up on the screen which had everyone in tears.
“Judges Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon were particularly moved.
“Amanda said they were an inspiration.
“The choir said they had only performed together about seven times.
“You could tell in their voices how much it means to them all.”
Madeleine McCann disappeared on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007
The performance is expected to be shown on ITV in May, marking exactly ten years since Madeleine went missing from Praia Da Luz in Portugal.
Peter’s involvement comes after cops announced a probe into Claudia’s suspected murder will be scaled back this month.
The retired solicitor, 75, said he was “hugely disappointed and depressed”.
But he vowed never to give up looking for Claudia, who vanished on her way to work at the University of York in 2009.
Dad Peter Boxell wrote I Miss You about his son Lee who vanished in Sutton, South London, in 1988.
(cont)
(cont)
ReplyDeleteA BGT source said: “Their story is unbelievably moving so it’s certain to capture the hearts of the nation.
It’s ten years since Maddie went missing so if they got through to the live shows it’s possible Kate will want to be involved.”
BGT boss Simon Cowell, 57, has previously urged fans to back the choir’s charity, Missing People.
Madeleine McCann
Maddie vanished while on a family holiday with mum and dad Kate and Gerry in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.
She was three.
Her whereabouts remain unknown despite a huge search.
Claudia Lawrence
Chef Claudia, 35, was reported missing on March 19, 2009, after failing to turn up for work in York.
Dad Peter has made appeals for information.
Police, who ¬suspect murder, have found no body.
Lee Boxell
Cops believe Lee, 15, was killed after disappearing en route to watch Charlton play football in 1988 but have never charged anyone.
Luke Durbin
Luke became one of UK’s highest-profile missing people when he vanished, aged 19, after a night out with pals in Ipswich in May, 2006.
Sandra Hall
The body of Sandra, 56, was found after a four-week hunt in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, in 2013.
Police said the death was not suspicious.
Lucia Hawkins
Lucia went missing in 2009 in Perugia, Italy.
She was aged 42.
Sister Violeta said the choir helped her “deal with my sense of loss”.
Charles Horvath
Charles was 21, when he vanished hitchhiking in Canada, in 1989.
Mum Denise has visited British Columbia regularly to look for him.
Quentin Godwin
Just 18 when he vanished on way to work in West Auckland, New Zealand, in 1992.
An inquest in 2014 concluded Quentin was dead.
Alice Gross
Anorexic Alice, 14 was found dead under logs in the River Brent, West London, after a five-week search.
She was murdered in a sexually-motivated attack by Latvian Arnis Zalkalns, 41, who killed himself later.
I'm sorry, call me heartless, but pass me the sick-bucket. When will these 'people' ever stop? What has happened the UK where every sentiment is turned into commercial pap?
DeleteIs the BGT stint the best the one side could come up with while the £500,000 invested last year in an unknown venture, the other side making its move?
ReplyDeleteoh goody one million pound prize money will pay for the McCann legal fees I am sure kate will use her charms to convince the rest to let her have the prize money in her search for the only missing person that seems to matter
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/loosewomen/photos/a.166231134878.118424.78781834878/10155459520974879
ReplyDeleteLoose Women
Like This Page · 1 hr ·
CAN WE EVER GIVE UP HOPE OF FINDING MADELEINE MCCANN?
Kate and Gerry McCann have lost their appeal to Portugal’s highest court over ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral’s book which claimed they covered up their daughter Madeleine’s death.
Will the British public ever give up hope of find out what happened to Madeleine when she was kidnapped in 2007? And if that was YOUR child, would you ever lose hope?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4178558/Kate-McCann-hopes-win-Britain-s-Got-Talent.html
ReplyDeleteMadeleine McCann's mother Kate and her choir made up of families of missing people hope to win Britain's Got Talent after reducing judges to tears with a heartbreaking performance in secret auditions
Madeleine McCann's mother, Kate, is involved with the Missing People's Choir
The choir includes Peter Lawrence, whose daughter Claudia vanished in 2009
Choir reduced onlookers to tears during the BGT auditions with song I Miss You
Judges Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon said to have been particularly moved
By Sam Tonkin For Mailonline
Published: 01:47 GMT, 1 February 2017 | Updated: 12:54 GMT, 1 February 2017
Kate McCann is the face of a choir that brought Britain's Got Talent judges to tears as families searching for lost loved ones took part in a heartbreaking secret audition.
Among them was the sister of missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, who disappeared 22 years ago today, the father of chef Claudia Lawrence, and the family and friends of murdered schoolgirl Alice Gross, 14.
The Missing Peoples's Choir launched an emotional bid to win the ITV talent show with auditions that left Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden particularly moved, onlookers said.
Madeleine McCann's mother Kate, 48, is an ambassador for the group, which is expected to appear on the talent show in May. It will mark ten years since her daughter's disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia Da Luz, Portugal.
Although she has not been singing in the choir during the auditions, Mrs McCann may become more involved if they progress to the televised stages.
The choir reduced onlookers to tears during the BGT auditions with their tear-jerking song I Miss You, written by Peter Boxell, whose son Lee went missing from Sutton, south London, in 1988.
The song includes the lyrics: ‘I never thought I’d be without you. I always thought you’d be here safe with me.
'Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up to find you.'
A BGT source told The Sun said: 'Their story is unbelievably moving so it’s certain to capture the hearts of the nation.
'It’s ten years since Maddie went missing so if they got through to the live shows it’s possible Kate will want to be involved.'
Among those in the choir are Ros Hodgkiss and Nina Gross, the mother and sister of Alice Gross, 14, who was murdered by convicted killer Arnis Zalkalns.
Denise Horvath Allan, the mother of missing Charles Horvath Allan, is also part of the group, which is led by Missing People choir director Jim Hawkins.
Peter Lawrence's involvement comes after police announced in January that the investigation efforts into his daughter’s suspected murder would be scaled back.
Retired solicitor Peter, 75, expressed his disappointment but vowed never to give up searching for Claudia.
Britain’s Got Talent boss Simon Cowell has previously given the Missing People campaign his support, along with celebrities including Stephen Fry.
The choir also includes the sister of Lucia Hawkins, who went missing in 2009 in Perugia, Italy, at the age of 42.
Last November Kate McCann told how every day brings fresh hope that her missing daughter Madeleine will be found.
The former GP revealed her continued heartache during an impassioned speech as she joined forces with the mother of murdered Alice Gross to launch a new charity.
The appeal, Find Every Child, aims to raise money so the charity Missing People can reach out to the thousands of youngsters who disappear each year.
Speaking at the launch event in London, Ms McCann said: 'We go to bed every night with the agonising feeling that just maybe tomorrow we will find something to lead us back to Madeleine. To let us know what happened. To give us hope.'
Mrs McCann shared the stage at the Corinthia Hotel with Ros Hodgkiss, whose 14-year-old daughter Alice was found dead in September 2014 after she went missing for five weeks.
(cont)
(cont)
ReplyDeleteTogether, the mothers - united it grief over the loss of their daughters - highlighted the plight of 140,000 youngsters who go missing in Britain each year.
Mrs McCann then made an impromptu speech in which she urged the public to give their support.
'When my little girl first disappeared, on that horrendous night that changed our lives forever, I could never have imagined that nearly 10 years later we would still be in the same position.
'That I would be stood here in front of you tonight talking about the issue and how important it is that we look for each and every missing child.
'Giving hope is what Missing People do day in and day out. Please help this wonderful charity in their ambitious goal to Find Every Child.'
Madeleine, three, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz nearly 10 years ago in May 2007.
Mrs McCann and her heart doctor husband Gerry, both 48, from Rothley, Leicestershire, believe their daughter – who would now be aged 13 – could still be alive.
Unpublished Anonymous at 1 Feb 2017, 14:36:00,
DeleteWe don't want to publicly malign the name of that particular celebrity by linking him with more dubious people without evidence.
We share your heartfelt sympathies with those who have lost someone special to them.
So it's Kate McCann's choir although she isn't in it. As usual she is trying to align herself with people who are genuinely grieving, like Alice Gross's mother and sister. However, should the choir get through to the televised rounds she may deign to join in the singing, without having attended any rehearsals. Words fail me.
DeletePoor mum, she put herself, or her husband put both of them, in a paradoxical situation where genuine grief is prohibited, certainty of loss being unmissable.
DeleteHence the abuse of all kinds of proxies.
Très heureuse pour Mr AMARAL, the hero and his family. Really.
ReplyDeleteBRITAIN's GOT TALENT :"Kate McCann is a choir ambassador", yes, another "good marketing ploy", n'est-ce-pas, Gerry !!!!
Trop c'est trop ! Please, pass me the sick-bucket too, anonymus 1 FEB. Yes Drs McCann, there is evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm. Next step : "Truth...not only convicts the T9 it also involves many others in the obstruction of justice and body concealment... ".
Very happy for G. Amaral, the hero, and his family.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4180046/Kate-Gerry-McCann-fury-libel-battle-defeat.html
ReplyDelete'It's not about money... this is PERSONAL': Kate and Gerry McCann's fury at losing battle over 'false smears' of Portuguese detective who accused them of covering up Maddie's death
Kate and Gerry McCann have lost their bitter libel fight with Goncalo Amaral
Portuguese detective claimed in a book Maddie died and couple covered it up
Maddie's anguished parents told a friend that they are furious at the decision
Couple could now face financial ruin over the decision by the Portuguese court
But pair told a friend case had become personal and was never about the money
Said they brought action to stop Portuguese detective 'spouting false smears'
They said his claims that they were involved hampered the search for Madeleine
By Tracey Kandohla And Gerard Couzens For Mailonline
Published: 13:38 GMT, 1 February 2017 | Updated: 13:38 GMT, 1 February 2017
The anguished parents of Madeleine McCann today told of their fury at failing to silence a Portuguese police chief from 'spouting false smears' over their daughter's disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann said their eight-year libel battle with detective Goncalo Amaral, who claims Maddie died and they covered it up, had become deeply personal - and was not about money.
The 'devastated' couple could face financial ruin after losing their fight with Amaral, on the eve of their twins Sean and Amilie's 12th birthday.
But a close friend today insisted their legal fight wasn't about compensation, but to gag their 'tormentor-in-chief' whose theories they felt hampered the search to find her.
'It was never about winning big libel damages,' said the friend. 'It's always been more of a personal battle. They are bitterly disappointed they have lost but not totally surprised.
'It was all about them silencing him to stop him spouting untruths. The whole point of the libel action was to try and stop Mr Amaral spreading false accusations, which they felt hampered the search for Madeleine.
The friend went on: 'Any award would have gone into the Madeleine's Fund to help find their daughter and would never have been used for Kate and Gerry's own use.
'They are considering whether to appeal the decision and need to take advice from their Portuguese lawyer. But I think they just want to draw a line under it.'
The friend said the couple are now considering whether to appeal and will seek advice from their legal team in Portugal before deciding on their next move.
But the source added: 'To say they are upset and angry would be an understatement. But their main and only focus is to find Madeleine who has been missing for nearly 10 years. They will be able to concentrate on this totally now.'
In the bitter legal battle, the McCanns successfully sued Amaral for €500,000 damages, whom they branded 'a poisonous liar'.
But a higher court reversed the decision and judges in Lisbon have upheld the U-turn.
The payout would have been added to the official Find Maddie Fund set up through public donations and boosted by big-hearted celebrities to finance the worldwide hunt for the missing girl.
The Fund once stood at £1million but is now closer to £300,000 and could be wiped out by the Portugal's Supreme Court shock ruling.
A source close to the family said: 'This news is devastating, not just for Kate and Gerry but for Madeleine wherever she is.
'It's not good news. We just don't know what to do but we need to sit down with our lawyer and discuss it.
(cont)
(cont)
ReplyDelete'We've gone to the pinnacle of the Portuguese legal system and we've lost. We now have to pay a sizeable amount in costs.'
As the Scotland Yard search for Madeleine – who disappeared as a three-year-old from a holiday apartment in the Algarve's Praia da Luz – is being wound down the McCann's had been keeping the soon-to-be-obliterated fund as a life-line to pay for their own ongoing search the moment the investigation, codenamed Operation Grange, ends.
Ex GP Kate and heart doctor Gerry, both 48, from Rothley, Leicestershire, live in hope that 'a miracle' will one day reunite them with their daughter. If still alive, she would turn 14 in mid May.
The appeal hearing in Lisbon which ruled against the McCanns was held in private.
A spokesperson from their lawyer's office said: 'This is a big disappointment and very bitter for us and for Mr and Mrs McCann.
'We know the libel decision has gone against us but we do not know the basis of the ruling and will not find out until Thursday.'
Mr Amaral, 56, who the McCanns first sued for libel in June 2009, won the lengthy legal fight after judges decided he had the 'right to freedom of expression.'
Madeleine's parents could now lodge an appeal to the highest court in Europe, the European Court of Human Rights.
But a source close to the exasperated couple said: 'I think the fight is finally over. They want to concentrate on finding Madeleine and don't think they have the time or energy to lodge yet another appeal.'
Mr Amaral, who led the initial bungled search to help find their daughter, claimed in a once banned book that Madeleine was dead.
He was later sacked for criticising the British police handling of the case.
He has since made a fortune from his best-seller 'The Truth of the Lie' in which he claims Madeleine is dead and her parents 'staged a cover up'.
It has been translated into six languages and sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide.
It led to libel action from the distraught McCanns and action in a civil court, an appeal court and finally the Supreme Court.
Amaral is understood to have earned 400,000 euros (£344,000) from his book before it was banned and a subsequent TV documentary.
He claimed in the book Madeleine had died in their holiday flat and they had faked her abduction to cover up the tragedy.
The book was released just three days after Gerry and Kate McCann were told their status as arguidos or formal suspects had been lifted on July 21, 2008.
Amaral's lawyer claimed the McCanns had taken legal action 'to rid themselves of guilt for their negligent conduct' in leaving Madeleine and her siblings alone while they ate tapas with friends nearby.
He also claimed their lack of co-operation with the Portuguese police authorities had led to the archiving of the investigation in 2008.
The McCann's fiercely deny his allegations. In a 36-page writ, lodged nearly eight years ago, they describe him as a self obsessed, manipulative money-grabber and accuse him of libel and breaching their human rights.
In documents they describe in detail the pain and anguish he has caused the family by repeatedly smearing them, and say his slurs have left them 'totally destroyed' and most importantly had hindered the search for Madeleine.
Scotland Yard are busy investigating one 'last throw of the dice' lead in a bid to end the family's torment but time could be running out as police now have just two months left of guaranteed Government funding to continue to unravel an 'important' new tip.
Detectives on the Madeleine inquiry recently revealed they are working on a final theory that the youngster was kidnapped by a European trafficking gang.
The 'spotters' are believed to have targeted the blonde toddler taking photographs of her while she was playing on the beach and beside the pool at her holiday apartment.
'They will be able to concentrate on this totally now.' (Finding Maddie) Do they take us for fools?
DeleteScotland Yards 'last throw of the dice' should be the investigation of the McCanns and their Tapas friends.
DeleteInteresting, the concept of "final theory". How credible is it for an investigation force to say: "look, we are investigating this line of inquiry but, whatever we find, it's the last thing we do"? Ludicrous is the word that comes to mind.
DeleteI tend to abandon the MCs to their unfortunate destiny, but what about journalists (supposing this is the right way to name them) taking us for fools, repeating nonsensical stories totally bereft of appeal ?
DeleteParents of Maddie McCann fear a controversial book about the missing tot could be published in the UK.
ReplyDeleteBy Jerry Lawton / Published 2nd February 2017
Kate and Gerry McCann already face a huge legal bill after a failed attempt to sue its author Goncalo Amaral.
Maddie vanished during a 2007 family holiday in Portugal, aged three.
Former police officer Mr Amaral hopes to have his account of the case published abroad following his court win in his native Portugal.
His book accuses the McCanns of covering up their daughter’s death, an allegation they have strongly denied.
The McCanns’ lawyers have warned they will take action against anyone who tries to release it in the UK.
Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “If it does appear, whoever is responsible will be sued.”
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/584498/Madeleine-McCann-parents-kate-gerry-fear-ex-cop-Goncalo-Amaral-book-published-uk
Suing anyone who tries to sell this book in the UK or anywhere else for that matter shouts out loud the mcs are guilty of something and don’t want the facts and truth to be freely available. It’s a non starter for many reasons, firstly the cost. IF there is any money left in the fraudulent fund after GA’s success it will show that it was meant for legal fees not searching for M, just as G’s brother said all those years ago when the fund was set up. IF there are any remaining mc believers they will be given more evidence by this action that they are desperately doing a King Canute trying to hold back the tide of public opinion about their guilt.
DeleteAny publicity about trying to ban his book will have the Streisand effect and make many who haven’t already read it curious and increase sales. If it’s printed in English it could be sold from outside the UK so how many suppliers would mcs have to go after? It reminds me of the Mary Whitehouse effect when she tried to ban songs being played on the radio which had the effect of increasing record sales as the public wanted to know what the content was.
The Mcs trying to stop free speech the Portuguese courts have ruled is legitimate shows their arrogance but also damns them.
"Detectives on the Madeleine inquiry recently revealed they are working on a final theory that the youngster was kidnapped by a European trafficking gang."
ReplyDeleteI fail to see the fundamental difference between that final theory and the initial one promoted by the media 10 years ago? Sounds like saying: we will stick the kidnapping into your throat, anyway.
Have Op Grange/ Nicola Wall ever said directly "Our last line of inquiry is a European child trafficking gang"?
DeleteSeems to me to be it's something fed to press from friend/family/close to investigation sources.
A gang that took photographs of M on a beach!
Why did Mitchell say the McCanns had visited Zavial beach and that the sighting of a man taking photographs was important? Followed by release of PJ files with a statement from a restaurant owner, confirming what he had told the press: that the McCann family had visited his restaurant. However, nothing in the files to show the family had ever left PDL.
Then Summers' book also denies the beach visit happened.
So who is lying? And why is this beach photographer story re-emerging in the latest press stories?
The only beach trip described by K in her book was on a rather dreary day and no mention of seeing anyone taking photographs.
The article where Mr Mitchell confirms the McCann visit to the Zavial beach:
Deletehttp://themaddiecasefiles.com/topic15345.html
Family dinner that may have led to tragedy
Sunday Express
By Matt Drake
10 August 2008
A PAEDOPHILE with orders to snatch a young girl may have targeted Madeleine McCann as she played on a naturist beach plagued by voyeurs.
Police raised serious concerns about the McCanns' day trip to the remote Praia da Zavial beach on the weekend before she vanished.
Unaware the area is a notorious nudist attraction, Gerry and Kate McCann innocently dined with their three small children at a restaurant on the beach.
It is feared this was when the abductor first laid eyes on Madeleine playing in the sand with siblings Sean and Amelie.
A report by the local naval authority shows a search team swept Praia da Zavial six days after she disappeared.
The case file highlights how the flawed Portuguese investigation ignored warnings of a sinister Englishman caught taking pictures on the beach.
Officers interviewed nine bathers and questioned the manager of the Zavial beach restaurant, Ernesto Joaquim Muchacho, who vividly recalled meeting the young family. In an inconclusive final paragraph to the report the investigator states: "It is interesting to observe that Praia da Zavial is usually frequented by naturists and that consequently attracts some voyeurs." Naval officers also combed several other beaches along the rocky Algarve coast but found no trace of Madeleine. Last night Mr Muchacho, 23, told how he warned police about the worrying behaviour of the English voyeur. He said: "The police came here just after Madeleine vanished.
"They had had complaints from people about a man behaving strangely at this beach and others in the area.
"I told them I had seen a tall, thin Englishman in his forties taking a lot of photographs. He was weird, a strange guy.
"Madeleine came here for lunch with her parents not long before she disappeared. I don't know if this guy took a picture of Madeleine. It's impossible to say. But he took a lot of photographs.
"He came into the bar a few times. He said he was taking pictures of the birds – the flying variety – but I wasn't so sure.
"I saw him around here a few times after Madeleine went missing. The police thought he might have been a watcher, a voyeur." Several naturist websites have reviewed the secluded sandy beach 10km west of Praia da Luz.
Zavial offers privacy as it is remote from any resort and only accessible by driving up a long track.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell last night confirmed the family had visited the beach but said they had no idea it was a notorious nudist beach. He said: "It is important information because we have always believed that Madeleine was targeted by an abductor who watched the family.
"Kate and Gerry were enjoying an innocent holiday and did not know that Zavial attracted nudists.
"Anyway, just because people are nudists does not mean they are perverts. We are looking into anything that is relevant to the days before Madeleine was taken and this is clearly important information.
"Sadly we have no idea what the Portuguese police did with this complaint or if they bothered to investigate it further." Last week it emerged that British police were tipped off that Madeleine had been snatched by members of an international paedophile ring who photographed her three days before she was apparently abducted.
According to an email sent by the Metropolitan Police, a child abduction ring based in Belgium placed an order for a "young girl''.
Madeleine was spotted while on holiday by someone connected to the gang who took her picture.
The photograph was sent back to Belgium, where the paedophile ring agreed that she should be abducted.
The email, sent by an intelligence officer on the Met's vice squad on March 4 this year to counterparts in the Portuguese and Leicestershire forces, is a significant development in the case.
And the article that mentions the mail referred above:
Deletehttp://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/56028/Maddie-We-warned-Portuguese-say-vice-squad
Maddie: We warned Portuguese, say vice squad
BRITISH police did everything in their power to investigate claims that Madeleine McCann had been snatched by an international paedophile ring, they insisted last night.
By Martin Evans
PUBLISHED: 00:00, Fri, Aug 8, 2008
Officers working for CO14, a special¬ised vice unit within the Metropolitan Police, wrote to their Portuguese counterparts in March warning them they had intelligence that the three-year-old had been kidnapped to order by a Belgian gang.
The Policia Judiciaria then contacted Interpol and asked them to investigate further. But just weeks later Portuguese police chiefs shelved the line of inquiry, claiming it lacked credibility.
Private detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann are now urgently examining the information to see if any more could have been done to check out the anonymous tip-off.
An email sent by John Shord of the Metropolitan’s Vice and Clubs Unit in March to Leicestershire Police – who were coordinating the UK end of the Madeleine case – read: “Intelligence suggests that a paedophile ring in Belgium made an order for a young girl three days before Madeleine McCann was taken.
“Somebody connected to this group saw Maddie, took a photograph of her and sent it to Belgium.
“The purchaser agreed that the girl was suitable and Maddie was taken.”
Interpol contacted its departments in London, Belgium, Germany and Finland to gather more information about European paedophile gangs.
But detective Paulo Rebelo, head of the Madeleine inquiry, ruled that all but the German intelligence showed “lack of credibility”.
As a result, the Scotland Yard tip-off was added to the massive file of evidence considered during the hunt for Madeleine.
Belgium is less than 100 miles from Amsterdam, where there have been two highly credible possible sightings of the missing youngster.
McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell refused to comment on “sensitive” information found in the Portuguese police case files.
He said: “Clearly, with any information of that nature, Kate and Gerry would hope that the Portuguese police in conjunction with Interpol have acted to the absolute best of their ability in following this up.”
http://frommybigdesk.blogspot.pt/2009/07/madeleine-mccann-lenquete-interdite.html
DeleteMr Amaral in his book refers to the Zavial beach:
"In the Zavial area, a few kilometres from Vila da Luz, there lives a 46 year-old British citizen, who is suspected of paedophilia by his neighbours. The English police inform us that he doesn't have a record and that he is not on file. In Portugal too, there are no complaints registered against him. He has not been seen hanging about in the areas of Vila da Luz or the beach. The lead goes nowhere."
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2764103/kate-and-gerry-mccann-vow-to-take-legal-action-if-cops-book-claiming-they-covered-up-her-death-is-published-in-the-uk/
ReplyDelete'THEY WILL BE SUED'
Kate and Gerry McCann vow to take legal action if cop’s book claiming they covered up her death is published in the UK
The search funds set aside to help find Maddie McCann could be wiped after the couple lost their legal challenge against the cop
By BRITTANY VONOW, NEAL BAKER and GERARD COUZENS
2nd February 2017, 1:09 am
MADDIE McCann’s parents have threatened to sue anyone who tries to release a book, written by a former cop accusing them of covering up their daughter’s death, to the UK public.
The warning comes after Kate and Gerry McCann slammed the “untruthful and malicious” allegations made by the ex-cop, with the couple now facing a huge bill that could wipe out funds set aside for searching for their missing daughter.
Former cop Gonçalo Amaral helped to investigate the missing person’s case in its initial stages, with the author cleared of breaching libel laws and now hoping to have his work published abroad, the Daily Star reported.
But in a stern rebuttal of the cop’s hopes for the book, the McCann family’s lawyers have now warned that they will take swift legal action if the book is published in the UK.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “If it does appear, whoever is responsible will be sued.”
Supreme Court judges in Portugal met on Tuesday to resolve the couple’s fight against a lower court’s decision in April last year to reverse their 2015 libel win against the former detective.
Although the hearing took place in private – and an official public decision is not set to be sent to lawyers acting for the litigants until later in the week – it emerged that the case had gone against Gerry and Kate McCann.
(cont)
(cont)
ReplyDeleteThe ruling was handed down on the eve of their younger twin children’s 12th birthdays.
A close friend told The Sun: “It was never about winning big libel damages but all about them silencing him to stop them spouting his untruthful and malicious lies.”
“It has always been more of a personal battle and they are bitterly disappointed they have lost but not totally surprised.”
The friend added: “Any award made would have gone into the Madeleine’s Fund to help find their daughter and would never have been used for Kate and Gerry’s own use.
“And the whole point of the libel action was to try and stop Mr Amaral spreading wicked and false lies which they felt hampered the search for Madeleine.”
It's a blow to the couple who have committed thousands of pounds in the search for Maddie, and who hoped to force the former detective to pay more than £1million in compensation.
If they are ordered to pay Mr Amaral's legal costs, the money may have to come from the Find Madeleine fund - which has dwindled to around £480,000.
The McCanns could also be forced to use money from the fund if a Home Office grant for the Scotland Yard investigation, which runs out in August, is not renewed.
The couple now face the nightmare prospect of being sued for damages by Amaral, who led the initial hunt when Madeleine vanished aged three from their Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the couple said: "What we have been told by our lawyers is obviously extremely disappointing.
"It is eight years since we brought the action and in that time the landscape has changed dramatically, namely there is now a joint Metropolitan Police-Policia Judiciaria investigation which is what we've always wanted.
"The police in both countries continue to work on the basis that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm.
"We will, of course, be discussing the implications of the Supreme Court ruling with our lawyers in due course.”
The ruling also means the former detective will not have to pay the McCanns the €500,000 (£430,000) he was ordered to give them after the first court ruling in 2015.
Another close family pal said on Tuesday: "This news is devastating, not just for Kate and Gerry but for Madeleine wherever she is."
A source added: "It’s not good news.
"We just don’t know what to do but we need to sit down with our lawyer and discuss it. We’ve gone to the pinnacle of the Portuguese legal system and we’ve lost.
"We now have to pay a sizeable amount in costs."
It marks a major milestone in Gerry and Kate McCann’s eight-year fight over a book written by Amaral, who led the initial hunt when then-three-year-old Madeleine vanished from their Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007.
Amaral was ordered to pay Kate and Gerry £430,000 plus interest in damages after losing round one of their libel battle in April 2015 over his hurtful book ‘The Truth of the Lie.’
Appeal judges reversed the initial ruling by a court in Lisbon in April last year, siding with the former police chief and overturning a ban on his book.
The decision sparked a fresh appeal by the McCanns to the country’s highest law court.
The McCanns’ Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte lodged the couple’s new appeal last May after vowing to fight the U-turn by judges over Amaral’s book.
Criticising the ruling in favour of the ex-police chief, which a friend of the McCanns said had left them “seething,” she said: “This decision was an appreciation of the law and not the facts.
“We can appeal to the Supreme Court which we will do as we have instructions from our clients.”
A couple of notes to BRITTANY VONOW, NEAL BAKER and GERARD COUZENS:
Delete- Mr Mitchell no longer is the family spokesman. He was fired, remember?
- The funds are until the end of the Fiscal Year, April and not August.
And interesting to note that the couple has to consult with their lawyers about the way ahead but have already, at least so says the article, already done that about suing anyone who dares publish the book in the UK.
"It is eight years since we brought the action and in that time the landscape has changed dramatically, namely there is now a joint Metropolitan Police-Policia Judiciaria investigation which is what we've always wanted.
Delete"The police in both countries continue to work on the basis that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm.
Quote from the article. So how exactly will GA’s book being published in the UK harm the ‘search’ for M if both police forces are still working on it and have been for a long time during their legal battle which they could have halted at any time? It seems like a cynical ploy to bankrupt everyone who fights them, nothing to do with ‘harming the search’. The book doesn’t have to be published in the UK to make sales anyway. Even if not translated to English I would buy a copy from any country and in any language just to have one.
The threat to sue whoever would dare to publish "the truth of the lie" seems to be an old quotation.
Delete“Any award made would have gone into the Madeleine’s Fund to help find their daughter and would never have been used for Kate and Gerry’s own use."
Let's laugh ! It's been years since the accounts are reduced to the minimum required by law. The marketing ploy for "Madeleine" was that all royalties would finance the search. Where has the money gone ?
Mercedes has done a great job concerning court costs:
ReplyDeletehttps://mercedessigueaqui.blogspot.pt/2017/02/caso-madeleine-mccann-que-son-las.html
Great job! Thank you!
Thanks Textusa, Portuguese law is very similar to Spanish... lets see what the sentence text establishes!
DeleteThank you Mercedes once again.
DeleteI'm no expert on the Portuguese law, but from what I've been able to understand, the spirit of the law is that the court costs, and only the court costs are shared in accordance with sentence.
When both parties are granted success in some of their claims, the judge determines what share each party must pay.
Logic dictates that when a party wins all, it's up to the other party to pay them.
This would appear to be clear when it's the plaintiffs that lose, as is the present case, because it was theirs the initiative to go into court in the first place.
But, as it happened in this case, at a certain point in time, the defendant, Mr Amaral decided not to accept a deal offered by the McCanns and so from that moment on, he was also a "volunteer user" of the courts.
One thing I think never happens in Portugal is for one side to pay lawyer costs of the other side.
As you say, the sentence will determine the costs and who has to pay.
As to the lawyers, I'm certain each will submit a detailed account of expenses to their clients.
"at a certain point in time, the defendant, Mr Amaral decided not to accept a deal offered by the McCanns and so from that moment on, he was also a "volunteer user" of the courts."
DeleteSuch a deal is a private agreement, it has nothing to do with courts of justice. Once reached that agreement, in civil law courts, the claimant
has to renounce and normally the defendant is asked to sign. It implies legal costs.
The MC 3 kids were claimants in the first instance and lost. They made no appeal, which showed pretty well what this trial really was.
Textusa
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I have no patience left to deal with all this claptrap referring to Kate and the singing!
Why give publicity to the McCann team on such utter drivel?
Why waste time and energy on such banal rubbish?
Ah,I know, "All McCann publicity is relevant because it has a purpose", you will say.
However, I'm seriously struggling here to read how the Media is responding to the Lisbon verdict.
Apart from the obvious links, the McCann team are clutching at the last vestiges of a desperately flawed straw.
Anything to continue their hoax.
Anything to keep the 'kerching' flowing in to replenish the diminishing coffers and to keep the public unaware of the existence of the PJ Files.
Anything to confuse, mislead and provoke sympathy whilst prostituting themselves on the altar of the despairing!
Pardon me for remaining 'Stony Faced'
That there was never ever, any evidence of an abduction or 'Jemmied shutters' and that Madeleine died in the apartment and that they, according to the official police files, were responsible for the occulation of the body.
Give me strength.
Surely they've gone down every possible avenue they can venture down now!
It'over!
Stop taking us for fools !
We are cleverer than that and do not like 'cover ups' which is what this is.
A sick Pantomime.
A Hoax.
A 'Cover Up'
A Lie
This case has been over for a very long time.
Meanwhile, Kate is still to sing for 'Missing People'
I've not heard her singing voice, but if her singing voice is as bad as her writing skills in her so called 'Bewk',then best get the ear defenders out now!
Shame on the cover ups.
Shame on those in power who can ignore their consciences and morals and in so doing deny long awaited justice to an innocent child .
Everybody starts being an innocent child.. so special..
DeleteThe bewk, as KMC pronounces it, isn't badly written, it's not written.
Don't blame the ghostwriter.
Anna, of course I knew the book was 'ghost written'
ReplyDeleteHelped along by Kate 's own words perhaps?
KMC had to tell the story, of course, ghostwriters write, they don't invent.
Delete