The Truth of the Lie - Goncalo Amaral
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Tuesday 31 January 2017
Fantastic News...Força Goncalo..!
MADDIE COURT BID QUASHED
Maddie McCann’s parents lose court appeal to silence cop who claims they covered up daughter’s death
BY GERARD COUZENS 31st January 2017, 3:30 pm
Goncalo Amaral had worked on the investigation to find Maddie after she disappeared in May 2007
MADDIE McCann’s parents have lost their new court appeal to silence the ex-cop who claims they covered up their daughter’s death.
Portuguese Supreme Court judges met this morning to resolve the couple’s fight against a lower court’s decision last April to reverse their 2015 libel win against Goncalo Amaral.
The couple could now face a huge legal bill, which had been frozen until the outcome of the final appeal.
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.’
“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 right to freedom of speech were conditioned by the fact he had been in charge of the investigation into Maddie'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 £344,000 from his book before it was banned and a subsequent TV documentary.
He claimed in the book Maddie 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.
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.
The Sun
Maddie McCann’s parents lose court appeal to silence cop who claims they covered up daughter’s death
BY GERARD COUZENS 31st January 2017, 3:30 pm
Goncalo Amaral had worked on the investigation to find Maddie after she disappeared in May 2007
MADDIE McCann’s parents have lost their new court appeal to silence the ex-cop who claims they covered up their daughter’s death.
Portuguese Supreme Court judges met this morning to resolve the couple’s fight against a lower court’s decision last April to reverse their 2015 libel win against Goncalo Amaral.
Gerry and Kate McCann, pictured in July 2014, are reported to have lost their high court bid to silence an ex-cop who claims they covered up the death of their daughter
Maddie McCann disappeared from a hotel room in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007
Goncalo Amaral has previously said that Kate and Gerry McCann had faked the abduction
The hearing took place in private in Lisbon this morning.
The couple could now face a huge legal bill, which had been frozen until the outcome of the final appeal.
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.’
“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 right to freedom of speech were conditioned by the fact he had been in charge of the investigation into Maddie'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 £344,000 from his book before it was banned and a subsequent TV documentary.
He claimed in the book Maddie 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.
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.
The Sun
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