They say the camera never lies and looks can kill, well fair play, Kate
I see that in some papers it is being reported Kate and Gerry stand defiant and still intend to proceed with their defamation action, in spite the Supreme Court in Portugal now ruling that Goncalo was simply exercising his right to freedom of expression and opinion under the European Convention on Human Rights. That being the case, I fail to see how this can be actionable "libel" they are entitled to be compensated for. But other reports including this one from Sky that includes their disgusting image of Madeleine posed and made up, aged three, do not mention that defiance. They are surely doomed to what they deserve, utter humiliation. There has to be a limit to how far anyone can be allowed to cashin on a daughter they got rid of, which is nothing short of downright disgusting. As the Supreme Court have just pointed out, it was them who courted the media, and thus invited comment and opinion on the case. Goncalo has given his opinion which is recognised as an expert one, citing his 26 years of experience. They were seeking to seize even his jointly owned home, now they can pay their own bills and keep their hands off other peoples' property and money which is all they have ever been about.
HANDS OFF GRUESOME TWOSOME, NOW WHERE IS MADDIE PLEASE?
Madeleine Death Book Ban Is Quashed
11:45pm UK, Tuesday October 19, 2010
Kate and Gerry McCann have suffered a legal blow (and wasted countless thousands in legal costs from their erm Find Maddie Fund) after a Portuguese court overturned a ban on a book about their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.
Picture released of Madeleine on the third anniversary of her disappearance
Goncalo Amaral's book Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie claims she died in the family's holiday apartment in the Algarve and her parents covered up her death by faking her abduction.
Mr and Mrs McCann strongly deny the claims, and are pursuing a defamation case against the former detective, who led the initial investigation into the Madeleine case.
In February, a Portuguese judge upheld an injunction banning any further sale or publication of his book and DVD documentary.
But now a Portuguese court has overturned the ruling, saying the ban had broken "a constitutional and universal right: that of opinion and freedom of expression."
Mr Amaral was taken off the case after slamming UK detectives
"The contents of the book do not breach the basic rights of the plaintiffs," the court said, according to the Jornal de Noticías newspaper.
Mr Amaral was delighted by the decision, telling Portugal's Lusa news agency: "The book is an exercise in freedom of speech.
"Portuguese democracy has won, as banning the book was unconstitutional."
A spokesman for the McCanns was unavailable for comment.
Kate and Gerry McCann are suing the detective for libel
Their lawyer Isabel Duarte said: "We must return about 8,000 copies of the books to the editor, which will probably go on sale."
When the initial injunction was upheld, the McCanns vowed to continue looking for their daughter and appealed once again for help from the public.
They said Mr Amaral's "painful and personally damaging" allegations had caused "significant, ongoing damage" to the hunt for Madeleine.
Mr and Mrs McCann believe their daughter, who was three when she vanished in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007, was snatched and is still alive.
She disappeared while the couple dined with friends at a tapas bar some 90 yards from the apartment.
Jul 05,2010
Home Secretary To Meet The McCanns
Mar 03,2010
New Madeleine McCann Files Emerge
Feb 20,2010
McCanns Welcome Madeleine Book Ban
26 comments:
People all over the world have expressed their opinion on the McCann case and whether they feel they are guilty or innocent in the disappearance of Madeleine.
When they decided to court the media and use manipulation and publically donated funds to find Madeleine to that end, they invited that opinion. If it has not gone their way, that is most surely what they deserve.
Goncalo has expressed his opinion, I do not think he is correct in suggesting an accidental death took place whilst the McCanns were out, I think it was much worse than that.
I have always been convinced that the McCanns primary intention, most notably coming from Gerry McCann, was to seriously cashin on the most heinous crime. He was immediately setting up a limited company and marketing Madeleine against police advice and roared with laughter on her birthday as the money flooded in for him.
He is greedy and wicked IMO. His action against Goncalo Amaral who has suggested the most mild version of how they may have been involved in the disappearance of Madeleine is yet another example of that.
Goncalo and his family have undoubtedly suffered a great deal whilst this man uses the tactics of bullying and harrassment against him to further cashin with his outrageous damages claim of over one million pounds.
For his calm and persistent dignity in the face of such great adversity I just cannot help but admire Goncalo, his resolute and fearless pursuit of what is right and his own right to express those views.
He has always been on the side of the angel, little Maddie and for that he deserved to win against the manipulative, aggressive, scheming Gerry McCann.
Now he has!
I salute the Supreme Court in Portugal for doing what is right for Justice and preventing those who are criminals themselves from cashing in on their own vile crimes.
Good Luck Goncalo and I hope you and your family now feel much relieved as the McCanns retreat to lick their wounds. They must learn litigation should not be entered into if you are in the wrong, which they are 100 per cent.
Hi Viv
I look forward to seeing pictures of your fab garden.
Excellent post above and I also wish Goncalo and family best wishes for the future.
I was saddened to read how Goncalo and family have suffered, money wise, since his assets were frozen, also the fact that he has lost so much weight. I am sure Kate & Gerry thought they could destroy Goncalo, but how wrong they were.
I would love to think this would now bring out the truth about what happened to Madeleine, but somehow I think Gerry is planning his next devious move.
Hiya Di and good to see !
Your wish is my command, put the estate agent pics of the garden up, it is a bit formal for my liking but that will change a bit lol!
I know from experience in the law that people who are placed in that terrible situation of facing such frightening and expensive litigation, maybe even having their home taken from them suffer the most awful emotional turmoil, it is hard to imagine how Goncalo and Sofie have suffered. I think the McCanns are just unforgivable people. Goodness knows what suffering they have caused to their own three lovely children, not content with that, they have to attack the family of Goncalo. It must have affected his children also. As you say, he does look very thin now and we all know that such extreme stress can cause immense weight loss.
I think we can console ourselves, confident in the knowledge that no matter what scheming move Gerry dreams up next, he always loses. Did he win against the Chief Constable of Leicester Police, SOCA and the Attorney General? I think his early gains made his head swell so much it gave him a disease.
and let us not forget the hateful McCanns were not content with having Goncalo's assets frozen for over a year. No that was not enough, their lawyer bragged about starting criminal proceedings against him also, not that it was her place to do so. But it surely indicates the McCanns were leaving no stone unturned in attacking the man who must know the truth in intimate details about these two and their friends, even if he has the good sense not to tell the world all of that.
I can’t say I understand Portuguese law but the Mc’s we are told are still proceeding with their defamation case against Amaral through the Portuguese courts.
Surely, the judge has set a precedent by saying (in relationship to the book) "The contents of the book do not breach the basic rights of the plaintiffs." What Amaral has talked about publically is similar to those put forward in the book so can they successfully sue for defamation. Hmm…I suppose we will just have to wait and see.
Hiya Wiz
I do not pretend to understand Portuguese law either, other than I know that defamation can be a criminal offence, likewise in UK, but this never happens.
But I think that it does in Portugal. Therefore if there was any serious case of defamation by Goncalo the police would investigate that and then the prosecuting lawyers take a decision as to whether he had a case to answer. But there has not even been an investigation of that issue, we can rest assured of that because the McCanns would have told us!
To me, this highlights just how weak the McCanns' allegations of defamation were in the first place. Like you, I think the Judges' comments that the McCanns themselves used the media and Goncalo has not infringed their rights are the last nail in the coffin for what was always a hopeless and ill conceived action in my opinion. On any level, the McCanns have to take responsibility for exactly what they did, not just with Madeleine, but to further tarnish their own reputations.
The perceived logic of Kate explaining on TV how Madeleine just moved on and they went out and left her again, I will never understand and this does confirm that on any level you wish to choose they were 100 per cent to blame for her disappearance, even if only on the basis of criminal neglect. On their account that could have allowed her to go for a swim in the sea, but they never even looked, oh no, they knew she had been abducted. Too right they did.
I think Goncalo put forward the mildest form of what may have happened to make sure he was not stepping into hot water. No police officer could be in any doubt they are involved, due to their incoherent lies from the very first few moments, producing those frame sized old pictures etc.
He is a smart cooky and in the end has played them well but not, I am sure without personal cost and I do not mean just of the financial type.
Hi Wiz, the report below confirms there are still two pending actions against Goncalo, the civil action for damages for defamation and an attempt it would seem to start criminal proceedings for breach secrecy of justice. It would be interesting to know what the Pt Prosecutors and Police think about that, but I think Duarte was a tad previous in stating quite categorically this is going ahead when that is clearly not a decision for her to make.
It seems to me there is a sea change in both Britain and Portugal and it is very much against Kate and Gerry McCann. I do not think it was wise of them to invoke the, ahem services of the current Home Secretary, Theresa May. That, I believe, opened up a hornets nest for them they may wish they had not poked.
Stategically, as between UK and Portugal I cannot help but wonder whether further moves are afoot against Kate and Gerry, oh please! It is a bit odd that there are no trial dates set (was there ever any such intention from the Portuguese courts to allow this and are they listening to UK about this, I would not be surprised!)
As Goncalo so rightly points out, the decision by the Supreme Court to overturn the ban has a great bearing on the future, if there ever was one, of the two further malicious actions by the McScams.
It is interesting Duarte does not wish to comment, shorthand for what the heck can I say now, clearly nothing that would help her esteemed "clients"!
Appeal’s court overrules ban on Madeleine book
23/10/2010
Portugal’s Appeals Court has quashed a ban issued by Lisbon’s Civil Court in February this year to halt sales of the book ‘Maddie – The Truth of the Lie’, by ex-PJ Inspector Gonçalo Amaral; the former inspector considers the overturning to be a “reinforcement of Portuguese democracy”.
Mr. Amaral is said to have ‘rejoiced’ in the court’s verdict and told Lusa News Agency it was proof “there is a democracy after all”.
He said that he had expected the court to overrule the injunction placed on the selling of the book by missing Madeleine McCann’s parents.
“The book is an exercise of citizenship and freedom of expression. With this decision by the court it was Portuguese democracy that won, as the banning of book sales was unconstitutional”, said Gonçalo Amaral.
The ex-inspector also said the court’s decision was “very important” for the two pending lawsuits currently in place against him but for which no start dates have been set for the trials.
In a civil lawsuit, Kate and Gerry McCann, parents of Madeleine, are seeking €1.2 million in compensation for defamation. In a second case Amaral is accused of violating the secret of justice.
Isabel Duarte, the McCann’s lawyer, declined to comment on the court’s quashing of the ban and simply said “the decision is being analysed so we can react”.
In turn the book’s publishers Guerra & Paz, which edited ‘Maddie – The Truth of the Lie’ in July 2008, said it would “immediately proceed with all diligences to free up the seized copies [of the book] and put the book at the disposal of the Portuguese public”.
In a statement the publishing house said Gonçalo Amaral’s book “is a relevant contribution for the discovery of material truth” and classified the overturn as respecting “the right to inform and the right to an opinion”.
Earlier this year a Lisbon court ruled that an injunction placed on the controversial book in September last year should remain in place. At the time Kate and Gerry McCann said they were “very pleased and relieved by the judge’s decision”.
In his book, Gonçalo Amaral defends the theory that Kate and Gerry McCann were in some way involved in their daughter’s disappearance from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz in May 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.
Edition: 1084
Good Afternoon,
On Friday, I was watching QI on TV. Stephen Fry queried what a real friend is. A guest comedian replied “Someone who will come over and help your move house – or help you bury a body.
Hmm… many a true word spoken in jest.
Hi all
Viv
I have just seen your comment above about your garden looking too formal. Personally I think it looks lovely but as I always aim to please, I will let you borrow my doberman, trust me it will look less formal in no time.
I have not read anywhere that Goncalo's assets have been released, has anyone seen anything to say they have been?
There is a video on Textusa which apparently is claiming that GA believes the case will be reopened. Good news if true.
HIya Wiz
The McCanns certainly have close friends, they were so into each other, that is the only reason Kate left the kids with the door open.
They knew Kate and Gez wanted no cotter with those dithering PJs, only their very finest private dicks would do, neither did they want some production made that would not earn them lots of media manipulation and cash money, no, only a televised Kate and Gezzy Show would do. So, like the good friends they are, they refused to show for those PJs. That got the investigation in Portugal shelved against Kate and Gerry, so good move by the friends there. After all, Clarence made it clear, that was their dearest wish, so they could then start looking for Maddie. I mean being arguidos was stopping them, I don't now what stopped them the first night or the first four months though but I am sure they can explain. Maybe the police were just sitting waiting to see where Kate and Gezzy actually looked for Maddie.
Hiya Di,
I think it is just there are too many neatly clipped conifers etc which will have to bite the dust, more flowing shrubs, roses clematis, etc.
I love the big trees and the garden generally, but your comment about lending me the doberman did make me laugh! Maybe a few skid marks as he hunted the squirrels down, lol!
It will be lovely to have a lawn again, due to the size of the last garden I got rid of it so we could fit the requisite plants and pond in. Reminds me, need a lawnmower, as they were going to Australia they could have left us theirs!
Hiya again Di
I would have thought that as the injunction is no longer valid it would be unlawful to keep any assets seized and the books etc will have to be handed over immediately.
Presumably the Judges would just make a fresh order dismissing the earlier Order of the Lady Judge who got it wrong by considering the McCanns claimed human rights were of a higher nature than those of Goncalo's claimed right to freedom of expression.
I noticed Jo /Astro are translating the Order, must have a further look because it was not complete last night, but it certainly read as though Goncalo got his costs awarded against the McCanns, I hope that is right. If you win an appeal costs generally follow, that will be a further sting in the tail for them. Not only did they lose, they must pay their own and Goncalo's costs. Anything left to look for Maddie, I wonder?
In relation to the case being re-opened, I do think there are fresh moves against the McCanns, but I continue to believe that Portugal and UK work together on this and if an when an arrest comes it will be by Leicester Police.
Good Morning,
I hope the move is now complete Viv and you have settled into your new home.
Over breakfast this morning, I watched on TV the McCanns’ showcasing their plight of empty pockets – they are down to £300,000. GM said it was unacceptable that they should be the ones to have to take the responsibility for the continuing search for their daughter. I copy below article from today’s Sun in case you have not seen it.
The Sun today
By ANTONELLA LAZZERI
Published: Today
KATE and Gerry McCann fear the three-year hunt for missing daughter Maddie is about to end.
They revealed the Find Madeleine Fund has dwindled from £2million at its peak to £300,000. Their worldwide search for Maddie - aged three when she disappeared on holiday in Portugal in May 2007 - will be wound up because they will no longer be able to pay specialist investigators when the money runs out.
Kate, 42, said: "It will be just me and Gerry left looking for her."
For three and a half years Kate and Gerry have searched tirelessly for Maddie.
Every spare moment has been devoted to the hunt.
But Kate yesterday admitted that for the first time she fears they may never find her
Within weeks of Maddie being snatched from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, money from the public poured in to boost the Find Madeleine Fund.
At its height it stood at £2million. But now there is just £300,000 left.
Desperate for help, the couple are launching an online petition asking the public to back them and demand the British and Portuguese governments do more to find Madeleine.
And they have sent out "begging letters" to sponsors, including author JK Rowling, tycoon Richard Branson, comic Jack Dee and other high-profile celebrities asking them to contribute to the fund.
They hope the public will be touched by their plight and give too.
Clutching her husband's hand tightly, an emotional Kate admitted: "There is only enough money in the Find Madeleine Fund to keep the hunt going until spring 2011.
Change ... how Maddie might look now
"When the money runs out we will not be able to pay the investigators helping us to find Madeleine. It will be just me and Gerry left looking for her.
Cont....
Cont/...
Search
"I just can't contemplate that. We've had many scares along the way. But this is the first time we are really faced with that happening."
The Portuguese police search for Maddie, aged three when she vanished, was effectively called off after a few weeks.
Since September 2007 Kate and Gerry, both 42 from Rothley, Leics, have been organising the hunt for her themselves. Kate gave up work as a doctor to concentrate on the task.
Gerry, a heart surgeon, admits that at the current rate of expenditure the Find Madeleine Fund has just months before it is broke.
Explaining how much the search for their daughter costs Gerry said £1 pays for a multi-lingual call centre for an hour, £10 pays for 1,000 posters that are distributed across the world and £50 pays for the running costs of a Portuguese investigation team for two hours.
He said: "Without our investigation team it would be almost impossible.
Anguish ... McCanns after plea for funds
"If the money does run out there would still be a helpline manned by volunteers, email. But it would be very, very difficult. It would essentially mean that any kind of pro-active search for Madeleine would cease."
Contemplating the situation they face, Gerry begged: "Our little girl is now seven years old, innocent, vulnerable and waiting to be found.
"Please, please help us."
But even if the funds go, and there is no further help from the Portuguese and British governments, the McCanns will carry on their hunt forever.
A strained looking Gerry, shaking his head, said: "No parent would ever give up on their child. And we won't. As a parent you can't. Children who were abducted have been found years later. We believe she is out there, we just have to find her."
Twisting her Find Madeleine wristband Kate agreed, saying: "No parent could stop.
Feared
"If no one apart from us is looking then so be it."
But Kate also quietly admits that there have been times recently when she has feared Maddie might never be found.
Kate bit her lip, and said: "There are more days now of thinking, 'Are we going to find her? How long is this going to go on for. Is this our life now? Forever?' I have to face the fact that we may never find her."
Kate says she also struggles to imagine what Maddie would look like. She said: "I do try and picture her. I still see her best friends. I look at them and think, 'Would she be that tall, that slim. Would she be able to read? To write?'"
Kate also revealed how she still talks to her darling daughter. She said: "I speak to her every day. I always have."
But the agony and anguish remain - as does the hope.
Gerry said: "It's been an incredibly painful experience, it could tear families apart, but we are very much together - focused on finding Madeleine."
• You can donate to the search fund at FindMadeleine.com
Hi Wizard
I cannot read anything Antonella writes anymore, she seriously has one heck of a problem with biased reporting. What I would like to know is why?. Her comments against Portugal and GA have been unbelievable, anyone would think she was a member of the McCann family.
Interesting today that so much is in the press saying the case is going to be re-opened in Portugal, and the comments on the Daily Mail site are incredible, not something we would have seen a few months back. However, I am not celebrating just yet, I am waiting for something official from Portugal or from one of our Portuguese posters to confirm this is going to happen.
I have to say their very pretendy petition, which can be signed by anyone as many times as they like, would be laughable if this situation was not so serious. Sometimes I think Kate & Gerry are so focused on saving themselves they have forgotten that this is about Madeleine, their child, who is still missing.
The McCann's are off to Lisbon again this week, I wonder why?
Hi Di,
I understand the McCanns are visiting their Lisbon based PR team and then onto their Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte.
Nothing to do with asking for the case to be reopened - of course!
Hello guys
just got back from Egypt and had a lovely time.
I did read one short paragraph in the Mirror whilst out there, on page 15, talking about the McCanns online petition and how they got 24000 signatures, but that seems a pitiful amount. As you say, the same person could also be signing many times over.
How the high and mighty McCanns have fallen with their sue fests, no more one million pound actions then I take it? And just when are they going to admit how much they frittered on this charade of a legal action against Goncalo that must surely have robbed the fund of a very large sum and no doubt caused some directors to walk in disgust.
Quite how Kate managed to stand outside that court room and insist this will really help the search for Madeleine I know not. Since when did frittering countless thousands on lawyers and reputation management bods find a missing child? Since when did fraudsters they have employed do so either?
They have brought themselves this low they now grovel as they continue to try and hold their heads up, they just might as well come clean and tell us all where little Maddie is.
It seems to me the law is a little strange in Portugal.
Judges make an order, maybe committing someone to prison for an offence, or maybe it is Supreme Court Judges overturning an injunction made by a judge of the lower court. But does that Order immediately take effect as it would in UK, regardless of the right of appeal. Well no, it would seem it does not.
So Madam Duarte announces her clients are appealing the decision to overturn the injunction and just because of that appeal she can flout the clearest of orders from the Supreme Court. She seems to be admitting that once the McCanns have lost that appeal, as they inevitably will, then, and only then, will she comply with the Supreme Court Order and hand impounded books and DVDs back. She is not doing anything wrong, it is the Portuguese system that fails to instil a sense of respect and finality in the Order of a Judge that is wrong. Should the McCanns have the right to play procedural rules to delay the inevitable whilst they continue to play trying to manipulate public opinion in their favour? Of course not! But, as ever, they have no problem playing the system as they nonchalantly fritter away every penny the public so generously donated to try and find little Maddie. They only make us more certain that was never their intention.
Hi Viv,
I was wondering where you went I thought you were ill. Glad to hear you were on holiday and had a great time. Was it the same resort as you went to before?
Slightly off topic but did you hear about my favourite online book seller Amazon.
"Amazon has become embroiled in a row following its decision last month to sell an electronic version of The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover's Code of Conduct, by Philip Greaves II, which could be downloaded to its Kindle e-book reader."
This, we are now told, has been withdrawn following complaints. However, Amazon have retained links to other sites which do sell this item and others of similar vein.
Hmm...
Hi all
Viv
Welcome back, glad you enjoyed your holiday.
Interesting news today, Kate & Gerry are releasing a book due for release spring next year. I do hope GA manages to get his book released in English prior to this. What next for Kate & Gerry the film that Clarry talked about perhaps?
Hiya Wiz
I am fine thanks and yes it was the same resort Sharm. This time I went with my sister and stayed in my parents favourite hotel where they are for a fortnight, we only went for a week. I pick them up from the airport tomorrow night. I think mom was a little sad to see me and my equally silly sister leave, she had great fun with us! We got her to come on a glassbottom boat trip with us and even up to her thighs in the pool which is some going with mum at 84. The Russians in particular and many others in the hotel still love her and to see her dance however and she certainly basks in the limelight. I do not think they can get over someone of such advanced years dancing and looking as good as she does. But my step father was not very well for a few days with heart problems, I think they just lie by the pool too much in the heat, rather than venturing into it to cool down. He spent a day in the hotel room and then seemed a lot better.
I am very shocked that Amazon would even entertain the idea of selling anything at all celebrating the sickening practice of paedophilia. But there again, (I think was it Amazon?) they did sell Rosiepops stupid book, so clearly do not have much concern about the material they offer. Shame on them!
Di, thanks and I hope you and your lovely family are well and the plans going ahead smoothly.
I cannot say I am happy or surprised to hear the scrounging McCanns are intent on yet more cashing in by any means they can discern. As one failure looks them in the face the incorrigible Gerry just moves on to the next money earner without any thought at all of maybe he should think about funding the search for his own daughter. Clearly not in his plans or his style.
I read on Jo's site that Goncalo's book has already been sold via a UK outlet, so that is good news. But still wonder whether the authorities here will be wanting to prevent any detailed discourse on the case in the UK. In one respect it is unfortunate because it clearly leaves the way open for the gruesome twosome to continue to cashin, there are so many laws in UK protecting the rights of criminal suspects and the sanctity and confidentiality of police investigations. Until such time as there is a real breakthrough that clearly works in their favour. But, looking at it another way, if they are charged, much like the decision in Portugal recently, it is going to be difficult for them to complain about people damaging their reputation or saying they could not get a fair trial, when they themselves have been so willing to take on board the criticism and ill feeling they engender by their own conduct and quite frankly utterly bizarre behaviour for two so called bereft parents.
As you imply Di, it has always been clear that Maddie the book and Maddie the Movie were always part of the grand scheme of things. With Clarence angrily defending the right of the McCanns to cashin on Maddie but no one else. " All profits must come to us " etc. ! "We own the Maddie trademark and photographs", I do still wonder just what photographs there are of Maddie we have not so far been allowed to see.
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