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Post by Admin on Jun 17, 2014 5:14:36 GMT
Kate and Gerry McCann have criticised the former Portuguese police chief who led the search for their daughter for delaying a libel action against him. The McCanns are suing Goncalo Amaral following claims he made about them in a book and had been due to tell a court how his comments damaged the search. The couple said the 10-day adjournment of his trial was exasperating and caused them "more pain and distress". They said there was still a "good chance" that Madeleine was alive. She went missing in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz in 2007, aged three. The McCanns say claims made by the former police officer in his book - called The Truth Of The Lie - discouraged people from coming forward with information after Madeleine disappeared. In the book - published in 2008 - Mr Amaral wrote that the couple had hidden her body and faked an abduction after she died in an accident - claims the McCanns say also exacerbated their anguish. The McCanns had been expected to deliver statements at Lisbon's Palace of Justice. However, an adjournment to the libel trial was granted at the court after Mr Amaral sacked his legal team at the last minute. It is the fourth delay in the case. Speaking afterwards, Mr McCann said he would return to Portugal for the next hearing, which has been set for 8 July. He said the latest delay was a "blatant and cynical attempt to wear us down". "We're exasperated that the hearing has been cancelled once again at Mr Amaral's request," he said, adding: "We're not going to give up. We're going to keep going." The McCanns are suing Mr Amaral following claims he made in his 2008 book, called The Truth Of The Lie If the McCanns' case is successful they could be awarded substantial damages. But Mrs McCann said she wanted to "make it clear" the family had taken on the case because of the "pain and distress that Mr Amaral has bought to us and our children". "We just want justice; this is not fair," she said. Mr McCann also said the family had not given up hope of finding Madeleine. He said: "As far as we're concerned there's a good chance she's still alive and we have to keep searching for her."
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Post by Admin on Jun 18, 2014 5:37:12 GMT
The parents of Madeleine McCann told of their anguish after disgraced detective Goncalo Amaral accused them of hiding their daughter's body in a coffin. The former police officer claimed the Liverpool-born Kate McCann and husband Gerry could have hidden the three-year-old's body inside the coffin of a woman, who was due to be cremated, in a church near where the three-year-old vanished. And he yesterday compounded their misery by sacking his lawyer moments before the pair arrived at his libel trial in Lisbon, delaying the hearing for a fourth time. Kate said outside court: “Every time he postpones the case it brings us more pain and distress. We just want justice. This is not fair.” Speaking earlier to a Portuguese newspaper and its TV channel, Amaral, sacked after botching the initial hunt for Madeleine, repeated his claims the youngster is dead. But he suggested the McCanns hid her body in the woman’s coffin at Praia da Luz catholic church – which they had a key for – a month after she vanished in 2007. Amaral added: “The mystery will only end when the McCann couple are no longer being protected. Only then will we understand the truth.” But a source close to the couple said: “These are sickening allegations that no sane person would believe. It’s about time people realised what Mr Amaral is, a liar and a fantasist. He has been making these false claims since he was sacked. He is suggesting Kate and Gerry moved Madeleine’s body a month after she vanished. At that time they were the most-watched couple in the history of the modern media.” Heart doctor Gerry said: “We’re exasperated that the hearing has been cancelled once again at Mr Amaral’s request. This is the fourth time. "We want to get justice for Madeleine. Today is a blatant and cynical attempt to wear us down and it’s Madeleine who is suffering. We’re not giving up.” Kate added: “That letter could have been handed in before we left Britain.” Amaral’s libel case began in 2009 over his book The Truth of the Lie. In it he claims Madeleine died inside the couple’s holiday flat and they covered it up.
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Post by Admin on Jun 19, 2014 5:53:09 GMT
Madeleine McCann's parents have branded the latest delay in their libel case against Goncalo Amaral as a "blatant and cynical" attempt by the former Portuguese police chief to hold up the trial after he sacked his legal team. Kate and Gerry McCann were left furious after the former detective delayed their libel action by making a last-minute application to remove powers from his lawyer on the day they were due to deliver personal statements about the effect allegations in his book had had on them. Mr and Mrs McCann had travelled to Lisbon on what was due to be the last day in the trial at Lisbon's Palace of Justice, but will now have to return on July 8 after Mr Amaral's 11th-hour application prompted the latest delay in the long-running case. Speaking outside the court in Lisbon, Mr McCann said: "We're exasperated that the hearing has been cancelled once again at Mr Amaral's request. This is the fourth time this has happened and we've travelled to Portugal. "The legal case has been running now for over five years and we want to get justice for Madeleine. Today is a blatant and cynical attempt to wear us down and it's Madeleine who is suffering. We're not going to give up – we're going to keep going." The McCanns are suing for libel over claims made in Mr Amaral's 2008 book The Truth Of The Lie, including suggestions that they hid Madeleine's body after she died in an accident and faked an abduction, saying they damaged the hunt for their daughter and exacerbated their anguish. If successful, the family stand to gain around £1 million in damages. The latest stumbling block in their legal battle came as the former police chief made more outlandish claims about Madeleine's disappearance in an interview with Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha and its sister TV channel CMTV. Addressing a crowd of British and Portuguese journalists outside court yesterday, a visibly-upset Mrs McCann said every delay to the libel case brought more "pain and distress" to the family. She said: "We need to make it clear to people: we took on this case because of the pain and distress that Mr Amaral has brought to us and our children. And every time he postpones the case like this, it brings us more pain and distress. Every time we come here, we have to make arrangements for our children to be looked after, we have to book flights, we have to book hotels, we have to take time off work to come here. And Mr Amaral handed that letter in apparently around nine o'clock this morning. That letter could have been handed in before we left the country. And this has happened about four times. As Gerry said, this can't be seen as anything but blatant and cynical. We just want justice. This is not fair."
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Post by Admin on Jun 20, 2014 15:14:40 GMT
Former Portuguese police inspector Gonçalo Amaral, who the parents of Madeleine McCann have accused of libel, has ten days to find a new lawyer, the judge hearing the case decided on Monday. Today’s session was only for judge Emília Melo e Castro to set new dates, 8 and 10 July, after Gonçalo Amaral revoked the power of attorney given to his lawyer meaning that the final allegations could not be given as was expected. Now, on 8 July the McCanns can give their closing speech which is expected to be highly emotional and on 10 July Gonçalo Amaral is to provide his final allegations. In question is a case where the parents of Madeleine McCann are demanding €1.2 million from the former policeman for libel. The trial hearing had been suspended since last October for the two sides to reach an out of court agreement. Gonçalo Amaral published a book where he claimed that Kate and Gerry McCann were involved in their child’s disappearance and had hidden the body. Why could the two have stage a kidnapping? Amaral suspected fear as a motive for the cover-up. According to his thesis the McCanns were afraid that they would be taken to court for breach of their duty of supervision, which would have meant the end of her career. Maddie was then alone in the apartment, while parents with their friends ate dinner. The McCanns are said to have agreed, according to Amaral, with their friends about their plan. The only possible explanation for the disappearance of Maddie was kidnapping. Amaral stressed that he had only circumstantial evidence and no evidence for his theory. So it seemed to be suspicious that the McCanns turned off their phones after Maddie's disappearance. Also her father Gerry had allegedly searched for sports results, instead of worrying about his daughter.
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Post by Admin on Jun 29, 2014 13:45:46 GMT
The disgraced detective made the bombshell claim in a Portuguese television documentary that openly mocked Scotland Yard’s new investigation. When asked if people will ever learn what really happened, Mr Amaral responded: “Yes, we will, when MI5 opens the case files, we will find out. “Don’t forget that the British secret services followed the case right from the beginning. I don’t know if that information will be made available but if it’s like the United States, it takes years to have access to confidential information.” Mr Amaral, 56, was the officer who co-ordinated the Portuguese police investigation from May 3, 2007, when three-year-old Madeleine vanished from her family’s holiday apartment at Praia da Luz on the Algarve. After criticising British police he was kicked off the case four months later. In his latest interview he claims that after two British police dogs were used to searched the McCann’s apartment at the Ocean Club, his team had to take the British person responsible for the operation to Faro Airport. Amaral, now retired and working as a crime writer, went on: “He’s at the airport waiting for a plane to return to England and he receives a phone call. Then he explains to our colleague that a member of MI5 was at the airport, waiting to talk with him about the result of the investigation. “Someone has the information, so make the information available.” There has been suspicion in the senior ranks of Portugal’s police that US and/or British intelligence chiefs have satellite images of the area that could be helpful but have never passed them on. The latest Scotland Yard squad is apparently working on the theory that Madeleine was abducted by burglars who were also involved in drug trafficking. Mr Amaral said the same theory was put forward by a Yard detective seconded to his team seven years ago. “It was discussed and completely set aside because it made no sense,” he said. “Nobody has proved the house was broken into, that there was a theft, there are no traces of a break-in. No money, cameras or anything else was taken.” He said he expects the latest Yard inquiry to wind down soon, without a breakthrough, adding: “They are getting to the point of saying that she is dead. “They will reach the point of saying that the cadaver can’t be found and the case can’t be solved.” Mr Amaral will face Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, at a civil court in Lisbon on July 8.
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