Gonçalo Amaral confirms he will appeal the damages decision to higher Court.

[Angelo222]

Let's put it this way ... the Met are involved in an active investigation which requires the cooperation of another country's police force, particularly as that country retains the lead authority in the case of a missing child.

Officers from the Met are
(a)  showing preference in a judgement handed down by that country's Courts
(b)  the pursuers in that case happen to be the parents of the missing child subject to active investigation by the Met

So at a stroke there is a risk of alienating the establishment of a country whose good will is pivotal to the ongoing case.
There is a risk of causing anxiety, not only to the parents of the child involved in the active Met case, but also to those concerned the police should be seen to be impartial.

All in my opinion of course ... and anyway I have as much faith in the existence of these as I have in the existence of Ulrich Merz.

It's all very much like crisis time in Ireland when instead of the Madonnas starting to spin ... we have detectives.

There is nothing delaying the request for an appeal being submitted now ... and those digging into their pockets should be aware that if allowed it will be an expensive business as long as they are prepared to dig deep ... but while doing so they should remember that Mr Amaral does not qualify for financial support to proceed his cases for the simple reason his income is too great.

A lot of police officers from both the Met and Leicestershire Police are quietly very unhappy at the way this investigation has developed and who would blame them.

To summarize

A three-year-old English/Irish girl goes missing in Portugal and despite the police from several countries being involved in the search the parents set about a multi million pound private investigation which ended up as one almighty charade. The Portuguese lead detective rightly follows every lead and ends up investigating the parents only to be removed from the case, is effectively forced to resign, writes a book about his experiences in the case and reveals his theory and is sued by the parents for a million quid.  With me so far?

[Jean-Pierre]

A lot of police officers from both the Met and Leicestershire Police are quietly very unhappy at the way this investigation has developed and who would blame them.

Is this your opinion, Angelo?

Or are you stating this as a fact?  In which case the rules of this forum suggest that you should provide some sort of cite. 

[Angelo222]

Is this your opinion, Angelo?

Or are you stating this as a fact?  In which case the rules of this forum suggest that you should provide some sort of cite.

I'm afraid the Official Secrets Act prevents them speaking out so a cite is not possible.

[Jean-Pierre]

I'm afraid the Official Secrets Act prevents them speaking out so a cite is not possible.

Really?  Under which section of the 89 act does expressing an opinion come?

Perhaps you need to refer to the Shayler case, and in particular section 21 of Binghams judgement.

  http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/2002/11.html

You really will need to do better than that Angelo.

[stephen25000]

A lot of police officers from both the Met and Leicestershire Police are quietly very unhappy at the way this investigation has developed and who would blame them.

To summarize

A three-year-old English/Irish girl goes missing in Portugal and despite the police from several countries being involved in the search the parents set about a multi million pound private investigation which ended up as one almighty charade. The Portuguese lead detective rightly follows every lead and ends up investigating the parents only to be removed from the case, is effectively forced to resign, writes a book about his experiences in the case and reveals his theory and is sued by the parents for a million quid.  With me so far?

Right on the nail.

[Jean-Pierre]

I'm afraid the Official Secrets Act prevents them speaking out so a cite is not possible.

As the official secrets act 89 does apply, any chance of a cite?  Or do forum rules not apply to you?

[Alfred R Jones]

I'm afraid the Official Secrets Act prevents them speaking out so a cite is not possible.

If that is case then how do YOU know that a lot of police officers are very unhappy about the way the investigation has developed? Quantify "a lot".

[stephen25000]

If that is case then how do YOU know that a lot of police officers are very unhappy about the way the investigation has developed? Quantify "a lot".

Well that works both ways.
 
Can you cite the number of police officers who believe the mccanns  story ?

[Alfred R Jones]

Well that works both ways.
 
Can you cite the number of police officers who believe the mccanns  story ?

No, but then I'm not the one making any claims about what hundreds of members of two police forces privately believe.

[Brietta]

Update from Leanne Baulch as fund reaches £26,356 in a month!!


When I started the GoFundMe, so many people said they thought I was being over-ambitious with the target, even I had doubts that we would get this far. Not because I doubted Gonçalo's support, but because I didn't think people would know about the site to donate in the first place. I wanted a place for us to be able show our support, a place for us all to come together to stand by what is right, and a place for those that don't have PayPal to donate, and that's exactly what it has been, and hopefully, with your support, will continue to be.

 What we have achieved together is truly amazing, but it's not over yet. We still need to keep supporting Gonçalo, whether that is by donating, sharing the link to the fund, or with your kind messages, it all counts, and it's extremely important.

 Thank you for donating, thank you for sharing, and thank you for supporting! You are all fantastic people, standing up for what is right. Gonçalo needed our support, and it's evident on here that he has so much! It's not just about the donations, the messages of support are priceless.

www.gofundme.com/Legal-DefencePJGA

I absolutely agree that the messages of support are "priceless" ... I thoroughly recommend a visit to Pamalam's site where someone has taken the trouble to transfer them to be read in a trouble free manner.

There is no doubt in my mind these should be recorded for posterity.

[Alfred R Jones]

I absolutely agree that the messages of support are "priceless" ... I thoroughly recommend a visit to Pamalam's site where someone has taken the trouble to transfer them to be read in a trouble free manner.

There is no doubt in my mind these should be recorded for posterity.

I heard that fewer than 100 individuals made more than 300 of the donations, and that's only the ones who used the same names for their multiple donations.  It demonstrates a certain level of fanaticism amongst the die-hard "sceptic" community.

[G-Unit]

Although The Star referred to 'sick trolls' supporting Amaral's Fund it didn't quote any of the messages left with the donations. Possibly because they were clearly not written by 'trolls' at all, but by ordinary people. These people either don't believe the McCanns version of events or are simply supporting an 'underdog', which is a very British thing to do.
 

[Alfred R Jones]

Although The Star referred to 'sick trolls' supporting Amaral's Fund it didn't quote any of the messages left with the donations. Possibly because they were clearly not written by 'trolls' at all, but by ordinary people. These people either don't believe the McCanns version of events or are simply supporting an 'underdog', which is a very British thing to do.

The Star could have chosen from any number of comments to support its claim of "sick trolls" if it had been paying close enough attention.

[Lace]

A lot of police officers from both the Met and Leicestershire Police are quietly very unhappy at the way this investigation has developed and who would blame them.

To summarize

A three-year-old English/Irish girl goes missing in Portugal and despite the police from several countries being involved in the search the parents set about a multi million pound private investigation which ended up as one almighty charade. The Portuguese lead detective rightly follows every lead and ends up investigating the parents only to be removed from the case, is effectively forced to resign, writes a book about his experiences in the case and reveals his theory and is sued by the parents for a million quid.  With me so far?

Amaral got taken off the case for slagging off the British police.

[G-Unit]

The Star could have chosen from any number of comments to support its claim of "sick trolls" if it had been paying close enough attention.

For example?