http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-kate-close-suicide-2286831Madeleine McCann: Mum Kate close to killing herself over 'smear campaign'
20 Sep 2013 00:00
A British psychologist who counselled the mum told a court she had “dark thoughts” after Goncalo Amaral’s shocking book
Devastated Kate McCann considered suicide after a police chief claimed she covered up Madeleine’s death.
Psychologist Alan Pike helped the mum and yesterday told a court she had “dark thoughts”.
She told him there were times she was “so incensed she couldn’t get through each day”.
Kate and husband Gerry are suing shamed detective Goncalo Amaral, who should have been looking for missing three-year-old Madeleine instead of making the shock claims, described at the court in capital Lisbon as a “smear campaign”.
British Mr Pike told judges yesterday that he had been helping the McCanns, both 45, since Madeleine’s disappearance on the Algarve on May 3, 2007.
He said: “Kate thought about not being around anymore. She referred to killing herself as an option to end the trauma.
"I deduced it was an indicator of how she felt rather that something she intended to do. Kate wasn’t well and she shared very dark thoughts.”
Amaral’s book Maddie: The Truth of The Lie accused Kate of staging her daughter’s disappearance, despite no evidence.
He claimed Madeleine had not been abducted but died in an accident and the McCanns hid her body.
He also suggested the couple cashed in on £2million of public donations.
It was published in 2008, three days after the McCanns – made suspects over their daughter’s disappearance – had their status as “arguidos” lifted.
The book was withdrawn after they got an injunction. The McCanns, of Rothley, Leics, have campaigned tirelessly to keep Madeleine in the headlines.
Mr Pike said of Kate: “She spent days sobbing about the injustice done to Madeleine by the very people who ought to have been helping her.
"There were times she felt so incensed by Amaral she couldn’t get through each day with the panic and anguish she felt.”
The couple are suing sacked Amaral, 56, in a £1million libel case. They are also suing his publishers and a TV station.
Amaral denies defamation and said everything in his book was already made public in police files. The case continues.
