So what's next in the libel trial saga?

[ferryman]

Apart from their right to express an opinion, I am not all that interested in their judgment.  But I might be interested in how they react if they are proven to be wrong.

I just hope that there won't be too much gloating going on.

When the McCanns are handed victory in the libel trial, the "victory" will be confirmation of what has been all too obvious to at least some of us for ages: that the people the McCanns relied on most to help them find Madeleine double-crossed and betrayed them most cruelly.

I would expect that to be a cause of unimaginable heartbreak and fury.

[Albertini]

Did Kate say fear was their reason for contemplating leaving for Spain?

Why else would one contemplate a flit to the Spanish border under the cover of darkness?

For s***s and giggles?

[Alfred R Jones]

Apart from their right to express an opinion, I am not all that interested in their judgment.  But I might be interested in how they react if they are proven to be wrong.

I just hope that there won't be too much gloating going on.

&%+((£ It will be a veritable gloat-fest whatever the outcome, that is 100% guaranteed.

[Albertini]

You'd have to ask them.  There's no point speculating but if I had to I would say it's because that was their opinion.

So wouldn't that mean the witnesses statements as to the damage done to the McCann's by the book is unreliable or false?

Because if the witnesses felt they weren't concerned by the Arguido status but Kate says they actually thought about doing a runner then clearly they aren't able to accurately judge their moods and feelings.

Their whole assessments as to the state of the McCann's well being is worthless junk.

[Alfred R Jones]

Why else would one contemplate a flit to the Spanish border under the cover of darkness?

For s***s and giggles?

Don't be flippant.  Kate gave a reason did she not?  To keep the family together I believe was the reason, as a threat of possie arrest and detention loomed over them.

[Albertini]

Don't be flippant.  Kate gave a reason did she not?  To keep the family together I believe was the reason, as a threat of possie arrest and detention loomed over them.

So the Arguido status did worry them then, yes or no?

[Alfred R Jones]

So wouldn't that mean the witnesses statements as to the damage done to the McCann's by the book is unreliable or false?

Because if the witnesses felt they weren't concerned by the Arguido status but Kate says they actually thought about doing a runner then clearly they aren't able to accurately judge their moods and feelings.

Their whole assessments as to the state of the McCann's well being is worthless junk.

That's your opinion and IMO your opinion falls into the same category, more so as you are relying on not entirely impartial court transcripts for your information.  Who else would be in s better position to give evidence about the effect of the book on the mcCanns' well-being than those who know them best?  Do you think you're in a better position to say how it affected them? 

[Alfred R Jones]

So the Arguido status did worry them then, yes or no?

Christ, I feel like I'm in the witness box now.  Kindly dial down the aggressive cross-questioning.  I think I have already answered this.

[ferryman]

So the Arguido status did worry them then, yes or no?

Of course it didn't.

Anyone on this forum would be gung-ho brimming and overflowing with joy to be formally accused of causing the death of their own daughter, concealing her body and launching a fraudulent fund in her name ...

[VIXTE]

Of course it didn't.

Anyone on this forum would be gung-ho brimming and overflowing with joy to be formally accused of causing the death of their own daughter, concealing her body and launching a fraudulent fund in her name ...

It would obviously feel like scenes from Kafka's The Trial...

[Albertini]

Of course it didn't.

Anyone on this forum would be gung-ho brimming and overflowing with joy to be formally accused of causing the death of their own daughter, concealing her body and launching a fraudulent fund in her name ...

So why did Susan Hubbard say it didn't bother them?

Why did Michael wright say it wasn't a preoccupation?

Either these witnesses didn't know the McCann's state of mind or they did and weren't telling the truth to the court.

Which is it?

[Albertini]

Christ, I feel like I'm in the witness box now.  Kindly dial down the aggressive cross-questioning.  I think I have already answered this.

Don't be such a drama queen. It's a discussion forum  for heavens sake. I asked you a simple question with a simple yes or no answer required.

I've no idea how you've translated that into aggressive cross questioning.

[Alice Purjorick]

TORN APART BY HIS LIES

Sunday Mirror

July 12, 2009

MADDIE PARENTS SUE COP FOR £1M BOOK PROFITS
 
By TOM WORDEN
 
Kate and Gerry McCann are suing the police chief who bungled the investigation into their daughter's disappearance - and blamed them for her death - for £1million.
 
In a 36-page writ handed to the Sunday Mirror, they lay bare in painful detail how Gonçalo Amaral's accusations left them "totally destroyed" and caused them "irreparable" damage.
 
It also gives a harrowing insight into the day-to-day life in the McCann household as they struggle to cope without Madeleine.
 
The writ - which the Sunday Mirror has had translated from Portuguese - outlines how the couple both suffer from "permanent anxiety, insomnia, lack of appetite, irritability and an indefinable fear". It also says Kate McCann is "steeped in a deep and serious depression".
 
Disgraced former police Amaral has pocketed £ 1million writing a lurid book and making a documentary full of cruel lies about Madeliene and her parents. And now they are suing him for every penny of it.
 
He accuses them of accidentally killing their three-year-old daughter and then covering up her death.
 
Amaral, who was thrown off case after five months, has repeatedly claimed Madeleine died in the holiday apartment on Algarve. In his book The Truth About The Lie he spouts his absurd theory that the couple hid their daughter's body.
 
The lawsuit also highlights their fears for four-year-old twins Sean and Amelie when they start school later this year and begin to hear rumours that Madeleine is dead.
 
And it accuses Amaral of being a self-obsessed, manipulative money-grabber with no morals.
 
The couple, both 41, have hired Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte to sue Amaral for defamation and for breaching their human rights. Mrs Duarte, 54, said: "Somebody has to stop him and shut him up. He is a rich man now, earning millions from the distress of this family. We believe he has made up to 1.2million euros (£1million) from the book and the video. We want the court to punish him by taking at least that much from him."
 
The McCanns have a good case for defamation as they have already been cleared by Portugal's Attorney General. The case will go to trial in Lisbon next summer and Amaral, 49, could force the McCanns to take the stand. Madeleine is named with Kate and Gerry and the twins as a complainant in the lawsuit, lodged on June 24.
 
The McCanns, both doctors from Rothley, Leics, claim Amaral's repeated insistence that their daughter is dead has stopped people looking for her. The lawsuit states: "Madeleine has been deprived of the possibility of a fair and adequate investigation into her disappearance, putting her moral and physical integrity at serious risk."
 
It says Gerry and Kate have been "totally destroyed from a moral, social, ethical, emotional and family point of view, beyond the pain that the absence of their eldest daughter causes them".
 
The couple want a minimum of £430,000 in damages for Madeleine, which will be used to keep the search for her going. They also want a minimum of £215,000 each for them, and another £86,000 each for the twins. It is thought any money they get will go to the Maddie fund.
 
Amaral's book has sold around 330,000 copies worldwide. The father-of-three has become a celeb in Portugal, and has a new Jaguar.
 
The McCanns say his "sole objectives" in writing the book were "to earn a lot of money", using "lies".
 
It says the book and his 50-minute documentary, which has been shown twice on Portuguese TV, are "manipulative, perverse, false, destructive, defamatory, deeply damaging and therefore illegal".
 
Amaral was in charge of the 30 detectives looking for Madeleine after she vanished in May 2007 on a family holiday in Praia da Luz.
 
He was largely responsible for making the McCanns "arguidos" - suspects - four months after Madeleine vanished. But he was kicked off the case in October 2007 days after the Sunday Mirror revealed he was working as little as four hours a day and was enjoying long, boozy lunches.
 
He was removed from the case on his 48th birthday. Amaral took early retirement shortly afterwards, ending 27 years on the force.
 
He began writing his book, promoting it by travelling around Europe giving newspaper interviews.
 
It went on sale in a blaze of publicity in July last year - three days after the McCanns' "arguido" status was removed. Earlier this month Amaral was charged with torturing a witness during a separate missing child case. He faces jail if convicted.
 
WHAT THEY ARE DEMANDING
 
£430,000 damages for Madeleine which will be used to continue the search for her.
 
£215,000 for each parent for the emotional distress the book has caused them. They say they suffer 'permanent anxiety, insomnia, lack of appetite, irritability and an indefinable fear'. The writ also says Kate McCann is 'steeped in a deep and serious depression'.
 
£86,000 for each of their twins Sean and Amelie, who could hear his allegations when they start school in September.
 
HOW HE MADE HIS MONEY
 
£500,000 from the book which has sold 180,000 copies in Portugal alone.
 
£430,000 from the extra 150,000 books which have been sold in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Holland.
 
£100,000 for a TV documentary watched by one in five people in Portugal - 75,000 copies have sold on DVD.

Cheers for that.
The time to generate the writ seems to have been unconscionably long. Assuming of course they were off the blocks when the book was first released.
I guess it is a random coincidence that the monetary value of damages sought approximates to the estimated income Dr Amaral made from the book etc.
Well the plaintiffs will need to prove the nature and extent of the damage caused which may prove difficult in the light of the evidence given by some witnesses.

[Alfred R Jones]

Don't be such a drama queen. It's a discussion forum  for heavens sake. I asked you a simple question with a simple yes or no question.

I've no idea how you've translated that into aggressive cross questioning.

I hadn't raised you were such a delicate flower.

A question which I had already answered on the previous page.  Demanding answers with a yes or no is aggressive in my opinion and that's how you are coming across.  Here is my final opinion for tonight - you can cross examine me further tomorrow if you wish:

I believe the McCanns probably were quite fearful at being made arguidos and at what that might entail, that would be only natural.  However, during the arguido questioning Kate recounts how she began to relax when she realised that the PJ had absolutely no evidence on them and that her confidence and strength grew.  I would say (purely speculatively) that at this point she ceased to be afraid of being an arguido, even more so when they had returned home, and that is why Susan Hubbard quite rightly said they were not afraid because they knew they were innocent.  Pick the bones out of that and spit them back at me tomorrow

[Albertini]

A question which I had already answered on the previous page.  Demanding answers with a yes or no is aggressive in my opinion and that's how you are coming across.  Here is my final opinion for tonight - you can cross examine me further tomorrow if you wish:

I believe the McCanns probably were quite fearful at being made arguidos and at what that might entail, that would be only natural.  However, during the arguido questioning Kate recounts how she began to relax when she realised that the PJ had absolutely no evidence on them and that her confidence and strength grew.  I would say (purely speculatively) that at this point she ceased to be afraid of being an arguido, even more so when they had returned home, and that is why Susan Hubbard quite rightly said they were not afraid because they knew they were innocent.  Pick the bones out of that and spit them back at me tomorrow

No need to wait look at the questions:

GP - asks if the constitution of the arguido status created a secondary trauma.
AP - says the McCanns were confused about not having been made arguidos sooner, because it was quite normal in an investigation for people close to the victim to be investigated first. He says they expected it.

GP - How did the couple react when they were made arguidos?
SH - says the McCanns didn't fear the arguido status because they knew they were innocent.

You'll note the question relates to being made or constituted Arguidos. Not how they felt later in the process.

But hats off for a valiant attempt at swerving it.