If they lose (which I've no doubt they will) I hope they rise above the crowing and gloating and put it behind them. Things have move on considerably from when they started their action, and in a positive direction for the case. There's no point wasting more money trying to get justice in Portugal, it's a bizarre system if you ask me, (which you didn't).
I think you are one of the few people who agree with me that they might lose (at least in the first instance). However, I've slightly come back on that since Murat won his case against CdaM (albeit on appeal). A difference, perhaps, is that journalists (and press editors) have clearly established duties and Amaral doesn't qualify as one. On the other hand, his former position gives him more "credibility" than the village idiot on a soapbox.
Murat received a tiny amount, not because that was the estimated value of his reputation, but because it was impossible to quantify the damage caused.
A problem with PT law (if I've understood how it works) is that civil libel isn't different to any other civil liability case. If you smash someone's window, then the damage is limited to the costs involved. You produce bills to show how much the window cost to replace and that's it.
ETA:
A different point is that the crows will suddenly forget that the case concerns Portuguese legislation and will immediately assume that UK libel laws applied - i.e., that everything he's written / said was true and accurate, when that isn't how it works at all.
But yes, I agree that the search for what happened to their daughter has moved on since those days, but the McCanns weren't to know that at the time. On the other hand, a large percentage of those knitting in front of their TVs watching Júlia's pink couch matinée shows are no doubt still convinced that Amaral is a hero, thwarted by perfidious Albion. They will never read the files, nor keep a look out for her.
