Madeleine McCann: Kate and Gerry urge public to continue search for missing daughter after damages victory
19:56, 28 April 2015
By David Collins
Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral was ordered to pay the family a total of £434,000 after his book claimed the parents covered up her death
Kate and Gerry McCann urged the public to continue searching for daughter Madeleine after the hunt received a huge cash boost when they won £358,000 in libel damages.
Goncalo Amaral, the police chief who led the initial investigation into the youngster’s disappearance, wrote a book claiming the McCanns covered up their daughter’s death.
He was ordered to pay the family damages of €500,000 (£358,000) along with an extra £76,000 to be paid in interest dating back to January 2010.
Kate McCann said: “We’re absolutely delighted and so very happy.”
PA
And she and Gerry added in a statement: “We would like to remind people that there is still a little innocent girl who is missing and that those responsible for her abduction remain at large.
“We want to emphasise that the action was never about money. It was entirely focused on the libels on our other children and the damage that was done in the search for Madeleine.”
Kate and Gerry, who have 10-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, went on: “A lot has changed in the six years since we launched the action and we are pleased that there is still an active investigation in both Portugal and the UK.”
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Obviously this was the right verdict.
"It has been far too long but I am very pleased for Kate and Gerry, Sean and Amelie, that morally the right has been reached.”
Amaral’s book “The Truth of the Lie” accuses the McCanns of faking their daughter’s abduction to cover up her death in the apartment.
The McCanns launched a libel action in 2009 claiming their family had suffered emotional and psychological harm as a result of the claims made in the book.
Kate and Gerry, once named arguidos - a Portuguese term similar to formal suspect, but without being arrested or charged - were finally cleared in July 2008 after being interviewed several times by Portuguese detectives.
Three days later Amaral’s book was published in Portugal.
Kate and Gerry lodged a 36-page writ in June 2009 describing Amaral as a “self -obsessed, manipulative money-grabber” and accused him of libel and breaching their human rights.
Speaking today, their Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte said: “It was never about the money. It was about stopping awful lies being printed, which hindered the search for Madeleine.”
As the couple prepare for the agonising eighth anniversary of Maddie’s disappearancethis Sunday, Isabel said: “This verdict could not have come at a better time for them.
“I informed them immediately by email and Kate wrote back to say they were absolutely delighted and so very happy.
“Those were her words. She really believes it can help the chance of finding Madeleine alive because their accuser suggested the little girl was dead.
“This is the news we have been waiting for after six long years.
“We were always confident of a victory but in recent months had a few doubts. But the fact that Mr Amaral has now been silenced is very good news.
“He has to hand all copies of his book and the DVD to Kate and Gerry. Nothing he has produced about Madeleine can ever be on the shelves again. There is a total ban and that is all my clients ever wanted.”
She added: “I now hope and pray that they can find their daughter. That was always our goal and with Mr Amaral being silenced there is now more of a chance.
“They want the money to go into the fund to find Madeleine.
“The case has been very hard work but worthwhile and an important victory for my clients.
“I think they expected this decision. Mr Amaral’s book which was available across the world was very harmful to the search for Madeleine.
“I am happy and relieved for Kate and Gerry. They never deserved to be put through this extra agony.”
Maddie, who would now be aged 11, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007. She was aged three and just days away from her fourth birthday.
Judge Maria Emilia Melo e Castro announced her decision in a 52-page document today.
She ruled 84 facts had been proven, including that Amaral’s book caused the McCanns “rage, desperation, anguish and worry and insomnia” by claiming Madeleine had died in their Algarve holiday apartment and they had faked her abduction to cover up the tragedy.
She concluded 14 facts had not been proven, ruling Amaral’s statement in his book had not led to Portuguese police halting their search for Madeleine.
Amaral and publishers Guerra & Paz have been given 60 days to hand over any remaining copies of the book.
The judgement also bans them from publishing new editions of the book.
Kate, 47, from Rothley, Leics, said Madeleine’s twin siblings Sean and Amelie, now ten, knew about Amaral’s allegations, which also formed the basis for a subsequent TV documentary.
Asked by the judge how she felt after reading the book, she said: “I was devastated. It made me feel quite desperate because of the injustice I felt towards my daughter and our family as a whole.
“It was very painful to read and I felt sad for Madeleine. I also felt anxious and fearful because of the damage I felt it was doing in Portugal.”
She went on to accuse Amaral, thrown off the Madeleine McCann investigation in 2007 for criticising British police, of “consistently smearing” her and Gerry.
She believes the book may have stopped people coming forward with information about their daughter’s whereabouts.
Amaral, 56, earned around £286,000 from his book and a TV documentary.
He always denied defamation, insisting what he wrote was based on case files which had already been made public.
Julian Hamilton / Daily MirrorGoncalo AmaralDamages: Amaral made money out of book
His lawyer Miguel Cruz Rodrigues claimed in the last open court hearing in December the McCanns had taken legal action against his client “to rid themselves of guilt for their negligent conduct” in leaving Madeleine and her siblings alone.
He also claimed their lack of cooperation with the Portuguese police authorities had led to the archiving of the investigation in 2008.
In that hearing Ricardo Correia Afonso, representing the McCanns, told the court: "What he published distorted the facts, and as a result the parents were judged and sentenced by public opinion.
"His book is written like a novel and that's exactly what it is. The book and the DVD were produced to convince whoever saw or read them that the parents are guilty."
Fatima de Oliveira Esteves, representing publisher Guerra e Paz at the same hearing, said Amaral "appeared to have invented" large parts of the book but argued: "The fact is those children were left alone and because of that fact one of them disappeared. Anxiety and depression were caused by the disappearance of the child, not because of the book."
Portuguese prosecutors reopened their probe into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance last year and are conducting a separate investigation to one led by Scotland Yard.
