Madeleine McCann: Suing Amaral, Mark Lawson’s Fact And Fiction, And Bloggers Beware
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
THE GUARDIAN: “The Panama Mystery - Mr and Mrs Canoe’s case fascinates but can’t match crime fiction’s satisfying motives and denouement”
Mark Lawson does so love a good ending to a work of fiction and fact. A super-fiction. Take care you don’t confuse the two.
In his piece Lawson name checks them all: John and Anne Darwin, Radovan Karadzic, Fred and Rose West, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, Ian Huntley, Harold Shipman and…
As the trial was coming to a close, I was at the Harrogate Crime-Writing Festival, and newspapers were reporting the latest developments in the Madeleine McCann case.
Bingo! Where were you?
One of the reasons for the huge popularity of crime fiction is that the genre explores, in a sanitised environment, the fear and prurient fascination we feel when faced with murders and abductions. Real-life criminality and fiction have become a loop, communicating with each other: several of the books discussed at Harrogate featured missing children; in two years, expect a slew of novels about husbands and wives who mysteriously disappear.
Can you tell the difference between fact and fiction? Now read on…
THE SUN: “McCanns to sue cop over book”.
DEVASTATED Kate and Gerry McCann are to launch a legal blitz in Portugal after the publication of a scandalous book about the disappearance of their daughter Maddie.
In The Truth Behind The Lie, ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral details ludicrous allegations about the couple and the pals they dined with when Maddie vanished in Portugal last year.
Who gets sued?
The McCanns plan to take action against Amaral, Portuguese newspapers which reprinted parts of the £10 book and bloggers who discussed it.
Anorak did not discuss the book’s merit. We did not reproduce a single quote from the book. But can bloggers who did be sued effectively? Many are men and women of straw. What can the outcome be? Best for bloggers, perhaps, to avoid the matter? Or get a crack moderation team – like Anorak. But what, then , of freedom of speech?
Says Amaral: “This book is not revenge, it is not persecution. We can discuss the case in court if they want.”
In the context of a libel case, they might well…
DAILY MAIL: “We failed, says Maddie police chief… but he refuses to apologise to her parents”
Says Amaral: “’There will be no apology, I was just doing my job.”
As a writer…?
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “Madeleine McCann case: Portuguese police admit failings
The police detective who led the search for Madeleine McCann has admitted that there were some failings in the investigation but refused to accept responsibility for not solving the case…
Several hundred people queued up to collect copies of “Maddie The truth of the Lie” and many congratulated Mr Amaral for his courage to speak out.
BELFAST TELEGRPAH: “McCann case detective’s book to get English translation”
Who will review it if it published in the UK?
THE HERALD: “Sympathy for McCanns must be tempered”
Letters to the editor:
How kind Colette Douglas Home is to Gerry and Kate McCann (Comment, July 22). She uses many column inches pouring scorn on the Portuguese police (perhaps justifiably, I don’t know), showering Gerry and Kate with sympathy (I, too, feel for them), but only makes passing reference to the action that, had it not happened, would have prevented this heartbreaking event from occurring in the first place.
This is clearly their “decision to leave her sleeping while they met friends for dinner”.
- Allistair Matheson, Selkirk.
Colette’s opinion - that Gerry McCann is handsome and Kate McCann beautiful - is irrelevant. The eye of the beholder? Colette states: “And they will always carry the burden of their decision to leave her sleeping while they met friends for dinner.” What kind of parents, in a foreign land, needlessly leave their child, not yet four years old, asleep without a child-minder and out of sound or sight, while they indulge themselves with their friends?
The McCanns deserve all the anguish they brought upon themselves through poor judgment, and not endless public sympathy. Madeleine is the victim. I hope and pray that she is unharmed and is being looked after in loving care, however wrongfully.
- Donald C Irving, Ayr.
And on it goes…
Posted: 25th, July 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Madeleine McCann, Tabloids Comments (626) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
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August 15th, 2008 at 1:50 am
funny thing to me is that…
is there anyone out there who truly believes Maddie’s alive?
nothing on Mr Amaral’s book is made up. It’s all in the case files.
the guilty party - whoever that is - will never sue him as they know that is what he wants them to do, so that under the Portuguese law, the original case can be re-opened and that is something they simply don’t want to happen
Re-opening the process is out of the question. It’s a funny thing no UK publisher is willing to take the chance of publishing and distributing the English translation of the book. Who are they afraid of?…
There are far bigger fish in the sea, you know? the US would not mind getting it exposed. The truth, no mater how hard you try will ALWAYS prevail.
Think about it… do you believe the McCann’s for themselves or ’cause you refuse to believe this whole circus grew way beyond anyones expectations? Do you truly believe the poor girl’s still “out there somewhere”? get real.
you may fool a lot of people for little time; not as many for a long time; but no one will fool everyone forever.
justice will be made. Either the easy, or the hard way.
_____________________
m&a
edited
-meercat
relaw0400
July 26th, 2008 at 8:46 am
noooo fred
July 26th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Aqui mim está pensando que você entendeu jo português, evidentemente não, AG está estando jo?
So is the AG lying jo……..?
July 26th, 2008 at 8:08 am
….and before I go
JUSTICIA PARA MADELEINE
VIVA PORTUGAL
VIVA LA DEMOCRACIA
Surely,Gandolf can provide us with a translation?
July 26th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Here is an update for the denial brigade, formerly known as the antis.
Portugal’s top law officer has said there is no evidence against any of the former arguidos.
A question…..are the denial brigade implying that Portugal’s top law officer is lying….or something even more sinister.
Come on let’s be hearing if you think the gentleman is out of touch with reality, although evidently not as much as the denial brigade………so is he lying in your view denial brigade ?
M and A
Good morning Gandolf
He actually said there was no evidence of any crime, this would include abduction, so it means she wandered off.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:30 am
m.e. Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I am certain there was an abduction.
I am certain the McCanns are innocent.
I am certain that I have not been planted…or paid…
…..for my sarcasm.
*********
103% sure?
July 26th, 2008 at 7:25 am
26/07/08
McCanns’s Censure Portuguese Democracy and Freedom of Speech
If it was only in Portugal…..
Mr.&Mrs Mccanninum,this is one of the worst thing you could do
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccannss-censure-portuguese-democracy.html
July 26th, 2008 at 7:21 am
Good morning
Disclosure: Kate’s Notes gives reason to Gonçalo Amaral
“To increase the political pressure.” The sentence, by Kate McCann, written in notes found at her house and that the Judiciary Police(PJ)requested to be apprehend,is clear as to the way Maddie’s parents were intending to manage the disappearance of the daughter, bringing it to the first pages of the Press and turning it into a case with political outlines.
More later….
Aye! Facts or fiction?
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/
July 26th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Jings! she is more powerful than Maggie……….. http://tinyurl.com/55jnmw
TTFN again!
July 26th, 2008 at 6:17 am
I am certain there was an abduction.
I am certain the McCanns are innocent.
I am certain that I have not been planted…or paid…
…..for my sarcasm.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:08 am
OK windylickers, listen up, we are going to clarify the situation, as it is in reality land, not Chatta the hot bitch’s fairytale land……………#
One day in a far of land a new sheriff was appointed, he had heard the story of the King has no clothes and decided I will base the results of my clarifying upon this wonderful story.
So he ordered all his plod to leave no stone unturned and no page unread, he ordered his hand picked plod to examine all of the previous plods ahem, evidence.
After many months of painstaking searching and examining of all sorts of blind alleys, the sheriff got a call from his prosecutor, who in turn had his arse kicked by the new AG.
We must have final report before the month is out the AG wants to know if the King has any clothes, the prosecutor tells the sheriff, ffs is he nuts says the chief plod….everyone knows we got fuck all……….except the anti’s.
However I digress, the report was duly finalised and the AG issued his edict, NO EVIDENCE AND NO CLOTHES.
But the multitude of windylickers, who are the anti’s did not have their ear trumpets or white sticks available at the time, lots of them are impressed with the Kings lovely new clothes, as they tell us every day.
The fragrant duo targeted by the great unwashed windylickers, have their own fairy godmother in the form of “Carter give us the money you are getting Fuked”
The get Carter mob have the ogre Amaral firmly in the line of their magic money wand, more dosh for the fragrant duo to continue the search for the missing Princess Madeleine.
So to summary…….NO EVIDENCE …..NO CLOTHES………NO POST MORTEM EVIDENCE…….IN SHORT,…………… NO EVIDENCE….PERIOD.
To be continued in the court of Justice Hogg, did you know that a deceased minor cannot be a ward of court. Madeleine McCann is a ward of court, under the sainted Lady’s court.
I do like to remind the windy lickers of the facts, did you know the doggie evidence was totally useless, did you know that cadaverine is also produced by living people…….you do now………..when your lickin windaes, George Formby sings it, you should buy it……TTFN.
Mods and Admin
Yes Gandolf, she wandered off while left alone, the fragrant duo were out at the tapas bar
July 26th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Karen Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
whoops
Gerry and Kate both come from Irish Catholic families - almost all Irish Catholics I know (without Prod relatives) in Scotland anyway, think that the Freemasons are an anti-Catholic organisation and avoid it like the plague - I really can’t see Gerry being in it.
true but non religious professionals join. Some people love the elitism. Mccanns only became religious after the disappearence, I think. i know of masons from Catholic backgrounds.
On the video; i think it’s irrelevant. Lots of people are cranky while travelling, it doesn’t make them murderers or abusers.
July 26th, 2008 at 2:36 am
What happened to the holiday snaps that GM “lost”. Doubt anyone loses holiday snaps! For blood to have been found in the apartment some time after arriving, the injury must have been a bad one and being doctors, surely it would have been attended to.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Just when you thought it was all over - watch this , I tried to search form the McCann youtube and this was the first one relevant to “McCann” - what on God’s earth is going on???http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=ENCiy4TYR7E
July 26th, 2008 at 1:48 am
goodnight annie and all from me too
July 26th, 2008 at 1:46 am
annie1 Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Sam - my point was really that someone thought it was relevant to put it on y.t. but who? It brought no light on the issue of Madeleine being found, it gave no indication of why she may have gone, so why put that particular snip on yt?
it doesn’t show though that maddie had a knee injury and nor do any of the pictures, only one picture shows her legs, the one on the tennis grounds, all others do not show her knee or any injury which apparently she had when climbing up to the stairs on the plane, and which apparently explained the blood in the appartment.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Agreed - it is getting late and the mind runs riots= nite everyone
July 26th, 2008 at 1:40 am
annie1 Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:37 am
‘Sam - my point was really that someone thought it was relevant to put it on y.t. but who? It brought no light on the issue of Madeleine being found, it gave no indication of why she may have gone, so why put that particular snip on yt?
i honestly don’t know, at one time i had the thought that maybe it wasn’t a holiday, that maybe the whole thing was planned, so surreal have been parts of it, of maddies disappearance.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Sam - my point was really that someone thought it was relevant to put it on y.t. but who? It brought no light on the issue of Madeleine being found, it gave no indication of why she may have gone, so why put that particular snip on yt?
July 26th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Cheryl Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:25 am
‘Yes it was you’ll note Fox’s lawyer had it moved to another state where the libel laws are tougher on proof. However, win some lose some. But in the end they have won! My real regret in cases such as theirs is that every person who helped ruin their lives, smeared their names, carried on the campaign against them for years could not all be brought to trial and exposed. Like forget the monetary damages just put their names in front pages of the papers with a written apology. True Justice at its best!’
if they were or are innocent then yes, if not it’s a travesty.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:25 am
sam Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Cheryl Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
hi cheryl, this is interesting too,
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/01/08/587/89842
_________-
Yes it was you’ll note Fox’s lawyer had it moved to another state where the libel laws are tougher on proof. However, win some lose some. But in the end they have won! My real regret in cases such as theirs is that every person who helped ruin their lives, smeared their names, carried on the campaign against them for years could not all be brought to trial and exposed. Like forget the monetary damages just put their names in front pages of the papers with a written apology. True Justice at its best!
July 26th, 2008 at 1:20 am
annie1 Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:12 am
It actually showed Gerry in a very poor light - made him look like a miserable old sod, so who actually filmed it and put it on You Tube, I wonder? Nobody else was targeted, and there was even a vocal reference to G either cheer up or something to that effect. Made him look like a real moody barstool……….wonder who did it, I expect You tube would know who posted it, so it obviously has no relevance
well it did make me wonder why he wasn’t too happy about going on holiday but that’s about it.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:19 am
good night chatelaine
July 26th, 2008 at 1:18 am
Châtelaine Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:07 am
‘Yes, BUT
How did we get to see it??????’
someone put it on ytube of course.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:17 am
annie1 Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:07 am
‘OK Sam, but whose phone, and why would they consider it even remotely interesting to put it on You Tube?’
one of the tapas people. it was showing maddie, wasn’t that reason enough ?
July 26th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Châtelaine Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Sam, aha. The coin has dropped
it has ? where ?
BTW was it Annie on Youtube war? I thought it was Karen.
gosh. quite possible, i am terrible with names, sorry.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:13 am
annie1 Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:01 am
’sam - get back to reality - if the dog said that there had been a body, then as far as I am concerned - there had been a body. Need not have been the body of the missing child, could have been any”body” . Who rented that bloody apartment before the Mcs. ‘
i think they did check that there had been no death beforehand in the apartment.
I bet they found a dead animal on the road - took it back to the apartment and ate it, or put it in the freezer - maybe that was what buggered it up and caused Gerry to get a new one (was that true, bye the way?) I read that he replaced the freezer, but one never knows really what is fact and what is not - does one?’
yuck. i’m sure that’s more depraved than my theory. no, one doesn’t know what is fact and what isn’t. but dead things found on road and taken back to apartment and all that. it doesnt make sense. and i dont think maddie was hidden in a freezer either.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:12 am
It actually showed Gerry in a very poor light - made him look like a miserable old sod, so who actually filmed it and put it on You Tube, I wonder? Nobody else was targeted, and there was even a vocal reference to G either cheer up or something to that effect. Made him look like a real moody barstool……….wonder who did it, I expect You tube would know who posted it, so it obviously has no relevance
July 26th, 2008 at 1:10 am
It was on Youtube???? No kidding! That’s very very strange.
Well, time to go to bed.
Good night “all”
July 26th, 2008 at 1:07 am
am Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Châtelaine Says:
July 26th, 2008 at 1:00 am
***
You’re right, Annie. I actually never stopped and wondered how we got to see this video …!
—–
i think it was on someones phone.
@@@@@@@
Yes, BUT
How did we get to see it??????
July 26th, 2008 at 1:07 am
OK Sam, but whose phone, and why would they consider it even remotely interesting to put it on You Tube?