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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July 25th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Melanie
Certainly was!!!!
Woke all the patients up with a rousing chorus of ‘hooray hooray its a holi holiday’
Their reply was to sing ‘Crazy’
July 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Chenier
Any views on Hoggy?(seriously)
July 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Nosey
Yes
I am hoping to have a pub lunch this afternoon with her ( she lives next door so can just about hobble there)
Thanks xxx
July 25th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Karen
Are you suggesting all the video footage, sofa tours, press releases and round the world trips have NOT been about generating publicity to find Madeleine?
Wash your mouth out with soap young lady!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:44 am
sam Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 9:27 am
and I simply must go and pay a visit to the Dalai Lama and bring him a dolly of whom you know.
Must brush up my chines though
jo, it’s cold in tibet
*****
I know,I know but sardines keep better
Well…I”ll tell you a secret: Coco made a Dalai Lama dolly this is why I am going.He will simply love it.He will split himself with laughter becasue that what Tibetans do.Some do not like it though,like the chinese but we must strike hard while they are busy with the olympics
I am set to go on my next mission: boycotting the olympics
July 25th, 2008 at 9:43 am
sam Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
matt, i didn’t know nu labour had an ethos, well apart from lets screw everything up as much as possible.
Ethos….
“”"the characteristic tone of an institution or social organization.”"
I guess that incorporates your view also.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Morning Nosey!
Was that the last night shift before the hols?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
The publicity is pointless.
It’s just to make K & G look good IMO.
I doubt MM is walking about in public and if she’s being kept somewhere - it would be down to police, social workers, neighbours or visitors to work out something was wrong and they would do that anyway if it was possible (unless she is being treated like a Princess ).
July 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Brandon
Before I engross myself in some light reading …
How is your friend? is she home yet?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:41 am
cu sam
when u finish can u do some ’stuff’ round my house? PLEASE
July 25th, 2008 at 9:40 am
i’m off to do some stuff, cu all later
July 25th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Nosey
Rest well !! You deserve it !!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:35 am
thanks Brandon
PS Am demob happy - no work for 19 days
(paid work that is!
)
July 25th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Ferdinand
i would have thought that team McC would be happy with Ameral’s book, the launch is generating loads of media coverage and publicity about Madeleine, which will not cost (the rapidly dwindling fund) a penny.
Publicity is after all the key to finding her (as you have said many times)
July 25th, 2008 at 9:33 am
bloggers are the ones like themc cann files, jo morais, proud of the pj etc…
We are just commentors or posters
July 25th, 2008 at 9:32 am
nosey
we are posters
look up ………..
Proud of the PJ
or go on the site we cannot mention/ thread Early and ongoing translation of the book
They have summarised it in english
make a drink and enjoy
xx
July 25th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Ferdinand came out with:
2 agw Says:
” Why would a policeman’s book be “scandalous”? ”
Because it is a matter of lack of professional conduct.
A policeman in an investigation is in a similar situation than a doctor or a priest. You may, for that sake of the truth, confess embarrassing details of your private life, or even denounce a neighbour or a friend for suspicious or mistakable behaviour.
The police should confidentially check out whether there is any relevance for the case in such testimony, or if any other criminal offence has occurred, and if not, tacitly put it to the files.
They should not write books about their clients.
” Get the policeman to prove his allegations. ”
Not quite the point. He may well be truthful in the matter.
It may well happen that you have what you consider serious doubts about a friend of a friend’s behaviour. The police is in a position to check things out, and it may turn out as a harmless misunderstanding.
In that case neither do you want to have published you have erroneously denounced a friend of a friend of serious misconduct, nor does your friend of a friend want it to be published by a policeman that he “was suspected of serious misconduct”.
Administrator: You are babbling. This makes no sense at all. If there is an allegation of libel then it is fair and proper that the matter be brought to and discussed in court. The problem for all concerned here. Is that ALL matters will be brought to a court and ALL evidence can be produced. That evidence will not be brought before a judge sitting alone, it will be in front of a jury and I venture to suggest not one British juror will be able to say they have no pre-formed opinion…as you seem to have.
I, genuinely, have no opinion. I observe… I suggest, forcibly and in the strongest possible terms, that you do the same.
This would be new and highly dangerous country for The Doctors McCann. -agw
July 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
matt, i didn’t know nu labour had an ethos, well apart from lets screw everything up as much as possible.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
are we bloggers?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Ferd
Policemen don’t have clients - they have cases.
They work for the state and it’s in the public interest to know what they get up to.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Brandon
PLEASE update me.
Where does it say that they are going to sue the author or THE book?
What reaction did the rooky cop give?
What did Stuart Prior say?
who removed what wristband and why?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:27 am
jo, it’s cold in tibet
July 25th, 2008 at 9:23 am
coco Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 9:02 am
I disagree….but only on the make-up of what is New Labour.
Their whole ethos is a Political scam.
I am more concerned about the lack of Political Choice for voters.
An ex-Labour Party cloned to imitate a right wing based Party deprives
a large percentage of voters of a wider Political Choice.
I would prefer to see a proper Democratic Socialist Party emerge from the
ashes of the funeral pyre that was New Labour.
Then voters can then make choices and feel that they have not been
disenfranchised in any way Politically.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:22 am
sam Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am
but not quiet yet yet 
jo yes, great news for murat and his friends and well deserved holidays too.
*******
So do I! I tell ya
I”ve got to do some “oiling” get the ball to run smoothly and then…..I”ll be off to Tibet
July 25th, 2008 at 9:20 am
COCO
Have a fantastic day and dont fiddle with the dollies too much,you know how rapidely dirty they get,especially the M3,Hogg and the others.You would have to wash them over and over again to get the smell out .Beware of the dogs.Cave canem
Matt
The REAL Madeleines case has started…..
July 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am
jo yes, great news for murat and his friends and well deserved holidays too.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:14 am
They will have to justify their allegations for the damage(supposidely) made to their reputation ….of prats
Such incredible fools 
Any reaction of the T7?of one in particular T7? dear me!
Lemme call Oprah! lets invite her to rothley for an interview.They can speak now,cant they.?…no arguidos anymore
I hope you will have noticed that Robert Murat has disappeared from the surface of earth and enjoying long holidays away from the poo-poo coming up
He is gone fishing in Iceland to escape the very very hot sun in portugal ……Apparently it is hotter than ever in Portimao
Well done,Robert! Enjoy your life,you deserve peace of mind and a very confortable life!!! YOU have suffered enough
July 25th, 2008 at 9:13 am
jo Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 9:00 am
“”"Yes,Brandon you read well : it was to discredit the doggies and everything
else which could make justice to Madeleine”"”"
Indeed…the very basis of their “campaign”. IMO
July 25th, 2008 at 9:12 am
have a great day coco
July 25th, 2008 at 9:10 am
brandon flours Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 9:07 am
good :), i’ve been thinking about whether than can sue amaral or not, i don’t think they can, not if the book is a true account of what happened, of what the investigators thought at the time, but we will see.