Kate McCann tells libel hearing she wants to defend herself in court against ‘smears’ made against her by Portuguese police

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2449861/Kate-McCann-mother-Madeleine-tells-libel-hearing-wants-defend-court-smears-Portuguese-police-over.html



Kate McCann has requested permission to defend herself in libel case
Gerry McCann has also expressed a wish to speak during trial
Family is suing Goncaro Amaral over book The Truth of the Lie
Police chief claimed the McCanns hid Madeleine's body after she died in an accident then faked her abduction

By Gerard Couzens

PUBLISHED: 16:12 GMT, 8 October 2013 | UPDATED: 16:36 GMT, 8 October 2013



Kate McCann attended the opening day of the trial but has since stayed away, leaving it to friends and family to represent her, until Mr Armal began his defense

Kate McCann attended the opening day of the trial but has since stayed away, leaving it to friends and family to represent her, until Mr Armal began his defense

The tormented mother of Madeleine McCann has said she wants to defend herself in open court for the first time against Portuguese police 'smears' over her daughter's disappearance.

Kate McCann has asked a judge for permission to address a libel trial brought after a controversial book suggested the McCanns may have hidden their daughter's body and staged an abduction.

The author of The Truth Of The Lie is ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral, 56, who was tasked with investigating Madeleine's May 2007 disappearance.

Kate's husband Gerry and Mr Amaral have already applied to speak in the Portuguese court.

Her application, revealed at the libel trial today as former police colleagues of Mr Amaral spoke in his defence, paves the way for an emotional finale to the case.

It comes just days ahead of a new appeal by the McCanns for information on their missing daughter on BBC's Crimewatch which will feature a reconstruction of events in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007.

It is thought Gerry and Kate, 45, will appeal directly to a kidnapper during the programme.

Madeleine's mother flew to Portugal for the start of the libel trial last month - but had left it to friends and relatives to testify before Mr Amaral's side launched its defence.

More...




Judge Maria Emilia Melo e Castro, referring to Kate by her maiden name as she revealed her change of heart, said: 'On October 2 Kate Healy made an application to make a statement to this court.


Hearing: Gerry McCann has also expressed a wish to testify against police chief Goncaro Amaral

'The court will decide on this application once evidence has been heard by both sides as only then will it be able to judge on the need for and the pertinence of this application.'

If given the go-ahead, the McCanns and Mr Amaral are expected to speak on the same day on or after November 27 when the last hearing in the trial at Lisbon's Palace of Justice is scheduled.

Former colleagues of Mr Amaral's turned up the heat on the McCanns today by insisting nothing he wrote in his July 2008 book was new.

The book was published just three days after the McCanns had their status as suspects over Madeleine's disappearance officially lifted.

Around 120,000 copies were sold before it was withdrawn when the McCanns won an injunction against the ex-police chief.
Proceedings: Mr McCann in the court building, where the case against Mr Amaral is being heard



Anger: Mr McCann claims the allegations made it harder to search for his daughter, who vanished in 2007



Portuguese TV station TVI, also being sued by the McCanns along with Mr Amaral's book publishers, broadcast a controversial documentary based on the book in April 2009.

Former family liaison officer Ricardo Paiva told the court: 'What is in the book is based on our investigation and contains the professional and personal opinions of Goncalo Amaral as a police officer.

'Everything that is there can be found in the case files.'

Contradicting earlier claims by the McCanns' family and friends that Mr Amaral's book had hindered their search for their daughter by turning the Portuguese public against them, he added: 'The flow of information continued to come in regularly.

'Neither this book or any other book affected the flow of information.'

Luis Neves, head of a national police unit tasked with investigating organised crime, including kidnappings, said Mr Amaral's conclusion Madeleine was dead was an idea accepted early on by her parents.

He insisted Kate was the driving force behind a failed July 2007 search for Madeleine by controversial ex-south African detective Danie Krugel, who claimed to have invented a machine which could locate a body if provided with a DNA sample.

Neves said the reservations he felt over Mr Krugel were shared by colleagues about sniffer dogs supplied by British police which went on to smell the 'scent of death' in the McCanns' holiday apartment and place a huge question mark over the hypothesis Madeleine was kidnapped.

The performance of the dogs was later called into question after they also reacted to remains at Haut de la Garenne orphanage in Jersey, which were later found to be animal bones.
Battle: Mr McCann and his family are still looking for Madeleine, who was aged three when she disappeared

Battle: Mr McCann and his family are still looking for Madeleine, who was aged three when she disappeared

Mr Neves told the court: 'The McCanns convinced us we should bring in the south African man with his equipment.

'We didn't want to place any obstacles in the way and so the investigating officers eventually allowed it.

'It was during this part of the investigation our British colleagues said there was a team made up of dogs and their handlers that could help us to find out where the child could be buried.

'It was from then on that the Algarve police division decided to allow the dogs to come and the idea of Madeleine's death began to form and things took another direction.

'I know the suggestion of the dogs was not accepted lightly.

'We had no experience of it in Portugal and the cost was another factor.'

Retired police officer Francisco Moita Flores, now a TV commentator, described the Madeleine McCann investigation as one of the 'most complex and well-investigated cases' he had had ever seen and called Mr Amaral 'competent.'

He insisted the Tapas Nine - the McCanns and the friends dining with them at a tapas bar near their apartment the night Madeleine disappeared - should have had their phones tapped because of 'inconsistencies' in their statements.

Attacking the ongoing Home Office-funded Met Police investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, called Operation Grange, he told the court: 'There's a prophetic and dogmatic vision behind it.

'These detectives are only putting forward the hypothesis of abduction.'

Judge Maria Emilio Melo e Castro stopped lawyers on both sides asking Mr Amaral's former police colleagues what they thought about his conclusions on Madeleine and her parents in his book because they were 'opinions' and not 'facts.'
Victim: Madeleine's disappearance sparked a worldwide police search, but she has not yet been found

Victim: Madeleine's disappearance sparked a worldwide police search, but she has not yet been found

Couple: Gerry and Kate McCann say they were extremely distressed by Mr Amaral's book, published in 2008

Couple: Gerry and Kate McCann say they were extremely distressed by Mr Amaral's book, published in 2008

She waved the book in her hand as she demanded to know from Ricardo Paiva: 'The back cover says it contains exclusive revelations.

'What's new in the book that's not in the police files?'

Told by Mr Paiva, 'Nothing', she replied: 'Ok, so then I have to conclude this is misleading advertising.'

Another defence witness, Mr Amaral's ex-number two Vitor Tavares de Almeida, was bizarrely dismissed after being asked just one question.

The police chief, still a serving officer despite being convicted in January of torturing a crime suspect and receiving a two and a half suspended jail sentence, has previously claimed he believes the McCanns concealed Madeleine's body.

He was overheard on a video link muttering: 'What am I doing here?' before being sent away after admitting he had only read the final two pages of Mr Amaral's book.

Mr Amaral denies defamation. The case continues.

Annabel wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2449861/Kate-McCann-mother-Madeleine-tells-libel-hearing-wants-defend-court-smears-Portuguese-police-over.html

How can she defend herself? She's not on trial, so there is nothing for her to defend.
If she is now concerned about her reputation, she should have considered that before bringing the libel action.

jassi wrote:

Annabel wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2449861/Kate-McCann-mother-Madeleine-tells-libel-hearing-wants-defend-court-smears-Portuguese-police-over.html

How can she defend herself? She's not on trial, so there is nothing for her to defend.
If she is now concerned about her reputation, she should have considered that before bringing the libel action.

This is a very good point. I think they have lost the plot.

Its a great article though!

so someone finally grew a pair, good man that mr couzens.

Yes, let her testify! And dig the hole even deeper!

Let's all donate a spade to the Fund to ensure that Kate digs a big enough hole for herself and every unsavoury friend and relative who's involved in this scam.

 

Iris wrote:Yes, let her testify!  And dig the hole even deeper!

She might even take her bewk with her, with a lorra bewkmarks in it!

I am absolutely amazed that the Mail has published all that. Good on that journalist, that will make people think about it.

She won't be testifying , she will be 'addressing' the court.

that was what I was going to ask Kitti, has K and G asked to address the court and say "no questions" or have they asked to appear to give evidence. anyone know?

Well according to tomorrows front page daily star she is going to beg (yes beg) the Court to clear her name.

I see she still wants to be called Healy by the way.

Also the usual blah blah blah front page express.

Papers certainly getting their tuppence worth.

Oh dear, just how did this happen? Wasn't GA the one who was supposed to defend himself? It must be the first time the plaintiff ends up being the one who wants to clear their name...

Claudia79 wrote:Oh dear, just how did this happen? Wasn't GA the one who was supposed to defend himself? It must be the first time the plaintiff ends up being the one who wants to clear their name...

I'd be really interested to see Palmeras16's views on this one.  

She obviously doesn't get that she is the Plaintiff and GA is the Defendant.

Time and Time again I have read that the case was shelved and the McCanns were cleared of all wrong doing.  That is what numerous articles have said over the last few years.

MaryB wrote:Time and Time again I have read that the case was shelved and the McCanns were cleared of all wrong doing.  That is what numerous articles have said over the last few years.

Quite. So why does she need to "clear her name"?

Iris wrote:

Claudia79 wrote:Oh dear, just how did this happen? Wasn't GA the one who was supposed to defend himself? It must be the first time the plaintiff ends up being the one who wants to clear their name...

I'd be really interested to see Palmeras16's views on this one.   

Views on what?  

Iris wrote:

MaryB wrote:Time and Time again I have read that the case was shelved and the McCanns were cleared of all wrong doing.  That is what numerous articles have said over the last few years.

 Quite.  So why does she need to "clear her name"?

Great point Iris.

Why does she only want to defend herself and clear her own name?
Shouldn't she (as a loyal wife) be clearing both their names?
Or am I being a tad pedantic?

I suspect the only reason the plaintiffs have applied to be heard is that they feel this case is drifting away from them. Given the judge hasn't exactly given the F&F witnesses and what is basically hearsay an easy ride (also evidenced by questioning whether Ma Healey can add anything worthwhile) that conclusion may be justified.

Chris wrote:I suspect the only reason the plaintiffs have applied to be heard is that they feel this case is drifting away from them. Given the judge hasn't exactly given the F&F witnesses and what is basically hearsay an easy ride (also evidenced by questioning whether Ma Healey can add anything worthwhile) that conclusion may be justified.

Kate McCann's absolutely reeking of panic and desperation. No matter what she's calling herself now.

This is endgame as far as the Trial goes..... Who were the couple who didn't want to have to go to Portugal for the trial and wanted a video link????

They can't wait to get there now, but strangely enough, not as Husband and wife which won't go unnoticed , also the McCanns didn't want the Crimewatch recon to be filmed in Portugal because it would bring back memories , yet doesn't mind going back to "defend herself".


Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down, doody, doody, do  

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/435374/McCanns-bid-to-give-libel-evidence

thanks to xclamation MCF:


Paper Edition

9 out 2013
Daily Express
From Gerard Couzens in Lisbon and David Pilditch

DRAMATIC NEW COURT CLAIMS

Now mum Kate wants to give evidence against Portuguese detectives KATE McCann is to make a dramatic bid to nail the smears which have hampered the search for her daughter Madeleine.

Brave Kate wants to defend herself in open court to silence her tormentor, detective Goncalo Amaral, over false claims she was involved in a cover- up, it was revealed yesterday.

The former GP is expected to use new evidence unearthed by Scotland Yard to kill off Portuguese police smears once and for all. British officers are set to unveil “fresh, substantive” material during a Crimewatch TV special on the case to be screened on Monday.

It comes as detectives revealed they are closer than ever to discovering what happened to Madeleine who disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

Kate and husband Gerry, 45, hope a targeted appeal will lead to a significant breakthrough.

And the information could shatter the claims made against Madeleine’s parents by the former police chief.

Now Kate has asked a judge for permission to address a £ 1million libel trial in Lisbon. Heart consultant Gerry had already asked permission to address the hearing as has Mr Amaral.

Kate’s application – revealed at the restart of the hearing yesterday – paves the way for an emotion- charged finale.

If given the go- ahead, the McCanns and Mr Amaral are expected to speak on the same day on or after November 27 when the last hearing in the trial at Lisbon’s Palace of Justice is scheduled.

Madeleine’s parents are convinced their daughter was abducted and insist there is no evidence to suggest she is no longer alive. She would now be 10.

Damage

Kate and Gerry are suing Mr Amaral over allegations in his book The Truth Of The Lie.

And in a day of dramatic developments, former Portuguese colleagues yesterday told the hearing that nothing Mr Amaral wrote in the book was new.

Former family liaison officer Ricardo Paiva told the court: “What is in the book is based on our investigation and contains the professional and personal opinions of Goncalo Amaral as a police officer.

“Everything that is there can be found in the case files.”

Mr Paiva insisted the book’s publication did not damage the search for Madeleine. He said: “The flow of information continued to come in regularly. Neither this book or any other book affected the flow.”

Luis Neves, head of a national police unit tasked with investigating organised crime including kidnappings, told the court it was British police who began developing the theory Madeleine had died.

Sniffer dogs brought in by an officer from the UK were said to have put a huge question mark over the theory that Madeleine was kidnapped.

He said: “Our British colleagues said there was a team made up of dogs and their handlers that could help us to find out where the child could be buried.

“It was from then on that the Algarve police division decided to allow the dogs to come and the idea of Madeleine’s death began to form and things took another direction. I know the suggestion of the dogs was not accepted lightly. We had no experience of it in Portugal and the cost was another factor.”

But retired police officer Francisco Moita Flores, now a TV commentator, attacked the on- going Metropolitan Police investigation for assuming that Madeleine was kidnapped.

“There’s a prophetic and dogmatic vision behind it,” he said. He described the Portuguese investigation as one of the “most complex and well- investigated cases” he had ever seen and called Mr Amaral “competent”.

Kate flew to Portugal for the start of the libel trial last month. But so far she has left it to friends and relatives to testify on behalf of the couple.

Yesterday Judge Maria Emilia Melo e Castro, referring to her request to make a statement, said: “The court will decide on this application once evidence has been heard by both sides as only then will I be able to judge on the need for and the pertinence of this application.”

Around 120,000 copies of the book were sold before it was withdrawn when the McCanns won an injunction against the ex- police chief.

Portuguese TV station TVI is also being sued over a documentary based on the book. Mr Amaral, 56, denies defamation. The hearing was adjourned until November 5.

Online version

McCanns bid to give libel evidence
Kate McCann has asked to give evidence at the Portuguese libel trial over a book by a former local police chief.
Published: Wed, October 9, 2013 /unsigned

The McCanns are suing Goncalo Amaral over claims in his book The Truth of the Lie about their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.

The couple have launched a legal action against the former Portuguese police chief, as well as his publisher, and the makers of a documentary based on the book.

Madeleine's father Gerry McCann is fighting to give evidence at the trial, with the judge at the court in Lisbon yet to rule on whether he can step into the witness box.

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell confirmed that lawyer Isabel Duarte lodged an application last week for Mrs McCann to give evidence as well.

If the judge grants the application, the couple will return to Lisbon. It is thought that if they give evidence, it will be at the end of the trial next month.

Mr Amaral has also applied to take to the witness box and is yet to hear whether he can or not.

Last week Gerry's sister Trish Cameron told the court that the family's pain over Madeleine's disappearance was "multiplied 100 times" by the book.

She said the youngster's parents had been left in "purgatory" and the book and subsequent documentary had seen them "vilified" and "demonised".

The trial has previously heard how Mrs McCann had considered suicide in the aftermath of the book's publication in 2008.

The McCanns say the former detective's claims in the book The Truth Of The Lie, including suggestions that they hid their daughter's body after she died in an accident and faked an abduction, damaged the hunt for Madeleine and exacerbated their anguish.

If successful the family stands to gain around £1 million in damages.

Kate McCann travelled to Lisbon at the start of the trial, and her husband has attended several times in the hope of being able to give evidence at the trial, which is expected to finish hearing evidence in November.

Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends.

British detectives launched a fresh investigation into the youngster's disappearance in July this year - two years into a review of the case - and believe she could still be alive.

A new BBC Crimewatch appeal is to be aired on Monday a bid to produce new witnesses.

The appeal will include a reconstruction of the "latest, most detailed understanding" of the events around the time Madeleine went missing.

Scotland Yard has revealed a vast log of mobile phone traffic could be the key to finding out what happened to the girl.

Madeleine's parents have said they remain "optimistic" of finding their daughter and will not accept she is dead until they are presented with clear evidence.

"We've always had hope," Mr McCann told ITV.

"There have been a number of cases over the last few years of children and young women being found after having been taken and held for very long periods of time.

"As parents we won't accept Madeleine is dead until we see clear evidence that that is the case."

The Metropolitan Police now has a team of six Portuguese detectives based in Faro who are carrying out inquiries on its behalf.

The Portuguese investigation is officially closed but authorities there are backing the Scotland Yard inquiry and officers from both countries will work together in pursuing new leads.

Thanks Annabel......the Express are loving this , it's payback time for the £1 million the Tapas 9 cost him.

I was only reading this morning, can't remember which paper....might have been the Daily Star that no one in Portugal will see the recon because Crimewatch said no TV Station in Portugal wants to show it.