McCanns Make Final Appeal in Battle Against Police Chief

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4425917/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-goncarlo-amaral/

maddie 'lie' battleMadeleine McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry make final appeal in battle against shameless ex-police chief


The McCanns have been fighting a lengthy legal battle against Goncarlo Amaral after he wrote a book suggesting they were responsible for the 2007 abduction and 'death' of their daughter
By Nick Pisa


9th September 2017, 2:57 am

MADDIE McCann’s parents have made a last ditch appeal to the European Court of Human Rights after a Portuguese judge ruled against them in their battle against a shameless ex police chief.

Kate and Gerry McCann, both 49, have been fighting a lengthy legal battle against Goncarlo Amaral after he wrote a book suggesting they were responsible for the abduction and ‘’death’’ of their daughter in 2007.

The case has been in and out of court in Portugal with Amaral initially being ordered to pay £360,000 damaged in 2015 for the outrageous slurs in ‘The Truth of the Lie’.

But his legal team overturned that order and Kate and Gerry took out their own appeal against him in Portugal’s Supreme Court and earlier this year they were left devastated after judges again ruled in his favour.

In their 76 page ruling judges said Kate and Gerry had not ‘’successfully proved their innocence’’ - which left the couple from Rothley, Leicestershire ‘shattered’, according to a source close to the couple.

Initially they had considered dropping the whole case against Amaral they are more determined than ever that he should not get away with his vile allegations against them.

So far no money has been paid by either party and now they will square up to each other at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The appeal was lodged in July by their Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte and they are now waiting for a date to be confirmed.

A source close to the couple said: "They discussed the situation with their legal team and they decided that ultimately it was worth fighting the decision of the Portuguese court.

"They are upset that the court made this ruling but are also desperately upset at Amaral’s claims which are ludicrous and hurtful.’’

Last night the European Court of Human Rights confirmed an appeal had been lodged and officials were investigating its "admissibility’’ before deciding what to do next.

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told The Sun: "I can confirm that Kate and Gerry have lodged an appeal application at the European Court of Human Rights and the application is being considered.

"As such they will not be making any comment until a decision has been made. The case is being handled by their legal team in Portugal.

Insiders said it could take almost four years before a decision on whether to proceed in the case is made.

Maddie, three, disappeared in May 2007 from her parents holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s popular

Algarve coast while her younger twin siblings Amelie and Sean, now aged 12, were in the same room.

Earlier this week British detectives investigating her disappearance asked the Home Office for more cash so they could "pursue one final lead’’.

http://portugalresident.com/mixed-messages-as-mccanns-bid-to-take-three-time-court-defeat-to-new-appeal

Posted by portugalpress on September 10, 2017


Mixed messages as McCanns bid to take three-time court defeat to new appeal

There are multiple mixed messages as the parents of missing Madeleine McCann are reported to be taking their three-time court defeat in Portugal to the very last point of appeal: the European Court of Human Rights.

British tabloids are already presenting the new situation as ‘a given’ - the Mail for example, claims “it is understood that the result of the appeal will not be known for at least four years”.

But the truth is that it may not even get accepted.

The ECHR website carries no details of the action (believed to have been lodged in July) for the simple reason that it must first be considered to merit this final avenue of legal recourse - an outcome many believe is unlikely.

The reasons for this is that the 75-page judgement the McCann parents are challenging - handed down by Portugal’s highest court - cited tenets set out by the ECHR, not to mention rights enshrined in the Portuguese Constitution.

As a source explained, “the parents have been told three times that the theory published by former PJ police coordinator Gonçalo Amaral did not overstep the bounds of freedom of expression”.

“Maddie: A Verdade da Mentira” (Maddie: The Truth of the Lie) is back on sale and has purportedly been published and translated in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Spain and Belgium.

An English translation has been available online for years, and “read by millions” (click here).

But according to the UK Sun - which led with an ‘exclusive’ yesterday on what it is calling “a last ditch appeal” against a “shameless ex police chief” - the reasons for the McCann’s new legal bid lie not simply in the fact that they “are desperately upset at Amaral’s claims”, but also that they are “shattered” that Portugal’s top judges did not accept that they had “successfully proved their innocence”.

This was perhaps the most devastating outcome of the Supreme Court ruling, and one which saw UK tabloids go into overdrive (click here).

In other words, this is no longer a fight against what the Sun terms “the outrageous slurs of the Truth of the Lie”, but a battle now against Portuguese Justice.

As a legal source has commented: "The McCanns have effectively to prove that the Supreme Court made a massive mistake".

The appeal bid could also be seen as another way of stalling the hugely expensive outcome of all these years of painful litigation.

The Sun explains: “So far no money has been paid by either party”.

In January, the Mail suggested that the McCanns “could now face financial ruin as they face paying Gonçalo Amaral huge court costs and could be sued themselves by the former policeman”.

Amaral, for the time being, is keeping his counsel.

Marking the 10-years since Madeleine’s disappearance during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, he gave a series of interviews to the Cofina media group in which he repeated his theory, as set out in the ‘Truth of the Lie’, explaining all the reasons for it (click here).

Since then he has kept a low profile.

Meantime, the Metropolitan Police are seeking renewed funding for Operation Grange - the probe that has already cost over £11 million looking for answers in this unparalleled case (click here), while streaming service Netflix is said to be making a new eight-part documentary on Madeleine’s disappearance, interviewing “key figures and investigators”.

Parents Kate and Gerry have “refused to be involved”, writes the Sun - highlighting the word refused in capitals.

The McCann’s reasoning, says the tabloid, is that Grange “is still active” - though a decision on whether or not to extend funding, and therefore keep Grange alive, has yet to be made public.

Ten years and four months on, and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann shows absolutely no sign of disappearing.

INFORMATION RE APPEAL WITH THANKS FROM ONE OF OUR PORTUGUESE FRIENDS


Re the appeal to European court :

.1-This does not alter the Supreme Court decision

2- The McCanns still have to pay the Portuguese state for court costs and they have to pay the other parties ' legal fees ( I dare say that the bill must probably already be overdue and accumulating interest )

3- Will their appeal against the Portuguese state be accepted or ruled in their favour ? The answer is a simple No. The decision of the Portuguese Supreme Court was all based on
ECHR legislation . No chance at all and very bad legal advice from their lawyers .

4- they have to bring an action against the Portuguese state , not GA and let it be stressed again , this will not interfere with the Supreme Court ruling at all .

The McCanns owe the Portuguese state for court costs and they owe the other parties for lawyers fees . If the articles in the media are correct and no payment has been made and the costs issued by the court , it's time to settle their bill .

cherry1 wrote: INFORMATION RE APPEAL WITH THANKS FROM ONE OF OUR PORTUGUESE FRIENDS


Re the appeal to European court :

.1-This does not alter the Supreme Court decision

2- The McCanns still have to pay the Portuguese state for court costs and they have to pay the other parties ' legal fees ( I dare say that the bill must probably already be overdue and accumulating interest )

3- Will their appeal against the Portuguese state be accepted or ruled in their favour ? The answer is a simple No. The decision of the Portuguese Supreme Court was all based on
ECHR legislation . No chance at all and very bad legal advice from their lawyers .

4- they have to bring an action against the Portuguese state , not GA and let it be stressed again , this will not interfere with the Supreme Court ruling at all .

The McCanns owe the Portuguese state for court costs and they owe the other parties for lawyers fees . If the articles in the media are correct and no payment has been made and the costs issued by the court , it's time to settle their bill .

It causes concern, imho just who will pay all these fines and legal costs... According to the McCanns, if I remember correctly the 'fighting fund' was running very low. Hardly surprising perhaps after jetting across the world, paying mortgage fees and suing anyone with an opinion which differed from their own. Maybe their good friends in the Home Office will forward them the wherewithal to pay their debts or perhaps there will be a new non-charitable institution launched... 'No Debt Unpaid' sounds good.

Thanks to "cherry1" and "Portuguese friend" for the above information.

I take it then that the bottom line is that the action, which is against the Portuguese state not Mr. Amaral, will not likely be heard. The important thing here is that the Portuguese Supreme Court ruling still stands.

The stalling McCanns should be made to pay up, using their 'personal' assets, not money contributed by the public who were hoaxed into the abduction fairy story.