Australia Journo prints the FACTS! McCanns fail to stop 'not innocent' ruling in Madeleine's disappearance

12:26pm March 22, 2017
McCanns fail to stop 'not innocent' ruling in Madeleine's disappearance


 Mark Saunokonoko  By Mark Saunokonoko



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Kate and Gerry McCann talk to the press after delivering statements at the court house in their case against Portuguese police officer Goncalo Amaral, in Lisbon on July 8, 2014.
Kate and Gerry McCann talk to the press after delivering statements at the court house in their case against Portuguese police officer Goncalo Amaral, in Lisbon on July 8, 2014. Source: AFP

FTBA
Kate and Gerry McCann were dealt a damaging blow today after a Supreme Court rejected a formal complaint against a ruling which stated they were not innocent in the disappearance of Madeleine.

The McCanns have been engaged in a protracted and expensive eight-year legal battle, using money from the Find Madeleine Fund, to silence a detective who authored a book that claimed they faked Madeleine's abduction and covered up her death.

Last month, Portugal's Supreme Court upheld a 2016 ruling that Goncalo Amaral's 2008 book 'The Truth of the Lie' was indeed exercising his legal right to freedom of expression.

READ MORE: McCann's reaction to sniffer dogs in apartment and rental car 'didn't make sense'

READ MORE: Abduction theories blasted as ridiculous; 'Maddie likely dead', crime expert claims

In February's ruling the judges also declared the lifting of Kate and Gerry's 'arguidos' status (a kind of formal suspect), and the 2008 archiving of the criminal investigation into Maddie's disappearance, did not mean they were innocent.

Lawyers for the McCanns, who have steadfastly claimed Maddie was abducted, described the Supreme Court's assertion as "erroneous" and "frivolous". They immediately laid the formal complaint.

Today, Supreme Court judge Dr Jorge Manuel Roque Nogueira threw that complaint out.


Dogs specialising in detecting human cadaver and human blood were brought to Portugal in 2007, several months after Maddie vanished.
9RAW: Sniffer dogs investigate disappearance of Maddie McCannNOW
9RAW: Sniffer dogs investigate disappearance of Maddie McCann
Amaral oversaw the original investigation into Madeleine's disappearance from the family's holiday apartment on May 3, 2007.

The McCanns were made 'arguidos' in the days following a cadaver and blood dog search that saw alerts made inside the family's holiday apartment and also a rental car Kate and Gerry hired 25 days after Maddie vanished.

The cadaver dog, trained to detect the odour of dead bodies, also registered hits on Maddie's favourite cuddly toy, Cuddle Cat, and two items of Kate's clothing.

 Kate McCann, mother of missing Madeleine, holds her daughter's "Cuddle Cat" as she walks out from a mass in a Portuguese beach resort in the southern province of Algarve 10 May 2007. 
Kate McCann, mother of missing Madeleine, holds her daughter's "Cuddle Cat" as she walks out from a mass in a Portuguese beach resort in the southern province of Algarve 10 May 2007. Source: AFP

 
Madeleine Beth McCann has been missing since May 3, 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Madeleine Beth McCann has been missing since May 3, 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Source: AFP

Amaral was controversially removed from investigation in October 2007, after he was deemed to have been critical of British police in an interview with a Portuguese newspaper.

The Portuguese detective later wrote a book based on the Madeleine case, and released it three days after the case was officially shelved, which was also when 'arguidos' status was lifted from the McCanns.

Amaral's book theorised Maddie had died in apartment 5A, and her body had been disposed of by Kate and Gerry.

In 2009, the McCanns, through fearsome London libel lawyers Carter-Ruck, launched class action against Amaral and won an injunction against his book.

 
Former Policia Judiciaria detective Goncalo Amaral holds a copy of "Maddie: The Truth about the Lie" at its launch in Lisbon on July 24, 2008. Amaral led the investigation on the McCann case until he was removed from the case.
Former Policia Judiciaria detective Goncalo Amaral holds a copy of "Maddie: The Truth about the Lie" at its launch in Lisbon on July 24, 2008. Amaral led the investigation on the McCann case until he was removed from the case. Source: AFP

However, in October, 2010, that decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in Lisbon, which ruled the injunction had violated Amaral's freedom of expression.

That judgement set the wheels in motion for a showdown that threatened to financially ruin the ex-police chief.

In April 2015 Amaral was ordered to pay $704,000 plus interest in damages, resulting in the freezing of his assets.

But with the help of donations from his supporters, Amaral challenged the libel ruling and won, at the same time successfully overturning the ban on his book.

The McCanns quickly lodged an appeal with Portugal's Supreme Court, which was rejected this year in February.

 Kate and Gerry McCann arrive to the court house in Lisbon on June 16, 2014 for the closing arguments of the McCann couple's libel proceedings against former inspector Goncalo Amaral. 
Kate and Gerry McCann arrive to the court house in Lisbon on June 16, 2014 for the closing arguments of the McCann couple's libel proceedings against former inspector Goncalo Amaral. Source: AFP

The 76-page ruling by the Supreme Court stated that no one should infer guilt or innocence on the McCann's based on their judgement.

"It should not be said that the appellants [McCanns] were cleared via the ruling announcing the archiving of the criminal case," according to public court documents.

"In truth, that ruling was not made in virtue of Portugal's Public Prosecution Service having acquired the conviction that the appellants hadn't committed a crime.

"The archiving of the case was determined by the fact that public prosecutors hadn't managed to obtain sufficient evidence of the practice of crimes by the appellants."

Amaral has reportedly authored a second, yet-to-published, book about Madeleine's disappearance.

The McCanns are believed to have one final avenue to challenge today's decision – by lodging an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights.

NEXT UP: More crime scene insights my Pat Brown interview; follow me on Twitter for next instalment

READ MORE: McCann's reaction to sniffer dogs in apartment and rental car 'didn't make sense'

READ MORE: Abduction theories blasted as ridiculous; 'Maddie likely dead', crime expert claims

© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2017

So, a journalist from the other side of the world is reporting this, but Kandohla in the UK isn't?

No doubt waiting for the McCann 'friend' to make a statement on how ludicrous this decision is. 

It is nice to see it being reported elsewhere though.

Maybe R Trace will get round to it after tea and cakes this afters.

 

UK journalists behind the International press as per.  lol

I couldn't see any news of GA's good news in the UK this morning.

The papers will have to design new front pages with...


First prize - Free holiday for one in the UK

Second prize - Free holiday for one AND the wife in the UK

Third prize - 10 free fizzy drinks.

TV producers will be phoning round the z celebs to fill all the empty slots on tv sofas.

Looking forward to hearing when GA can put his life back together.

Just goes to show that the truth is out there, and all it takes is an honest journalist to report it!

That is gold star journalism by Mark Saunokonoko!