The Find Madeleine Fund

Martin the Fricker's account of the truth - and all in one very short report of the EXCLUSIVE variety.  Being short of course gives the opportunity to omit the more salient points.

The parents of Madeleine McCann had to use funds raised to search for their daughter to fight an ex-police officer who made “unfounded” claims about the case.

The following year an appeal court overturned the decision, and in 2017 the supreme court also found against the McCanns. They then took the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

But in September, the seven judges unanimously upheld the former detective’s right to free speech.

Point of reference for the Senior Reporter - take note squire..

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Lest they forget..

Eileen McCann and Brian Kennedy in Rothley (May 17 2007)

.. so the money can be used for all sorts of reasons but probably only mainly for legal expenditure

Brian Kennedy  

Retired head teacher, Kate McCann's Uncle - appointed as fund director on 16th May 2007.

Natasha dares print it.

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McCanns finally settle defamation bill – using Madeleine Fund money

By
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 -
11th January 2023
The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have finally settled the €700,000 defamation bill they totted up [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] It is understood the couple used money from the Madeleine Fund, created to “secure the safe return” of their daughter, who went missing without trace from an unsupervised holiday apartment in the Algarve in 2007.

They think they are rather smart don't they - so much so they can outwit the nation of Portugal.

They, the McCanns, strung it out as long as they possibly could, with good reason I strongly suspect.

That is now at an end - it had to come to an end sometime.

Looks like team McCann have finally reached the end of the road, a dead end road.

I am in the process of posting-up the forensic examination of the evidently fraudulent Find Madeleine Fund by Enid O'Dowd over on the blog sub-forum.  Two reasons, one it's important enough to have a place of it's own (it would be lost on this thread after and short while).

Reason two, the report is lengthy and when first posted here on CMOMM there was only a brief summary with a link to the report itself - Enid O'Dowd.  The link has disappeared into cyberspace but I'm pleased to say thanks to Pamalam over at gerrymccannsblog, the original exclusive for Nigel Moore's mccannfiles has been documented for posterity.

Here is a duplicate .... just in case!

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EXCLUSIVE: 
Madeleine McCann's parents admit defeat in 13-year libel battle with ex-cop
Kate and Gerry McCann have admitted defeat after spending 13 years fighting Goncalo Amaral over his book that falsely claimed they were the 'main culprits' in their daughter's disappearance
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Kate and Gerry McCann have admitted defeat (Image: AFP via Getty Images)


By
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Senior Reporter

• 21:39, 12 Jan 2023
  

Kate and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] have admitted defeat in their libel battle with an ex-detective who baselessly accused them of involvement in their daughter’s disappearance.
The couple spent 13 years fighting Goncalo Amaral over his book that falsely claimed they were the “main culprits” over [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]’s 2007 abduction in Portugal.

Whilst they spent 13 years persecuting Amaral, we financed the search for Madeleine to the tune of £13 million.

I have never understood why the McCann's thought the public were actively looking for Madeleine and why a book written the year after her disappearance would have a detrimental effect on any such search.

crusader wrote:
I have never understood why the McCann's thought the public were actively looking for Madeleine and why a book written the year after her disappearance would have a detrimental effect on any such search.

Conversely, why she (kate mccann) and/or her partner in crime (ger mccann), thought her autobiographical novel written four years after the event, would 'help the search'.

I quote..

ABOUT THE BOOK

‘The decision to publish this book has been very difficult, and taken with heavy hearts … My reason for writing it is simple: to give an account of the truth …

Writing this memoir has entailed recording some very personal, intimate and emotional aspects of our lives. Sharing these with strangers does not come easily to me, but if I hadn’t done so I would not have felt the book gave as full a picture as it is possible for me to give.

As with every action we have taken over the last four years, it ultimately boils down to whether what we are doing could help us to find Madeleine.

When the answer to that question is yes, or even possibly, our family can cope with anything …

What follows is an intensely personal account, and I make no apology for that …

Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl.’

Kate McCann, May 2011

So there you have it - a book published highlighting the official police investigation, written by a former senior police officer, is thought to be detrimental to the search whilst an autobiography claiming 'an account of the truth' is thought to be helpful ?!?

WHAT SEARCH?

Lest they forget..

Exclusive: Madeleine McCann's parents admit defeat in 13-year libel battle with ex-cop

Kate and Gerry McCann have admitted defeat after spending 13 years fighting Goncalo Amaral over his book that falsely claimed they were the 'main culprits' in their daughter's disappearance.

ByMartin FrickerSenior Reporter

21:39, 12 Jan 2023Updated08:24, 13 Jan 2023

Kate and Gerry McCann have admitted defeat in their libel battle with an ex-detective who baselessly accused them of involvement in their daughter’s disappearance.

The couple spent 13 years fighting Goncalo Amaral over his book that falsely claimed they were the “main culprits” over Madeleine’s 2007 abduction in Portugal.

He cruelly alleged he has “no doubt” the kidnap was part of a cover-up.

In 2015, a Lisbon court ordered Amaral to pay the McCanns £440,000 after they won the initial libel case over his book Maddie: The Truth About The Lie.

But an appeal court overturned the decision the following year. And in 2017 the Supreme Court in Portugal also found against the couple.

In a last-ditch bid for victory, the McCanns, from Rothley, Leics, went to the European Court of Human Rights.

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Goncalo Amaral's book falsely claimed Maddie's parents were the 'main culprits' in her abduction ( Image:
Tim Clarke/Daily Express)

That ended in defeat for the pair last September when the seven judges unanimously upheld the former detective’s right to free speech.

The McCanns were given the right to lodge an appeal – but the Mirror can now reveal they have admitted defeat. The three-month appeal time limit has expired and the case is now listed as “definitif” – final – on the ECHR system.

There was no compensation or costs order made, although Kate and Gerry still face a massive legal bill.

Earlier this week the Mirror revealed the couple had used cash that was raised to find their daughter on legal fees. Newly filed paperwork from Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned disclosed it paid £6,695 in legal costs over the libel action.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing. The McCanns have maintained that they only took action against Amaral because his “unfounded claims were having a detrimental impact on the search for Madeleine”.

In 2020, paedophile Christian Brueckner, 45, was named as the prime suspect by authorities in his native Germany. He was living near Praia da Luz where three-year-old Madeleine was staying while on a family holiday.

Brueckner denies any involvement and is serving a prison term in Germany for rape and is awaiting trial for other sex offences in Portugal.

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Madeleine McCann's parents defeated in 13-year battle with police officer

Kate and Gerry McCann, who are from Rothley, in Leicestershire, in the East Midlands, have abandoned their hope of fighting ex-cop Goncalo Amaral over his book.

News
ByJames RodgerContent Editor

13:08, 13 JAN 2023

Madeleine McCann's parents have admittedt defeat in their 13-year libel battle with a former police officer. Kate and Gerry McCann, who are from Rothley, in Leicestershire, in the East Midlands, have abandoned their hope of fighting ex-cop Goncalo Amaral over his book.

The book falsely claimed they were the 'main culprits' in their daughter's disappearance, after Maddie vanished aged three in Praia da Luz back in May 2007, during a family holiday with her parents and younger brother and sister to the Algarve in Portugal. In 2015, the cop was told to pay the family £440k over his claims - after they sued for libel.

But the verdict was ovveruled a year later by the appeal court. Now, the European Court of Human Rights has backed the appeal court - as the McCanns lose their bid.

READ MORE Rapist chased petrified schoolgirl, 15, down street with meat cleaver

"We are naturally disappointed with the decision of the European Court of Humans Rights announced today. However, much has changed since we started legal proceedings 13 years ago against Mr Amaral, his publisher and broadcaster," the McCanns said in a statement last year. "We took action for one and only one reason - Mr Amaral’s unfounded claims were having a detrimental impact on the search for Madeleine. If the public believed that we were involved in her disappearance, then people would not be alert for possible clues and may not report relevant information to the relevant law enforcement agencies.

"The focus is now rightly on the search for Madeleine and her abductor(s). We are grateful for the ongoing work by the British, German and Portuguese police. We hope that with, the help of the public, hard work and diligence we can eventually find those responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance and bring them to justice." The McCanns had three months to appeal against the latest decision but has now expired.

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To whom it may concern - tabloid editors take special note..

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Madeleine McCann: Find out how your donated money was spent

Well-wishers donated nearly £2 million to the fund to find Madeleine McCann in the 10 months after she went missing, official accounts show.

ByMirror.co.uk

   13:08, 29 Jan 2009

Well-wishers donated nearly £2 million to the fund to find Madeleine McCann in the 10 months after she went missing, official accounts show.  

More than £815,000 of the money was spent on the search for the little girl between her disappearance in May 2007 and March last year.  

This included £250,000 for search fees, including Spanish private detectives Metodo 3, £111,522 for legal costs and £123,573 for campaign management, accounts filed to Companies House show.  

Madeleine's Fund was launched a fortnight after the child vanished from Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, on May 3 2007.  

Money flooded in from supporters around the world who wanted to do something to help her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.  

Donations in the period to March 31 last year totalled £1,846,178, including £64,078 from sales of T-shirts and wrist bands.  

Mr McCann's brother John, who is one of the fund's directors, said contributions had since dropped off.  

He wrote in a foreword to the accounts: "As expected, the level of donations has fallen over time, although we have a number of loyal donors continuing their support.  

"Income in the new financial year is currently significantly lower than at the same time last year. However, our expenses are ongoing and likely to increase."  

For legal reasons Madeleine's Fund was set up as a not-for-profit limited company rather than a charity.  

Its objectives are to secure Madeleine's safe return, to ensure that anyone involved in her disappearance is brought to justice, and to provide support to her family.  

There was controversy when it was disclosed in October 2007 that the McCanns had used money from the fund to pay two mortgage payments on their home in Rothley, Leicestershire.  

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said today: "Everyone who has so generously donated money to help find Madeleine can be assured that every penny has been accounted for and has been, entirely appropriately, spent one way or another on the search for Madeleine.  

"The accounts have been independently audited and are entirely transparent." *Splutter !!!*

Mr Mitchell's salary was previously paid by the McCanns' millionaire benefactor, Cheshire-based entrepreneur Brian Kennedy.  

But it is understood that he has been receiving a monthly retainer from the Madeleine Fund since September last year.  

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment while her parents dined with friends nearby.  

Despite a massive police operation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.  

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Good Quality Merchandise

Not to be taken too seriously..

McCann motto.

Virtue thrives under oppression.

Verdi wrote:

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Sea Bass
Dicentrarchus labrax

Well it wouldn't be a dog would it  

The official Find Madeleine Fund website as of today..

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"Someone needs to be looking for her " 

 " Someone " so not you two then ? 

After all you left it to the " someone's " in 2007 , why change your habit now ?

The Portuguese Judiciary did take Responsibility, They went Beyond the call of Duty to Solve the mystery of Madeleine McCann's Disappearance,

That is the Only important Pospective to lead.

I've asked before and I ask Again, please Don't post links to Dubious Websites here on CMOMM.

I strongly advise member's not to click on the above link.

Official Find Madeleine Campaign

2m
·
3rd May 2023

Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s abduction.
Still missing…….still very much missed.

It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel.

The poem below, by Clare Pollard, resonates strongly with us:

The Contradiction
The absence contradicts itself:
the missing conjures what we miss.
You are not here, I’m not myself,
but still I talk to you like this.
You’re in the crowd, the news, the glimpse -
I make you there when you’re not there.
I trace your steps, I map your face,
I say your name, see you in air.
You’re all I know and so unknown.
I cannot hold you, yet I do:
please let me hold you in my head
and where you are now, hold me too.
How can you be so near and far?
You are not here. But here you are.
The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough.
Thank you to everyone for your support- it really helps.

Kate and Gerry

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