The Carter Ruck official blog - Isobel Hudson on the McCanns

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The Leveson Inquiry – victims of the media turn the tables on the press

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Isabel Hudson

The Leveson Inquiry has been making headline news on an almost daily basis since it began to hear the evidence of a number of victims of the media. While the Inquiry was largely prompted by the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, it is considering evidence on far wider issues of press conduct, of which the testimony of Kate and Gerry McCann has proven a powerful example.

After their daughter Madeleine was abducted in the Algarve, the McCanns were the subject of an unprecedented number of highly defamatory and utterly baseless articles. These ranged from allegations that the couple had killed their daughter and disposed of her body, to the equally abhorrent suggestion that they had sold Madeleine into white slavery in order to pay off debts. Yet due to Portuguese laws of judicial secrecy, the McCanns were forbidden from speaking out. “We were being tried by the media and unable to defend ourselves” Gerry McCann told the Inquiry.

The McCanns explained that they were ultimately able to obtain some redress through the libel complaints which Carter-Ruck brought on their behalves, and which led to front page apologies in a number of newspapers as well as donations of substantial damages to the Find Madeleine fund.

The couple explained to the Inquiry, however, that their victimisation by the press went much further than this. They had repeatedly been ‘doorstepped’ and harassed by photographers who had caused considerable distress to their younger daughter and son, while a journalist had also managed to deceive Mr McCann’s mother into handing over a private photograph of the family.

For Kate McCann, the worst moment came in 2008 when lengthy extracts of her personal diary were splashed over the front page of the News of the World, without any warning. The diary had been seized by Portuguese police who subsequently handed it back. Mrs McCann told the Inquiry:

“I felt totally violated. I had written these words at the most desperate time of my life, and it was my only way of communicating with Madeleine…I just recently read through my diary entries at that point in that week, and I talk about climbing into a hole and not coming out because I just felt so worthless that we had been treated like that.”

The Inquiry is expected ultimately to make recommendations as to how the culture, practice and ethics of the press may be improved and better regulated, and in light of the evidence from the McCanns and the many other media victims it is difficult to see how the Inquiry could conclude that anything short of a full overhaul in press regulation is necessary. In the meantime the Inquiry is clearly providing an important platform for the victims of egregious press behaviour, who have previously struggled to have their voices heard against the might of the media machine.

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6 Responses to The Leveson Inquiry – victims of the media turn the tables on the press
1. Maureen Lang says:
December 1, 2011 at 12:01 pm
It can no longer be argued that no one in The PJ was responsible for these leaks, and often false information.
This was a deliberate attempt to influence Public Opinion against The McCanns in the absence of Evidence.
And I would dearly like to know exactly who was responsible, although I doubt that this information will come as a surprise to anyone.
2. C4 says:
November 30, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Brit, I don’t think you need two guess’s as to who this was.
Someone had a habit of leaving things on desks for journo’s to copy.
 BrenR1958 says:
December 1, 2011 at 10:16 am
Yes you got that correct C4, it really doesn’t take a lot of guessing, but the burning question is this.
A judge ordered the copies to be destroyed, yet it seems they were not as Kate’s diary appeared in CdeM on the 28th July 2008.
The McCann family under oath, told the world things that many of us have not heard before of how bad their lives were with press intrusion. And how scared their children were at times.
3. Jen says:
November 30, 2011 at 6:04 pm
The trouble is that no matter how many times the press admit they lied and made up stories in order to increase revenue, those that swallowed the lies are refusing to budge. Either through ignorance or the need to hate someone, they refuse to give up their stalking and harassment. The media cannot undo that damage. Only by regulating the internet and applying harassment and stalking laws more rigorously can the damage be rectified.
 BrenR1958 says:
December 1, 2011 at 10:40 am
Jen that is the danger, those lies and made up headlines are still to this day being peddled as fact and people are still believing them. Even e-books are being produced all based on made up headlines and a thesis that has no grounds and still these people refuse to retract what they have written and apologise ,when the proof is shown that their research is flawed.
Nobody wants to see such stringent regulation of the internet but I think maybe it has come to a point that it might be required.
The internet is a powerful tool, but unfortunately in this case, it has been used and abused by some in order to abuse and accuse others.
4. Brit. says:
November 30, 2011 at 1:21 pm
How did these diaries find there way from the Portuguese police into the Portuguese media and later to the NOTW.
This should be investigated and made known.

1. Maureen Lang says:
December 1, 2011 at 12:01 pm
[b]It can no longer be argued that no one in The PJ was responsible for these leaks, and often false information.
This was a deliberate attempt to influence Public Opinion against The McCanns in the absence of Evidence.
And I would dearly like to know exactly who was responsible, although I doubt that this information will come as a surprise to anyone

This is the reaction I find amazing. Could the PJ sue for libel? Using a double negative - hope this isn't a lawyer, but likely to be. Without this it would read:

We can argue that someone in the PJ was responsible for leaks and false information. This was a deliberate attempt to influence public opinion against the McCanns in the absence of evidence.
qui bono?
Not the PJ - what would it profit them if the public opinion turned against the McCanns? In the same breath the absence of evidence is mentioned - well they had plenty of circumstantial evidence and it was enough for Portugese law. There was absolutely no need for the PJ to influence public opinion in any way.

The last line hints at Amaral.

And CR has a blog! Are they on Facebook too, with friends?

Yes, they are on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Carter-Ruck/113758141967735

now thats what i call sad,every one trying to make the mccanns look innocent when its MADELIENE that is the only innocent one, who has suffered through no fault of her own.

And as for the leveson enquiry what a load of old tosh.

Jean wrote:Yes, they are on Facebook!

[url=https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Carter-Ruck/113758141967735

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Carter-Ruck/113758141967735[/quote[/url]]



And 16 people "like" them. Surely the T9 could have rustled up more than seven friends between the lot of them.

Now, how did those 6 comments get onto this blog? They must be genuine comments from the public, but how did they get onto this blog? Am I missing something? There must be some sort of comments box somewhere, can anyone see it?

Note there is no way to easily add a comment and all are pro McCann couple also. The ubiquitous Bren is one of the commentors. The pro trolls were taunting us on twitter about why we didn't post a comment on this blog when it first came out.

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Isabel Hudson
SNIP After their daughter Madeleine was abducted in the Algarve,

Really ?
Come on Isabel !
Give us a clue.
Tell us how, when, from where, who, why.
Come on. Don't be shy.
Tell the world.
Then perhaps someone, somewhere, can start looking in the right direction.

PeterMac wrote:

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Isabel Hudson
SNIP After their daughter Madeleine was abducted in the Algarve,

Really ?
Come on Isabel !
Give us a clue.
Tell us how, when, from where, who, why.
Come on. Don't be shy.
Tell the world.
Then perhaps someone, somewhere, can start looking in the right direction.

I wonder how the Law Society would look upon a solicitor putting out this sort of information without any credible evidence to support it.

Jean wrote:Yes, they are on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Carter-Ruck/113758141967735

OMG! So this makes it look sooooo bad for C-R, effectively, as they have a Face book account, they committed perjury in that court case when they misled about a certain someone not knowing about accepting friends. They said it was their belief IIRC that you did not have to make a specific acceptance.This bunch of whatnots should be struck off by the Law Society and/or jailed.

The McCanns explained that they were ultimately able to obtain some redress through the libel complaints which Carter-Ruck brought on their behalves, and which led to front page apologies in a number of newspapers as well as donations of substantial damages to the Find Madeleine fund.

Effectively, the mccanns are being used by CR as benchmark for free advertisement.
Only people like mccanns with something to hide and who have amassed fund from public donation have reason and money for CR to tap on for earnings.
How many individuals (not corporations) have used CR services who didn't have to pay out of their own pockets; and how many are so high profile with questionable reputation to defend indefinitely (until someone is charged for Madeleine) that CR service was used and will be used for ensuing years yet.

No wonder CR are delighted with mccanns as client. They are rubbing their hands in glee all the way to the bank.
Anyhow who ever thought a formidable firm like CR would use blog to cite clients cases to advertise their service FOC and who ever thought a law firm needs facebook?

I don't know about UK, but I do know in some country professional firms are not allowed to advertise their services. They can be listed in directories but soliciting for business by advertising is disallowed. So maybe internet social networking is modern day method of bending the rule, without breaching the professional bodies regulations.

What a cretinous creature Brenda Ryan is for sure. How she can straight-faced write that 'the time may have come to police the internet' and that people have 'used it to abuse and accuse' - yes, you would know, wouldn't you, Bren? But that's ok, because like some modern-day disciple you've 'seen the light now' - 'regrets and ramblings' my ass! More like you've found being a pro much more lucrative!
Like the McCann lies and half-truths, Brenda's previous rabid rantings are still there for all to see. Those who haven't followed this case from day One must be thoroughly confused seeing 'Bren' kissing Team McCanns butt. They deserve each other.
Trouble with what Brenda says, even if we sweep away 'forum myth' we're still left with a Pick n Mix version of the McCann's truth - and that is NOT how the truth works. It stands alone.
The McCanns must truly question why, with so much money for PR at their disposal, so many people still don't believe them. Thing is, you can spray a mound of cow manure with Chanel, its still gonna be a mound of cow manure underneath...

Just done a bit of googling on Bren & Carter-Ruck & came across this gem.

"Missing Madeleine McCann site defy Carter Ruck ban on 48 Questions Video
In an act of defiance against legal firm Carter Ruck, Missing Madeleine members are posting the banned and potentially libellous Madeleine foundation video to their blogs
At the end of last week, Carter Ruck who represent the McCanns requested that the Madeleine Foundation remove a video they had posted to You Tube in which Mr Bennett, secretary to the Madeleine Foundation reads out the forty eight questions that Kate McCann was asked during an interview.

You Tube then removed the video themselves citing that the video violated their terms and conditions. In correspondence to the Madeleine Foundation, Carter Ruck explained that the video is libellous and that it should be removed from circulation.

Missing Madeleine McCann site members are now openly defying this legal instruction from Carter Ruck by distributing copies of the video and posting it on their blogs. This distribution of the video is also being encouraged by the site team and 3 Arguidos owner, Brenda Ryan."

http://candiflip.com/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=544%3Amissing-madeleine-mccann-site-defy-carter-ruck-ban-on-48-questions-video&catid=41%3Aarticles&Itemid=1

There is more about Bren & her new best buddies Carter-Ruck all over the internet but this was key as it is about the 48 questions AGAIN!

Smokeandmirrors wrote:

Jean wrote:Yes, they are on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Carter-Ruck/113758141967735

OMG! So this makes it look sooooo bad for C-R, effectively, as they have a Face book account, they committed perjury in that court case when they misled about a certain someone not knowing about accepting friends. They said it was their belief IIRC that you did not have to make a specific acceptance.This bunch of whatnots should be struck off by the Law Society and/or jailed.

Just what I was thinking. I hope TB has copied all of this and presents it along with any other FB information he has acquired since his last time in the presence of the judge.