Blacksmith - Stating The McCann's Will Settle On Amaral's Terms ........PLUS NEW ***McCanns ask for extrajudicial settlement by Joana Morais**TRIAL NOW SUSPENDED**

"A thesis without evidence is meaningless." Spare me Hobs, this is so wrong, a thesis should be accepted as fact until proven otherwise. Example, E=Mc2.

quote= monkey mind"]
If SY conclude with the bizarre line they pushed last May that she was still alive and being looked after by some kind and loving couple then they may use this in one of a couple of ways, to drown out any hint of the Pt decision in the media, or perhaps, they have no intent on reaching any settlement at all. Rather they know what the SY verdict is going to be and upon that there will be an abrupt u turn which they will hold that up in a Portuguese court as vindication in a subsequent libel trial.

SY's verdict being under UK jurisdiction will be unless in Portuguese Court.

If it is not a joint review and joint verdict, the Review if not a whitewash, would just be sinful waste of money, since SY's verdict wont be recognised and wont be fit for any purpose under the PT jurisdiction.

If the mccanns are playing delaying tactics they will only build up legal cost to no end, as if they do not attempt to settle it seriously that will not look good for them in Court since it is them who asked for the suspension.
Suspension for a maximum of 6 months does not necessarily mean the trial cannot be resumed before then if negotiations break down. It just means negotiations cant be stretched beyond that one would think.

I believe it is possible for the trial to be resumed earlier if it is proven that the Mccanns were not sincere in their intention. Team Amaral only have to inform Court that both parties cannot come to an agreement and negotiations have broken down irretrievably then it is up the Court to allocate the trial date since the case is not withdraw. A suspension of trial is not the same as a withdrawal of the case technically speaking. I stand corrected if someone knows better about legal procedures.

I am literally up to page 9, so apologies if someone has posted something similar.

All this talk of WHO is trying to pull out is very interesting! Of particular interest are Ed1976 posts, which seem to have the underlying meaning "what is the point of the McCanns carrying on their actions if GA/TB cannot afford to pay damages etc....
Erm! Please tell me if I'm wrong, but I thought these cases were 'for Mad'lun' - and how 'the seeerch for Mad'lun has been harmed by Amaral/Bennetts' words and actions'?

Sorry, makes no sense to me. If the McCanns thought they had a case they could win, NO WAY would they even enter negotiations to 'settle'. After all, wasn't it Kate's (maybe) own words that told us how kindly CR do all this work behind the scenes, pro bono? Trouble is, see, when you tell fibs you end up getting yourself tangled in them.

Take the money out of the equation for a second. Let's imagine Duarte has told the McCanns they can win, and humiliate the 'fat cop' still further. Plus the headlines eg 'Harassed Parents Kate and Gerry Win Libel Case' - that's a licence right there for them to carry on spreading their fairytale, begging for money, tightening their stranglehold. We are expected to believe they'd pass that up? Pull the other one its got bells (and whistles) on!!!

So reading between the lines, someone has let the cat out of the bag that these actions weren't about 'Mad'lun' at all - just £££ - but then we already knew that, as it seems everything they have done since May '07 is about £, and saving their own sorry asses. Not about Madeleine. Poor little mite

So, on balance, just WHO is most likely to be folding??? I know where my bet would go..... And its not on Amaral!!!

I have put a few thoughts on this matter on my blog :)

I think the House of Cards may be tumbling down.

rainbow-fairy wrote:I am literally up to page 9, so apologies if someone has posted something similar.

All this talk of WHO is trying to pull out is very interesting! Of particular interest are Ed1976 posts, which seem to have the underlying meaning "what is the point of the McCanns carrying on their actions if GA/TB cannot afford to pay damages etc....
Erm! Please tell me if I'm wrong, but I thought these cases were 'for Mad'lun' - and how 'the seeerch for Mad'lun has been harmed by Amaral/Bennetts' words and actions'?

Sorry, makes no sense to me. If the McCanns thought they had a case they could win, NO WAY would they even enter negotiations to 'settle'. After all, wasn't it Kate's (maybe) own words that told us how kindly CR do all this work behind the scenes, pro bono? Trouble is, see, when you tell fibs you end up getting yourself tangled in them.

Take the money out of the equation for a second. Let's imagine Duarte has told the McCanns they can win, and humiliate the 'fat cop' still further. Plus the headlines eg 'Harassed Parents Kate and Gerry Win Libel Case' - that's a licence right there for them to carry on spreading their fairytale, begging for money, tightening their stranglehold. We are expected to believe they'd pass that up? Pull the other one its got bells (and whistles) on!!!

So reading between the lines, someone has let the cat out of the bag that these actions weren't about 'Mad'lun' at all - just £££ - but then we already knew that, as it seems everything they have done since May '07 is about £, and saving their own sorry asses. Not about Madeleine. Poor little mite

So, on balance, just WHO is most likely to be folding??? I know where my bet would go..... And its not on Amaral!!!

I do not know how the law works in portugal but certainly in the UK the court will encourage both parties to reach a settlement without going to court. Amaral has a new lawyer. If the new lawyer has advised Amaral to reach a settlement then the McCannns may have no choice other than agree to try. They would of course be given the option to continue the action if a settlement isn't reached.

Cristobell wrote:I have put a few thoughts on this matter on my blog :)

I think the House of Cards may be tumbling down.

Well we have been here before but i tend to agree.

The key i think now is how or if the settlement is disclosed and then how or if it is spun, sorry "presented", to the wider media.

If it is case of the cards tumbling then i see full disclosure as to their defeat and the nature of it against Amaral, pulling out of TB's trial and then perhaps shortly after a conclusion to the review which confirms publically that the Yard agree with the Portugese assessment that all roads point to further questioning of the T9 as there are no other viable leads form the case whcih support abduction.

Then i can see the media jumping all over the story again and public pressure forcing them to either go back to Portugal for questioning or indeed to being pulled in by the Yard for real examination (unlike the limp Rogatories).

Once under real scrutiny and open to proper questioning then we will finally be getting somewhere.

That's when i can see real momentum conspiring against them and them losing, for the first time since they were arguido's, control of the situation.

They do have a habit of pulling rabbits out of hats though but who, 3 or 4 years ago, could have foreseen Lance Armstrong caving in as he has.

ed1976 wrote:I do not know how the law works in portugal but certainly in the UK the court will encourage both parties to reach a settlement without going to court. Amaral has a new lawyer. If the new lawyer has advised Amaral to reach a settlement then the McCannns may have no choice other than agree to try. They would of course be given the option to continue the action if a settlement isn't reached.

Ok, money where your mouth is time. Do you want to put a wager on as to who has conceded here.

Say £250 to charity from whomever is wrong. I'm going with the Mccann's caving, you're going with Amaral.

You taking the bet?

rainbow Fairy wrote...

So, on balance, just WHO is most likely to be folding??? I know where my bet would go..... And its not on Amaral!!!

TB has virtually bet his house on the words of Amaral......and it looks like he will lose the bet and sadly for him...his house

Me wrote:

ed1976 wrote:I do not know how the law works in portugal but certainly in the UK the court will encourage both parties to reach a settlement without going to court. Amaral has a new lawyer. If the new lawyer has advised Amaral to reach a settlement then the McCannns may have no choice other than agree to try. They would of course be given the option to continue the action if a settlement isn't reached.

Ok, money where your mouth is time. Do you want to put a wager on as to who has conceded here.

Say £250 to charity from whomever is wrong. I'm going with the Mccann's caving, you're going with Amaral.

You taking the bet?

Yes.

As long as whoever wins the bet doesn't donate the money to that pseudo-charity Madeleine's Fund!

Jean wrote:As long as whoever wins the bet doesn't donate the money to that pseudo-charity Madeleine's Fund!

you are quite right, it's not a charity and I think they have received enough public money anyway. Some far more desrving charities out there.

I think now we have have almost 6 years' worth of insights into the respective characters of the McCann pair and Detective Amaral under our belts, we can be confident that had Sr Amaral requested a delay in proceedings in order to negotiate an exit strategy we would have seen some very different headlines in the likes of the Mail and the Mirror today. May I suggest one: "Disgraced Porto plod backs out of court showdown with tragic Maddy Mum". It beggars belief that having lost everything that mattered to him he would settle for anything less than the reinstatement of his integrity and adequate compensation for his own and his family's great suffering. Plus justice for Maddie at last, of course.

[quote]

Cristobell wrote:

Speculating on the settlement. If it is in the mccanns favour, then GA must withdraw his book from sale - they can accept nothing less, if their case is not to be seen as vexatious. Far be it for me to give their desperate spinners any ideas, but they could take the compassionate stance, and say that 'enough is enough' - they simply want to withdraw from public attention and grieve. Of course, if they choose this route, it must also include dropping their action against Tony.

However, in both hypothetical situations, the settlement must include a gagging order against GA, if it doesn't, they have lost and floodgates could open.

I am a layperson but I do understand that plaintiff initiating to settle out of court means capitulating and therefore the other party calls all the shots, and not the side caving in.

The mccanns are in no position to set any condition at all whatsoever regardless.
What it means is: they are open to Amaral's conditions, to agree or disagree on all of his terms, and it will be only team Amaral's terms on the negotiating table.
This is privately between them and Amaral now, hence the term "out of court". The court is not involved in this.

Logic dictates the party caving in has not right to set any condition. More importantly, the last thing they would do is to disregard Court's ruling that allows Amaral's book back on circulation, and ruling that his fundamental human right to freedom of expression must not be breached.

Two things are guaranteed upfront : they wont do something as brain dead as go against the court's rulings meaning (1) they can't stop sale of book (2) they cant stop Amaral discussing or writing about their case, or they will be in contempt of Court. Effectively, things are back to square one, and there is absolutely nought they can do about it.

It is clear they capitulated after they'd lost the 3 intermediary (injunction, appeal, and return of books) cases running up to the libel, effectively rendering their libel (based or reasoned mainly on the book) no leg to stand on. To suddenly now come on to try and claim compassion or use that stance as excuse to withdraw would make them a joke and a mockery of everything, not to mention insult people's intelligence and will be badly viewed. They left it too late for any stupid stunt like that - they wont be believed. To save face, at most they might claim (very likely) low fund, reserved for search ( which incidentally they've earmarked the rest of fund for the future search, listed in the published accounts for the first ever). It is a move to pre-empt claims on the Fund, as surely they must have known they were going to cave in before the publication of the accounts.

If there should be a gagging clause, it can only be a unilateral one, gagging the mccanns from disclosing settlement terms. It can't be any other way -- think about it -- while bearing the Court's rulings in mind, hence cause of their capitulation.

p.s. Amaral's new lawyer is happening "hot guy" .

speaking of houses ed1976 (I rather doubt you'd bet yours on being right in your assumption) the McCanns haven't bet anything on their own house to look for Madeleine have they? They are sitting comfortably esconsed, with a limited company suing people, a police review paid for by the UK taxpayer, a search that's non-existent apart from an awareness campaign (I still don't know what that is and why it would cost so much).

Remember that these people told us they left their children alone in an unlocked apartment abroad whilst they went out each evening on holiday. These people were supported by public donations whilst they stayed in PDL and everyone else was looking for Madeleine. These people were afforded every single resource of the Portuguese police, the local people, the UK press and the UK people. The UK public threw money at a fund set up in record time.

The only risk these people have ever taken was to leave their kids alone and then blame other people for not finding her or not agreeing with them. They certainly haven't shown anything publicly to suggest they have used a single penny of their own money - please correct me if I'm wrong. No, the McCanns returned to UK to the same house and sue other people for their houses.

The sick thing in all of this litigation is that it's done absolutely bugger all to find out what happened to Madeleine. Lawyers coffers are swollen. The Fund coffers are swollen. The McCanns still live in their house. Kate has become an ambassador for Missing People (I find that unbelievable), the McCanns enjoy a relatively private life - the press don't hound them on the streets for photos, Gerry goes to work, Kate does whatever Kate does, the press print articles which may as well be cut and pasted from press releases. No, the McCanns have lost nothing and wagered nothing in financial terms to find Madeleine. The press don't even probe the Fund accounts. The press don't wonder if the McCanns are driving posh cars or holidaying. The press don't ask questions about how the McCanns can afford to pay a mortgage for their house since Kate gave up work (the fund helped pay their mortgage initially when they were in PDL so I am led to believe). No, the press leave them alone. For now.

The McCanns are imo vicious litigators and Madeleine and anyone who disagrees with them loses no matter what.

JUST MY OPINION

Me wrote:

Cristobell wrote:I have put a few thoughts on this matter on my blog :)

I think the House of Cards may be tumbling down.

Well we have been here before but i tend to agree.

The key i think now is how or if the settlement is disclosed and then how or if it is spun, sorry "presented", to the wider media.

If it is case of the cards tumbling then i see full disclosure as to their defeat and the nature of it against Amaral, pulling out of TB's trial and then perhaps shortly after a conclusion to the review which confirms publically that the Yard agree with the Portugese assessment that all roads point to further questioning of the T9 as there are no other viable leads form the case whcih support abduction.

Then i can see the media jumping all over the story again and public pressure forcing them to either go back to Portugal for questioning or indeed to being pulled in by the Yard for real examination (unlike the limp Rogatories).

Once under real scrutiny and open to proper questioning then we will finally be getting somewhere.

That's when i can see real momentum conspiring against them and them losing, for the first time since they were arguido's, control of the situation.

They do have a habit of pulling rabbits out of hats though but who, 3 or 4 years ago, could have foreseen Lance Armstrong caving in as he has.

It looks to me as if even the shills on twitter do not know what is going on and the lack of spin is conspicuous by its absence. They have to come up with something brilliant, or their threats in the future will be meaningless. As I have said in my blog, what the settlement means, whoever made the decision to allow this case to go as far as the 'door of the court' was/is insane.

They need to be 80/90% sure they will win against Tony next week, if they seriously want to go ahead with it. Judge T has already intimated that a full libel trial should precede his Judgement, and I doubt very much the McCanns will have the stomach for another libel case - its a huge risk, if the Judge orders a libel trial, they will have to go through with it, and win. CR will get paid, either way of course.

Ashwarya wrote:I think now we have have almost 6 years' worth of insights into the respective characters of the McCann pair and Detective Amaral under our belts, we can be confident that had Sr Amaral requested a delay in proceedings in order to negotiate an exit strategy we would have seen some very different headlines in the likes of the Mail and the Mirror today. May I suggest one: "Disgraced Porto plod backs out of court showdown with tragic Maddy Mum".

Antonella Thingie is also strangely quiet.

Observer wrote:"A thesis without evidence is meaningless." Spare me Hobs, this is so wrong, a thesis should be accepted as fact until proven otherwise. Example, E=Mc2.

Those were gerry's own words not mine.

His thesis was that Madeleine was abducted and is not suffering any serious harm. There is no evidence apart from their own statements to prove this.

Amaral's thesis, along with that of the PJ and subesequently Tony bennet and Pat brown plus sundry journalists and pretty much anyone with common sense and can read, is, that, Madeleine died in apartment 5a at some point during the week and her body was subsequently removed and concealed. This then led to the filing of a false police report ie the abduction.

The evidence being the reaction of blood and cadaver dogs behind the sofa and to the wardrobe in the parents room, a light reaction to a flower bed outside the apartment, body fluids on the florr and wall and also freshly laundered and still damp curtians ( why wash the curtains in a holiday apartment anyway?) reactions of the dogs to a red child's t shirt, cuddle cat, kates black and white checked trousers and the hire car.

kate perjured herself in the leveson enquiry by claiming there were no bodily fluids in the car when previously both she and gerry had blamed it on dirty diapers, sweaty sandals and rotting eat ( plus Sean's love of sea bass)

There is also the freezer which was allegedly dumped by gerry as per his blog which was mysteriously whoosh clucked ( probably when he realised how incriminating it would look)

Do we know if the apartment owner was contacted about a broken freezer? was there a freezer in the apartment and if so was it the same one as was there before the mccanns arrived?

If it was a new one and the apartment owner didn't replace it or the freezer in it when they left was not the same one that was in it when they arrived then awkward questions need to be asked of gerry.

In regard to a thesis being accepted as fact until proven otherwise does this mean i can have a thesis which shows that you are in fact a pink nelliefant hiding inside the shell of a what appears to be a human body?

The pink nelliefant is in fact invisible to all except those who believe in possession by pink nelliefant.

X-rays, MRI and CAT scanners will not reveal the presence of said pink nelliefant unless you believe in which case you will see them and wonder how the heck a pink nellifant can squeeze itself into a human body (good diet, flexible joints and a lot of pushing and pulling of bodily particles plus careful placing of the trunk when using a male human shell)

Evidence leads to a thesis, there was evidence of blackholes yet no one knew what they were until one day bingo bog black hole was found. They thought they were rare until they found one at the centre of several galaxies including ourown.

The same with the god particle. they knew something was there, they could see it's affect on the universe, they didn' know what it was. They came up with a thesis that explained what they were seeing and then they played hunt the particle using the LHC so they could verify said particle existed

Ashwarya wrote:I think now we have have almost 6 years' worth of insights into the respective characters of the McCann pair and Detective Amaral under our belts, we can be confident that had Sr Amaral requested a delay in proceedings in order to negotiate an exit strategy we would have seen some very different headlines in the likes of the Mail and the Mirror today. May I suggest one: "Disgraced Porto plod backs out of court showdown with tragic Maddy Mum". It beggars belief that having lost everything that mattered to him he would settle for anything less than the reinstatement of his integrity and adequate compensation for his own and his family's great suffering. Plus justice for Maddie at last, of course.

brilliant

parapono

PeterMac wrote:

Ashwarya wrote:I think now we have have almost 6 years' worth of insights into the respective characters of the McCann pair and Detective Amaral under our belts, we can be confident that had Sr Amaral requested a delay in proceedings in order to negotiate an exit strategy we would have seen some very different headlines in the likes of the Mail and the Mirror today. May I suggest one: "Disgraced Porto plod backs out of court showdown with tragic Maddy Mum".

Antonella Thingie is also strangely quiet.

Antonella legionella (lazzeri) does not like me one bit. We have crossed swords a couple of times and each time on my presenting logical well reasoned and polite points she has had a tantrum, thrown her toys out the pram and sulked.

This of course tells me which buttons to press and only encourages me to poke her with a large pointy stick before sitting back and waiting for the .

Also strange that only the Mirror and Mail have mcstories today. Just lately the Sun doesn't seem to go with Clarrie's press releases. Perhaps it's because most of their journalists are under investigation. Will the Express print a story tomorrow? Doubt it because when the rolling news media couldn't give us enough of the case in Lisbon a couple of years ago I think there was only one sentence when Dr A was allowed to have his books back.

UK media is spineless.

As for the comments stating Tony is quiet - why should he reveal his thought/actions on an open forum read by TM and their lawyers.

[quote="aiyoyo"]

Cristobell wrote:

Speculating on the settlement. If it is in the mccanns favour, then GA must withdraw his book from sale - they can accept nothing less, if their case is not to be seen as vexatious. Far be it for me to give their desperate spinners any ideas, but they could take the compassionate stance, and say that 'enough is enough' - they simply want to withdraw from public attention and grieve. Of course, if they choose this route, it must also include dropping their action against Tony.

However, in both hypothetical situations, the settlement must include a gagging order against GA, if it doesn't, they have lost and floodgates could open.

I am a layperson but I do understand that plaintiff initiating to settle out of court means capitulating and therefore the other party calls all the shots, and not the side caving in.

The mccanns are in no position to set any condition at all whatsoever regardless.
What it means is: they are open to Amaral's conditions, to agree or disagree on all of his terms, and it will be only team Amaral's terms on the negotiating table.
This is privately between them and Amaral now, hence the term "out of court". The court is not involved in this.

Logic dictates the party caving in has not right to set any condition. More importantly, the last thing they would do is to disregard Court's ruling that allows Amaral's book back on circulation, and ruling that his fundamental human right to freedom of expression must not be breached.

Two things are guaranteed upfront : they wont do something as brain dead as go against the court's rulings meaning (1) they can't stop sale of book (2) they cant stop Amaral discussing or writing about their case, or they will be in contempt of Court. Effectively, things are back to square one, and there is absolutely nought they can do about it.

It is clear they capitulated after they'd lost the 3 intermediary (injunction, appeal, and return of books) cases running up to the libel, effectively rendering their libel (based or reasoned mainly on the book) no leg to stand on. To suddenly now come on to try and claim compassion or use that stance as excuse to withdraw would make them a joke and a mockery of everything, not to mention insult people's intelligence and will be badly viewed. They left it too late for any stupid stunt like that - they wont be believed. To save face, at most they might claim (very likely) low fund, reserved for search ( which incidentally they've earmarked the rest of fund for the future search, listed in the published accounts for the first ever). It is a move to pre-empt claims on the Fund, as surely they must have known they were going to cave in before the publication of the accounts.

If there should be a gagging clause, it can only be a unilateral one, gagging the mccanns from disclosing settlement terms. It can't be any other way -- think about it -- while bearing the Court's rulings in mind, hence cause of their capitulation.

p.s. Amaral's new lawyer is happening "hot guy" .

The only way I can see GA settling would be if he was unwell, and I pray that is not the case.

The last time they appeared in Court in Portugal, they received a very frosty reception. Bizarrely they succeeded in that attempt to get GA's book banned. However, the fall out from the trial was devastating for them and Gerry had an urgent flight to catch, leaving Kate to face the media.

A full trial, either here or in Portugal would cover areas of this case that the British public are unaware of.

I'm a layperson too Aiyoyo, but spent many years as a legal secretary. I'm not sure either party could or would agree to keep the settlement under wraps. The temptation to leak, would be unbearable. Particularly if one of those parties pays shills to enhance their reputation.

jay2001 wrote:
As for the comments stating Tony is quiet - why should he reveal his thought/actions on an open forum read by TM and their lawyers.

I would imagine he is working !

It's six months more.

parapono

the McCanns are buying time, they have the 'Fund'.

ed1976 wrote:

Me wrote:

ed1976 wrote:I do not know how the law works in portugal but certainly in the UK the court will encourage both parties to reach a settlement without going to court. Amaral has a new lawyer. If the new lawyer has advised Amaral to reach a settlement then the McCannns may have no choice other than agree to try. They would of course be given the option to continue the action if a settlement isn't reached.

Ok, money where your mouth is time. Do you want to put a wager on as to who has conceded here.

Say £250 to charity from whomever is wrong. I'm going with the Mccann's caving, you're going with Amaral.

You taking the bet?

Yes.

Ok, we have a bet. Winner nominates the charity (note must be a real charity and not a limited liability company purporting to be a charity or fund).

Candy, as a mod here please make a note of this little bet, and we will resureect this post when the truth comes out.

Me wrote:

ed1976 wrote:

Me wrote:

ed1976 wrote:I do not know how the law works in portugal but certainly in the UK the court will encourage both parties to reach a settlement without going to court. Amaral has a new lawyer. If the new lawyer has advised Amaral to reach a settlement then the McCannns may have no choice other than agree to try. They would of course be given the option to continue the action if a settlement isn't reached.

Ok, money where your mouth is time. Do you want to put a wager on as to who has conceded here.

Say £250 to charity from whomever is wrong. I'm going with the Mccann's caving, you're going with Amaral.

You taking the bet?

Yes.

Ok, we have a bet. Winner nominates the charity (note must be a real charity and not a limited liability company purporting to be a charity or fund).

Candy, as a mod here please make a note of this little bet, and we will resureect this post when the truth comes out.

Saved for posterity Me.

Another one from Blacksmith..........Happy days are here again

http://blacksmithbureau.blogspot.co.uk/

Interesting days ahead indeed. Regardless of which side may have first proposed to settle out of court, the fact is that they are starting to negotiate away from public glare, which means we will be fed all sorts of Mcspin while that's underway. I am looking forward to scrutinising them closely because after more than five years of spinning in all directions away from the real truth and with so much of factual information out in the public domain, their principal thesis of abduction is becoming less and less tenable, leaving less wriggle room for the McCanns.

I have a very uncomfortable feeling that Snr Amaral is ill, for a long time now I have wondered about his health, he looks unfit, very unwell plus he had a stomach examination under anaesthesia.

I truly hope that it isn't the case and that he isn't giving in because of illness and feeling totally ruined and defeated.

Ribisl wrote:Interesting days ahead indeed. Regardless of which side may have first proposed to settle out of court, the fact is that they are starting to negotiate away from public glare, which means we will be fed all sorts of Mcspin while that's underway. I am looking forward to scrutinising them closely because after more than five years of spinning in all directions away from the real truth and with so much of factual information out in the public domain, their principal thesis of abduction is becoming less and less tenable, leaving less wriggle room for the McCanns.

My guess is that, IF the Amaral libel case agreement is NOT being negotiated strictly on the McCanns' terms, then we'll hear very little spin about it at all, as anything that implies GA has capitulated will damage their chances of reaching a settlement with him. Instead – as their PR firm Hanover once memorably put it – I would expect other, "positive stories" to find their way into the press as a distraction. Like the today's "news" about the money raised for the search by Kate's book, which appeared suddenly in both the Mirror and the Mail.

bristow wrote:I have a very uncomfortable feeling that Snr Amaral is ill, for a long time now I have wondered about his health, he looks unfit, very unwell plus he had a stomach examination under anaesthesia.

I truly hope that it isn't the case and that he isn't giving in because of illness and feeling totally ruined and defeated.

Perhaps this is why he is being given six months. Six months seems along time to sort out an agreement, but if one party was ill...