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After a written campaign that involved
countless emails, letters and
negotiations, a man who himself has been
the target of legal action by the
parents of Madeleine McCann succeeded in
getting an apology from the Daily
Express newspaper. Written at the bottom
of page 21 in today’s edition is a box,
headed ‘Amplification and Clarification,
Gonçalo Amaral - Correction’. Amaral had
NOT lied in court, the paper conceded.
It was not a huge victory, Tony Bennett
writes on the Jill Havern Forum, but it
has publicly corrected an error that saw
the former PJ policeman “publicly
accused” of having lied about a death
cover-up claim.
The full text of the Express correction
was as follows:
“On the 29th April 2015 we published a
headline on the front page which said
“Maddy detective did lie about death
cover-up claim”. We would like to make
it clear that there was no determination
by the Portuguese court that Mr Amaral
lied. In fact the court ruled that Mr
Amaral had breached the McCann’s right
to reputation and ordered him to pay
damages to them”.
Those damages are currently being
appealed by Mr Amaral, who almost
certainly had no knowledge of Tony
Bennett’s efforts to clear the tabloid’s
slur.
Was it worth it? Mr Bennett questions in
today’s write-up: “He did not lie. I am
personally content that I have not
wasted my time and effort.”
Although the citing of the apology, at
the bottom of the page, did not go
unnoticed.
The full ruling on this point,
adjudicated through the Independent
Press Standards Organisation, will be
available next week, Mr Bennett adds -
while he has been forbidden from
publishing any of the correspondence
that went back and forth as he fought
Amaral’s corner. |
