|
No sooner had former PJ coordinator
Gonçalo Amaral seen his right to freedom
of expression upheld by the Supreme
Court than UK tabloids have been
scrambling themselves into a froth of
indignation about a “second Maddie book”
in the wings, threatening to pile yet
more agony on the pain caused by his
first: “Maddie: The Truth of the Lie”.
The fact that Amaral revealed he was
writing a second book almost a year ago
appears to have passed unnoticed (click
here).
Tabloids have been full of the “McCann
warning” that lawyers employed by
renowned legal firm Carter Ruck “will be
watching” in case Amaral publishes
anything about the mystery in UK.
While the Sunday Express claims Amaral
is looking for a “new publisher”, the
Daily Mail describes him as “jubilant”
and “finishing off the final chapter of
his newly-penned book while taking a
break in Switzerland”.
The paper also claims that “Truth of the
Lie” was “never translated into English
for publication in the UK because it
would have breached strict libel laws”.
These are all more than likely to be
reports that need to be taken with large
quantities of salt.
Carter Ruck’s lawyers may well be
watching, but the reality is that the
finding of the appeal court last year -
and dismissal of the subsequent McCann
appeal by the Supreme Court last month -
means that “Madeleine: The Truth of the
Lie” is not considered defamatory after
painstaking and rigorous legal
challenges.
Indeed the 76-page decision taken by
Supreme Court judges shows just how
thoroughly the McCann's various claims
were studied, and why they were
thrown-out as not being sufficient to
see Amaral fined vast quantities of
money.
What the flurry of stories is more
likely to be about is the fact that
no-one really knows what Amaral proposes
to do next.
He has refused requests for interviews,
he has neither confirmed nor denied
whether he will be counter-suing the
McCanns for damages (as he intimated
last year that he would), and he has not
revealed when his next book will be
ready.
It is the kind of suspense that British
media outlets do not enjoy.
Meantime, as Correio da Manhã headlines
on how much the McCanns have made by
“selling stories about their pain” to
media outlets, bystanders have been
predicting a new Madeleine sighting, or
indeed sightings “any day now” and “as
soon as the weather improves” a new
visit to Portugal by officers working on
Operation Grange - the Metropolitan
Police investigation into Madeleine’s
disappearance said to have cost the
British taxpayer around €15 million and
which has purportedly been working on a
“last throw of the dice” for the last
three months.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com |
