The McCann couple took a civil action against the ex – inspector for defamation and damages caused by the publication of his book. They are claiming compensation of 1.2 million Euros.

This Wednesday, Lisbon Civil Court considered that it was not Gonçalo Amaral’s book “Maddie: The Truth of the Lie” which “destroyed” the parents of the English girl who disappeared from the Algarve on 3rd May 2007.

“It was not proven that Kate and Gerry McCann have been destroyed from the moral, social and ethical points of view. From the family’s point of view the evidence revealed a successful effort of cohesion and mutual help”, said the judge, emphasizing that “from the sentimental/emotional point of view, it is not credible that the sequel of the facts in these files would go as far as the destruction or even in excess of the pain caused by the disappearance of their daughter”.

The “negative emotional” state of the parents is “pre-existing to the book”, says the legal dispatch to which Público had access and which indicated the replies to the claims, the facts given as proven or not proven, before sentencing, in the civil case brought by the couple against the ex PJ inspector. The couple are claiming compensation of 1.2 million euros for defamation and damage caused by the book’s publication.

The judge estimates as not proven the social damages that the McCanns also claim to have suffered with the broadcast and sale of a DVD documentary and an interview with the ex – Portimão PJ coordinator. In the book, Amaral defends the supposed involvement of Kate and Gerry McCann in the disappearance and in the hiding of the girl’s body.

“Given the court dispatch in which no link has been proven between the book and alleged damage suffered by the couple, I do not expect anything other than the absolution of Gonçalo Amaral”,said his lawyer Miguel Cruz Rodrigues to Público. Público tried to contact Isabel Duarte, the couple’s lawyer, without success. Gonçalo Amaral did not want to comment.

However, the court did not find as proven that “as a consequence of the defendant, Gonçalo Amaral’s statements in the book, documentary and interview”, that Maddie’s parents “felt anger, despair, anguish and worry, having suffered insomnia and lack of appetite”. This at the same time that it was proven that the facts mentioned by the ex – inspector in his book “are, in the majority, facts that occurred and which are documented” in the criminal investigation.

The legal dispatch also mentions various witnesses Heard by the court, some provided by Maddie McCann’s parents and who emphasise the harm that they consider was done to the couple. “Many people turned their backs on them”, after the publication of the book, said Susan Lorrain Hubbard, the wife of an English vicar and friend of the McCann family. Also Alan Pike, who offered the couple psychological support, “stated that the publication of the book and its conclusions left the couple with anguish and that one of the most devastating effects, for them, was the belief that the book would influence public opinion, leading to people stopping their search for Madeleine.

However, the court determined as not proven that due to the book, interview and documentary the PJ stopped collecting information and investigating the disappearance. The court heard from PJ inspectors including Ricardo Paiva, an inspector who participated in the investigation of the disappearance and who emphasized that the “girl’s death was a hypothesis in the investigation”. Also the director of the National Anti-Terrorism Unit, Luís Neves, underlined that “the first time the death hypothesis was raised, the parents suggested the intervention of a South African specialist equipped with a machine to find buried bodies”.

The court emphasised that for the “majority of people” who had read the book, the thesis contained within it did not attribute “responsibilities” to the McCanns for their daughter’s death, but rather that they had “responsibilities for hiding her body”.

Maddies’ parents were made arguidos during the investigation into her disappearance which was archived in 2008 due to lack of evidence that a crime had occurred. The investigation was re-opened in October 2013 following a proposal from the PJ and given new elements that justified continuing with the investigation.

(Article updated at 22.08. It replaces the Lusa article entitled “Court decides as proven the damage caused by Gonçalo Amaral to Kate and Gerry McCann”, published in Público news).