McCanns to sue Portuguese police chief
THE PARENTS of Madeleine McCann last night announced they will sue the former Portuguese police chief who botched the probe into her disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann are to take action against Goncalo Amaral who claimed publicly that Maddie was dead and they had helped to hide her body.
In a statement, Kate, 41, and Gerry, 40, said: “We, together with our three children Madeleine, Sean and Amelie, are taking this legal action against Goncalo Amaral over his entirely unfounded and grossly defamatory claims – made in all types of media, both within Portugal and beyond – that Madeleine is not only dead but that we, her parents, were somehow involved in concealing her body.”
Their decision was taken to try to prevent further publication of Amaral’s “deeply offensive” book The Truth of the Lie, his TV documentary and his “disgraceful thesis” that the parents were involved in their daughter’s disappearance.
The statement continued: “The primary reason for our legal action is simple: to stop any negative effect that these absurd and deeply hurtful claims may be having on the ongoing search for Madeleine.
“We can no longer stand back and watch as Mr Amaral tries to convince the entire world that Madeleine is dead.
“Nor can we allow this blatant injustice to Madeleine, with its obvious risk of hindering our attempts to find her, to continue. Mr Amaral’s entirely unjustified claims have not only brought indescribable devastation and suffering to our lives, they have hugely compounded the already immense pain and anxiety we have endured since Madeleine’s abduction.”
Amaral was sacked from the investigation after criticising British police for siding with Kate and Gerry.
Earlier this month, the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell criticised him for trying to cash in on Madeleine’s disappearance by selling TV interviews at £75,000 a time.
According to his representative Luis Varela Marreiros, his main concern since leaving Policia Judiciaria has been “to reveal the facts that occurred during the investigation”.
The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, recently marked the second anniversary of Madeleine going missing from their holiday flat in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, just days before her fourth birthday.
The McCanns’ investigators believe her kidnapping was a planned two-man operation.
