Madeleine McCann’s parents lose court case against detective
Following the tragedy of the disappearance of Madeline McCann, there has been a great deal of speculation against the parents of Madeline. The case involved the parents and a Portuguese detective who wrote the bestselling book ‘Maddie: The Truth about the Lie’, alleging that Maddie’s parents were involved in her disappearance. Kate and Gerry McCann appealed to the European Court of Human Rights after the Portuguese court’s decision was not in their favour, but today they, again, lost their case.
Goncalo Amaral is a Portuguese detective who was originally part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeline McCann. He was taken off of the case when he criticised British police. A year later, he wrote the bestselling book, where Kate and Gerry stated that the book had defamed them due to the allegations. The McCann’s bought this case against Amaral after he alleged that they were both involved in the disappearance if Madeline and actually hid her body.
Defamation is where a statement has been publicised and causes serious harm to the reputation of the claimant. Libellous defamation is a type of defamation which is conducted through a permanent form of communication, like a book. The McCann’s believed that their reputation had been seriously harmed from the writings of Amaral.
In the first instance, Amaral was ordered to pay the McCanns €500,000 in libel damages by a Lisbon court in 2015, but the decision was overturned and then thrown out by the Portuguese Supreme Court in 2017. This decision was turned over again yesterday where the courts stated that the serious harm that the McCann’s reputation had suffered was caused by them being named suspects in the case and the amount of media coverage on the case that all happened before the publication of the book. The court said in its ruling: “The court considered that, even assuming that the applicants’ reputation had been damaged, this was not on account of the argument put forward by the book’s author but rather as a result of the suspicions expressed against them.”
Defamation is one a number of issues that has attracted massive public interest in the case of Madeline McCann and whilst this case was heard in Europe it serves as a reminder of the importance of establishing that serious harm stems from the defamatory statement. It also highlights the importance of getting things right when asserting a defamation claim, which can be notoriously difficult to pursue, in order to maximise the chances of success.
If you feel that you or your business has been defamed, and would like some advice, please feel free to get in touch with us by telephone 01273 447 065, email or click here to fill out an enquiry form.
