Kate and Gerry McCann will be back in Portugal on Monday, following the high-profile but reportedly fruitless police search that punctuated life in Praia da Luz seven years after their daughter Madeleine disappeared. But the two doctors are not expected in the Algarve. They will be flying into Lisbon where they are due to give evidence in the last leg of the long-running civil action which they instigated against former police inspector Gonçalo Amaral.
The McCanns are suing Amaral – the detective in charge of the original investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance – for over a €1 million in damages.
Their defamation action centres on the book he wrote: The Truth of the Lie, in which he contended that their daughter was not abducted from apartment 5a in the Ocean Club all those years ago, but that instead she died by accident, and her body was disposed of.
It was a theory, explained the policeman with 26 years in the force and a degree in law. A theory based on information compiled in the criminal investigation.
But Madeleine’s parents claim the Truth of the Lie not only brought them added grief and heartbreak, it hampered the search for their missing daughter.
They originally succeeded in blocking the sale of Amaral’s book, but the court decision was later overruled – and the Truth of the Lie is now freely available over the Internet and has been translated into a number of languages.
When it first came out, the book was sold through Correio da Manhã newspaper.
In the UK however, it is not for sale – neither was the documentary, based on the book, ever screened there.
Up until recently, very few UK-based newspapers alluded to the groundswell of alternative opinions on the case. This all changed during the Met’s controversial swoop on Praia da Luz at the beginning of the month. Reporters like Sky’s Kay Burley wrote how “conspiracy theorists believe it’s only a matter of time before the McCanns are held culpable for their daughter’s disappearance” – while the Telegraph reported on the graffiti daubed on a wall on the last day of the search, proclaiming the British police to be “estupidos” as well as “alleging they (the McCanns) were responsible” for their daughter’s “disappearance”.
The Telegraph chose its words carefully, as the graffiti had in fact been a great deal more explicit.
Meantime, everyone’s eyes are focused now on the court hearing due to open at the Palácio de Justiça on Monday.
According to the Daily Mirror, the McCanns “are hopeful they will win the case”.
“The poisonous lies said against Kate and Gerry have caused them great distress and have hindered the search for Madeleine”, said the Mirror.
Operation Grange, the investigation opened by the Met in 2011 – specifically to delve into the seven year mystery – is so far reported to have spent 10 million euros.
