BREAKING NEWS - Goncalo loses libel/damages trial and must pay damages

margaret wrote:

susible wrote:All I can say is c'mon Grange, I still have faith in you, but pull your finger out and get this charade done and dusted..preferably before another anniversary gloat-fest, from the "poor, wronged parents"  I don't think I'll be able to get through that day otherwise (and I have an anniversary of my own on that date, so I will probably just avoid the internet altogether, don't want the sadness of my aunt's passing on 3/5/07 to be clouded with rage against the Mc's)

If this is true I don't have a shred of hope anymore. SY won't go against the tide, their friends in high places will see to that.

I sadly have to agree. I spent part of this morning following tweets from a guy in the Algarve, who was basically saying S.Y. were pressurising the P.J. into closing the case. Then I heard the news (if correct) about the damages trial. Really gutted, but there is always Karma.

I've not said anything yet because I can't find any words.

I feel completely broken. Is there any justice in this world?

One thing for sure is the Mccanns will be hated even more. 

Maybe a clever ploy going on. Changing public perception of them to the masses.

GA will appeal so nothing gets handed over financially.

OG need a bit more time before arrests can be made.

Clinging on to some optimism there I know.

I am saddened and disgusted at the verdict,yet again the McCanns win even though their case was extremely weak. I had believed that Sn Amaral was going to win after reading that the parents couldn't prove their depression over Sn Armaral's book and their claims that it had damaged the search. Sn Amaral will be called yet again drunk,corrupt,sardine munching ex cop who botched the whole case. We can now look forward to seeing the wicked parents smirking in the MSM every day for weeks especially now the eight anniversary is only days away. This is a mad world where the guilty are rewarded and treated like royalty while the innocent are vilified and punished. I would live to know what dirty secret Brother Gerry holds that demands protection from TPTB (deleted). I don't believe that we'll ever find out what happened to Madeleine nor will anyone ever be charged. The McCanns are evil,money grabbing,selfish media whores who do not deserve one penny,it should be them paying back everyone they have sued or paid in money to their imo fraudulent fund. Poor Madeleine will never get justice in this life. This verdict has now made me change my opinion to whitewash/coverup in the Ooeration Grange investigation.

I agree Andrew, we have to try to remain optimistic, because if I genuinely thought that there will never be a resolution to all of this, then I really would have to call it a day..what would be the point otherwise? Unless you go the bennett route of sending thousands of FOI requests and starting numerous pointless petitions, whilst releasing videos onto youtube, which will ultimately result in nothing anyway, then there is nothing to be gained.

I know people talk about historical cases being solved, the vindication of the the football fans at Hillsborough etc, but this is entirely different, if Grange don't nail it now, it is unlikely ever to be solved..well not in our lifetime anyway

Andrew wrote:One thing for sure is the Mccanns will be hated even more. 

Maybe a clever ploy going on. Changing public perception of them to the masses.

GA will appeal so nothing gets handed over financially.

OG need a bit more time before arrests can be made.

Clinging on to some optimism there I know.

The optimist in me was thinking along the lines of releasing the judgment only to the McCann side to test for leaks?

On the negative side though...all i can say is if the ruling is legit, then Portugal deserve the same ridicule as the UK side (rightly) gets for letting this happen. If the authorities there are being "leaned" on then they should grow a pair and come out publicly. No more hiding behind secrecy laws.

Andrew wrote:One thing for sure is the Mccanns will be hated even more. 

Maybe a clever ploy going on. Changing public perception of them to the masses.

GA will appeal so nothing gets handed over financially.

OG need a bit more time before arrests can be made.

Clinging on to some optimism there I know.

Yes Andrew I think you might have something there. I have always thought the McCanns will be brought down by something unexpected, yes public perception, social media etc. I think Sonia Poulton  will come up trumps.

If the mcs have got less than half of what they asked for, then in my mind GA has won anyway (in my eyes)

That's the other thing, the press have already reported on the McCanns delight at the award, which they say will be used to help fund the search..well unless they hand it all over to Grange then that is a lie, because as everyone knows that SY are CURRENTLY investigating the disappearance, so the McCanns don't need the money for the search...but the police coffers are running low, what with all the cuts etc, so surely it would be a travesty if the Mc's kept the money?

Feeling despondent. Nothing more to say really until we have seen the actual details of the judgement. I do feel a small libation is required and possibly a little smoke, purely for medicinal reasons.

At the risk of being very unpopular on here, I pointed out recently on another thread three fundamental reasons why GA's version of events makes no sense

Why are so many of you surprised at today's verdict?

But it's got nothing to do with Amaral's version of events, in terms of what happened to Madeleine it was whether he had libeled the mcanns and damaged the search, and after the written verdict, showing that the mcanns claims could not be supported, I think that's why we are all so gobsmacked and disappointed

I am gutted to read this news. Shocking!

Chop Suey on Toast wrote:At the risk of being very unpopular on here, I pointed out recently on another thread three fundamental reasons why GA's version of events makes no sense

Why are so many of you surprised at today's verdict?

Trouble is Chop this was not a criminal trial where each of the protagonists would be quizzed on their version of events. I happen to agree with you that there are a few areas that give me concern in GA`s version of events but of course some of his thinking may have changed over the years. We don`t know because he could hardly come out and disagree with his own book whilst the damages trial was ongoing.
This was about whether the McCanns suffered hurt because of the book and whether said book damaged the search for Madeleine. In spite of the judge stating that the book did damage the Macs she also said that it could not have been more damaging than losing their daughter. To me that was an indictment aganst the parents and a moral victory for GA. Sadly something has persuaded the judge to reward 2 people for losing a child and to punish the only man who was prepared to look for her.
I am hoping that GA has the strength and courage to appeal and that the ruling can be overturned. After that he should counter sue and one day we may see them squirm in court.

The problem is, susible, that certain elements of his theory don't stand up to scrutiny, so it could be deduced that he did hamper the search without due evidence

Had he offered hard facts to back up his version it would have been different

Unfortunately, the three things that let it down are:

The body couldn't have been there long enough for Eddie to detect
Where did the body go?
Why raise the alarm so soon afterwards?

Chop Suey on Toast wrote:At the risk of being very unpopular on here, I pointed out recently on another thread three fundamental reasons why GA's version of events makes no sense

Why are so many of you surprised at today's verdict?

Just looked at your post. GA could only go with what was published, may well have had other ideas. He wrote the book to clear his name, the McCs libelled the PJ and Amaral. The book deals primarily with the actions taken by the PJ.

But that was all immaterial for the libel trial it seems . The evening of the 3rd was not when Maddie died, but their involvement - the dogs' alerts, the car.Everything pointed to the McCanns.
Moreover it was the McCs themselves - in fact Kate - who contacted the PJ about the possibility of Maddie being dead.


I had hoped for a 50/50 verdict, obviously this is not the case. We'll have to wait for clarification.

If GA is going to appeal, then that means a) no money will be paid out to the McCanns and b) new information may be brought forward which was previously not made public.

The judge must have known that whatever she ruled, it would be appealed. Therefore, in an appeal by GA, the door is now open to more questions the McCanns will have to answer to clarify exactly how they and the search have been damaged by GA's book.

@ CSOT That's irrelevant though, Amaral's theory was not being scrutinised, this was not a criminal court to decide what happened to Madeleine, it was a libel court to decide if Amaral, by implication the parents had caused damage to the search, and hurt the McCanns more than the hurt of losing their daughter, which as far as I could see, the judge had decided the book etc hadn't really caused any more damage than had already been done

And of course we still have an ongoing SY investigation at a cost of 10 million and counting...so how the heck has the search been damaged?

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=5931.0

So this unprecedented payout is for the proven part that the McCanns felt "shame and ill-being"? That was the only proven damage, I believe? Seems completely disproportionate.

What has happened between January 21 and now?

canada12 wrote:If GA is going to appeal, then that means a) no money will be paid out to the McCanns and b) new information may be brought forward which was previously not made public.

The judge must have known that whatever she ruled, it would be appealed. Therefore, in an appeal by GA, the door is now open to more questions the McCanns will have to answer to clarify exactly how they and the search have been damaged by GA's book.

I was thinking that too DeeCoy but wasn`t sure whether to post it. Maybe it is a clever move. Hmmmm Glass of wine to celebrate a bit of optimism chirpy? Don`t mind if I do.

How much has GA made from the book? And how does that compare to the payout he now has to make?

Chop Suey on Toast wrote:How much has GA made from the book? And how does that compare to the payout he now has to make?

Iirc it is much the same amount.

Chop Suey on Toast wrote:How much has GA made from the book? And how does that compare to the payout he now has to make?

According to the court findings he earned around €340,000 in 2008 and 2009. The BBC estimate the award today as £357000. Hmm.

The comparison between GA's profit from the book and the award against him will help evaluate the enormity of his misdemeanour in the eyes of the court

Meanwhile, I don't think this little side issue has any relevance to the investigation, or the validity of your own opinions about what may or may not have happened