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

Dee Coy wrote:

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.

Thats what I thought,just the monies from the book sale,wasn't one of the judgements that the McCanns alleged a million plus,hence their high claim.

chirpyinsect wrote:

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.

Thought, well hoped something similar

GA's main problem was that there isn't anything tangible in the book to back up his suggestions about concealment of a body. If he had said such a thing in, for example, a British newspaper, the publishers would probably have been clobbered for a million and made to issue a public retraction

If my daughter had gone missing, and somebody had implied that I had hidden the body, would it make me more distressed than I already was? Yes of course it would

It's time to admit that his theory probably doesn't add up, and to concentrate on working out what really did happen

From the Mirror.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-urge-5599047

Andrew wrote:From the Mirror.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-urge-5599047

And the fund goes on..........

Andrew wrote:From the Mirror.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-urge-5599047

Duarte says they were confident.
Looks like the judge was in their pocket from the start.

Nicked from HdH on FB: 

But I nicked it from Helenmeg over there..


UPDATE

As of 20.00 neither Mr Amaral nor his lawyer had been notified of any decision and as far as we are aware, this has not changed within the last hour or so.

As you can imagine, this means that they are not in receipt of any verdict.

The above, also means that any requests from the press or news agencies can only be met with ' no comment'.

As a consequence, what you are reading in the press can only feature comments from the Mccanns' representatives and is therefore one sided and unbalanced.

If these reports are correct then this decision certainly contains an unprecedented Sum of damages to be awarded throughout Portuguese history. I'm lead to believe that even severe physical injury or death would not be met with such an award.

Many are left astonished and this is partly due to information that had been read from the court in January ( link provided) where it was communicated which issues were ' proven' or ' not proven' and partly due to the amount that is at stake.

We believe that an appeal will be launched as soon as official confirmation is received and this will obviously incur costs.

We have been asked numerous times today whether members could set up a fund. A fund for Legal costs already exists. ( linked)

Without the support of Our members, it is certain that Mr Amaral would not be where he is in this process at all, and whilst he feels forever embarrassed, he is deeply grateful.

This will not be over.

A decision from a Portuguese court can only be enforced, once the appeals process is exhausted.
No award will be paid until a final decision is reached by the very last appeals court.

We have seen this before.

We will update you as soon as we can.

http://pjga.blogspot.co.uk/?m=0

http://themaddiecasefiles.com/topic24300.html

dogs don't lie wrote:

Andrew wrote:From the Mirror.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-urge-5599047

And the fund goes on..........  

I find it interesting that the McCanns never refer to Madeleine as their "daughter", it's always a "little girl", "a child", even in the Mirror comment it's -

And she and Gerry added in a statement: “We would like to remind people that there is still a little innocent girl who is missing and that those responsible for her abduction remain at large.

Duarte referred to Madeleine as their "daughter" but I can't remember the last time that the McCanns collectively have referred to Madeleine as "their daughter".  That's always seemed very odd to me.

ETA: I didn't buy KM's book (I didn't want to add money to their "fund") but if anyone can tell me if KM ever referred to Madeleine as "her daughter" in the book please let me know out of curiosity. Not that it is relevant to this thread but I would like to know.

Chop Suey on Toast wrote:GA's main problem was that there isn't anything tangible in the book to back up his suggestions about concealment of a body. If he had said such a thing in, for example, a British newspaper, the publishers would probably have been clobbered for a million and made to issue a public retraction

If my daughter had gone missing, and somebody had implied that I had hidden the body, would it make me more distressed than I already was? Yes of course it would

It's time to admit that his theory probably doesn't add up, and to concentrate on working out what really did happen

Kate McCann said I know what happened I was there.

mabossa ritchie wrote:

Andrew wrote:From the Mirror.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-urge-5599047

Duarte says they were confident.
Looks like the judge was in their pocket from the start.

Taken from the article,they aren't working together then.

Portuguese prosecutors reopened their probe into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance last year and are conducting a separate investigation to one led by Scotland Yard.

Andrew wrote:Nicked from HdH on FB: 

But I nicked it from Helenmeg over there..


UPDATE

As of 20.00 neither Mr Amaral nor his lawyer had been notified of any decision and as far as we are aware, this has not changed within the last hour or so.

As you can imagine, this means that they are not in receipt of any verdict.

Something not right here.

McCann lies and contradictions.
Tapas groups odd behaviour and silence.
Bennett and co's attempt to discredit independent witnesses.
Grossly unfair and illogical civil judgement today.
What is going on here?This is madness.

poppyfox wrote: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.

You echo my thoughts.
It seems evil does reign supreme these days - this pair have gone from strength to strength, bulldozing and threatening all who disbelieve them. They get away with it every time. We were all so convinced, from the court reporting, that their case was weak - yet, abracadabra, they win again - it`s been such an unexpected shock.

Would one immediately decide on an appeal if you've not even received the verdict.

caricature wrote:Would one immediately decide on an appeal if you've not even received the verdict.

Yep - I don`t know where people are getting their information from. It`s as if someone has actually spoken to GA, yet it`s said he hasn`t received the verdict yet.

Like  someone mentioned, if it is right it might  seem  that they have the upper hand but not so.  Mr Correia Afonso said the ex-detective made £270,000 from sales of his book. Then add interest which 70.000 . So it all depends on the reasons they were awarded this amount and hopefully it will come out soon. And of course the media have to spin it TMs way.

It was a million they wanted  The McCanns are suing Mr Amaral for £1m over his book No winners

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Textusa28 Apr 2015, 20:15:00
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I'm for keeping chin up!

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Original claim included amounts for the parents as well as for Madeleine and her younger twin brother and sister. So I wonder on what condition this was awarded.

Speaking today, their Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte said: “It was never about the money. It was about stopping awful lies being printed, which hindered the search for Madeleine.”

Madeleine McCann (Pic:RexFeatures)
Missing: Madeleine

As the couple prepare for the agonising eighth anniversary of Maddie’s disappearance this Sunday, Isabel said: “This verdict could not have come at a better time for them.

“I informed them immediately by email and Kate wrote back to say they were absolutely delighted and so very happy.

“Those were her words. She really believes it can help the chance of finding Madeleine alive because their accuser suggested the little girl was dead.

“This is the news we have been waiting for after six long years.

“We were always confident of a victory but in recent months had a few doubts. But the fact that Mr Amaral has now been silenced is very good news.

“He has to hand all copies of his book and the DVD to Kate and Gerry. Nothing he has produced about Madeleine can ever be on the shelves again. There is a total ban and that is all my clients ever wanted.”

I can't believe it. The crap goes on and on. Imo she's dead. The apparent farce of them pretending they don't know is just unbelievable. 15 out of 18 markers, blood soaked under the tiles, a story that is full of holes. Just unbelievable. I'm gobsmacked.

So the lies being printed stopped the search? Just recently we hear from Dr. Gerry that they are now reduced to using their 'own' money to add to the Fund. So why is this specified as being the money earned from the book - the book which announces on the jacket that all monies earned from the book are to go into the Ltd. Co? That money should have gone into the Fund years ago.

The above announcement certainly clears up the puzzle as to where the royalties ended up, as they did not appear in the yearly accounts. So much for the transparency promised to the generous British public.

Which, being a Ltd.Co. and has as one of it's aims to support the family, still does not guarantee that anyone buying the book is helping the search since the accounts show no more than 13% is going on 'the search' .

It was The McCanns who called in a South African 'expert' who would search for her body!!! Just weeks after she disappeared.

That the book by GA was published so soon after the files were released is not using privileged information imo. Although it would certainly have been better to wait a few months until the information in the files was widely available.

Some posters are arguing that the book didn't harm the public search. But everything affects something else related to it in one way or another.  If nothing else, the book probably confused a lot of people on forums like this, because it is frequently quoted as if it's a factual account of events. It isn't.
Did M die on the evening of May 3? Imo probably not. That would be a very basic mistake to make, wouldn't it?
Without attempting to say what did happen to her, the way things unfolded between 9 and 10 that evening, and particularly the ongoing lack of a body, make death between 9 and 10 on May 3 one of the most unlikely scenarios of all

I see Sky has corrected its erroneous report on the amount awarded to the Macs.
Here is the headline reported yesterday:
Ex-Detective To Pay McCanns £75,000 For Libel - Sky News



news.sky.com/story/.../ex-detective-to-pay-mccanns-75000-for-libel



17 hours ago - Former detective Goncalo Amaral is ordered to pay 106,000 euros (£75,000) to Kate and Gerry McCann in libel damages. 15:57, UK, Tuesday ...

Yet clicking on the link it has been amended to £433k.


This is the corrected headline.

http://news.sky.com/story/1473885/mccanns-had-asked-for-1m-compensation



The payout is still a welcome contribution to the dwindling fund set up to pay for the search for Madeleine, writes Martin Brunt.

17:38, UK,
Tuesday 28 April 2015
Madeleine McCann disappeared in Portugal in 2007

Martin Brunt
Crime Correspondent

The 500,000 euros libel damages awarded to Kate and Gerry McCann by a Lisbon judge is less than half the amount the couple were asking for.
It's roughly £357,000 and still a welcome contribution to the dwindling Madeleine Fund set up to pay for the continuing search for missing Madeleine, who vanished during a family holiday eight years ago this weekend.
The McCanns had asked for £1m compensation when the trial began two years ago and limped towards its conclusion with various interruptions and delays.
They said originally that any money awarded would be used for their search fund, though the award has already fired up some of the couple's online detractors who say they are 'millionaires' and do not deserve the court victory.
The McCanns had sued Mr Amaral over the contents of his book, The Truth Of The Lie, in which he insisted Madeleine had died accidently in their holiday apartment and accused her parents of 'covering up' her death
They argued that the book - published within days of the Portuguese police abandoning their search for Madeleine - had stopped people in Portugal searching for their missing daughter.
The couple's court action was also against the book's publishers and the producers of a TV documentary based on it.
Sales of the book and DVD have been halted by the judge.
In one of the most dramatic courtroom moments, Mrs McCann described being confronted by her young son Sean who had heard a news bulletin about the hearing on his school bus.
She said that Sean told her: "Mr Amaral says you hid Madeleine."
She told her son that he "says a lot of silly things".

Mr Amaral is likely to appeal the court's decision.



I truly hope GA reminds the court in the appeal of the bolded words above and asks how Sean could have heard him say anything at all as he doesn`t speak English.

Did Brunt pick that line deliberately? He knows you know.

Isn't the sum mentioned in the original report (106,000 euros) the interest that was added on by the court?

They won less than they wanted, Gonçalo wins in my eyes. This man has fought long and hard so far, he can't stop now. Some front page headlines makes me sick! Wish someone would put the official police files into an easy read book, could the mcs do anything about that?
IMO

I don't understand how its possible that;
a) they've been awarded damages when the vast majority of the facts that they claimed were unproven
b) the level of damages is unprecedented in Portuguese legal history
b) an ordinary civil court can overturn the decision by both the appeal court and the supreme court in respect of the book and dvd sales
c) late payment interest has been charged back to 2010 when no legal liability existed
d) a court can hand down a verdict that is so blatantly perverse

And I see The Guardian have a quote from the "family spokesman" Clarence Mitchell. Looks like he's back on board now there's money to be had