This week was another blow for Kate and Gerry McCann, parents of the internationally recognized missing child Madeleine McCann. A verdict was finally rendered on the couple’s 13-year court battle with former lead investigator on their daughter’s case, 62-year-old, Goncalo Amaral. The parents had been locked in an extended legal battle with the former Portuguese detective, who only a year after their daughter’s disappearance, published a book that seemed to point the finger at the McCanns. The McCanns sued and the battle began, but this week it finally came to a close.
Madeleine McCann disappeared back in 2007 at the age of 3 while her parents dined just a few yards away on their family vacation in Portugal. The adorable young girl was soon internationally recognized, as her sweet, shy smile and the distinguishing birthmark in her right eye, made her easily recognizable and relatable.
The Portuguese police were baffled by the disappearance and began pursuing multiple leads and suspects. They investigated a man in a neighboring house, local pedophiles, and many others. But still one detective just could not seem to get past his perception of the parents’ involvement, and that detective was Amaral. Only a year after young Madeleine’s disappearance, he published a book on the case, The Truth of A Lie, that the McCanns felt pointed the finger right at them. The McCanns filed suit but the Portugal high court threw out their original claim, citing Amaral’s ‘freedom to expression’ or the American equivalent of ‘freedom of speech.’ After which the McCanns appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, who handed down their decision this week.
This case had emotions and politics running high right from the get-go. The McCanns are from the UK and so the case became internationally recognized almost right away. The disappearance happened in the small vacation destination of Praia De Luz, Portugal, and many felt the Portuguese officials were not prepared to handle a case of this magnitude and it did seem that they were overwhelmed. Suspicion then fell on the McCanns as they were named official suspects, but many felt Portuguese officials would rather simply blame the parents than find the truth or admit that they might have organized child abductions in their town, an area supported mostly by the tourist industry. Amaral was then dismissed from the case for his comments around the McCann family and UK officials, as reported by ABC. But Amaral would not be silenced as he immediately wrote and published his book.
The ECHR finally ruled that the McCanns’ libel case did not have merit, as their reputation had been harmed by the fact that they were once suspects in their daughter’s disappearance, not Mr. Amaral’s book or his comments. The McCanns can appeal this decision.
As far as their missing daughter, nearly 15 years following her disappearance a new suspect has been named, allowing the statute of limitations to pause. Christian Bruekner, a German native and known sex offender has been declared a suspect as reported by Today. Unfortunately the statute of limitations pauses only for this suspect, if he is found to be innocent, then the limitation is up and whoever kidnapped Madeleine McCann will have gotten away with it.