McCanns face legal headache to clear names

KATE and Gerry McCann now have the headache of meeting hefty legal bills to try to prove their innocence.

With no one knowing how long the criminal case against them will last, or cost, the fees are set to mount. So far public donations of £1,036,104.17 have been received by Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned — the fund set up to help investigate and secure Madeleine McCann’s return.

After Kate and Gerry McCann were named as formal suspects, a family friend said: “The fund is looking into whether it can legally pay for the legal advice that is currently being given to Kate and Gerry.”

But using fund money to help pay for legal advice is not an option, according to solicitor Julian Young, president of the West London Law Society.

“People have given money to help fund the child’s return and not help the parents,” he said. “They are two doctors probably earning £150,000 each on their contracts. They should not be able to, because it is not what the money was given for. It was not in the stated reasons.

“If it had been said originally that the money was wanted to help with legal fees then people perhaps would not have been so generous.”

The fund’s stated objectives include “to provide support, including financial assistance, to Madeleine’s family”. To try and use this to help with their legal bill would be “stretching it” as this is more about covering expenses than legal advice, according to Mr Young.

The fund is a non-charitable not-for-profit company set up to help find Madeleine McCann and to support her family and bring her abductors to justice. Any surplus has been pledged to help families and missing children in Britain, Portugal and elsewhere in similar circumstances. Any surplus is to be converted into a charity.

Mr Young said: “If you are paying for advice in this country about a matter in Portugal, you are not entitled to legal aid regarding the matter. They would have to pay for it privately.”

It appears the McCanns are currently paying two sets of legal fees.

Catherine Wolthuizen, chief executive of Fair Trials Abroad (FTA), said: “At this stage, it looks like they are paying a lawyer in Portugal and might intend to keep paying for a senior defence lawyer in Britain as well.

“It might be they are going to look for legal advice for quite a long time on issues relating to evidence gathering, the police investigation and extradition.

“They have got it coming to them on a number of fronts which may mean they want a high level of private representation. They would just have to pay for it privately.”

This is the worst-case legal scenario for the McCanns, who would have to find a way to cover bills for legal representation, which could stretch into years. The preliminary stages of the Portuguese legal process, involving evidence gathering by the police and prosecutor, should take a maximum of a year. FTA has known cases where it has taken twice that long.

Then the information is reviewed by a magistrate who decides whether the matter should go to court. This can take three to six months. A trial, of whatever length, could then follow.

The McCanns could set up a fighting fund to help them with their legal case asking for public donations or, if lucky, get the help of a benefactor. Any appeal to the public would have to be “very carefully” managed to ensure it stayed in line with complex tax, charity and fundraising laws, Ms Wolthuizen noted.

FTA has had clients who have been eligible for legal aid but these have largely been people with distinct points of law that could be argued in court, usually in extradition matters.