McCann defends legal action over book

GERRY McCANN yesterday defended his legal action against a Portuguese detective who led the investigation into his daughter’s disappearance, saying his book had damaged the search for Madeleine.

McCann spoke to reporters as he left a court in Lisbon on the second day of a hearing at which former police chief Goncalo Amaral is attempting to overturn a ban on his book, which questions the McCanns’ account of what happened to Madeleine.

It was the second time McCann addressed journalists outside court. As he arrived yesterday morning, he angrily dismissed Portuguese detectives’ claims that his daughter is dead.

Senior officers involved in the case told the hearing on Tuesday of their belief that the little girl died in her family’s holiday flat on the Algarve and that her parents faked her abduction.

Returning for the second day of evidence, McCann and his wife Kate said none of the claims were new. Mr McCann was asked by a Portuguese reporter whether it was worth the emotional cost for the couple to attend the court.

He replied: “Do you have children? Anyone who has children would go through the same process.”

Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida told the court on Tuesday he believed that Madeleine died in her family’s apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz on the day she went missing. He said the main evidence for this was the findings of British police dogs sent to Portugal to examine the flat.

McCann said evidence of the police witnesses called by Amaral’s lawyers did not surprise him.

Amaral’s lawyers argue that the material in his book — Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie — is contained in the official Portuguese police files for the case, many of which were made public in August 2008.

Arriving for yesterday’s hearing, Amaral said he was “very happy” that his police colleagues had repeated in court what was in the files and in his book.

A former senior detective called as a witness by Amaral yesterday dismissed the theory that Madeleine was abducted. Francisco Moita Flores, now the mayor of Santarem, near Lisbon, a criminologist and a writer, told the court it would be impossible to pass a child through the window of the McCanns’ holiday flat.

Giving evidence via videolink, he argued that the legal challenge to the book was “pathetic”.

He said a Portuguese citizen was being prevented from freely expressing his opinions in a responsible way. Flores also defended the way Portuguese police investigated the case, praised Amaral as a “good professional with a good technical background” and said his book did not prejudice the inquiry.

The McCanns, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, say their main motive for challenging the former policeman is the fear that people will stop looking for their daughter if they think she is dead.

The hearing continues.