Judge bans book that claims Madeleine McCann is dead

Published on Wednesday 9 September 2009 18:33

A PORTUGUESE judge today banned further sales or publications of a former policeman's book which claimed Madeleine McCann is dead, a spokesman for the missing girl's parents said.

Clarence Mitchell said Kate and Gerry McCann were "absolutely delighted" that a judge at Lisbon's main Civil Court had banned any further publication of The Truth Of The Lie by Goncalo Amaral.

He said the book had hampered the search for missing Madeleine and added to her parents' distress.

Mr Amaral worked on the investigation into three-year-old Madeleine's disappearance from an apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 during a family holiday.

He was removed from the investigation after criticising British police.

The injunction, granted today after a hearing last week, means he has to ensure that all unsold copies of the book are removed from shops and warehouses across Europe or he faces a 1,000 euro-a-day (877) fine.

Mr Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry McCann are absolutely delighted that the judge in Portugal has done the right thing by granting this injunction."

He said Mr Amaral's claims that he believed Madeleine was dead were "threatening the search".

Mr Amaral said he did not believe the McCanns' account that Madeleine was taken while they were eating with friends nearby.

Mr Mitchell said the Mr Amaral's claims had "added to their distress".

The injunction bans Mr Amaral from repeating his claims about Madeleine or her parents.

The terms of the injunction also apply to a TV programme about Madeleine's disappearance which Mr Amaral produced several months ago.

The injunction forces copyright for the book and the film to be passed to the McCanns' lawyer.

In a statement, Kate and Gerry McCann said: "We are pleased with the judge's decision today preventing further distribution and sale of Mr Amaral's book and DVD – The Truth Of The Lie.

"Mr Amaral's central thesis has no evidence whatsoever to support it.

"To claim, as he did, that Madeleine is dead, and that we, as her parents, were in some way involved with her disappearance has caused our family incredible distress and it continues to do so.

"Without doubt, Madeleine will have suffered as a result of the negative effect this book and DVD will have had on the search for her.

"Sean and Amelie need protection, too, from such awful claims."

Twins Sean and Amelie, now four, are the couple's younger children who were also in the holiday apartment when Madeleine went missing.

The statement ended by saying: "Hopefully this injunction today will go a long way towards reducing further unnecessary and unjust distress to us all and allow people to concentrate completely on what is important – finding Madeleine."