The couple wants between 100 and 500 thousand Euros compensation
Donations increased after the Oprah Show but not enough to keep the fund active for much longer.
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One hundred to 500 thousand Euros compensation is the amount Kate and Gerry McCann want to receive from Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator of the Department of Criminal Investigation (DIC) of the Judicial Police (PJ) of Portimão. The lawsuit, according to the McCanns, aims at putting money into the fund that the couple uses to finance its expenditures of the campaign they have promoted since the disappearance of their daughter.
The information has been confirmed to the 24horas by a source of the “Madeleine’s Fund – Leaving No Stone Unturned”, the financial fund created by Maddie’s parents nine days after the disappearance of the child.
“The couple is hoping to receive at least a six-digit compensation,” said the same source adding that “other legal actions are not excluded, which will help putting money into the Find Madeleine fund and helping the campaign.” 24horas knows that since 2007 – soon after Kate and Gerry McCann’s return to England – the couple’s lawyers have a list of media, of journalists and even of Portuguese and English blogs that the McCanns are looking at as a possible “target”.
Gonçalo Amaral is the main target of the McCanns: according to the same source, the person in charge of the investigation into Maddie’s disappearance is “the only person who continues to question Madeleine’s abduction” and this “affects the credibility of the couple and the work of the investigators”.
The former PJ coordinator’s movements have always been the target of greatest attention for the detectives hired by the McCanns – an initiative started off by the Spanish people from Metodo 3 but remaining up to date in a report disclosing information about Gonçalo Amaral’s private and professional life and lists details such as the family’s bank accounts, and even the list of their closest friends. Part of this report, however, has been transmitted to a Portuguese lawyer who has used it in declarations and accusations related to another process.
The lawsuits seem to be the best means Kate and Gerry McCann found to finance their activities of the “Find Madeleine” campaign – a private organisation mainly managed by the family and now having Kate and Gerry as directors.
After having received more than 700,000 Euros compensation in lawsuits against various English newspapers, which have never gone through any court rooms, the couple is now aiming at various targets in Portugal: “It is clear that Amaral is the main target, but other possibilities exist, especially amongst the media and on the internet where defamatory statements regarding the couple have been made,” said the same source.
The millionaire “drops” his support
Despite the numerous donations made to the “Find Madeleine” fund since Kate and Gerry McCann’s interview at Oprah’s talk-show – a North American television programme that SIC has broadcasted in Portugal – the financial capacity of the fund no longer is the one the couple got used to in 2007, and even the Scottish multimillionaire Brian Kennedy turned his back on the expenses of Clarence Mitchell, the spokesperson of Maddie’s parents.
As 24horas already revealed in March this year, the multimillionaire, Brian Kennedy, ceased to support the activities of the McCanns alleging financial reasons to justify his withdrawal. Clarence Mitchell, the spokesperson of Kate and Gerry McCann, had already confirmed this piece of information to the 24horas saying that the multimillionaire neither paid any longer for his services nor for the payment of the detectives hired by the couple.
Despite the abandon of the multimillionaire, Clarence Mitchell assured to the 24horas that he will continue to work alongside Kate and Gerry McCann. The spokesperson of the couple, communication and public relations specialist has reduced the number of his declarations but keeps in permanent contact with the journalists.
Brian Kennedy would have seen his fortune diminishing for more than 50 million pounds which, however, would not be the only reason behind his decision to abandon his support to the couple – a source close to the multimillionaire told 24horas that Kennedy had neither appreciated the expenditures of the Spanish detectives (Metodo 3), nor the half a million pounds paid to an American company for six months of a supposed inquiry.
Paedophile says he knows nothing regarding Maddie
Raymond Hewllet
Raymond Hewlett, the English citizen denounced by the two former British detectives hired by the McCanns as the alleged suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance, denied to have seen or approached the child during the time he lived in the Algarve and has reaffirmed to the 24horas “that he had no involvement in the disappearance” of the child. This is Hewlett’s reaction to the information published during the past few weeks in the various German and British newspapers saying that the English citizen supposedly saw Maddie on two occasions.
Yesterday, in declarations to the “Sunday Mirror”, Hewlett confirmed what he had already said to the 24horas: “The only time I saw Madeleine McCann was on posters regarding the disappearance,” adding that he saw her once on television but “never in real life”.
“It is obvious why they are interested in me. But they can think what they want. I did not kill the girl. This is the truth and it will never change,” said the British to the English newspaper.
Sources close to the Leicestershire police revealed to the 24horas that the Hewlett’s profile does not correspond to the one of an eventual abductor of Madeleine and that “all the suspicions of the McCann’s detectives in relation to Hewlett are based on assumptions, as facts or evidences to support them in this direction do not exist”. – “In the first phase of the joint investigation carried out in Portugal, all the individuals registered on file or suspected of sexual aggression acts, paedophilia or abduction, had been investigated and eliminated as suspects one by one,” concluded the same source.
The alleged suspect, currently in Aachen (Germany) in the terminal phase of a cancer disease, confirmed having been questioned by the West Yorkshire police but denied having been questioned regarding Madeleine’s disappearance.
“Yes, I have spoken to the British police and am willing to collaborate as far as my state of health permits, but they were not interested in Maddie’s disappearance,” said Hewlett to the 24horas adding that on 3 May 2007 “I was not in Praia da Luz”.
Hewlett appeared on the front pages of the British tabloids after the two former British detectives, Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley – known on Internet as “Dupont et Dupond” (Thomson and Thompson) referring to the two police officers of the comic book Tintin – revealed that the British citizen lived in the Algarve in 2007 and that the man had already been condemned in paedophilia cases in the 70s.
“An alleged paedophile who is about to die would be the ideal suspect to divert the attention of the public opinion and raise doubts in people’s minds,” said a PJ inspector in the Algarve to the 24horas, adding that “all the alleged suspects so far indicated by the private detectives had been investigated and nothing indicated that they were involved in the disappearance of the girl.”
Questioned regarding Gonçalo Amaral’s theory, the inspector only added that “Amaral has much experience, without enough elements he would never put this theory forward”.
Duarte Levy on 24horas
Filed under: Madeleine McCann, Brian Kennedy, Clarence Mitchell, Duarte Levy, Gerry McCann, Gonçalo Amaral, Kate McCann, Maddie, Madeleine McCann, Madeleine's Fund, Raymond Hewlett
Duarte Levy.. 