Algarve ResidentMcCanns drop libel action against Portuguese newspaperUpdated: 27-Aug-2009
Kate and Gerry McCann have decided to drop a libel case against Portuguese newspaper Tal & Qual.
Tal & Qual were the first newspaper to claim that the McCanns were linked to the disappearance of Madeleine.
As the story was the first suggestion that Portuguese detectives were treating the McCanns as suspects, it caused a huge stir around the world.
The McCanns were advised to drop the action after allegedly being told the newspaper, which published its last edition in September 2007, had a strong defence under Portuguese law.
It would also have been argued that the article had every right to be published because detectives did believe at the time that the parents may have been involved with the disappearance of their daughter.
The article was published three months after the disappearance of Madeleine from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
Two weeks after the article was published, Kate and Gerry McCann were named as arguidos, formal suspects, by Portuguese police.
It is said that the McCanns now want to focus on their one million pound case against Gonçalo Amaral who was the former head of the investigation.
Gonçalo Amaral went on to write a book, which reportedly made him a million pounds sterling, about Madeleine’s disappearance, which claimed the doctors had covered up their daughter’s death.
The trial is expected to be held next summer in Lisbon.
The couple have said if they are successful, the money they win will be put toward the Find Madeleine Fund.
It has been reported that the McCanns also plan to sue the group Madeleine Foundation, who distributed leaflets in their hometown of Rothley in Leicestershire two weeks ago.
