Web trolls raise £50,000 for the Portuguese detective who wrote a book claiming the McCanns killed their daughter Madeleine - and even British police donated
Judges ordered Goncalo Amaral to pay McCanns £395,000 damages
Group of Britons gave cash to a web fund to help retired officer, 57
£1,000 claimed to be from a ‘very large’ group of Met police officers
Last month Portuguese judges decided to overturn the payout order
By Tom Kelly and Inderdeep Bains for the Daily Mail
Published: 21:01 GMT, 13 May 2016 | Updated: 23:04 GMT, 13 May 2016
More than £50,000 was raised by Britons – including an apparent group of police – in support of a Portuguese detective who claimed Madeleine McCann was killed by her parents.
The group, some of whom admit they are internet ‘trolls’, gave cash to a web fund for Goncalo Amaral, 57.
Judges had ordered Amaral to pay Kate and Gerry McCann £395,000 in libel damages after he wrote a book accusing them of murdering their three-year-old daughter and then faking her abduction.
But a student from Birmingham launched a GoFundMe page to pay for an appeal by the retired officer, who was sacked as head of the investigation after he launched an outspoken attack on British police.
Last month Portuguese judges decided to overturn the payout but the McCanns will now take the case to the country’s supreme court.
One of the biggest payments to the detective’s appeal fund was £1,000 claimed to be from a ‘very large’ group of unnamed Met police officers who said they were ‘outraged’ at the way the officer had been treated.
The post accompanying the donation, which cannot be verified, added: ‘This strikes at the very basis of the way investigations should be conducted, without fear or favour, malice or ill will. The world can clearly see where the malice and ill will are in this case.’
Other donors included Tony Bennett, 67, of Harlow, Essex, who has previously been convicted of breaking court undertakings not to publish allegations linking Madeleine’s parents to her disappearance.
Many of those who donated gave regular payments and made abusive or sarcastic comments about the McCanns. One made a reference to a sponsored cycle ride done by Mrs McCann to raise funds to support families with a missing loved one.
Jo Petteford gave £50 to the Amaral fund and posted: ‘My pledge for Kate completing her bike ride. I am pleased she has helped fund GA’s [Goncalo Amaral’s] legal fees by her efforts. Way to go Kate!’
Hard questions that need to be answered
After the donors were accused of being ‘trolls’, some were furious, insisting they were ‘truth-seekers’. Others adopted the term as a badge of honour, with one even using the name ‘Honourable Troll’.
Many of those giving cash accused the Government, lawyers and national newspapers of a cover-up and of lacking the ‘decency and courage’ to tell the truth.
The fundraising page was started by psychology student Leanne Baulch in April last year. She told the Daily Mail: ‘I set up the page to help him [Amaral] with his appeal because I felt he had suffered an injustice. His assets had been frozen so he had no way to defend himself.
Leanne Baulch
Student Leanne Baulch set up the funding web page because she wanted to help an ‘honourable’ man. The mother of one, from Birmingham, who describes herself as a freelance journalist who ‘loves crime stories’, said the fund was part of a ‘quest for justice’ backed by supporters ‘in solidarity, friendship and above all, in the interest of furthering the investigation...’ She said she had to remove her name as organiser after receiving threats from McCann supporters
Grandmother Ann-Kristine Westwood, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, said she was delighted to have helped Amaral. She donated £100 to his legal fees after raising the money by giving up smoking. She said: ‘I think it’s a marvellous result that he won his appeal. I think it was an outrage the case was ever brought … We don’t live in the 14th century or under the Stasi.’
Retired solicitor Tony Bennett donated £100 to the fund last year, saying: ‘I think he has the right to publish his record of what he was doing in his investigation.’ Of the trolls, he said: ‘Some of those who have contributed have expressed nasty and hateful views. I do not support that in any shape or form.’
Administration officer Karen Laverick, 50, gave about £200. The mother of three, from Langley Park near Durham, said her interest in the case stemmed from taking holidays in Praia da Luz. She said Amaral ‘was a policeman doing his job and was persecuted for giving his opinion’
Ann-Kristine Westwood (left) raised £100 after giving up smoking and Karen Laverick (right) gave about £200
‘I’m not anti-Kate and Gerry McCann. I don’t know what happened and I don’t claim to know. But I do believe there are hard questions that need to be answered.’
She said she was ‘happy’ after the latest ruling in the detective’s favour. ‘The people who donated are very passionate and are pro-truth and justice, not against the McCanns,’ she added.
Madeleine vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007, as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.
Amaral’s book, The Truth Of The Lie, was published three days after the Portuguese authorities formally closed the inquiry in 2008 and cleared the couple of any wrongdoing.
Madeleine’s parents said the detective had sparked a ‘massive tidal wave of lies’ against them in his book. In an online post thanking his supporters after he won his appeal, Amaral said he felt ‘extremely humble’. He added: ‘None of this would have been possible without you.’
In her book, entitled Madeleine, Mrs McCann said: ‘Goncalo Amaral has been convicted of falsifying statements… Why is this man being allowed a platform from which to peddle his absurd and offensive ideas?’
For videos and comments use link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3589566/Web-trolls-raise-50-000-Portuguese-policeman-wrote-book-claiming-McCanns-killed-daughter-Madeline.html#comments
Judges ordered Goncalo Amaral to pay McCanns £395,000 damages
Group of Britons gave cash to a web fund to help retired officer, 57
£1,000 claimed to be from a ‘very large’ group of Met police officers
Last month Portuguese judges decided to overturn the payout order
By Tom Kelly and Inderdeep Bains for the Daily Mail
Published: 21:01 GMT, 13 May 2016 | Updated: 23:04 GMT, 13 May 2016
More than £50,000 was raised by Britons – including an apparent group of police – in support of a Portuguese detective who claimed Madeleine McCann was killed by her parents.
The group, some of whom admit they are internet ‘trolls’, gave cash to a web fund for Goncalo Amaral, 57.
Judges had ordered Amaral to pay Kate and Gerry McCann £395,000 in libel damages after he wrote a book accusing them of murdering their three-year-old daughter and then faking her abduction.
But a student from Birmingham launched a GoFundMe page to pay for an appeal by the retired officer, who was sacked as head of the investigation after he launched an outspoken attack on British police.
Last month Portuguese judges decided to overturn the payout but the McCanns will now take the case to the country’s supreme court.
One of the biggest payments to the detective’s appeal fund was £1,000 claimed to be from a ‘very large’ group of unnamed Met police officers who said they were ‘outraged’ at the way the officer had been treated.
The post accompanying the donation, which cannot be verified, added: ‘This strikes at the very basis of the way investigations should be conducted, without fear or favour, malice or ill will. The world can clearly see where the malice and ill will are in this case.’
Other donors included Tony Bennett, 67, of Harlow, Essex, who has previously been convicted of breaking court undertakings not to publish allegations linking Madeleine’s parents to her disappearance.
Many of those who donated gave regular payments and made abusive or sarcastic comments about the McCanns. One made a reference to a sponsored cycle ride done by Mrs McCann to raise funds to support families with a missing loved one.
Jo Petteford gave £50 to the Amaral fund and posted: ‘My pledge for Kate completing her bike ride. I am pleased she has helped fund GA’s [Goncalo Amaral’s] legal fees by her efforts. Way to go Kate!’
Hard questions that need to be answered
After the donors were accused of being ‘trolls’, some were furious, insisting they were ‘truth-seekers’. Others adopted the term as a badge of honour, with one even using the name ‘Honourable Troll’.
Many of those giving cash accused the Government, lawyers and national newspapers of a cover-up and of lacking the ‘decency and courage’ to tell the truth.
The fundraising page was started by psychology student Leanne Baulch in April last year. She told the Daily Mail: ‘I set up the page to help him [Amaral] with his appeal because I felt he had suffered an injustice. His assets had been frozen so he had no way to defend himself.
Leanne Baulch
Student Leanne Baulch set up the funding web page because she wanted to help an ‘honourable’ man. The mother of one, from Birmingham, who describes herself as a freelance journalist who ‘loves crime stories’, said the fund was part of a ‘quest for justice’ backed by supporters ‘in solidarity, friendship and above all, in the interest of furthering the investigation...’ She said she had to remove her name as organiser after receiving threats from McCann supporters
Grandmother Ann-Kristine Westwood, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, said she was delighted to have helped Amaral. She donated £100 to his legal fees after raising the money by giving up smoking. She said: ‘I think it’s a marvellous result that he won his appeal. I think it was an outrage the case was ever brought … We don’t live in the 14th century or under the Stasi.’
Retired solicitor Tony Bennett donated £100 to the fund last year, saying: ‘I think he has the right to publish his record of what he was doing in his investigation.’ Of the trolls, he said: ‘Some of those who have contributed have expressed nasty and hateful views. I do not support that in any shape or form.’
Administration officer Karen Laverick, 50, gave about £200. The mother of three, from Langley Park near Durham, said her interest in the case stemmed from taking holidays in Praia da Luz. She said Amaral ‘was a policeman doing his job and was persecuted for giving his opinion’
Ann-Kristine Westwood (left) raised £100 after giving up smoking and Karen Laverick (right) gave about £200
‘I’m not anti-Kate and Gerry McCann. I don’t know what happened and I don’t claim to know. But I do believe there are hard questions that need to be answered.’
She said she was ‘happy’ after the latest ruling in the detective’s favour. ‘The people who donated are very passionate and are pro-truth and justice, not against the McCanns,’ she added.
Madeleine vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007, as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.
Amaral’s book, The Truth Of The Lie, was published three days after the Portuguese authorities formally closed the inquiry in 2008 and cleared the couple of any wrongdoing.
Madeleine’s parents said the detective had sparked a ‘massive tidal wave of lies’ against them in his book. In an online post thanking his supporters after he won his appeal, Amaral said he felt ‘extremely humble’. He added: ‘None of this would have been possible without you.’
In her book, entitled Madeleine, Mrs McCann said: ‘Goncalo Amaral has been convicted of falsifying statements… Why is this man being allowed a platform from which to peddle his absurd and offensive ideas?’
For videos and comments use link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3589566/Web-trolls-raise-50-000-Portuguese-policeman-wrote-book-claiming-McCanns-killed-daughter-Madeline.html#comments
