Comment: Given that Ma Bennett is still in the land of the living, and his Austrian Uncle Adolf is still well enough to travel from Argentina at the age of eleventy-nine, there is no danger of Bennett meeting his Maker any time soon, unless the Almighty smites him with a thunderbolt.
Post Tony Bennett Today at 11:42 am
The very first thing I would like to say on this thread is to thank very warmly all those who have made a contribution, however small, to help me pay the costs incurred as a result of my statements and opinions on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
I had no right to expect any, as it is my own conduct, for which I alone am responsible, that led me to have to sign undertakings in the first place, and then go on to break them, which is what His Honour Judge Tugendhat ruled that I had done.
I'm especially grateful to people like Aquila who have made a contribution whilst at the same time honestly stating that they have areas where they disagree with my opinions and actions.
I also wish to explain that all the donations made, as those closest to me already know, have only redoubled in me a sense that the truth about what happened to Madeleine McCann must be established, the sooner the better. I may be gagged from saying all but limited things related to Madeleine's disappearance. I am not yet gagged from thinking about, researching and analysing various aspects of this case.
I'd also of course like to thank those who have set up the Campaign for Oppressed Libel Defendants and decided to assist me. There are of course many other oppressed libel defendants in this coiuntry. I've said this before, but will say it again: it has been recognised by many legal experts that despite this country's reputation for free speech, justice, liberty of conscience and parliamentary democracy etc. etc., we have the most draconian and oppressive libel laws anywhere in the Western world. It is those laws that stopped even wealthy newspaper owners reporting, for decades, what they knew about Jimmy Savile. And who knows what facts about establishment misdeeds are being covered up today because of our libel laws and the Leveson 'reforms'?
Finally, in answer to 'mysterion', your question is based on the assumption that I may have been correct in all that I have said about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and that the McCanns knew I was telling the truth. As you know, I can't directly comment on that.
However, what I think I can say is that there is certainly a legal basis for someone like myself to sue someone who has wrongfully gone to court on a falsehood. If that should ever be proved to have been the case, I could for example reapply to the Court to have the undertakings that I gave (under duress of circumstances) lifted. I could also sue for false representation. Any damages awarded to me could be very high.
Whilst I can decide by means of my Will what happens to any assets I leave when I die, I cannot dictate anything else to those that survive my death and burial. However, it is my imtention to expressly authorise in my Will those that succeed me to make a claim, on behalf of my estate, against anyone who may have caused me distress, caused my liberty to be threatened, caused me very significant financial loss etc., as the result of any deliberate misrepresentation they have made to any court.
And should those that survive me succeed in any such action, it would only be right that those who have assisted me with lessening the burden of those costs should be repaid. That would be my expressed wish.
For that reason I have asked C.O.L.D. to supply me with the names and addresses of all those known to have donated. I hope to thank each of you individually in due course.
In the unlikely event that it is proven whilst I am still alive and compus mentis that the legal actions taken against me by the McCanns were made on the basis of a false representation, and I succeed in making a financial claim for compensation against them, I will now state my settled intention to repay to every donor what they have so kindly given to me.
Thank you all so much once again,
Tony
So why is he really wanting names and addresses? Donors should be afraid, very afraid. As I remember, at one point he was harvesting names and addresses and email addresses on a forum, a fact that sendsalarm bells ringing for me re the above. Actually it reads like a very bad script for a Whitehall farce. Oh, calamity!!
