Madeleine McCann: The Truth Of The Lie - Foreword.

The following translation is totally my own work, the result of hundreds of hours of unpaid work, intended to make this book available in English.
The only person who has my permission to copy it eslewhere is Jill Havern, who has produced this lovely site.
Someone else has reproduced my work, without permission. When confronted about this some time ago, that person had the bare-faced cheek to say that he had 'changed it for American readers.' Yes, he had taken my work and changed a word here and there, e.g., car boot became car trunk. 
Changing a word here and there of someone's creative endeavour does not produce an original work. I'd like to see him change one of the Harry Potter books by a word here and there and claim it as his own! That is what the scumbag has done with my work. 
My translation is not an it to be taken without permission. It's not something that dropped out of the ether onto my blog. It's the result of many hours of unpaid work. As such it is my intellectual property.
When I assess students' coursework, I am always vigilant to look out for plagiarism. Articles copied from the internet and changed by a few words are still plagiarism and so is taking my work and changing a word or two. It's plagiarism and as such is absolutely despicable. 
The person who has stolen my work does not even have the decency to credit its provenance. Still, he has also copied my mistakes in translation, which I also claim as my own! 

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The French title of Gonçalo Amaral's book, "A Verdade da Mentira," is, "Maddie: L'Enquête Interdite," The Forbidden Investigation.

This is the Foreword from the French version.

"Certainly, this book responds to the need I felt to defend myself, having been discredited by the institution for which I worked for more than twenty-six years, without being given any chance to explain myself, publicly or within the institution itself. I made the request several times, but it was never heard. I, therefore, scrupulously respected the rules of the judiciary police and I refrained from making any comment. But this goes without saying: I experienced that silence to which I was constrained as an attack on my dignity. Later, I was removed from the investigation. It was then that I understood that it was time to speak. To do that, I requested early retirement in order to be able to express myself freely.

However, the purpose of this work is more important: to contribute to finding the truth so that justice can finally be done in the investigation known as the "Maddie case." Truth and justice are two values strongly anchored within me, which reflect my profound beliefs: they always guided the work I did for the institution to which I am proud to have belonged. Even in retirement, they continue to inspire me and to be present in my life.

In no way does this text seek to challenge the work of my colleagues in the judiciary police or to compromise the ongoing investigation. I am convinced that the disclosure of all the facts may, in the present case, result in harming the investigation. However, the reader will have access to unpublished information, to new interpretations of events - always with respect for the law - and, of course, to relevant enquiries.

The only objective of a criminal investigation is the search for truth. There is no place for the "politically correct."