Well, this one should be well known by now, since its banning attracted world-wide attention: published in Portugal in July 2008, it was subject to a temporary injunction which was upheld in January of this year. The banning more than the publication attracted attention, but seemingly, the latest ruling by the Appeal Court in Lisbon has not been considered quite so newsworthy by the UK press.
The full English translation of the decision by the three judges sitting at the Appeal Court can be read here (Joana Morais)
Gonçalo Amaral's book was only banned in Portugal as a result of the injunction in January and was still available in France, Spain, Holland, Belgium and Germany. For those German tourists whom the McCanns are now trying to reach with their new appeal, German people who were on holiday in Praia da Luz at the same time as the McCanns, whom I can only assume must have been in a coma since then if they haven't come forward with information, Gonçalo Amaral's book, with the German title, "MADDIE - Die Wahrheit uber die Luge," is available from bol.de and is a good way to catch up on what you've been missing.
In no particular order of publication date, a look at a few more books.
"Vanished: The Truth About The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann," by Danny Collins. From a review of the book on Amazon:
I don't know if Mr Collins reached a decision about which of the three explanations was most likely, because I haven't read the book, which was published in May 2008 in paperback, but since we still don't know what happened to Madeleine, I don't think Mr Collins arrived at the truth.
"Vanished: The Truth About The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann," by Danny Collins. From a review of the book on Amazon:
There are three possible explanations for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann: Either she was abducted from inside her bedroom, or she woke up and wandered outside the apartment looking for her parents and was abducted in the street, or she died "accidentally" in the flat and the abduction claim by her parents is false. Danny Collins makes fair and reasoned judgements on the grounds of probability, opportunity,known evidence,the behaviour of the main characters and the circumstances relating to similar missing children cases.
I don't know if Mr Collins reached a decision about which of the three explanations was most likely, because I haven't read the book, which was published in May 2008 in paperback, but since we still don't know what happened to Madeleine, I don't think Mr Collins arrived at the truth.
"THE MADELEINE INVESTIGATION: INCOMPETENCE OR CORRUPTION?" by members of the "Justice for ALL the McCann family forum."
I guess the title gives the game away a bit here. Two choices: incompetence or corruption! So, we don't really need to look inside to have a good guess at the slant taken by the authors, who ask at the beginning of the book, "Why are Madeleine's abductors still at large? We ask questions the Portuguese police must answer." I think the authors are probably still waiting because I doubt the Portuguese police have felt compelled to respond!
A few pages later, the authors of the above work inform that from day one Kate and Gerry McCann were being considered as suspects to the exclusion of all other options, that the police lied about the DNA evidence, distorted the value of the sniffer dog evidence, and made the parents suffer almost a year of torment as arguidos, "without so much as a scrap of evidence."
Oh dear! There might be a case for libel there folks! Watch your backs now that Dr Amaral's book is back on the shelves of bookshops in Portugal and the three judges consider that there was enough evidence to constitute the McCanns as arguidos!
"Faked Abduction," by Brian Johnson.
A look at the conclusions of Gonçalo Amaral and Chief Inspector Tavares Almeida with opinions from a criminal psychologist. Published in the US and not available from Amazon, another book whose conclusions we can guess at. As far as I am aware, the book is still available from the author and there has been no attempt to have it banned. Still, since the Amaral book was only actually banned in Portugal and not in the rest of Europe, the McCanns were unlikely, in my opinion, to spend thousands on lawyers to stop a book which was not as generally available, if they didn't do a banning tour of Europe!
And now another fine book in the German language for those tourists emerging from a three and a half year coma!
"Analyse des Vermisstenfalles Madeleine McCann," by Daniela Prousa
Published July 2010. Available from Amazon
Daniela Prousa is a psychiatrist, who concludes that Madeleine McCann died as a result of an accident in her parents' holiday apartment in May 2007. I have not heard of any attempt to ban this book, but since Gonçalo Amaral, as a police officer with over 26 years of experience in criminal investigation, was judged to be qualified to express an opinion, so might Ms Prousa, as a forensic psychiatrist.
The following is an extract from an excellent review of the book, which can be read in full on the McCann Exposure blog.
I guess the title gives the game away a bit here. Two choices: incompetence or corruption! So, we don't really need to look inside to have a good guess at the slant taken by the authors, who ask at the beginning of the book, "Why are Madeleine's abductors still at large? We ask questions the Portuguese police must answer." I think the authors are probably still waiting because I doubt the Portuguese police have felt compelled to respond!
A few pages later, the authors of the above work inform that from day one Kate and Gerry McCann were being considered as suspects to the exclusion of all other options, that the police lied about the DNA evidence, distorted the value of the sniffer dog evidence, and made the parents suffer almost a year of torment as arguidos, "without so much as a scrap of evidence."
Oh dear! There might be a case for libel there folks! Watch your backs now that Dr Amaral's book is back on the shelves of bookshops in Portugal and the three judges consider that there was enough evidence to constitute the McCanns as arguidos!
"Faked Abduction," by Brian Johnson.
A look at the conclusions of Gonçalo Amaral and Chief Inspector Tavares Almeida with opinions from a criminal psychologist. Published in the US and not available from Amazon, another book whose conclusions we can guess at. As far as I am aware, the book is still available from the author and there has been no attempt to have it banned. Still, since the Amaral book was only actually banned in Portugal and not in the rest of Europe, the McCanns were unlikely, in my opinion, to spend thousands on lawyers to stop a book which was not as generally available, if they didn't do a banning tour of Europe!
And now another fine book in the German language for those tourists emerging from a three and a half year coma!
"Analyse des Vermisstenfalles Madeleine McCann," by Daniela Prousa
Published July 2010. Available from Amazon
Daniela Prousa is a psychiatrist, who concludes that Madeleine McCann died as a result of an accident in her parents' holiday apartment in May 2007. I have not heard of any attempt to ban this book, but since Gonçalo Amaral, as a police officer with over 26 years of experience in criminal investigation, was judged to be qualified to express an opinion, so might Ms Prousa, as a forensic psychiatrist.
The following is an extract from an excellent review of the book, which can be read in full on the McCann Exposure blog.
Analyse des Vermisstenfalles Madeleine McCann is written by German author and psychiatrist, Daniela Prousa. It is essentially an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of the McCann’s given accounts regarding the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine McCann. Prousa examined in detail how the McCann’s make sense of and perceive significant events in their lives, namely the events conceived on the evening of May 3rd 2007, the night Madeleine disappeared. She obtained data from many written and visual expressions of the McCann’s, via their blog on their website, media statements and interviews and television appearances. During her study she asked curious and critical questions of their accounts, actions and emotions – verbal and non-verbal – such as “What is this person trying to achieve here?” and “Is something leaking out here that wasn’t intended?”Through her analysis, Prousa concluded that Madeleine McCann died because of an accidental fall off the sofa, either immediately after her parents left the apartment or shortly after Gerry McCann’s check at around 9.10pm. Further, she believes that it was Kate McCann who initially found Madeleine and that Gerry came in later to support her in covering up the accidental death of their daughter.
