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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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Settlement of defamation action: this is the report of the settlement of the defamation action concerning the McCann family in respect of publications which have cast aspersions upon their inegrity

On 3 February 2008 Matt Drake in the Daily Express reported “Police ‘Too Hasty’ Over Mccanns”.

The McCanns stand accused in Portugal

AFTER months of torment and suspicion, Kate and Gerry McCann were given fresh hope last night that they will soon be cleared of suspicion over the disappearance of their daughter. As the couple bravely celebrated the third birthday of their twins, Sean and Amelie, one of Portugal’s most senior detectives admitted that making them suspects had been a “hasty” mistake.

Alipio Ribeiro said he thought the decision to make them arguidos last September was taken too quickly and without proper assessment. The astonishing claim came in a radio interview to be broadcast in full today. Buoyed by the announcement, the McCanns last night demanded to be cleared immediately so they could focus their attention on the grim task of tracing their child.

The couple, both 39, said the official’s comments were tantamount to an admission that Portuguese detectives had bungled by centring their investigation on them.

Ribeiro, national director of the Policia Judiciaria which is leading the hunt for missing Madeleine, told Portugal’s Radio Renascenca, owned by the Catholic Church: “At this moment in time and speaking with the experience I have of Portugal’s Public Prosecution Service and the constitution of arguidos, I think there perhaps should have been another assessment before the McCanns were made official suspects. “I don’t have any doubt about that. The national director of the Policia Judiciaria doesn’t give out orders on the constitution of arguidos but there was a certain hastiness.”

Yesterday a close family friend said: “They need this stain removed from their characters as soon as possible.” The admission, the first by anyone in authority in Portugal that the McCann case has been mishandled, follows criticism by Gerry and Kate’s Portuguese lawyer.

Carlos Pinto de Abreu suggested in December that police had waged a campaign of smears and speculation against the McCanns in an attempt to turn public opinion against them. The couple were named as official suspects in the case just a few days before a new law made such practice impossible without firm evidence.

Portugal’s Attorney General Fernando Pinto Monteiro has already admitted that the McCanns might not have been named arguidos after its introduction. Last night Ribeiro was under growing pressure to stand down as national director of their country’s Policia Judiciaria.

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