Kate and Gerry under police protection.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/93890/Kate-and-Gerry-blamed-in-leaflet-to-neighbours/

KATE AND GERRY BLAMED IN LEAFLET TO NEIGHBOURS

15th August 2009

By Jerry Lawton

MADELEINE McCann’s parents were under police protection last night after a sick leaflet blaming them for the disappearance was posted to 1,500 of their neighbours.

Officers stepped up patrols around the home of doctors Kate and Gerry, both 41, in case the smear campaign escalates into violence.

And police warned those behind the mass leaflet drop that they face prosecution for harassment.

Four-page pamphlets listing “10 key reasons which suggest she was not abducted’’ were posted through 1,500 letter-boxes in the McCanns’ home village of Rothley and the nearby city of Leicester.

One was delivered to each house in the posh cul-de-sac where the couple live – except their own.

Up to 10 people are suspected of the night-time leaflet drop, including one man on a motorbike.

The leaflets were the work of The Madeleine Foundation – a group that tried unsuccessfully to bring a private prosecution against the couple for neglecting their daughter the night she vanished from their Portuguese holiday flat.

The smear campaign comes just a week after the McCanns’ detectives made an appeal to find a Posh Spice lookalike they believe could have masterminded Madeleine’s abduction.

Three days after the then three-year-old vanished from Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, the mystery Australian woman approached a British stag night reveller at a mar-ina 880 miles away in Barcelona and asked him: “Are you here to deliver my daughter?’’

Police suspect the fresh appeal for information may have sparked the new hate campaign.

In a joint statement the couple said: “We do not wish to dignify the actions of the so-called Madeleine Foundation with any response.

“We do feel it is important, however, that the general public are made aware the Madeleine Foundation has no connection whatsoever with our family or those helping us to find Madeleine, or any law enforcement agencies or child welfare organisations.

“We also strongly believe that the actions of this so-called organis-ation’ do not have Madeleine’s best interests at heart.

“If anything, it is hindering all of our efforts to find Madeleine and to achieve justice.’’

A family pal added: “This is an absolute disgrace. Just how much do Kate and Gerry have to go on suffering?

“They are still battling to come to terms with someone abducting their daughter. Every day must be a living nightmare.

“Yet people who have nothing whatsoever to do with them or the case take it upon themselves to do something like this.

“It is plain and simple harassment and their lawyers will ensure the police act accordingly.

“Officers are having to step up patrols of the area in case this whole thing escalates.

“Kate and Gerry are obviously upset. It must be terrible to think that all your neighbours are reading these despicable lies.’’

The Daily Star cannot publish many of the allegations contained in the leaflet for legal reasons.

The leaflet supports the conclus-ions of disgraced Portuguese det-ective Goncalo Amaral, who was behind the decision to name Kate and Gerry as suspects in Madeleine’s disappearance and was subsequently sacked after accusing British police of siding with them.

He went on to pen a best-selling book in which he alleges Madeleine died inside the holiday apartment.

The McCanns have had their suspect status lifted and have hired private detectives to try to find their daughter.

Last night their neighbours branded the leaflets “ludicrous and insensitive’’.

Patricia Ball, 71, who lives just 250 yards from Kate and Gerry, said: “The things that were being said made me cringe. It sent shivers down my spine. It was very upsetting. It just seemed to be a nasty and provocative leaflet.’’

Alice Connell, 34, who lives nearby, said: “I felt sick to the stomach when I read it. It just seems like a vendetta against Kate and Gerry.’’

Last night Madeleine Foundation leader Tony Bennett, 61, a retired solicitor from Harlow, Essex, who wrote a book about the case, admitted he was behind the leaflet drop.

“I do not fear any legal action from the McCanns,’’ he said.

“If anyone can demonstrate that any fact in the leaflet is incorrect then I will happily change it.

“We have distributed 1,500 in the Rothley and Leicester area.’’

A police spokesman said the matter is under investigation.

Got em!!

Glad to know that the couple is now under police protection, glad to know that that matter is now under investigation. That is good.

So sad they had to get police protection again.
When does this ever stop?

Good question Cath.

“I do not fear any legal action from the McCanns,’’ he said.

“If anyone can demonstrate that any fact in the leaflet is incorrect then I will happily change it.

“We have distributed 1,500 in the Rothley and Leicester area.’’

It has been demonstrated over and over that there is no evidence to support the claims made in the leaflet. Yet, here he is saying that he would change it, if it is pointed out to him.

Does he really think this is a defence against libel? Only the truth is the defence, and Bennett cannot prove that the leaflet is true. It is not up to the McCanns to prove it is false, they after all have the Portuguese prosecutors report which does not support the claims made by Bennett.

And being willing to change the leafet doesnt stop if being harrassment, after all it is the act of sending it out that is harrassment. This is like kicking the crap out of someone and then saying later that they didnt mean it. ITS TOO LATE TO RETRACT.