Madeleine McCann ‘Trolls’ Pay For Amaral Court Appeal

The search for Madeleine McCann remains fruitless, but numerous members of the public — across the world — are publicly showing support for the former detective who notoriously accused her parents of covering up her death. Goncalo Amaral may have lost in court against the missing child’s parents, but more than 1,500 people have come forward to show support for the former cop by paying for his court appeal en masse. The Daily Star has referred to these charitable donors as “sick trolls,” but they’ve nonetheless raised more than the £25,000 needed for his court fees. That means Goncalo Amaral can continue the fight for his right to publish evidence and theories against Kate and Gerry McCann.

Among the 1,559 donors who contributed to the fund, it’s believed that officers with the Metropolitan Police Service also donated a large amount of money. Those presumed officers claimed that they were “outraged at the way in which a senior investigating officer has been treated” in relation to the Madeleine McCann case. The donation from the MPS may not have been what pushed the funds to the intended goal, but it certainly did help.

The fund was started by a 22-year-old Birmingham woman after news broke that Goncalo Amaral had been ordered to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kate and Gerry McCann. CBS News CrimeSider reports that the McCanns won a libel payout after a long battle pertaining to Amaral’s published book Truth of the Lie, which pointed out all of the investigative evidence against the parents while theorizing and speculating that they may have accidentally killed Madeleine due to negligence before covering up her death. It only took about a month before donations from all over the world funded the entirety of Amaral’s appeal.

Madeleine McCann vanished over a decade ago from her parents’ vacation rental in Portugal. The then-3-year-old child was left alone with her two infant siblings while Kate and Gerry McCann partied with friends at a tapas bar when she disappeared. This detail has long since been a point of contention with members of the public who are split between feeling sympathy for the parents and feeling that they are responsible for at least being negligent with their children. There are also numerous members of the public who have read the available police files regarding the case and support Goncalo Amaral in his pursuit of answers for Maddie.

What do you think about this case? Do you think the people supporting Goncalo Amaral are “vile trolls” like the UK media reports, or are they fighting for justice for a missing child who has no voice?

[Photo: McCann family photo via The Mirror]