Скачать или смотреть Missing UK girl's parents to sue Portuguese newspaper over allegations

(31 Aug 2007) SHOTLIST

Praia da Luz, Portugal - 31 August 2007
AP Television
1. Shot of exterior and sign: 'The Ocean Club'
2. Mid of villa
3. Wide of villa
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Justine McGuinness, family spokesperson:
"I'd like to read a statement on behalf of Kate and Gerry McCann.
'We have instructed our lawyers to sue a Portugese publication Tal and Qual for defamation. The legal action follows the publication on 24 August 2007 of a front-page story which we found deeply hurtful and believed to be completely untrue. The paper claimed we killed our lovely daughter Madeleine. This is without evidence or truth. The past 120 days have been horrific for us, our family and friends. We have tried to ignore some of the more ludicrous speculation but we simply could not ignore Tal and Qual's report. We firmly believe that these sorts of unfounded reports distract people from the only thing that matters - finding Madeleine. Our daughter Madeleine was snatched from her bed on the 3rd May. She is still missing. The police have said time and time again we are not suspects. These are the facts.'"
5. Shot of newspaper Tal and Qual
6. Various of magazine cover and inside story on the family

++FILE++
POOL - Date and location unknown
7. Various stills of Madeline McCann released after her disappearance.

STORYLINE

The parents of a British girl who vanished in southern Portugal almost four months ago said on Friday they are suing a Portuguese newspaper over an article alleging police believed they accidentally killed the toddler.

Kate and Gerry McCann said they were "deeply hurt" by the report last month in weekly Tal and Qual which claimed in a front-page story that police were certain they accidentally killed their 4-year-old daughter Madeleine, apparently by giving her an overdose of sedatives.

"This statement is without truth or evidence," the McCanns said in a statement through a family spokesperson, Justine McGuinness.

Police have said publicly the McCanns are not suspects in the case.

Madeleine vanished May 3 from an apartment where she was sleeping with her 2-year-old twin siblings in Praia da Luz, a town on Portugal's southern Algarve resort coast.

Her parents were having dinner in the hotel's restaurant with vacationing friends and said they checked
on their children at regular intervals.

The McCanns have remained in the Algarve since the disappearance, running an Internet campaign to find their daughter and visiting several countries where she may have been taken by an abductor.

They have indicated they may soon return to Britain, where they work.

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