Fury at petition calling for Madeleine McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann to sit a lie detector test
A PETITION has been launched calling on Madeleine McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry to take a lie detector test.
It is the second crass poll to attract thousands of signatures as the family brace themselves for the 10th anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance.
It has sprung up on the Care2 Petitions website and is titled “Public want the McCann’s to take voluntary lie detector test”. So far it has 26,913 backers.
But a source close to the couple slammed it on Wednesday as “more utter rubbish”, insisting: “Kate and Gerry will not do a lie detector test because they’ve got nothing to lie about.
"It’s just nonsense to suggest they have.”
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The McCann source told The Sun: “Lie detectors are not legally admissible in any court action in this country.
“Any person can set up a petition about anything under the sun. This is the second one which has recently gone up on social media against Kate and Gerry.
"But it’s not on the official parliamentary website which means it will not be open for possible discussion by MPs.”
We revealed on Tuesday how a petition calling for Maddie’s parents to be prosecuted for child neglect is being dismissed as “pure bile” by the couple’s pals.
Three-year-old Maddie vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007.
She had been left alone in bed with her 27-month-old twin siblings Sean and Amelie while her parents dined in a nearby tapas bar with friends.
Ex GP Kate, 49, and heart doctor Gerry, 48, of Rothley, Leics, believe their kidnapped daughter could still be alive and have vowed never to stop searching for her. She would now be aged 13 nearly 14.
The McCanns’ recently lost the latest round in their long running battle against former Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral.
He claimed in his 2008 book “The Truth of The Lie” that Maddie had accidentally died in the holiday flat and that her parent had covered up the death.
The McCann’s sued him for libel but their initial victory was overturned and lost on appeal.
Portugal’s Supreme Court also ruled that the ex-cop, who is now writing a second tell-all book about Maddie based on public police files, had the right to freedom of expression.
The country’s top court concluded that Kate and Gerry were not “formally in the clear” over their missing daughter.
The new petition states: “Since the disappearance of Madeleine almost 10 years ago, an overwhelming majority of the UK population now suspect that Gerry and Kate McCann may have played a direct role in the cover-up of her disappearance.
“The goal is to get 100,000 signatures and target the Prime Minister.”
The un-named organiser continues: “We, the public now ask that Gerry and Kate McCann take a voluntary lie detector test which will be set up and paid for by us to satisfy and to put an end to speculation and allegations that they are not implicated in their daughter’s disappearance, other than leaving her and her siblings alone on that fateful night.
“We feel that the McCann's should take this opportunity which is a positive step to successfully bring an end to the speculation that they were involved in their daughter’s disappearance to the extent of foul play by them or an accident which they deliberately covered up.”
The petition blurb continues: “The McCann's have received an unprecedented amount of funds and support from the government whilst other families whose children go missing receive almost none.
“Whether or not you believe they are part of a cover-up of an accident that took place that fateful night or they are involved in foul play in some way, or indeed they are completely innocent and they have been unfairly targeted, then that is why you must sign and share this petition.”
Among signatories is Katy P from Bristol who says: “I have always thought there was something not right with the abduction story.
"The Portuguese Supreme Court judges have recently ruled against their final appeal over Amaral's book and said the lifting of their status as 'arguidos', or formal suspects did not mean they were innocent.”
Patricia D from Middlesbrough, Cleveland, adds: “I really wanted to believe they had nothing to do with Maddie disappearing but now I’m not so sure.
"They should take the test, they owe it to the taxpayer who paid for all the time and investigation that went into the search for her.”
An un-named Londoner states: “I have no doubt that the McCann's are entirely innocent, but the speculation over their role in Maddie's disappearance means that the search for her would be best served if they submitted to a lie detector test to finally prove their innocence.”
Another anonymous person from Kent says: “I think as part of the investigation they should have had a lie detector test to eliminate them.
"Too many people think they may have drugged their daughter before they went out so she wouldn't wake up while they were out.
“If they were not doctors but an ordinary working class family social services would have taken the other children off them! Why did they leave the children while they went out? It's not acceptable.”
An un-named petitioner from Leicester adds a name, saying: “To find out once and for all if they played a part in Maddie’s disappearance. Too see if they are guilty or innocent.”
Ryan C from Glasgow signs “because this is nearly 10 years after the incident occurred and there's still no real facts about whether the child is really missing or is in fact dead.
“This petition should hopefully bring justice and show the public what they've been waiting to find out.”
A previous petition for Kate and Gerry to undergo a polygraph test was presented to the official Government website in October 2013 but was rejected.
The explanation given was that “petitions cannot be used to request action on issues that are outside the responsibility of the government” and also because “this is a police operational matter.”
The McCann’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell refused to discuss the new petition, saying: “There is absolutely no comment.”
A friend of Kate and Gerry earlier dismissed a 130,616-strong signature petition calling for them to be charged with child abandonment as “pure bile” and “another cruel and pointless rant against them.”
The pal added: “Social media has been chuntering on about them for weeks. It’s all nonsense.”
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