Exclusive by Robert Mendick In Praia da Luz
8 August 2007
Evening Standard
Detective in charge 'jailed my innocent wife for child killing'
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| Leandro Silva and Leonor Cipriano |
The husband of a woman serving 16 years in another missing child case in the Algarve said: 'I am worried Kate will be framed for a crime she did not commit, the way it happened to my wife.'
The warning comes as pressure mounted on the McCanns after Portuguese police said Madeleine, who was three when she disappeared, died in her bedroom following the discovery of specks of blood on the wall.
Three years ago Leonor Cipriano was convicted of murdering her nine-year-old daughter Joana although her body has never been found.
The detective leading the hunt for Madeleine has been charged with criminal offences in the Joana case amid claims that a confession was beaten out of Cipriano.
The Portuguese woman claims she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice over the alleged murder seven miles from the spot where Madeleine went missing on 3 May.
In echoes of the Madeleine case, the investigation into Joana's disappearance got off to a bad start when the Republican National Guard failed to seal off the house where she was last seen.
Speaking exclusively to the Standard, Joana's stepfather Leandro Silva said today:
'Joana's mother never did anything and she was arrested.Goncalo Amaral, who is co-ordinating the search for Madeleine, and four other Portuguese police officers, were charged in June with offences relating to the inquiry into the disappearance of Joana. Cipriano has alleged that she was beaten into a confession during a police interrogation that took place without her lawyer or the knowledge of the public prosecutor.
'I am fearful the same thing will happen to Kate McCann.Whenever I watch the news it reminds me of Joana. It is hard. I just pray Madeleine appears. With Joana the police did a bad job. They didn't spend enough time looking for the child.'
Portugal's Ministerio Publico said at the time it had charged three police officers with torture, a fourth with omission of evidence and a fifth with falsification of documents. It did not reveal who had been charged with which offence.
Despite the charges, Mr Amaral, the co-ordinator of the Policia Judiciaria in Portimao, has not been suspended from working on the Madeleine investigation.
Police sources have suggested that Mr Amaral was 'very angry' about the allegations and was considering taking action against the Ministerio Publico.
'He is very professional and has had a lot of success in solving cases,' the source said. 'He is very upset because reporters never speak of these successes.'
Mrs McCann, a doctor, and her husband Gerry, a cardiologist, have stayed in Praia da Luz with their two-year-old twins since Madeleine went missing while they were on holiday. The couple, both aged 38, and six friends who dined with them on the night of Madeleine's disappearance, have come under suspicion as the police case against the only official suspect, Robert Murat, appears to be winding down.
The pressure on the McCanns follows a series of leaks from Portuguese police and the discovery of traces of blood in the apartment. Police are understood to have spent the past two days studying ocean currents to determine where Madeleine's body - should it have been dumped at sea - would wash up. Police sources said officers, including British detectives handling the sniffer dogs which discovered the blood in the McCanns' apartment, were scouring local beaches looking for a body.
That bolsters claims made yesterday that Madeleine was either murdered or died accidentally in her room. Police sources suggested the girl died in the room and her body was dumped in the sea. The Standard reported yesterday how police no longer suspected Madeleine is the victim of an abduction.
The McCanns responded to the reports by reiterating their belief their daughter is still alive while a family spokeswoman described allegations made in Portuguese newspapers as very 'hurtful'.
The couple have campaigned tirelessly across Europe to keep the hunt for their daughter in the public eye. Saturday will mark the 100th day since she was discovered missing in the family's apartment at the Mark Warner Ocean Summer Club.
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