Caroline Gammell
17 September 2007
The Daily Telegraph
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann is not the first high-profile case of a missing girl that the Portuguese police have had to investigate - and not the first time they have been criticised over their handling of the situation.
Three years ago, nine-year-old Joana Cipriano vanished from Figueira, seven miles from Praia da Luz, in the Algarve. She has never been found.
In echoes of the Madeleine case, the investigation got off to a false start when the Republican National Guard failed to seal the house where Joana was last seen.
It was only five days later - after relatives had cleaned the house with bleach - that the Policia Judiciaria took over. Joana's mother, Leonore, became a suspect and was eventually convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Cipriano lodged a formal complaint, claiming she had been beaten during interrogation by five officers.
Among those allegedly involved were senior detective Goncalo Amaral, who is also investigating Madeleine's disappearance.
The five officers were charged in June this year with a series of offences including "scenes of aggression'', omission of evidence and falsification of documents.
Mr Amaral, who is in his late 40s, denied the allegations but his connection to the Cipriano case was criticised in the press and greeted with considerable "concern'' by Madeleine's parents.
Meanwhile, the man who became the face of the Portuguese police investigation into the missing British girl is no longer working on the case, it has emerged.
According to the Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias, Chief Insp Olegario Sousa left after complaining that he was given so little information he was unable to do his job as spokesman.
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