by Kiran Randhawa
24 September 2007
The Evening Standard
The detective leading the Madeleine McCann inquiry has investigated only two child murders in his 26-year police career in Portugal. Goncalo Amaral, head of the regional Policia Judiciaria, has already faced criticism for his handling of the inquiry.
In one of the two other cases, Mr Amaral, 47, was accused of concealing evidence that the mother of an eight-year-old girl who vanished in the Algarve town of Figueira three years ago, was tortured by police into confessing to the killing. Leonor Cipriano confessed after almost 48 hours of interrogation, but retracted her statement. She is now serving 16 years in jail for the murder of her daughter, whose body was never found.
The second child murder case was that of a two-year-old girl kicked to death by her father. He is serving 18 years in jail after confessing.
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