Ex-Maddie officer launches own hunt


See The McCann Files archive:  Gonçalo Amaral - The Interviews (July '08)

Ex-Maddie officer launches own hunt
30 April 2009
Metro
Jo Steele

A detective who was sacked from the hunt for Madeleine McCann is launching his own investigation into the youngster's disappearance.

Goncalo Amaral said he wanted justice for the missing girl.

He will work with investigators from four countries - including Britain - and has promised to hand over his results to officials in Portugal in the hope that the case is reopened.
'This investigation is not aimed at finding evidence against (parents) Gerry and Kate McCann or persecuting anyone,' he said. 'We want to help make sure the truth comes out and justice is done. The criminal investigation ended prematurely and there's a lot that still needs to be investigated.'
The father of three has written a book which claimed Madeleine died in a 'tragic accident' at the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, the day she was last seen in May 2007.

He was removed from the hunt for the three-year-old after he claimed that British police were 'too close' to Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire. The couple's status as 'official suspects' in the disappearance was lifted last year.
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Former PJ Inspector Gonçalo Amaral investigating Maddie Case



Former PJ Inspector Gonçalo Amaral investigating Maddie Case
30 April 2009
Transcript/Translation: Joana Morais

Marisa Rodrigues, Journalist:
What has started with an exchange of phone calls and emails about the Madeleine McCann process might be now the beginning of a private investigation. Along with Gonçalo Amaral, a group of former police inspectors from various countries have one certainty: the girl died in the Ocean Clubs apartment.


Gonçalo Amaral:
We are working on the death, the death of the child, which is an agreed point. And we are trying to understand what we can do in terms of diligences [coordinating investigative steps] to inspect the circumstances and the causes of that death; and afterwards we will inform the Attorney General of the result of that analysis.

Marisa Rodrigues:
The group, which comprises four retired police inspectors, investigates at their own expenses and without the use of funds. The objective is the reopening of the process.

Gonçalo Amaral:
The case should never have been archived; to be reopened it is a usual procedure. There are still many diligences to be made, they are in the process when it was archived; and that situation has to be emphasized and has to lead to the reopening of the process.

Marisa Rodrigues:
Two years after the disappearance Gonçalo Amaral does not give up, and asks for political bravery to those who have the power to reopen the process.

   
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Amaral and former policemen are investigating the "Maddie" case


See The McCann Files archive:  Gonçalo Amaral - The Interviews (July '08)

Amaral and former policemen are investigating the "Maddie" case
30 April 2009
Jornal de Notícias
Former coordinator reveals that Portuguese, Spanish, English and Germans are working with him
Alexandra Serôdio
Thanks to Joana Morais for translation

A group of former policemen from Portugal and other countries, which includes Gonçalo Amaral, is investigating the Maddie case at their own expense.

The former Judiciária coordinator told JN that the result will be communicated to the Attorney General.

Restlessness and curiosity were heavy and the bitter taste of a "precocious and political" archiving left them "brooding" on a solution. The words are from Gonçalo Amaral - the first head of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann - who reveals that the group of investigators, that is made up by Portuguese, Spanish, English and Germans, wants to "know the truth".

"We have been talking, exchanging ideas, trying to understand what happened, discussing possibilities and thinking about the entire process", the former coordinator of the Polícia Judiciária's Criminal Investigation Department in Portimão reveals. Despite refusing to reveal what is being done on the field and in what form, he asserts that "this investigation is not to arrange for evidence against the McCann couple".
"We want to contribute for the truth to be known and in that way, for justice to be made. If there are guilty people, they must stand before justice. This is a right that assists any citizen in this country, to fight for justice to be done in every case", Gonçalo Amaral sustained, stressing that "it's not only the courts, the policemen and the judges that fight for justice, anyone can do it".
Asserting that this investigation does "not intend to persecute anyone", the former coordinator stresses the need to understand "what could have been done back then and what can be done now". Always in an attempt to "find the truth and to understand what really happened to Madeleine". Opting not to reveal major details, Gonçalo Amaral says that the group is made of retired policemen, who investigate "at their own expense" and "without the use of funds".
What is established will then be put into a "well based document" that will be delivered to the Attorney General, with the request to reopen the process that has been archived since July 21, 2007.
"The criminal investigation was abruptly interrupted, before it even got halfway. There is still a lot to be investigated that may even lead nowhere, but it may lead to other paths and to the truth", the former coordinator advances, asking for "political courage" to those who have the power to "reopen the process".

"If the Attorney General's mailbox was flooded with, for example, three million requests to reopen the process, I believe the case might be reopened", the investigator stated.
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Freedom and Children's Rights


See The McCann Files archive:  Gonçalo Amaral - The Interviews (July '08)

Freedom and Children's Rights
25 April 2009
Correio da Manhã
Matter of fact
Gonçalo Amaral
25 April 2009
Thanks to Joana Morais for translation and addendum

In a time of carnations and odes to freedom, we can not forget how much is still left to do, namely in the protection of children. The criminal law does not protect children, they are being left to sleep alone, while the parents get drunk at social gatherings, falling from windows and balconies like ripe fruit, or drying inside vehicles without the according penal sanction occurring.

When the main source of risk and danger is inside the home or the family, the law seems to forget a fundamental right of the child: security.

The UN Declaration on Children's Rights is clear: "The child should grow supported by parents and under their responsibility, in an environment of affection and security."

The crime of abandonment or exposure is inadequate, one should criminalize the mere negligence in custody in order to recognize and safeguard the children's right to safety. Then, there would be no more doubts about the scope of the application of the criminal law, thus preventing relaxed tourists from abandoning our country, without any consequences, after neglecting the custody of their children, night after night, and now walking freely around the media stages.

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1 in Declaration of the Rights of the Child Principle 6

The child, for the full and harmonious development of his personality, needs love and understanding. He shall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his parents, and, in any case, in an atmosphere of affection and of moral and material security; a child of tender years shall not, save in exceptional circumstances, be separated from his mother. Society and the public authorities shall have the duty to extend particular care to children without a family and to those without adequate means of support. Payment of State and other assistance towards the maintenance of children of large families is desirable.

2 Gonçalo Amaral refers to Article 138 of the Portuguese Penal Code, which covers the crimes of exposure or abandonment. Portuguese law only punishes exposure or abandonment if intent exists, i.e. it has to be proved that the caretaker was aware of the danger that the person under his/her vigilance was subject to. In practical terms, this annihilates any possibility of a criminal accusation when 'simple' neglect takes place.
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The politicians are the same


See The McCann Files archive:  Gonçalo Amaral - The Interviews (July '08)

The politicians are the same
28 April 2009
Correio da Manhã
Former investigator launches criticism in Oporto
Manuela Teixeira
Thanks to Astro for translation

Gonçalo Amaral, the former Judiciary Police head of the Maddie investigation, thinks that the Freeport process is being handled at the same "power pressure" level as the disappearance of the little English girl.

'The politicians are the same. Take this at face value', Gonçalo Amaral said in Oporto yesterday, during the 'Desire' congress.

Concerning political pressures, Gonçalo Amaral stated once more that they existed in the Maddie case.
'There was pressure from London to archive that one, now it seems there is pressure from London not to archive the Freeport process in Portugal.'
The PJ investigator, who has retired in the mean time, even launched a challenge to the Freeport process investigators' team.
'The prosecutor could go and have tea with Kate McCann. Maybe she'd tell her the truth. And they might as well solve the manipulation of the forensics results', said Gonçalo Amaral.

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Paedophile list hidden from PJ


See The McCann Files archive:  Gonçalo Amaral - The Interviews (July '08)
See Joana Morais Blog: Paedophile list hidden from the PJ


Paedophile list hidden from PJ
19 April 2009
Correio da Manhã
(full article appears in paper edition only)
Investigation: Attorney General's Office prevent police from gaining access to documentation on abusers
Tânia Laranjo
Thanks to Joana Morais for translation


An extensive dossier holding information about several dozen English paedophiles that reside in the Algarve was sent by the British authorities into Portugal within the investigation into the disappearance of Maddie McCann. It is now in the Court of Portimão, locked in the office of the prosecutor who headed the case, Magalhães e Menezes.

The Attorney General's office, led by Pinto Monteiro, accepted that said documentation was removed from the inquiry, at the British' request, and was not even handed over to the police authorities for the investigation into other cases that may involve Portuguese children.

These are hundreds of pages, with data, addresses and facts about English citizens that have been condemned over sexual acts with minors, who are living in the Algarve. There is also data about individuals who live in Southern Spain, in cities near the border, who have a criminal past due to sexual acts with minors.

The PJ in Portimão, that was confronted with this kind of information, checked out all of these men, when Maddie disappeared, in order to find out if any of them had been involved. Alibis were confirmed, and in some cases, telephone information was analysed, as well as the mobile phone locations, in order to verify where they were on the date of the disappearance. Nothing was found, and during the following months, the English continued sending information into Portugal. Whenever someone was condemned over paedophilia and decided to settle in the South of Portugal, the authorities alerted the PJ.

When the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine was closed, the English demanded that the dossier was removed from the process, alleging the need to protect those individuals, given the fact that the process would be made public.

The dossier was handed over to Magalhães e Menezes and is now locked in his office. The PJ does not own a copy and cannot use the information for other investigations.

England has also stopped sending the Portuguese authorities information about the travelling of paedophiles.

Método 3 hired a homicide suspect

His name is Amor and he is in jail for raping his 19-year-old daughter. He has recently been indicted over the strangling of a prostitute, whose cadaver was found dismembered by an animal, in Faro.

During the past year, Amor was one of the men that were hired by Método 3, the Spanish detective agency that worked for the McCann couple, to demonstrate that Maddie was alive.

At the time, the man said that João Cipriano - the uncle of Joana, the girl that was killed in the Algarve a few years ago - had assured him that his niece was alive after all, and that she had been sold to a couple. Método 3 paid Amor to find her, with the intention of proving that Madeleine was also alive, by proving that someone had been convicted over a death that had not taken place.

The result was not what was expected. Amor took the money, but he knew nothing about Joana. Last year, in the summer, he went to the PJ to file a complaint against the Spanish detectives over attempted murder. The process was then handled by the PJ in Faro, and ended up being archived.

Abduction theory defended by English

The investigation into the disappearance of Maddie, on the 3rd of May 2007, in Praia da Luz, rapidly acquired the outline of a national case to the British. They bet everything and sent a liaison officer into Portugal, supplying all the data that might sustain the theory of abduction by a paedophile network. Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesperson, continues to sustain the same theory - that this was an abduction - and remains at the McCanns' side, after abandoning the English government, that has also supported Madeleine's parents.

Luz rejects the couple's return

The possibility that Kate and Gerry return to Portugal, before or after the date of the second anniversary of their daughter's disappearance, is not seen with pleasure by the residents in Praia da Luz. In the Algarvian village, the tiredness over the case's dimension, as well as the revolt against the parents, is evident. With major cuts in business and with the Ocean Club almost bankrupt, the residents even refuse to discuss the possibility of the couple returning to the area where the little girl was last seen. Gerry has recently been to Luz, and he was jeered at.

VIDEO: Portuguese Attorney General Office Hides List of British Paedophiles

19 April 2009
Translation by Joana Morais

In this interview, Gonçalo Amaral describes how the PJ was warned that British paedophiles were coming to Portugal or residing here; however that was only after Madeleine's disappearance. Gonçalo Amaral says that in the process of Maddie McCann, the sex offenders' list, sent by the UK authorities, was omitted by the PGR, the Portuguese General Attorney's Office, while other witnesses' names and addresses were published.

Investigation: PGR prevents Police from gaining Access to Documentation on Sexual Offenders

An extensive file containing information regarding several British paedophiles who live in the Algarve was sent by the British authorities to Portugal, in the scope of the investigation into the disappearance of Maddie McCann. The file is now at the Court of Portimão, closed in the office of the prosecutor who coordinated the case, Magalhães e Menezes.

(transcript & translation of the Correio da Manhã video interview)

British Police sent List of Paedophiles
Data was only sent due to the disappearance of the English child

Journalist [Tânia Laranjo]
At the time they sent an extensive document, with persons convicted for paedophilia, who would be here, in the Algarve.

Gonçalo Amaral
Indeed, we received that information, it was the first time ever that that type of information [list of UK British paedophiles] arrived. It was worked upon; everything was seen, and located. We reached the conclusion that it had nothing to do with this case. In fact, according to them [UK authorities], this little girl did not have the profile, and explains the why, due to the age reason…

Journalist
She was too young?

Gonçalo Amaral
Exactly, he focused that point, and it is a person with experience in that field. And who is here. These are people [the sex offenders] who are living here, or who have been here. It is important that the Police are able to keep that data. It’s in the office of the Prosecutor, who was in the process here in Portimão [Magalhães e Menezes]. When the process was made public, there was no care to avoid the names of the witnesses, their addresses, their phone numbers… There was more care regarding criminals, paedophiles, than with the common citizen, who had nothing to do with the case.

Journalist
In any case, the English only decided to send to the Judiciary Police that list, after a British girl went missing. That is, never before, never a priori [lat.].

Gonçalo Amaral
No, at least here in the Algarve, never. In fact, besides sending the list, two or three months later, there was a paedophile, coming from the UK convicted of paedophilia, which they informed that he was here, and we had to establish surveillance on that individual, for that time. So, they adopted then a new type of cooperation, of collaboration with the Portuguese authorities. They informed us of the coming of that man, something that they wouldn’t do before. And then they just stopped doing it. So, it was just during that period of time. [video cut] And here it seems that there is an excessive zeal, concerning one British child and it seems that the Portuguese children have fewer rights than the British children. In fact, that information only served for one child and cannot be used to prevent other cases that might happen here in Portugal.

Journalist
And this was the only file that was removed from the process? That the English were able to have removed from the process?

Gonçalo Amaral
It appears to be like that, yes. But there are also other files who went missing, so, that is a matter of consulting the process, and understand what is missing there.
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Interview with Gonçalo Amaral


Documentário "Maddie - A verdade da mentira" foi o programa mais visto do ano
"Documentary "Maddie - The Truth of the Lie" was the most watched show of the year"
VIDEO
Interview with Gonçalo Amaral
Correio da Manha
15 April 2009
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