Ranting Rat

14 January 2010
Mirror
Martin Fricker

 As Kate suffers unimaginable agony, the police chief who should've been finding missing Maddy spits out vile four-letter abuse at the McCanns..

DISGRACED detective Goncalo Amaral yesterday let rip at Kate and Gerry McCann with a foul-mouthed outburst.

The former policeman - asked if his book about their daughter Madeleine was hurting the couple - barked: "No, f*** the McCanns."

Amaral then laughed as he walked off, despite being caught on camera insulting the couple who have suffered so much anguish in recent years.

The disgusting slur came as Kate and Gerry had to listen to yet more accusations by Portuguese officers that they were involved in the youngster's 2007 disappearance.

It was made to BBC East Midlands Today reporter Mike O'Sullivan who confronted smirking Amaral outside the Lisbon court where the McCanns are suing him for libel over his book.

Mike said:

"I was astonished, and so was my cameraman, that a former senior police officer could use a term like that against the McCanns. It really was crude."

A friend of Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leics, added:

"It's disgraceful and gives a true measure of the man."

After Amaral's tirade, Gerry, 41, laid into Portuguese detectives over their claims he and his wife killed three-year-old Madeleine and dumped her body to cover their tracks.

He said:

"The prosecutor had all the evidence and he said there was no evidence Madeleine was dead. If there was evidence of our involvement in Madeleine's disappearance then the prosecutor would have charged us.

"Officers who considered us as involved in Madeleine's disappearance have not been able to change their mind, despite a lack of evidence."

And the heart specialist insisted the blinkered theory by former police liaison officer Ricardo Paiva that their daughter has been killed was hindering the ongoing search for her.

Gerry added:

"How could he investigate thoroughly if he believes that? We've also heard Mr Amaral's thesis that Madeleine is dead.

There is absolutely no evidence to support that. We are not harking on over mistakes that were made and cannot be redeemed.


"What is done cannot be righted. We made a mistake, in hindsight, by leaving Madeleine and we have to live with the consequences of that."

Gerry vowed to keep up the search for their little girl, who vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as they ate nearby with friends.

He said:

"There is a little girl missing who still needs to be found.

"We will keep going until Madeleine is found and until whoever has taken her is brought to justice. It's not good enough that the search stops."

Gerry revealed three new pieces of information had been sent to investigators in Portugal from their team. But the McCanns faced more accusations yesterday. The court was told Madeleine's abduction was a "fairytale" concocted by the couple.

Criminologist Francisco Moita Flores, a friend of Amaral, said:

"No one believed Madeleine was kidnapped. I saw that window. It was impossible.

"The McCanns should be on trial for not guarding their children."