Minha Dignidade

I'm working on a project that is requiring me to re-read hundreds of articles published about "The Truth of the Lie", Goncalo Amaral, and the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

In light of the recent wikileaks cable related to the McCann case, I am wondering whether there will be any apologies issued by the British Press - or by specific reporters who have amplified the McCann's attacks on Dr. Amaral.

It is now public knowledge that Goncalo Amaral was NOT solely responsible for suspicions of parental involvement in the death and concealment of Madeleine McCann's body.  Read the cable for yourself  HERE (or elsewhere on the net - it can be found many places including the various wikileaks mirrors - search 07LISBON2527).

To this day, the McCann attacks focus on Goncalo Amaral, rather than on the British police (who, along with their Portuguese colleagues developed evidence against the McCanns).  They have caused the Amaral family great hardship, they have attempted to completely destroy his reputation - on what grounds?

The Truth of the Lie does not waver from the official investigation and its conclusions were not only the conclusions of the writer.

It is long past time that the British Press takes its "code of conduct" policies seriously.  Report the facts and correct all errors in previous reports. A good place to start would be to correct the articles claiming the McCanns were "cleared" and that Goncalo Amaral was a "disgraced cop".  The McCanns were not cleared - their arguido status was lifted and the case SHELVED until new evidence comes to light.  And Dr. Amaral has not been the sole source of the allegations against the McCanns. 

There should be no tolerance for what the media has done in this case.  From the Press Association to the BBC to the smallest regional newspaper, the Press has entirely destroyed its credibility.

Here is an interesting example of an article that looks quite different when read in light of the wikileaks cable:

A copper without shame

...

And here is a site where you don't need to wade through that particular reporter's spin regarding what Goncalo Amaral wrote. Read the book yourself and do not allow people like Richard Pendlebury of the Daily Mail to determine your reaction.  (As my wise father taught me and as I have taught my children: Never, ever, ever allow yourself to be lead by the nose by the Media;  not in the case of Dr. Amaral and not in regard to any other issue.)

Maddie: The Truth of the Lie (English Translation)

Continue Reading... Labels: Daily Mail, Goncalo Amaral, Gonçalo Amaral, Policia Judiciaria, Press Association, WikiLeaks

A copper without shame

I invite you to review this article after actually READING "The Truth of the Lie" and the PJ files. I would suggest that it is NOT Goncalo Amaral who should be feeling any sense of shame in regard to the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Others (including this reporter) should, Gonçalo Amaral should not.

A copper without shame;
As the McCanns are cleared, The detective sacked from the Maddie hunt launches his book. 
For the failure to solve the case, he blames her parents, MI5, the British police, the NHS and even Gordon Brown. 
In short, everyone but himself
26 July 2008
Daily Mail
Richard Pendlebury

EL CORTE INGLES is Lisbon's grandest department store. The name loosely translates as 'The English Style', though 'corte' can also mean a cut, as from a knife. Perhaps the ambiguity amused super sleuth Goncalo Amaral, for this was the location he chose on Thursday evening to launch the 'confidencial' inside story of his most sensational case: the mystery of Madeleine McCann.

The portly detective sat before a table piled high with his newly published paperback memoir of the investigation, ready to be signed and sold at £10 apiece. Hundreds of local people had queued to see him.

As the officer in charge of the hunt for Madeleine from the night she vanished until he was fired from the case last October, Amaral, 48, presided over the shredding of the reputation of the Portuguese CID.

With a perjury charge still hanging over him, connected to an alleged assault in a separate missing-child case, he has just taken early retirement to publish his book.

'I want to clear my name,' he says in the blurb. To this end, 40,000 copies of Maddie: A Verdade Da Mentira (The Truth Of The Lie) are to be printed in Portuguese alone. An English translation is being arranged, and lucrative international rights are being neglotiated (SIC).

This week the unsolved case was finally shelved, and Kate and Gerry McCann were cleared of their arguido -- official suspect -- status.

Yet in Amaral's book, the couple face a fresh attack from the former police chief who long ago decided their guilt. (Blogger note: See wikileaks cables re: British police / McCanns)

The couple's lawyers are on a war footing and they intend to sue. Having read the book with the help of a translator, it is not hard to see why.

It takes character to admit gross failure. Amaral has not done this in print. Instead, he petulantly dresses it up as a conspiracy against him while, without any hard evidence, (Blogger note: See video / British cadaver dogs) placing blame on those who were hurt most.

We cannot go into the allegations he makes against the McCanns, as they have indicated they will take legal action if the charges are repeated. In any case, most of them are already known.

But what can be examined in detail is the long list of institutions which the embittered former head of the Portimao CID blames for his inability to crack the case.

Most of these are British. He says he was a victim of international politics. He claims the British media sided against him, and that their portrayal of Portugal as a 'Third World country' hampered the investigation.

He says the British police, the Diplomatic Service, the MI5 and even the NHS were blocking his path to the 'material truth'.

He even hints that Prime Minister Gordon Brown delayed signing last year's Lisbon Treaty until it was confirmed that 'this humble Portuguese employee' was removed from the McCann investigation.

But it is not just Britain he blames. The Portuguese government and even the Policia Judiciria, to which he had belonged for 26 years, 'betrayed' him.

During the investigation, his beloved wife left him. His dog was killed under suspicious circumstances, perhaps because of the case.

His martyrdom was 'unique', he writes. This was crushing to 'minha dignidade' -- my dignity.

SOME of the blame Amaral heaps on his junior colleagues is almost certainly justified.

On the night of May 3, 2007, Amaral -- who had been brought up in Lisbon -- was the head of the CID in the Algarve town of Portimao, a few minutes down the coastal highway from the resort village of Luz.

He says he was informed by phone of Madeleine's disappearance that evening, at midnight. The National Guard -- a junior branch of the police services -- had been on the scene.

But before specialised detectives arrived, he says, Apartment 5A of the Ocean Club complex had become the scene of a virtual 'arrial' -- a party.

A host of National Guard personnel, dogs, resort staff, members of the McCann family and friends and other people had trampled through it, damaging potential evidence.

Even at this early stage, he began to see conspiracy theories: 'We had to wonder if that kind of contamination was unconscious or intentional.'

The next day Amaral seemed appalled that the police were visited first by the British Consul in Portimao and then no less a person than the British ambassador.

'It was not normal,' he exclaims. 'Who was this couple? Who were their friends? We did not need diplomats. We needed quick answers to the questions' -- particularly from the English police whose tardiness he was already critcising.

He complained that, from the start, ' politics and diplomacy seemed to be shaping the initiative'.

In particular, he felt he was not being helped as much as he could by the British authorities.

He says he was told that British security services had bugged the McCanns and their friends. 'If that was the case, information [from the bugging] was never given to us.'

Amaral was suspicious of the motives of the British police officers who arrived in Luz on May 7. He ordered a 'shadow' on the senior British officer in Luz.

'I want to know what they are doing,' he told his subordinate. 'You will escort them day and night.'

Amaral writes how he had wanted Madeleine's UK medical records, but they 'were not given to us because of huge difficulties raised in England.

'They certainly would have been very important. Why were they not given to us? The British judicial system was not very co-operative in these matters, which was regrettable.'

More conspiracies and paranoia.  (Blogger note: See wikileaks cables re: British police / McCanns)  Early on, Amaral fixed on alleged inconsistencies in the testimonies of the main individuals in the case and their 'bizarre' behaviour. Anything else was a distraction.

Amaral was clearly uncomfortable about the investigation's international profile, and perturbed that senior British politicians, such as Gordon Brown, had shown interest.

This is understandable, for he was a provincial policeman. Yet in his book, he interprets such political involvement as a sign of forces at work beyond his control.

But wasn't this simply the case of a man out of his depth and looking for excuses?

It seems extraordinary, for example, that it was not until July that specialist forensic sniffer dogs were brought in, and from the UK. By that stage, Amaral admits in his book, the case had reached a 'dead end'.

But while the dogs' findings -- they are said to have detected spots of blood in the apartment from which Madeleine had disappeared and other matter in the boot of the McCanns' hire car -- appeared to confirm his own well-advanced theories, the development also led to the final, fatal split with his British colleagues.  (Blogger note:  Another video of the British sniffer dogs at work in the McCann case)

When a British police superintendent arrived and declared himself 'disappointed' at the inconclusive nature of results from the UK Forensic Science Service, Amaral could see only two possibilities.

One, that the British technician responsible was incompetent. The other that there was deliberate obfuscation.

He writes conspiratorially of the subsequent 'nervousness of British police . . . who wanted to know everything that was going on'.

As the British police urged caution, Amaral became ever more convinced of his theories. He rationalised that the UK police were reluctant to get drawn into a prosecution on foreign soil.

On September 7 last year, the McCanns were made official suspects. Soon afterwards, they left for the UK. Amaral was astounded by the alleged reaction of the British police who maintained their links with the couple.

He argues that after Kate and Gerry were made suspects, the British police should have severed their links with the couple.

'It happened with the Portuguese police. But this rupture did not occur between the couple and the British police.'

The point is that the British force was still pursuing the possibility of a kidnap.

Tension between the two police forces had been growing for some time and in that month when the McCanns were declared suspects, it erupted.

When a tourist picture taken of a woman in Morocco with a blonde child on her back appeared in the UK Press, Amaral was furious.

'I asked a colleague to contact the English police to ask what was happening,' he writes. 'The answer could not have been more unreal and absurd . . . They had received the photo and showed it immediately [to the McCanns and the media] without consulting us, who were in charge of the criminal investigation.'

His frustration was perhaps understandable. The child was almost immediately shown not to be Madeleine. And Amaral's team was being overwhelmed by both well-meaning and malicious reports of sightings from all over the world.

In the following month, October, Amaral was removed as co-ordinator of the investigation. He claims it was not because of 'incompetence, but because of an inconvenient outburst'. In a terse exchange, he had accused British detectives of chasing leads only that Gerry and Kate McCann wanted following up.

A journalist had phoned him to ask about an alleged sighting of Madeleine in Lisbon, information that had been e-mailed to British police.

Amaral -- who had long since given up on the theory that the little girl had been kidnapped -- writes that he gave an 'irrational answer' demanding that the British police should fall in line with the Portuguese. 

He was sacked by fax and recalled to regional headquarters in Faro.

He says his dismissal was 'orchestrated by the British media'. The strategy was simple: 'Attack the investigation and portray Portugal as a Third World country with a judicial system that is completely obsolete.'

But he also writes, astonishingly, that higher powers were at work.

'The British Prime Minister had spoken to (the UK police) asking to confirm my resignation.

'We didn't know the reason for such an interest in such a humble Portuguese public employee.

'We didn't know what happened backstage of the Lisbon Treaty negotiations, before the signing of the Treaty.'

But he adds, darkly:

'For first time in Policia Judiciria history, an employee lost his job due to external influences.'

Reflecting on his dismissal, he lambasts the British police, who had failed to deliver background reports on the McCanns and their friends 'though we knew they had them'. (Blogger note: See the Gaspar's statement re: David Payne - withheld by the British police.)

'They came to Portugal not as an act against our sovereignty, but in a display of international police co-operation.'

Yet such co-operation, he argues, requires a high degree of mutual trust. 'Soon we realised it would not be like that,' he writes, pointing out that when the McCanns finally returned home to Britain, so did the British police.

'We felt they were ordered to stay in Portugal only for the McCann couple rather than Madeleine. She vanished here. So what is the reason for the UK police to leave? It is a question no one can answer.'

But as far as Amaral was concerned, the answer was clear, apparently. It was a conspiracy against his investigation.

In his book, he writes that he believes Madeleine died in Apartment 5A on the night of May 3 last year. That is all we can report here of his beliefs.

His account begins with a reminder that Britain and Portugal enjoyed a centuries-old political alliance.

It ends with repeated and rather ludicrious allusions to a historic Portuguese notable who had defied the demands of an overweening British ally.

A local crime reporter, who knows the Portuguese police intimately, said that Amaral remains very well-respected among his former brethren, several of whom appeared in Lisbon to support him.

'He was a copper's copper. The only criticism or doubt I have heard about him is that he may not be an open-minded policeman.

'One policeman told me that when he thinks something has happened, he excludes all other lines of inquiry.
'And that can sometimes be a dangerous trait.'

(Blogger note: See wikileaks cables re: British police / McCanns)

Indeed. The McCann case was the most high profile of Amaral's career -- the pressures were enormous -- and the only one, it is said by supporters, that he failed to crack.

That hurt him deeply. But his hurt was nothing near that of the McCanns, who lost their child and have now, once again, been maligned in his book.

Continue Reading... Labels: A Verdade da Mentira, Daily Mail, Gaspar statement, Goncalo Amaral, Gonçalo Amaral, Policia Judiciaria, The Truth of the Lie, WikiLeaks

Tale of how Maddie was dumped at sea infuriates McCanns

Police chief's tale of how Maddie was dumped at sea infuriates the McCanns
Vanessa Allen
19 March 2008
Daily Mail
Madeleine McCann's body was dumped at sea, a former Portuguese police chief claims in a novel about the case.

In Paulo Cristovao's fictional account the little girl's disappearance is never solved.  But Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman accused the ex-inspector - who never worked on the case - of trying to profit from the couple's misfortune, saying his claims were 'hurtful and distressing'.

Cristovao's novel, The Star Of Madeleine, follows two fictional police officers as they attempt to unravel the mystery.  They end their investigation staring out at the Atlantic Ocean and the case remains unsolved - an outcome the McCanns have described as their worst nightmare.  Cristovao has been a constant critic of the McCanns, and previously called for them to be arrested for leaving their children alone in their Algarve holiday apartment on the night Madeleine vanished in May last year.  At the novel's launch in Portugal, he made no apology for the anguish the story might cause, saying: 'I am sure Madeleine's parents will not like the book.'

Cristovao stopped short of accusing the couple, of Rothley, Leicestershire, saying: 'In their shoes, I'd behave in exactly the same way as they did during the investigation.  'I would defend myself with all the weapons that I could use. The difference in this world is that some have more weapons than others.'

But their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said:

'It is a great pity that people still feel the need to profit out of Madeleine's disappearance.  'That is very distressing for Kate and Gerry. The efforts that people are putting into this kind of profiteering would be better spent helping the investigation to find Madeleine.  'If Mr Cristovao feels he has any information relevant to that search then we would ask him to help with that investigation. Beyond that we won't dignify these so-called books with a comment.'

Cristovao said his book was 'pro-Portugal' and it contains thinly veiled criticism of Britain's political involvement in the case.  In the novel the police officers face pressure from British diplomats as they try to unravel the mystery.

In reality, Portuguese police have criticised Gordon Brown's decision to raise the investigation in meetings with his Portuguese counterpart, and have hit out at political interference.  Cristovao worked for the Policia Judiciaria for several years, on cases including the hunt for missing nine year old Joana Cipriano, who disappeared in 2004, from Figueira, just seven miles from Praia da Luz.

Her body has never been found. Her mother Leonor was later accused and convicted of her murder, but has since claimed that police beat her into making a confession. Cristovao and three others have been accused of torturing her.

The disgraced former head of the Madeleine inquiry, Goncalo Amaral, has denied claims that he covered up the torture.  Cristovao, who left the force following the case, has also written about a book about it, called The Star Of Joana.  Mrs Cipriano, 36, and her brother Joao were jailed for 16 years for the murder but her lawyer hopes to overturn the conviction at the European Court of Human Rights.

There have been several books published in Portugal about Madeleine, who vanished days before her fourth birthday.  The majority have been critical of the McCanns' decision to leave their children alone in their holiday apartment while they dined with friends.

Some have suggested they could have been involved in Madeleine's disappearance. (See: Wikileaks Cable dated 28 September 2007)

Continue Reading... Labels: Cipriano case, Clarence Mitchell, Daily Mail, DISGRACED, Goncalo Amaral, Gonçalo Amaral, Joao Cipriano, Leonor Cipriano, Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, Policia Judiciaria, WikiLeaks

Police chief's tale of how Maddie was dumped at sea infuriates the McCanns

Police chief's tale of how Maddie was dumped at sea infuriates the McCanns
Vanessa Allen
19 March 2008
Daily Mail

Madeleine McCann's body was dumped at sea, a former Portuguese police chief claims in a novel about the case.

In Paulo Cristovao's fictional account the little girl's disappearance is never solved.

But Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman accused the ex-inspector - who never worked on the case - of trying to profit from the couple's misfortune, saying his claims were 'hurtful and distressing'.

Cristovao's novel, The Star Of Madeleine, follows two fictional police officers as they attempt to unravel the mystery.

They end their investigation staring out at the Atlantic Ocean and the case remains unsolved - an outcome the McCanns have described as their worst nightmare.

Cristovao has been a constant critic of the McCanns, and previously called for them to be arrested for leaving their children alone in their Algarve holiday apartment on the night Madeleine vanished in May last year.

At the novel's launch in Portugal, he made no apology for the anguish the story might cause, saying:

'I am sure Madeleine's parents will not like the book.'

Cristovao stopped short of accusing the couple, of Rothley, Leicestershire, saying:

'In their shoes, I'd behave in exactly the same way as they did during the investigation.

'I would defend myself with all the weapons that I could use. The difference in this world is that some have more weapons than others.'

But their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said:

'It is a great pity that people still feel the need to profit out of Madeleine's disappearance.

'That is very distressing for Kate and Gerry. The efforts that people are putting into this kind of profiteering would be better spent helping the investigation to find Madeleine.

'If Mr Cristovao feels he has any information relevant to that search then we would ask him to help with that investigation. Beyond that we won't dignify these so-called books with a comment.'

Cristovao said his book was 'pro-Portugal' and it contains thinly veiled criticism of Britain's political involvement in the case.

In the novel the police officers face pressure from British diplomats as they try to unravel the mystery.

In reality, Portuguese police have criticised Gordon Brown's decision to raise the investigation in meetings with his Portuguese counterpart, and have hit out at political interference.

Cristovao worked for the Policia Judiciaria for several years, on cases including the hunt for missing nine year old Joana Cipriano, who disappeared in 2004, from Figueira, just seven miles from Praia da Luz.

Her body has never been found. Her mother Leonor was later accused and convicted of her murder, but has since claimed that police beat her into making a confession. Cristovao and three others have been accused of torturing her.

The disgraced former head of the Madeleine inquiry, Goncalo Amaral, has denied claims that he covered up the torture.

Cristovao, who left the force following the case, has also written about a book about it, called The Star Of Joana.

Mrs Cipriano, 36, and her brother Joao were jailed for 16 years for the murder but her lawyer hopes to overturn the conviction at the European Court of Human Rights.

There have been several books published in Portugal about Madeleine, who vanished days before her fourth birthday.

The majority have been critical of the McCanns' decision to leave their children alone in their holiday apartment while they dined with friends.

Some have suggested they could have been involved in Madeleine's disappearance.

Continue Reading... Labels: Cipriano case, Clarence Mitchell, Daily Mail, DISGRACED, Goncalo Amaral, Gonçalo Amaral, Joao Cipriano, Leonor Cipriano, Marcos Aragao Correia, Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, Policia Judiciaria

Divers search for Madeleine's body in remote reservoir after underworld tip-off

Divers search for Madeleine's body in remote reservoir after underworld tip-off
Daily Mail
Vanessa Allen
05 February 2008


A grim search for Madeleine McCann's body has been launched at an isolated reservoir.

Teams of frogmen began scouring the remote Barragem do Arade amid claims the girl's body was dumped there last May.

The private search - funded by a Portuguese lawyer - came as Portugal's most senior detective admitted that police had rushed into making Kate and Gerry McCann suspects in the case.

Divers have been searching the Barragem do Arade in Portugal for several days after an underworld tip-off that Madeleine's body was dumped there days after she disappeared

Alipio Ribeiro, the national director of the Policia Judiciaria, said his officers had acted with "a certain hastiness" and should have assessed the evidence again before naming the couple as official suspects.

But he defended his men against claims they had acted under political pressure and had failed to investigate properly.

Last night there were calls for him to resign over the comments, as lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia revealed he was forced to fund the £1,200-a-day reservoir search himself because the police had refused.

Lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia has paid thousands of pounds for the private search at Barragem do Arade dam

The human rights lawyer said he was convinced the massive man-made lake was "the perfect hiding place" for an abductor to conceal a body.

Mr Correia, 32, ordered the search after underworld contacts told him Madeleine was raped, murdered and her body dumped within 48 hours of her disappearance on May 3.

He said he believed the abductor killed the child, weighted down her body and then threw it from a pumping tower into the murky water beneath.

His team of six divers have already found a five-metre length of knotted nylon cord, which has been handed in to Portuguese police for analysis.

The remote reservoir is surrounded by dense woodland but a dirt track cuts through it to a bridge which links the water tower to the shore.

Underworld contacts apparently claim Madeleine's body was dumped in the remote reservoir after she was raped and murdered

Mr Correia told the Mail:

"I am convinced this is the place. It's not overlooked, it has easy access by car and if you threw the body from the tower the water is 55ft deep there.  "The divers have already found a cord tied in knots down there, right below the tower. I have given it to the police.  "It's logic that if you throw a body into the water then you would tie it to something to weigh it down."

The lawyer from the Portuguese island of Madeira said he would continue the search until he found proof to support his theory.

He refused to say how much he had paid to finance the trawl, but his team of six British and Portuguese divers were estimated to cost around £1,200-a-day.

They have already been searching for four days and are expected to return today, meaning the operation has already cost about £6,000.

Search coordinator Alan Wilson said the divers were only able to cover a small area in each dive because the murky water meant there was zero visibility once they descended below a few feet.

"Everything's black because there is no light," he said, adding: "The divers are searching entirely by touch, feeling in the silt for anything suspicious that shouldn't be there. It's a long, slow process."

Mr Correia said he was first told about the reservoir on May 6, three days after Madeleine vanished from Praia da Luz, some 40 miles away.

He passed the information to the police but said they ignored it, despite a May 5 witness sighting of a girl resembling Madeleine with a woman in Silves, a ten-minute drive from the lake.

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said:

"Kate and Gerry are grateful to anyone who feels they have important information in the search for Madeleine.  "If his search produces significant results he must, of course, share that information with both the police and our investigators."

Mr Mitchell also welcomed Mr Ribeiro's admission that police had rushed to make the McCanns suspects in September, and called for their names to be cleared.

In a radio interview, the policeman said:

"Maybe a different evaluation should have been made. I have no doubts about that. There was a certain hastiness."

He pledged to correct any failings in the investigation but insisted police were still working on it, adding: "This whole job is a work of patience."

The couple learned of his comments on Saturday, as they prepared for a party to mark the third birthday of their twins, Sean and Amelie.

Madeleine, then three, disappeared last May during a family holiday in the Algarve

Mr McCann, 39, said the comments could be a much-needed "breakthrough" and added:

"It is fantastic news.
"We still have a long way to go but people in Portugal need to understand what has been happening and what we have been going through.
"We know it will take the police a long time to accept what has been happening is wrong, but it is an important step towards that."

Mr and Mrs McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, were made suspects on September 7 but forensic evidence in the case has proved inconclusive. They have always denied any involvement.

Continue Reading... Labels: Alipio Ribeiro, Clarence Mitchell, Daily Mail, Marcos Aragao Correia, Metodo3, Policia Judiciaria, underworld tip-off

Off the case
Vanessa Allen
Madeleine police chief demoted after amazing rant against McCanns and British detectives
3 October 2007
Daily Mail

The detective leading the hunt for Madeleine McCann was sacked last night.

Chief Inspector Goncalo Amaral was removed from the inquiry after he claimed that British detectives had been duped by Kate and Gerry McCann and only investigated leads which were ' convenient' for the couple.

His outburst led to a reprimand from Portugal's justice minister, lberto Costa, who said: 'We need to concentrate on the job and not on the commentary.'

Within hours Alipio Ribeiro, the head of the Policia Judiciaria, ordered Mr Amaral off the case, demoted him to inspector and stripped him of his role as a regional head of the force.

Mr Amaral made his 'angry and explosive' remarks to the Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias. He claimed: 'The British police have only been working on that which the McCann couple want them to, and which is most convenient for them.'

He said British police appeared to have forgotten that Mr and Mrs McCann remain suspects. He also repeated Portuguese claims that the couple were manipulating the inquiry.

'They (the English) have been investigating tip-offs and information created and worked upon by the McCanns,' he added.

The newspaper also reported an unnamed police source as saying: 'After we bought into a war with the British media we are now buying into another with the English police.'

Mr Amaral, 47, has attracted criticism from the early days of the inquiry and news of his departure was met with relief by those close to the investigation.

He enjoyed frequent three-hour boozy lunches and two days ago a British newspaper claimed he worked only four hours a day and had ignored most of the 252 possible sightings and tip-offs in the case. He is also facing a criminal hearing over another missing girl, Joana Cipriano, accused of concealing evidence that the girl's mother, Leonor, was beaten into confessing to her murder.

Mr Amaral came under pressure to step down from the McCann investigation after it emerged he could face trial over the accusations, but he refused to resign.

His sweaty, corpulent figure is a familiar sight in the restaurants and cafes around police headquarters in Portimao.

While the McCanns have been warned they be jailed for speaking about the case, Mr Amaral, who was 48 yesterday, has frequently been heard holding court and accusing them of killing Madeleine.

He has said: 'We are sure the parents killed Madeleine. They are both doctors and know about drugs. We are confident in our case.'

Mr Amaral, a father of three, has worked in the police for 26 years but has only investigated two other child killings.

British police will hope that his successor will bring fresh impetus to the investigation, which appeared to be stalling as Portuguese detectives refused to consider any evidence which did not fit theories implicating the McCanns.

Clarence Mitchell, the family's spokesman, said last night:

'We're aware of these reports and we simply can't comment. 'Gerry and Kate have consistently said that they are happy to cooperate fully with the Portuguese authorities and will continue to do so no matter who is in charge of the Madeleine investigation.' Mr Amaral had dismissed the latest development in the case, an email sent to Prince Charles which claimed Madeleine was abducted by a disgruntled former employee at the Praia da Luz holiday complex where the McCanns stayed, as 'another fact worked upon by the McCanns'.

Meanwhile Mr McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, said he and his wife, both 39, had endured 'another painful day without our beautiful daughter' on Sunday, the 150th day since she disappeared.

Continue Reading... Labels: Alipio Ribeiro, Carvi Scandal, Cipriano case, Clarence Mitchell, Daily Mail, Goncalo Amaral, Gonçalo Amaral, Joao Cipriano, Leonor Cipriano, Policia Judiciaria

Chief Madeleine detective charged

Chief Madeleine detective charged over 'beating' of suspect in another missing girl case
Sam Greenhill
11 June 2007
Daily Mail

Cipriao Case

• Leonor Cipriano allegations
• five officers accused of beating her up during interview
• three accused of torture
• one accused of omission of evidence
• one accused of falsification of documents
• Goncalo Amaral allegedly one of the accused
• Goncalo Amaral considering action against Ministerio Publico
• According to source, Amaral very professional and had a lot of success solving cases
• Jornal de Noticias claimed Leonor was questioned without a lawyer and left with bruises over face and body
• lodged formal complaint - *never found* (???)
• Ministerio Publico followed up complaint
    
  
• Joana Cipriano murder
• Joana 9 years old
• Disappeared Sept 2004 from home in Figueira (7 miles from PdL)
• Leonor Cipriano convicted of murder along with her brother Joao Cipriano
• [Note article does not mention incestuous relationship between Leonor and Joao, the fact that Joana's body was chopped into pieces, etc.]

Continue Reading... Labels: Cipriano case, Clarence Mitchell, Daily Mail, Goncalo Amaral, Gonçalo Amaral, Joao Cipriano, Leonor Cipriano, Marcos Aragao Correia, Policia Judiciaria

'I know where Madeleine is' call traced to Argentina

'I know where Madeleine is' call traced to Argentina
Daily Mail
09 June 2007

The hunt for abducted Madeleine McCann was linked to South America today for the first time. It is understood a mysterious call claiming to know the whereabouts of the four-year-old came from a mobile phone registered in Argentina.

The "credible" call was considered so potentially significant that the McCanns halted their search of Europe to help police investigate. They delayed their flight from Berlin to Amsterdam by three hours and plans were drawn up to divert to the UK It was thought the McCanns might need to return to Britain to talk to specialist advisers about the call.

The call from the pay-as-you-go phone came from a man who wanted to speak directly to the McCanns, according to Spanish police sources. He did not reveal his identity or nationality, but the phone was soon linked to the South American country. All efforts to re-establish contact with the caller failed on Wednesday and the couple carried on with their journey around Europe.

A British police source said: "The importance of this line of inquiry is still being assessed and attempts to re-establish contact are continuing."

Although Spanish officials denied they had received the call, a Guardia Civil source told the Portuguese paper Correio de Manha: "Only time will tell if this call gives help or not to the case."

Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that a man matching the description released by Portuguese police two weeks ago was seen in a bar in Seville a week before Madeleine's abduction. It claimed the man was working on the instruction of others and told fellow drinkers he was going to the Algarve.

The latest development comes on the day Portuguese police were forced to defend their reputation amid allegations that they were enjoying boozy lunches while the search for Madeleine continued. Armed police officers were also criticised by Madeleine's aunt for preventing her from putting up posters of the little girl at Lisbon Airport.

Senior police officers involved in the investigation were seen laughing and joking as images of the missing four-year-old and her desperate parents appeared on a restaurant TV screen. It happened at a lunch lasting nearly two hours as Kate and Gerry McCann were away campaigning in Europe. They laughed and cracked jokes as they enjoyed a meal washed down with wine and whisky - as footage of the couple played in the background. Afterwards, they left a table littered with empty glasses - and went back to work.

Yesterday Policia Judiciara (PJ) spokesman Olegario Sousa, one of the officers spotted having lunch, said it was up to the individual to decide what he or she ate and drank.

Asked if it was acceptable for police to drink alcohol in their lunch break he said: "I don't know, it is very, very sad but a person's free time is for lunch. That is normal to do.

"The persons are in charge in the day, they are working in the day but they must eat and drink - it is normal.

"I drink what I want to drink when I can drink."

When it was put to him that he had been seen drinking, he said: "Have you seen anyone drunk? Have you seen any action deterred by that?"

Mr Sousa and Goncalo Amaral, head of the regional PJ, were spotted as Kate and Gerry McCann travelled to Berlin and Amsterdam to appeal for more information about their missing daughter.

In Portimao, a town near where the four-year-old was snatched 35 days ago, a diner at fish restaurant Carvi said he recognised the police officials.

"I knew who they were because Mr Sousa has been all over the TV and in the papers," he said.

The diner watched as officers enjoyed the lunch, which took place a short walk from the police station less than 24 hours after Kate and Gerry McCann were told that everything possible was being done to find their little girl.

Then - in what looked like becoming the first arrest in this case after nearly five weeks, a photographer trying to take a picture of them emerging from the restaurant was detained, held for four hours, fingerprinted, interviewed, and had his camera confiscated. He has now been formally named as an 'Arguido' - the same status as the chief suspect in Madeleine's disappearance, Robert Murat.

A 'credible' caller claiming to know where Madeleine is gave enough detail for the McCanns to put a brief hold on their trip to Amsterdam

On Tuesday, two groups went to two separate restaurants. The bigger party did not begin to leave for an hour and three-quarters. The smaller party had a 50-euro meal of fish and wine and shared jokes between what appeared to be discussion about police business.

On Wednesday, the party included senior figures from police headquarters at Portimao, where the investigation is based. One of them was Ch Insp Olegario Sousa, the public face of the inquiry, who appears on TV at press conferences. Another was Goncalo Amaral, number three in the investigation and a well-known figure in major police operations.

At 12.50pm the two men strolled across a sun-drenched square to Carvi restaurant, a regular haunt that specialises in fresh seafood and lobster straight from the tank. Inside, they formed a table of four with two other officers.

The diner said: 'They asked for the Portuguese TV news to be switched on and sat at the table watching it. It must have been about 2pm. Madeleine's parents had given a press conference in Berlin and they came on the screen.'

At that Berlin conference, Gerry McCann had made it clear he was confident police were doing all they could to find Madeleine. During a live broadcast that morning he had said: 'We have had no doubts about the desire of the police to find Madeleine. We have witnessed their efforts first hand and they're working harder than Kate and I.'

The diner added: 'The police were laughing and joking among themselves while it was on. They seemed to be sharing some sort of joke. Whatever it was, I thought that laughing like that in public was in really poor taste.

'They had a bottle of chilled wine with the meal but they had a bottle of whisky on the table after the main course as well. I was pretty shocked to see they were drinking whisky at lunchtime. The bottle was passing between them for about half an hour.

'Someone on another table seemed to know them and joked about them having two-hour lunches and knocking back Johnnie Walker Black. He said they would get themselves in the papers.

'There was a guy in a red shirt holding court about Portuguese law. They were discussing a change in the law being planned for Arguidos.' (Portuguese for suspect).

Two of the party left, then Ch Insp Sousa left on his own, leaving a colleague behind.

'I got the impression they went there regularly - they were very friendly with the waiter. I don't know what time they came in but I was there for a good 90 minutes and when I left, one of them was still slumped back in his chair in the corner with the whisky bottle in front of him. He was a big sweaty guy and he was sagging into the chair. The table was littered with empty glasses.

'There was some sort of commotion and I heard someone shout out. They swore and said something about the 'Paparazzi Ingles' (English Paparazzi) hiding behind the door.'

One officer had insisted privately the Madeleine officers had been working 'punishing hours', sometimes sleeping overnight at the station in the early days of the inquiry.

Philomena McCann, Madeleine's aunt, said such behaviour would not be acceptable in the UK: "If it were detectives from Scotland Yard there would be absolute uproar.

"But we have to let them to get on with their work because that's all we have to rely on.

"It is a different country and we have to accept the way that they do things and that it is a different culture where they have lunches and siestas but we hope the work is made up at other times."

She then told how armed police officers stopped her putting up posters of the little girl at Lisbon airport.

She and another relative were travelling from the Algarve to the holy shrine at Fatima when they made a diversion to the airport.

Kate McCann had noticed there were no pictures up when she passed through on her way to Madrid.

"She was so upset to think there were so many tourists coming in and out and nothing there to remind people of Madeleine," said Ms McCann.

"She asked me to make a detour on the way. I was given permission to put the posters up by a woman on the information desk.

"But straightaway we were swooped on by two armed police officers. I was with a relative who was bodily manhandled by them.

"We went back to the information desk and there was a big row between the woman and the police."

Ms McCann said the director of the airport Dr Francisco Severino told them they could fax a request which would be considered.

"It would be fair to say we were unimpressed by their unhelpful attitude," she said. "We were very badly treated.

"It seemed clear they didn't want the negativity affecting tourism but I think they are doing the wrong thing.

"Surely if people think the police and the authorities are doing everything they can to find Madeleine other families visiting Portugal would feel more secure."

Ms McCann said she had asked junior Justice Minister Baroness Ashton to put pressure on to change their policy.

The McCanns are back in Portugal today ahead of a trip to Morocco, where there has been a reported sighting of Madeleine.

In Praia da Luz today, the couple watched as 1,000 yellow balloons calling for information about Madeleine were released into the air.

Meanwhile in Praia da Luz, the Algarve resort from which Madeleine vanished on May 3, police removed their 'do not cross' tape from the McCanns' holiday apartment and withdrew all police presence exceprt for one uniformed officer outside. Alipio Ribiero, national director of the Judicial Police, said: 'The Judicial Police are seriously investigating this case. It could take time but we continue in the Algarve, even if our presence is not noticed.'

The exhausted couple had their hopes dramatically raised that their daughter was still alive yesterday - only to see them dashed.

The couple's planned flight to Amsterdam on Wednesday night was held for three hours in Berlin after what appeared to be a crucial breakthrough.

They were told that a "credible call" had been received by Spanish police from a man suggesting he knew where Madeleine was and saying that he wanted to talk to the McCanns.

The call was reportedly traced to an unregistered pay-as-you-go phone outside Europe.

The caller did not disclose his identity, but the information supplied was apparently so specific that British police liaising with the Portuguese inquiry felt it necessary to tell the McCanns immediately.

The couple were advised that the mystery source might try to make contact, and that they should delay their flight in case he called when they were in the air.

As frantic efforts were made to re-establish contact with the caller the McCanns were whisked off the flight, waiting anxiously for nearly three hours at the British Embassy in Berlin. The man never called back.

Journalists on the plane were told that the crew had been asked to draw up a new flight plan involving a possible switch of destination from Amsterdam to East Midlands Airport, close to the McCanns' Leicestershire home.

But at 7.30pm the flight was cleared to continue to Amsterdam, where the McCanns pressed ahead with their European campaign to keep their daughter in the public mind.

Soon after they touched down, it appeared that the call was a hoax, or was no longer being treated with any urgency.

Spanish police categorically denied that they had received such a call, as did the Spanish Interior Ministry.

It was an illustration of the kind of distractions the McCanns are having to endure in their relentless search for information about Madeleine, who vanished more than a month ago during the family's holiday in Portugal.

Another followed soon afterwards when a Spanish newspaper quoted an "investigative journalist" claiming he knew the identity of Madeleine's abductor, and suggesting she had been stolen to order by a paedophile ring.

Last night, however, there was no indication that police were investigating the claim.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-460533/I-know-Madeleine-traced-Argentina.html

Continue Reading... Labels: Carvi Scandal, Daily Mail, Goncalo Amaral