Another example of Really Superb investigative reporting by the British press


14 October 2007
Maddie was still alive: Exclusive
Ross Hall
The News of the World
New evidence gives fresh hope to McCanns

TODAY the News of the World reveals key new evidence that PROVES Maddie McCann was abducted ALIVE.
The latest piece of the jigsaw centres on the moment mum Kate returned to their Portuguese holiday apartment and discovered her daughter gone. Police have been told Kate KNEW instantly little Madeleine had been snatched because the bedclothes were in exactly the same position, raised above the mattress as if they were still lying over the child. Supporters of the McCanns are adamant this meant she must have been carefully removed from the bed while asleep and taken, rather than just getting up and wandering off, which would have ruffled the bedclothes.

(Blogger note: Crime Scene photos of the room. Here.)

Those close to Kate and Gerry-still official suspects in the 164-day mystery are convinced the revelation should clear the couple and switch the investigation back to finding their four-year-old. A Portuguese source told us: "People keep asking how did Kate know so quickly that Madeleine had been taken and not just walked out. "But it's obvious. When she put Maddie to bed the child was all tucked up around the shoulders, and when Kate realised she was gone all the sheets were still neatly in place.

(Blogger note: Gerry's police statement: "Then I opened the children's door 60 degrees and looked to the left and saw Maddie sleeping with her head on the pillow on the right hand side of the bed."She was breathing softly and I thought how beautiful she looked."I thought it was quite hot and I didn't need to cover her up."
Daily Mail)


Suspect

"A child of that age wouldn't have been able to get out of bed without moving a thing. Someone had clearly been in and carefully lifted her out. Kate realised that right away. "This evidence must now refocus the police attention. Kate and Gerry should be released from their suspect status."

Another vital clue pointing to kidnap came two months ago when the News of the World revealed how Maddie's treasured Cuddle Cat toy had been found on a high ledge in the room, out of her reach.

(Blogger note: Oh really?  Take another look at the crime scene. Here.  Notice cuddlecat is lying on top of the pink blanket near Maddie's pillow.)

Portuguese police are aware of the new evidence but continue to point the finger at Madeleine's anguished parents.

Close friends of the McCanns have always known about the clue but have been unable to make it public because of strict Portuguese privacy laws.

(Blogger note: By speaking to this reporter, the "close friends of the McCanns" have apparently broken the Portuguese Judicial Secrecy Law.  I hope the Portuguese will investigate this, as apparently the McCanns intend to pursue Amaral over their claims he broke this law.)


Alarmingly, the News of the World has also discovered that other holidaymakers and neighbours in the same Praia da Luz apartment block have never been asked for DNA samples-even though many helped with the search on the night Maddie went missing. Pamela Fenn lives in the apartment directly above the one rented by the McCanns and came into close contact with the couple that night. She told us: "I've not been required to give a sample or provide fingerprints."

(Blogger note:  What, are you saying that those Sardine Munching Bumbling cops were so stupid as to not consider that an 80 year old woman may to lifted Maddie from her bed without waking her (possibly first administering a sedative), tidied the bedclothes while holding the sleeping child, then crawled out the jemmied window with Maddie asleep in her arms?  No wonder Portugal is not a First Rate Country with the Best Newspapers on Earth.  If only the BRITISH had handled this that first night, Mrs. Fenn might be behind bars!)

Another apartment owner said he was surprised not to have been checked out. "I'd have thought it was important for us to give DNA samples, so we could be ruled out if nothing else," he said. "There were lots of us helping out that night and you'd think our DNA would be all over the place."

(Blogger note: Yes, actually, the crime scene was contaminated completely by the Tapas 9 long before the PJ arrived on the scene.  Do not forget the hundreds of searchers who were wandering all over the countryside all night in the darkness while Maddie's parents remained in their apartment, never once stepping out to join in the search.)

The McCanns have always vehemently denied all allegations and are now putting together a defence case they are convinced will clear their names.

They are hoping the appointment of Paulo Rebelo, Portugal's second most senior cop, to head up the case will help shift the focus away from them. Rebelo replaces Goncalo Amaral, sacked after he accused British police of being manipulated by the McCanns.

(Blogger note:  I am sorry to say this to you Mr. Please Get Your Facts Right Before Claiming to be a Journalist, but it appears more and more certain every day that Dr. Goncalo Amaral was correct.)
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Child snatchers link to Maddie


Child snatchers link to Maddie
Jerry Lawton
11 January 2010
Daily Star


The GOSS Gang 'took a girl , eight , on Algarve '


A schoolgirl who vanished close to where Madeleine McCann disappeared was sold to child traffickers, a court will be told this week.

Joana Cipriano was eight when she went missing from Figueira on Portugal's Algarve in 2004.  Her mum Leonor and uncle Joao Cipriano were each jailed for 16 years for her murder.

But Leonor says she now has evidence her daughter was smuggled out of the country by traffickers. Her partner claims Joao confessed to him that - acting alone - he'd sold the youngster to the trafficking gang to raise cash to fund his drug addiction.  Leonor will put her case during an appeal hearing at a Portuguese court.

Madeleine's doctor parents Kate and Gerry, both 41, are convinced Madeleine, then three, was snatched by child traffickers from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.  The spot where she vanished is just 10 miles from where Joana went missing.

The McCanns will fly to Portugal later today for a courtroom showdown with the ex-police chief who still claims they lied about their daughter's disappearance.

They are suing Goncalo Amaral, 49, for £1 million after he penned a best-selling book, The Truth Of The Lie, about the case. He alleges Madeleine died in an accident and claims her parents covered it up. Now the couple want a judge to permanently ban the book.

Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said last night:

"Both Kate and Gerry want to be present for the proceedings. They want to see justice being done.'' They will use any damages they are awarded to pay private detectives to continue the search for Madeleine.
The couple are convinced their daughter - who would now be six - was abducted and is still alive.
 
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The English Gag by Goncalo Amaral



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EX POLICE CHIEF BLASTS MCCANNS


Show-offs!  Ex police cheif blasts McCanns
Vanessa Allen
12 December 2009
Daily Mail

Madeleine McCann's parents were accused of 'showing off' yesterday by the policeman who dragged them in for questioning as suspects. (See: Wikileaks Cable dated 28 September 2007)

Goncalo Amaral added to Kate and Gerry McCann's anguish as they returned to Portugal for the latest stage in their legal battle over his book about the investigation into their daughter's disappearance.

The disgraced policeman, who led the botched inquiry, claimed they had launched legal action against him to protect their public image in Britain.

Mr and Mrs McCann, both 41, came face-to-face with Mr Amaral for the first time since he ordered their interrogation as official suspects in their daughter's disappearance. He claims Madeleine is dead.

The couple have accused him of making 'obscene' amounts of money from the high-profile case and have previously won a court injunction to ban the book from being sold worldwide.

Yesterday, Mr Amaral's lawyer had been due to argue that the injunction should be lifted, but said he could not attend court because of illness. The hearing was adjourned until next month. As they left the courthouse in Lisbon, the McCanns were heckled by protesters shouting: 'Viva Goncalo Amaral, Viva Portugal! [Long live Goncalo Amaral, Long live Portugal!]'

Looking distraught, Mrs McCann said the detective's book had upset her family and could have damaged their search for Madeleine.
'Freedom of speech should not outweigh the rights of our family, our children, the right for a proper, reasonable and fair search,' she said. 'Freedom of speech should not include distortion of the truth, lies, fabrication and slander.' 
The McCanns took legal action against Mr Amaral after his book, Maddie: The Truth of the Lie, claimed that Madeleine died in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 and that they faked her abduction. They deny the accusations and have been cleared by the Portuguese. (Note: Untrue - the case is shelved pending further evidence.  They have not been "cleared".)

Yesterday, Mr Amaral, 49, who was sacked from the investigation, threatened to counter-sue the couple for the suffering they had caused to his family.

He told a Portuguese newspaper:
'I owe nothing to them [the McCanns]. They're only here to show off, to keep the image they have in England. I will sue them for what they did to my family.
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Madeleine Mccann - Eddie & Keela dogs


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Full DNA Match in McCann's Car


Police 'Found Full DNA Match' In McCanns' Car 

Police have found a full DNA match which links Madeleine McCann's body to a hire car rented by her parents five weeks after she went missing.

Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt has the latest. 
Yes, I know, the video has been "removed by the user".  If anyone has a back-up copy, please let me know and I will link to it.  The FACT remains, this video  WAS aired.

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Amaral to train with former enemy


Amaral to train with former “enemy”
23 November 2009
24Horas
by Rute Coelho
(Joana Morais Blog, posted/translated by "astro")


João Grade


Gonçalo Amaral’s patron was Leonor Cipriano’s defender until the trial of five PJ inspectors over torture on Joana’s mother. Now they are great friends

Life’s irony: Gonçalo Amaral, who in court helped to condemn Joana’s mother over her daughter’s death, is going to train, from January onwards, at the Portimão office of João Grade dos Santos, Leonor Cipriano’s first lawyer.

On the other hand, João Grade stopped defending Leonor – who exchanged him for lawyer Marcos Aragão Correia – on the eve of the trial of the five PJ inspectors and former inspectors that stood accused by the Public Ministry of torture over Joana’s mother.

“Since the first moment of the Joana case, I never forgot that I was merely a lawyer playing my role, and Amaral was a policeman”, João Grade dos Santos told 24horas.

“Gonçalo contacted me to become his patron during the training, which is due to start in January. Given the fact that he resides in Portimão and I have an office there, I think he chose me for a practical reason”, he explains. “That would be the reason, otherwise he would have proposed to practise at the office of his lawyer, António Cabrita [head of the Faro District division of the Lawyer’s Order], with whom he has an excellent relationship”, the lawyer explains.

It’s been months since João Grade dos Santos and Gonçalo Amaral started regular contact. “We speak very often”, the patron says about the retired inspector. João Grade even believes that the former inspector who led the Joana case investigation “may have been the victim of an injustice in the process over torture against Leonor Cipriano”.

Gonçalo Amaral ended up being condemned, on the 22nd of May this year, to a penalty of one year and six months in prison, suspended for a similar period, over the crime of false deposition. He was acquitted of the crime of omission of denunciation. The former coordinator in the Joana case investigation has appealed the sentence.

“He knows more than a 20-year-old trainee”

According to the Laywers’ Order’s rules, the training starts at the Lawyers’ Order itself, for six months, and only then can the candidate start his practical experience at a lawyers’ office. It is always the candidate who must find a patron. The full training period lasts almost three years. Then, one still has to pass the Order’s exams to be accepted as a lawyer.

João Grade dos Santos believes in his new trainee’s abilities. “My instinct tells me that Gonçalo is going to be very good. He has a refined smell and a brilliant career at the Polícia Judiciária: he become a coordinator during the time when inspectors were still called agents”, he praises, considering that “with his experience, he already knows a lot more than a trainee in his early twenties”.

Criminal investigation gives experience. “I have no doubts that he will be very good in the penal law area”, he says. As for other areas, like civil or family law, the future “master” of pupil Amaral bets on the student’s ability to learn: “I will explain to him how a process works. He won’t know how to carry out a divorce or an evacuation action at the first attempt, but I believe he will learn quickly”. The patron and the trainee are from the same generation. João Grade dos Santos is aged 51, Amaral is 50.

He even gave him the book

Gonçalo Amaral offered his patron a copy of his book about the Maddie case, “The truth about the lie”. “I read his book and I was convinced, as I had been before, anyway, that it was not an abduction. But the book does not defame the McCanns, Gonçalo Amaral does not express his opinion in it, but an investigation thesis”, says João Grade. Long before they became friends, the lawyer refused to cooperate with Spanish detective agency Método 3, which, according to a special programme on SIC on the 12th of February, wanted to count on his help in the investigation due to the Amaral factor, which was common to the Maddie and Joana cases. Grade refused. Método 3 contacted Marcos Aragão Correia, who accepted.
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Jurors waiting for 16 thousand euros


Jurors waiting for 16 thousand euros
23 October 2009
ionline
Thanks to Astro for translation
The Faro Court decision that condemned Gonçalo Amaral can only move into appeal after the members of the jury are paid




The eight jurors that were present during the process of Leonor Cipriano against Polícia Judiciária (PJ) agents have not been paid by the Court of Faro, which is delaying the appeals that were filed by the lawyers at the Appeals Court. An amount that exceeds 16 thousand euro has not been paid and is standing in the way of a decision from the Appeals Court, given that the appeals concerning applied sentences and acquittals cannot move from the first instance into the Appeals Court unless the eight members of the jury are paid. The law does not foresee any legal deadline for appeals to reach the Appeals Court.

Five appeals are at issue. One from the lawyer that represents former PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral, who did not conform over the condemnation for false deposition. One from the representative of Leonor Cipriano, who did not agree with the acquittal of Leonel Marques, Paulo Cristóvão and Paulo Marques Bom. And a third appeal that was written by the lawyers who represent one of the Judiciária agents, António Cardoso, condemned over document forgery.

These three appeals are joined by two that were filed prior to the sentence and for which the PJ agents' lawyers are responsible. One of the requests focuses on the Lawyers' Order being made an assistant in the process – which the agent's defence considers not to be one of the Orders' purposes and says is at odds with its statutes. And the second one was filed because the defence considers it had a right to hear a statement from Marinho Pinto, the head of the Lawyers' Order, which was refused because he was an assistant in the process, The defence called Marinho Pinto (given that as a journalist he published Leonor Cipriano's photos in the "Expresso" newspaper) as a witness, but due to the fact that he made himself an assistant, the judge rejected his witness statement.

This is a total of five appeals that wait for delivery at the Appeals Court in Évora, in order to be evaluated. According to judicial sources that were contacted by i, the case may drag on for some time, given that the Judicial Court of Faro may not have enough financial resources for this year, in order to pay over 16 thousand euro that the jury is owed.

According to the Jurors' Statute, "after the sentence is read in the first instance, compensation is attributed based on every day that the function was effectively exercised". This means that each one of the jurors – four effectives and four substitutes – receives one account unit (102 euro) for each day of work. There were approximately 16 court sessions, three meetings of the jurors with the judges and one interview during selection phase, which sums 20 days of pay for each juror.

In this process, in which Leonor Cipriano accused the Judiciária inspectors of torture, it was the defence that requested a jury trial, although the use of jurors is uncommon in Portugal. According to statements made at that time, the defence lawyers wanted "for the people to judge the police agents".

Less serious cases are tried by a judge.
More serious cases are tried by three judges, or exceptionally, by a jury.
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Marcos Aragão Correia interrupted Amaral's 50th Birthday Party


Leonor Cipriano's lawyer interrupted the birthday party of Gonçalo Amaral
Paul Marcellin
Correio da Manhã
05 October 2009
[For Translation and Comments - See Joana Morais Blog]

Marcos Aragão Correia

Marcos Aragão Correia
  • attorney representing Leonor Cipriano

    • interrupted Amaral's birthday party at Portimão restaurant
       
    • made obscene gesture to party guests toasting Amaral after fireworks

    • spun tires, returned minutes later with PSP patrol
       
    • Gonçalo Amaral and Paulo Pereira Cristóvão spoke to PSP officers and Correia fled running
       

FULL TEXT:
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Why Gerry and Kate will never give up hope


Why Gerry and Kate will never give up hope
13 September 2009
The Sunday Life

Marcos Aragão Correia

Marcos Aragão Correia
  • Marcos Correia
    • human rights lawyer
    • relocated from Madeira to investigate Madeleine's case
    • convinced Madeleine in Algarve
    • said had information Madeleine murdered and body dumped in reservoir
    • told McCanns of suspicions but they decided not to back his search

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