Cops probe nanny's dumped at sea claim

Cops probe nanny's dumped at sea claim
Exclusive Missing Madeleine Day 164
The Sunday Mirror
14 October 2007
Lori Campbell and Grant Hodgson

Key witness quizzed again 
Police dig into parents' uni days

Portuguese police are becoming increasingly convinced Madeleine McCann's body was dumped at sea.

Last night officers drafted in to revitalise the investigation were planning to re-interview a key witness who saw a sailor acting suspiciously after the tot disappeared.

And British police are to delve into the student pasts of Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry.

Last night nanny Charlotte Pennington told how she saw a sailor kicking at something in the hull of his vessel in Praia da Luz, where the McCanns had been staying, two days after their daughter vanished.

Charlotte, who was working at the Mark Warner holiday complex where their apartment was, ran to get a friend to see what was happening but by the time they returned the boat - and the sailor in yellow fluorescent jacket - had gone.

The next day Charlotte spotted the man, wearing what she thought was the same jacket, and contacted police.

Charlotte, 20, back home in Leatherhead, Surrey, said: "I'm really pleased they are taking this seriously because it means they aren't just looking at the McCanns as suspects."

Her sighting of the sailor - and his possible involvement - was last night described by one police source as "credible".

The officer added: "Whoever had the expertise to make Madeleine disappear from the flat also had the expertise to throw her into the sea."

Police believe Madeleine was killed on May 3 and her body dumped in the Atlantic. They fear she may never be found.

Local council leader Manuel Borba reckoned the chances of finding Madeleine in the area were now virtually nil.

Mr Borba, who spent two weeks searching, insisted: "I personally looked in 40 wells. I'm not going to say that it's impossible the body has been hidden here but I don't believe that it has." Several new officers, including two murder squad detectives based in Lisbon, started work on the case yesterday under the command of Paulo Rebelo.

He replaced controversial Goncalo Amaral, 48, taken off the case after his criticism of British police. Mr Rebelo is reported to be receiving long-awaited results from DNA samples taken from the McCanns' hire car and apartment in the next few days. The test results, produced by the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham, are being sent in sealed envelopes via the British embassy.

The Portuguese hope they will provide a breakthrough - and possibly back their theory that Madeleine's parents helped dispose of her body after she died accidentally.

Detectives in Britain are to dig into the couple's backgrounds as far back as their university days 20 years ago.

Strathclyde Police have been asked to contact former friends and colleagues to establish if there is anything in either's past which may shed light on the case.

Kate and Gerry, both 39, from Rothley, Leics, met as junior doctors in Glasgow's Western Infirmary in 1992 after finishing their medical degrees.

The couple, who attended the Church of the Sacred Heart near their home yesterday with two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, have had no contact from Portuguese police since they returned to the UK. They deny any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

A friend said: "They've not heard a word. Not only are they unaware what is happening regarding their status as suspects but they fear nothing is being done to look for Madeleine."

Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said they would stay in Leicestershire for the twins' sake but would return to Portugal if asked.

In an increasing sign of desperation, Portuguese police were last night studying a map sketched by Chilean mystic Isabel Avila of an area where she claims Madeleine can be found. It suggests she is near a bridge and tall antennas.

Desperate cops to study map drawn up by a psychic


  

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Clarence Mitchell, Gonçalo Amaral, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall

I'M MADDIE'S FATHER..100%

12 October 2007
The Sun
With Clodagh Hartley/Antonella Lazzeri in Rothley
Angry Gerry slams cop rumours

The parents of Maddie McCann reacted with fury yesterday after reports in Portugal claimed Gerry was not the tot's natural father. Police sources say IVF baby Maddie, four, has a different biological dad. They claim it means that if DNA evidence said to have been found in the couple's hire car is proved to be Maddie's, it cannot be explained away as being the twins'.

But a close family friend said the claim had left Kate and Gerry "horrified and distressed". The friend said: "Gerry IS the father. And he damn well knew, because of the IVF process, that he was 100 per cent the father."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Antonella Lazzeri, Clarence Mitchell, Madeleine McCann

Portuguese put top cop in charge of the search

Portuguese put top cop in charge of the search
9 October 2007
Evening Herald

ONE of Portugal's most senior detectives today took charge of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Paulo Rebelo, a senior criminal investigation co-ordinator at national police headquarters in Lisbon, will now lead the inquiry.

Mr Rebelo was expected to move to southern Portugal, where Madeleine vanished 159 days ago on May 3, a Portuguese police spokeswoman said.

The detective, who will start work later this week, has investigated several high-profile cases including claims of a child sex ring at a state-run children's home.

Portuguese police chiefs will want the new leader to bring fresh momentum and stability to the troubled and controversial inquiry.

Goncalo Amaral (above) was removed from the investigation last week after criticising British police in a newspaper interview.

The officer claimed detectives were being misled by the girl's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, who are suspects in the case.

Mr Amaral, who headed the regional Policia Judiciaria in Portimao, also accused the McCanns of releasing new information each day in a bid to confuse the inquiry.

After the move, another senior officer, Chief Inspector Tavares Almeida, asked for an extended leave of absence.

Goncalo Amaral was taken off the case following his claim that Kate and Gerry McCann had been calling the shots by identifying lines of enquiry for Leicestershire officers.

The detective, who heads the regional Policia Judiciaria in Portimao, was also said to have engaged in three hour boozy lunches at the height of the investigation into Maddie's disappearance.

 

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Carvi Scandal, Gonçalo Amaral

I traced Maddie DNA to the sea

I traced Maddie DNA to the sea
'The Locator' gives fresh hope to the McCanns
7 October 2007
News of the World
Lucy Panton

RENOWNED international manhunt expert, dubbed The Locator, sensationally revealed he has uncovered a telltale DNA trail left by snatched toddler Maddie McCann.

In a shock new twist, ex-cop Danie Krugel tracked a "forensic route" he believed her kidnapper took from her family's Portuguese holiday apartment through alleyways, roads and paths down to a nearby beach.

There the trail goes cold-crucially supporting the theory that Madeleine was then taken out to sea in a boat after being abducted on May 3.

And the McCanns are convinced Krugel's evidence means four-year-old Maddie was taken ALIVE and gives them hope she can still be found.

The experienced investigator told us:

"I spent four nights in July carrying out my searches.

"I've been able to trace where Madeleine was in the resort and have drawn a map which has been given to the police.

"I can't reveal details as I don't want to alert anyone who might try to disturb the scene. But I believe I've traced where she was taken that night and now it's down to police to use their search experts to do the rest. The area to which my investigation led me is a difficult one to search."

"We tried to contact the family at the very beginning to offer our help, but unfortunately we didn't get called in until a couple of months after Madeleine went missing."

Desperate

News of Krugel's findings came as the News of the World discovered that forensic tests on DNA found in the apartment and hire car are "inconclusive"-completely refuting Portuguese police claims that they incriminate to Maddie's distraught parents, still branded official suspects.

In their desperate bid to find Madeleine the McCanns called in South African Krugel after hearing of a string of remarkable successes in his homeland, where he earned his nickname The Locator.

Krugel's hi-tech methods are a closely guarded secret and he refuses to give details of his techniques.

But his method uses DNA fragments and Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite technology to find missing persons, alive and dead.

The McCanns gave him a sample of Maddie's hair found on a coat that had been left at home in Rothley, Leicestershire, to carry out his probe, with the full cooperation of the cops in Praia da Luz.

Krugel's starting point was the ground floor apartment in the Mark Warner complex where she vanished, just a short distance away from the tapas bar where Kate and Gerry were dining with seven friends.

Using his secret techniques Krugel began tracing and following a DNA trail on a 15-minute route to the sea.

Portuguese cops were then called in to examine his dossier of evidence and immediately decided to carry out searches based on the information. A source told us:

"In fact TWO searches were carried out although this has never been revealed.

"The police were worried that media in the area would see them but they managed to do it all without anyone finding out.

"They didn't find any trace of Madeleine but this did not mean Mr Krugel's information wasn't accurate. The investigations show the only option was for Madeleine to have been put on a boat and taken out to sea."

After police made inquiries around the nearby Lagos marina and other local boating communities there emerged the two theories that Madeleine's body was dumped at sea or she is still alive having been taken by boat abroad, possibly to Morocco.

Krugel's results also match a crucial eye-witness account on the evening of May 3 by Kate and Gerry's close friend Jane Tanner.

She said she saw a man carrying what appeared to be a child wrapped in a blanket close to their apartment.

In a witness statement to cops Miss Tanner said the child looked similar to Madeleine. The man has never been traced. Ironically for the McCanns, it was the work of Krugel that resulted in sniffer dogs being brought in and the couple being declared suspects.

Our source said:

"It was suggested to the Portuguese police that after they'd searched the beach they should then use the dogs from Britain. And it was the behaviour of the dogs that caused them to believe they'd found this so-called 'scent of death'.

"This in fact may not have been the case but the police became convinced Kate and Gerry were involved.

"They are ignoring all the statements to the contrary, the DNA evidence said to have been found in the hire car which can be easily explained, and also the work of Mr Krugel who has had many successes."

"The Locator" traced victims of infamous South African paedophile Gert van Rooyan in the late 1980s. Six girls, aged 11 to 13, had vanished and police were baffled.

Using hair from the missing girls he repeatedly pinpointed the same spot and when the area was excavated bone fragments of victims was found.

He also traced the body of missing five-year-old girl, Naledi Ntebele, in just 20 minutes.

The News of the World has learned Kate and Gerry could finally be cleared after new forensic tests carried out in the UK have proved "inconclusive".

DNA testing by the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham on samples of body fluids and blood have NOT provided a positive match to Madeleine.

An FSS source said that further "more complicated" tests were being carried out and denied claims they were holding back information from the Portuguese. Earlier British experts accused the Portuguese of overplaying early DNA evidence to put pressure on the McCanns.

In the days that followed it was alleged that Portuguese police had found fluids and hair from Madeleine in the hire car.

Leaked reports claimed bodily fluids and blonde hairs apparently belonging to Maddie had been found in the Renault, leading to speculation that they used the car to move her corpse weeks later.

Proven

But a source close to the forensic inquiry insisted yesterday:

"The testing carried out so far remains inconclusive. There are no complete DNA profiles that could implicate the McCanns.

"Tests are still underway and if they come to the same conclusion the case against the McCanns will collapse."

As the argument raged, investigator Krugel told us he had asked for no money or even expenses for his work on the case.

"I wanted to assist the McCanns and offered my services," he said.

"We tried to contact the family at the very beginning but unfortunately we didn't get called in until months after Madeleine went missing."

A source close to the McCanns said:

"The work of Mr Krugel should not be underestimated and gives great hope to Gerry and Kate.

"Many people have contacted the couple to try to help but while their hearts may be in the right place they just don't have the expertise to be of assistance. But Mr Krugel has a proven record of finding people and his methods are extremely credible.

"The results in Praia da Luz crucially match many other strands of the investigation which all point to Madeleine being abducted and still being alive on that night when she was taken.

"Kate and Gerry just want police to concentrate on this evidence and find Madeleine. It's so frustrating for them.

"It is important to mention Kate and Gerry used Mr Krugel with the full cooperation of Portuguese police. The fact they carried out searches as a result of his work prove his credibility with them.

"Yet sadly they seem to have decided to no longer follow this line of inquiry."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Lucy Panton, News of the World

Exclusive: Maddie was alive on beach

Exclusive: Maddie was alive on beach
The News of the World
Lucy Panton
7 October 2007

STARTLING new evidence from a world renowned manhunter last night

CONVINCED Gerry and Kate McCann that missing daughter Madeleine was snatched ALIVE.

Danie "The Locator" Krugel's hi-tech satellite probe tracked the child's DNA along a route from their Portuguese holiday apartment down to a nearby beach-and there the trail went cold, backing the theory she was taken away by boat.

A McCanns' source said: "This gives us great hope."

FULL STORY - Pages 4 & 5

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Lucy Panton, News of the World

Warning over cop shambles

Warning over cop shambles
7 October 2007
The Sunday Mirror
Grant Hodgson
(Note: See PCC Complaint submitted by Leicestershire Constabulary below)

THE SEARCH FOR MADELEINE DAY 157

BRITISH crime chiefs told Portuguese police to "smarten up their act" during high-level talks last week that lead to the sacking of the cop leading the Madeleine inquiry.

British police chiefs and Government officials heaped pressure on the Portuguese as the shambolic investigation lay in tatters.

"Portuguese cops were told to sort it out," a police source told the Sunday Mirror, which last week exposed the long, boozy lunch breaks taken by Goncalo Amaral.

"It's not good enough when the man who was supposed to be running the world's biggest police inquiry was taking huge lunch breaks," the source said.

Leicestershire Police - the McCanns' local force - the Home Office and Foreign Office were all believed to have been involved in the talks.

The Sunday Mirror can also reveal how DNA evidence collected by officers in Praia da Luz is being considered "fatally flawed" and "useless".

A Leicestershire police source said: "There is a huge sense of embarrassment about the whole thing. Questions are now being asked along the lines of, 'Why have we been supporting such a bunch off incompetents?'

"Leicester police aren't happy about it at all."

   ****************************************************************

NOTE: 

SEE: PRESS COMPLAINTS COMMISSION :

Complainant Name:
Leicestershire Constabulary

Clauses Noted: 
1

Publication:  
Sunday Mirror

Complaint:

Leicestershire Constabulary complained that an article had quoted a ‘Leicestershire police source’ being critical of the Portuguese police (in relation to the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance) when that was not the official view of the Force. 

Resolution:

The matter was resolved when the newspaper agreed to place a note of the complaint in its archive files, which made clear that the quoted source was not speaking on behalf of the Force.

 

Report:
76

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Carvi Scandal, Gonçalo Amaral

Copper meant to find Maddie hunted down parents instead

Copper meant to find Maddie hunted down parents instead
Opinion
6 October 2007
The Sun
Lorraine Kelly

IT is a scandal that it has taken so long for the boozy, bumbling policeman in charge of the Madeleine McCann investigation to be given the boot.

Goncalo Amaral is thought to be almost single-handedly responsible for the public vilification of parents Kate and Gerry.

Instead of searching for Madeleine, he spent his time drip-feeding false information to the Portuguese press. They gorged themselves on increasingly absurd stories about Kate and Gerry drugging and killing Madeleine, storing her body in a fridge and then burying her in the local churchyard.

Now it's been revealed that another police officer who questioned Kate has asked to be taken off the case. It's a shambles.

Kate told movingly this week how she has cried every day since Madeleine disappeared, and that support from the public and taking care of her twins Sean and Amelie are the only things that keep her going.

So much for the picture of a cold-hearted killer that Amaral wanted to portray.

Kate is a grieving mother, and by accusing her of murder, Amaral has stuck a knife in her heart.

Crucified

The vile police leaks, which were a tissue of lies, crucified the McCanns and prompted lurid headlines.

The final straw was when Amaral attacked the British police for being "duped" by the couple and "shielding" them.

Portuguese top brass had no choice but to give him the elbow. If only Amaral had spent as much energy on doing his job instead of trying to cover his backside, perhaps Maddie would have been found by now.

We will never know, but it must burn away at her parents that their daughter's fate has been in such incompetent hands. Much has been made of Kate and Gerry being made "arguidos" or suspects in Portuguese law. But Amaral, the man who pointed the finger at them, is himself an arguido in a distressing case involving another little girl who disappeared three years ago.

He is under suspicion of helping to cover up an assault on the mother of the child, who was later jailed for her murder.

No body has ever been found and the mother claims a confession was beaten out of her and that she is innocent.

If she is telling the truth, this could mean that there is a monster in the area abducting and possibly harming little girls.

You would have thought that finding a sick and dangerous criminal would be at the very top of any copper's agenda.

Instead, Amaral went on long booze-filled lunches and felt peeved that the McCanns had their own high-profile campaign to find their daughter.

In a display of petulance, this mean-spirited little man turned against them.

Hiding behind Portugal's secrecy laws, he heaped abuse and suspicion on the McCanns, to the extent that many had a little worm of doubt in their minds.

I have always been convinced of their innocence and I believe they have been brutally let down by the authorities in Portugal.


 

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Carvi Scandal, Gonçalo Amaral

Truth about the Madeleine police

Truth about the Madeleine police
6 October 2007
The Daily Express
David Pilditch in Praia da Luz and Rachel Porter

In the week that the top detective was sacked and his deputy quit, we reveal the lies, boozy lunches and alleged incompetence of a farcical investigation

ANOTHER day, another casual stroll through the sunny streets of Portimao from his office to that little bistro round the corner, where the seafood is fresh and everybody knows his name.

When the Madeleine McCann case landed on the desk of chief inspector Gonçalo Amaral this summer, this daily ritual might, quite reasonably, have fallen to the bottom of his list of priorities. As the world's press set up camp on the police station doorstep and demanded regular progress reports, surely Amaral had quite enough on his plate without having to snap open another lobster.

But dressed in his trademark baggy jeans and crumpled shirt barely big enough to cover his belly, he refused to let a little matter like a missing girl come between him and the fish platters at Carvi, a popular local eatery.

So, for instance, on the day that Kate and Gerry McCann flew to Berlin as part of their own desperate campaign to keep their daughter's image in the public eye, Amaral could be found at his usual table where he and his colleagues spent two hours eating, smoking and knocking back the booze. A fellow diner said the men laughed and joked as the McCanns appeared on a TV news broadcast.

"They asked for the Portuguese TV news to be switched on and sat watching it, " he recalls. "Madeleine's parents had given a press conference and the police were laughing while it was on. They seemed to be sharing some sort of joke. I thought that laughing like that – in public – was in really poor taste."

Just last week – after almost five months leading the country's biggest missing child inquiry and with no sign of a breakthrough – he still saw no reason why he shouldn't spend more than two hours a day getting his fill at his favourite restaurant. Meanwhile, as many as 250 potential leads are said to have piled up on his desk.

ON WEDNESDAY he and Guilhermino Encarnacao, deputy head of the Judicial Police, spent hours there over a bottle of white wine and two heaving seafood platters. He returned the next day, not once but twice, for an £84 lunch with a female companion and later for a drink or two, while he watched the TV news and presumably caught up on the latest developments in the case. On Friday, after less than three hours at his desk, he collected his daughter from school and took her to lunch with another colleague for a further three hours.

No doubt this week he was looking forward to more of the same but on Tuesday – his 48th birthday – he was told that enough was enough. A fax from his boss in Lisbon said he had been "transferred to Faro for convenience of the service". His lazy ways may have been an embarrassment to the investigation but they were the least serious of his many mistakes.

His sacking came after an astonishing attack on the British police and their methods in which he claimed they "have only been working on what the McCann couple want them to and what suits them most". He was also overheard telling Portugal's exFormula One star Pedro Lamy that he was sure the girl was dead, despite apparently having no proof to support that theory. He said he believed the McCanns accidentally gave Madeleine an overdose of drugs intended to keep her quiet.

"We are sure the parents killed Madeleine, " Amaral said. "They are both doctors and know about drugs. We are confident in our case."

With politicians anxious to avoid a diplomatic crisis with Britain, the at times farcical investigation needed a new figurehead. So Amaral was ordered to clear his desk at police headquarters in Portimao, was demoted to the rank of inspector, stripped of his role as regional head of the Policia Judiciaria and removed from the case.

Although the McCanns refuse to openly celebrate his departure, they say they hope his successor will refocus the investigation on the hunt for Madeleine rather than try to pin the blame on them. Friends believe they only became suspects in the case when Portimao's desperate detectives ran out of other ideas.

Sources have said Amaral was largely responsible for a string of leaks to the Portuguese press which led to a devastating propaganda campaign against them. And last month the Portuguese police spokesman in the inquiry, chief inspector Olegario Sousa, quit, allegedly over the way the McCanns have been treated.

Sousa is reported to have been unhappy after he was misled about key events in the investigation. On several occasions, police bypassed Sousa in informing sections of the Portuguese press of developments, then instructed him to issue denials.

The McCanns have been unable to defend themselves against the slew of slurs against them as Amaral and his colleagues repeatedly warned that they could be jailed for speaking out.

The McCanns believe Portugal's strict secrecy laws, which Amaral himself fell foul of last week – as well as the well-documented incompetence of officers in the first vital hours after Madeleine's disappearance – have seriously hampered the case.

Long before they were named as suspects, the McCanns had good reason to fear that Amaral was not the best man for the job. For, despite 26 years experience with the force, he had investigated only two child murders before – including the notorious Joana Cipriano case. Astonishingly, he is an official suspect in a criminal investigation connected to that case.

In September 2004, eight-year-old Joana Cipriano disappeared from her home in Figuera, about seven miles from Praia da Luz. Her mother Leonor Cipriano is serving 16 years for murder after making a confession which helped secure a conviction. But she has insisted her confession was extracted through torture.

She withdrew her statement a day after making it, claiming she had been forced to kneel on glass ashtrays with a bag over her head as police repeatedly beat her during almost 48 hours of non-stop interrogation. Shocking photographs of Mrs Cipriano show the extent of her horrific facial injuries. And while detectives insist they were caused after she fell down the police station stairs, Amaral is accused of helping to cover up a vicious assault on her. In a chilling parallel to the Madeleine investigation, the case was treated as an abduction until Amaral became convinced of the mother's guilt.

PORTUGUESE newspaper Expresso reported: "Gonçalo Amaral convinced himself that the child's mother was involved in the crime when he saw her on a TV programme, mourning and speaking of her daughter in the past tense. Joana's mother and uncle are arrested and accused of the little girl's murder. But the body is never found." The paper also reported that he left the case during the final phases of the investigation after a public row with another high-ranking police officer.

Roy Ramm, a former Scotland Yard commander, said: "It is extraordinary that a man accused of an unresolved, serious complaint such as this is still handling a high-profile inquiry. You would expect him at best to be in a desk job." The twice-married father of three had a reputation as a tough street cop who worked his way to the top. He served in posts across Portugal before specialising in drug-busting operations, starting out on dangerous undercover work. He was appointed head of the Policia Judiciaria in the Algarve district of Portimao in 2001.

The third of four sons from a middle-class Lisbon family, he complied with his parents' wishes and studied engineering but soon switched to law which allowed him to pursue a police career. He shot up the ladder within the force, serving in Lisbon, Faro, the Azores and on secondment in Madrid. During this time he gained further qualifications in criminology, psychiatry, psychology, sociology and law. Despite his professional ambition, this week he shrugged off the significance of his dismissal from the case, saying: "A policeman does not limit himself to one case. There is plenty of work still to be done." His successor was widely tipped to be chief inspector Tavares Almeida, 48, who played a large part in the interrogation of Kate McCann. Described as the McCanns' chief tormentor, he is thought to have offered Kate McCann the plea bargain of a short sentence in return for a confession.

But Almeida shocked his superiors by requesting an extended leave of absence days before Amaral's sacking.

A police source told Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas: "It is very unlikely to be denied. If that happened it would be the first time in the history of the Policia Judiciaria." Insiders say his departure signalled that the investigation was in free-fall.

With no leadership and no end to the case in sight, morale among the remaining investigators is low.

Carlos Anjos, president of the Portuguese police union, told 24 Horas: "The investigators in question have worked without a rest since the little girl disappeared and as is natural, that is not healthy. Nobody can think clearly if they are exhausted." According to Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Judicial Police, finding a replacement for Amaral is "a priority".

And as things stand, Guilhermino Encarnacao – Amaral's lunch companion – is the favourite to step in.

In contrast to his colleague "he is very charming and polite", says one source. "He is a very good operator – he always gets his man." Lisbon-based Luis Neves, 41 – who is famed for solving the high-profile kidnapping of an ex-president of top football club Sporting Lisbon – is the only other name in the frame at present.

In these tense times, if there is one thing that British investigators and their Portuguese counterparts can agree on, it has to be this – someone must step into the breach before the search for the truth descends irretrievably into chaos.

   

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Carvi Scandal, David Pilditch, Gonçalo Amaral

Good riddance

Good riddance
4 October 2007
The Sun
Sharon Hendry

He was boozy, incompetent and convinced the McCanns killed Maddie...so we say to sacked police chief Amaral:

HE'S the crumpled copper who looks like a seedy character from a bad detective movie.

But to Madeleine McCann's family, tubby, hard-drinking police chief Goncalo Amaral is a real-life villain.

While supposedly hunting for a child-snatcher, the hapless plod was working as few as four-and-a-half hours a day.

It seems he spent most of that time conjuring up countless malicious explanations for Madeleine's disappearance.

His theory is that she died at the hands of parents Gerry and Kate.

The couple, from Rothley, Leics, will no doubt find a grim satisfaction in the news that Amaral has been removed from the case.

Most of all, they will hope his successor -when the Portuguese do get round to appointing one -can rally a demoralised force, break the case and find their daughter.

Amaral has been demoted a rank -down to inspector -and stripped of his role as regional head of the Policia Judiciaria (PJ).

The shock announcement came on his 48th birthday, after he accused British police of shielding the McCanns.

He had become an embarrassment to his government and once source said of his latest wild claim: "It was the straw that broke the camel's back."

Finding Madeleine alive was never a priority for Amaral after he became obsessed by the notion that Gerry and Kate had disposed of her body.

Amaral, in charge of a squad of 30 detectives, consistently refused to comment on his theories which still make the McCanns official suspects "arguidos" in the case.

He continually waved reporters away with a swing of his thick-set arm, citing Portugal's strict judicial secrecy rules for his silence.

"No speak! No speak!" was his standard riposte.

Nor would he discuss the 252 possible tip-offs about Madeleine's disappearance - many of which had allegedly not been followed.

His colourful conjecture could regularly be heard at coffee shops and restaurants near Amaral's office in the seaside town of Portimao, 20 minutes from Praia de Luz, where the McCanns stayed.

The moustached detective could usually be found chugging coffee and scoffing cakes at the Kalahary cafe or lingering over lunch at Carvi. He preferred these establishments to the stuffy confines of his HQ, where the McCanns were recently questioned for ten hours.

Most days would see him swagger up to his favourite Carvi table wearing a creased white shirt, unbuttoned to the chest, where a gleaming gold cross dangled.

On one occasion, the dad-of-three was overheard hammering home his theories to Portuguese racing driver Pedro Lamy. He told him: "The police case is we are sure the parents killed Madeleine.

Colourful

"They are both doctors and know about drugs. We are confident in our case."

On another occasion Amaral was at Carvi with the PJ spokesman Olegario Sousa. The McCanns were in Berlin and Amsterdam appealing for help in the hunt for Maddie and they were shown on the TV in the restaurant. The two men asked for the TV to be turned up before mocking the harried parents.

A booze-fuelled lunchtime, featuring white wine and his favourite Sagres lager, would often soon be followed by Amaral driving home in his blue Volvo.

Sources close to the investigation said his hackles were raised from the start by Mr and Mrs McCann's proactive approach to their daughter's disappearance.

One lawyer, who does not wish to be named, said: "Gerry is someone who clearly likes to get things done quickly and professionally.

"Amaral felt he was taking over, belittling him. It agitated him."

A PR war between the two camps erupted with Amaral leaking so-called "leads" to Portuguese newspapers. In particular, slurs on Kate McCann's character began to appear -she found her children "hyperactive" and hard to handle was a typical example.

Another source close to the investigation said: "It seems the main goal of the PJ now is to get a confession. It's like in the films, 'Aha, we have a confession, let's take them to court'. It's normal to want a confession when they don't have much else."

The McCanns fought back with their own public relations team.

Amaral has been a controversial figure during the search for Madeleine.

Astonishingly, he was put in charge of the day-to-day running of the inquiry despite himself being an "arguido" -after being accused of helping to cover-up an alleged assault on the mother of another missing girl.

Killing

He is to face a criminal hearing for allegedly concealing evidence that three colleagues tortured Leonor Cipriano to make her confess that she murdered her daughter Joana, nine, who went missing from Portimao three years ago.

Cipriano is serving 16 years for killing Joana, even though no body was ever found and she soon retracted her statement.

Amaral was not present at the time of her alleged beating but is accused of covering up for his colleagues, which he denies. He has reportedly investigated only two child murders -even though his police career spans 26 years.

He joined in 1981 after leaving an engineering course at university in Coimbra.

He did courses in sociology, psychology, psychiatry and criminal investigation at police school in Lisbon. Then he studied law.

He had only been in the police three years when he went to work in Madrid where he had his first contact with Spanish police and worked in Spain on several occasions.

He rose to the rank of chief inspector in 1998. Previous investigations include the case of a man who kicked his daughter to death in the Azores -and the infamous Joana case.

In 2005 he based himself in Seville to investigate the murder of a Portuguese policeman.

Like the McCanns, he is a Catholic and can regularly be found reading the bible.

He likes to quote it.

He will no doubt be seeking solace in those words this week as his career lies in tatters.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Carvi Scandal, Gonçalo Amaral

New cop in charge ..New hope for us

New cop in charge ..New hope for us
4 October 2007
Mirror
Ryan Parry in Praia da Luz

THE HUNT FOR MADELEINE
McCanns pray for fresh start after chief ousted

KATE and Gerry McCann hope that bringing in a new police chief will give the hunt for Madeleine a new impetus.

And a source close to them said they were ready to fly back to Portugal to meet Goncalo Amaral's replacement if necessary.

They believe that the boozy chief inspector, kicked off the case after criticising them and British police, has hindered the hunt for their four-year-old daughter.

The source added: "We do hope that the change will re-energise and refocus the hunt for Madeleine.

"The new appointment will give the incoming police chief an opportunity to establish where the enquiry is and to move it on."

Amaral's replacement is expected to be appointed next week. He will be handpicked by Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Judicial Police, and other senior officers.

It emerged last night that Amaral, 48, was sacked by Mr Ribeiro in a fax to his office. The curt message said: "Transferred to Faro for convenience of the service."

Justice minister Alberto Costa last night backed Amaral's removal.

He said: "It is an act of competence of the PJ national director of which I approve." A successor is not expected to be appointed this week because tomorrow is a public holiday in Portugal.

The McCanns' source said: "We would encourage the Portuguese authorities to fill the position as swiftly as possible, because Madeleine has still to be found"

A police spokeswoman explained: "The question of who is going to be head of the department is still unresolved. The national directors will nominate a candidate, and if that person agrees they will be made head of the department. We hope the decision-making process will be brief. There is no interview process, it is a case of the national directors choosing a candidate."

Amaral, who was third in command but ran the Madeleine inquiry on a day-to-day basis, yesterday reported for his new job at Faro police station.

The McCanns' supporters believe he hampered the case because he thinks Madeleine, missing since May 3, is dead. And he accused Gerry and Kate, both 39, of Rothley, Leics, of distracting the investigation and manipulating British police.

He said of Leicestershire detectives: "British police have only worked on what the McCanns want them to work on, and which is most convenient for them."

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell: "It's an absolutely ridiculous suggestion.

"It is a Portuguese-led inquiry and will remain so."

The McCanns believe that Amaral is behind many of the attacks on them in the Portuguese press.

But police union boss Carlos Anjos claimed Amaral had been made a scapegoat.

He said: "He was the victim of personal attacks by the British media which not only questioned his honour as a policeman, but also attacked him as a human being."

One police source told a local newspaper: "He was the first victim, and he served as a scapegoat for the English."

Amaral was in charge of 30 detectives. But he worked as little as four and a half hours a day, taking boozy three hour lunches.

He arrived prompt for his new job at 9am yesterday.

But he left at 12.30pm for a two hour lunch with deputy national police director Guilhermino Encarnacao, 59, who is working on the Madeleine case, and two colleagues.

Amaral yesterday shrugged off his dismissal.

He told a Portuguese newspaper: "A policeman does not limit himself to one case. There is plenty of work still to be done."

And Amaral, being investigated for allegedly helping cover up the police beating of a mother of a missing girl, said his comments were taken out of context.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Carvi Scandal, Gonçalo Amaral