The Guilt of the McCanns by Manual Catarino

http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2007/12/guilt-of-mccanns.html


This preface is far to long to copy and paste but he raises some interesting differences to other reports .

Preface by Francisco Moita Flores

All the steps of the investigation that passions the world

Maddie's case moved the world. The tragedy of her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, sparked a wave of sympathy and solidarity truly unique. But Madeleine McCann is still missing and from the initial assumption of abduction, the evidence also requires the possibility of her death. Without stopping the poignant impact in the public one wonders what happened that night of May 3 at the Ocean Club.

What happened to Maddie?
Who’s to blame for her disappearance?
What investigation has been made to find her?

"This is not just a timely book. It is a story of great inspiration. An essential document for a day in the future, intended for the story of Madeleine's disappearance. "
- From the preface of Francisco Moita Flores

This book includes an updated and unique interview to the criminologist José Manuel Anes, that made an impartial review to the investigation conducted by the Judiciary Police.

Who is the Author?
Manuel Catarino is a Correio da Manhã head redactor. As a journalist his career is linked to major reports on crime. His journalistic intuition is very alike of a criminal investigator, which is due to his intense knowledge of the "modus operandi" of the police. He began working in 1986, in the newspaper "O Dia". He was founder of the "Diário Europeu". He worked also in the weekly newspaper Tal & Qual, where he played up as a reporter for seven years. He was editor and chief of the 24 Horas, where he published, for example, three major dossiers: "The coups that have shaken Salazar", "Major operations of the Colonial War" and "Crimes that shocked Portugal". He was editor of the magazine Focus and cooperated in the magazine Grande Reportagem. He also collaborates in the magazine "Sábado".

The title of this book, The Guilt of the McCann's, is not a point of arrival, but a point of departure. This book is essentially a journalistic work. Recalls facts widely reported and discussed in newspapers, on radio, on television. Does not point an accusing finger to the McCann’s. It helps the readers in the labyrinth of stories on the disappearance of Madeleine.

An excerpt from the book “A Culpa dos McCanns”

"THE MCCANN'S GUILT"

If the disappearance of Maddie was the plot of a novel by Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot would have reunited the McCann’s couple and the seven British friends by the side of the pool of the Ocean Club, and in an exercise of reasoning would have solved the mystery.

The researchers from the Judicial Police did not. They acted since the beginning conditioned by a thesis inflated and exerted by the high spheres of influence in England, that was the thesis of the abduction.

However the instinct, powerful weapon of the criminal investigation, told them that the key for the Madeleine’s disappearance could be in what they called the “British milieu”: They had the conviction that the McCann's and their friends probably knew more than they told.

(...)

Every night, the employees of the Tapas restaurant prepared the oval table, by the pool side of the Ocean Club for the dinner of an enjoyable group of nine Brits that were spending their holidays there.

None of the couples took their children: the children were sleeping alone in the apartments. They began to arrive to the restaurant around half past eight. They liked to drink. Some asked for martinis and beer as an aperitif. Others, like Kate, preferred a daiquiri mixture prepared in the shaker with white rum, lemon juice and sugar syrup. They were crazy about wine.

The women ordered white wine very cold. The men selected red wine. Over dinner, which would usually last almost till midnight, they typically drank amongst them between 10 and 12 bottles, always in a good mood.

(...)

That night of May 3, Thursday, Gerry and Kate McCann, both of 39 years old, were the first to arrive at Tapas. It was around half past eight.

Thirty minutes later, as always happened since April 27 when they arrived to the Ocean Club, all friends were already sit down at the oval table near the illuminated pool: David and Fiona Payne, both doctors, parents of two small children; Russell O'Brien, doctor, and Jane Tanner, also with two babies; Mathew Oldfield and Rachel, doctors, which had a 18 month old baby, and Fiona's mother, Dianne Webster, 62 years old. That afternoon, around half pat five, Kate and Gerry walked with the three children near the beach, about 800 meters of the village. They were in the restaurant esplanade Paraiso.

Kate and her husband were with two more English couples. The employees remember it very well. There were six adults and seven children. Only the small children ate the kids menu. Madeleine ate spaghetti bolognese. Adults asked for beer. Madeleine still ate an ice cream and played with her father in the swings.

It was the last time the child was seen publicly. They all left the restaurant Paraiso by 18, 15 and took the path to the Ocean Club. In a little more than two hours, after they put the children to sleep, the McCanns' were at Tapas for the routine dinner with their friends.

(...)

It was a pleasant Spring night. The customers of the oval table oval glowed with joy. Kate was the more reserved. They asked for the usual drinks and the dinner, grilled fish and meat kebabs with the usual wine. The employees did not notice anything different.

Nothing led them to be suspicious of anything. They barely knew that a mysterious crime would, in the evening, shake the tranquillity of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz and throw the resort to the limelight of newspapers and televisions around the world. While the adults dined happily, eight children slept alone in four apartments: the three children of McCanns', two of Russell O'Brien and Jane Tanner, and two of David and Fiona Payne and the baby of Rachel and Mathew Oldfield .

Only David and Fiona used a system of communication to ensure that children did not cry.

The employees of the Tapas, that were working followed with particular attention any call from the oval table, in that evening they didn’t notice many people get out of the chairs in that night to go see their children.

They are sure that two men stood up, almost at the same time, only a few minutes after the dishes were served, shortly after nine o'clock. One of them was Russell O'Brien. The other was Gerry McCann. The rest of the group continued to eat and drink.

Russell, doctor, married to Jane Tanner, only returned to the table one hour later. He told his friends that he found the eldest child, same age as Maddie, unwell: the girl was vomiting and he changed the bed linen.

Gerry took about 25 minutes. To reach the apartment, Gerry had to circumvent the pool, leave the Ocean Club and go about 20 meters from the street poorly lighted till the small access gate of eight steps that ends in the door.

Back to the restaurant, he meets up in the street with a British television producer Jeremy Wilkins that he acquainted during the holidays. Jeremy was walking his baby to making him sleep. The two men, who usually played tennis at the Ocean Club, greet each other and exchange two fingers of conversation. The street was deserted.

When Gerry sits again at the dinner table, Russell O'Brien had not yet come back, he finally, returns almost at 22 hours, nearly half an hour after Gerry. Then, when Russell had barely explained that the eldest child was vomiting, Kate McCann put the glass of white wine and gets up to go see her children.

Employees had already taken 12 bottles of wine to the oval table in an hour. For the time being, everything is still calm. Five minutes later, the Ocean Club turns into a chaos.

Kate McCann appears in the rear balcony of the apartment, which faces the interior of the Ocean Club. She screams and calls by her husband, Gerry, at the table with his friends. Kate is about 50 meters in a straight line. All hear her, but not all can see her because of the palm trees between the pool and the apartment.

The friends sat up and rushed themselves in the direction of the house rented by the McCann’s. That night, they did not take the digestives. They loved small glasses of bitter almond. The dinner was interrupted. Only one person stayed at the table: Dianne Webster, Fiona’s mother.

All the others headed for Kate. They found her in a trance: They took our Madeleine, she repeats, without stopping, shouting. The friends go in the apartment, open and close doors, test the windows, open and close the blinds. Among the confusion, Dianne appears, the eldest of the group, which stayed at the table and walked slowly to McCann's apartment. Dianne went to Maddie's room and sees how the twins Sean and Amelie, despite the noise, slept like angels.

The Ocean Club, that was calm, becomes suddenly a confusion of screams and running. Alarmed guests appear at their windows.

The employees of the resort who were still on duty at that time also approach the McCann's apartment. The upstairs neighbour, Pamela Fenn, owner of the flat that has lived there for half a dozen of years also goes to the McCann's door. She recalls very well seeing Kate without a tear on her eyes. Pamela offers herself immediately to call for the GNR. Kate thanks her but tells her that it was not necessary because she had already called.

Maddie's mother did not tell the truth. The first call for the GNR was infact made by an employee of the Tapas restaurant around 22h40 more than half an hour after Kate discovered that her child was missing. The first patrol arrived at 23 hours. The military did not speak English and collected the first statements with the help of an employee of the resort which acted out as a translator.

(...)

When the first investigators of the Judicial Police arrived to the Ocean Club, only a few minutes after midnight, in the early hours of 3rd to May 4th, they spoke with Gerry and Kate.

The conversation took place in the apartment 5A – the scene of the crime. The two twins, Sean and Amelie, slept deeply. The policemen, trained to look in for the minimum details, observe curiously how the house is flawlessly tidy. It does not seem a place of holidays where three children run around and jump the whole day.

The sofa has not one single crease and chairs are positioned meticulously. There aren’t any clothes forgotten or out of the place, not even toys in sight. Only the cuddle cat, which was always with Maddie, is now tight in Kate's hands. The kitchen is clean, without the smallest vestige of remains of milk or children food.

The inspectors searched the house. They did not find the smallest signal of break in neither in the door or the windows. They noticed that the couple had not at home any medicine awkwardly to the normal for a family in holidays. On that night, the McCann’s left the apartment and were accommodated in another flat of the Ocean Club. The crime scene is free for the team of experts of the Laboratory of Scientific Police that left from Lisbon.

The twins are taken by the parents. Kate carries the girl in her arms and Gerry the boy. Amelie and Sean continue to sleep and not even noticing the change. The couple is only authorized to carry the indispensable things to spend the night in another apartment.

The Judicial Police gives the next day, to the family the rest of their belongings. The vestiges collected in the apartment where the crime happened were useless: they were contaminated by the crowd of curious that entered that house after the alarm.

(...)

Katherine Marie Healy and Gerald Patrick McCann "Kate and Gerry", for the most intimate, grew separated by thousands of kilometres. It was difficult that one day they met in an island of 50 million inhabitants.

She is English from Liverpool; he grew in a working neighbourhood of Glasgow, in Scotland. Most Scots are catholic and the English are mostly Anglicans. Kate's family is part of the English minority faithful to the Church of Rome. The religion and the faith will be determinant to the union of Kate and Gerry.

The Catholic girl from Liverpool, when she decided to study Medicine, went to the University of Dundee in Scotland where she met the future husband, also student of the medical school.

Kate and Gerry belonged to the same group. She is snob, he is more sociable. But Kate according to what a colleague told the British newspaper The Mail on Sunday begun to loose the irritating superior air and turned into a bohemian. She went to bars, drinked beer and amused herself until early morning. She graduated without problems. The book of the end of the course, in 1992, recalls her as one of the most popular of the medical school of the University of Dundee. It was known by the suggestive nickname of Hot Lips.

(..)

The complicity between the four couples fuelled the rumours that they engaged themselves in an exchanging sexual game known as swing.

The insinuation emerged for the first time in an English blog and ran world. The Criminal Police also became interested, though with prudence in the sexual secrets of the McCann’s. The issue would only have interest to the investigation if the exchanges of partners surpassed the group of friends.

If the swing was open to other men and women, the author of the abduction could just as well be one of presumable sexual partners of Kate or in a far fetched theory, his wife, who for various reasons could feel despised.

Another fact interested the detectives concerning the sexual habits of the McCann’s and friends: Madeleine, like the twins, was born by artificial insemination. Would Gerry be the real biological father? Or was the girl not born by in vitro fertilization, and the father could be one of the swingers? The entire hypotheses were open as the manuals of criminal investigation instruct.

The Criminal Police nevertheless was just pursuing a possibility, the abduction. The crime could be justified by one of five reasons: Madeleine was taken by a paedophilia network; stolen by a family to be sold to adoption; abducted for the payment of a ransom, taken by real biological father or abducted by circumstances related to the swing.

(...)

Maddie's eyes are not equal. The left has shades of blue and green. The right is green and displays a sign of malformation in the iris, which in medicine is called coloboma, commonly known as cat's eyes. Gonçalo Amaral did everything to persuade them.

Kate and Gerry, obsessed with the advertising of photos of their missing daughter did not listen to him. He asked them to at least not show a frontal photo of Madeleine .Without success. The McCanns' were inflexible.

The girl has yet another sign, brownish in the twin muscle of the left leg a particularity that was not disclosed. If Madeleine was kidnapped to be sold to a paedophilia network or to a family for adoption, as was being investigated and the parents suspected, the exposure of the eyes, that made her recognizable throughout the world, could led to her death - this was a strong belief in the Criminal Police.

The girl was easily recognizable. Her life would not be worth a dime. The kidnapper would hardly be able to sell her. Nobody would want her, neither the paedophiles, nor the adoption family. No buyer would accept taking such high risks. Maddie was marked. Only one solution was left to the abductor: get rid of her.

Kate and Gerry, despite the prudent advice of the Judicial Police, still published the pictures of their daughter’s eyes. They did so aware of the likelihood of the outcome. One day after the disappearance, the angel face of Maddie was already going around world.


Technorati Tags: excerpts, books, Gerry, Madeleine McCann, mccann, Kate, guilt, puzzle, Praia da Luz, Maddie, xklamation

Hi ann_chovey, your'e a Darling!1 I was going to send an Icecream, but it's too cold, so a warm Panini is on it's way, Ham and Cheese with a serviette
so you don't make a mess on your keyboard.

there are several differences.....this for instance, there were no photos of the McCanns at the Paraiso as far as I recall.

afternoon, around half pat five, Kate and Gerry walked with the three
children near the beach, about 800 meters of the village. They were in
the restaurant esplanade Paraiso.

Kate and her husband were with
two more English couples. The employees remember it very well. There
were six adults and seven children. Only the small children ate the kids
menu. Madeleine ate spaghetti bolognese. Adults asked for beer.
Madeleine still ate an ice cream and played with her father in the
swings."

Panda wrote:Hi ann_chovey, your'e a Darling!1 I was going to send an Icecream, but it's too cold, so a warm Panini is on it's way, Ham and Cheese with a serviette
so you don't make a mess on your keyboard.

there are several differences.....this for instance, there were no photos of the McCanns at the Paraiso as far as I recall.

afternoon, around half pat five, Kate and Gerry walked with the three
children near the beach, about 800 meters of the village. They were in
the restaurant esplanade Paraiso.

Kate and her husband were with
two more English couples. The employees remember it very well. There
were six adults and seven children. Only the small children ate the kids
menu. Madeleine ate spaghetti bolognese. Adults asked for beer.


Madeleine still ate an ice cream and played with her father in the
swings."

I think there was video footage of this and it was established that it wasn't the McCann family at all. A case of constructive memory and the fact that small children tend to look alike to all except their own parents.

Morning tigger.....I thought that was wrong.

What about the Gerry returned to the Tapad at 9.25pm? and the Kate shouting from the apartment? Don2t know how many copies this book sold so how come the McCanns never sued him.??

Employees had already taken 12 bottles of wine to the oval table in an hour.

Is this for a fact? If it is true then that is some going with all the checking they allegedly did, no-one would have had the chance to really savour the wine, just glug it down.

Oval table? How did they get a 'oval' table when all the photos of the tapas restaurant show square tables?????

mariang wrote:Oval table? How did they get a 'oval' table when all the photos of the tapas restaurant show square tables?????

Need to even ask hun! This is Queen Kate and King Gerry we are talking about

So Kate left the table a few minutes after Gerry returned from his check and his chat with JW. Now why would she do that?? if Gerry had informed her that all was well and Madeleine was "all curled up in a foetal position looking angelic (I think those were his words??)

Another thing: According to the book Kate DID scream from the balcony and did not run back to Tapa's like has been suggested.

The fact that Kate didnt shed a tear according to Mrs Fenn(thats a first - or is it??) - AND last but not least according to reports (files) Mrs Fenn enquired from her terrace whether she should call the GNR and asked Gerry not Kate, I am a little confused here

Panda wrote:Morning tigger.....I thought that was wrong.

What about the Gerry returned to the Tapad at 9.25pm? and the Kate shouting from the apartment? Don2t know how many copies this book sold so how come the McCanns never sued him.??

Really quite interesting snippets in it such as:
The sofa has not one single crease and chairs are positioned meticulously. There aren’t any clothes forgotten or out of the place, not even toys in sight. Only the cuddle cat, which was always with Maddie, is now tight in Kate's hands. The kitchen is clean, without the smallest vestige of remains of milk or children food.

According to Pennington, who was there ca. 10.05 the twins weren't there. Later the twins were there when the police arrived, but without sheets in the cots. Also sleeping through the noise for hours. Until Gerry decided to move them and 'take them to their own apartment'. Which argues neatly for a T9 creche in one of the apartments.

As Kitti pointed out months ago, evidence of children present in 5a was missing: toys, drawings, clothes, etc.

This Guy was a Reporter for Corriea de Manha, quite a reputable Paper and the Prefaces written by well known people. He also would have the advantage of being Portugese so he could chat to OC staff.

If he says Kate went to check on the children, what was that all about.....Oldfield saying he would check ??? Also, apparently only 4 to 6 bottles of wine were supposedly drunk on the night , no mention of Kate drinking daquiri. Maybe the Author has taken Poetic Licence with the truth .LOL

There does seem to be a awful lot of discrepancies in this extract. Maybe its because it was from 2007 and not all the information was available.

Angelique wrote:There does seem to be a awful lot of discrepancies in this extract. Maybe its because it was from 2007 and not all the information was available.

Hi Angelique......maybe , who knows what's true and what's not . You could say his account of events would be fresh in 2007 , but as I say how much of what he says is true. His timelines differ from the Tapas Group for starters.

"They are sure that two men stood up, almost at the same time, only a few minutes after the dishes were served, shortly after nine o'clock. One of them was Russell O'Brien. The other was Gerry McCann. The rest of the group continued to eat and drink.

Russell, doctor, married to Jane Tanner, only returned to the table one hour later. He told his friends that he found the eldest child, same age as Maddie, unwell: the girl was vomiting and he changed the bed linen."

There are alot of inaccuracies in the article, however, I do believe there is some truth to it as well. I think it is very important to note that the MW empolyees remember Gerry and Russell getting up at about the same time, and Russell not returning for over an hour. This is quite significant, as Kate in her original interview also said it was Russell, not Matthew, who got up at about the same time as Gerry. This would have been at about 9 pm, with Russell returning just before 10 pm. The group tried to claim it was Matthew who left at the same time as Gerry, but Kate slipped up and told the truth, oops. There were alot of inconsistencies regarding Matthew's early check, as their were with his alleged internal check at 9:30pm. Firstly, was the check to hurry up the Payne's or were the Payne's already at the table when Gerry and Matthew got up? Did any of the Payne's remember passing Matthew on their way to the tapas? Not originally, but by the time it came to the rogatory interviews, everybody remembered him. If the Payne's all arrived at 8:50 - 9:00 as they all claim, why would Matthew have gotten up to check on his and everyone else's kids just 5-10 minutes after he had arrived for dinner?

With Russell being one of the later arrivals, other than the Payne's, this is looking more and more like he was administering sedatives to all of the kids and something went wrong with Madeleine. He goes to the table to let Gerry know what happened and they stay for a few minutes, trying not to looks suspicious, and then leave together for 5A. Upon finding Madeleine dead, Gerry blames Russell and tells him to get rid of the body, at least temporarily, while he goes back to the table. Gerrry says that it is important for him to be at the table, as he is Madeleine's father and it would look suspicious if he were gone for two long.

The group feel that most people will not be able to distinguish between Matthew and Russell, both being tall, caucasian, and grey-haired. So Matthew is willing to go along with claiming he conducted the 9:00 and 9:30 checks, for fear of getting done up for neglect, even though he actually sat on his bum all night and never left the table. The tapas are pretty sure that witnesses will remember two gentemen leaving at about the same time, so this becomes the 9:30 check of Matthew and Russell, even though it was really Gerry and Russell at 9:00 pm. They are trying to shorten the time that Russell was away from the table, especially since Russell allegedly had changed clothes while he was away, which was explained as being due to his daughter being sick. Perhaps it was really Madeleine's sick that needed to be cleaned up?

Moura, the Detective employed by CBS to investigate says Jane never attended the Restaurant that night and I think we know the timelines created on
the Book cover were made to confirm that they checked on their children every 20 minutes before the Police arrived and they had to make statements.
If Moura is right, it would explain the reason Gerry and Jez never saw Jane, or that she went to the Restaurant to get Russell to see to his daughter,
or saw a man carrying a child.!!!! Jane could have phoned Russell to attend to his daughter.

I don't subscribe to the theory that all the children were put in one apartment , but it's possible Jane was asked to check on the McCanns children and
found Madeleine hardly breathing, phoned Russell who rushed off and performed a tracheotomy which failed. The Police received the call at 10.41pm which left time for a temporary hiding place for Madeleine,

I've checked and this book appears to be still on sale, though it doesn't seem to have been a big seller. Perhaps that's the reason the author was never sued: the book didn't make enough money to make it worth suing him.

AnnaEsse wrote:I've checked and this book appears to be still on sale, though it doesn't seem to have been a big seller. Perhaps that's the reason the author was never sued: the book didn't make enough money to make it worth suing him.

Well that figures AnnaEsse. Mind, it was I think the first to be published , before everyone jumped on the Madeleine Bandwagon , and it was in Portugese.

AnnaEsse wrote:I've checked and this book appears to be still on sale, though it doesn't seem to have been a big seller. Perhaps that's the reason the author was never sued: the book didn't make enough money to make it worth suing him.

Ah yes! In politics you will find that countries without natural resources or strategic importance are never invaded!

Panda wrote:Hi ann_chovey, your'e a Darling!1 I was going to send an Icecream, but it's too cold, so a warm Panini is on it's way, Ham and Cheese with a serviette
so you don't make a mess on your keyboard.

there are several differences.....this for instance, there were no photos of the McCanns at the Paraiso as far as I recall.

afternoon, around half pat five, Kate and Gerry walked with the three
children near the beach, about 800 meters of the village. They were in
the restaurant esplanade Paraiso.

Kate and her husband were with
two more English couples. The employees remember it very well. There
were six adults and seven children. Only the small children ate the kids
menu. Madeleine ate spaghetti bolognese. Adults asked for beer.
Madeleine still ate an ice cream and played with her father in the
swings."

So where's the eighth child?

Hi Pennylane, The 8 children......Payne 2, Tanner 2, Oldfieled 1 McCanns 3. I had to go back to February to check it out and in fact the McCanns did
not go to the Paraiso.!!!!!! However, there is an interesting interview with Amaral , 27th April and much more interesting.


Gonçalo Amaral interviewed by Judite de Sousa
27 April 2012 | Posted by Joana Morais Leave a Comment






Transcript

Judite de Sousa [JS]: Here in the studio I have Gonçalo Amaral, the inspector of the Judiciary Police that has lead the investigations five years ago in situ to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Good evening, Gonçalo Amaral.

Gonçalo Amaral [GA]: Good evening.

JS: In your opinion what causes Scotland Yard to, suddenly, ask the Judiciary Police to re-open the process and to categorically state that there are 195 new opportunities to investigate?

GA: Well, we have to understand the timing, understand the moment... Yesterday was the 25 of April1 it's important because it's the day of freedom and democracy is celebrated in Portugal, and a foreign power, or someone from a foreign power is telling us: "It's like this, reopen it!". It's important. We are a few days away of the sad anniversary of the child's disappearance, a tragic moment... We are one year after that team started their investigation, where they've spent millions of pounds; they have been questioned back in England about that. To say that they have 195 opportunities of investigation - I have to ask, why is that? Why do they still have 195, why don't they have only 5?

JS: How do you explain that number? 195 avenues of investigation?

GA: They speak about sightings, about visions by mediums, in things that were produced, various things that have been produced over the years and well produced regarding those sightings, now the English police has to pass the ball to the Portuguese police and we are left with the onus and expenses of investigating. It is important to reopen the process, nobody should doubt that, but to reopen the process without limitations, the way they want to limit us.

JS: What are the limitations they want to impose on us?

GA: They want to impose an abduction. Actually they speak about two possibilities, that she could be alive or dead. And that is what it is.2

JS: No, Scotland Yard say that...

GA: No, Scotland Yard affirmed that the child could be alive or dead.

JS: ... she could be alive.

GA: Or could be dead. Don't forget the "could be dead". It's about 50% chances. And that is the real sadness. It's been five years and we still do not know what happened to this child and it is our fault. It's ours!

JS: Ours? Of whom?

GA: Of our Justice system, of our Attorney General who allowed this investigation to be shelved. In September 2007 we had reached certain conclusions, they were interim conclusions, and a criminal investigation needs to be concluded. It needs to be finished. The investigation was never allowed to arrive at an end. It was important to understand if the conclusions we had arrived at then could, in the end, be proved or disproved, be or not different - that is how a proper criminal investigation should proceed.

JS: Why, in your opinion, did the Portuguese General Attorney's Office decided to archive the process?

GA: Because we are Portuguese and they are English - as simple as that. We are small and they are big. This is what is happening right now.

JS: Then, do you defend the thesis that there were political pressures?

GA: There are no doubts about that. Just recently our current prime minister was in England, he held talks with David Cameron and spoke or was told (about this case)3. It would have been important for our prime-minister to speak first with those who were involved in the investigation in order to have a better understanding of what happened…

JS: But it becomes difficult for those that are viewing and listening to us, to comprehend for what reason the political power in London or a police with the prestige of Scotland Yard are so focused, committed on this case, five years later, particularly since the process has long been archived in Portugal. What do you think is the true motivation behind this review?

GA: Do you really believe that they are focused, committed? They speak about a 28-man squad, from the Scotland Yard... Allow me to inform you that it is just a metropolitan police of a city, of the city of London. Here in Portugal the investigation was done by the Judiciary Police, a much higher rank police, with jurisdictional competence for the whole country, which is not the case of the Metropolitan police. Let's be clear about this, we [Portuguese Judiciary Police] are what we are, but maybe we can be equally or even better than they are - that is the issue. Now, concerning those 28 police officers, they investigated (the case files)4 and arrived to the conclusion: "We have 195 hypothesis of". Well, the question is why do they still have 195? Why not just 5? Don't you see?

JS: So you think that they say 195, just as they could say 10, 15, 20, 200, 300?

GA: They have to justify the money they have spent. It would have been better if they had said only five. That would have been meaningful, it would mean that they had closed the range of possibilities. To say that they have 20, 30, 40, 195, 200, 300, 400... Look, of sightings by psychics, dreams by mediums, we had hundreds, dozen, thousands of those, take your pick. Now facts, indicia, all that is in the report made in September of 2007 put together by the Judiciary Police and by the English police - let's not forget the fact that it was the local police where the McCann couple lives that was working with us, not the Metropolitan police.

Panda wrote:Hi Pennylane, The 8 children......Payne 2, Tanner 2, Oldfieled 1 McCanns 3. I had to go back to February to check it out and in fact the McCanns did
not go to the Paraiso.!!!!!! However, there is an interesting interview with Amaral , 27th April and much more interesting.


Gonçalo Amaral interviewed by Judite de Sousa
27 April 2012 | Posted by Joana Morais Leave a Comment






Transcript

Judite de Sousa [JS]: Here in the studio I have Gonçalo Amaral, the inspector of the Judiciary Police that has lead the investigations five years ago in situ to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Good evening, Gonçalo Amaral.

Gonçalo Amaral [GA]: Good evening.

JS: In your opinion what causes Scotland Yard to, suddenly, ask the Judiciary Police to re-open the process and to categorically state that there are 195 new opportunities to investigate?

GA: Well, we have to understand the timing, understand the moment... Yesterday was the 25 of April1 it's important because it's the day of freedom and democracy is celebrated in Portugal, and a foreign power, or someone from a foreign power is telling us: "It's like this, reopen it!". It's important. We are a few days away of the sad anniversary of the child's disappearance, a tragic moment... We are one year after that team started their investigation, where they've spent millions of pounds; they have been questioned back in England about that. To say that they have 195 opportunities of investigation - I have to ask, why is that? Why do they still have 195, why don't they have only 5?

JS: How do you explain that number? 195 avenues of investigation?

GA: They speak about sightings, about visions by mediums, in things that were produced, various things that have been produced over the years and well produced regarding those sightings, now the English police has to pass the ball to the Portuguese police and we are left with the onus and expenses of investigating. It is important to reopen the process, nobody should doubt that, but to reopen the process without limitations, the way they want to limit us.

JS: What are the limitations they want to impose on us?

GA: They want to impose an abduction. Actually they speak about two possibilities, that she could be alive or dead. And that is what it is.2

JS: No, Scotland Yard say that...

GA: No, Scotland Yard affirmed that the child could be alive or dead.

JS: ... she could be alive.

GA: Or could be dead. Don't forget the "could be dead". It's about 50% chances. And that is the real sadness. It's been five years and we still do not know what happened to this child and it is our fault. It's ours!

JS: Ours? Of whom?

GA: Of our Justice system, of our Attorney General who allowed this investigation to be shelved. In September 2007 we had reached certain conclusions, they were interim conclusions, and a criminal investigation needs to be concluded. It needs to be finished. The investigation was never allowed to arrive at an end. It was important to understand if the conclusions we had arrived at then could, in the end, be proved or disproved, be or not different - that is how a proper criminal investigation should proceed.

JS: Why, in your opinion, did the Portuguese General Attorney's Office decided to archive the process?

GA: Because we are Portuguese and they are English - as simple as that. We are small and they are big. This is what is happening right now.

JS: Then, do you defend the thesis that there were political pressures?

GA: There are no doubts about that. Just recently our current prime minister was in England, he held talks with David Cameron and spoke or was told (about this case)3. It would have been important for our prime-minister to speak first with those who were involved in the investigation in order to have a better understanding of what happened…

JS: But it becomes difficult for those that are viewing and listening to us, to comprehend for what reason the political power in London or a police with the prestige of Scotland Yard are so focused, committed on this case, five years later, particularly since the process has long been archived in Portugal. What do you think is the true motivation behind this review?

GA: Do you really believe that they are focused, committed? They speak about a 28-man squad, from the Scotland Yard... Allow me to inform you that it is just a metropolitan police of a city, of the city of London. Here in Portugal the investigation was done by the Judiciary Police, a much higher rank police, with jurisdictional competence for the whole country, which is not the case of the Metropolitan police. Let's be clear about this, we [Portuguese Judiciary Police] are what we are, but maybe we can be equally or even better than they are - that is the issue. Now, concerning those 28 police officers, they investigated (the case files)4 and arrived to the conclusion: "We have 195 hypothesis of". Well, the question is why do they still have 195? Why not just 5? Don't you see?

JS: So you think that they say 195, just as they could say 10, 15, 20, 200, 300?

GA: They have to justify the money they have spent. It would have been better if they had said only five. That would have been meaningful, it would mean that they had closed the range of possibilities. To say that they have 20, 30, 40, 195, 200, 300, 400... Look, of sightings by psychics, dreams by mediums, we had hundreds, dozen, thousands of those, take your pick. Now facts, indicia, all that is in the report made in September of 2007 put together by the Judiciary Police and by the English police - let's not forget the fact that it was the local police where the McCann couple lives that was working with us, not the Metropolitan police.

Morning Panda,

Yes that is a very interesting interview indeed. Thank you for posting it. Love this comment by GA!:

GA: Do you really believe that they are focused, committed? They speak about a 28-man squad, from the Scotland Yard... Allow me to inform you that it is just a metropolitan police of a city, of the city of London. Here in Portugal the investigation was done by the Judiciary Police, a much higher rank police, with jurisdictional competence for the whole country, which is not the case of the Metropolitan police. Let's be clear about this, we [Portuguese Judiciary Police] are what we are, but maybe we can be equally or even better than they are - that is the issue. Now, concerning those 28 police officers, they investigated (the case files)4 and arrived to the conclusion: "We have 195 hypothesis of". Well, the question is why do they still have 195? Why not just 5? Don't you see?



Re the number of children: Any time you read there were witnessed only 7 out of the 8 children present.... it makes you sit up and take notice for obvious reasons...... especially on the 3rd May..... even if the McCanns were seen with three.

Where were the McCann children when Kate went for an evening jog on the beach on the evening of 3rd ?

Morning pennylane,

I dunno, but with the Sissons sighting being discounted, probably all the rest, SY and the Mccanns will come out of this with egg on their faces if the other 192 prove worthless.