Gonçalo Amaral on CdM: "Enough with the lies"

Article translated by Joana Morais.

"Enough with the lies": Gonçalo Amaral calls into question the statement of a McCann friend and believes that the solution to the Maddie case "may be in there"

Former inspector points out flaws in the German police investigation and defends Judiciary Police

The former inspector of the Judiciary Police (PJ), Gonçalo Amaral, said this Saturday during an interview with CMTV, that "nothing has been proven" so far in the case of the disappearance of Maddie from Praia da Luz, in May 2007, and believes that "Portugal is in a position to crack the Maddie case".

Gonçalo Amaral recalled that an investigation is confined to facts and, based on them, conclusions are advanced or not. According to the former PJ, in the September 2007 interim report on the case of the disappearance of the English child, the hypothesis was that a corpse was concealed. However, Gonçalo Amaral reminds that there was no accusation, in an allusion to the most recent investigations by the German and English police.

At a time when the German police have new leads on the case, Gonçalo Amaral said that, so far, "nothing has been proven".


German investigation and reconstruction of the image of the German suspect

In an analysis of the already published picture of the German suspect Christian Brueckner, the former inspector has no doubts: "it cannot be [him]". Gonçalo Amaral explained that in question is the fact that the German had short hair at the time of Maddie's disappearance however the testimonies spoke of a long hair. "Do they want people to be identified? So let's be serious", said the inspector, who criticizes the release of a current photograph of the suspect instead of a picture [of how he looked].

Amaral is convinced that the German prosecutor did not read the process concerning the English girl's case. "When the German prosecutor says the man came in through the window, forget it, he didn't read the files",  he said.

The former PJ stressed that German police officers "are not incompetent, they are rigorous", but questions whether the new German suspect is a tactic for the authorities to resolve the case in a "competent" way.

As for the English authorities, Amaral believes that they too "are looking for paedophiles who fit in the abduction theory, without however proving that there has been an abduction".

The cadaver dogs, brought by the British authorities, detected blood in the house, but that evidence was eventually depreciated. "The English laboratory wrecked the results", said Gonçalo Amaral, who reproaches the laboratory technician of expressing opinions about the results.

The former inspector appealed to investigators on the case to read the process from start to finish or otherwise face an investigation failure. "There are things that are lacking in the process", he recalled, appealing for the continuation of the investigation.

Amaral stressed again that, currently, Christian Brueckner "is an almost perfect suspect, [to be one] he just needs to be dead".


Maddie's medical history could be essential for investigation

Gonçalo Amaral recalled that Madeleine McCann's medical history was not made available to the authorities, a document that could be essential for the investigation.

"We have to understand who the victim is. The Portuguese know everything about the girl. But there is at least one thing they don't know: the medical history. Neither the parents gave it, nor did the British authorities allowed us to access it", said the former PJ, who recalled the distinctive blemish the English girl had on her eye, an image widely used in publicizing the case.

The above mentioned document could, according to the former PJ, help to understand if the child could have heart problems due to the effects of the medication that was administered to her.

On the night of Maddie's disappearance, Kate had inclusively checked several times whether the twin brother and sister were breathing. "Why does a mother, a doctor, spend the night checking if her children can breathe? Surely there was a risk", points out Amaral, who accuses the mother of not disclosing all the details in the immediate moment following the beginning of the investigation.

"It's all a sham", concludes Gonçalo Amaral, recalling the family and friends statements about the alleged surveillance scheme of the children, while they dined at the Ocean Club restaurant.


"Parents should have been considered as suspects": Former inspector defends the reconstitution

The former inspector "has no doubt" that the presence of the [tracking] dogs, at the request of Kate and Gerry McCann, worked to contaminate the evidence inside the apartment. "You can't be altering evidence", he recollected.

Gonçalo Amaral once again defended the reconstruction of the case and reinforced the need for the McCann couple and friends to return to Portugal in order to detail the day of the girl's disappearance. "The parents should have been considered as suspects and treated as such", he added.

According to the former inspector, the Portuguese authorities did not, for example, have access to photographs of the dinner on the day of the disappearance.


Importance of cell phones and witnesses in the investigation

On the matter of the cell phones and the association of the cell phone numbers during the investigation at the time of the disappearance, Gonçalo Amaral has doubts about the origin of those numbers recently associated with the German suspect Christian Brueckner: "Is anyone sure that this phone belongs to this man?” he questioned, underlining that "small details like this, is what makes the evidence".

The former PJ believes that if the German police knew that the phone number belonged to Brueckner, "they wouldn't need to seek for more information."

Among the witnesses in the process are several friends of the McCann couple who were on holidays [with them] in Praia da Luz at the time of the disappearance.

"Enough with the lies", said Amaral, referring to the statement of the couple’s friend, Jane Tanner, who alleged that she saw a man carrying a child on the night of the child's disappearance. The inspector said that Tanner lied in her statement about the time, place and direction in which she saw the man and that she should, at the present time, make a "sworn statement". "The solution may be in that", alerted the former inspector.

in Correio da Manhã, June 27, 2020 at 20:28

*****

Judiciary Police admitted to the abduction of the child after “British ambassador's request”

The former Judiciary Police (PJ) coordinator who investigated Maddie's disappearance, Gonçalo Amaral, revealed yesterday on CMTV that the PJ initially admitted the possibility of the abduction of the child following a request by the British ambassador. "The parents should have been treated as suspects from the start. But there were other pressures. It is not for nothing that the then British ambassador went to the site. The director of the Faro PJ [Guilhermino Encarnação] announced that she was abducted after speaking with the ambassador", revealed the former inspector, who considers that the German prosecutor who announced that Christian Brueckner is the main suspect in Maddie's abduction and death "has not yet read the process".


in Correio da Manhã Weekend (paper edition) June 28, 2020