Thursday 2 February 2017

Madeleine McCann: Parents of missing tot fear ex-cop’s book could be published in UK


Madeleine McCann: Parents of missing tot fear ex-cop’s book could be published in UK


By Jerry Lawton / Published 2nd February 2017


THE parents of Maddie McCann fear a controversial book about the missing tot could be published in the UK.

Kate and Gerry McCann already face a huge legal bill after a failed attempt to sue its author Goncalo Amaral.

Maddie vanished during a 2007 family holiday in Portugal, aged three.



HUNT: Maddie vanished during a 2007 family holiday in Portugal, aged three



WIN: Goncalo Amaral hopes to have his account of the case published abroad



Former police officer Mr Amaral hopes to have his account of the case published abroad following his court win in his native Portugal.

His book accuses the McCanns of covering up their daughter’s death, an allegation they have strongly denied.

The McCanns’ lawyers have warned they will take action against anyone who tries to release it in the UK.

Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “If it does appear, whoever is responsible will be sued.”


The Star

Correio da Manhã

Madeleine McCann case

PJ believes Kate killed her daughter


10 September 2007


Madeleine may have been assaulted. But she could also have died because of an accident, after having been sedated to sleep. This is the Policia Judiciaria’s conviction, as they believe that Kate killed Maddie, either accidentally or in a conscious form. There are no certainties, just clues that point to the child’s mother. For her behaviour, for the way she acted about her daughter’s disappearance, for the cadaver smells and forensic evidence that were collected by scientific police.

Kate presented herself at Policia Judiciaria on Thursday, visibly out of control. Police forces that were contacted by CM say she had several hysterical reactions during the more than 13 hours of interrogation. And she refused to answer many questions. She did not explain the blood that was found in the car, she did not answer whether she slapped her daughter in the face. And she didn’t even clearly confirm if she sedated the children.

Only the facts are certainties for the PJ. And those facts revealed it was Kate who usually took care of the children, putting them to bed regularly, while Gerry played tennis or rested by the pool. The deposition of the senior British citizen (Pamela Fenn), who occupied an apartment on the floor above the one that was used by the McCanns, also indicates that Kate sometimes became violent. She lost control, and it was easy to hear the girl’s screams, calling out for her father. Another witness, also a British citizen, refers the same scenario. Kate seemed to have moments of aggression towards her children, while the father, although more absent, revealed more emotional control.

Kate refuted all these suspicions at the Policia Judiciaria in Portimao, where she was interrogated, and it was then that the penal circumstances of negligent murder were explained to her. CM knows that the investigators, while not confronting her directly with a possible aggression, explained her that by not confessing to the accident, she could be opening the doors into a more serious penal setting.

Which means it would stop being treated as negligent homicide, and would pass into a qualified crime or with eventual harm.

Father asks PJ for evidence

Gerry also had an unusual behaviour during the judicial interrogation. When he was confronted with the PJ’s suspicions, Maddie’s father repeatedly asked for evidence to be presented to him. He did not promptly deny the facts, but was trying to assess whether the authorities had enough clues to support the homicide theory.

For PJ, there is another strange situation. If it was an accident, why did the McCanns get rid of the body and simulated an abduction? The possibility that they could be trying to hide something more than a thoughtless action is on the table, and investigators are just waiting to exhaust all the chances that they may explain the death themselves. After that, they will advance the formal murder charge, with hiding of the corpse.