Investigation – PJ believes that the McCann couple altered the crime scene in order to simulate the abduction

Maddie’s parents accused of changing the disposition of the furniture and of washing the sofa

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The Polícia Judiciária has no doubts that Maddie’s parents changed the disposition of furniture and objects in the apartment where Maddie disappeared from on the evening of May 3, 2007, in the Algarve, thus manipulating the crime scene in order to better justify the abduction theory that they always defended.

According to the Polícia Judiciária’s investigation, which from today onwards is public, the coincidence between the marking of cadaver odour and blood which was given by the sniffer dogs behind the sofa “indubitably” proves that the sofa was pushed against the wall after the little girl’s death. On the other hand, given the few indicia that was collected from this piece of furniture, which was located on the same spot where the dogs gave a signal, the Judiciária admits the possibility that it was “subject to washing” in order to eliminate eventual traces.

Soft toy placed on the bed

“There are strong indicia that they altered the crime scene, moving some of the furniture. The changes are indicators of simulation”, one of the PJ’s reports reads, also revealing that Maddie’s soft toy, which was found at the top of the bed where Maddie slept, was placed there at a posterior moment, given the fact that contrary to the soft toy, the bed failed to reveal cadaver odour.

“There was an intentional modification, in an attempt to take advantage for the simulation of the picture of abduction”, one can read in the process, where the investigators recall that the procedures from the family were in such manner as to conduct the investigation into the direction of the abduction thesis. The Polícia Judiciária believes that the false abduction was “worked by the group”, which made the investigators “waste time”.

McCanns mentioned death to the PJ

The possibility that Madeleine is dead was raised to the PJ by the McCanns themselves, who suggested contacting a person to indicate the spot where the cadaver could be found. “This fact became unexplainable for the elements of the investigation”, the PJ writes, remembering that in front of the journalists, the parents continued to manifest the hope that they would find their daughter alive.

The dogs never failed in 200 searches

In over two hundred searches, ‘Eddie’ and ‘Keela’, the sniffer dogs of the springel spaniel breed that were used in the investigation into the disappearance of Maddie, did not give a single “false positive result”.

The guarantee is given by English expert Martin Grime, who in the report about the search guarantees that the behaviour of the dog that is trained to detect cadaver odour “changed immediately after opening the front door of the apartment” where Madeleine McCann disappeared from.

“He went into the apartment with above average interest”, the document reads, explaining that the dog signaled inside the couple’s bedroom, in the living room, behind the sofa and next to the side window. The same signs were given by the dog that is trained to detect blood residues. The dogs signaled the same spots and objects that are related to the McCanns – house, car and clothes – which was decisive for being made arguidos.

Notes

No credibility

The deposition by Jane Tanner, who said she saw someone crossing the street carrying a child, was not considered credible by the PJ, which does not understand how the McCanns’ friend, upon seeing someone walking away from Madeleine’s apartment “did not act or speak out immediately”.

Everyone lies

The PJ says that the information that was collected from the McCanns and their friends was “worked upon” in order to strengthen the abduction theory. But it rapidly perceived that “everyone lies” in the issue of checking the children, further explaining that the family information, which in these cases is “fundamental”, was always “distorted”.

Files Process is public – From today onwards, the files of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine can be consulted at the Court of Portimão by lawyers, witnesses and journalists.

Brown Political pressures – Kate’s notebooks reveal that Maddie’s parents called the English prime minister, Gordon Brown, requesting for political pressure to be placed on Portugal.

Book Amaral recounts death – The former coordinator of the Maddie case recounts in his book ‘Truth of the Lie’, his thesis about the case and defends that the little girl was killed in the apartment and her body frozen.

Investigation – What the PJ inspectors wanted to know

When she became an arguida, Kate stopped talking to the inspectors

September 7, 2007. Kate McCann entered the Polícia Judiciária in Portimão in the morning and the questioning extended into the evening. She was heard as a witness, but the tension in the air was evident. For the first time, people were concentrated at the PJ building’s door and murmured words of mistrust regarding the couple.

On that day, CM had reported that the dogs had detected cadaver odour on Maddie’s mother’s clothes. A piece of evidence that the authorities intended to use as a trump, during a questioning that only changed course on the next day, after the PJ failed to see their doubts clarified.

Kate began by replying all the questions, but when she was made an arguida, she stopped talking. She went silent, in the company of her lawyer, and accepted all the insinuations in a provocative manner. Less than 48 hours later, Kate and Gerry travel to England with the twins, leaving the investigation into the disappearance of their daughter, who meanwhile had become four, behind.

They later guaranteed that they would return if necessary – which they never did, although they were never formally requested to return – and they are no longer arguidos for the suspected involvement in concealing the child’s body. Today, CM reveals the 48 questions that Kate did not want to answer during the interrogation and which reflect the investigators’ doubts. More than a year after Maddie disappeared, many of these questions remain unanswered.

Jeers for the McCann couple

The day that Kate and Gerry went to the PJ’s offices in Portimão marked a turnaround in the relationship between the local people and the couple: the curious bystanders that spent the day on the street jeered at Maddie’s mother and father, mainly criticizing the “absence of visible suffering” from Kate. The foreign press also attended in great numbers.

The Judiciária’s 48 questions that Kate did not answer

1. On the 3rd of May 2007, at around 10 p.m., when you entered the apartment, what did you see, what did you do, where did you search, what did you handle?
2. Did you search in the couple’s bedroom’s closet? (said she would not reply)
3. (Two photographs of her bedroom’s closet are exhibited) Can you describe its contents?
4. Why are the curtains in front of the side window, behind the sofa (photograph is exhibited) ruffled? Did someone pass behind that sofa?
5. How long did the search that you made in the apartment after detecting the disappearance of your daughter Madeleine take?
6. Why did you say straight away that Madeleine had been abducted?
7. Presuming that Madeleine had been abducted, why did you leave the twins alone at home while you went to the Tapas to raise the alarm? Even because the supposed abductor could still be inside the apartment.
8. Why didn’t you ask the twins at that moment what had happened to their sister, or why didn’t you ask them at a later point in time?
9. When you raised the alarm at the Tapas, what exactly did you say and what were the words?
10. What happened after you raised the alarm at the Tapas?
11. Why did you do to warn your friends instead of calling out from the balcony?
12. Who contacted the authorities?
13. Who participated in the searches?
14. Did anyone outside of the group learn about Maddie’s disappearance during the following minutes?
15. Did any neighbour offer you help after the disappearance?
16. What does the expression “we let her down” mean?
17. Did Jane mention to you that she had see a man with a child that night?
18. How were the authorities contacted and which police force was called?
19. During the searches, and already with the police present, in what locations was Maddie searched for, how and in what manner?
20. Why didn’t the twins wake up during that search, or when they went to the upper floor?
21. Who did you call after the facts?
22. Did you call SKY News?
23. Did you know about the danger of calling the media, because that could influence the abductor?
24. Did you request the presence of a priest?
25. How was Madeleine’s face publicized, with a photograph, or other media?
26. Is it true that during the search you remained seated on Maddie’s bed without moving?
27. How did you behave that evening?
28. Did you manage to sleep?
29. Before the trip to Portugal, did you comment on a bad feeling or a bad premonition?
30. What was Madeleine’s behaviour?
31. Did Maddie suffer of any disease or did she take any kind of medication?
32. What was the relationship like between Madeleine and her siblings?
33. What was the relationship like between Madeleine and her siblings, her friends and her colleagues at school?
34. Concerning your professional life, in how many and in which hospitals have you worked?
35. What is your medical specialty?
36. Did you work by shifts, in emergency rooms or in other departments?
37. Did you work on a daily basis?
38. Did you stop working at a certain point in time? Why?
39. Do your twin children have difficulty in falling asleep, are they unruly and does that upset you?
40. Is it true that at certain times you were desperate over your children’s attitude and that left you were upset?
41. Is it true that in England you considered the possibility of handing over Madeleine’s guardianship to a relative?
42. In England, did you give your children medication? What type of medication?
43. Within the process, you were shown films of cynotechnical inspection of forensic character, where the dogs can be seen marking indications of human cadaver odour and equally human blood traces, and only of human origin, as well as all the comments that were made by the responsible expert. After the visualization, and after cadaver odour was signaled in your bedroom next to the wardrobe and behind the sofa that was pushed against the living room window, you said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said?
44. You said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said, concerning the marking of human blood behind the sofa by the detection dog
45. You said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said, concerning the marking of cadaver odour in the boot of the vehicle that you rented a month after the disappearance?
46. You said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said, concerning the marking of human blood in the boot of the vehicle?
47. You said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said, upon being confronted with the result of the collection of Maddie’s DNA, which was analysed by a British lab, behind the sofa and inside the vehicle’s boot?
48. Did you have any responsibility or intervention in the disappearance of your daughter?

The question that she answered

Are you aware of the fact that by not answering these questions you may compromise the investigation, which is trying to find out what happened to your daughter? She said “yes, if the investigation thinks so.”

Process becomes public tomorrow

From tomorrow onwards, the entire investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine will be made available to the arguidos, to the witnesses, to the lawyers and also to the journalists, because it is a case of manifest public interest.

The process, which was archived on the 21st of July, will also be available to the general public, a situation that will allow for an authentic scrutiny of the work that was developed by the Polícia Judiciária. This decision, which came as a surprise due to the fact that the case involves a child, was only announced at this point in time, after the Portuguese lawyers for the McCann family, Carlos Pinto de Abreu and Rogério Alves, requested the Portimão Court for priority in the access to the process.

Last Wednesday, the Court had requested the interested parties that had already asked for the consultation of the process to leave a CD at the secretary’s office, given the fact that the process will be supplied in a digital format.

The archiving of the investigation into the little girl’s disappearance, which happened on the 3rd of May 2007, in the Algarve, precipitated the lifting of the judicial secrecy, which had been extended precisely until the month of August.

Maddie case – Press was manipulated in exchange for photo shoots

The McCann couple took four hours to outline their strategy, went out for walks on request from the British photographers and escaped the Portuguese.

Kate and Gerry McCann controlled the British media in the news coverage of their daughter’s disappearance. In order to avoid criticism from the English press, Maddie’s parents offered photo shoots, some of them during their usual morning walks in the Algarve – which were apparently routine, but previously arranged, as Kate’s notes reveal.

“The British journalists were annoyed because they found out too late that I had been in the United Kingdom. It ended up with Justine receiving loads of phone calls and arranging for a photo shoot on the way to the church, to pacify them”, Kate writes on the 5th of July, revealing a tactic that was adopted in the first days after the 3-year-old girl disappeared.

“Dress up and go for a walk. It had been requested by photographers and agreed that for sentimental reasons it would be good”. This walk happened on the 7th of June, three days after Kate registered that she had been “annoyed” about the presence of Portuguese journalists outside the apartment. Before that, on the 19th of May, the photo shoot for the English newspaper ‘Sunday Mirror’ was previously arranged: “Us spending time with the twins for the Sunday papers”.

In the same notes, Kate expresses distress about the Portuguese and the German journalists. On the 11th of June, in Morocco, after Kate made a positive evaluation of the trip because there were so many photographers present, the doctor remembers “noticing” Portuguese journalists. “We didn’t want to give them a story”, decided the McCanns, who classify the questions from the Portuguese as “sleazy and unexpected”, even after preparation meetings that last “four hours”: “I was very angry at a journalist today. I told her not to do so much detective work.”

Concerning the editor of the ‘Sun’ newspaper, on the 11th of July Kate was assured that there would be no “adverse publicity”: “She was really nice. Perfect solution”, Maddie’s mother noted.

Clarence replaced Justine when the tension rose

Clarence Mitchell was the first one to offer his face for the McCanns. He met Gerry on an occasion when the latter was returning from England, at the end of May 2007, on a time when he was part of the Consular Assistance Group, representing the Foreign Department. He took over the couple’s defense on the 22nd of May, but returned to England in the mid-summer, when he was replaced by Justine McGuinness, who directed the campaign to search for Madeleine from the 22nd of June onwards.

The tensions between the McCanns and Justine were never evident. But the fact that she abandoned the couple’s defense immediately after they were made arguidos and returned to England, remains unexplained.

Now, it becomes clear that the tension came from before. Justine and Gerry had already discussed the honoraries. The advisor wanted to receive overtime and demanded a payment that was above was had initially been agreed.

On the 28th of July, the tension between the family and the spokeswoman was obvious. Kate wrote in her notes that she [Justine] did not have good “interpersonal aptitudes” and that she could even be very “unpleasant”. Kate remembered that there had been an argument between Justine and a relative and that Gerry had tried to calm them down. “It all ended well”, Kate McCann concluded, but still seriously doubted the advisor’s character.

Journalists far away from the house

The McCanns’ first days in England were subject to intense media attention. They allowed to be photographed with their children again, after they had agreed exclusives with televisions and newspapers to cover the return.

Days later, Clarence Mitchell opted for another strategy. He agreed with the English journalists that those would never persecute the McCanns again. In exchange, the couple’s spokesman would supply fortuitous meetings, and in case the journalists would fail their compromise, he would exclude them from his contact list.

Everyone accepted. When in March CM [Correio da Manhã] tried to speak to the McCanns without going through Clarence Mitchell, we were intercepted by the police. The couple demanded for the Portuguese journalists to be forbidden from getting close to their house, and their neighbours were advised not to speak.

Notes

Newspapers Gerry is brilliant – “Gerry was brilliant again”, Kate wrote in one of her usual accounts after the meetings with journalists, during which it was her husband who did the talking.

“The investigation was syndicated”
Gonçalo Amaral laments that “the investigation was syndicated”. In the first interview during which he speaks about the process, he defends that Maddie died at the Ocean Club. The book is launched in Lisbon today and promises to launch the controversy again.

Correio da Manhã – As the case investigator, what is your thesis?
Gonçalo Amaral – The little girl died in the apartment. Everything is in the book, which is faithful to the investigation until September: it reflects the understanding of the Portuguese and the English police and of the Public Ministry. For all of us, until then, the concealment of the cadaver, the simulation of abduction and the exposure or abandonment were proved.

What led you to indict the McCanns over all of those crimes?
It all starts with an abduction theory that is forced by the parents. And the abduction is based on two facts: one is Jane Tanner’s testimony that says she saw a man passing in front of the apartment, carrying a child; the other is the bedroom window, which, according to Kate, was open when it should have been closed. It was proved that none of that happened.

How was it proved?
Jane Tanner is not credible: she identifies and recognizes different people. She starts with Murat, later on someone else is mentioned, according to the drawing done by a witness, and she already says that is the person, completely different from Robert Murat.

Jane Tanner’s testimony drove the abduction theory.
In order to advance into that direction, it would be necessary to give her credit: there was no other indicium of the abduction. And the issue of the bedroom window, where Maddie and her siblings slept, is vital. It leads to simulation. This means, whether or not it was open when Jane says that she saw the man carrying the child. The little girl’s mother, Kate, is the only person that mentions the open window.

Does that undo the abduction theory?
There lies the solution. To be closed or not, is a strong indicium for simulation. And why does one simulate abduction, rather than simply saying that the child has disappeared? She could have opened the door and left…

Do Kate’s fingerprints reinforce the simulation theory?
They are the only fingerprints on the window. And in a position of opening the window.

Did Kate have suspicious attitudes?
She goes out for dinner and supposedly leaves three children asleep. She returns, one is missing, she goes out, leaving the window wide open with the twins asleep. And the night, according to what she says, was very cold…

What about Maddie’s bed?
It carries no signs that anyone was in it. Nor does the chair or the bed under the window. And there are no imprints from strangers.

The reconstitution is missing.
It was not carried out 10 or 15 days after the facts, because the resort was full of tourists. We trusted that it could be carried out at a later date. It couldn’t.

Did you request data about the group?
At 8 a.m. on the 4th, the request was made to the English liaison officer, but [the data] never arrived.

What did you want to know?
Who the people are, their antecedents. And the child, whether or not there are complaints against the parents or others. How she behaved in school, to find out if she was the target of abuse.

How important is the Irish witness within the case?
He explained where he and his family had seen, at 10 p.m. on the 3rd of May, a man carrying a little girl. And it wasn’t Murat. They did not see the face, but they described the athletic and clumsy manner in which he carried the child.

That was back in May.
When the McCanns returned to England, the witness, watching Gerry get off the plane and walking across the asphalt carrying his child, had a realization. By the manner in which he walked and the clumsy way that he carries the child, he is 70 to 80 percent certain that it was the person he saw that evening. Says he and say the other members of the family.

What did you do?
On the days before I left Portimão we were taking care of that trip to Portugal. Then, the hearing of that witness was requested through a liaison officer from the Irish police in Madrid, which took months. During that time, the witness was approached by persons that are connected to the McCanns’ staff, I don’t know with what intention. They felt pressured. Later on, the hearing arrived and he maintains the probability of 70 to 80 percent that it was Gerry who carried the little girl towards the beach.

Couldn’t that have been included in the rogatory letter?
It could and it should. The ideal would have been for him to come to Portugal, as a key witness. Just like the couple of doctors that describe the situation in Mallorca.

Once the abduction theory was set apart, how was the death theory built?
With the elements that exist, we could only reach an accident, natural death, any cause without the intervention of another person. We were cementing evidence and advancing to understand what happened to the little girl’s body. Also based on information from the British lab, about residues that were found inside the car that was rented by the McCanns.

Where and how could they have hidden the body for over twenty days?
That was what we were trying to find out. Searching within their friends, because the couple had a lot of acquaintances. We tried to understand where the little girl could have been during those twenty something days.

Out of reach from the searches.
Yes. There was information that the couple had been seen walking towards a certain apartment block, we were trying to understand which apartment it was. Who had access to that apartment. But everything stopped.

How do you interpret that stopping of everything, when you left?
It almost looks as if the investigation was syndicated.

It was even said that the blood that was found was not human.
The dogs only smell human blood. The sample that is collected and taken to England, to be analysed with the Low Copy Number technique, is microscopic. The technique does not allow them to state whether it is blood or any other type of fluid – but it guarantees that it is human.

The family tried to justify itself.
Later on, a brother-in-law and a cousin of Kate said that they had carried steaks in the trunk that had thawed, even garbage, but no. The dogs follow neither garbage smell nor non-human blood. Then there is a witness, that was never heard, a jurist that lived next to the couple, in the second house [villa] outside of the apartment, saying that the car trunk was left open during the night, for airing. But maybe that was because of the garbage…

Within the theory of the parents’ involvement, can you reconstitute that night?
We had already concluded, long before the Irish witness, that if those persons were involved, there was only one possibility. It pointed towards the beach. Not only because of what [locations] they knew but also due to the terrain’s conditions. In that area, it is not easy to dig a hole. One either knows where holes already exist, or it is not possible, within a short time lapse, to decide where to place a corpse without knowing the area. If there was involvement, it would have been towards the beach area. Which is later corroborated by the Irish witness.

At the time when the Irish tourist reportedly saw Gerry, there are various witness statements that place the child’s father at the Ocean Club.

They are not credible. The employees are unable to tell at what time the persons were there, for how long each one of them stayed away when they say they went to the apartments. And the group is not credible. They say that on the previous nights, every 30 minutes, each one of them went to check only on his own children; but on that night, between 9.30 and 10 p.m., someone curiously goes to check that apartment, almost every five minutes, leaving the rest unchecked.

And what about Gerry?
He justifies some of the time with a trip to the toilet. That is not five minutes, then he meets another individual outside. Hence the need for the reconstitution. To find out how long it took them to get to the apartments, what route they walked, etc. A reconstitution that should be joint with the restaurant’s movement, because when it is said that they asked for the food from 9 p.m. onwards, there was one person who ordered a steak. And that steak was heated again because someone was not there. It is necessary to find out whose steak that was. He was away for a much longer time period…

An adult carrying a child, until the beach, how long [does it take]?
Fifteen minutes.

How was it possible for the apartment to be rented out after the crime?
The apartment was immediately fully contaminated by the parents’ action, before the police arrived. A complete fair was built there and at a certain point, dogs were demanded to come inside the house.

You admitted the possibility that the children had been given sedatives.
The twins, with the lights on, with the lights off, with a crowd of people going in and out, slept until 2 a.m., when they were carried into another apartment. Even then, they continued to sleep. That sleep is not normal.

But the Judiciária did nothing.
Once again, we were inhibited. We thought about asking the parents to test their hair, in order to understand whether there were sedatives, but as soon as it was found out, it would be said that we were suspecting the parents, and it was being avoided at all costs that it became public that those suspicions existed.

How is there room for speculation about the DNA tests? It was those results that allowed you to advance with the arguido status.
The speculation is done by the scientist who performs the test. He starts out by saying, in his preliminary report, that it was easy to say that it was Maddie. Then he raised other questions. Of course nobody can be accused, based on that data alone.

“The cadaver was frozen”
Correio da Manhã – What do you think happened to the body?

Gonçalo Amaral – Everything indicated that the body, after having been at a certain location, was moved into another location by car, twenty something days later. With the residues that were found inside the car, the little girl had to have been transported inside it.

How can you state that?
Due to the type of fluid, we policemen, experts, say that the cadaver was frozen or preserved in the cold and when placed into the car boot, with the heat at that time [of the year], part of the ice melted. On a curb, for example, something fell from the trunk’s right side, above the wheel. It may be said that this is speculation, but it’s the only way to explain what happened there.

If the body was hidden in the beach area first, was it always out of reach for the searches?
The beach was searched at a time when it is not known whether the body was still there. Using dogs, but sniffer dogs have limitations, like the salted water, for example. Later on, it may have been removed.

“We should have done phone tapping”
Correio da Manhã – Did you feel political pressure during the investigation?

G.A. – Inhibition. One of the mistakes was that we did not advance on this group with everything that legally was within our reach: Tapping, surveillance. It was necessary, for example, to recover the clothes that the little girl was wearing when she left the crèche to go home. There, we thought: if we go, it will immediately be said that we suspect the parents. That inhibition happened throughout time.

And that led you towards the abduction.
We had to prove that there was no abduction, in order to focus on those persons afterwards…

How does the pressure appear?
Right on the morning of the 4th of May, with a consul calling the embassy and saying that the PJ wasn’t doing anything. Then an ambassador. Next, an advisor and the English prime minister.

“Payne is the last one to see her”
Correio da Manhã – When do testimonies concerning David Payne’s behaviour indicating sexual practices with minors arrive?

Gonçalo Amaral – In May. Something went wrong with that group during a holiday: David Payne made revealing gestures concerning behaviour towards children. Even towards Maddie. We asked for information but it arrived after the 26th of October. They sent the information without giving it any importance.

What exactly did arrive?
A couple of doctors spent holidays in Mallorca, in 2005, with David Payne, the McCanns and another couple. The lady says she saw Payne with his finger in his mouth, making a movement in and out, while rubbing his nipple with the other hand. And he was talking about Maddie, next to her father. Those statements should have been given a different treatment by the police. It was relevant to access the information, about doctors, who are just as credible as anyone else.

What else remains unclear concerning David Payne?
He will be the last one to see Maddie alive after 5.30 p.m., when she leaves the crèche. He meets Gerry playing tennis and asks him about Kate and the children. Gerry answers that they are in the apartment and he goes there. He returns 30 minutes later. Kate says it was 30 seconds. There is something not quite right here.

Pre-publication

The evidence and the results of the case
“Arriving this far, it is important to make a deductive summary about this case. Which means, to reject what is false; to set aside what cannot be proved, because it is insufficient; to consider as valid and certain what has been proved.

What is proved
Therefore:

1. The abduction theory is defended by Maddie’s parents since the first moment;
2. Within the group, only her parents stated that they observed the open window in the missing girl’s bedroom; the majority cannot witness it faithfully because they arrived at the apartment after the alarm was raised;
3. The only statement outside of the group that mentions the open window and the raised shutters comes from Amy, one of the Ocean Club’s nannies, who points her observation towards 10.20/10.30 p.m., which is some time after the alarm was raised and does not prove that it was open like that at the time when the crime happened;
4. The set of depositions and witness statements exposes a high number of imprecision, incongruence and contradictions – which, in some cases, may be typified as false testimonies. In particular, the key statement for the abduction theory, from Jane Tanner, which loses all credibility due to the fact that it successively evolved throughout various moments in time, becoming ambiguous and disqualifying itself;
5. There is a cadaver that has not been located, a conclusion that is validated by the English EVRD and CSI dogs and corroborated by the preliminary lab test results.

Certainties until October
“For me, and for the investigators that worked with me on the case until October 2007, the results that we reached were the following: 1. The minor Madeleine McCann died in apartment 5A at the Ocean Club, in Vila da Luz, on the evening of the 3rd of May 2007; 2. An abduction was simulated; 3. Kate Healy and Gerald McCann are suspected of involvement in the concealment of their daughter’s cadaver; 4. Death may have resulted from a tragic accident; 5. There is indicia of neglect in the guard and safety of the children.”

“Decisive diligence was never carried out”
“The Smith family [Irish witnesses] is available to make a formal recognition. We had already contacted the Smith family, from Ireland, whose patriarch was prepared to travel to the Algarve, to give a new statement and for a formal recognition […] following the recognition that he had made on television of the man who on the 3rd of May, in Vila da Luz, walked towards the beach carrying a little girl, a little girl that they had recognized as being Madeleine McCann.

The man that the Smith were talking about was, with a high degree of certainty, Gerald McCann, who they had seen on the English television news, on the day that the McCann couple returned [on their definitive trip] to the United Kingdom. That man that came down the airplane stairs and walked on the asphalt, carrying a child, was apparently the same man who, on the evening of the 3rd of May, walked into the direction of the beach, carrying Madeleine, who seemed to be deeply asleep.

When the situation was presented to the National Director of the Polícia Judiciária [Alípio Ribeiro at that time], he agreed with what was being suggested to him, [namely] the coming to the Algarve, at our expenses, of the elements of the Smith family that were able to testify the facts.”

McCanns erased all the telephone calls

The calls on the couple’s mobile phones were erased, with the exception, in Kate’s case, of a call from her husband at 11.17 on that night of the 3rd of May, minutes after the disappearance was known. But this call is not registered on the mobile phone that belongs to Gerry, who erased all the phone calls of that day, presumably after he called Kate at that time. This fact, that was never clarified in terms of its motivation, intrigued the investigators.

source: Correio da Manhã, 24.07.2008, paper edition

Depoimentos: Médicos amigos dos McCann falaram à polícia inglesa

Payne suspeito de pedofilia

Dave Payne, um dos amigos dos McCann que se encontravam de férias no Algarve a 3 de Maio do ano passado, quando Madeleine desapareceu, foi suspeito de comportamentos pedófilos.

As acusações foram lançadas por um casal de amigos que passaram férias com parte do grupo noVerão de 2005 – também eles médicos ingleses. Doze dias depois de a menina britânica desaparecer, Katherina e Arul não conseguiam mais guardar um segredo que durante dois anos os incomodara e foram à polícia prestardeclarações.Revelaram duas conversas de Dave com Gerry, em que ambos mostravam comportamentos suspeitos e que indiciavam sexo com menores.

Segundo o CMapurou, os depoimentos foram prestados a 16 de Maio. No entanto, só deram entrada no processo em Janeiro de 2008 e fazem parte já do 13º volume dos autos. Nessa altura já Kate e Gerry eram arguidos, já as cartas rogatórias tinham sido emitidas e os ingleses, incluindo Dave, se mostravam relutantes em regressar a Portugal.

MEXER NO MAMILO

Katherina prestou um depoimento de oito páginas. Relatou umas férias em Maiorca com vários ingleses, em que estavam os McCann e os Payne. Doisincidentesdeixaram-lhe grandes dúvidas sobre o comportamento dos amigos e levaram-na a criar suspeitas nunca confirmadas.

O primeiro aconteceu numa noite em que Gerry e Dave falavam sobre Maddie. Katherina não sabe o que diziam mas recorda-se de que Dave chupava os dedos, empurrando-os para dentro e para fora da boca, enquanto com a outra mão faziaumcírculoà volta do mamilo, com um movimento giratório por cima da roupa. “Tal foi feito com uma maneira provocante”, recorda Katherina, que diz ter ficado com isso gravado na memória.

Dias depois a cena repetiu-se. A médica voltou a ver Dave fazer os mesmos gestos, quando estaria a falar da própria filha. Assustada, Katherina nada contou sobre o incidente. Mas assumiu cuidados especiais, pedindo ao marido que nunca deixasse o médico aproximar-se da casa de banho quando a filha estava a tomar banho.

Arul foi também à polícia relatar a mesma história. O companheiro de Katherina confirmou os gestos feitos por Dave na conversa com Gerry mas assegurou não se ter apercebido de que falavam de Maddie. Achou, porém, o comportamento de extremo mau gosto, embora não o visse repetir o gesto.

O incidente acabou por ficar esquecido na sua memória e só o de-saparecimento de Madeleine, que com eles também passara férias em Maiorca, o reavivou.

No depoimento prestado, Katherina foi ainda mais longe e disse ter associado os gestos a quem tem gosto de visualizar pornografia infantil. “Lembro-me de pensar se ele olharia para as meninas de modo diferente”, concluiu.

KATE ACUSADA DE CONDICIONAR O CASO

Um relatório intercalar da Polícia Judiciária,elaboradoimediatamente antes de Kate e Gerry serem constituídos arguidos, acusa os pais de Madeleine de terem condicionado a investigação. O documento é assinado por um inspector e foi dirigido a Gonçalo Amaral, que então dirigia o processo.

O investigador assegura então que a informação inicialmente recolhida foi trabalhada pelo grupo de forma a sustentar a tese de rapto. Garante que todos mentiram para se proteger e sugere mesmo que alguns pudessem estar a encobrir o crime.

O testemunho de Janne Turner, que garantiu ter visto um homem a atravessar a rua com uma criança ao colo, é também posto em causa. Disse o polícia que Janne estavaaescassos dois/três metros de Gerry mas que aquele não viu o homem. E que, ao afirmar que ele se dirigia para casa de Murat, acabou por orientar a investigação num sentido errado, o que levou a uma perda desnecessária de tempo.

O mesmo relatório deixa ainda visíveis outras contradições nos depoimentos dos ingleses. Kate e Gerry dizem que foram buscar os filhos ao infantário às 17h30, mas enquanto a primeira garante que foram correr meia hora à praia e só depois voltaram ao apartamento o marido diz que tinham ido jogar ténis nesse período.

Depois disso, já por volta das 20h00, um dos elementos do grupo teria ido ao espaço arrendado pelo casal. Kate diz que ele só esteve 30 segundos na casa e que saiu. Gerry fala de meia hora. O polícia lembra que a diferença de tempo é a necessária entre perguntar se está tudo bem ou avançar caso seja necessário ocultar um crime.

Outra situação estranha para as autoridades foi o facto de Kate, ao ver que Maddie tinha desaparecido, ter ficado dez minutos no apartamento. Só depois pediu ajuda, deixando os gémeos a dormir nos berços enquanto regressava ao restaurante. O polícia que elaborou o relatório pergunta como é possível que uma mãe facilite a guarda dos outros filhos quando é certo que naquela altura já gritava que a sua filha tinha sido raptada.

NÃO VIAM O APARTAMENTO

Outra contradição foi apontada pelo inspector que tinha a cargo o desaparecimento de Maddie. Lembrou o polícia que os McCann garantiram que a sua posição era estratégica no restaurante, de modo a poderem ver o apartamento onde os filhos dormiam. No entanto, segundo vários testemunhos, Kate e Gerry estavam de costas voltadas para o apartamento.

PAIS RECUSAM AJUDA TÉCNICA

Yvone, credenciada pelo governo inglês para trabalhar em situações que envolvam crianças em risco, estava no Algarve quando Maddie desapareceu mas os McCann recusaram a sua ajuda. A especialista contou à PJ, em dois depoimentos prestados com um mês de diferença, que abordou o casal após as primeiras horas e que o comportamento de ambos lhe deixou suspeitas sobre o envolvimento daqueles no desaparecimento.

Também o comportamento de Dave Payne, acusado por uns médicos com quem passara férias em 2005 de ter atitudes que indiciavam práticas pedófilas (ver pág. 4), deixou Yvone intrigada. O amigo dos McCann chamara-os à parte e aconselhara–os a não falar com a técnica.

Yvone achou ainda outro pormenor estranho. O rosto de Dave não lhe era desconhecido, acreditando a técnica que o médico já poderia ter sido inquirido no âmbito de algum caso de abusos sexuais. Tentou recordar-se quando mas acabou por não conseguir situar o momento e as circunstâncias em que o encontrou.

Os dias passaram e Yvone continuou a pensar no assunto. Mandou então uma carta para a polícia inglesa, onde realçava os pormenores de que se apercebera. Designadamente, de que a janela do quarto não tinha sido arrombada, de que não era normal um casal de médicos deixar os filhos sozinhos e que Kate reagira de forma agressiva quando a abordara. Alertou ainda para as estatísticas oficiais, que apontam para que na maioria destes casos há encobrimento das famílias.

AMIGOS DOS TEMPOS DE ESCOLA

Arul e Kate eram amigos do tempo de escola. Conhecem-se há cerca de 20 anos e foi esse o motivo que levou o casal a acompanhar os McCann nas férias a Maiorca. Arul e Katherina não conheciam Fiona e Dave e só uma vez se reencontraram, num jantar que juntou vários casais. Quando Maddie desapareceu do Ocean Club, Katherina voltou a recordar o incidente de Maiorca. E imediatamente tentou ver se Dave também voltara a acompanhar o casal McCann, já que as suspeitas sobre o seu comportamento se mantinham. No depoimento relatado à polícia inglesa, Katherina diz que decidiu depor quando viu as imagens televisivas. Dave estava mesmo no grupo de férias.

PJ ADMITIU SIMULAÇÃO DO CENÁRIO

A chegada dos cães que detectavam odores de cadáver e vestígios de sangue levou a PJ a admitir que alguns pormenores do quarto onde Maddie dormia tivessem sido encenados para sustentar a tese de rapto. Um dos exemplos apontados num dos muitos relatórios feitos pelos investigadores foi o facto de o peluche se encontrar em cima da cama onde Maddie dormia, cama essa parcialmente desfeita. Os animais detectaram odores no brinquedo da criança, mas não assinalaram a sua morte no local. O que levou a PJ a admitir que Maddie tivesse morrido noutra zona da casa, tendo depois o brinquedo sido levado para a cama por ser o local mais provável em caso de rapto. Outros pormenores foram analisados, como o facto de os móveis se encontrarem demasiado arrumados e o sofá estar completamente encostado à parede.

LIVRO DO GONÇALO AMARAM INCÓMODO PARA INGLESES

Uma delegação da justiça britânica partiu ontem para Londres depois de ter tentado em Portimão manter em segredo alguns elementos processuais.

Os ingleses, que, segundo apurou o CM, estarão incomodados com eventuais revelações que o livro do ex-coordenador da PJ de Portimão possa vir a fazer, tentaram requerer ao juiz de instrução o segredo dos relatórios periciais sobre os vestígios de sangue e odor a cadáver recolhidos no apartamento do Ocean Club mas também outras peças processuais.

Ao que o CM apurou, as pretensões da delegação inglesa foram negadas, excepto no caso das identidades de pessoas com condenações ou registos policiais de pedofilia com residência no Algarve ou que tenham passado férias na região à data dos factos.

Os britânicos que estiveram em Portimão foram o polícia Stuart Prior, um dos responsáveis pela ligação com a polícia portuguesa, uma magistrada e um jurista da SOCA, agência britânica especializada na investigação de criminalidade organizada.

Desconhece-se se a deslocação foi feita ao abrigo de alguma carta rogatória ou se foi politicamente negociada entre os governos dos dois países.

“EM DEFESA DO MEU BOM NOME”

O livro de Gonçalo Amaral é escrito em nome de uma defesa da honra. “Senti a necessidade de repor o meu bom nome, que foi enxovalhado na praça pública sem que a instituição a que pertencia há 26 anos, a Polícia Judiciária, tenha permitido que me defendesse ou o fizesse institucionalmente”, declara Gonçalo Amaral num texto de justificação do livro. Para fazer essa defesa, pediu autorização à direcção nacional da PJ mas nunca a obteve. O livro, que vai ser apresentado por Marques Vidal, antigo director da Judiciária, é lançado no próximo dia 24, em sessão marcada para o El Corte Inglés, em Lisboa.

DÚVIDAS NO CASO

IRLANDÊS POR OUVIR

Um irlandês que passava férias na Praia da Luz também foi à polícia inglesa relatar que na noite de 3 de Maio vira Gerry transportar Madeleine ao colo em direcção à praia. Nunca foi ouvido em carta rogatória.

ATRASO NO ENVIO

A diferença entre o tempo em que o depoimento foi obtido e a altura em que foi enviado não está explicada no processo. O CM sabe que as autoridades inglesas também não forneceram qualquer explicação.

INFORMAÇÃO BANCÁRIA

A PJ tentou saber a situação bancária de todos os elementos do grupo, para procurar eventuais motivos para o crime. Todavia, as respostas inglesas foram lacónicas e não ajudaram a investigação.

HISTÓRIAS DE VIDA

FIcaram por conhecer as histórias de vida de Gerry e Kate McCann. A PJ tentou verificar se a mãe de Maddie sofria de depressões mas não recebeu os seus registos clínicos, porque o juiz não o permitiu.

PORMENORES

PISTAS INVESTIGADAS

O relatório final é claro. Todas as pistas foram investigadas, a tese de rapto foi verificada ao pormenor. Porém, as principais conclusões da investigação apontaram para a morte da criança a 3 de Maio, no apartamento

300 polícias estiveram nos primeiros dias à procura de Maddie McCann. APJ realça que muitos deles passaram várias semanas a dormir apenas algumas horas.

2000 diligências foram feitas pela Judiciária na procura de Madeleine. Foi solicitada a cooperação internacional em muitos momentos para despistar vários casos de falsos avistamentos.

CUSTOS ELEVADOS

A PJ não olhou a custos nesta investigação. Foram gastos milhões de euros na investigação do desaparecimento, de onde se realça os pagamentos elevados feitos aos laboratórios que trataram da recolha dos perfis genéticos.

NOTAS

LABORATÓRIO – EXAME DECISIVO

O relatório final acabou por ser decisivo para o previsível arquivamento do processo. Naquele documento, que o CM ontem revelou, foi admitida a hipótese de contaminação de ADN

ARQUIVADO – PGR ANUNCIOU

Depois de amanhã, a PGR irá emitir um comunicado onde deverá anunciar o arquivamento do processo. O caso ficará pendente no MP de Portimão, à espera de melhor prova

RECONSTITUIÇÃO – TRAVADA

A reconstituição da noite do desaparecimento era uma diligência tida como essencial no processo. Foi travada porque alguns dos amigos dos McCann não aceitaram regressar

ARMÁRIO – ODOR DETECTADO

Os cães ingleses assinalaram vestígios da morte de Maddie atrás do sofá e no armário do quarto. Na cama, os animais não os detectaram

CONTAMINAÇÃO – VESTÍGIOS

As autoridades não têm dúvidas de que a contaminação do local dificultou a investigação. Nas primeiras horas, dezenas de pessoas entraram no quarto

DEMITIDO – POR TELEFONE

Gonçalo Amaral foi alvo dos mais variados ataques e foi demitido por Alípio Ribeiro, por telefone, após prestar declarações a um jornal

CARTA – REEGISTO PEDÓFILO

Yvone, na carta enviada à polícia inglesa, pretendia que as autoridades verificassem se Dave tinha qualquer registo de actividades pedófilas

Eduardo Dâmaso / Tânia Laranjo