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McCanns ‘investigated on British advice’
Lisbon court told how Kate and Gerry McCann became formal suspects after Madeleine's disappearance
The decision to make Gerry and Kate McCann formal suspects in their daughter Madeleine's disappearance in 2007 was made at the behest of a British criminal profiler, not the Portuguese police, a court in Lisbon was told yesterday.
The surprising revelation was made by the lawyer representing Gonzolo Amaral, the Algarve police officer the McCanns are suing for libel over his allegation that Madeleine died in a "tragic accident" inside the family's holiday apartment and that her parents then faked her abduction to cover up the girl's death.
The McCanns are seeking £1.2m in damages from Amaral, who lost his job as a result of the controversy surrounding Madeleine's disappearance and the police failure to find her.
Amaral's lawyer, Antonio Cabrita, read out to the court a report by Lee Rainbow, of the National Policing Improvement Agency, that was made a month after Madeleine's disappearance.
In the report, Rainbow recommended that the Portuguese police investigate the couple because of contradictions in a statement made by Gerry McCann. "The contradictions... might lead us to suspect a homicide," the report stated. "This is a lead that should be investigated."
Cabrita did not explain the nature of the "contradictions" either in court or to journalists afterwards. But he did say: "Portuguese police had only considered the abduction theory. It was British police who said they must consider homicide as well."
The National Policing Improvement Agency is an independent body, funded by the Home Office, which gives police investigative support in sex crime and murder cases, such as the 2006 Ipswich prostitute murders.
Following yesterday's revelation in Lisbon, a spokesman for the agency said: "In disappearance cases it is common for the NPIA to advise officers to consider the possibility of the involvement of family and close friends." There was no evidence that the McCanns were involved in any criminal action - it was simply "good practice" to investigate.
Yesterday marked the last day of evidence in the Lisbon libel case. The verdict is expected next week. ·
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As Isabel Duarte, it seems, has no argument against the defendant's one that Amaral's book states no more than the Portuguese PJ files (Madeleine died in the McCanns' apartment and abduction was faked) she curiously chose to accuse the public to be "vultures and vampires".
The eventual reopening of the case raises some questions :
The McCanns hardly answered when asked and refused to insist with their friends on the PJ reconstruction though one could have really cleared off their name.
Since they were arguidos, a way to protect them, they criticized the PJ and used their own private detectives.
Moreover they pretend something unbelievable in a democratic country to-day : say what we tell you or shut up !
Interesting how this couple have made a career out of being 'the parents of Madeleine McCann', have looked angry and defensive from the start and are clearly out to make as much money as possible at every opportunity. If they'd been working class and left their children alone all evening, the other children would have been taken from them and put in care. The McCann circus was so powerful by then that the social services merely went through the motions.