Cadaver
was frozen or kept in the cold - Correio da Manhã
24
July 2008
traduit par Joana Morais
Exclusive
Interview with Gonçalo Amaral: Cadaver was frozen or was kept in the
cold
Gonçalo
Amaral regrets that a 'fact-finding inquiry (sindicância) to the
investigation was done". In the first interview where he talks
about the process, he defends that Maddie died at the Ocean Club. The
book is launched today in Lisbon and promises to re-launch
controversy.
"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 reconstruction. To find out how long it took them to get
to the apartments, what route they walked, etc. A reconstruction 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.
Affaire Maddie : un enquêteur accuse - Le Parisien
07 mai 2009
Le policier portugais, qui a été en charge de l'enquête sur la disparition de Maddie, reste persuadé de la responsabilité de ses parents. Il publie un livre à charge contre les époux McCann.
Gonçalo Amaral a dirigé l'enquête sur la
disparition de Maddie, au Portugal, pendant plusieurs mois avant d'en
être écarté pour avoir publiquement critiqué l'attitude de la police
anglaise. Depuis, il a pris sa retraite anticipée. Dans un livre qui
sort aujourd'hui en France *, il livre sa vérité. Selon lui, l'enquête
est formelle : Maddie est morte accidentellement dans l'appartement où
la famille passait ses vacances. Les parents auraient ensuite fait
croire à un kidnapping. Sans apporter de preuves formelles, son livre,
très à charge contre les parents, pose de vraies questions.
Quelles sont les preuves dont vous disposez pour étayer votre version ?
Gonçalo Amaral. Il y en a plusieurs. Nous avons notamment constaté des contradictions dans les déclarations des McCann et de leurs amis. Un couple d'Irlandais affirme avoir aperçu Gerald McCann le soir des faits avec un enfant dans les bras. Au niveau des constatations, nous avons découvert l'empreinte de Kate McCann sur la fenêtre de la chambre de Madeleine. La forme de l'empreinte indique qu'elle a ouvert cette fenêtre. Or, elle, déclare que la fenêtre était ouverte quand elle est entrée dans la chambre. Il est donc clair qu'elle a voulu orienter l'enquête vers la thèse de l'enlèvement. Enfin, il y a les preuves scientifiques. Les chiens ont détecté une odeur de cadavre dans le salon et découvert une trace de sang au même endroit. Des traces qui ont également été découvertes dans la voiture de location.
Quelles sont les preuves dont vous disposez pour étayer votre version ?
Gonçalo Amaral. Il y en a plusieurs. Nous avons notamment constaté des contradictions dans les déclarations des McCann et de leurs amis. Un couple d'Irlandais affirme avoir aperçu Gerald McCann le soir des faits avec un enfant dans les bras. Au niveau des constatations, nous avons découvert l'empreinte de Kate McCann sur la fenêtre de la chambre de Madeleine. La forme de l'empreinte indique qu'elle a ouvert cette fenêtre. Or, elle, déclare que la fenêtre était ouverte quand elle est entrée dans la chambre. Il est donc clair qu'elle a voulu orienter l'enquête vers la thèse de l'enlèvement. Enfin, il y a les preuves scientifiques. Les chiens ont détecté une odeur de cadavre dans le salon et découvert une trace de sang au même endroit. Des traces qui ont également été découvertes dans la voiture de location.
Ce sont plutôt des indices et non des preuves irréfutables. Le sang, par exemple, n'a pas été identifié à 100 % comme étant celui de Maddie…
Certes mais les résultats indiquent quand même que les échantillons prélevés ressemblent au profil ADN de Maddie. Ces indices-là s'ajoutent aux autres.
Pourquoi les époux McCann auraient-ils menti ?
Parce qu'ils avaient été négligents avec leurs enfants. Ils ont dîné en les laissant seuls. Un tel comportement était condamnable. Ils ont donc mis en scène l'histoire du kidnapping.
Votre livre montre que l'enquête de la police portugaise n'a pas été irréprochable. Notamment sur la scène du crime…
C'est vrai. A l'époque, il n'existait pas de procédure spécifique en cas de disparition d'enfant. Le site n'a pas forcément été bien préservé. Depuis, ces lacunes ont été réparées.
Quel est votre regret principal sur cette enquête ?
Je pense qu'il aurait fallu très rapidement organiser une reconstitution. On aurait alors pu se rendre compte des contradictions dans les déclarations de Kate McCann et des autres témoins. Malheureusement, mon chef a considéré que c'était impossible à mettre en place. Ensuite, les parents ont refusé.
Comment s'est passée la collaboration avec la police anglaise ?
Avec les enquêteurs sur le terrain, tout s'est très bien passé. En revanche, c'était beaucoup plus compliqué avec l'état-major en Grande-Bretagne. Les informations que nous demandions avaient énormément de mal à remonter. Les McCann ont réussi à influencer l'opinion de la police britannique et à les gagner à leur thèse. En Grande-Bretagne, la vision du dossier est politique. Sur le terrain, elle est restée policière.
Retrouvera-t-on Maddie un jour ?
Aujourd'hui, le dossier est archivé. Les parents n'ont aucune envie qu'il soit rouvert. Ils n'ont pas envie que la vérité éclate. Pourtant, je suis persuadé qu'il y a encore des pistes à exploiter. Malheureusement, c'est un cadavre qu'il faut chercher.
* « Maddie : l'enquête interdite ». Bourin Editeur. 19 €.
