Pre-publication
'CM' [Correio da Manhã] today starts the exclusive publication of
excerpts from the book by Gonçalo Amaral, who believes that
Madeleine McCann died inside the apartment at Praia da Luz. The
episode of the holidays in 2005, in Mallorca – which raises
suspicions about a friend of the couple – and the DNA results are
the first parts.
"Madeleine Beth McCann, aged two and a half, and her twin siblings,
at that time only a few months old, go away on holidays in the
company of the parents, on the island of Mallorca. Three other
couples of doctors and their children go along with them. […] S. G.
had attended the university in Dundee, between 1987 and 1992, where
he met the future mother of Madeleine. K. G. only met Gerry McCann
on his wedding with Kate Healy, around 1998, in Liverpool. After
that event, the couple S.G. and K.G. become intimate friends with
Madeleine’s parents, meeting often, spending weekends together,
keeping in touch over the phone.
On the third or fourth night in Mallorca, after dinner, eating and
drinking, while sitting around a table on the patio outside the
house, K.G. watches a scene that makes her fear for her daughter’s
wellbeing, and that of the other children. She was sitting between
Gerry McCann and David Payne, when she heard the latter ask whether
she, maybe referring to Madeleine, would do ‘this’, then starting to
suck on one of his fingers, which he pushed in and out of his mouth,
insinuating a phallic object, while at the same time, with the
fingers of his other hand, he traced circles around his nipple, in a
provocative and sexual manner. At the moment when K.G. looked at
Gerry McCann and David Payne with stupefaction, a nervous silence
took place. Then everyone continued to chat as if nothing had
happened. This episode left K.G. with serious doubts about David
Payne’s relationship with children. On another occasion, K.G. would
once again see David Payne making the same gestures, this time while
speaking about his own daughter. During that holiday period, it was
the fathers who usually bathed the children, but from that moment
on, K.G. never allowed David Payne to come close to her daughter.
After those holidays in Mallorca, K.G. only met David and Fiona
Payne on one occasion, and has not spoken to them since.
[…] What is written above was reported to the English police on the
16th of May 2007, only thirteen days after the disappearance of
Madeleine, by the couple S. G. and K. G. It was information that was
important and pertinent for the investigation. Yet, nothing was
transmitted to the Portuguese police.
[…] I think that it was only after I left the investigation, maybe
in late October 2007, that K.G.’s deposition was sent to the
Portuguese police. It is legitimate to ask: for what reason did the
English police, apparently, conceal that testimony for six months?
When did they find out that David Payne, who had organized the trip
to Mallorca, and who had been signaled with anomalous behaviour
towards children, was the same who organized the trip to Portugal,
that he was part of the holiday group in the village of Luz where
Madeleine had been integrated, that he was the first family friend
who could be seen at Kate McCann’s side after the child’s
disappearance (as seen further ahead) and that on the date of the
deposition he was still in Portugal, and could be confronted with
these statements?
[…] In early September, a few days before the McCann couple was
constituted as arguidos, Superintendent Stuart Prior travels to
Portimão. He brings a first preliminary report [from the forensics
lab in Birmingham], and comes to discuss the state of the
investigation with us. During a meeting in our office, with the
Portuguese and the English investigation teams, Stuart shows his
disappointment with the results of the tests. This is where the saga
of the FSS reports starts. We read the report and we do not agree
with Stuart’s disappointment. The blood residues that were collected
from the floor, behind the sofa in apartment 5A, as well as the
blood residues that were recovered from the boot of the car that was
used by the McCanns, are the issue. We talk about blood residues
because the CSI dog is trained to detect only that bodily fluid. The
reports that were used to based the decision on, which were written
by experts Mark Harrison and Martin Grime, are clear: the CSI dog
was used to locate human blood. The Low Copy Number, the technique
that is used to determine the DNA from those samples, does not
determine from which bodily fluid the DNA comes from. In the first
case, it can be read that an incomplete DNA result was obtained,
because the sample contained little information, presenting low
level DNA indications that come from more than one person. But all
the DNA components that are confirmed, match the corresponding
components from Madeleine’s DNA profile!
Concerning the second case, after an explanation about the DNA
components of Madeleine’s profile, and concluding that it is
represented by 19 alleles, it is concluded that 15 are present in
the tested sample. This means that 4 alleles are missing to obtain a
100% conclusive match. According to the experts from that lab, those
15 were not enough to conclude, with a high degree of certainty,
that we were looking at Madeleine’s DNA profile, even more so
because the Low Copy Number found 37 components in the sample. Those
37 components were apparently there because at least three
individuals had contributed to that result. Although 15 components
from Madeleine’s DNA profile had been found, the result was
considered to be complex.
But this first preliminary report went further. In it, the scientist
had the unusual care of explaining that in many of the profiles of
the lab experts, elements from Madeleine’s DNA profile are present.
This means that a good part of the DNA profile of any person can be
built by three donors. It is understandable. Two questions were
immediately raised. The first one: what use was a DNA profile, in
terms of criminal evidence, if it can be the combination of three or
more donors.
The other question was simple: why did the DNA profile from those
three donors contribute for 15 components of Madeleine’s DNA profile
and not that of anyone else, like for example, the scientist who
performed the test? But the surprises from the preliminary reports
would go even further. […]"
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What the former policeman’s book tells us
Gonçalo Amaral decided to write the book in order to recover his own
freedom of expression. Removed from the investigation by Alípio
Ribeiro, the former coordinator of the PJ in Portimão believes that
Madeleine McCann died in the apartment at the Ocean Club on the
evening of the 3rd of May 2007. And he also believes that the
parents simulated the abduction and concealed their daughter’s body,
after a tragic accident inside the apartment.
Directors’ war
The national director of the PJ, Almeida Rodrigues, said yesterday
that his predecessor, Alípio Ribeiro, “was not noticed for being a
good investigator”. He thus responded to the criticism that had been
made by Alípio about the archiving of the Maddie case, which he
considered to have happened “too soon”. |
