Lies, beatings, Threats and Court Cases That Lay Behind The Madeleine McCann Investigation

The Amarals, So Much In Love?

If you believe recent reports, you would be forgiven for thinking that the disgraced former policia judiciaria detective, Goncalo Amaral, is enjoying a second honeymoon with his 2nd wife, Sofia Leal-Amaral. They stage photo-shoots holding each others hands and posed arms entwined trying to give the impression of being so much in love.

The Amarals, holding hands emulating Kate and Gerry McCann, but one suspects if the Amarals were to suffer only one fraction of trials that have beset Kate and Gerry, their relationship would fall apart at the seams. The Amarals seem to me to have a sham of a marriage, one held together by a bank account and not the love mutual respect that has kept the McCanns relationship strong, during their most horrific of times and darkest of days since their beloved and much adored eldest daughter Madeleine, was abducted from her bed whilst on a family holiday in Praia da Luz in May 3rd 2007.

In May 2009, Goncalo Amaral was convicted of withholding evidence of the torture of Leonor Cipriano, the mother of another missing child, Joana Cipriano. Amaral was tried and convicted of lying and perjury and received an 18 month suspended prison sentence, a sentence that caused eyebrows to raise across the world because of its leniency, a sentence that Leonor Cipriano's lawyer, Dr Marcos Arageo Correia, has appealed to have increased and converted to an actual prison sentence.

Goncalo Amaral is also facing another trial for the torture of the partner of Leonor Cipriano, Leandro Silva, in fact, Goncalo Amaral has several trials looming on his horizon, not least a civil trial for his defamation of character of Kate and Gerry McCann, where he is going to be sued for £1.2 million. Amaral has amassed a fortune using the name of abducted child, Madeleine McCann, his get rich quick schemes include writing two books one which has had an injunction slapped upon it by a Portuguese judge, this does not bode well for his defamation trial, which he is tipped to lose, other schemes include him writing for a column for the Portuguese newspapers Correo da Manha and 24 Horas, these two newspapers always give Amaral favourable coverage, the truth being a number one casualty. For some in Portugal, Goncalo Amaral is viewed like some kind of avenging angel, fighting a lone battle for the truth and justice for Madeleine, however, when Amaral was actually in charge of the investigation, he made every mistake there was to make and instead of looking for and searching for the truth for Madeleine, Amaral looked for 3 hour 10 minute booze fuelled lunch breaks instead. On the day the Madeleine investigation entered its 150th day, the man in charge, cut a slovenly figure as he was pictured and timed leaving his office and strolling up to the Carvi fish restaurant, this meant on that particular Friday, with Madeline still missing and over 250 leads waiting to be investigated properly, instead he dined at the Carvi with an ex Formula 1 Portuguese racing driver and was overheard being totally unprofessional boasting about the case and talking loudly, proclaiming that the police case was that Madeleine was dead and her parents killed her. On that day 30th September 2007 @ 1.17pm: Goncalo Amaral casually strolled out of the police building and takes a leisurely walk to the Carvi restaurant with his boss Guilhermino Encarnacao - dubbed Inspector Clueless - who is making a rare visit to the investigation. Meanwhile on another Friday in September 2007 Amaral was seen at 10am, as he sat slurping coffee and cakes at the Kalahary cafe in Portimao again with his boss, Chief Inspector Guillermino Encarnacao. With an ever increasing amount of leads coming into the investigation, the men leading it had time to waste on 3 hour lunch breaks, later when the official files on the case were released, it was discovered that hundreds of what could have been vital leads were lost or not followed up, that e-fits of suspects were taken from eye witnesses and yet never shown to the public, it was revealed how farcical the whole investigation had been run. Especially when you learn that Amaral did not make the apartment Madeleine was abducted from a crime scene until some THREE MONTHS LATER, if this wasn't bad enough, Amaral had also allowed the apartment to be let out to other holiday makers in the meantime thus compromising and destroying any forensic DNA evidence that the abductors may have left behind!

truly staggering incompetence!



Goncalo Amaral Before he Made Himself a Millionaire Off of Madeleine McCann

Apparently Amaral can now be seen regularly frequenting the bars near where he lives, in fact in one of those bars, it has been reported that his wife, Sofia Leal, on learning of her husband's affair with a beautiful young 35 year old woman (name withheld), after smelling perfume on him becoming suspicious because he was staying out until the early hours and sometimes all night, took his expensive new designer suits, shirts and shoes and through them through the door of a restaurant accompanied with a note telling everyone just what a pig her husband was and what he had been up to. Not content with embarrassing the disgraced former detective in public, Sofia decided to go one step further and began an extra marital affair with the woman's husband who had, had an affair with her own husband, apparently taking him back to her marital home!

Later the two couples paths apparently crossed at a bar and a scuffle between the two men was reported and threats made and they were asked to leave the restaurant.

This took place just last summer in June 2009, at the time the Amarals were swanning around the place posing for photographs and holding hands and trying to appear so much in love!

The woman who had an affair with Amaral, broke it off and became reunited with her husband, but allegedly, their nightmare has not ended there. Goncalo Amaral was enraged and could not accept the end of the affair and much friction has resulted between the two couples as a result.
The couple have become paralysed with fear after receiving threats and phone calls, all they want is for this apparent intimidation to stop and to be allowed to get on with their lives and raise their baby daughter.

The woman and her husband (names withheld) has reported Goncalo Amaral to the Attorney General of the Republic Dr. Pinto Monteiro, on two separate occasions and have begged for his help and protection as they feel their lives are in danger. They also speak of threats from a "person" that drugs will be planted on them as evidence and they will both be convicted and face going to prison for a very long time, the husband has been threatened with by someone that has allegedly said that he can "give him a kicking" and have him shot "without getting his hands dirty".

The beleaguered couple have taken the step of writing to the Portuguese attorney general directly because they feel that if anything happens to them, at least investigators will know where to start looking for clues.

The woman who had an affair with Goncalo Amaral is very contrite and has admitted to the attorney general, that she had made a terrible mistake and was very wrong to have an affair, but said that she was seduced by the charm of Amaral's smooth talking, the same tone he uses when he appears on TV talking about the Madeleine investigation. She has said, that she has since seen and come to know a completely different side to disgraced former PJ detective, who is currently serving an 18 month suspended prison sentence for lying and perjury etc.

The couple have also had a complaint to the Public Prosecutor Faro filed on their behalf for the crimes that have allegedly been committed by Mr. Gonçalo de Sousa Amaral against them.

The woman's husband claims that he has been pushed in the street and taunted over the telephone that his little daughter is not really his daughter.
Sadly the woman reports that her daughter cries now for everything and anything as is picking up on her parents feelings of insecurity and they say they live in fear in their own home and everywhere. The couple also claim to have a video recorded on a phone where you can see the altercation between Mr. Gonçalo Amaral and her husband in a bar in Lagos.

Reports appeared in a newspaper who Amaral writes a column for, the Correo De Manha about an alleged incident at a huge 50th birthday bash for Goncalo Amaral. It was alleged that the couple and their friend arrived and started causing trouble, etc, however the couple tell a different story.

"Last night I, my husband **** ****** and our Advocate ** ***** ***** ******* went out for dinner in a restaurant in Portimao. When we asked ******* to lead us to my mother's house, to go get our daughter was in her care, as we passed by the riverside area of Portimão, we saw fireworks with the Club Naval de Portimão, and decided to stop to see, with my husband and I left the car for a cigarette fumarmos since ********* is not smoking and remained in his car, and we beside the vehicle, leaning next to a public parking area.

Herein we saw a crowd at the entrance of the restaurant "retreat of broiled fish, and what was our astonishment to see Mr. Gonçalo Amaral de Sousa to look us in the midst of them, with the same Mr Gonçalo made a sign with out to others, pointing in our direction, and these people, about four, they headed immediately for us to threaten us with great aggressiveness to immediately abandon that area of the street. We emphasize that we were on the street in full public place, on the opposite side of that restaurant. In this, individuals begin to push us hard, abusing us and beating us, and as a ******* takes a hand to the back of his pants, saying while it does not go out there gave us a shot. In this one ******** tries to start on our ****** in the car, pulling him out of the window to attack him. When we see our powerlessness and violence, we went immediately in the car of our ********, and one that ***** still managed to give a strong punch on my husband.

We went immediately to the police station in Portimão's Public Security Police where he asked to be identified the perpetrators of harm, as Mr. Gonçalo Amaral, the instigator of the crimes, we were already well known! Three agents of PSP followed my husband and our advocate to the site, and I, for fear, remained in the Police station. At the site, individuals and ******** ********, and yet another person that is not known to us, had already fled, only to be possible to identify *****. However, even ahead of the PSP, other individuals, perhaps in excess of ten, accompanied Mr. Gonçalo Amaral towards our ******** ** ****** , with Mr Gonçalo Amaral aggressively threatening him just front of his face, pointing his finger, and shouting to him "you have no shame."

We have presented immediately after each of the three of us, and yet last night, holding criminal proceedings against Mr. Gonçalo Amaral de Sousa and his henchmen, having been our complaints registered on the PSP with the numbers:

**** ****** - NUIPC 001938/09.5 PAPTM,

****************. NUIPC 001939/09.3 PAPTM,

*** ***** **** - NUIPC 001940/09.7 PAPTM.

However, during the day, Mr. Gonçalo Amaral called several times for my phone and to my husband, from an unidentified number on the display of our devices, but which can be identified by the judiciary, threaten us without shame that we would make the sheet."

Sofia Leal Amaral, has described her husband in a Sunday paper in the UK as a calm loving father who worried about his daughters having accidents in the playground at school, yet bizarrely, this worry about accidents did not stop Goncalo Amaral from sharing a bottle of wine with a friend at the Carvi restaraunt and driving his police car with his daughter inside, off somewhere.

It is hard to reconcile this Goncalo with the Goncalo that she (Sofia Amaral) reported to the Portimao police for failing to hand her daughter over at Christmas 2008, as prearranged and when she went to collect her daughter from her husband, he threatened her with death and again driving his police car after drinking alcohol, she has claimed.


Sofia Leal Amaral also stated to the paper that they live on a reduced income, approximately a third of what Amaral used to receive as a serving police detective.

What she doesn't mention is the huge wealth the couple have amassed, through TV and radio interviews, books, films, TV documentaries and charging for interviews.
Sky news reported that they had been appraoched by Goncalo Amaral's agent, who told them that he was available for interview, but it would cost £80.000, Sky News apparently declined the offer.

Gone now are the scruffy sloppy clothes, which Mrs Amaral once described as "Hugo Boss suits" they are now replaced with expensive designer gear, which can be argued were purchased for him by abducted Madeleine McCann.
The Amarals also drive around in a brand new Jaguar which a top of the range model could cost them anything up to £70.000. Also another show of their wealth is the big birthday party they held to celebrate Goncalo Amaral's 50th birthday, where many euros were spent on foreworks, which literally went up in smoke, which could be argued would have kept a normal Portuguese family for quite a few months!

It has also been alleged that the the house the Amarals live in and all of his personal wealth has been put in the name of his wife, if true, this may of course affect any settlement Kate and Gerry McCann may be awarded in their libel trial against Goncalo Amaral.

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