22 July 2008
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 [The Truth of the Lie] 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”.
Related Link: Libel trial McCann v Goncalo Amaral - Day 12 - Gerald McCann's deposition 08 July 2014
Courtesy of Joana Morais
Apartment 5A
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