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Police chief blamed Kate and Gerry McCann for Madeleine's disappearance 'to ensure Portuguese detectives didn't abandon case'
Goncalo Amaral was said to have been 'against shelving of original probe'
Kate and Gerry McCann are suing Mr Amaral over his claims in 2008 book
He alleged couple faked the abduction to cover up her death in Portugal
McCanns say book turned people against them when they needed help
By GERARD COUZENS
PUBLISHED: 20:24 GMT, 5 November 2013 | UPDATED: 23:40 GMT, 5 November 2013
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A former Portuguese police chief blamed Madeleine McCann's parents for the three-year-old girl's disappearance to ensure detectives carried on looking for her, a former colleague claimed today.
Antonio Paulo dos Santos told a Lisbon court he believed his friend Goncalo Amaral penned a book pointing the finger at the couple because he was against the shelving of the original investigation.
Kate and Gerry McCann are suing Mr Amaral over his claims in his July 2008 book The Truth of the Lie that they faked their daughter's abduction to cover up her death in their holiday apartment.
Trial: Kate and Gerry McCann (right) are suing former Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral (left) over his claims in a book that they faked their daughter's abduction to cover up her death in their holiday apartment
His book was released three days after the Portuguese police probe into the girl’s disappearance was archived and the McCanns were told their status as official suspects or arguidos was being lifted.
Defence witness Mr dos Santos, who worked with Mr Amaral in the early Nineties and remains in close contact with him, spoke at the hearing this afternoon.
He said: ‘Everything that's in the book appears to be in the case files. It's not fictional. They are the conclusions of a factual analysis by Goncalo Amaral as the head of the police investigation.
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‘I think the main reason he wrote the book was so that the case would continue to be investigated. When he published the book I presume he didn't agree with its archiving.’
Today's libel trial hearing was the first since Portuguese authorities announced last month they were reopening their probe into Madeleine's disappearance more than five years after it was shelved.
The morning court session started with a disappointment for the defence when it emerged a key witness was on honeymoon and his evidence had to be rescheduled for a later date.
Publication: Mr Amaral's 2008 book was released three days after the Portuguese police probe into the girl's disappearance was archived and the McCanns were told their status as official suspects was being lifted
Criminologist and university professor Paulo Sargento was expected to support Mr Amaral and say he did not believe Madeleine had been abducted from her Algarve holiday apartment.
In October 2007 he created a 3D reconstruction of the night on May 3, 2007 when Madeleine disappeared - and concluded any abductor would only have had eight minutes in which to strike.
Mystery: Madeleine McCann disappeared in Portugal in May 2007 and has never been found
He later came up with a computer edit based on witness statements of a long-haired bearded man which the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell insisted at the time could cause confusion.
Mario Sena Lopes, editor of Guerra & Paz which published Mr Amaral's controversial book, admitted he could not guarantee all copies had been returned after the McCanns successfully injected it.
The couple secured a temporary injunction in September 2008 before a court upheld the ban in February 2010 after a challenge from Mr Amaral. The injunction was lifted again in March 2011.
Mr Lopes, who is still Mr Amaral's literary agent, told the hearing: ‘There are always booksellers who do not respect the orders of the distributors.’
He also admitted knowing the book had been circulated in Brazil but insisted Guerra & Paz had nothing to do with it.
Luis Vale Frois, former managing director of a firm which distributed a DVD of a documentary based on Mr Amaral's book, said it was inevitable pirate copies would find their way onto the Internet.
He told the hearing: ‘If this week you release a series on TV, next week it's already on the internet with Portuguese subtitles.’
Concern: Kate and Gerry McCann claim Mr Amaral's book turned Portuguese people against them when they most needed their help in finding their daughter
Mr Amaral, removed as head of the Madeleine McCann probe in October 2007 after criticising the British police, attended court for the trial as he has done every day since its start in September.
ANGER AT MONTEIRO REPORTS
Portuguese-based Cape Verdean associations have reacted angrily to reports an immigrant thief has been blamed for Madeleine McCann's disappearance and death.
It emerged last week Euclides Monteiro, who died in a tractor accident in 2009, was a suspect.
A spokesman for a Cape Verdean association said: ‘The representatives of Cape Verdean associations in Portugal always defend the normal workings of justice and the idea that unlawful behaviour should be punished accordingly through the proper legal channels.
‘However we denounce the fact that this immigrant cannot defend himself from these accusations in the Madeleine McCann case which could, conveniently, remove blame from other people and ease some consciences.
‘We discover history repeating itself - with yet another Cape Verdian suspect and a community which feels once again smeared.’
He has been critical of a new British police appeal about the six-and-a-half year-old mystery, branding it a ‘PR campaign of intoxication and misinformation.’
But he declined to comment today on the reopened Portuguese police investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.
Mr Amaral's lawyer Vitor dos Santos insisted outside court: ‘We are not going to make any comment about the criminal investigation. This is a civil case and when it's over my client will be free to speak. No lawyer should make any statements about people being absolved or not being absolved from an investigation.
'This is not the time to be saying anything about it because it makes no sense to do so.’
The McCanns claim Mr Amaral's book turned Portuguese people against them when they most needed their help in finding their daughter.
The ex-police chief is denying defamation and insists everything in the book was contained in police files. Former police colleagues have given evidence backing his argument.
The McCanns, of Rothley, Leicestershire, have applied to take the witness stand as well as Mr Amaral.
Judge Maria Emilia Melo e Castro is expected to rule on their application at the end of the month. The case, scheduled to finish in December, continues.
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