The surprising thing here is , and I freely use ancient scuttlebutt initially, is that despite the system leaking like a sieve and despite the Portuguese wishing to stitch up the McCann's and despite every man jack of the Portuguese Judiciary being as bent as a dockers hook the PP still managed to make the system work as intended in that the inquiry was filed in accordance with the law.
I don't think the system did work, Alice. It didn't find Madeleine McCann and in my opinion the way in which the system was used was the main impediment to that.
You posted there are three stages in Portuguese criminal proceedings ...
- Inquiry
- Bringing to Justice
- Trial
The first two steps you detailed in the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance began and ended with the parents; with the insidious leaks destroying their credibility starting with JOSE MANUEL OLIVEIRA Crime reporter, 'Diario de Noticias': a badly told story ... PEDRO TADEU, Editor, 24 Horas': displayed a cold and calculating attitude throughout this process ... JOSE BARRA da COSTA, Former Policia Judiciaria: this is a couple who practice 'swinging'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/7106086.stmAll of that was being fed into the public domain and consciousness at a time when the victims of it were gagged and unable to refute the lies being spread about them because the secrecy law did not allow them to speak about the investigation.
It was a very close run thing for the McCanns who were no doubt aware of the Cipriano case.
In the event their story did not end as Leonor's did with a 'murderer' safely under lock and key with all three stages in proceedings completed.
Neither did it reach stage three of the process with any suspect going to trial. Whether or not that could be put down entirely to the abuse of the penal laws by the investigation could never be determined ... but I don't think it could have helped.