Goncalo Amaral.

[Brietta]

The papers have to fill column inches.

People are much more concerned at this time with the failings of American law enforcement than the Portuguese. To most it’s just ancient history and a subject that didn’t really interest them in the first place.

The unpalatable truth for those who support the parents is no matter what the outcome of this case or who is charged, the public in general will always apportion some blame to the parents as they made any crime possible. Whether that blame is appropriate is an argument that will, I’m sure, rumble on for many years yet.

I'm sure it will.  I am sure it will.  It will have even less credibility in the future than it does at the moment.  But good luck with it anyway.

[faithlilly]

I can see why you might be a bit miffed that every criticism voiced about Amaral's conduct of Madeleine's case has come to fruition and then some.

Whether or not Brueckner  ever proves to be Madeleine's abductor the published facts about him prove two things to me.  (i) he should have been on Portuguese police radar at some time during his twelve year's residency as a criminal in the Algarve and (ii) he was a burglar; he was a rapist on Portuguese soil; he was in Luz on the night Madeleine disappeared.  In fact he was all the things and more that Amaral said could not have happened and the time he spent persecuting Madeleine's parents it is now shown could and should have been spent looking for Brueckner or someone else with a similar profile with the opportunity and the means to make a child vanish as though she had never been.

I think you may always have had a niggling doubt though ... I always wondered why you never contributed to the private Amaral thread ... seems you may have recognised something way back then and you were not alone as it was one of the shortest threads in history.

It would appear that Brueckner committed crimes in almost every part of Europe but remained, by and large, free. He appears to have been investigated for the disappearance of another young girl in Germany but was released. Are the Germans incompetent too. Further OG have had at least three years to investigate him but so far have absolutely nothing but circumstantial evidence against him...are they incompetent ? Rebelo lead the investigation for 10 months yet Brueckner’s name wasn’t mentioned, as far as we know, on his watch.

You really need to let this Amaral obsession go, you really do. Amaral made mistakes...no one is denying that, but as I have pointed out before, if guilty, those mistakes were just as likely to help the parents as hinder them.

[Mr Gray]

What would you sooner read the never ending doom and gloom of covid,you must wear a mask on public transport or a live police investigation that in the past OG wouldn't comment on.

I beleive the fact that they have commented is significant

[Venturi Swirl]

If the hundreds of comments in the Times today are anything to go by (the majority overwhelmingly supportive and sympathetic to the McCanns btw) there is still huge public imterest in this story.  The Media does not put stories on their front pages that they think will bore and repel their readers, the BBC does not go to the effort of sending breaking news message alerts about news stories that no one gives a toss about.  It seems odd to me that someone who has devoted 13 years of their life to following this case in great detail should then claim that it is boring and no body cares about it anymore.

[Brietta]

It would appear that Brueckner committed crimes in almost every part of Europe but remained, by and large, free. He appears to have been investigated for the disappearance of another young girl in Germany but was released. Are the Germans incompetent too. Further OG have had at least three years to investigate him but so far have absolutely nothing but circumstantial evidence against him...are they incompetent ? Rebelo lead the investigation for 10 months yet Brueckner’s name wasn’t mentioned, as far as we know, on his watch.

You really need to let this Amaral obsession go, you really do. Amaral made mistakes...no one is denying that, but as I have pointed out before, if guilty, those mistakes were just as likely to help the parents as hinder them.

Brueckner was in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine was abducted.  He was a burglar and a sexual predator who entered premises via windows.

You have no option but to admit that Amaral made mistakes, the whole world knows that now.  But he went out of his way to compound those mistakes by making his living by exploiting Madeleine's name and persecuting her parents. 

One of his greatest mistakes was in rubbishing Kate McCann's eye witness account of the open window.  With every sceptic in the world joining in.

He rubbished Jane Tanner's eye witness account ... and every sceptic in the world joined in that too.

He concentrated his efforts based not on evidence (unless you agree Calpol is evidence) but based solely on his prejudices against Madeleine's parents to the exclusion of all else ~ particularly burglars.

I agree with you ... Amaral made mistakes - mega mistakes - and he made them at a time of most importance for Madeleine McCann.

[pathfinder73]

Entered through that window without leaving evidence? Yeah of course he did and let's discard evidence because we don't like him   It's time to carry out new DNA tests and reveal the results. They have a reason to do it now!

[faithlilly]

Brueckner was in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine was abducted.  He was a burglar and a sexual predator who entered premises via windows.

You have no option but to admit that Amaral made mistakes, the whole world knows that now.  But he went out of his way to compound those mistakes by making his living by exploiting Madeleine's name and persecuting her parents. 

One of his greatest mistakes was in rubbishing Kate McCann's eye witness account of the open window.  With every sceptic in the world joining in.

He rubbished Jane Tanner's eye witness account ... and every sceptic in the world joined in that too.

He concentrated his efforts based not on evidence (unless you agree Calpol is evidence) but based solely on his prejudices against Madeleine's parents to the exclusion of all else ~ particularly burglars.

I agree with you ... Amaral made mistakes - mega mistakes - and he made them at a time of most importance for Madeleine McCann.

Amaral was coordinator of the case for 5 months...that was over 12 years ago. Not one investigator in those 12 years, whether private or publicly funded, have discovered one tangible piece of evidence which has lead to the charging of a suspect....not one. OG were passed Brueckner’s name by the PJ in 2012 and his name has come up periodically after appeals since yet to this day neither OG or the German authorities have been able to find anything but circumstantial evidence against him. 8 years and they still haven’t been able to nail him. Now if he really is Madeleine’s kidnapper that fact alone reeks of incompetence. A not so clever sexual predator who boasted about his horrific abuse, kept the vehicle he may have used for months, if not years, after the alleged abduction and was easily caught for other offences and still no charge. Amaral appears the consummate professional in comparison.

[Lace]

Amaral was coordinator of the case for 5 months...that was over 12 years ago. Not one investigator in those 12 years, whether private or publicly funded, have discovered one tangible piece of evidence which has lead to the charging of a suspect....not one. OG were passed Brueckner’s name by the PJ in 2012 and his name has come up periodically after appeals since yet to this day neither OG or the German authorities have been able to find anything but circumstantial evidence against him. 8 years and they still haven’t been able to nail him. Now if he really is Madeleine’s kidnapper that fact alone reeks of incompetence. A not so clever sexual predator who boasted about his horrific abuse, kept the vehicle he may have used for months, if not years, after the alleged abduction and was easily caught for other offences and still no charge. Amaral appears the consummate professional in comparison.

The two sisters who said they saw two men with blonde hair on the balcony of an empty apartment,  said the PJ didn't listen to them at all.

Did the PJ search the camper van belonging to this man?  Did they search his house?

They didn't even do house to house enquiries.

[faithlilly]

The two sisters who said they saw two men with blonde hair on the balcony of an empty apartment,  said the PJ didn't listen to them at all.

Did the PJ search the camper van belonging to this man?  Did they search his house?

They didn't even do house to house enquiries.

Old, tabloid gossip....move on Lace.

[Venturi Swirl]

Anyone keen to shift the blame away from Amaral and the PT team in the first months of the investigation ison a hiding to nothing IMO.  Imagine if this creep had chosen to keep Madeleine alive for a few days as is claimed he wanted to do (have a young plaything) then there might have been a chance of recovering her alive if the police had targeted known paedophiles and sex offenders first and investigated them thoroughly, not half-heartrdly as appears to have been the case.

[Eleanor]

As far as I know The PJ remain in charge of The Investigation.  Have they ever actually done anything, even after the demise of Goncalo Amaral?

[Brietta]

Amaral was coordinator of the case for 5 months...that was over 12 years ago. Not one investigator in those 12 years, whether private or publicly funded, have discovered one tangible piece of evidence which has lead to the charging of a suspect....not one. OG were passed Brueckner’s name by the PJ in 2012 and his name has come up periodically after appeals since yet to this day neither OG or the German authorities have been able to find anything but circumstantial evidence against him. 8 years and they still haven’t been able to nail him. Now if he really is Madeleine’s kidnapper that fact alone reeks of incompetence. A not so clever sexual predator who boasted about his horrific abuse, kept the vehicle he may have used for months, if not years, after the alleged abduction and was easily caught for other offences and still no charge. Amaral appears the consummate professional in comparison.

It has been succinctly pointed out that this is a Portuguese investigation which operated (or sometimes wasn't allowed to) according to Portuguese rules.
The backlash against the Scotland Yard investigations was enormous when Scotland Yard were having to fight on all fronts against concerted efforts to stop them in their tracks.

On this forum amongst many, many others too numerous to count, there was the spirited defence of the burglars Scotland Yard were given leave to question after months of negotiation to enable them to do so.  They were given one bite at the cherry and were not allowed by the the Portuguese to take their questions to the next stage.

On this forum amongst many, there was the absolute ridiculing of the Scotland Yard initiative to dig for evidence in Luz and a few surrounding areas ... one a spit in the wind in close proximity to where Christian Brueckner, had lived.

If within days of Madelene's disappearance the Portuguese police were asking questions about a person now alleged to be Christian Brueckner, I think Goncalo Amaral ~ the man in charge ~ has a lot of very serious questions to answer.  Not least of which should be why his decision to ignore local offenders fitting a profile to directing a vendetta against Madeleine's parents.

[faithlilly]

It has been succinctly pointed out that this is a Portuguese investigation which operated (or sometimes wasn't allowed to) according to Portuguese rules.
The backlash against the Scotland Yard investigations was enormous when Scotland Yard were having to fight on all fronts against concerted efforts to stop them in their tracks.

On this forum amongst many, many others too numerous to count, there was the spirited defence of the burglars Scotland Yard were given leave to question after months of negotiation to enable them to do so.  They were given one bite at the cherry and were not allowed by the the Portuguese to take their questions to the next stage.

On this forum amongst many, there was the absolute ridiculing of the Scotland Yard initiative to dig for evidence in Luz and a few surrounding areas ... one a spit in the wind in close proximity to where Christian Brueckner, had lived.

If within days of Madelene's disappearance the Portuguese police were asking questions about a person now alleged to be Christian Brueckner, I think Goncalo Amaral ~ the man in charge ~ has a lot of very serious questions to answer.  Not least of which should be why his decision to ignore local offenders fitting a profile to directing a vendetta against Madeleine's parents.

Backlash ? From who ? You’re truly not suggesting that what any of us say on any of the various forums made a crumb of difference to how OG conducted their investigation?

‘If within days of Madeleine’s disappearance the Portuguese police were asking questions’....how do you know this ?

Yet again I feel it necessary to add that Rebelo was coordinator of the investigation for far longer than Amaral but seems to constantly avoid your criticism? Why is that ?

[kizzy]

It has been succinctly pointed out that this is a Portuguese investigation which operated (or sometimes wasn't allowed to) according to Portuguese rules.
The backlash against the Scotland Yard investigations was enormous when Scotland Yard were having to fight on all fronts against concerted efforts to stop them in their tracks.

On this forum amongst many, many others too numerous to count, there was the spirited defence of the burglars Scotland Yard were given leave to question after months of negotiation to enable them to do so.  They were given one bite at the cherry and were not allowed by the the Portuguese to take their questions to the next stage.

On this forum amongst many, there was the absolute ridiculing of the Scotland Yard initiative to dig for evidence in Luz and a few surrounding areas ... one a spit in the wind in close proximity to where Christian Brueckner, had lived.

If within days of Madelene's disappearance the Portuguese police were asking questions about a person now alleged to be Christian Brueckner, I think Goncalo Amaral ~ the man in charge ~ has a lot of very serious questions to answer.  Not least of which should be why his decision to ignore local offenders fitting a profile to directing a vendetta against Madeleine's parents.

It wasn't a vendetta - don't forget the dogs in all this - ok its swept under the carpet on here.

But they still alerted to something - something they are trained to sniff out.

[Mr Gray]

It wasn't a vendetta - don't forget the dogs in all this - ok its swept under the carpet on here.

But they still alerted to something - something they are trained to sniff out.

the alerts...Yawn