Hmm - an interesting few hours reading the McCann files and the history behind the Amaral who was pulled from the case. Amaral was, of course, of the opinion that Madeleine died in the apartment and that the parents pretended there had been an abduction.
He was the lawyer who brought about a conviction in Portugal of the mother and uncle of a child, Joana, who was reported 'missing' by the mother. I do believe that the mother appeared in the media making appeals to the 'abductor' asking them not to harm the child.
The mother and uncle were eventually convicted of her murder, although I understand there are new twits (HA - typo!! should read TWISTS) in the story and that the mother is now claiming it was the uncle who carried out the murder (who is her brother - is this correct??) Whether it was one or both of them - they are both proven liars, with serious personality defects
Her defence lawyer was/is Correia. Again, this is my understanding from what I have read. Apparently Amaral thinks he should be sectioned and I have to say, from what I have read about him, I agree. He has also had some involvement in the McCann case in terms of searching for her - he believes in the abduction theory.
The Joana case reveals that the mother had been cruelly neglectful of the child and there is some evidence of sexual abuse. The mother changed her story endlessly and gave very unreliable evidence.
The mother provided evidence suggesting that Amaral had beated her up in order to make her confess to the killing of her daughter. This was widely reported in the UK press and elsewhere. The evidence was false. It was done to discredit Amaral. To my knowledge this fact has not been reported in the UK media. The mother lied about that - just like she had lied about the disappearance of her daughter. Amaral had, apparently, reported that her injuries were because she threw herself down the stairs. I presume because this is either what he believed or what she had told him. For this statement, which is wrong (apparently she was beaten up by inmates of the jail) he has been prosecuted and has received a suspended sentence. All sounds like a big stitch up.