Gonçalo Amaral should never have been taken off the case!

[xtina]

G.A. should never been took off this case ....he was doing his job to get to the truth ....he gave the mccs leeway ...he should never have done that ....he was sacked because it ended up political ...not policing ...people interfered that shouldn't have done ....it seemed more about the mccs ...than maddie ...or the truth ...of what happenned to maddie



This book has a higher purpose. That of contributing to the discovery of the material truth and the achievement of justice in the investigation that is known as the "Maddie Case". These are fundamental values that I have committed myself to, by duty of conscience, conviction and discipline towards the institution that I was proud to be a part of. These same values were not extinguished with my retirement and they will always be present in my life. Under no circumstance whatsoever does the book call the work of my colleagues at the Judiciary Police into question, nor does it compromise the ongoing investigation. It is my deep understanding that revealing all of the facts in a work of this kind might jeopardize future actions that are decisive for the discovery of the truth. Nonetheless, the reader will find data that is previously unknown, interpretations of the facts – always under the light of law – and, of course, relevant questions. A criminal investigation is only committed to searching for the material truth. It must not worry about political correctness.»

[Carana]

G.A. should never been took off this case ....he was doing his job to get to the truth ....he gave the mccs leeway ...he should never have done that ....he was sacked because it ended up political ...not policing ...people interfered that shouldn't have done ....it seemed more about the mccs ...than maddie ...or the truth ...of what happenned to maddie



This book has a higher purpose. That of contributing to the discovery of the material truth and the achievement of justice in the investigation that is known as the "Maddie Case". These are fundamental values that I have committed myself to, by duty of conscience, conviction and discipline towards the institution that I was proud to be a part of. These same values were not extinguished with my retirement and they will always be present in my life. Under no circumstance whatsoever does the book call the work of my colleagues at the Judiciary Police into question, nor does it compromise the ongoing investigation. It is my deep understanding that revealing all of the facts in a work of this kind might jeopardize future actions that are decisive for the discovery of the truth. Nonetheless, the reader will find data that is previously unknown, interpretations of the facts – always under the light of law – and, of course, relevant questions. A criminal investigation is only committed to searching for the material truth. It must not worry about political correctness.»

How has his book contributed to the higher purpose of discovering the material truth?

[ferryman]

G.A. should never been took off this case ....he was doing his job to get to the truth ....he gave the mccs leeway ...he should never have done that ....he was sacked because it ended up political ...not policing ...people interfered that shouldn't have done ....it seemed more about the mccs ...than maddie ...or the truth ...of what happenned to maddie



This book has a higher purpose. That of contributing to the discovery of the material truth and the achievement of justice in the investigation that is known as the "Maddie Case". These are fundamental values that I have committed myself to, by duty of conscience, conviction and discipline towards the institution that I was proud to be a part of. These same values were not extinguished with my retirement and they will always be present in my life. Under no circumstance whatsoever does the book call the work of my colleagues at the Judiciary Police into question, nor does it compromise the ongoing investigation. It is my deep understanding that revealing all of the facts in a work of this kind might jeopardize future actions that are decisive for the discovery of the truth. Nonetheless, the reader will find data that is previously unknown, interpretations of the facts – always under the light of law – and, of course, relevant questions. A criminal investigation is only committed to searching for the material truth. It must not worry about political correctness.»

You must admit, Amaral did get certain key and fundamental things wrong.

Harrison did not change the direction of the investigation.

There were not two forensic reports.

There were no dog alerts identified as to cadaver scent.

The STU100 does not detect cadaver scent.

Eddie hesitated long before (finally) alerting to spots of Gerry's blood in the Renault.

And so on ....

[ShiningInLuz]

How has his book contributed to the higher purpose of discovering the material truth?

I like his book.  Amongst other things, it shows us how hard it is for a stranger to Luz to successfully dispose of a body, or to conceal a body, survive the searches, retrieve the body and then dispose of it.

The 'Amaral Challenge' is brilliant, given that a detective with years of experience, added to years of experience of the Algarve, and with complete access to all the case files, could not answer it.

It is a brilliant challenge.  If you think the McCanns did it, all you have to do is show the McCanns beating the Amaral Challenge.

[Carana]

I like his book.  Amongst other things, it shows us how hard it is for a stranger to Luz to successfully dispose of a body, or to conceal a body, survive the searches, retrieve the body and then dispose of it.

The 'Amaral Challenge' is brilliant, given that a detective with years of experience, added to years of experience of the Algarve, and with complete access to all the case files, could not answer it.

It is a brilliant challenge.  If you think the McCanns did it, all you have to do is show the McCanns beating the Amaral Challenge.

I have yet to find anyone who has presented a successful demonstration of how his "hypothesis" could have worked in practice.

[pathfinder73]

I like his book.  Amongst other things, it shows us how hard it is for a stranger to Luz to successfully dispose of a body, or to conceal a body, survive the searches, retrieve the body and then dispose of it.

The 'Amaral Challenge' is brilliant, given that a detective with years of experience, added to years of experience of the Algarve, and with complete access to all the case files, could not answer it.

It is a brilliant challenge.  If you think the McCanns did it, all you have to do is show the McCanns beating the Amaral Challenge.

Do you think a stranger can't get to the beach or the cliffs? When the disappearance happened those places were deserted on a cold dark night. It may not be as hard as you think.

[John]

This is a new thread.

[Alice Purjorick]

Is it believed Sr Amaral was removed due to political intervention? if so where is the hard evidence?
Or was he removed as a result of a management decision by his superiors? Which to me seems more likely.
Were I his manager I would have removed him of my own accord probably before September.

[Lace]

Do you think a stranger can't get to the beach or the cliffs? When the disappearance happened those places were deserted on a cold dark night. It may not be as hard as you think.

I believe the disposing of body in the sea was discussed and found to be impossible.    It was low tide and the body would have surely been brought back to land.

Also the throwing of body from cliffs would have been impossible too,   it was shown that no one would have been able to throw a body into the sea from the cliffs.

Also when would this have taken place exactly?   Where would the body have been hidden until this could have been done?

[Lace]

Is it believed Sr Amaral was removed due to political intervention? if so where is the hard evidence?
Or was he removed as a result of a management decision by his superiors? Which to me seems more likely.
Were I his manager I would have removed him of my own accord probably before September.

He says in his book he made a retort putting down the British Police,   he says they wanted to take the route of abduction and just follow everything the McCann's wanted.   I find that quite ridiculous,   he was the person in charge of the case.   It is more likely they saw that he was taking the wrong course of action and he wouldn't listen to them.

[pathfinder73]

I believe the disposing of body in the sea was discussed and found to be impossible.    It was low tide and the body would have surely been brought back to land.

Also the throwing of body from cliffs would have been impossible too,   it was shown that no one would have been able to throw a body into the sea from the cliffs.

Also when would this have taken place exactly?   Where would the body have been hidden until this could have been done?

I don't think a body was thrown into the sea or a bin. If I wanted to hide something and I was a stranger I would head straight to the nearby dark deserted beach. 

[ShiningInLuz]

Do you think a stranger can't get to the beach or the cliffs? When the disappearance happened those places were deserted on a cold dark night. It may not be as hard as you think.

I have produced a detailed break down of what was and was not open in Luz from around 8:30PM to 10:30PM.  Luz was NOT deserted.  The promenade was NOT deserted.

That is the whole point.  People who think Luz was closed around the time of the incident are tackling the wrong problem.

What has a stranger getting to the cliffs got to do with anything?  Said stranger has to get past numerous open establishments to get to the cliffs.  That's what a man walking through Luz had to achieve, not finding where the beach or the cliffs were.

The obstacle was people of the classes 'staff' and 'customers'.  I cannot track domestic people that night, so I can't know how much traffic there was.  However, the files are replete with instances of people moving about BEFORE they learned of the disappearance of Madeleine.

For example, the proprietor and owner of the Dolphin went to the Mirage for a game of pool that night, turning up to find it was basically empty, with everyone out searching.  Clearly, this does not impact on events leading up to the disappearance.  But it does show that people were travelling across Luz, not remaining behind closed doors.

Amaral claimed in his book that Luz was basically closed on 3 May 2007.  That is nonsense, total nonsense.

The idea of a man walking through a deserted, closed town is fantasy.  Whichever way Smithman went, he was about to enter Luz hotspots.

In order to evade them, he first had to know about them, then he had to have a good quality knowledge of Luz to take a path avoiding them.  Stranger does not equate with knowledge of Luz, it equates with ignorance of Luz.

Amaral was ignorant of the workings of Luz.  That was not a fault, it was a consequence of being a stranger to Luz.

Amaral was out of his depth in this case, IMO.  I cannot attach blame to him for this.  If Rebelo had been in charge from day 1, he would have been out of his depth, IMO.  If DCI Andy Redwood had been in charge from day 1, he would have been out of his depth, IMO.  If DCI Nicola Wall had been in charge from day 1, she would have been out of her depth, IMO.

Whatever captain was in charge, the storm surrounding the disappearance would have sunk the ship, IMO.

So, should Amaral have been moved?  Probably yes.  It was time to get fresh eyes looking at things, and get someone in who was not in the media firing line.

[ferryman]

I like his book.  Amongst other things, it shows us how hard it is for a stranger to Luz to successfully dispose of a body, or to conceal a body, survive the searches, retrieve the body and then dispose of it.

The 'Amaral Challenge' is brilliant, given that a detective with years of experience, added to years of experience of the Algarve, and with complete access to all the case files, could not answer it.

It is a brilliant challenge.  If you think the McCanns did it, all you have to do is show the McCanns beating the Amaral Challenge.

Credit where it's due.

That is a refreshing and novel 'alternative' take on the intention and purpose of the book

 

ETA: firmly tongue-in-cheek and with a twinkle in the eye, I think ....

[Lace]

I don't think a body was thrown into the sea or a bin. If I wanted to hide something and I was a stranger I would head straight to the nearby dark deserted beach.

What then?  dig a hole in the sand?

I thought the beach wasn't deserted,  I thought there were people there searching all through the night?

[Alice Purjorick]

He says in his book he made a retort putting down the British Police,   he says they wanted to take the route of abduction and just follow everything the McCann's wanted.   I find that quite ridiculous,   he was the person in charge of the case.   It is more likely they saw that he was taking the wrong course of action and he wouldn't listen to them.

I wouldn't take too much notice of what is in his book in the same way I wouldn't take too much notice of what is in Kate McCann's book. They are both pretty much "The Gospel According to St Me".
I wouldn't even have given him an OBE because I thought he was on the wrong trail. The reason is far simpler than that. Were I his boss looking for a conviction in the long run I wouldn't want my senior officer on the case to be the subject of an investigation into falsifying documents.