Why was Gonçalo Amaral taken off the Madeleine McCann case?

[Angelo222]

cite.....as per forum rules

Goncalo Amaral

“We did our job, the best we knew and we were the target of a lot critics and insults, from the British newspapers”, the former PJ inspector said. When the case of Joana Cipriano was first raised by the British Media, Mr. Amaral contacted the PJ director and called the attention for the risks, because those news about his alleged involvement in the “torture” of the mother of Joana Ciprianio would be, soon, a large campaign against him, and talked about the convenience of taking him out of investigation. “What they told me, later, was that I had all the support and should continue the work.”

www.gazetadigitalmadeleinecase.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/gonalo-amaral-and-madeleines-case-there.html?m=1

[Carana]

Interesting stuff, thank you.

When Amaral was taken off the case, was he actually removed from the position he had in Portimão, and if so, who got it?  I'm thinking of what they could have done earlier.

Rebelo was put on a fast train down to Portimão and Amaral got "promoted" back to Faro.

[Carana]

It's not clear to me whether Amaral was actually ever active again as a police officer once he'd been taken off the case.

[Alfred R Jones]

Goncalo Amaral

“We did our job, the best we knew and we were the target of a lot critics and insults, from the British newspapers”, the former PJ inspector said. When the case of Joana Cipriano was first raised by the British Media, Mr. Amaral contacted the PJ director and called the attention for the risks, because those news about his alleged involvement in the “torture” of the mother of Joana Ciprianio would be, soon, a large campaign against him, and talked about the convenience of taking him out of investigation. “What they told me, later, was that I had all the support and should continue the work.”

www.gazetadigitalmadeleinecase.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/gonalo-amaral-and-madeleines-case-there.html?m=1

I believe it is customary for "sceptics" not to believe a word written by Kate McCann in her book "Madeleine" and so one might say that supporters can legitimately treat every word written by Amaral with equal disdain.

[Carana]

I believe it is customary for "sceptics" not to believe a word written by Kate McCann in her book "Madeleine" and so one might say that supporters can legitimately treat every word written by Amaral with equal disdain.

I find it plausible that there may have been a discussion between Amaral and Encarnação.

However, even if that's the case, Encarnação - even by virtue of his age - may well have been more in tune with the "old school" and thought that the child would soon be found and that it would all blow over.

However, that turned out not to be the case and he got stomach cancer which, understandably, would have limited how far he would have been able to have effectively carried out his job as the head of the PJ for the whole of the Faro PJ jurisdiction.

[John]

The possibility of death in the apartment has not been disproved.

Amaral's removal from the investigation smacks of political intervention.

Does anyone think that the pressures put on Amaral combined with what was going on behind the scenes in the Cipriano case combined with his enforced absence from his wife and daughters had a destructive effect on him which his superiors had begun to notice.  Was his outburst to the journalist not simply the final nail?

[ferryman]

Does anyone think that the pressures put on Amaral combined with what was going on behind the scenes in the Cipriano case combined with his enforced absence from his wife and daughters had a destructive effect on him which his superiors had begun to notice.  Was his outburst to the journalist not simply the final nail?

He had pressures to bear.

Which maybe strengthens the argument that he ought, never, to have been appointed to coordinate the Madeleine investigation ....

[John]

He had pressures to bear.

Which maybe strengthens the argument that he ought, never, to have been appointed to coordinate the Madeleine investigation ....

I have some sympathy with that view but like many of these cases it isn't realised at the outset what a tortuous road the investigation might take.  Everything considered, I wonder if Gonçalo would decline to take the case if he could go back to the 3rd May 2007?  He has already talked of regrets including his regret that the parents weren't investigated immediately.

[Eleanor]

I have some sympathy with that view but like many of these cases it isn't realised at the outset what a tortuous road the investigation might take.  Everything considered, I wonder if Gonçalo would decline to take the case if he could go back to the 3rd May 2007?  He has already talked of regrets including his regret that the parents weren't investigated immediately.

I read somewhere, from his wife I think, that he gave up his holiday to take on the investigation.  I don't think he had to do it.

[stephen25000]

Does anyone think that the pressures put on Amaral combined with what was going on behind the scenes in the Cipriano case combined with his enforced absence from his wife and daughters had a destructive effect on him which his superiors had begun to notice.  Was his outburst to the journalist not simply the final nail?

How does that compare to the disappearance of your eldest child through a wanton act of repeated stupidity ?

[Brietta]

Does anyone think that the pressures put on Amaral combined with what was going on behind the scenes in the Cipriano case combined with his enforced absence from his wife and daughters had a destructive effect on him which his superiors had begun to notice.  Was his outburst to the journalist not simply the final nail?

Didn't his absence from his wife and daughters go with the turf of the kind of job he was in?
It was something he either should have been capable of handling or he should have stood aside before he was made to.

There must have been someone who was capable of balancing personal life and work.  Someone with experience to know that if not solved within the first few hours he/she could be in it for a long haul

I think the destructive effect was that his inexperience in handling a missing child case was showing through and he was wallowing.  So the frustration had to show somewhere ~ and the outburst was it.

[stephen25000]

Didn't his absence from his wife and daughters go with the turf of the kind of job he was in?
It was something he either should have been capable of handling or he should have stood aside before he was made to.

There must have been someone who was capable of balancing personal life and work.  Someone with experience to know that if not solved within the first few hours he/she could be in it for a long haul

I think the destructive effect was that his inexperience in handling a missing child case was showing through and he was wallowing.  So the frustration had to show somewhere ~ and the outburst was it.

IYO and hardly surprising.

[Brietta]

I have some sympathy with that view but like many of these cases it isn't realised at the outset what a tortuous road the investigation might take.  Everything considered, I wonder if Gonçalo would decline to take the case if he could go back to the 3rd May 2007?  He has already talked of regrets including his regret that the parents weren't investigated immediately.

I'm not sure where I read it (his book?), but wasn't one of his first acts as coordinator of Madeleine's case to send requests to the UK for background information on the Drs McCann and their companions?

If it wasn't ~ it should have been.

[Brietta]

I read somewhere, from his wife I think, that he gave up his holiday to take on the investigation.  I don't think he had to do it.

I honestly believe he was of the opinion that he had done a good job in 'solving' the Cipriano case and as a result was of the opinion that 'solving' another missing child case would be easy-peasy.

[stephen25000]

I see tonight it is the old ploy of attacking Amaral on a personal level.

Well, I assume the mccanns are fair game on that as well.