“Diga-nos por favor onde está o Rui Pedro”

766 jovens desaparecidos este ano

Correio da Manhã

Gerry e Kate McCann pediram protecção policial após terem sido distribuídos, na sexta-feira, à população de Rothley, Inglaterra, onde vivem, folhetos com argumentos que conduzem até à culpa de ambos no desaparecimento de Maddie, a 3 de Maio de 2007, na Praia da Luz, Lagos.

‘O que realmente aconteceu a Maddie McCann? – Dez razões-chave que sugerem que ela não foi raptada’. Este é o título dos 500 folhetos que foram distribuídos pelas caixas de correio de várias casas por elementos da Fundação Madeleine. Curiosamente, tal não aconteceu na residência de Kate e Gerry. O folheto aponta dez razões e justifica-as com alguns factos.

"Somos pessoas pacíficas, não fazemos mal a ninguém, só queremos passar a nossa mensagem. Não percebo porque os McCann foram pedir ajuda à polícia", disse o responsável da fundação, Anthony Benett, em conversa telefónica com o CM.

O advogado, que há muito luta pela existência de uma investigação privada ao caso, justificou a criação desta medida. "No final do ano passado lançámos o livro ‘60 razões pela qual Madeleine não foi raptada’, já vendemos 3000 cópias, e agora quisemos fazer uma versão resumida e passá-la à população. A maioria dos ingleses não sabe bem o que se passou naquela noite, mas muitos acreditam que Gerry e Kate não estão a dizer a verdade toda", disse Benett, explicando que a distribuição dos folhetos começou em Maio, em locais como Londres, Devon, Gales do Sul, Nottingham e Leicester. "Basicamente, partilhamos dos argumentos apresentados pelo investigador Gonçalo Amaral".

Um amigo da família McCann disse à imprensa inglesa que este folheto não passa de "um golpe maldoso". "É terrível Gerry e Kate saberem que os vizinhos estão a ler mentiras. A família está a sofrer e sente-se enganada, pois estes folhetos em nada vão ajudar a encontrar Maddie". 

AS DEZ RAZÕES

1- Maioria das crianças raptadas de casa já está morta

2- Cães farejadores detectam odor a cadáver no apartamento

3- As reacções estranhas do casal após as descobertas dos cães

4- Impossibilidade de um raptor ter entrado em casa

5- Recusa dos McCann e dos amigos em ajudarem a polícia

6- Alteração da versão da história pelos McCann e os amigos

7- McCann apressam-se a arranjar advogados e porta-vozes

8- Reacção estranha dos amigos após Kate ter anunciado rapto

9- McCann fizeram planos para assinalar desaparecimento no futuro

10- Gerry e Kate lavaram o boneco que Maddie carregava sempre

“Não vou deixar de procurar o Rui”

Sofial Leal não gostou de ver a mãe de Maddie acusar o marido, Gonçalo Amaral, de ser uma vergonha  «como pessoa e profissional». A mulher do ex-inspector da PJ decidiu responder a Kate McCann, escrevendo-lhe uma carta aberta, noticia o Correio da Manhã.

O sarcasmo é uma das notas dominantes da carta de Sofia Leal. Começa por agradecer a Kate «o sentimento» que as une «às duas», para dizer a seguir que, como de mulher do inspector responsável pelo caso da Madeleine, foi a ausência do marido que lhe causou mais angústia.

A mulher de Gonçalo Amaral faz questão de elogiar o profissionalismo do marido, «enquanto coordenador da investigação criminal» no desaparecimento de Maddie. 

«O meu esposo sempre se recusou a estar sentado das 9h às 17h na confortável cadeira do seu gabinete, como aliás é inerente àquela categoria. Em vez disso, passava o dia com os investigadores no terreno», escreve Sofia Leal.

A mulher do ex-inspector, que depois de ter sido afastado do caso Maddie, se reformou da PJ, invoca vários exemplos de sacrifício pessoal. Sofia refere a mudança de casa da sua família, na altura em que o marido estava ausente para «procurar a filha da Sra. Kate».

«As nossas filhas nunca compreenderam – e nós nunca conseguimos explicar-lhes que ‘motivos tão óbvios’ seriam esses que assim premiavam um pai que deixava as suas filhas para procurar uma criança que nem conhecia e cujos pais a tinham negligenciado», queixa-se Sofia Leal.

«Pena foi que a minha cara amiga Sra. Dª Kate, já cá não estivesse à data, porque até poderia ter-nos sido de grande utilidade na tentativa de explicação dos ‘motivos óbvios’ da demissão do pai às nossas filhas…», remata a mulher de Gonçalo Amaral.

SOL

Mário obrigada pela visita e comentário, desculpe mas não me lembro se era  um dos visitantes habituais deste blog, em tempos quanto o assunto era quente, foram muitas as pessoas que aqui deram as suas opiniões, eu própria criei-o por este ser um dos assuntos que mais me preocupa, e porque tive esperança que a mediatização  do caso Maddie, pudesse contribuir para um arranque no interesse da opinião pública e das autoridades por este assunto. Rápidamente constatámos que o assunto era outro, de tal forma que muitos de nós temos dificuldade em entendê-lo, e o assunto esmoreceu, e, com ele, foram as esperanças de que se fizesse algo mais pelas crianças portuguesas desaparecidas.

Quanto ao Inspector Gonçalo Amaral, reitero, o meu Louvor, e desejo-lhe as maiores felicidades para o seu livro e para a sua vida.

Ah! E caso tenha sido ele que partiu a cara à mãe da Joana, agradeco-lhe em nome de todas as crianças maltratadas, desaparecidas e mortas.

gm

Se llama Mari Luz Cortés, tiene cinco años y su rastro se perdió el domingo por la tarde en Huelva. El cuerpo Nacional de Policía, la Policía Local, la Guardia Civil y los bomberos la buscan desde entonces. De cabello rubio, piel clara y ojos verdes, Mari Luz vestía un suéter fucsia, falda vaquera tableada y botas cuando salió de su casa, hacia las 16.30, en el barrio onubense del Torrejón.

Según contaba ayer su madre, Irene Suárez, la niña salió con un euro en la mano para comprar una bolsa de patatas en un quiosco cercano. Tras adquirir su chuchería -según confirmó el quiosquero-, nadie más volvió a verla. Entre los vecinos se especula con que la menor estuviese acompañada de otras dos niñas algo mayores que ella, pero la policía no lo ha confirmado.

"Muchas veces salía para comprar golosinas o lo que fuese. Pero el quiosco está al lado de casa y nunca le había pasado nada. A veces iba con alguno de sus dos hermanos mayores; otras, sola", recordaba ayer la madre, rota por el dolor. Irene afirma que su hija es una niña "muy lista", pero también "muy tímida" y que nunca se hubiese ido con alguien al que no conociese.

Juan José Cortés, el padre de la pequeña, hundido en el salón de su casa, pedía ayer, junto a su mujer, que le devolviesen a su hija. "No tenemos rencillas con nadie. A lo mejor ha sido un malentendido. A cualquiera le puede pasar si ve una niña sola y piensa que no tiene a nadie. Pero, por favor, que nos la devuelva, que no le pasará nada al que lo haya hecho". Los padres, de etnia gitana, han trabajado en la venta ambulante. Hace poco, él, que es militante socialista y ha sido entrenador de las divisiones infantiles del Recreativo de Huelva, montó una empresa de construcción. "He vivido momentos muy difíciles en mi vida, pero este es el peor", decía, casi en voz baja, frente a una nube de periodistas que invadían el salón de su casa.

El padre de la pequeña sostenía ayer una foto de su hija. El día anterior, él, como el resto de su familia, pensó que la demora de la pequeña se debía a la habitual visita que la niña hacía a la casa de su abuela o sus tías, muy cercanas a la suya. Pero al llamar al domicilio de estos familiares y comprobar que la niña no estaba, cundió la preocupación.Las labores de ayer para buscar a la niña Mari Luz Cortés, desaparecida el domingo en Huelva, incluyeron un helicóptero, una unidad canina de bomberos y otra de buceo del mismo cuerpo. El rastreo se centró en calles cercanas, el vecino parque Moret -el más grande de la ciudad-, y edificios en obras, pozos y colectores de agua.

La familia presentó denuncia en la Policía Nacional y decenas de vecinos y familiares, bajo la lluvia y el viento que azotaban Huelva la tarde del domingo, comenzaron a buscar a la pequeña. Poco después, se le unieron efectivos de la Policía Local, la Policía Nacional y la Guardia Civil, que mantiene un amplio dispositivo de rastreo al que ayer se unió el cuerpo de bomberos.

La familia vivió ayer la angustia arropada por sus vecinos, que repartieron y colgaron fotografías de la menor con dos números de teléfono para contactar. Y es que todo el mundo se conoce en el Torrejón. Por eso nadie temía que la niña, conocida por todos, corriese ningún peligro en el centenar de metros entre su casa y el quiosco; un trayecto en el que no tenía que bajarse de la acera. "Mi hijo fue quien la atendió el domingo", recordaba el dueño del quiosco donde se vio por última vez a Mari Cruz. "La niña vino, como otras veces, y compró una bolsa de patatas. Y se fue", relata.

Elpaís

MANUEL J. ALBERT - Huelva - 15/01/2008

O luto dói!

Cada dia que passa a dor é mais forte.

Estou a sofrer muito com a morte da minha Mãe

Para ti mãezinha um carinho

Para ti, Rui Pedro, não posso deixar de registar esta notícia, e a tristeza de pertencermos a este pobre país.

Para ti e todas crianças desaparecidas, e suas famíias, só posso deixar um beijo de carinho, e a esperança de que, algum dia, possam voltar para o vosso lugar.

Graça

Rui Pedro: PJ/Porto desconhece qualquer nova diligência sobre desaparecimento do rapaz

Porto, 08 Nov (Lusa) - A PJ/Porto desconhece a existência de qualquer nova diligência em torno do processo do desaparecimento em 1998, em Lousada, de Rui Pedro, então com 11 anos, garantindo que "não apareceu nenhum dado novo".

Uma fonte da Secção Regional da Brigada de Combate ao Banditismo afirmou à agência Lusa que, "embora o processo não tenha sido arquivado, como é norma em casos semelhantes, também não registou avanços por falta de provas".

A fonte precisou que a Brigada não tem conhecimento de qualquer elemento novo, nem recente nem nos últimos anos, que possa conduzir ao paradeiro do Rui Pedro, sublinhando que "também não há nenhuma diligência" pedida pelo Departamento Central de Investigação e Acção Penal (DCIAP), situado em Lisboa, no âmbito do inquérito.

"Ninguém foi, recentemente, constituído arguido ou interrogado", afirmou a fonte, frisando que um dos suspeitos, Afonso Dias, que teria sido a última pessoa a ver o Rui Pedro, foi constituído arguido ainda em 1998, mas sem que nada se provasse de concreto sobre o seu envolvimento no misterioso desaparecimento da criança.

O advogado dos pais de Rui Pedro disse hoje que está a ser explorada uma nova linha de investigação deste processo que não tinha sido considerada no início.

Em declarações à Agência Lusa, Ricardo Sá Fernandes disse que não pode falar sobre o processo por se encontrar em segredo de Justiça, mas adiantou que desde há dois anos que existe uma nova linha de investigação.

"Não é uma coisa de hoje. Existem já dois anos de diligências a vários níveis que permitem ter alguma esperança que se possa vir a descobrir o que aconteceu. Rui Pedro desapareceu, quem esteve ligado a esse desaparecimento e porquê?", referiu.

Por seu turno, Filomena Teixeira, a mãe do jovem desaparecido, disse hoje à Lusa que tinha recebido informações de que "o Afonso seria ouvido, de novo, na PJ do Porto, por indicação dos magistrados titulares do caso no DCIAP".

Na quarta-feira a TVI avançou que o suspeito pelo desaparecimento de Rui Pedro foi constituído arguido passados dez anos sobre os acontecimentos.

Segundo a estação de televisão, a Polícia Judiciária (PJ) concluiu que Afonso, o suspeito em causa, pode ter raptado Rui Pedro para o colocar numa rede de pedofilia, mas também não está posta de parte a hipótese de acidente e ocultação de cadáver.

Ricardo Sá Fernandes não confirmou nem desmentiu esta informação, dizendo apenas que não pode falar sobre o processo.

"A única coisa que posso dizer é que o inquérito continua a decorrer e há dois anos que tem sido explorada uma linha de investigação que não tinha sido considerada no início", referiu.

Segundo o advogado, tanto o pai como a mãe de Rui Pedro estão a acompanhar o processo, tendo já sido chamados várias vezes ao Ministério Público.

"As diligências estão em curso com consistência. Ainda é cedo para falar sobre isso", disse.

Para a mãe de Rui Pedro, Filomena Teixeira, a investigação judicial ao caso "só peca por tardia", conforme disse hoje à Lusa.

"Preciso de saber se o meu filho foi morto ou se foi levado para a pedofilia", afirmou à Lusa Filomena Teixeira, frisando que teve informações do advogado de que a PJ está a retomar a investigação.

Sobre o caso em concreto, disse que "se alguém que pode saber o que se passou naquela tarde de 04 de Março de 1998 deve ser o Afonso". "Ele esteve com o meu filho, antes dele desaparecer", salientou.

Por sua vez, uma fonte do Departamento Central de Investigação e Acção Penal (DCIAP) garantiu hoje à Lusa que o único arguido do caso do desaparecimento de Rui Pedro foi constituído em 1999.

Segundo a fonte do DCIAP, onde corre o processo, "há um arguido constituído neste caso que já foi ouvido como tal em Junho de 1999".

Rui Pedro foi visto pela última vez a 04 de Março de 1998 quando tinha onze anos, supostamente enquanto andava de bicicleta num terreno baldio atrás do escritório onde a mãe trabalhava, em Lousada, distrito do Porto.

LM/GC.

Lusa/Fim

"There's been a disaster, it's a disaster," he told his mother-in-law. "Madeleine has been abducted from her bed."

His wife Kate added: "She's gone mum, she's gone."

Speaking for the first time about the emotional call, Susan Healy said her son-in-law was so hysterical on the phone that she was unsure what he was saying.

"I thought he was talking about a car accident," she said.

"It took me a while because he was hysterical. And then he just said 'Madeleine has been abducted from her bed'."

Speaking from their Liverpool home, Mrs Healy, 61, and her husband Brian described how they tried to comfort the McCanns.

"I was able to say to her [Kate], 'We'll be able to get her back'," said Mrs Healy.

"I'm finding it harder to say that. But we're not going to acknowledge she's gone from our life altogether."

Mrs McCann's parents spoke about the call during an interview on Spanish TV they had given to refute claims that their daughter was involved in Madeleine's disappearance on May 3.

But Mrs Healy said that seeing Mrs McCann named as an official suspect was not as bad as the fear that Madeleine, four, could be dead.

Speaking to Antena 3, she said: "I don't understand the fact that Kate's been made an arguida [official suspect].

"I know it's rubbish and because I believe things usually work out, I'm reasonably confident this will go away.

For Madeleine to be dead, that's something that could never be rectified.

"One would hope that if someone has got Madeleine, he's caring for her so her trauma will be eased eventually."

Mr Healy, speaking in a whisper as he fought to control his emotions, vowed: "We will keep searching."

And, in an emotional message to Madeleine, his wife said: "Stay strong and we'll get you back."

Lawyers for the McCanns - who are both official suspects - will soon be allowed to see the police files on the case.

Under Portugal's new penal code the secrecy laws covering the investigation will be lifted on November 14. The rule also applies to a third suspect, Robert Murat, a British ex-pat who lives with his mother in Praia da Luz.

All three will still be barred from speaking publicly about the case.

The McCanns, who are both 39-year-old doctors, are back home in Rothley, Leicestershire, with their two-year-old twins.

Yesterday Madeleine's father welcomed an announcement by Alipio Ribeiro, head of the Policia Judiciaria in Portugal, that friends who were holidayed with the family were to be re-interviewed by detectives.

Mr McCann wrote on his internet blog: "We do not know how many other 'witnesses' will be interviewed but obviously we want to be eliminated from the inquiry as soon as possible.

"We constantly hope that one of the other lines of investigation leads to Madeleine being found safe and well."

A waiter at the Ocean Club resort said the McCanns were 'very cool' after the disappearance and told how they seemed less upset than their friends.

Jose Baptista said Mr McCann even played tennis in the days after Madeleine vanished, and directly contradicted Mrs Healy's description of the parents as hysterical.

He said: "What we found really strange was Gerry, days after the little girl disappeared, calmly playing tennis. He played with an old couple from England, I think they were his parents or something.

"I thought that everybody else in the group seemed more upset and stressed and bothered than the parents.

"They are very cool people. I never saw them cry or anything. They played tennis and went jogging. They didn't seem as distraught as their friends.

"If my kid disappeared I'd go insane. I wouldn't be able to function. They'd have to lock me away. They were so cool about it. Everybody around them seemed more upset than they were."

Dailymail 24th October 2007

GERRY McCann checked on his daughter Madeleine every 20 minutes while she was alone in their holiday flat, but wife Kate went only once — on the night the tot vanished, it was claimed yesterday.

A waiter at the resort where they ate out nightly with three other couples told The Sun it was always the men who looked in on the children.

The employee, who did not want to be named, said the only time Kate left the table to check was at 10pm on May 3 — and she found her daughter gone.

The key witness revealed for the first time sensational new details of the night Maddie disappeared.

The waiter recalled hearing “terrible screams” when Maddie’s disappearance was discovered.

He said doctors Gerry and Kate, 39, always sat with seven friends at the same outdoor table at the tapas bar, close to their apartments.

It meant they could all regularly check on their children.

He said: “The group always came around 8pm, within five minutes of each other. They always left together between 10.30pm and 11pm.”

Initially the couples went to the restaurant with their children in tow. But the youngsters were cranky and they moved to the nearer poolside tapas bar after a “quiet word” with the manager.

                                                      Wine

The waiter added: “To get a table guests have to queue up at reception from 11am on the day.

“But somehow the McCanns made a special arrangement to get a table for nine for the last four nights of their holiday.

“There was a big round table near the pool. The McCanns and their friends had it every night. They obviously thought it was fine to leave the children in bed.

“They left their children alone for up to three hours every night. If I was in their position I wouldn’t have done that.

“They were obviously wealthy. Why didn’t they pay 15 euros an hour for a nanny to look after all the children in one apartment?”

He went on: “The apartments are all quite close — but there are trees in between so you can’t see them from the restaurant.

“Even though they were checking their children, there was a lot of time they were alone, when someone could have taken them. The routine was set in stone. If somebody had been watching they would have been able to choose the right moment to take the child.”

On the fateful night of May 3 the group apparently drank eight to ten bottles of wine. He said: “It’s been reported that they had 14 bottles a night. But I was serving them and I know.

“The adults were obviously enjoying some quiet time. I remember the men taking turns to check the children at least every half an hour. I think it was more like every 20 minutes. As far as I can remember, it was always the men, never the women. The only time I can remember Kate McCann ever leaving the table was the night that the little girl disappeared.

“It had been a normal night. Then it became madness.

“I went into the kitchen for a few minutes and when I came out I saw the McCanns’ table was totally empty except for the older woman. She looked scared.

“Then I heard shouting and terrible screaming from the apartments and my colleague told me a child had gone missing.

“After that it was chaos. People were running around shouting for Maddie and we all started to help looking for her.”

The waiter's wife saw Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leics, there with Maddie and twins Sean and Amelie, two.

                                                       Angelic

She remembers Maddie as an “angelic” and well-behaved child — contrary to Portuguese police smears that she was hyperactive and Kate could not cope.

She said: “I definitely remember Madeleine.

“She was like a little angel, very quiet and good as gold. Just a lovely little blonde girl.

“The second time they came in the McCanns were looking for high chairs for their twins and she started trying to drag them over. She obviously wanted to help her parents. It was sweet.”

Her husband added: “It was obvious at the time the police believed Madeleine had been abducted.”

A friend of the McCanns said last night: “Kate always felt, in awful hindsight, their movements were watched. They believe an abductor took Maddie.

“At the time, Kate and Gerry and the others felt that they had taken adequate care to leave the children. Obviously, they have been proved tragically mistaken.”

The eyewitness accounts come as Portuguese police prepare to fly to the UK to reinterview the McCanns’ friends.

They believe Rachael and Matthew Oldfield, Jane Tanner and her partner Russell O’Brien, David and Fiona Payne and her mother Dianne Webster hold more clues to what happened.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: “We cannot discuss the events of the night of May 3.”

The sun 23 Oct 2007

A antiga provedora da Casa Pia, Catalina Pestana, defende este sábado que a demora no julgamento do caso de pedofilia com crianças daquela instituição deve-se “porque era preciso” esperar por leis penais alegadamante mais brandas, referindo-se à entrada em vigor dos novos Códigos Penal e de Processo Penal.

Na segunda parte da sua entrevista ao semanário ‘Sol’, publicada hoje, Catalina Pestana considera que o artigo 30º do Código Penal, "como disseram vários juristas, foi feito expressamente para a Casa Pia", explicando que, ao contrário do que acontecia antes, “o actual Código Penal diz que um crime continuado de abuso sexual conta como um único crime".

"Eu percebo porque é que foi preciso esticar no tempo este processo, com o Tribunal a permitir a repetição de perguntas ‘ad infinitum’”, afirma a antiga responsável, referindo que ela própria foi ouvida durante cerca de três meses, “com os advogados todos a perguntarem aquilo que eu já tinha respondido três, quatro, cinco vezes” e que “às vítimas aconteceu o mesmo”.

Questionada sobre o facto de os novos Códigos terem sido aprovados com os votos do PS e do PSD, a ex-provedora afirma ter sido “uma das coisas que mais me incomodaram”, salientando que “só me dei conta da gravidade do que estava a acontecer com as alterações dos Códigos à medida que fui ouvindo os comentários dos especialistas”. Catalina precisa que “parece que todos estão de acordo em que houve aqui questões políticas e não só técnicas e jurisdicionais”, acrescentando que ambos os partidos aprovaram a nova legislação porque “havia um pacto de Justiça, além de que a diferença entre os dois partidos hoje em dia tem de se ver ao microscópio, já não basta uma lupa”.

“Quanto às oposições, o meu sentimento é que esta votação ultrapassa muito os partidos políticos e que algumas alterações foram lideradas por outra formas que as pessoas têm de se organizar... mais discreta”, diz a antiga provedora quando indagada se se referia à Maçonaria.

“Mesmo assim eu não digo ‘a Maçonaria’, mas sim alguns sectores da Maçonaria”, declara Catalina Pestana, defendendo não se tratar de “uma associação de malfeitores, mas tem um defeito tenebroso: os seus elementos protegem-se uns aos outros”.

A ex-responsável anuncia ainda a criação, em Janeiro de 2008, de uma Rede de Cuidadores para defender as crianças de eventuais abusadores. “Se nos partidos todos acharam que este Código Penal e este Código de Processo Penal eram muito bons então a sociedade civil tem de se organizar para defender pelo menos aqueles que não têm ninguém adulto que os defenda”, refere a antiga provedora, esclarecendo que esta ideia, que será uma ONG independente, “decorre do processo Casa Pia”.

“A uma rede de abusadores só consegue opor-se uma rede de cuidadores”, frisa Catalina, explicando que a organização “irá intervir ao nível da formação de técnicos que trabalham com as vítimas, terá também apoio jurídico e um casa para que as vítimas não tenham de voltar à casa do abusador para dormir”.

Questionada se pretende divulgar nomes de pessoas alegadamente envolvidas neste caso de pedofilia, a antiga provedora diz que “quando isso acontecer, eu já cá não estarei. Vou deixá-los a quem há-de ficar vivo, para só daqui a 25 anos o publicar , como a lei diz”, sublinhando que vai deixar essa lista “a alguém de confiança absoluta”.

Recorde-se que na semana passada, Catalina Pestana denunciou a continuidade de abusos sexuais na Casa Pia e que havia informado a Procuradoria-Geral da República das suas suspeitas. O gabinete de Pinto Monteiro confirmou ter recebido a queixa e a abertura de um inquérito à denúncia da antiga provedora.

CM 13/10/07

O processo relativo aos alegados abusos sexuais de que a pequena Joana teria sido vítima antes da morte – pela qual foram condenados a mãe e o tio, Leonor e João Cipriano – foi arquivado pelo Ministério Público (MP) de Portimão.

Segundo o CM apurou junto de fontes judiciais, a decisão, conhecida ontem, teve por base a existência de “dúvidas” do MP relativamente à proveniência de vestígios de sangue e de sémen encontrados pela Polícia Judiciária num par de cuecas da criança de oito anos, bem como num lençol e numa colcha da sua cama e ainda numa t-shirt.

No inquérito tinham sido constituídos arguidos Leonor e João Cipriano, bem como o padrasto de Joana, António Leandro. Um outro tio da menina, Nelson Cipriano, chegou também a ser investigado neste caso mas o processo respectivo fora já arquivado pelo Ministério Público.

O sémen de Leandro foi encontrado ,“com grande probabilidade”, nas cuecas e no referido lençol. No entanto, a procuradora-adjunta do MP encarregue do processo entendeu existirem “dúvidas” sobre o modo como o sémen chegou a tais peças de roupa: poderia ter sido através de contacto sexual com a menor mas também de contágio com outro vestuário (a limpeza e tratamento das roupas eram negligenciadas na habitação da menina de oito anos). Além disso, sustenta o MP, Leandro nunca admitiu quaisquer contactos sexuais com Joana e recusou mesmo fornecer amostras biológicas para exames de ADN. A procuradora considerou ser “inútil” a realização de novos estudos a amostras genéticas do padrasto da menina.

João Cipriano negou igualmente tal envolvimento, apesar de ser dele o sémen detectado na t-shirt, facto que, contudo, se poderá explicar pelo facto (admitido pelo próprio) de ter mantido relações sexuais com a irmã, Leonor Cipriano.

No despacho de arquivamento refere-se também que todas as pessoas ouvidas nunca desconfiaram de qualquer envolvimento sexual entre Joana e os dois homens.

Quanto a Leonor Cipriano, o MP entende que não foram recolhidos indícios suficientes que permitissem concluir ter a mesma conhecimento de que a filha era vítima de abusos sexuais, ou que tivesse qualquer intervenção nessa situação.

CM 12/10/07

FIVE months after her baby vanished from a seemingly safe family holiday home, the media circus had long since rolled out of town.

Penniless and devastated, Ben Needham’s 19-year-old mother Kerry was home alone in her Sheffield council flat, while on Kos – the Greek isle where she last saw her 21-month-old son – efforts to find him had all but ground to a halt.

For Kerry, who has lived for 16 years in the desperate hope of finding her little boy, Madeleine McCann’s disappearance is an agonising reminder of her first weeks and months without him. But while the parallels between the cases are striking, to Kerry it’s the differences that torment her just as much.

There is no sign that police or public interest in the McCann case, which has dominated the headlines ever since that fateful night in May, will fade soon.

This week, in a bid to find her son, Kerry released a computer-generated image of what Ben might look like now that he is about to turn 18.

But she fears it might be too little too late and that the police and the public have forgotten this terrible story in a way the McCanns’ experience never will be.

Kerry believes she knows why. “I think because of their status they have friends in high places and I think that’s why they’ve had the help that they’ve had. Unfortunately we are just an ordinary working-class family and I don’t think people thought Ben was important enough… that’s how it comes across to us.”

The McCanns would almost certainly say that the hugely successful campaign to keep their daughter in the public consciousness was the result of nothing more than teamwork and lateral thinking.
But Kerry – now separated from Ben’s father Simon Ward and married to builder Craig Grist – suspects it has been far easier for the McCanns, as wealthy, middle-class doctors, to maintain a high profile and appeal to their many rich and powerful supporters.

Gordon Brown made an immediate pledge to help the Mc­Canns in any way he could. Prince Charles and Camilla sent a message of support. The Pope met and prayed for them while football stars David Beckham and Christiano Ron­aldo, as well as the McCanns,  made TV pleas for information.

Websites were launched, minutes’ silence fell and the world wore yellow ribbons to keep the search for Maddie alive. The coverage has been extraordinary.

But for Kerry, it has been difficult to watch. “Everybody has bent over backwards with Madeleine McCann, which I am glad of –  they deserve all that help – but so do we, even 16 years later we need that support.

Made­leine’s parents are middle-class people with important jobs and seemed to have had a publicity machine behind them straight away.

“When Ben vanished there was just me, my mum and my dad and we did the best we could to keep the case going but we got very little help from the police or the authorities. The McCanns have been treated differently to us because we are working class. My dad was a builder and that’s basically what it comes down to. And that’s just not fair.”

The Needhams were so poor that, six weeks after Ben went missing, they had to give up their search and sell everything they owned – including almost all of his toys – to pay for tickets home from Greece. All Kerry took with her were a few of Ben’s teddy bears and a set of farm animals.

These she placed in the Winnie the Pooh-themed bedroom which she created for him in the council flat she was given on her return.

“We couldn’t afford to fly so we left by ferry,” she says. “As the ferry pulled away from Kos I wanted to jump overboard and swim back. The hardest thing I did was to leave Kos without Ben.”

But for the McCanns, whose heartbreakingly perfect family portrait is now well known to us all, the after-effect of Madeleine’s disappearance has been quite different. For starters, they have Sir Richard Branson’s £100,000 promise to cover legal costs.

And while both Maddie and Ben’s cases generated huge media coverage at the outset, sadly, interest in the Needhams’ might not have waned so quickly had they not seemed like such a dysfunctional lot.

Ben’s grandparents Eddie and Christine Needham moved from Sheffield to Kos in 1991. Eddie, a burly labourer with homemade tattoos on his knuckles, planned to earn the family income by rebuilding tumbledown farmhouses. They took their sons  Stephen, then 17, and Danny, 12.

Before long they persuaded their daughter Kerry to join them with her boyfriend Ward and their son Ben. Christine, who became a grandmother at 38, said she would care for the baby.

The whole family decamped to the village of Kako Prinari, where Kerry found work in a hotel. But soon after Ben’s disappearance it transpired that this set-up was hardly the idyll they had hoped for.

Ward, 21, an un­employed painter and decorator who was “known to the police”, had fled Kos for Sheffield three days before his son went missing.

He admitted that he and Kerry had split after a row over her fidelity. He had found a note in her handbag from Manos Kamateros, Kerry’s hotel manager, which said: “I want to make love to you. Please!” So Ward went home in a rage after punching Kamateros.

It was hardly a tale to inspire public sympathy and although it was illogical to link the episode with Ben’s disappearance, it unfairly painted them as irresponsible parents and Kerry, like Kate, found herself under suspicion.

Ben went missing on July 24 while in the care of his grandmother.

She had taken him for lunch with his grandfather and uncles at the house they were renovating.

As the grown-ups ate, Ben entertained himself, running in and out of the house. Like the McCanns, the Needhams say they checked on him “every few minutes”. When his uncle Stephen hopped on his scooter and set off for a swim at the nearby beach, Ben, just a baby, toddled after him and asked for a ride.

Stephen said no and pointed Ben back to the house before driving away – but Ben didn’t walk those few yards back to safety and was never seen again.

Even when the family realised he was missing they assumed he had gone to the beach with Stephen and didn’t raise the alarm until five hours later. So, as with Madeleine, no one can pinpoint the exact time he disappeared and, if Ben was kidnapped, the perpetrators had a head-start on their getaway.

As in Madeleine’s case, local police were very slow to respond to the family’s call. Like Kate and Gerry, Kerry and her family conducted the first search of the surrounding area with little police assistance and no helicopter searches were ordered.

It took detectives two days to issue Ben’s photograph to officials at the airport and the harbour, giving kidnappers plenty of time to smuggle him out of the country.

The popular theory at the time was that a beautiful, blond-haired, blue-eyed child would be a prize snatch for gypsy racketeers known to have abducted toddlers in Greece and sold them to wealthy childless couples.

Greek police questioned one woman about her movements when Ben was snatched but Kerry claims that “incompetent” officers bungled the inquiry and has demanded that Interpol review reported sightings of the woman’s car at the remote spot where Ben was last seen.

For Kerry – living without her son and without the knowledge that would allow her to grieve for him properly – it is marginally more bearable if she can believe he is happy and healthy somewhere in the world. If that is true, her baby will turn 18 on October 29.

Kerry has written to Gordon Brown, urging him to review Ben’s case. But unlike the McCanns, who for a time were in regular phone contact with the Prime Minister, she received just a letter in reply.

She says: “I firmly believe that Ben is still out there but if nobody is looking for him we will never find him. We have suffered for 16 years at the hands of the Kos police. They were indifferent to the case from the very start and they were not interested in finding my son.”

But the British were not a lot of help either. “I’m pleased for the McCann family that they had a lot of support, with British police going out there. We didn’t have that. And the British ambassador has helped them. We didn’t get anyone from the British Embassy.”

No one from the embassy in Athens visited the Needhams in Kos and their pleas for Scotland Yard’s assistance were refused because no official request had been made by the Greek police.

“If we had had the help and support that Madeleine’s parents have had we might have stayed in Greece longer,” she says.

Kerry returned to the loneliest life imaginable, forgotten by those who could have helped her to find her boy, dead or alive.

In quiet moments she thought she could hear Ben calling for her and only when she gave birth to his sister Leighanna five years later – after being briefly reunited with Ben’s father – did the overwhelming urge to end it all finally leave her.

Although she still suffers serious bouts of depression, she says she and her family have never – and will never – give up hope.

“The pain of losing him is very much still there but as a family we get that pain and turn it into strength for us to carry on.”

Daily Express

Thursday October 11,2007

The Leicestershire force said it did not back the theory put forward by Portuguese detectives that the four-year-old died in the care of her parents, Gerry and Kate, which was leaked to a Portuguese newspaper this week.

The daily Correio da Manha quoted unnamed sources as saying British officers believed the missing fouryearold's corpse was hidden in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

But the force refuted the claim, saying: "Leicestershire Constabulary have been careful not to offer an opinion as to what has happened to Madeleine as it is not party to all the evidence as it is not our investigation."

Such a statement is unprecedented for the British force, which has been reluctant to provide a "running commentary" on the five-month-old case.

The move also highlighted the deep divisions between detectives in the McCanns' home county and those in Portugal.

A British source linked to the inquiry said: "It appears that Portuguese police are resorting to dirty tricks to divert attention from their troubled investigation."

The stand-off between the two forces follows yet another controversial week in the search for Madeleine.

Portugal's most senior policeman admitted that the search for Madeleine has been hit by a fresh crisis every day.

Alipio Ribeiro, national head of the Policia Judiciaria, said the case lurched from problem to problem.

He spoke out after details emerged of souring relations between the former head of the investigation and the public prosecutor, Jose Magalhaes e Menezes.

Goncalo Amaral - who was sacked this week - wanted Kate McCann to be remanded in custody after she allegedly refused to answer questions about forensic evidence in the case.

He demanded she be charged with child abandonment but the prosecutor refused, saying he would not issue any arrest warrants in the case, the weekly Portuguese newspaper Expresso claimed.

Mr Menezes also refused to send a letter to Britain, asking for Portuguese police to be allowed to interrogate the McCanns.

The row damaged relations between the two men and contributed to the decision to sack Mr Amaral on Tuesday after he claimed British police only investigated leads which helped the couple.

Portugal's justice minister was forced to step in to insist there was good co-operation between officers in the Algarve and Britain.

It also emerged that the six-strong squad conducting the investigation in Portugal had been halved in less than a week, to just three officers.

In the weeks after Madeleine disappeared on May 3, there were up to 200 officers involved in the case.

A source told another Portuguese newspaper, 24 Horas: "This is too small a team for the demands of this case so the investigation will now slow down."

DailyMail 06/10/07

Madeleine: Police on trial for torturing mother of another missing girl

The senior Portuguese detective jointly in charge of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is set to face a criminal hearing into an alleged cover-up involving another missing girl.

Chief Inspector Goncalo Amaral has been accused of concealing evidence that the mother of eight-year-old Joana Cipriano, who disappeared in the Algarve three years ago, was tortured by police into confessing she had killed her daughter, whose body was never found.

DailyMail 16th September 2007

É NO MÍNIMO CURIOSO, "O INSPECTOR BEBEDO"

OS MACCANN QUE COM UM GRUPO DE 9 AMIGOS BEBERAM 14 GARRAFAS DE VINHO,

TENDO "DEIXADO" OS FILHOS COM 2 E 4 ANOS SÓZINHOS EM CASA O QUE SÃO?

- EM PORTUGAL SE COM PORTUGUESES ERAM NO MÍNIMO PAIS INCOMPETENTES, A QUEM A SEGURANÇA SOCIAL TIRARIA IMEDIATAMENTE OS FILHOS.

- EM INGLATERRA, A LEI É AINDA MAIS DURA QUE EM PORTUGAL.

- EM PORTUGAL SE COM INGLESES, NO PROBLEM, THEY ARE NAIVE

ARCO-íRIS

Kate e Gerry McCann esperam que a vinda de um novo coordenador para a investigação do caso do desaparecimento da sua filha Madeleine traga um novo impulso na busca da menina, escreve hoje a imprensa britânica que se refere a Gonçalo Amaral como «inspector bêbedo»

Fonte próxima do casal McCann afirmou ao Daily Mirror que Kate e Gerry estão prontos para regressar a Portugal e conhecer o substituto do demissionário Gonçalo Amaral, que conduzia as investigações.

O jornal, que se refere ao ex-coordenador como «inspector bêbedo», diz que os pais estão convencidos que, após o afastamento deste agente da Polícia Judiciária, as buscas serão intensificadas.

A mesma fonte reforçou: «Esperamos que esta mudança volte a orientar todos os esforços para encontrar Madeleiene».

SOL 04/10/07

Uma entrevista decapitou o responsável pela investigação do caso Maddie e é reveladora de duas coisas. A primeira é que a PJ continua sem perceber que as relações com a Comunicação Social têm de ser feitas por profissionais de comunicação e não por polícias. É um problema que se arrasta há anos

CM 03/10/07

Gonçalo Amaral demitido

Direcção da PJ desagradada com declarações do coordenador de Portimão

 SIC/ 02/10/07

Esta foi uma das resoluções da reunião informal de dois dias dos ministros da Justiça e dos Assuntos Internos da União Europeia, que se realizou em Lisboa.

Segundo o ministro português da justiça, Alberto Costa, «a criação de um mecanismo de alerta de rapto à escala europeia deve funcionar de modo flexível, complementando a cooperação entre autoridades dos Estados-membros, deverá assentar essencialmente nos media e ser dirigido ao público em geral».

No entender dos ministros dos 27 países-membros, é útil a divulgação de uma lista de crianças desaparecidas actualizada no futuro portal de justiça electrónica.

O portal de e-justice deverá também «permitir o contacto directo com as autoridades centrais e com o mediador europeu, cujo papel deve ser reforçado».

Foi ainda proposta «a condenação e punição da utilização da Internet» quando esta servir para cometer crimes contra crianças, tendo sido pedida à Comissão Europeia «a apresentação de propostas de medidas que permitam melhorar a prevenção e o combate de tais práticas», explicou Alberto Costa.

O reforço da cooperação e o intercâmbio de informações relevantes entre autoridades nacionais e a Europol e a Eurojust foi outra das propostas discutidas na reunião.

Foi igualmente decidido que a Convenção sobre o Cibercrime e a Convenção do Conselho da Europa sobre protecção de crianças contra a exploração e o abuso sexual devem ser ratificados e aplicados pelos 27 estados-membros.

Os governantes europeus querem também que haja uma avaliação da aplicação dos mecanismos de cooperação entre as autoridades dos diferentes países, «em especial a rede 24/7 (cooperação 24 horas por dia/sete dias por semana), criada pela Decisão-Quadro sobre ataques contra sistemas de informação».

No entender dos ministros, deve ainda ser «reconhecido e incentivado o contributo da sociedade civil e em particular das Organizações Não Governamentais (ONGs)» no domínio da protecção das crianças.

Os responsáveis europeus consideram «urgente a adopção de medidas concretas ao nível da UE que contribuam eficaz e imediatamente para o reforço da protecção das crianças». E um dos caminhos a seguir passa pela «rápida e eficiente cooperação entre Estados-membros, autoridades nacionais e órgãos e agências da EU para prevenir e combater os abusos cometidos contra as crianças».

Diário Digital / Lusa

02-10-2007 13:15:26

Never mind Burma, never mind the General Election, never mind bluetongue disease. There's only one question on everyone's lips - did the McCanns do it?

Did Kate McCann, as the Portuguese police believe, kill Madeleine accidentally and get her husband to help her hide and dispose of the body?

I don't know, but after 150 days I'm beginning to get some idea of what's going on in the police investigation.

Portuguese detectives initially rejected most offers of help from the UK. They did engage the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, and hunted for a suspect among internet paedophiles.

What they should also have been doing, with as much if not more urgency, was thoroughly investigating the McCanns and the apartment where Madeleine was last seen.

That bit they didn't do properly.

It was only after 100 days or so that the Portuguese authorities finally called the British police and asked for more help and advice.

UK officers were dispatched to collect the fresh forensic samples that were to prompt such a dramatic twist in the story.

When a child goes missing difficult questions have to be asked of the parents.

Most kids are killed by family or someone they know. And Kate and Gerry McCann were the last people to see Madeleine.

Now the couple are suspects, based on DNA evidence from an apartment that had since been re-let and a car - rented 25 days after Madeleine disappeared - that had been used by many people for 10 weeks.

Sources said the DNA from the car was a "complete" match of Madeleine's, leading Portuguese police to conclude that her body must have been in the vehicle.

The family insist the DNA can be explained by innocent transfer from Madeleine's clothes, and nappies used by her sibling twins Sean and Amelie.

Whatever the strength of that evidence, a half-decent defence lawyer would drive a horse and cart though it - with a blindfold on.

British detectives don't always get it right, but they are revered around the world. And they have a golden rule: first, clear the ground under your feet.

One of the UK's leading experts on child abduction was asked to help, late in the day, but refused.

He could see the mess the Portuguese detectives were in and didn't want to risk his reputation.

These thoughts are more fully explored in a special programme Madeleine: The Search For The Truth on Sky News tonight at 7.30pm.

Hopes that a blonde girl photographed in Morocco could be Madeleine McCann have been dashed after British journalists said they had tracked her down.

Reporters descended on the remote hillside village of Zinat in the north of the country after the image of a young girl being carried on a Moroccan woman's back was flashed around the world as a possible sighting of the missing girl.

But it quickly emerged that the girl in the photograph is believed by villagers to be five-year-old Bushra Binhisa, the daughter of an olive farmer.

Evening Standard journalist Rashid Razaq, who flew to Morocco from London, said he saw the youngster today.

He said: "She has got a resemblance to Madeleine but when you see her properly, it is obvious it isn't her."

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said: "Clearly, if these reports that the girl in the photograph isn't Madeleine are true, it is disappointing news.

"This is why Gerry and Kate refused to comment on individual sightings and why I was advising caution overnight.

"Clearly, the search for Madeleine will continue and I would appeal for everyone to refocus their efforts to achieve her safe return."

Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said photo experts in Britain would continue to look at the picture until this latest information is confirmed.

Skynews 26/09/07

In the wake of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, every type of child monitoring device is in demand

If your child could wear an implant – a microchip that could tell a computer where he or she was at any time to within a few metres – would you buy it? After the horrific snatch of three-year-old Madeleine McCann from her bed in Portugal, the answer from many parents seems to be “yes”.

TimesOnline 15/05/07