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I hear
that ex-Madeleine cop
Goncalo Amaral has tried to use the WikiLeaks revelation to
get the Portuguese investigation re-opened, but he's been rebuffed.
He urged
the Attorrney-General in Lisbon to find out exactly what evidence
against her parents was "developed" by British police.
I
imagine the top law officer
Jose Pinto Monteiro, already knew what
it was all about.
He said
today that the Portuguese authorities would not respond to "opinions,
digressions, political analyses, abstract theories and journalistic
comment."
Only
fresh evidence would prompt a re-investigation, he said.
The
Wikileaks website released a diplomatic cable from 2007 which suggested
that British police had played an active role in helping the Portuguese
cops build a case against
Kate and Gerry McCann over Madeleine's
disappearance in May that year.
It was
always a bit of a mystery at the time which British police were doing
what, though they kept saying they were simply acting as "co-ordinators"
The
McCanns' Portuguese lawyer
Rogerio Alves said the cable was
probably refering to the use of
sniffer dogs, which were sent to
examine the family's holiday
apartment, hire
car and other things weeks later and
before the couple were made official
suspects in September.
Mr.
Alves said: "This information is totally useless. It makes one reference
to evidence state prosecutors and the Judicial police considered
useless.
"Nobody
in a democratic state can be brought to trial on the basis of dogs
barking."
The dogs
were said to have found evidence of
blood and a body, but the McCanns were
eventually cleared of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance
and insist the suspicion around them held up the search for Madeleine
and dissuaded potential witness from speaking to police. |
