Photo: Instagram
He was the lead detective in the Madeleine McCann case.
By Amy Lamare — Written on Mar 31, 2019
Netflix has taken on the infamous disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann from a hotel room in Portugal in 2007. Out of Sight: The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann takes a look at the investigation that left police scrambling to find the little girl and the person responsible for her disappearance. Goncolo Amaral was in charge of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance from a hotel room while her parents were having dinner at a restaurant nearby. He is the man that officially made Kate and Gerry McCann suspects in their daughter's disappearance. Who is Goncolo Amaral?
1. He was an investigator
Goncolo Amaral is a former detective with the Portugese authorities. He was the lead detective in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The three-year-old went missing from her family's hotel in the resort town of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007. She was sleeping with her two siblings in the hotel room alone. Her parents were having dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant when Madeleine disappeared. Amaral made Madeleine's parents official suspects in the disappearance. He was fired from the McCann investigation in October 2007.
2. He blamed MI5
Amaral, who is now retired, claimed that MI5, the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. He was convinced the British police were also involved in the child's disappearance. He wrote a book about his experiences on the McCann case. It was published just days after Madeleine's parents were no longer suspects in their daughter's disappearence and the investigation was officially closed in 2008.
3. He thinks her parents killed her
Amaral was taken off the Madeleine McCann investigation after criticizing British detectives. He claimed they were only following leads the McCanns wanted pursued. He has also repeatedly asserted his belief that Kate and Gerry McCann killed their daughter Madeleine. In his book (and the related television documentary of the same name)The Truth of Lies, he alleged that the McCanns faked Madeleine's abduction to cover their tracks after she was accidentally killed. The McCanns and Amaral have been locked in a legal battle for years.
4. The legal battle with the McCanns
Kate and Gerry McCann filed a lawsuit against Amaral in 2009, calling his book "unfounded and grossly defamatory." In 2015 the McCanns were awarded $585,000 in libel damages by a Portuguese court. Last year, Amaral won his appeal againgst that decision. The McCanns appealed the appeal and lost that in the Supreme Court of Portugal in Febraury 2019. The court ruled that Madeleine's parents had not be removed as official suspects in the disappearance of their daughter simply because the investigatigon was closed in 2008.
5. The Human Rights lawsuit
The McCanns are suing Amaral in the European Couty of Human Rights. The McCanns filed the case in the ECHR to avoid having to pay Amaral $975,000. When they accused Amaral of libel, his book was banned from being sold for six years. The lawsuit in the ECHR revealed that from 2008-2009 he made $384,000 from sales of the book and $45,000 from sales of the DVD of the documentary adaptation of his book. Amaral's book has been translated into several languages and more than 180,000 copies have been printed. His book is currently selling for more than $200.
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.