'Concealed' police statements impeded investigation into potential paedophile ring link, ex detective claims

May 13, 2019

British police allegedly "concealed" statements in the Madeleine McCann case and impeded a line of inquiry into possible links to an international paedophile ring, according to allegations from the Portuguese detective who led the 2007 investigation.

Speaking in Episode 10 of Maddie, nine.com.au's podcast investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, Goncalo Amaral made a series of stunning claims in a rare interview with English-speaking media.

Mr Amaral detailed a potential line of inquiry he believed may have helped work out what happened to Madeleine. It involved the possibility of an international paedophile ring that may have had links to people close to, or in contact with, the McCann family, without the McCanns' knowledge.

[Of course without their knowledge…./s]

He claimed some statements which may have been relevant to that line of inquiry had been initially withheld by British police, who at the time were working in tandem with the Portuguese.

"The British authorities tried to conceal the statement and nothing was done about this statement," Mr Amaral said.

"They were not followed up. Nobody investigated anything related to them."

Mr Amaral alleged his team of detectives had asked British police for further information about a potential person of interest but were informed they held "absolutely nothing" of significance.

"Of course … when the British police stated that they did not have any information, they already had the statements," he said.

"So, there is this issue with the British police concealing information that they already had.

"When the statements finally arrived, they came mixed up with other papers," Mr Amaral alleged.