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Mirror
12 Feb 2012
Gonçalo Amaral has been paid at least £320,000 for a book and DVD peddling his outrageous claims that Kate and Gerry McCann covered up the death of Madeleine
The Portuguese detective who was thrown off the Madeleine McCann case in disgrace has made a fortune spouting lies about the missing girl’s parents.
The Sunday Mirror can reveal Gonçalo Amaral has been paid at least £320,000 for a book and DVD peddling his outrageous claims that Kate and Gerry McCann covered up the death of Madeleine in the family’s holiday apartment.
Amaral was booted off the investigation after just five months in charge. But his book, The Truth About The Lie, became a bestseller in Portugal even though the country’s top lawman insists there’s no evidence to back up his accusations.
A legal source close to the McCanns believes Amaral could have made as much as £1million in total.
“Amaral made an astonishing amount of money from his campaign to discredit the McCanns,” said the source.
“I don’t know how he sleeps at night, knowing he’s cashing in on the tragic story of a three-year-old girl’s disappearance.”
Gerry and Kate are suing Amaral for at least £1million for libel and breaching their human rights.
Lawyers for the couple, from Rothley, Leics, are expected to present proof of some of the ex-detective’s earnings when the case is heard.
They will show Amaral received at least £287,000 from the publisher of the book, which has been translated across Europe, and £33,600 for a DVD documentary.
SLURS
The McCanns’ civil case against Amaral was due to be heard in Lisbon last week but was postponed when the ex-cop split suddenly from his legal team.
In 2009 the Sunday Mirror revealed the McCanns had lodged a 36-page writ at the Lisbon court saying Amaral’s slurs left them “totally destroyed”.
Friends, relations and those who worked with the couple after Madeleine’s disappearance will support their claims as witnesses. The McCanns are not expected to give evidence in person.
If they win, the money will be used in the search for Madeleine, who disappeared in May 2007 on a family holiday in the Algarve.
Amaral, 52, led the investigation until October 2007 when he was removed for claiming British police were only helping with leads provided by the McCanns.
During his stint heading the inquiry, the Sunday Mirror caught him enjoying regular boozy lunches, one of which lasted more than three hours.
Portugal’s attorney general Jose Pinto Monteiro later archived the investigation and cleared the McCanns of any wrong-doing.
Kate and Gerry have never given up hope of finding Madeleine, and Scotland Yard detectives are now carrying out their own probe into her disappearance.
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/goncalo-amaral-made-a-fortune-spouting-681722
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