Maddie shocker
Shock claim by cop Amaral
MADELEINE McCann was cremated after her body was hidden in a woman’s coffin, an ex-Portuguese police chief will claim today.
MADELEINE McCann was cremated after her body was hidden in a dead woman’s coffin, it will be claimed today.
Former police chief Goncalo Amaral says the coffin was in a village church.
He has told a Portuguese TV show to be aired today: “We believe the dead child may have been laid at the feet of a British woman who was due to be cremated.
“There were three figures seen going into the church at night with a box.
“It is possible the remains of the child were inside. The cremation took place.’’
Amaral, who had worked on the Madeleine case, won a court fight with Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry after he claimed in a book that the missing youngster was dead.
He is now heaping more misery on them two days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the three-old’s disappearance from a holiday apartment in Portugal.
Last night the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the former detective’s claims were “cruel”.
He said: “They are nonsense and are almost laughable.’’
The McCanns originally won a libel victory over Mr Amaral after his claims about the case in a book. The ruling was overturned by appeal judges and their decision was upheld by Portugal’s Supreme Court.
Kate, 49, and Gerry, 48, said this weekend they now plan to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed a millionaire was so desperate to help find Madeleine he kept a private jet on standby to rescue her.
Brian Kennedy, who made £63million by selling the Everest double glazing firm, agreed to help fund their search.
The dad-of-five, the former owner of English Premiership
Mission
rugby team Sale Sharks, set up an unofficial HQ and paid for private investigators to scour the globe for the missing youngster.
He also kept a private jet on standby ready to fly to the scene of any possible sighting.
Mr Mitchell said the closest they got to scrambling the jet was 12 months after Maddie disappeared when a girl matching her description was found in Morocco.
But the mission was cancelled after “it became clear she was not Madeleine”.
Yesterday Kate said there was “still hope” her daughter would be found alive.
She told the BBC “real progress” was being made by the Metropolitan Police.
“We need to take heart from that,’’ she said. “There is still hope we can find Madeleine.’’
Yesterday it was revealed a prime suspect in the case was a woman who was seen near the McCanns’ apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz.
Detectives are understood to have scoured Europe looking for her and are ready to “move in” and interview her in what they believe is a “hugely significant” lead.
Last week Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said his detectives are still pursuing “critical lines of inquiry”.