Marcos Aragão Correia, Léonor Cipriano's lawyer.

Marcos Aragão Correia, has been making very serious allegations in the courtroom at Faro, in the context of the trial of the five Portuguese police inspectors, involved in the alleged torture of Léonor Cipriano. He has alleged that Leandro Silva, husband of Léonor and Joana's step-father, knew a week beforehand that Goncalo Amaral was going to be dismissed from his job as coordinator of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance. He has also alleged that British police carried out an investigation into Amaral's background and discovered some questionable details about Amaral's private life: for example that Dr Amaral beat his wife, Sofia, while under the influence of alcohol.

Marcos Aragão Correia, is the lawyer who set up the searches at the Arade Dam, employing divers to hunt for the body of Madeleine McCann, initially reported by him as being the result of a tip-off from some underworld criminals. More recently, Marcos Aragão Correia, has said that the searches at the dam were inspired by a "vision" he had about the Maddie case.

SOS Madeleine McCann "Marcos Aragão Correia has a "vision" of the Cipriano case."

In the present trial of the five PJ inspectors, it would appear that Marcos Aragão Correia is more concerned with discrediting Dr Amaral than of dealing with the matter at hand.

According to the Portuguese newspaper, Correio da Manha, Marcos Aragão Correia, has admitted receiving money from Metodo 3, the private detective agency hired by Kate and Gerry McCann, to help finance the searches at the Arade Dam. In today's copy, he denies that he is now being paid by anyone for representing Léonor in the present case being heard in Faro. The translation below is taken from the Joana Morais blog. (Link to Joana's blog on the right under, "Blogs of interest".)

"They've asked me to get in the Case"

The private detectives agency hired by the McCann couple asked Marcos Aragão Correia to enter in the 'Joana Case'. It is the lawyer, himself, who admits that Metodo3 ordered him to do 'an investigation' to the outlines regarding the [alleged] torture accusation of Joana's mother, by the PJ - the target, between the 5 inspectors, was evident: Gonçalo Amaral. Regardless, the [liar, pardon], the lawyer guarantees that now no one is paying him.

The private detective agency, contacted yesterday by CM, denied any connection whatsoever to the lawyer. The payment was also denied, even though Aragão Correia has already admitted that he received money to pay the 'expenses' when he made the searches to find Maddie's corpse in the dam of Bravura, in Lagos. The lawyer from Madeira [Portuguese Island], told he had a supernatural indication to the whereabouts of the body of the British child and that he had gone to the Algarve at his own expenses.

He entered in contact with the McCann Detectives, which made him a request: "They have asked me to try to get involved in the Case Joana to obtain statements from Leonor and her brother and to try to understand if there was torture, nothing else", he guarantees. This at a time where suspicions have been raised that by defending Leonor, he is being paid by someone who is interested that Gonçalo Amaral is convicted, precisely because he was the Coordinator of the investigation to the Case Maddie, which pointed towards the involvement of the parents in the crime. "I don't get paid in pounds or in euros. I am here for principles, and my objective is to set free Leonor."


Source: Correio da Manhã, by Rui Pando Gomes

Joana Morais.