Despite their arguido status, theMcCanns were allowed to leave Portugal, and on legal advice did soimmediately, arriving back in England on 9 September 2007. Thefollowing day Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida of the PJ inPortimão signed a nine-page report concluding that Madeleine haddied in apartment 5A as a result of an accident, that the restaurantmeal and apparent regular checks on the McCann children had been partof the cover-up, that the Tapas Seven had helped to mislead thepolice, and that the McCanns had concealed the body then faked anabduction. An 11-page document from the Information Analysis Brigadein Lisbon analyzed alleged discrepancies in the McCanns' statements. On 11 September the public prosecutor, José Cunha de Magalhães eMeneses, handed the 10-volume case file to a judge, Pedro Miguel dosAnjos Frias. Meneses applied for the seizure of Kate's diary andGerry's laptop. The police also wanted to trace telephone calls theMcCanns and Tapas Seven had made, and there were details in thereport about the number of suitcases the McCanns and their friendshad taken back to England.
On 28 September 2007, according to adiplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks in 2010, the Americanambassador to Portugal, Al Hoffman, wrote about a meeting he had hadwith the British ambassador to Portugal, Alexander Ellis, on 21September 2007. The cable said: "Without delving into thedetails of the case, Ellis admitted that the British police haddeveloped the current evidence against the McCann parents, and hestressed that authorities from both countries were workingco-operatively. He commented that the media frenzy was to be expectedand was acceptable as long as government officials keep theircomments behind closed doors."
In the UK Control Risks, a Britishsecurity company—paid by an anonymous donor to assist the McCannssince 7 May 2007[—took hair samples from the McCann twins on 24September 2007, at their parents' request. The twins had sleptthrough the commotion in apartment 5A after Madeleine was reportedmissing; Kate wrote that she was concerned the abductor might havegiven the children sedatives. According to the PJ files, Kate hadasked them to take samples, three months after the disappearance, butthey had not done so. Control Risks took a sample from Kate too, torebut allegations that she was on medication. No trace of drugs wasfound.
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Gonçalo Amaral's removal, laterdevelopments
On 2 October 2007 Chief InspectorGonçalo Amaral, the inquiry's coordinator, was removed from his postand transferred from Portimão to Faro after telling the newspaperDiário de Notícias that the British police had only pursued leadshelpful to the McCanns. As an example, he criticized their decisionto follow up an anonymous email to Prince Charles that claimed aformer Ocean Club employee had taken Madeleine.
