Guilty after six-year trial, Portugal's high-society paedophile ring

Guilty after six-year trial, Portugal's high-society paedophile ring

Politicians among abusers who preyed on state-run orphanages



To most people Portugal's state-run orphanages seemed like a safe haven for thousands of children who had been robbed of their parents. They were called the Casa Pia, or Houses of the Pious.

But for an elite paedophile ring, which included a former ambassador and a prominent television celebrity, Casa Pia orphanages were something entirely different. They were supermarkets stocked with children to abuse. Yesterday, at the conclusion of the longest trial in Portugal's history, seven defendants were convicted of using the orphanages to rape and abuse scores of teenage boys in a case that has sent shockwaves through the country's political elite and raised serious concerns over the efficiency of Portugal's judiciary. Six of the seven were given jail terms of between five and 18 years.

This case gives me hope that eventually the McCanns will face justice for what happened to Madeleine on 3 May 2007!