Madeleine McCann parents told they cannot sue ex-officer for `libel disappearance book`

The parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann say they are “disappointed” after a court threw out their libel case against a police officer who alleged they were involved in their daughter`s disappearance. Portugal’s Supreme Court has ruled Kate and Gerry McCann cannot sue the former Portuguese detective who initially led the investigation into the child`s disappearance. In 2015, a Lisbon court ordered Goncalo Amaral to pay the Leicestershire couple £430,000 in compensation for the allegations made in his book, Maddie: A Verdade Da Mentire (The Truth of the Lie). The book was published in 2008, three days after Portuguese police authorities formally closed their inquiry and cleared the McCanns of any wrongdoing. Mr Amaral argued in his defence that the claims in his book stemmed from the police investigation. He also noted Portuguese media had already reported the possibility the parents may have played a role in Madeleine’s disappearance. More than £50,000 was raised in support for the detective, donated via a Go Fund Me page, after he was ordered to pay damages. The McCanns had sought £1 million. However, an appeals court overturned the court’s decision last year before reaching Portugal`s top court. While the latest Supreme Court ruling is yet to be officially published, lawyers for Mr and Mrs McCann have been informed of its decision. “What we have been told by our lawyers is obviously extremely disappointing,” the couple said in a statement. “It is eight years since we brought the action and in that time the landscape has dramatically changed, namely there is now a joint Metropolitan Police Service-Policia Judiciaria investigation which is what we`ve always wanted. “The police in both countries continue to work on the basis that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to physical harm. “We will, of course, be discussing the implications of the Supreme Court ruling with our lawyers in due course.” Madeleine was three when she went missing from her family`s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends. As well as the book, Mr Amaral later took part in a documentary for Portuguese television in which he claimed that Madeleine was dead, there had been no abduction and the McCanns had hidden her body.