Madeleine McCann’s parents lose challenge over Portuguese libel case

Madeleine McCann’s parents have been dealt more bad news as they continue their hunt for their missing girl.

Madeleine McCann’s parents have been dealt a fresh blow after their libel case against a former Portuguese detective was thrown out of court.

Kate and Gerry McCann sued Gonçalo Amaral after he wrongly implicated them in their daughter’s disappearance in 2007.

Amaral led the botched investigation after Madeleine vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, and later claimed in interviews and in a book that the McCanns were involved in her disappearance. He was later removed from the case for criticising British police.

Madeleine McCann (Photo by Handout / METROPOLITAN POLICE / AFP)

Amaral published a book called The Truth of The Lie days after the Portuguese investigation was called off in 2008.

In the book, he falsely claimed the McCanns abducted the daughter and hid her body.

In 2015, a court in Lisbon ordered the former police officer to pay the parents 500,000 euros ($750,000 AUD) in damages.

But that was overturned a year later by an appeals court, and Portugal’s Supreme Court upheld that decision in 2017.

The McCanns took their fight to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), claiming the Portuguese authorities breached their right to a private family life. The court has ruled in Amaral’s favour.

They now have three months to appeal.

The ECHR ruled that the McCanns’ reputation had not been damaged “on account of the argument put forward by the book’s author”.

Any damage to their reputation was “a result of the suspicions expressed against them, which had led to their being placed under investigation”, the judgement said.

“The information had thus been brought to the public’s attention in some detail even before the investigation file was made available to the media and the book in question was published.

“It followed that the national authorities had not failed in their positive obligation to protect the applicants’ right to respect for their private life.”

Kate and Gerry McCann (Photo by Joe Giddens / POOL / AFP)

Former Policia Judiciaria (Crime Police) detective Goncalo Amaral. Picture: AFP PHOTO / JOAO CORTESAO

Madeleine, who was three at the time, disappeared from their villa in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, May 3, 2007, while her parents were having tapas at a nearby restaurant.

Her disappearance sparked a massive hunt, but flaws in the investigation may have allowed any possible kidnapper to flee.

The UK’s Metropolitan Police still have an active investigation, Operation Grange, as they try to uncover the truth of what happened to Madeleine. They believe she is still missing.

Earlier this year, Portuguese officials named German rapist Christian B as a formal suspect.

Last June, German police said Madeleine was assumed dead and that Christian B was likely responsible for her disappearance.