Madeleine McCann book ban upheld

The former Portuguese police detective Goncalo Amaral has failed in his bid to overturn a ban on his book, A Verdade da Mentira (The Truth of the Lie), which implicated Gerry and Kate McCann in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine in May 2007.

The couple had originally sought the injunction because they believed the book, with its central claim that Madeleine had died in an accident, was not only defamatory but was hindering the search for their missing daughter.

After the judge ruled in support of the ban, the McCanns said they were "very pleased and relieved". The couple then rounded on the former detective, and those who supported his views in court. "The motives of those who have tried to convince the world that Madeleine is dead, and who've disgracefully and falsely tried to implicate us in her disappearance, need to be seriously questioned," they said today.
 
Amaral, who replied "Fuck the McCanns" when asked last month if he thought his book would hurt them, has vowed to continue his campaign against the injunction. He says he will launch another appeal and is prepared to go to the European Court of Human Rights.
 
The former detective was the lead investigator into Madeleine's disappearance for the first five months of the inquiry. He was removed from the case in October 2007 and published his book in July the following year. In it he claimed that three-year-old Madeleine died accidentally in the apartment, and that her parents fabricated the abduction story top cover up her death.
 
The book came out just days after the Portuguese attorney general reviewed the case and said that there was no evidence against the McCanns. Soon after, the couple were awarded £550,000 in damages from Express Newspapers over a series of articles about the case.
 
In a separate civil case in Portugal the McCanns are suing Amaral for €1.2m for defamation. They have said they would use the money to continue to finance the search for their daughter
 
"There is no evidence that Madeleine has come to any harm," they said today. "Our primary focus has always been, and always will be, to find Madeleine through our own best investigative efforts." If Madeleine is still alive, she will be seven on May 12. ·