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McCanns face long battle over book

Date: 15/1/2010 01:57:16

Search: Madeleine McCann book

Gerry and Kate McCann are facing the prospect of a lengthy legal battle after former detective Goncalo Amaral vowed to appeal to Europe if they win their case against him.

The couple flew to Lisbon this week to hear Mr Amaral attempt to overturn their ban on his book, Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie, which claims their daughter Madeleine is dead.

The ex-policeman called a series of witnesses to support his allegations that the little girl died in her family's Algarve holiday flat and that her parents faked her abduction.

Mr and Mrs McCann, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, admitted sitting through the evidence at Lisbon's main civil court was painful.

But they could have to endure many more years of court hearings at which the former detective's claims against them will be repeated.

Explaining why he was fighting the McCanns' legal challenge, Mr Amaral told Sky News: "This is about the fundamental right of freedom of speech, not just for me but for everyone in Portugal.

"The book ban is against the constitution. If I lose I will take my case to the constitutional court, and even to the European Court of Human Rights."

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Leaving the court to catch a flight back to the UK on Thursday evening, an emotional Mrs McCann begged for help finding her daughter.

She said: "I believe it was important to be here this week, myself and Gerry, for Madeleine.

"I believe it is important to be here to prove that there is no basis to Goncalo Amaral's theories, that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to any harm, that there is no evidence that myself and Gerry were involved in her disappearance, that there is a really good chance that Madeleine is still alive. I believe we will get justice and I believe this will go a long way to help in our search for Madeleine."

2012 © Press Association

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