Three days after the announcement that they were no longer suspects, Gonçalo Amaral—the former chief investigating coordinator of the PJ who had stepped down from the McCann investigation in October 2007 and retired from the force in June 2008—released a book about the case that suggested Kate and Gerry had concealed what really happened to their daughter, while also portraying his department’s actions during the investigation in a more favorable light.
The couple sued Amaral for libel in 2009, initiating a legal process that extended for years: They went to trial in 2014, and in April 2015, a Lisbon judge awarded the McCanns more than $500,000 in damages—funds they stated would go directly to Madeleine’s Fund, which has supported search efforts since 2007—and prohibited further sales of the book, The Truth of the Lie. However, claiming that the book was an account of a well-documented police investigation, Amaral won his appeal the following year, allowing his book to be sold again.
The McCanns appealed to Portugal’s Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case in 2017. They described the decision as “extremely disappointing,” but expressed that all they ever truly wanted was for British and Portuguese authorities to do everything possible to find their daughter.
