McCanns return to Portugal for libel trial
Madeline went missing in May 2007
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By Adam Leveridge. |  |
Thursday, 10, Dec 2009 11:28
By Richard James.
The parents of Madeleine McCann have returned to Portugal for the start of legal action against the former police chief involved in the investigation to find their daughter.
Gerry and Kate McCann are due to attend the opening of the libel trial against Goncalo Amaral in Lisbon tomorrow.
"They only intend to appear at the opening and I would expect that they will return to the UK fairly swiftly," family spokesman Clarence Mitchell has said.
Madeleine went missing from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, the Algarve, in May 2007, aged three.
Mr Amaral was initially involved in the massive police operation investigating her disappearance, but was later taken off the case.
He then published a book, entitled The Truth of the Lie, in which he claimed Madeleine was dead and questioned some of the accounts from her parents about the night she went missing.
In September a Portuguese judge granted an injunction banning any further publication or sale of the controversial book.
Despite a huge media campaign launched by the McCanns, there has never been a single official sighting of Madeleine in the two-and-a-half years since she disappeared.