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McCanns win 500,000 euros in libel case against ex-police chief

Xinhua, April 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

The former police officer who published a book about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been forced to pay 500,000 euros (about 545,000 U.S. dollars) in compensation to her parents, the court said on Tuesday.

Lisbon's civil court said Goncalo Amaral will have to pay Kate McCann and Gerry McCann 250,000 euros each.

The court considered the compensation "adequate and proportional."

The court also banned the sale of Amaral's book and the release of new editions of both his book and a subsequent TV documentary.

Madeleine MacCann disappeared in 2007 when she was age 3, at the Ocean Club resort in Praia de Luz while her parents dined with friends in a local restaurant.

Amaral's bestseller book, Truth Of The Lie, claimed that Madeleine had died in the apartment the family rented in Algarve, southern Portugal, and that the parents had covered up her death.

The book was published in 2008, a year after the closure of the investigation headed by Amaral.

The McCann's have insisted that the book has affected public opinion and damaged the search of their daughter.

The British Met police launched Operation Grange in 2011 to further the investigation, which is ongoing. Endit