Dedicated Met team keeps hope alive

does not equate to a ruling of innocence.

In the 76-page ruling, the Supreme Court also said the archiving in 2008 of the criminal case into Madeleine’s disappearance does not prove the McCanns are innocent. The court concluded Amaral’s book was not a personal and unjustified attack on the McCanns. It was an “opinion” based on the case files.

There was no defamatory intention behind it and so it is protected by “freedom of speech rights”. That ruling left Madeleine’s parents facing legal costs THE Met Police launched Operation Grange in May 2011, almost four years after Maddie vanished. At its peak, the task force was 36-strong, including 29 detectives poring over case files and evidence. In 2013 it was upgraded to a full-scale probe as new suspects were identified. A series of trips tot he Algarve, said and the nightmare prospect of being sued by the former detective.

Local reports yesterday said the couple were seeking to get the decision thrown out after launching a formal complaint against the judges’ findings.

Spared

The couple, doctors from Rothley, Leics, could eventually take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The McCanns’ lawyer Isabel Duarte confirmed a formal complaint had been made. The latest ruling means Amaral to involve at least 67 return flights, followed to re-examine crime scenes and interview suspects and witnesses.

But as costs spiralled to £12million, probe boss DCI Andy Redwood said he was leaving the Met, sparking fears the investigation had stalled. And in October 2015 it was slashed to four investigators.

However, in April last year, then-Home was spared having to pay the McCanns compensation he was ordered to hand over two years ago over his book The Truth of the Lie.

According to the latest accounts filed last month the couple’s Find Madeleine fund has just £200,000 left after half a million was placed in investments.

Experts say legal fees and a possible pay-out to Amaral would easily dwarf this sum, leaving no cash left to continue the couple’s efforts to find their daughter.

Amaral was seen relaxing this week in the Olivais region in the north of the Secretary Theresa May threw Operation Grange a £95,000 funding lifeline.

At the time, DCS Mick Duthie, head of the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, said hopes were still high that Maddie would turn up alive. He said: “That’s what we want and that’s what the family and the public want and that is why the Home Office continue to fund it.” capital Lisbon. A local who spotted Amaral dining told the Sunday People: “He rarely mentions it. We know who he is – everybody does.

“We always see him in the restaurants here. But he doesn’t discuss the case.”

A shopkeeper added: “We see him here more or less every day.

“He comes to the newsagents and then goes to one of the restaurants here for lunch.”

Roadsweeper Enrique Gonzalez said: “His favourite is Cabeca de Touro. It is popular with all of the police officers who live and work around here.

“He comes and talks about the old times. Sometimes he is here for several hours in the afternoon, often on his own.”

Amaral, who is separated from his wife, has reportedly said his second book is nearly finished.

The McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “If Mr Amaral’s current book about Madeleine or any new one he may be planning to write is published here in the UK Kate and Gerry’s lawyers will take immediate action. He needs to know lawyers are watching.”