A former Portuguese detective was today ordered to pay nearly £360,000 to Kate and Gerry McCann after a long-running libel trial . Goncalo Amaral had been on trial over claims he made in a book and a documentary that the couple were involved in their daughter Madeleine 's disappearance . In a written verdict , a Lisbon court agreed that Amaral should pay Mr and Mrs McCann €250,000 ( £179,000 ) each in damages and banned further sales of his book The Truth Of The Lie . The couple 's lawyer Isabel Duarte also revealed that Amaral had been told to pay interest which she said stood at present at €106,000 ( £76,000 ) . Scroll down for video . Kate and Gerry McCann have reportedly been awarded £360,000 in damages from an ex-Portuguese detective who wrote a book claiming their daughter Madeleine had died in an accident instead of being abducted . Police chief Goncalo Amaral ( above ) ran the initial investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann . Madeleine was three when she went missing from her family 's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz , Portugal , on May 3 , 2007 , as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends . Mr Amaral , who led the initial investigation into Madeleine 's disappearance , released his book three days after the case was closed in 2008 . He later took part in a documentary for Portuguese television in which he claimed that Madeleine was dead , that there had been no abduction and the McCanns had hidden her body . The couple , who accuse Amaral of hampering the search for their daughter , had been expected to receive around £1million in damages . Amaral 's lawyers have leave to appeal the ruling . The McCanns told the court last summer they were left 'devastated and crushed ' by his book , which sold around 120,000 copies before it was withdrawn when the couple won an injunction against the ex-police chief . Mrs McCann , 47 , said Madeleine 's twin siblings Sean and Amelie , now ten , knew Mr Amaral had written a book but did n't know the detail . Amaral claimed Madeleine ( above ) had not been abducted , but had died in an accident in Praia da Luz . She told the court last July after applying to make a statement : ' I believe that 's what 's in Mr Amaral 's book and the documentary is very distressing to adults . 'To a child , it could be very damaging . ' Asked by the judge how she felt after reading the book , she said : ' I was devastated . 'It made me feel quite desperate because of the injustice I felt towards my daughter and our family as a whole . 'It was very painful to read and I felt sad for Madeleine . I also felt anxious and fearful because of the damage I felt it was doing in Portugal . ' She went on to accuse Amaral , thrown off the investigation in 2007 for criticising British police , of 'consistently smearing ' them . She also claimed they feared the book may have stopped people coming forward with information about their daughter 's whereabouts . A team of 31 British detectives are working exclusively to find the girl . Mystery : British police shift through soil on an area of wasteland during a search for Madeleine McCann in Praia da Luz , Portugal , in June last year during their investigation into her disappearance . The Metropolitan Police was tasked with investigating the disappearance after her family made a personal plea to David Cameron in 2011 . Since Madeleine vanished , every possible theory has been explored , including that she was kidnapped by a paedophile or killed during a botched burglary . Others include being snatched by traffickers and sold to a childless couple and that she wandered out of the apartment and died in a tragic accident . However , not one shred of proof of what happened to Madeleine has been uncovered . Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall , who took over Operation Grange in December , and her team travelled to Portugal to interview seven suspects and four witnesses , but have not released any information about what they discovered . Portuguese prosecutors also reopened their probe into Madeleine 's disappearance last year and are conducting a separate investigation to one led by Scotland Yard .
McCanns claimed in book couple were involved in disappearance . Goncalo Amaral told court they were left 'devastated and crushed ' by allegations . The couple also accuse Amaral of hampering the search for their daughter .