The parents of Madeleine McCann have lost a legal appeal against comments made by a Portuguese ex-detective about her disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann were angered by claims made by retired Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral on TV and in his new book.
He had claimed that the McCanns were involved in their daughter's disappearance 15 years ago in Portugal.
READ MORE: What happened to Madeleine McCann? 'Donegal raid' latest and new suspect 15 years on
Lawyers for the pair had argued that Portuguese authorities had breached their right to a private and family life in the manner in which the courts had dealt with their libel claims against Mr Amaral.
However, on Tuesday morning, the court ruled that the couple's reputation had been damaged by the fact that they were made official suspects in the case for a short time - as opposed to Mr Amaral's comments.
Madeleine was three when she vanished from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. Kate and Gerry, both doctors, had been enjoying a meal with seven friends at a Tapas restaurant about 200ft away.
The ground-floor flat where Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings Sean and Amelie were asleep could just be seen over the top of a colourful bougainvillea bush. The parents took turns to check on the youngsters, every 30 minutes.
At 10pm, Kate discovered Madeleine was missing. A frantic search of the quiet resort was launched and witnesses told of Kate’s anguished screams and seeing Gerry sobbing on a friend’s shoulder.
Christian Brueckner, 44, was identified as a suspect by German prosecutors in June 2020, but he has not been charged since then.
Brueckner, referred to as Christian B in Germany due to the country’s strict privacy laws, was found guilty in 2019 of the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz, and sentenced to seven years in jail, at a court in Brunswick, Lower Saxony.
German authorities hope to bring charges against him this year.
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