UPDATE A hearing scheduled for this Thursday (July 10) in the McCanns’ libel trial has been suddenly postponed meaning that closing arguments from lawyers representing Gonçalo Amaral will not be heard until September at the earliest.
The postponement is because of an application from the McCanns related to a financial issue.
At the libel trial in Lisbon’s Palace of Justice on Tuesday morning, Kate and Gerry McCann insisted the book A Verdade da Mentira (The Truth of the Lie) by Mr Amaral had caused great harm. They are seeking damages of more than €1 million.
Between them, Kate and Gerry McCann gave evidence for about an hour-and-a-half. They claimed that Mr Amaral’s book hampered efforts to find their daughter, Madeleine, who disappeared while the family were on holiday in Praia da Luz in May 2007.
They also claimed the book had caused enormous personal anguish by suggesting that Madeleine had died accidentally and that they had hidden the body and fabricated an abduction theory.
When they read extracts from the book shortly after the Portuguese investigation into her daughter’s disappearance had been shelved, they felt distressed and defeated, they said.
The courts go into recess next week until the end of August. No verdict in the libel trial is now expected before October.
Further delay in McCanns’ libel trial
