THE parents of missing Madeleine McCann have said they are disappointed after it emerged last night they cannot give evidence at the libel trial of a former Portugese police officer.
Glasgow-born Gerry McCann and his wife Kate had asked the court in Lisbon for permission to testify at the on-going trial resulting from Goncalo Amaral's book, entitled The Truth of the Lie, about the case.
A source last night revealed said they had been refused permission ahead of the next hearing on Tuesday.
It is understood the McCanns' lawyer Isabel Duarte is likely to appeal against the judge's decision. Mr Amaral has also lost a bid to give evidence personally.
The McCanns launched a legal action against Mr Amaral, his publisher and documentary makers behind a film based on the book.
It is alleged the The Truth Of The Lie damaged the hunt for Madeleine and exacerbated their anguish.
Last year, Mr McCann's sister Trish Cameron told the court that the family's pain over Madeleine's disappearance was "multiplied 100 times" by the book, while the trial previously heard how Mrs McCann had considered suicide in the aftermath its publication in 2008.
Kate McCann and her husband had flown to the trial several times in the hope of being able to give evidence.
Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant.
Despite an international hunt, there have been no sign of the youngster from Leicestershire.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article