Kidnapper will be laughing at claims about us, McCanns tell libel hearing

Gerry and Kate McCann spoke to reporters after delivering personal statements at Lisbon’s Palace of Justice in the libel case brought by them against Goncalo Amaral over claims he made in a book about their role in the disappearance of their daughter from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in 2007.

Mr McCann said that whoever was involved must have been laughing during these last six years at what Mr Amaral has claimed – that there was no abduction and there is no predator out there.

“There is – he or she or they may strike again,” he said.

“There’s an unsolved serious crime and there’s a series of other crimes against children which have come to light who have been on holiday, so at the very least these people need to be brought to justice.

“We don’t know if Madeleine is alive or dead but there is no evidence that she is dead and she is a missing child and she is completely innocent.”

The couple earlier told 
the court that there was no 
doubt that Mr Amaral’s claims had done “severe damage” 
to their struggle to find Madeleine.

Answering questions from judge Maria Emilia Castro during the hearing, Mrs McCann said that her young son Sean had asked her about the allegations that she was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.

She told the court that Sean heard about Mr Amaral’s allegations on the radio while travelling on the school bus.

The case continues.