Madeleine McCann's parents Gerry and Kate
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Madeleine McCann’s parents ‘to be given long-awaited verdict after being blamed for her disappearance’

Madeleine went missing in 2007

Madeleine McCann’s parents, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann, are set to be given a long-awaited verdict after being blamed for her disappearance.

Kate and Gerry will finally find out on Tuesday (September 20) if they’ve won a libel case.

Madeleine McCann parents Kate McCann and Gerry McCann
Kate and Gerry will receive the verdict on Tuesday (Credit: Sky News / YouTube)

Parents of Madeleine McCann to receive verdict

Back in 2008, in a book called The Truth of the Lie, Goncalo Amaral accused Kate and Gerry of being behind their daughter’s disappearance.

Kate and Gerry sued Amaral for libel and won the first round of the court case.

An injunction was granted to prevent any further sales of the book. However, Amaral appealed the deicision.

What followed was years of litigation, which also at one point saw Amaral pay the McCann’s £429,000 in compensation.

However, he won the case in 2017.

This was after Portugal’s highest court ruled that Amaral was entitled to “freedom of expression”.

Madeleine McCann's parents Kate McCann and Gerry McCann
Kate and Gerry had sued Amaral (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Parents of Madeleine McCann fight back

However, in a last ditch effort, the McCann’s went to the European Court of Human Rights.

They have been waiting for a decision ever since.

Technically, the case being considered by the Court of Human Rights is against Portugal and Porteugese justice, not Amaral himself.

If the McCann’s are to lose, they could be forced to pay considerable costs.

Paperwork obtained by the Daily Mail shows that the McCanns claim the allegations made by Amaral “infringed their right to respect for their private life and their right to presumption of innocence”.

In an announcement on Thursday, the ECHR said the judgement was among 24 that would be published on Tuesday.

Madeleine McCann
Maddie went missing 15 years ago (Credit: Sky News / YouTube)

Kate and Gerry ‘continue to fight’ after daughter’s disappearance

The latest update comes after it was claimed that Madeleine‘s parents “continue to fight” for their daughter, 15 years on.

Last month, the Find Madeleine Facebook page paid tribute to Kate and Gerry with a heartfelt post.

The campaign coordinater posted a meme on the page, explaining that it reminded them of Kate and Gerry.

The meme read: “The strongest people are the ones who are still kind after the world tore them apart.”

They continue to fight for Madeleine and will do so until they have her home or know what happened to her.

Explaining the post, the coordinater said: “I saw this meme yesterday and it made me think of Kate and Gerry.

“With everything that has been thrown at them, they are some of the kindest people I know.”

They then continued, saying: “They continue to fight for Madeleine and will do so until they have her home or know what happened to her.”

They then thanked everyone for their continued support with the search.

Read more: Madeleine McCann: Joe Lycett ‘mortified’ over joke about her disappearance

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Robert Emlyn Slater
Senior Writer