The parents of Madeleine McCann are to sue former Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral for defamation.
 
Kate and Gerry McCann are to take action over comments made by the man who previously led the botched inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance.
 
In a statement, they said: "We - together with our three children Madeleine, Sean and Amelie - are taking this legal action against Goncalo Amaral over his entirely unfounded and grossly defamatory claims - made in all types of media, both within Portugal and beyond - that Madeleine is not only dead, but that we, her parents, were somehow involved in concealing her body."
 
The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said they are taking action because his claims that Madeleine is dead are hampering the search for their daughter.They want a gagging order to prevent further publication of Mr Amaral' "deeply offensive" book The Truth of the Lie.
 
The McCanns also want to block broadcast of his TV documentary and publication of his "disgraceful thesis" that they were involved in their daughter's disappearance.
 
The statement continued: "The primary reason for our legal action is simple: to stop any negative effect that these absurd and deeply hurtful claims may be having on the ongoing search for Madeleine.
 
"We can no longer stand back and watch as Mr Amaral tries to convince the entire world that Madeleine is dead.
 
"Nor can we allow this blatant injustice to Madeleine, with its obvious risk of hindering our attempts to find her, to continue.
 
"Mr Amaral's entirely unjustified claims have not only brought indescribable devastation and suffering to our lives, they have hugely compounded the already immense pain and anxiety we have endured since Madeleine's abduction."
 
Mr Amaral was in charge when Kate and Gerry McCann were made arguidos, or official suspects. He was later removed from the case after speaking out against UK officers and he then retired.
 
Madeleine disappeared two years ago in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while her parents dined in a nearby tapas bar. The couple recently marked the second anniversary with a PR offensive incorporating renewed appeals for information into Madeleine's disappearance.
 
They will join families of other vanished youngsters at London's South Bank on Monday to mark International Missing Children's Day.

Quote from cromwell on May 17^th, 2009, 10:11am:

 
 
This case has always seemed a bit fishy to me Cromwell

 
moved