ITNMcCanns to launch new complaint on ex-detectiveFri Jan 15 2010 10:49:45
Madeleine McCann's parents are to lodge a complaint with Portuguese police alleging that former detective Goncalo Amaral broke his country's strict judicial secrecy laws.
Kate and Gerry McCann are already embroiled in legal action against Mr Amaral in an attempt to ban his book which claims their daughter is dead.
Now the couple intend to accuse him formally of passing oninformation about the police investigation into Madeleine's disappearance before the case was closed - a criminal offence in Portugal.
The McCanns' Portuguese lawyer, Isabel Duarte, alleged that Mr Amaral broke the law by sending a draft of his book to his publishers several months before the judicial secrecy period in the case was lifted in July 2008.
She said: "It seems that Goncalo Amaral passed information in the case files before the secrecy was lifted."
The lawyer also alleged that the ex-policeman released facts about the investigation that were not in the case files.
It will be for the Portuguese public prosecutor to decide whether the former detective has a case to answer.
Mr and Mrs McCann, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, flew to Portugal this week to hear Mr Amaral attempt to overturn their ban on his book, Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie.
The couple could have to endure years of legal battles after Mr Amaral vowed on Thursday to fight all the way to the European Court of Human Rights if he loses.
