Fund to find Madeline could be wiped out if McCanns lose £750k case against cop who claimed they were responsible for daughter’s death
A FUND set up to help find Madeleine McCann could be wiped out within weeks — by a huge payout to a disgraced cop.
Parents Kate and Gerry are fighting to avoid paying £750,000 to the ex-detective who shamefully claimed they were responsible for her death.
They face a Euro court showdown as public cash to probe the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine is about to dry up.
Goncalo Amaral, 58, ludicrously claimed in a book that Madeleine, three, died in Portugal and that her parents covered it up.
Kate and Gerry, both 50, won a 2015 libel case against him but it was later overturned and Amaral was awarded compo.
The McCanns’ lawyers have now lodged final paperwork at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, with a hearing expected this year.
Amaral shamelessly repeated his allegations last week in a glossy magazine interview — and even claimed: “My family has suffered a lot.”
A source close to the McCanns said: “It seems you can say anything you like about someone in Portugal, no matter how awful, and get away with it.
“If the European Court rules against them the trustees will decide on how best to make any payments.
“It would be a blow but Kate and Gerry would keep their heads up and carry on searching.”
The Met Police said last week it was “in dialogue” over extra funding for its investigation which has so far cost £11million.
“But public cash is expected to dry up in a fortnight.
The latest figures show £728,508 is in Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned — mostly from public donations.
That could all go if the decision to award Amaral £430,000 is upheld — with the McCanns paying costs on top.
It is thought the family have drawn on the fund to pay for previous hearings.
No significant clues have so far been thrown up in the search for Madeleine.
Retired Det Chief Insp Mick Neville, who last year investigated the case, said: “It is tragic that funds to try to find her could be lost because of this legal action.
“There is every reason to believe she may be alive.”
The McCanns’ Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte said: “This will be our final appeal.
“The basis is the violation of my clients’ fundamental rights.”
Family fund of hope
MADELEINE’S Fund was set up in 2007 to help finance the search for her, support her family and bring her abductors to justice.
Donations soon after she went missing took it to more than £1.8million — topped up later by cash from libel cases won by the family and their friends.
The fund’s biggest expense in the first ten months was £250,000 to hire private investigators.
It is run as a not-for-profit company by a board made up of Madeleine’s parents, their colleagues and relatives.
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