text: A former Portuguese detective was today ordered to pay nearly £360,000 to Kate and Gerry McCann after a long-running libel trial. Goncalo Amaral had been on trial over claims he made in a book and a documentary that the couple were involved in their daughter Madeleine's disappearance. In a written verdict, a Lisbon court agreed that Amaral should pay Mr and Mrs McCann €250,000 (£179,000) each in damages and banned further sales of his book The Truth Of The Lie. The couple's lawyer Isabel Duarte also revealed that Amaral had been told to pay interest which she said stood at present at €106,000 (£76,000). Scroll down for video . Kate and Gerry McCann have reportedly been awarded £360,000 in damages from an ex-Portuguese detective who wrote a book claiming their daughter Madeleine had died in an accident instead of being abducted . Police chief Goncalo Amaral (above) ran the initial investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann . Madeleine was three when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007, as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends. Mr Amaral, who led the initial investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, released his book three days after the case was closed in 2008. He later took part in a documentary for Portuguese television in which he claimed that Madeleine was dead, that there had been no abduction and the McCanns had hidden her body. The couple, who accuse Amaral of hampering the search for their daughter, had been expected to receive around £1million in damages. Amaral's lawyers have leave to appeal the ruling. The McCanns told the court last summer they were left 'devastated and crushed' by his book, which sold around 120,000 copies before it was withdrawn when the couple won an injunction against the ex-police chief. Mrs McCann, 47, said Madeleine's twin siblings Sean and Amelie, now ten, knew Mr Amaral had written a book but didn't know the detail. Amaral claimed Madeleine (above) had not been abducted, but had died in an accident in Praia da Luz . She told the court last July after applying to make a statement: 'I believe that's what's in Mr Amaral's book and the documentary is very distressing to adults. 'To a child, it could be very damaging.' Asked by the judge how she felt after reading the book, she said: 'I was devastated. 'It made me feel quite desperate because of the injustice I felt towards my daughter and our family as a whole. 'It was very painful to read and I felt sad for Madeleine. I also felt anxious and fearful because of the damage I felt it was doing in Portugal.' She went on to accuse Amaral, thrown off the investigation in 2007 for criticising British police, of 'consistently smearing' them. She also claimed they feared the book may have stopped people coming forward with information about their daughter's whereabouts. A team of 31 British detectives are working exclusively to find the girl. Mystery: British police shift through soil on an area of wasteland during a search for Madeleine McCann in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in June last year during their investigation into her disappearance . The Metropolitan Police was tasked with investigating the disappearance after her family made a personal plea to David Cameron in 2011. Since Madeleine vanished, every possible theory has been explored, including that she was kidnapped by a paedophile or killed during a botched burglary. Others include being snatched by traffickers and sold to a childless couple and that she wandered out of the apartment and died in a tragic accident. However, not one shred of proof of what happened to Madeleine has been uncovered. Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall, who took over Operation Grange in December, and her team travelled to Portugal to interview seven suspects and four witnesses, but have not released any information about what they discovered. Portuguese prosecutors also reopened their probe into Madeleine's disappearance last year and are conducting a separate investigation to one led by Scotland Yard.
target: Goncalo Amaral claimed in book couple were involved in disappearance .
  McCanns told court they were left 'devastated and crushed' by allegations .
  The couple also accuse Amaral of hampering the search for their daughter .