MADDIE ‘DIED’ IN APARTMENT

Portuguese police chief's amazing claim to court in £ 1 m McCann libel case

MADELEINE McCann died in her family’s holiday apartment as the result of a tragic accident and her parents concealed her body, a police chief told a court in Portugal yesterday.

Kate and Gerry McCann neglected their children and lied to detectives investigating Madeleine’s disappearance, a senior government lawyer also claimed.

And detectives intercepted text messages between the couple in the days after the youngster vanished from the Algarve resort and looked into ways of preventing them from leaving the country.

One officer even claimed that Portuguese police changed their inquiry from a missing person search to a murder investigation after Kate told him she had a nightmare and had seen Madeleine’s body lying on a hillside. The allegations – which have all been vehemently denied by the McCanns – were outlined during the dramatic opening of a case brought by Goncalo Amaral, the former detective who headed the initial investigation.

He wants to overturn a ban on his controversial book on the case.

In a separate legal action, the McCanns are seeking £1million compensation and a final ruling preventing Mr Amaral from repeating the claims he made about them, which they say are untrue and based on a deeply flawed investigation. The couple have said any money would be used to help try to find Madeleine.

The McCanns have never been charged with any offence and were cleared by the Portuguese authorities after they admitted there was no evidence to prosecute the couple.