McCanns Had Asked For £1m Compensation

The 500,000 euros libel damages awarded to Kate and Gerry McCann by a Lisbon judge is less than half the amount the couple were asking for.

It's roughly £357,000 and still a welcome contribution to the dwindling Madeleine Fund set up to pay for the continuing search for missing Madeleine, who vanished during a family holiday eight years ago this weekend.

The McCanns had asked for £1m compensation when the trial began two years ago and limped towards its conclusion with various interruptions and delays.

:: Ex-Detective To Pay McCanns £357,000 For Libel

They said originally that any money awarded would be used for their search fund, though the award has already fired up some of the couple's online detractors who say they are 'millionaires' and do not deserve the court victory.

The McCanns had sued Mr Amaral over the contents of his book, The Truth Of The Lie, in which he insisted Madeleine had died accidently in their holiday apartment and accused her parents of 'covering up' her death.

They argued that the book - published within days of the Portuguese police abandoning their search for Madeleine - had stopped people in Portugal searching for their missing daughter.

The couple's court action was also against the book's publishers and the producers of a TV documentary based on it.

Sales of the book and DVD have been halted by the judge.

In one of the most dramatic courtroom moments, Mrs McCann described being confronted by her young son Sean who had heard a news bulletin about the hearing on his school bus.

She said that Sean told her: "Mr Amaral says you hid Madeleine."

She told her son that he "says a lot of silly things".

Mr Amaral is likely to appeal the court's decision.

He has always argued that everything he put in the book had already been revealed publicly when the police files were published online as the investigation was brought to a close.