MADELEINE McCann's parents face more heartbreak as a second vile book claims they lied about her disappearance.

The slur comes as they today mark the 1,000th day since she vanished.

Faked Abduction, by Briton Steve Marsden, repeats claims in a book by ex-Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral.

Marsden, writing under the pseudonym Brian Johnson, alleges three-year-old Maddie was not snatched from her family's holiday flat in Portugal.

He says sniffer dogs detected the scent of a dead body in a car rented by parents Gerry and Kate, and cops concluded she died in the apartment and the body was hidden.

The McCanns won a court order banning the book by Amaral, 50, who was sacked from the Maddie inquiry.

Marsden, a regular contributor to anti-McCann websites, says libel laws can't touch him as he lives in America. But McCanns spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Everything Mr Marsden alleges is entirely untrue, as is everything Mr Amaral claims.

"Lawyers will take action if anything defamatory is said."

A thousand lanterns will be released across Britain today to mark the 1,000 days as Kate and Gerry, both 41, of Rothley, Leics, bid to keep the Maddie hunt active.

The Find Madeleine Fund has dwindled below ?500,000 and could run out by March.