Kate and Gerry McCann have failed to reach an out-of-court settlement or agreement in the civil case against Gonçalo Amaral, the former Police Inspector accused of defamation. 

The defence lawyer said today that as the parties have not reached any agreement the case should now be reactivated in the Civil Court of Lisbon which will have to schedule a new date for the start of the trial.

The first hearing was scheduled for January 24th 2013 but a week before the trial was due to start the judge granted a breathing space in the hope that a settlement could be reached in the case where Madeleine's parents are claiming compensation of €1.2 million from Amaral for defamation.

This action has already prompted a request for the seizure of Gonçalo Amaral’s goods as a ‘precautionary measure.’  

In a related case the Civil Court of Lisbon decided in January 2010 to maintain the ban on the book "Maddie - The Truth of the Lie", written by Gonçalo Amaral, and on a video with the same title based on a documentary broadcast on TVI.

The ban on the book and the documentary was lifted on 18 October 2010 by the Tribunal de Relação de Lisboa as the deemed that his book only reflects the conclusions of the investigation up until he left the force.

The ban of the book and the video, in which Gonçalo Amaral claims that Kate and Gerry McCann were involved in the disappearance of their daughter and in the concealment of her body, had been in place since September 9th 2009.

Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, while holidaying in an apartment in a holiday village of Praia da Luz.

At the time of her disappearance, Goncalo Amaral was the coordinator of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Judicial Police of Portimão and was in charge of the investigation.

Kate and Gerry McCann have always claimed that the child was abducted but were made defendants in September 2007.

The case was closed for lack of evidence in July 2008, although prosecutors say they will reopen the case if new facts emerge about the child's disappearance. Despite investigations by a dedicated team from Scotland Yard no new facts of significance have emerged.