Police believed Madeleine died in family’s flat

PORTUGUESE police believed Madeleine McCann died in her family’s holiday flat and that her parents faked her abduction, a court heard yesterday.

Kate and Gerry McCann faced former detective Goncalo Amaral across a courtroom as he tried to overturn a ban on his book that claims their daughter is dead.

One senior detective told the hearing in Lisbon police made the McCanns “arguidos”, or suspects, in the case after concluding Madeleine died accidentally and her parents covered up the death by inventing a kidnapping.