Last September, Kate and Gerry McCann lost a 13-year court battle with Gonçalo Amaral after he suggested they were involved in their daughter's disappearance.

According to The Mirror newspaper, Kate and Gerry McCann spent more than €7,500 from the fund “in relation to the defamation process brought in Portugal”, and which concerns the book published by Gonçalo Amaral 'Maddie: A Verdade da Mentira'.

The Madeleine Fund was created to "ensure the safe return" of the McCann's daughter, who was three years old when she disappeared while on holiday in Praia da Luz, in 2007.

Kate and Gerry McCann filed a complaint against the Portuguese court for having acquitted Gonçalo Amaral of compensating them following allegations made by the former inspector of the Judiciary Police in a book and on a television programme.

For the couple, Gonçalo Amaral's words about the disappearance of their daughter, then three years old, represented a violation of their right to respect for private life and the right to the presumption of innocence.