At issue was the complaint against the Portuguese justice system for having acquitted Gonçalo Amaral of compensating the parents of the British girl - who disappeared in Lagos, in May 2007 - after allegations made by the former inspector of the Judiciary Police in a book and in a TV program.

The couple initially sued Amaral for libel and in 2015 the Portuguese court ruled in their favour, however this was overturned two years later by the Portuguese courts.

Kate and Gerry McCann had filed a complaint against Portugal regarding this but the ECHR understood that there was no violation of the right to privacy.

For Kate and Gerry McCann, the words of the leader of the investigation into the disappearance of their child, then aged three years old, represented a violation of their right to respect for private life and the right to the presumption of innocence.

The McCanns now have three months to appeal this decision.