Madeleine McCann's father Gerry flies to Portugal to face police chief who accused him of covering up her death Gerry MacCann hopes to give evidence against ex officer Goncalo Amaral Lisbon court is hearing evidence for £1million libel case against Amaral By Gerard Couzens and Daily Mail Reporter Gerry McCann has flown to join his wife Kate in Portugal in the hope he may give evidence in their libel case brought against a disgraced police chief. Mr McCann had remained at home looking after the couple's twins while his wife attended the trial against the former policeman Goncalo Amaral, in Lisbon. The heart specialist is now on his way to join his wife Kate, according to the family's spokesman Clarence Mitchell, and he hopes to give evidence against Amaral who the couple claim engulfed them in a "massive tidal wave of lies" when he published a book on his thoughts on the Madeleine McCann investigation. Gerry McCann, seen outside court in Lisbon after a hearing in the libel case against ex police chief Goncalo Amaral Lisbon: The heart specialist and his wife have accused the former Portuguese policeman of libelling them Gerry McCann, left, has flown to Portugal to join his wife Kate in the £1million libel case they brought against former police chief Goncalo Amaral, who published a book about Maddie's disappearance Quoted in The Star, Mr Mitchell said last night: 'I can confirm Gerry McCann is hoping to give evidence.' In his 2008 bombshell book, 'The Truth of Lies', Amaral claimed that Kate and Gerry McCann hid their daughter's body after a fatal accident at the family's Algarve holiday apartment. He said they staged her disappearance to cover up their negligence - accusations the McCanns vehemently deny. The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, launched £1million libel proceedings against Mr Amaral, who was sacked as the head of the investigation after he launched an outspoken attack on British police. The trial, which began earlier this month at Lisbon's civil court, has heard that Mrs McCann told friends she was "devastated" by Amaral's book. Their friend Susan Hubbard, the wife of an Anglican minister who counselled the McCanns after Madeleine's disappearance from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, told the court: "The thought that most people in Portugal thought Madeleine was dead was devastating for both Kate and Gerry - and the thought that was added, that they had something to do with it." Mrs McCann, a GP, cried as the court heard she was unable to eat and constantly wept in the days after Madeleine's disappearance on May 3, 2007. But Mrs Hubbard, 46, said Mrs McCann's despair turned to "anger and surprise" after the couple were named as arguidos - or suspects - by the Portuguese police. Mr Amaral's book, The Truth Of The Lie, was published three days after the Portuguese authorities formally closed the investigation in 2008 and cleared the couple as suspects. The McCanns" lawyer, Isabel Duarte, said it also contained claims that the family's "Find Madeleine" fund could be fraudulent. The fund raised £2million in public donations and was used to pay for the search for Madeleine to continue after the Portuguese case was closed. A private detective who worked for the fund said he received abuse instead of information after Mr Amaral's book soured public opinion against the McCanns. Skipton, Yorkshire, said the McCanns viewed Mr Amaral's book as a 'gross breach of confidentiality' because it showed he had been speaking to publishers while he and colleagues claimed laws on secrecy prevented them from discussing the Madeleine case with the couple. The trial has also heard from Alan Pike, a trauma expert who has been helping the McCanns since Madeleine's May 3 2007 disappearance on the Algarve. The told the court last week that Mrs McCann 'referred to killing herself as an option to end the trauma she was experiencing' after the publication of the book. The court also heard yesterday that the book fuelled internet trolls to incite conspiracy-theorists to plot to kidnap the couple's twins Sean and Amelie. Close family friend Michael Wright told the court the theories in Mr Amaral's book gave conspiracy theorists on anti-Mccann Internet forums 'focus' because he had been in charge of the botched investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.