FORMER Portuguese police co-ordinator Goncalo Amaral has issued a plea for Kate McCann to "tell the truth" and spoken of his delight at having his freedom of speech returned.

Speaking exclusively to mccannfiles.com on the eve of the publication of Mrs McCanns' book about missing daughter Madeleine, Mr Amaral said he was surprised at Kate's claim that she was writing her book "to give an account of the truth."

"It is strange to hear the word 'truth' from the mouth of someone who didn't cooperate with the police when the investigation was open," he said.

"And it was not any investigation; it was about finding what caused the mysterious disappearance of her daughter, and the enormous effort to recover her."

Mr Amaral believes the McCanns have "the right to be able to write what they like about the case" and supports the fact that Kate "is using her freedom of speech". Something recently denied him.

"A book that is written by someone who was a suspect may become of use as a document, maybe even a piece of documental evidence. Let us wait," he added.

Mr Amaral, whose bestselling book The Truth of the Lie was the subject of costly legal action by the McCanns, said he "felt like a free man" when the injunction on his book was overturned by the Appeals Court in October last year. "The McCanns also felt free because they decided to write a book," he observed.

The McCanns, who failed in their recent appeal to Portugal's Supreme Court to reimpose the ban, must now return all seized copies of the book, currently placed with their lawyer, Isabel Duarte, or risk incurring a criminal charge of disobedience.

"Legality has been re-established," said Goncalo Amaral. "The McCanns have just lost one more judicial action that was paid for with money from a fund that they say is for recovering their daughter.

"Both her and her husband were, and still are, more concerned with defending their image than in finding out what caused the child's mysterious disappearance."

An English language version of Goncalo Amaral's book is yet to be released but he said: "After the McCanns' book is published, there is no reason whatsoever for The Truth of the Lie not to be published in the UK. The British people are entitled to know all of the facts."

Mr Amaral believes that the process will be reopened and "the material truth will be known" and is dismissive of the McCanns' petition for a review of the case.

"That is one of the misunderstandings that are created by the McCanns," he said, "they do not want the case to be reviewed, they merely want a review of the information that has been added after the shelving (sightings of the child).

"If they wanted the case to be reviewed, they would ask for the crime process and the investigation to be reopened, and they would supply all of the reports from the various private detectives that they have hired.

"To ask for the process to be reopened, all it would take is a letter to the Prosecutor, as it has already happened in so many other cases. It costs them nothing, just the stamp on the letter."

If the process were reopened, Mr Amaral believes there are "several" diligences which could be carried out to help discover the truth.

"There will always be diligences that will result from reviewing the investigation and the reports from the McCanns' private detectives. Those diligences will have to take the conclusions that the Police had reached in September of 2007 into account.

"That is the starting point, but in the end it could happen that those conclusions are not confirmed. What is necessary is to complete an investigation that was suddenly interrupted due to the will of the parents of a child that has disappeared mysteriously."

Mr Amaral has no doubts about which action would have to be undertaken immediately to help unearth the truth of what happened to Madeleine.

"The first diligence, after the review, will have to be the reconstruction of that night of the 3rd of May, 2007."