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The parents of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann have lost the latest battle in their libel fight against a former police officer who claimed that they were involved in their daughter’s disappearance.

Gerry and Kate McCann had appealed to the European Court of Human Rights over a Portuguese court’s decision in their battle against investigator Gonzalo Amaral, who published his suspicions about the couple in his 2008 book “The Truth of the Lie.”

The couple had sued Amaral, the lead investigator in their case, for alleging that they staged an abduction to cover up the accidental death of their daughter on a trip to Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

In 2015, the Portuguese court ruled in the couple’s favor, ordering Amaral to pay half a million dollars in damages and remove his book from publication. 

But after an appellate court overturned the initial verdict in 2017, the McCanns petitioned the ECHR in Strasbourg, alleging that the Portuguese judicial system violated their private life and disrespected their right to a fair hearing.

The European court rejected the couple’s argument on Tuesday, stating that the McCanns’ reputations were damaged by the police naming them as suspects and not by Amaral’s subsequent comments.

The court also dismissed their claims that the authorities breached the family’s privacy, pointing out that the couple frequently participate in media interviews and even contributed to a documentary about the case.

According to the Strasbourg ruling, the Portuguese court had “not implied any guilt on the applicants or even suggested suspicions against them,” thereby rendering the McCanns’ complaint “manifestly ill-founded.”

A source close to the couple told the Daily Mail that they are “disappointed” and reviewing their legal options. The McCanns have up to three months to appeal the decision.

In a statement posted to the official “Find Madeleine McCann” Facebook group in the wake of the verdict, the McCanns said, “The focus is now rightly on the search for Madeleine and her abductor(s).”

“We are grateful for the ongoing work by the British, German and Portuguese police.”

The ECHR’s decision marks the latest chapter in a tragic saga that has gripped the international media for over 15 years.

Madeleine McCann was 3 years old when she disappeared from her family’s vacation apartment on May 3, 2007, while her parents were allegedly eating dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

The couple was questioned in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance in September 2007, but they were eventually cleared of any involvement.

According to one expert, the press frenzy in the months after Madeleine’s disappearance rivaled the response to Princess Diana’s death in 1997.

In April this year, The Post reported that German authorities had officially named convicted pedophile and rapist Christian Brueckner a suspect in the case.

Brueckner, who is currently in jail for raping an elderly American woman in the same area where Madeleine disappeared, was a handyman at the Praia de Luz resort at the time of the alleged abduction. Investigators reportedly found child pornography and little girls’ swimsuits in his possession when he was arrested.

Speaking in a television interview in May, German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said law enforcement is confident that Brueckner is guilty.

“We’re sure that he’s the murderer of Madeleine McCann,” he said.