For all you know his statement about appealing made shortly after the judgement could simply have been an act of bravado, an action that he never intended to pursue, citing a lack of funds as the stumbling block, which is an option no longer available to him. Still, he has nothing to lose, apart from whatever remaining shred of credibility he clings to, and a whole bunch of his fanclub's dosh.
Trying to see if from his side, I'd probably attempt to find any vaguely plausible reason to appeal, particularly if my fan club was willing to foot the bill of doing so.
On a tangential issue, was it ever confirmed one way or another whether there was any attempt to settle by either party prior to this outcome (aside from an Amaral-pally tab reporter for TV Mais)?
In the early days he was quite confident that the McCanns would never sue him even though he'd have welcomed it. Something to do with the idea that doing so might reopen the case, and burblings about aces and non-missing pink blankets.