MADELEINE: NEW PRIME SUSPECT
Police investigate jailed German, 43, who was living in campervan near where she vanished
A CONVICTED sex offender living in a campervan has been identified as the prime suspect in the 13-year hunt for missing Madeleine McCann.
Scotland Yard last night revealed that the 43-year-old German is known to have been in the Portuguese holiday resort where the three-year-old was snatched in May 2007.
Detectives have discovered that the blond-haired man, currently in prison in his home country, had a 30-minute mobile phone conversation with a mystery caller
about an hour before the little girl was last seen.
Extensive police inquiries have also revealed how the man re-registered his dark-coloured Jaguar car in someone else’s name just 24 hours after Madeleine vanished.
The massive breakthrough in the Yard investigation was announced last night as police in three countries appealed for information which could finally solve the mystery.
Detectives in Britain, Germany and Portugal declined to name the man as they urged anyone who recognised his dirty white and yellow campervan and Jaguar from 2007 to get in touch.
The possibility has now emerged that Madeleine was snatched from her bed and bundled into the back of either the campervan or the Jaguar and driven away. Both vehi inquiry. cles have been seized and have been subjected to detailed forensic examination. It is not known if anything of value has been gleaned from the search.
It is not yet clear when the suspect left the Algarve. No trace of Madeleine has been found.
The suspect is a convicted child sex attacker currently serving a long jail sentence for “other matters” the German BKA police force said last night.
The Germans are treating Madeleine’s disappearance as a case of kidnap and murder although the Yard still regards it as a missing persons case.
The suspect lived regularly in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007, including for a few years in a house between Lagos and Praia da Luz.
He had several casual jobs in the Lagos area during this time, including in the catering industry.
It is also believed he made a living through crime, including burglary thefts in hotel complexes and holiday apartments, as well as drug trafficking.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Brunswick, Lower Saxony, is investigating because the accused had his last residence in the district before he moved abroad.
German police said they believe the suspect may be responsible for unsolved rapes and other sex attacks on the Algarve.
The Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “Our main line of inquiry is this suspect.”
Mr Cundy stressed the Yard is carrying out a missing persons He added: “We don’t have any definite evidence as to whether Madeleine is alive or dead.”
Madeleine was last seen by her parents Kate and Gerry in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal’s Algarve, on the evening of May 3, 2007.
The McCanns left their daughter and her young twin brother and sister sleeping while they enjoyed a meal with friends at a nearby tapas bar – making sure they checked on the children regularly.
But the kidnapper slipped into the apartment after the last check prompting speculation he had kept watch on the family.
Her disappearance prompted a major investigation by Portuguese police. Scotland Yard launched their own inquiry – codenamed Operation Grange – after the McCanns directly appealed to the then Prime Minister David Cameron in 2011.
Operation Grange has cost taxpayers £12million as detectives sifted through hundreds of potential suspects and thousands of leads. The breakthrough came in 2017 when a senior Scotland Yard made a special appeal on the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.
As a direct result, the Yard received information about the German.
It is understood he had already been classifed as one of 600 “persons of interest” by the Operation Grange squad. But the information in 2017 meant he was regarded as a suspect.
The Yard said the 6ft-tall German is believed to have had short, blond hair, and was slim in May 2007. At the time, he was 30 but could have
passed as a 25-year-old. Detectives are trying to piece together the German’s “transient lifestyle” as he moved to and from Portugal.
The Yard said last night: “Met detectives working with German authorities have identified a man currently imprisoned in Germany as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
“We have established that he lived on and off in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007. He is connected to the area of Praia da Luz and surrounding regions, and spent some short spells in Germany.
“This individual, who we will not identify, is currently in prison in Germany for an unrelated matter.”
The Yard’s appeal centres on the van and car he used. The first vehicle is a distinctive VW T3 Westfalia campervan. It is an early 1980s model, with two tone markings, a white upper body and a yellow skirting. It had a Portuguese registration plate. The suspect had access to this van from at least April 2007 until sometime after May 2007. It was used in and around the area of Praia da Luz.
“We believe he was living in this van for days, possibly weeks, and may have been using it on 3 May 2007.We are appealing for anyone who may have seen it in or around Praia da Luz on 3 May, the night Madeleine went missing, the days before, or weeks following the disappearance.”
The Jaguar is a 1993 XJR 6, with a German number plate. The Yard said: “This car is believed to have been in the Praia da Luz and surrounding areas in 2006 and 2007. The car was originally registered in the suspect’s name. On May 4, 2007, the day after Madeleine’s disappearance, the car was re-registered to someone else in Germany.”
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, who leads Operation Grange, said: “It’s more than 13 years since Madeleine went missing and none of us can imagine what it must be like for her family, not knowing what happened.”