UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP WITH THE McCANNS IN PORTUGAL

KATE and Gerry McCann were befriended by Sir Clement after their daughter vanished in Portugal.

The broadcaster had a villa in Praia da Luz, the resort where Madeleine was last seen nine years ago.

He invited the McCanns round, teasing Kate about whether she was a ‘nymphomaniac’. A source close to the couple said: ‘It certainly raises a lot of questions. They will be appalled to hear the details.’

There is no sign that Sir Clement’s name featured in the botched Portuguese police investigation.

And the Metropolitan Police, which launched Operation Grange in 2011 to re-examine the Madeleine case, has never said anything about him.

Last night Sir Clement’s son Matthew said he had been in the UK – and was 83 – at the time of the abduction. He said the Madeleine detectives had not asked the family anything about their father.

Private investigators hired by the McCanns said Praia da Luz and the Algarve were ‘ awash’ with paedophiles.

In her book, Mrs McCann recalled Sir Clement’s ‘razor-sharp intellect’ and said he treated them to a strawberry vodka followed by risotto. She said that he kept in touch by email after his return to England and called them again when he was back in Portugal.

The next time they saw him, after the McCanns had been made suspects by bungling Portuguese police, he joked with them about the useless official investigation.