Police pursue significant line of inquiry decade on

Tenth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance approaches

British detectives working on the Madeleine McCann case are still pursuing “critical” leads as the 10th anniversary of her disappearance approaches, a Scotland Yard chief has revealed.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said there are “significant investigative avenues” that are of “great interest” to both the UK and Portuguese teams.

Officers have sifted through some 40,000 documents and looked at more than 600 individuals since 2011.

In an interview nearly a decade on from the youngster’s disappearance, Mr Rowley also confirmed that four people considered as possible suspects in 2013 have been ruled out.

Madeleine vanished from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007 when she was three years old.

Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, have vowed to “never give up” hope of finding their daughter.

Asked if police were any closer to solving the case than they were six years ago when the UK investigation was launched, Mr Rowley said: “I know we have a significant line of inquiry which is worth pursuing, and because it’s worth pursuing it could provide an answer, but until we’ve gone through it I won’t know whether we are going to get there or not.

“Ourselves and the Portuguese are doing a critical piece of work and we don’t want to spoil it by putting titbits of information out publicly.”

He declined to expand on the nature of the working theories or reveal whether any suspects were currently being considered, saying that disclosing further detail would not help the investigation.

Mr Rowley said: “We’ve got some critical lines of inquiry, those link to particular hypotheses, but I’m not going to discuss those because those are very much live investigation.

“We’ve got some thoughts on what we think the most likely explanations might be and we are pursuing those.”

He described the possibility of a “burglary gone wrong” as a “sensible hypothesis” which has not been “entirely ruled out”.

The senior officer was asked about the theory of a sex predator being responsible. Mr Rowley said: “That’s been one key line of inquiry.

“The reality is in the modern world in any urban area if you cast your net widely you will find a whole pattern of offences.

“You will find sex offenders who live nearby. And those coincidences need to be sifted out, what’s a coincidence and what may be linked to the investigation that you are currently doing.

“Offences which may be linked have to be looked at and either ruled in or ruled out.”

Mr Rowley said there was still a “lot unknown” in the case, adding: “All the different hypotheses have to remain open.”

Police have looked at more than 600 individuals who were identified as being potentially significant to Madeleine’s disappearance.

In 2013 the team identified four people as suspects in the case.

Interviews and searches were carried out but no evidence was found to implicate the four in the disappearance.

Mr Rowley said they are no longer the subject of further investigation and have been ruled out of the inquiry.

Meanwhile, police working on the case continue to receive information on a daily basis.

Picture: PA. Madeleine vanished from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007 when she was three years old.