Maddie suspect investigated over ‘sex act’ in front of girl on beach

POLICE are investigating the Madeleine McCann suspect over a separate child sex allegation just weeks before she vanished in Portugal.

The German drifter Christian B is suspected of grabbing a 10-year-old girl and performing a sex act in front of her on Salema Beach in April 2007. It is around a 15-minute drive from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared from a holiday apartment on May 3.

Hans-Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor who is investigating Christian B in the Madeleine case, said: “In this case of 2007 he is suspected of showing himself in a sexual, offensive way in front of a 10-year-old German child on a beach. I cannot say exactly if he was [doing anything] in front of the child or if he has just shown himself naked. In Germany that is a sexual

‘He is a suspect, we haven’t charged him, so I cannot say anything about how this investigation will end’

abuse of a child – and that’s why we are investigating. But he is just a suspect, we haven’t charged him, so I cannot say anything about how this investigation will end.”

German judicial authorities were made aware of the incident last year through a survey of sexual offences from Portugal. The girl, who has not been named, was playing with other children during a trip to the beach with her family when a naked man grabbed hold of her.

She was saved when adults rushed to her aid, with the suspect fleeing the scene following a chase with her father.

The original investigation was closed without a suspect, but reopened when the girl’s mother contacted police after Christian B was identified as a suspect in the Madeleine case. Christian B, as he is known in the German judicial system, lived on and off in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007.

The 43-year-old is imprisoned in Germany after being convicted of rape and drug trafficking. He has denied any involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.