Maddie cops reveal prime suspect
● Hope flickers for missing girl’s parents after child-sex offender grilled
Scotland Yard has identified a prime suspect in the disappearance of missing British child Madeleine McCann, senior officers have disclosed.
In the biggest breakthrough in the 13-year investigation, British and German police said a 43-year-old German who is in jail in his homeland for child sexual offences was now suspected of involvement in the little girl’s disappearance.
Madeleine disappeared from her bedroom on May 3 during a family holiday in the Algarve, Portugal, while her parents were dining with friends nearby in the resort of Praia da Luz.
The man, whom they did not name, was in the resort on the day of her disappearance and received a telephone call in the area an hour before the girl vanished.
Officers said he had lived in Portugal between 1995 and 2007, and released images of two vehicles — a Volkswagen camper van and a Jaguar — belonging to the suspect.
Both vehicles are in the possession of German police.
Senior police officers described the line of inquiry as “significant” as they appealed for information over the whereabouts of the German at the time Madeleine went missing aged just three in May 2007.
In a moving statement, the girl’s parents, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, said: “All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice.
“We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know, as we need to find peace.”
They said they welcomed a renewed call made jointly by British, German and Portuguese police to find Madeleine and trace the movements of the suspect.
“Kate and Gerry do feel it’s potentially very significant,” family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell told BBC Radio yesterday.
In a co-ordinated appeal for information, broadcast on German television, authorities there said the man was suspected of Madeleine’s murder.
He was described as a “multiple” child sex offender serving a lengthy jail term.
During his time in the Algarve, he did odd jobs but is also thought to be implicated in hotel and holiday home burglaries and drug dealing.
The suspect first came to the attention of the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Grange unit after an appeal was made marking the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance in 2017.
The Met asked for help from their German counterparts, the Bundeskriminalamt, six months later in November 2017.
In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “Met detectives working with German authorities have identified a man currently imprisoned in Germany as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.” Police insisted the case remained a “missing persons” inquiry but the public identification of the suspect suggests they believe she was abducted.
Detectives tracing the suspect’s mobile phone calls at the time have established the German national was in Praia da Luz an hour before Madeleine went missing.
He received a call on his mobile phone that lasted half an hour from 7.32pm to 8.02pm. Madeleine went missing at some time after 9pm.
The suspect, who was 30 at the time, was then living in a distinctive VW T3 Westfalia camper van.
Police are also seeking information on a 1993 Jaguar saloon, owned by the suspect, which he kept in the Algarve.
The car was registered in his name, but the registration changed to somebody else on May 4 2007, the day after Madeleine vanished.
The Metropolitan Police also took the unusual step on Wednesday night of releasing the Portuguese mobile phone number the suspect was using at the time and the number of the person who called him.
Police are trying to discover who called the man.
“Investigators believe the person who made this call is a highly significant witness and are appealing for them to get in touch,” the Met said.
It is understood that police in the UK and Germany have interviewed the suspect in jail but that he has declined to help with their inquiries.
Scotland Yard said the man was “white and in 2007 is believed to have had short blond hair, possibly fair.
“He was about 6ft ... with a slim build. He is 43 years old, but in 2007 may have looked between 25 to early 30s.”
Detective Inspector Mark Cranwell, who heads Operation Grange, said: “We retain an open mind as to his involvement and this remains a missing person inquiry.”
Christian Hoppe, of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, told the media the suspect had two previous convictions for sexual contact with girls. —