Maddie kidnapper ‘being protected’

A SENIOR police officer who led the search for Madeleine McCann has said he believes someone is protecting her kidnapper.

Retired Detective Inspector Dave Edgar thinks Madeleine was snatched by a lone abductor or a gang in a carefully planned operation.

He believes that the kidnapper has secretly confessed to the crime – meaning the key to solving the 10-year mystery could lie with somebody close to the fiend.

He said: “Someone knows what happened and it’s time they came forward. They can’t keep it to themselves and research has shown they always confide in someone else.

Agonising

“I think that someone else apart from the perpetrator knows and that is one of the best hopes of getting to the truth – that someone comes forward and says what they know.”

Parents Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, are preparing for the agonising 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance in May.

Mr Edgar, 60, was hired by former GP Kate, 49, and heart doctor Gerry, 48, after three-year-old Madeleine disappeared on a holiday in Portugal’s Algarve in May 2007.

The former detective with the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Cheshire Police headed a small team of investigators after Portuguese police closed the case in 2008.

After a three-year probe Mr Edgar handed his files to police when Scotland Yard took over the hunt in 2011.

He has kept in touch with the investigation and hopes a fresh appeal could solve the mystery.

Mr Edgar said an appeal to the heart was more likely to yield results than a cash reward. He added: “I’m talking about TV, posters, letters, text messages, new technology. Get the message out there.” Dave Edgar, left, believes Maddie, far right, was snatched by a gang or a sole abductor in a carefully planned operation. Right: Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry