Maddie police: We have critical new lead
‘Very much a live investigation’ ‘Horrible marker of time’
POLICE are still chasing a critical lead that could crack the Madeleine McCann case, Scotland Yard revealed last night.
Detectives believe the ‘significant line of inquiry’ is the final throw of the dice to end a decade of heartbreak for her family.
They are working around the clock with the Portuguese authorities in the hope that mysterious new clues could explain why the three-year-old vanished in May 2007.
Officers refused to discuss details but it is understood they have returned to the theory that burglars were involved.
Speaking ahead of the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s abduction, a Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner said the latest lead was of ‘great interest’ and ‘worth pursuing’. Mark Rowley added: ‘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. We’ve got some critical lines of inquiry – those link to particular hypotheses – but I’m not going to discuss them because it is very much a live investigation.
‘We’ve got some thoughts on what we think the most likely explanations might be and we are pursuing those. 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.’
Mr Rowley described the idea of a burglary gone wrong as a sensible hypothesis for the £12million investigation. But he admitted: ‘We don’t have evidence telling us if Madeleine is alive or dead.
‘It is a missing person’s inquiry but as a team we are realistic about what we might be dealing with – especially as months turn to years.’
Madeleine, who would now be 13, vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007. Her parents, Kate and Glasgow-born Gerry, were dining yards away with friends.
In an emotional posting on the official Find Madeleine website yesterday, Mrs McCann, 49, said next week’s anniversary was an ‘unwanted milestone’. She said: ‘Ten years – there’s no easy way to say it, describe it, accept it.
‘Most days are similar to the rest – another day. May 3, 2017 – another day. But ten years – a horrible marker of time, stolen time.’
Officers failed to find any physical evidence about what became of Madeleine after she vanished from the bedroom where she was sleeping next to the cots of her twin siblings.
Leading theories include the possibilities that she was snatched to order by a paedophile network or taken during a bungled burglary.
Police investigated bogus charity collectors seen knock- ing on doors and released photofits of thieves who may have been scouting the area.
Detectives also revealed that a lone intruder who sexually assaulted girls in the Algarve over two years has never been caught. They worked to rule out 530 sex offenders. The McCanns came under suspicion during the original Portuguese inquiry but were cleared when the case was formally closed in 2008.
Asked if a sex offender was 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.’
Mr Rowley said police have ruled out four people, believed to be known burglars and petty criminals, after interviewing them.
The Scotland Yard probe, which is now being undertaken by just four detectives, was ordered by David Cameron in 2013. Initially a team of up to 30 officers sifted through 40,000 documents and looked at more than 600 individuals following a review that began two years earlier.
Mr Rowley said new information was always coming in from the public.