Madeleine McCann suspect has been convicted of sexual contact with girls, German police reveal
The new prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is a convicted child sex offender, German police have revealed.
The 43-year-old man, who has not been named, is white with short blond hair, possibly fair, and about 6ft tall with a slim build at the time the toddler vanished on May 3 2007.
Christian Hoppe, from Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), told the country's ZDF television channel the suspect is serving a prison sentence for a sex crime and has two previous convictions for "sexual contact with girls".
German newspaper Braunschweiger Zeitung reported the suspect, a German national, was carrying out a seven-year prison sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005.
The newspaper said he was convicted of the offence in Braunschweig district court in December last year.
Hoppe said German police have not ruled out a sexual motive for the alleged crime against Madeleine, which is being treated as murder by the BKA.
He added that the suspect may have broken into an apartment in the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz – where Madeleine was on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie – before spontaneously kidnapping her.
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Police also said there are other who have "concrete knowledge" of Madeleine's disappearance.
A BKA appeal said: "There is reason to assume that there are other persons, apart from the suspect, who have concrete knowledge of the course of the crime and maybe also of the place where the body was left."
What we know about the suspect
The suspect is known to have been in and around the area on the Algarve coast at the time Madeleine went missing shortly before her fourth birthday.
A half-hour phone call was made to his Portuguese mobile phone around an hour before Madeleine is believed to have gone missing.
The suspect has been linked to an early 1980s VW T3 Westfalia camper van – with a white upper body and yellow skirting, registered in Portugal – which was pictured in the Algarve in 2007.
Scotland Yard said he was driving the vehicle in the Praia da Luz area in the days before Madeleine's disappearance and is believed to have been living in it for days or weeks before and after 3 May.
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He has also been linked to a 1993 Jaguar XJR6 with a German number plate seen in Praia da Luz and surrounding areas in 2006 and 2007.
The day after Madeleine went missing, the suspect had the car re-registered in Germany under someone else's name, although it is believed the vehicle was still in Portugal.
Both vehicles have been seized by German police, who said there is information to suggest the suspect may have used one of them in an offence.
An appeal on German Crimewatch-style programme XY said the suspect is thought to have worked odd jobs, including as a waiter, but also committed burglaries in hotels and holiday resorts and dealt drugs.
The BKA is also appealing for other potential victims to come forward.
'Now is the time to come forward'
DCI Mark Cranwell, who is leading the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance for the Metropolitan Police, appealed to the public for details about the suspect.
He said: "Some people will know the man we are describing today, the suspect in our investigation. I'm appealing to you directly.
"You may know, you may be aware of some of the things he has done. He may have confided in you about the disappearance of Madeleine.
"More than 13 years have passed and your loyalties may have changed.
"This individual is in prison and we are conscious that some people may have been concerned about contacting police in the past. Now is the time to come forward."
Tip-off
The Met's investigation has identified more than 600 people as potentially significant and were tipped off about the German national, already known to detectives, following a 2017 appeal 10 years after she went missing.
She vanished shortly before her fourth birthday and would have turned 17 last month.
German police are treating her disappearance as a murder investigation but the Met's Operation Grange, launched in 2013, has always considered the case a missing person inquiry.
A statement from Madeleine's parents, read by DCI Cranwell, said: "We welcome the appeal today regarding the disappearance of our daughter Madeleine.
"We would like to thank the police forces involved for their continued efforts in the search for Madeleine.
"All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice."
The Operation Grange incident room can be contacted on 0207 321 9251 or operation.grange@met.police.uk.
