Madeleine McCann paedo suspect ‘bragged to pal in bar that he snatched her on 10th anniversary of disappearance’
MADELEINE McCann’s paedo suspect told a pal he snatched the toddler on the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, it is claimed.
Christian B, 43, has today been unmasked as the prime suspect in the youngster’s disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007, in a bombshell breakthrough.
German police revealed today they are investigating the convicted rapist “on suspicion of murder” and say they believe Madeleine is dead.
The suspect, who we cannot legally name in full, was first thrust into the frame in 2017 after allegedly confessing to abducting Madeleine in a bar.
He was reportedly chatting to the friend in Germany when a TV report came on about the tenth anniversary of the girl’s disappearance and he suggested he knew what had happened to her.
Christian B then allegedly showed a video of himself raping a 72-year-old tourist in Portugal in 2005, which he was later convicted and jailed for eight years over.
Sky News reported: “He was in a bar in Germany with another man, around the tenth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance. A report came on the TV and he said something to suggest that he knew what happened.
“He also allegedly showed a video of himself raping a woman. Video of the rape led to an investigation that last year meant he was convicted of the rape of a tourist on the Algarve in around 2005.
“That is what brought him back into the frame.”
He was also linked to the case after an acquaintance stole a camera from his home and found footage on it showing him carrying out the horrifying attack.
The chilling interaction alerted police to him again – four years after he first appeared on their radar.
A number of potential links have since arisen – including an alleged conversation about Madeleine in a chatroom before police began honing in on him.
The 43-year-old prisoner was revealed to be living in a campervan in Praia da Luz in Portugal around the time the youngster vanished on May 3, 2007.
He also took a mysterious 30-minute phonecall just one hour before the disappearance and had also rented two homes in Portugal just miles from the Ocean Club where Madeleine was staying.
Christian B – born in Germany in 1976 before moving to Portugal in his late teens – has a list of convictions for sexual abuse against children, drug offences and rape.
Hans Christian Wolters, a spokesman for the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor’s Office, said today: “With the suspect, we are talking about a sexual predator who has already been convicted of crimes against little girls and he’s already serving a long sentence.”
He is also a prolific burglar at hotels and holiday apartments, BKA crime director Christian Hoppe said.
The officer believes Madeleine may have been randomly targeted after her killer broke into her family’s apartment in Praia de Luz.
He also said the suspect could have had an accomplice who may know where Madeleine’s body is.
When asked whether the attack was sexually motivated, Christian Hoppe, leading crime director at the Federal Crime Agency said: “We cannot rule that out.
“But it is also possible that the suspect, after an initial intention of burglary, spontaneously moved on to a sexual motive.”
While working part-time in the food industry in nearby Lagos, Christian B supplemented his salary by raiding hotels and flogging drugs.
He once lived in a dilapidated old farm building in Portugal just two miles from the holiday apartment where Madeleine vanished.
The suspect also lived in a home five miles from where the three-year-old was snatched before moving into his campervan, which is currently at the centre of the investigation.
The suspect's mystery phonecall
The prime suspect took a mystery 30-minute call on his phone just one hour before Madeleine vanished.
The suspect’ss number was +351 912 730 680.
DCI Cranwell said: “Extensive enquiries have led investigators to believe the suspect was using this number and received a call, starting at 7.32pm and finishing at 8.02pm on 3 May 2007.
“This call was received in the area of Praia da Luz.”
The number which called him is +351 916 510 683 – but cops have not found who was using it.
DCI Cranwell said: “This number is the phone number that made this call. We know the person was not in the area of Praia da Luz.
“Investigators believe the person who made this call is a highly significant witness and are appealing for them to get in touch.
“The Operation Grange team is also asking anyone if they recognise these numbers.
“Did you ever call them? Do you have them in your phone, an old phone or your electronic contacts?”
One neighbour said he rented the home from an English owner in the 90s and was “always a bit angry” before he vanished in 2006 “without a word”.
The local added: “About six months later I was asked to help clean up the place and it was disgusting, absolutely vile. It had been trashed, with broken stuff like computers all over the place.
“We found a bin bag and inside were wigs and exotic clothing, whether just fancy dress or something stranger I couldn’t tell.”
German cops are treating Madeleine’s disappearance as a murder inquiry – though the Met are still investigating the case as a missing person inquiry.
You can help by calling Operation Grange with information on 0207 321 9251 or email Operation.grange@met.police.uk
The man emerged as a “significant” suspect following a vital breakthrough in the case from a witness who came forward following a 10th anniversary appeal by the Met for information in 2017.
He was first flagged to police in 2013 but there was not enough evidence to arrest him, police said.
That same year, it was revealed a suspect was spotted lurking near Madeleine’s holiday apartment just hours before she was snatched from her bed.
On the day the girl vanished, a witness claimed they saw the man skulking around the Ocean Club apartment at 4pm – around six hours before Madeleine was discovered missing from her bed and the alarm raised.
He was described as white, aged 30 to 35, thin with shirt, light-coloured hair.
In 2013, an e-fit was released of the man – with detectives from Scotland Yard now saying this has “not been ruled out”.
The chief suspect has been described as blonde – matching the mystery man spotted lurking near the McCann’s apartment.
It was originally believed the E-fit could have been notorious child killer Martin Ney but this has since been ruled out.
Christian B has been linked to a 1980s VW T3 Westfalia white campervan with yellow skirting that was registered in Portugal and pictured in the Algarve in 2007 in another bombshell development.
Cops say he was driving the vehicle in the same town just days before Madeleine vanished and is believed to have been living in it for days or weeks before and after the date of her disappearance.
Chilling timeline of Madeleine McCann case
2007
– May 3: Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, leave their three children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in southern Portugal while they dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.
Nothing is amiss when Mr McCann checks on the youngsters just after 9pm, but when his wife goes back at about 10pm she finds three-year-old Madeleine missing.
Jane Tanner, one of the friends dining with the McCanns, reports seeing a man carrying a child earlier that night.
– May 14: Detectives take Anglo-Portuguese property developer Robert Murat in for questioning and make him an “arguido”, or formal suspect.
Officers also search the home he shares with his mother in Praia da Luz, just 100 yards from where the youngster vanished.
– August 11: Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly acknowledge for the first time that she could be dead.
– September 7: During questioning of Mr and Mrs McCann, detectives make them both “arguidos” in their daughter’s disappearance.
– September 9: The McCanns fly back to England with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
2008
– July 21: The Portuguese authorities shelve their investigation and lift the “arguido” status of the McCanns and Robert Murat.
2011
– May 12: Mrs McCann publishes a book about her daughter’s disappearance, on Madeleine’s eighth birthday.
Scotland Yard launches a review of the case after a request from Home Secretary Theresa May, supported by Prime Minister David Cameron.
2012
– April 25: Scotland Yard detectives say they believe Madeleine could still be alive, release an age-progression picture of how she might look as a nine-year-old, and call on the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case, but Portuguese police say they have found no new material.
2013
– July 4: Scotland Yard confirms it has launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine’s disappearance two years into a review of the case. It has “genuinely new” lines of inquiry and has identified 38 people of interest, including 12 Britons.
– October 24: Portuguese police confirm that a review of their original investigation has uncovered new lines of inquiry, and they reopen the case.
2014
– January 29: British detectives fly to Portugal amid claims they are planning to make arrests.
– June 3: Sniffer dogs and specialist teams are used to search an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine went missing.
– December 12: Detectives began questioning 11 people who it was thought may have information on the case.
2015
– September 16: The Government discloses that the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine has cost more than £10 million.
– October 28: Scotland Yard’s investigation into the disappearance has been cut from 29 officers to four.
2017
– April 30: The couple prepare to mark 10 years since their daughter’s disappearance with a BBC interview where they vow to do “whatever it takes for as long as it takes” to find her.
2019
– May 3: Local media report Portuguese detectives are investigating a foreign paedophile as a suspect in the abduction of Madeleine McCann.
2020
– June 3: Police reveal that a 43-year-old German prisoner has been identified as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
The German lag 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.
German police believe one of the two vehicles were used in the disappearance of Madeleine.
On May 4, 2007 – the day after Madeleine vanished – the man got the Jaguar re-registered in Germany under someone else’s name although it is believed the vehicle remained in Portugal.
German police have seized both vehicles and described the major new prime suspect as white with short blond hair, possibly fair, and around 6ft tall with a slim build.
He also received a 30-minute call on his phone just one hour before Madeleine vanished from her bed.
Scotland Yard is now launching a joint appeal with the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (BKA) and the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria (PJ) – with a £20,000 reward for information.
