Madeleine McCann’s parents ‘greatly encouraged’ as cops receive 1,000 tip-offs after prime suspect revelation
MADELEINE McCann’s parents are “greatly encouraged” as cops have got nearly 1,000 tip-offs after the new prime suspect was revealed. Just nine days after convicted paedophile Christian B was named in the investigation information has poured in to Scotland Yard. A force spokesperson said today: “We have now received 920 pieces of information, we are pleased […]
MADELEINE McCann’s parents are “greatly encouraged” as cops have got nearly 1,000 tip-offs after the new prime suspect was revealed.
Just nine days after convicted paedophile Christian B was named in the investigation information has poured in to Scotland Yard.
A force spokesperson said today: “We have now received 920 pieces of information, we are pleased with the amount of calls and emails coming in and we are assessing them and prioritising them.”
Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leics, “continue to hope she is alive until they can be shown incontrovertible evidence which proves that she is dead”, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said.
He added: “Kate and Gerry are greatly encouraged that nearly 1,000 fresh pieces of information have poured in following the Met Police appeal.”
German prosecutors believe Madeleine is dead and are treating it as a murder investigation, but the Metropolitan Police are still treating it as a missing persons case.
Prosecutors in Germany claim to know how the youngster died but have no idea where her body is, or have enough evidence to charge the 43-year-old.
Police sensationally revealed last Wednesday that they had a significant new suspect in the 13-year hunt for Maddie’s abductor.
Within 24 hours and following an appeal on German TV they had received 270 pieces of information, rising to nearly 400 in three days and now more than trebled.
We are now able to show Christian B’s full image, after a German newspaper published it in full, and police from Germany and the UK appealed for information.
APPEAL GOES ON
DCI Mark Cranwell, who is heading Op Grange, said: “We continue to urge anyone with information to come forward and speak with us.”
Phone records show the German national was in Praia da Luz, Portugal, when three-year-old Madeleine was snatched from a holiday apartment in May 2007.
He was shopped by a pal after he confessed during a drinking session three years ago that he ‘knew all about’ what had happened to Maddie.
The career criminal, who is now in a single cell amid fears for his safety, is refusing to co-operate with cops, causing ‘prolonged agony’ for the McCanns.
Detectives are appealing for people to come forward who recognise a VW camper van and a Jaguar car owned by Christian B.
They are also asked the public to provide information about two phone numbers, one used by the suspect and the other used to call him shortly before the youngster went missing.
He is currently serving a 21-month sentence for drug dealing and was also convicted last year of raping a 72-year-old American tourist in Luz two years before Madeleine vanished, which he is trying to challenge on a point of law.
We continue to urge anyone with information to come forward and speak with us.
Metropolitan Police
Former pal Norbert M spoke of the 43-year-old’s temper on an RTL two-hour special this week.
He said: “In 2015, I took over a kiosk that had previously been run by him.
“He wanted to take a freezer and the air conditioning with him, even though they didn’t belong to him. He was very aggressive.
“A short time later he showed up here with some acquaintances. One of them threatened me with a knife.
“This was a shock. As a neighbour, I used to shopping with him. My experience was that he was quite friendly.
“But that could change. He blew hot and cold.”
Christian B is said to have boasted about torture and destroying evidence in an online conversation with another paedophile.
He made chilling threats about wanting to “catch something little and use it for days”.
Christian B is serving a 21-month prison sentence for a drug offence in Kiel.
He has served two thirds of the time and had applied for early release from his drugs sentence.
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Hans Christian Wolters, Braunschweig state prosecutor, said he feared Madeleine was killed shortly after being abducted from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007.
Mr Wolters told The Times: “My private opinion is that he relatively quickly killed the girl, possibly abused her and then killed her.
“We believe our suspect committed further crimes, especially sexual crimes, in Portugal possibly but also elsewhere in Germany.”
