A German man has been declared an official suspect at Portugal's request in connection with the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann nearly 15 years ago, a Portuguese prosecutor's office said on Thursday.
Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday apartment in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, sparking a media frenzy and an unprecedented international manhunt.
Prosecutors in Faro, Algarve’s main city, did not publicly name the suspect but said in a statement he was identified as a suspect by German authorities at its request.
German police said in June 2020 that Madeleine was assumed dead and that a convicted child abuser and drug trader was likely responsible for it.
The suspect has not been charged with any crime related to the disappearance. He is behind bars in Germany for raping a woman in the same area of the Algarve region where Madeleine went missing in 2007.
He has denied being involved in the disappearance of Madeleine.
Prosecutors said the investigation has been carried out with cooperation from British and German authorities.
The suspect lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007 and burgled hotels and holiday flats, according to court documents seen by Reuters in 2020. He also falsified passports and was caught stealing diesel from a Portuguese harbour.
Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday apartment in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007. Credit: Steve Parsons/PA
German police received their first tip-off linking the man to Madeleine's case in 2013 but police were unable to find him.
The reasons that led Portuguese prosecutors to identify a suspect now are not clear but it could be related to Portugal's 15-year statute of limitations for crimes with a maximum prison sentence of 10 years or more.
Madeleine's disappearance sparked an international media frenzy and an unprecedented attempt to find her, with photographs of her plastered across news bulletins and billboards.
Portuguese police initially closed the case in 2008, only to reopen it five years later. Next month will mark 15 years since Madeleine disappeared.
"The case was reopened after new elements came to light," a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office told AFP. Since then, investigations had been carried out "in cooperation with British and German authorities".
