New prime suspect identified in Madeleine McCann case
In a rare update, British police have revealed they are investigating a German prisoner as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
At the time of the three-year-old’s disappearance, the 43-year-old German national is known to have been in and around Praia da Luz on Portugal's Algarve coast around May 3, 2007.
The child had been on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, along with her twin siblings, Sean and Amelie.
A half-hour long phone call was made to the German man's Portuguese mobile phone around an hour before Madeleine is assumed to have gone missing.
The suspect who remains behind bars in a German prison for an unrelated matter, has been linked to a camper van that was photographed in the Algarve in 2007.
Scotland Yard said he was driving the vehicle in the Praia da Luz area just days before Madeleine's disappearance.
The suspect has additionally been linked to a 1993 Jaguar XJR6 that had a German number plate seen in Praia da Luz and surrounding areas in 2006 and 2007.
The day after young Madeleine went missing, the man got the car re-registered in Germany under someone else's name. However, it is believed the vehicle was still in Portugal.
Both vehicles have been seized by German police.
Scotland Yard is in the process of launching an appeal with the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (BKA) and the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria (PJ), which will include a STG20,000 ($A36,000) reward for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for Madeleine's disappearance.
The Met's investigation has revealed that there are more than 600 people who may be significant to the case and were tipped off about the German national, already known to detectives, following a 2017 appeal 10 years after she went missing.
Madeleine vanished just a short while before her fourth birthday and would have turned 17 in May.
Madeleine’s parents issued a statement, read by Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, welcoming the new police appeal with open arms.
"All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice," the statement said.
"We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive, but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know as we need to find peace."
Det. Chief Insp. Cranwell took the unusual step of releasing two mobile phone numbers as part of the appeal.
The first, (+351) 912 730 680, is believed to have been used by the suspect.
The second is suspected to have received a call from another Portuguese mobile, (+351) 916 510 683, while in the Praia da Luz area on the night of May 3, 2007.
The caller is not thought to have been in the Praia da Luz area but is not being treated as a suspect.
Police say the person may be a "key witness" in the case.
Det. Chief Insp. Cranwell are appealing to anyone who knows the suspect and who may have information in relation to Madeleine's case to come forward.
"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," the police officer said.