Police reveal brave new detail about Madeleine McCann case
A German prosecutor is alleging Madeleine McCann may still be alive, after previously saying police were working on the assumption the young girl had died.
The investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance from Praia da Luz, Portugal, has garnered attention once again after authorities announced they were investigating a 43-year-old convicted German child sex offender.
Hans Christian Wolters who is a spokesman for the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office, announced in a statement on Monday that prosecutors had some evidence Madeleine was dead but did not have enough for a trial.
However, when speaking to the Sunday Mirror, he seemed to not agree with his previous statement.
“Because there is no forensic evidence there may be a little bit of hope (that she is alive),” he told the paper.
“We don’t want to kill the hope and because there is no forensic evidence it may be theoretically possible.
“I know it’s important for the British people when I say she is dead, but I did not know it was so important.”
Separately, speaking to The Sunday Times, Mr Wolters also said that prosecutors were investigating whether or not a hotel employee may have helped the suspect target the McCanns’ apartment knowing they were at a nearby restaurant.
The suspect is known to have lived on the Algarve coast.
When Madeleine went missing on May 3, 2007, the man’s Portuguese mobile phone received a half-hour phone call in Praia da Luz, around an hour before the abduction took place.
There is no suggestion the member of staff knew about Madeleine’s kidnap in advance, and Mr Wolters said: “The phone call made by the suspect could be between him and a member of staff who told him when to break into the McCanns’ apartment.”
He also went on to add that police hadn’t interviewed the suspect about Madeleine’s murder at the time, as they had not traced the person who called him.
Mr Wolters told the paper: “The person he spoke to could put the phone in his hand (by confirming that it was definitely the suspect to whom he spoke), which would mean he was in the area at the time.
“This is the evidence we want before we issue an arrest warrant and then interview him for the murder. It would help the case against him – but we would also need more evidence.”
In the days since the renewed appeal, Scotland Yard say it has received nearly a whopping 400 tips to its Operation Grange team.
Operation Grange refers to the force’s active investigation.
The case is still classed as a missing person inquiry as there is no “definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”, a police spokesman said.
Madeleine vanished soon before her fourth birthday while her parents were eating dinner with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.
She would have turned 17 last month.