Former Portuguese police chief Gonçalo Amaral has claimed that an imprisoned German paedophile probed over Madeleine McCann's disappearance is responsible for her disappearance, not previous lead suspect Martin Ney.
He revealed new details about why he believes the new suspect is being investigated - and made a fresh dig at the missing girl’s father, Gerry, in an interview with a Spanish TV station.
Mr. Amaral originally sparked speculation Hamburg-born child strangler Ney was the prime suspect after telling an Australian podcast earlier this year investigators were focusing on a German paedophile in prison.
However, he never identified Ney by name at the time, describing the suspect only as someone who had been ruled out of the investigation into the missing British youngster back in 2008 but later jailed in his home country.
Now the original lead investigator in the case, has fuelled new speculation about his identity by telling a Spanish TV programme: “A paedophile who is German and serving life for killing children has been spoken about.”
“What I know is that the suspect is not Ney, it's another man. He's also in prison in Germany. He's also a paedophile.
“Years later, many years later, it appears that in an Internet chatroom there is a conversation between that person and another person where they talk about Madeleine.”
He continued: “It can't be him” when he was shown a photo of Ney before adding in a false and vile jibe at Madeleine McCann's father: “I'll say something else, the kidnapper is similar, very similar, to Gerry McCann” before pointing at the photo he had been shown of Martin Ney and adding: “That man is not similar to Gerry McCann.”
Police in the UK and Portugal, who are leading separate investigations into Madeleine McCann's May 2007 disappearance from the holiday resort of Praia da Luz, declined to comment on Portuguese reports around the 12th anniversary that investigators had a “new lead and a new suspect.”
The Policia Judiciaria said in a statement released in May after the Correio da Manha claimed a new suspect had been flagged up to investigators in Lisbon and Porto by Scotland Yard: “The investigation into the disappearance of an English child in Praia da Luz in 2007 remains open within the framework of an investigation supervised by Portimao's Public Ministry.”
“This investigation has been developed in conjunction with international authorities, following police and judicial rules of cooperation justified by the circumstances of the situation. The PJ does not feel it is appropriate to make any further clarifications in the interests of the investigation,” they concluded.
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