British detectives are poised to begin staging operations on Portuguese soil as they investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Madeleine McCann, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal’s Algarve on May 3 2007, as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.
Last week, Portugal’s attorney general’s office acknowledged they had formally received a letter of request from the British authorities for assistance in their enquiries. It was reported that the request concerned assistance to arrest three suspects who were carrying out burglaries at the Ocean Club complex in Praia de Luz, in the Algarve, where the Madeleine McCann’s family was staying. In the 17 days before she disappeared, there were two incidents in the McCanns‘ block, one burglary and one attempted burglary. Portugal Police have said the possibility that Madeleine had been snatched by burglars as part of a bungled break-in was a key line of inquiry.
Investigators from Scotland Yard are waiting for an official agreement later this week, and hope to begin “operational activity” linked to the case in the near future. A high-profile campaign run by Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, and a Portuguese police investigation, have also failed to locate the missing girl
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said he is “cautiously optimistic” that Portuguese and British officers can act soon although he did not reveal any details of the operations that would take place. That aside, Police revealed that they are now looking at five more cases in which young British girls were sexually assaulted during home break-ins by a lone intruder in the Algarve. A further, sixth case involved a “near miss”.
Of particular interest to the team is a sexual assault on a ten-year-old which took place in Praia da Luz in 2005, where Madeleine, then three, vanished from two years later. Met Police Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood described the man as “an offender who has got a very, very unhealthy interest in young white female children, who is attacking whilst they are on holiday in their beds.”
Officers are now looking at a total of nine sexual assaults and three “near misses” on British girls aged six to 12 between 2004 and 2006.
The Metropolitan Police Service continues to offer a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for the abduction of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007.