The identification of a new suspect in the case of the disappearance of the little Briton Madeleine McCann thirteen years ago in Portugal, is "encouraging", the Portuguese family lawyer said on Friday McCann.
"There are elements that seem encouraging to me" because this track seems to be "more solid" than others followed in the past, said Rogério Alves. "There was mistrust on the part of the parents with regard to the information which came out and promised a conclusion of this affair. This time, it is inevitable that this will represent a ray of hope "for them, added the Portuguese lawyer.
He worked in the region where the girl disappeared
German police announced on Wednesday evening that they are investigating a new suspect, a 43-year-old repeat pedophile, currently imprisoned in Germany for drug trafficking, whom they suspect of the murder of the British girl. Presented as "Christian B.", he lived and worked for several years, between 1995 and 2007, in the Portuguese region of Algarve, where the little girl disappeared.
"For the German police to make this information public, it is that they must certainly have other elements," said Rogério Alves. German police, who have called for witnesses, do not rule out the possibility that he had broken into the McCanns' apartment to commit theft and, once there, decided to remove the little girl.
A file that has remained open for years
Madeleine McCann disappeared from her room on May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, in the small seaside resort of Praia da Luz, in the south of Portugal, where she was staying on vacation with her family. After 14 months of controversial investigations, marked in particular by the indictment of the girl's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, finally whitewashed, the Portuguese police had closed the case in 2008 before reopening the file five years later.
"The criminal investigation had been closed but the file remained open (...) At any time could arise new elements," said the lawyer. Hans Christian Wolters, spokesman for the Brunswick Public Prosecutor's Office (Germany), said on Thursday that the suspect was suspected of murder. "We assume that the little girl is dead," he said. "It's a possibility," reacted the Portuguese lawyer for the McCanns. "Either he (German prosecutor) knows it's the truth and he has to explain why. (…) But I don't think they have any evidence ”of the girl's death.
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