UK police are chasing a strong new lead in the Madeleine McCann disappearance, this time in Bulgaria

DETECTIVES investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are pursuing a credible new tip involving a dead paedophile and a mysterious “woman in purple”.

DETECTIVES hunting for Madeleine McCann have travelled to Bulgaria to pursue a new lead, it has been revealed.

Investigators are seeking a mysterious figure dubbed “the woman in purple” who may hold the key to the British girl’s disappearance a decade ago in Portugal.

The Sun newspaper has revealed that the woman’s husband, now dead, is a convicted paedophile.

The couple were working as domestic helpers near the Algarve holiday apartment where Madeleine vanished in 2007, aged three.

More than 10 years have passed since Madeleine McCann disappeared but police continue to pursue fresh leads. Picture: Getty Images

Locals reported them to police in the days following the disappearance but nothing was followed up until Scotland Yard officers re-examined statements recently.

Witnesses said the woman was seen close to the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz where the McCanns were staying.

She and her husband vanished after Madeleine went missing. Cops have been unable to locate the wife despite extensive searches.

But a recent breakthrough has now taken police to Bulgaria in eastern Europe, it was reported overnight.

Madeleine McCann went missing in May 2007 and police have combed thousands of bits of information since. Picture: Supplied

It comes after the revelation last month that police had identified a key “person of significance” in a shock new development.

A source close to Scotland Yard’s search Operation Grange said the person is now a “critical line of inquiry” in the investigation, according to The Times.

The hotel building at holiday resort in Paia da Luz in Portugal where missing British child Madeleine McCann vanished.

Parents Kate and Gerry, both 49, were dining near their holiday apartment on the evening of May 3, 2007 when Madeleine was taken but her younger twin siblings were left.

When Kate returned to check on the kids at around 10pm that evening, she discovered that Maddie was not in her bed and was missing.

It remains one of the most high-profile missing person cases in modern history.

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The UK investigation recently received more funding to extend it into early next year after lobbying from Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry. Picture: AFP

In 2010, Maddie’s distraught parents met with then-home secretary Theresa May to talk about the hunt for their daughter.

The following year, Scotland Yard launched its own review, named Operation Grange, into the case at the behest of the future PM.

Two years later Scotland Yard said it had uncovered new leads while Portuguese police reopened their case.

In October 2015, Operation Grange was scaled down from 29 detectives to just four.

The latest theory police are exploring is that Madeleine McCann was abducted by a trafficking ring.

Last December, the government injected extra funding into the operation as cops investigated a new theory that Maddie was snatched by a human trafficking ring.

And a former Met police chief has called for fresh interview of Maddie’s parents and the Tapas Seven — the name given by UK press to the dinner companions that evening — who have never been quizzed by British cops.

Madeleine McCann would have turned 14 last May.

Maddie would have turned 14 on May 12, 2017.

A number of potential leads have emerged since the little girl vanished, but none have amounted to anything and no arrests have ever been made.

Elements of this story originally appeared on The Sun and are reproduced here with permission.