Breakthrough for Maddie just in time

An official suspect has been identified, and it's not Madeleine's parents.

An official suspect has been identified, and it's not Madeleine's parents.

A man has been declared an official suspect in Germany in connection with the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann.

Maddie was just a few days shy of her fourth birthday when she went missing 15-years ago. 

The McCann family were on holiday in Portugal at the time and she was last seen sleeping in an apartment in a hotel resort called Praia da Luz with her siblings, two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie while her parents, Kate and Gerry, headed out for a tapas dinner with a group of friends in a restaurant 120-meters away. 

This is the first time a suspect has been identified since Kate and Gerry McCann were named in 2007, and later cleared.

The news an an official suspect has been identified, although not publicly named, is a big development in this case that has baffled the world since 2007.

What's happened now

In 2020 German police revealed they were investigating a 45-year-old German man over the disappearance of Maddie, saying they believe he killed her.

At that time the guy, named by German media as "Christian B", was in prison for drug offences and was also given a seven year term for raping a 72-year-old woman.

He denies any involvement in the McCann case. 

Now, two years later police have upgraded the investigation by confirming this person who was being investigated is now an "official suspect".

It is the first time Portuguese prosecutors have identified an official suspect in the case since Maddie's parents were named as  suspects 15-years-ago.

They were later cleared.

What's next

On May 3 it will be 15 years since she was reported missing.

It's a tragic, yet important, anniversary. 

In Portugal it would no longer be legally possible to declare someone a person of interest beyond this date. Declaring someone a person of interest is a necessary step to any criminal charges.

In a statement, released while we slept on Thursday, Portugal's office of public prosecutions said that the move was not driven by timing, but by "strong indications" of the practice of a crime.

Police in the UK are not involved in the ongoing case. The Metropolitan Police continue to treat Maddie's disappearance as a "missing persons inquiry".

Wild times but remember...

Kate and Gerry, her parents, have been at the centre of the case since 2007. A few months after she was reported missing, they were named as suspects by police in Portugal who claimed they accidentally killed their daughter and hid her body.

Gerry and Kate McCann stayed on in Portugal for months following Maddie's disappearance. Regularly attending local Church services in the days after the disappearance.

They denied the accusations and were cleared in July 2008.

The McCanns were holidaying with a group of families at the time were at dinner with seven others the night Maddie disappeared.

One friend was identified as initial suspect but cleared.

The group, including the McCanns, were touted as the "Tapas 9" by the British press at the time.

All were key witnesses and provided testimonies. It is reported one friend saw a man carrying a small child in pink pyjamas like Madeleine's away from the hotel room.

They even wrote a book which published all the witness testimony of the night Maddie disappeared, including sketches of suspects.

Kate McCann and Gerry McCann present the Spanish edition of their book 'Madeleine' in 2011.

They have giving numerous interviews around the world, including multiple to Australian media, pleading for any information about their missing daughter for more than 10-years now.

This is the last photo of Maddie taken the day she disappeared.

The last photo taken of Maddie McCann.

She would be due to celebrate her 19th birthday this year.

"We hang on to the hope, however small, that we will see Madeleine again," parents Kate and Gerry McCann said last in May last year on what would have been their daughter's 18th birthday.

"As we have said repeatedly, we need to know what has happened to our lovely daughter, no matter what. We are very grateful to the police for their continued efforts."