Convicted child abuser Christian B has been declared an official suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
The Portuguese prosecutor’s office confirmed that “a defendant was appointed this Wednesday”.
Christian B is in prison in Germany after being convicted of raping a 72-year-old woman in 2005, in the same town where Madeleine disappeared.
Image: Christian B has been informed that he is now an “arguido” – an official suspect. Photo: Carabinieri Milan / AP
Madeleine was three years old when she disappeared from the family’s rented holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007.
Christian B has been informed that he is now an “arguido” – an official suspect – but has not been charged.
The decision is said to have been prompted by a 15-year limit on the prosecution of serious crimes in Portugal, with authorities seeking to “keep their opportunities open”.
German prosecutor Hans Christian Walters confirmed to Sky News that “apparently it was only for formal reasons to prevent the statute of limitations in Portugal”.
A Portuguese source added: “The legal grounds for doing so [Christian B] Arguido includes the fact that he claims to have confessed to a friend that he stole Madeleine, and cell phone recordings placed him in Praia da Luz the night she disappeared. “
Christian B remained silent after being informed that he was an official suspect and refused to be questioned, according to the source.
He denied involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
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1:49 Detected footage of suspect McCann
The development came after an official letter requesting the Portuguese authorities to their German counterparts.
This paves the way for his potential referral to the Algarve for official questioning. However, there are no immediate plans to do so.
Christian B traveled between Praia da Luz and Germany in a VW truck for several years before Madeleine disappeared and said earlier that he had survived the drug trade.
It is understandable that German investigators are focusing their forensic work on the vehicle.
Christian B, in his 40s, has become a suspect after claiming he confessed to kidnapping Madeleine while sitting in a German bar on the 10th anniversary of her abduction.
Portuguese authorities insisted earlier this month that they would continue to investigate, despite reports that Scotland Yard plans to end its investigation in 11 years.
Sources from the country’s police said the completion of their long-running cold case review was “completely out of the question”.
A lawyer from Lisbon, who asked not to be named, said: “The police and the prosecutor’s office in Portugal will be aware of the deadlines for the Maddie case.
“Our statute of limitations carries with it the possibility that within a few weeks the person responsible for her disappearance will never be brought to justice in the country where she disappeared, even with arrest and confessions.
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13:38 Madeleine McCann: In the frame
The Portuguese Attorney General agreed to reopen the investigation in October 2013, more than five years after its archiving, at the official request of the Policia Judiciaria.
PJ chief Helena Monteiro is heading an ongoing review of the northern city of Porto.
In 2013, she questioned the widow of a former worker at the complex where Madeleine’s parents were staying when she disappeared.
Serial thief Euclid Lopez Monteiro, who died in a tractor crash in August 2009, has never been publicly ruled out as a suspect, despite calls from his family to police to confirm his innocence.
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