Madeleine McCann 'was kidnapped during a botched burglary by a gang of thieves who British police have already quizzed' but are blocked from questioning againMadeleine McCann was kidnapped by a group of thieves because she woke up while they robbed her family's holiday apartment, it has been claimed.
This is believed to be the final line of inquiry mentioned recently by Scotland Yard's boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, who said two days ago the probe could formally finish within months.
It is believed to centre on a group of thieves which included a 16-year-old teenager and a man who worked at the Mark Warner resort in Portugal when she disappeared in 2007.
According to The Sun, phone calls raise questions about the group's actions on the night of the three-year-old's disappearance.
It's claimed they have been identified as suspects by British police, but officers are being blocked from accessing them by Portuguese cops who say no new evidence has been brought forward.
An officer told the paper: 'It has dogged the investigation all the way through and it's happening again.
'If we can't question the three suspects again the trail goes cold and the case will be shelved.'
When they were previously interviewed, the men admitted theft from apartments at the complex but denied any involvement in the youngster's disappearance.
Madeleine vanished at the age of three while on holiday with her parents in Portugal in 2007. Despite a high-profile hunt, no trace of her has ever been found.
Speaking on LBC this week, Sir Bernard said: 'There's been a lot of investigation time spent on this terrible case.
'It's a child who went missing, everybody wants to know if she is alive and if she is where is she, and sadly if she's dead then we need to give some comfort to the family.
'It's needed us to carry out an investigation together with the Portuguese and other countries have been involved.
'There is a line of inquiry that remains to be concluded and it's expected that in the coming months that will happen.'
Sir Bernard's comments come just weeks after the Home Office granted £95,000 funding to keep the investigation - which now only has a handful of officers working on it - going for another few months.
Sir Bernard said: 'The size of the team has come down radically, we are now down to two or three people in that team, at one stage there were about 30 officers in it.'
But he added: 'There is a line of inquiry that everybody agrees is worthwhile pursuing.'
When asked when the probe called Operation Grange will end, the Met chief said: 'At the moment it would be at the conclusion of this line of inquiry unless something else comes up.
'If somebody comes forward and gives us good evidence we will follow it. We always say that a missing child inquiry is never closed.'
Operation Grange, which is estimated to have cost £12million so far, was launched in 2011 after the Portuguese police ended their investigation into Madeleine's whereabouts.
British officers searching for Madeleine have taken more than 1,300 statements and spent several days digging up scrubland in the Algarve in the hunt for clues.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3564019/Madeleine-McCann-kidnapped-botched-burglary-gang-thieves-British-police-quizzed-blocked-questioning-again.html#ixzz479NGvFXJ ...so SY are being blocked from re interviewing this group...what an absolute disgrace
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