22nd March 2014
Daily Mirror
Madeleine McCann police hunt two Eastern European bogus charity workers who targeted Algarve holiday homes The “significant development” regarding men in their 50s with heavy builds came hours after a new appeal on Crimewatch last Wednesday
Police hunting for Madeleine McCann have been given vital new clues about two bogus charity workers operating in the resort when the tot went missing.
The “significant development” came hours after a new appeal on Crimewatch last Wednesday.
British officers were given fresh details about the conmen now believed to be Eastern European rather than Portuguese as originally thought.
They were told both were in their 50s with heavy builds. The men, claiming to be fundraisers for disabled children, were seen knocking on doors of apartments in Praia da Luz where the three-year-old went missing in 2007.
They had a yellow calling card showing a girl in a wheelchair pictured on the double-sided note. Both were also seen drinking coffees and shots of spirits in the morning outside a shopping centre yards from the apartment where the youngster vanished.
A source said: “The men were knocking on the doors of holidaymakers asking for cash for a charity for handicapped children. They disappeared from the area but it is not known how they travelled about.
“The charity card they used had six or seven sentences on each side. One was written in Portuguese and the other in English, but with very poor grammar.
“They said very little and appeared to rely on showing people their card. It is believed they were Eastern European.”
Scotland Yard officers on Operation Grange are keen to trace the two men. They believe they had previously targeted other areas in the Algarve and are focusing attention on the resort of Albufeira.
Police have previously issued e-fit photos of two bogus charity workers operating in the area – but believed them to be Portuguese at the time.
The fresh intelligence emerged after officers in the hunt launched an appeal on Wednesday night’s BBC1 Crimewatch programme – sparking more than 250 calls and emails.
Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood also revealed police are looking for an intruder who sexually abused five British children during break-ins in the area.
The tanned, dark-haired man is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties where families were staying in the Algarve between 2004 and 2010.
In four of the incidents, a total of five girls aged between seven and 10 were sexually assaulted.
These attacks all happened between 2004 and 2006, before Madeleine vanished the following year.
Mr Redwood said: “I’m sure the public will understand the significant features of this offending.
“A man attacking young, white, female children, in their beds while they are on holiday with their families has a very close resonance to some of the features of Madeleine’s disappearance.
“We need to identify the offender to bring to a close the trauma and the tragedy that these families have suffered.
“Then we need to establish whether this is connected to Madeleine’s disappearance.”
A Yard spokesman said: “We have received over 250 calls and emails following the appeal. Officers are now reviewing the information and following up lines of inquiry."
Madeleine disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007 as her parents Kate and Gerry dined at a nearby restaurant with friends, leaving their daughter sleeping with her younger twin siblings.
British detectives launched a fresh investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance in July last year – two years into a review of the case – and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.
Portuguese authorities shelved their inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance in 2008.
But they admitted last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it.
Last week Scotland Yard expressed frustration at the speed of the Portuguese legal system as they try to discover what has happened to the missing youngster.
David Cameron has said he would be willing to appeal directly to the Portuguese government if British police felt their investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance was being hampered by bureaucracy.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Cameron would be prepared to “make further representations” to the government in Portugal if it would help Scotland Yard’s inquiry.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt revealed Scotland Yard’s dissatisfaction with their slow progress. He said: “That’s causing us frustration because we know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process.”
Scotland Yard has so far written three international letters of request to the Portuguese, covering 41 priority areas and including 287 separate requests.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-missing-police-hunt-3273735#ixzz2wjs1odwO