SLIPPED THE NET? Madeleine McCann cops warned Portuguese police her disappearance may be linked to German-based child-traffickerJon Lockett
7 Jun 2020, 18:04
BRITISH police warned Portuguese detectives Madeleine McCann’s disappearance could be linked to a German-based child-trafficker - just days after she vanished.In the immediate aftermath of her vanishing, the Serious Organised Crime Agency sent an alert marked “urgent” to their counterparts working the case on the Algarve.
n it they urged those searching for Madeleine to probe links to a German sex offender whose surname was given as “Meissner” but who was known to use aliases.
It also said he was linked to other paedophiles - one of whom was named as Frankel.
The memo said the sex-offenders were involved in trafficking.
A source close to the case said these details now take on “huge significance” given the events of the past seven days.
Not least because police in Germany are actively investigating the scenario that Christian B - a known German paedophile - was behind the disappearance of Madeleine.
“This looks like the latest in what is emerging as a string of missed opportunities to properly investigate the case,” the source said.
“It shows that in the immediate aftermath of the disappearance the police in the UK were linking it, straight away, to a ring which led back to Germany.
“This development throws up a lot of questions that need to be answered. Not least who were these men? Were they ever traced? And did they know or have any links to Christian B?
"Even now both of these individuals must be found and spoken to because they could hold vital clues about what happened to Madeleine."
Details of the potential blunder comes amid mounting criticism of the Portuguese police’s handling of the case.
It's been reported that British detectives raised concerns that Madeleine had been spotted with a German man getting into a VW van weeks after she vanished.
We now know this is the make of the vehicle the Madeleine suspect drove.
Files also contain a report by a witness who saw a "strange" man matching Christian B's description loitering in the Praia da Luz resort two weeks before Madeleine was taken.
Another tourist reported seeing a "suspicious man" with a van of the type he drove.
Continuedhttps://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11804930/madeleine-cops-warned-german-based-child-trafficker/
