Madeleine McCann prosecutors declare man “an official suspect”

Prosecutors in Faro said German authorities had made the move at their request, but did not give the suspect’s name.

In 2020 German police said they were investigating a man, known as Christian B, in connection with the case.

He has not been charged and denies any involvement in her disappearance. He is currently in prison for other offences.

On 3 May it will be 15 years since Madeleine was reported missing. Declaring someone a person of interest is a necessary step to any criminal charges. It has to be done within 15 years, though prosecutors say their declaration at this time is not due to the deadline.

The family of Madeleine McCann have never given up their search for the missing girl since someone the abducted three-year-old.

While the search iniitially concentrated on Portugal, it quickly spread across Europe as the parents believed she had been taken out of Portugal.

As the hunt for the little girl stepped up, a family photograph revealed Maddy enjoying a holiday in Donegal just weeks before her disappearance.

Her Derry-born aunt, Phil McCann, launched a “chain email” campaign in the hope that photos of the little girl would be distributed across Europe. A week after the youngster’s disappearance, Phil said: “We don’t believe she is in Portugal anymore and need to get her picture across Europe as quickly as possible.”

She also provided a number of photographs of the youngster enjoying a visit to Co Donegal just weeks before the ill-fated trip to Portugal in the hope they would be spread far and wide to help with the efforts to find her.

Last year, the campaign group keeping the memory of missing Madeleine McCann alive has vowed it is “never going to give up” its search as it marked her 18th birthday.

The well-known image of Madeleine in a pink sun hat was posted on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook group with the words “Happy 18th Birthday Madeleine!”

It was captioned: “We love you and we’re waiting for you and we’re never going to give up.”

Madeleine was three years old when she went missing on May 3 2007 while on holiday in Portugal.

Her parents Kate and Gerry said every May that passes is a “reminder of years passed, of years together lost, or stolen”.

Gerry McCann has close ties to St Johnston. His parents ran McCann’s bar on the Main Street. They had four children in Ireland, born in Altnagelvin but the couple moved to Scotland permanently in 1967. Gerry McCann (the father of missing toddler Madeleine) was born in Glasgow, Scotland the very next year.

Madeleine and her parents visited the pub in 2007 just weeks before she disappeared.