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<\/p>\nGERMAN convicted rapist Christian B was officially named as a suspect in the investigation in 2022.<\/p>\n
Maddie disappeared during a family holiday in the Algarve in May 2007, sparking a nationwide hunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Metropolitan Police took over the investigation – known as Operation Grange – in 2011. <\/p>\n
But they had hit several dead ends in the hunt to find the truth behind what happened to Madeleine in 2007.<\/p>\n
However, further findings revealed that a German prisoner – Christian B – as a "significant" suspect in the disappearance of the then-toddler.<\/p>\n
His last name has been withheld by police due to German privacy laws.<\/p>\n
He is a prolific burglar, who has previous convictions for sex crimes against young girls.<\/p>\n The suspect was born in Germany in 1976 but moved to Portugal in his late teens.<\/p>\n The paedo has been described as being white with short blond hair and of slim build at around 6ft tall.<\/p>\n The suspect – who was 30 at the time of Madeleine's disappearance – has twice been convicted for sex crimes against young girls.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n German police previously claimed to have "concrete evidence" that Maddie is dead, sending a letter to her parents.<\/p>\n They believe he initially planned to rob the holiday apartment before he "moved on to a sexual motive".<\/p>\n In May 2023, it was reported police had launched a new search for Maddie's body in the first major operation of its kind in nine years.<\/p>\n German cops were set to search a remote Algarve reservoir Christian B is believed to have used.<\/p>\n It is approximately a 45-minute drive from\u00a0the Ocean Club\u00a0holiday resort of Praia da Luz where\u00a0Maddie vanished\u00a0from in 2007.<\/p>\n The area is where there was a sighting of a child being handed to a man days after the three-year-old disappeared.<\/p>\n The prime suspect was already known to British and Portuguese police concerning Madeleine's disappearance in Praia da Luz.<\/p>\n Yet, the information came from a witness who stepped forward following the appeal by the Met Police on the tenth anniversary in 2017.<\/p>\n The suspect is believed to have been leading a "transient lifestyle" at the time, as he travelled between Portugal and Germany.<\/p>\n It is believed he was living in the Iberian nation between 1995 and 2007 working in the food industry.<\/p>\n The man is known to have been in the area at the time of Madeleine's disappearance, having taken a 30-minute phone call an hour before she went missing.<\/p>\n Christian B has always denied any involvement, despite an alleged confession.<\/p>\n In 2017, he allegedly confessed to kidnapping Madeleine while sitting in a German bar watching coverage of the 10th anniversary of her disappearance.<\/p>\n The friend he spoke to came forward to German police.<\/p>\n In June 2020, German police said that Madeleine was assumed dead and that Christian B was likely responsible for it.<\/p>\n However, he has not been charged with any crime related to the disappearance.<\/p>\n Hans Christian Wolters, one of the German prosecutors on the case, said they hoped to complete their investigation by the end of 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big puzzle and we have some important pieces but some pieces are missed.<\/p>\n "So, we hope to find as many pieces as we could get, so the picture will be a complete one.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think that he was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and we think that he murdered Madeleine McCann.\u201d<\/p>\n Christian B has been linked with the disappearances of several children over the past 25 years, including that of a six-year-old boy in Portugal in 1996 and a five-year-old girl in Germany in 2015.<\/p>\n Authorities in Belgium have also linked him to the murder of missing 16-year-old Carola Titze, who disappeared while on holiday in De Haan on July 5, 1996.<\/p>\n Her severely mutilated body was discovered among the sand dunes on July 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n Christian B has also been associated with the missing person\u2019s case of Inga Gehricke.<\/p>\n The child disappeared during a family outing in Saxony-Anhalt on May 2, 2015.<\/p>\n The father of missing six-year-old Ren\u00e9 Hasee, who disappeared on June 21, 1996, while on vacation with his family in Aljezur, Portugal – roughly 40km from Praia da Luz – has also claimed his son's case has been reopened by police.\u00a0<\/p>\n Christian B has also been linked with the disappearance of Jair Soares, a seven-year-old who vanished in August 1995.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Peggy Knobloch's disappearance has also been linked back to the German paedo, after she went missing in May 2001.<\/p>\n In 2020, Christian B was being investigated over the rape and murder of 13-year-old German boy Tristan Br\u00fcbach.<\/p>\n Christian B is serving a prison sentence after being convicted of raping a 72-year-old woman in 2005.<\/p>\n The act happened in the same place where Madeleine went missing.<\/p>\n The suspect is believed to have a total of 17 convictions, including burglary – with German Federal Crime Agency (BKA) director Christian Hoppe claiming he is known for stealing from hotels and holiday apartments.<\/p>\n German police – who are treating the case as a murder inquiry – believe he initially planned to rob the holiday apartment before he "moved on to a sexual motive".<\/p>\n Scotland Yard also revealed that a 1980s VW T3 Westphalia white campervan has been linked to the suspect, and was seen in Praia da Luz days before she vanished.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/jr-madeleine-mccann-christian-b.jpg\")
<\/picture>MADDIE SHOCK <\/span><\/p>\nBlow for Madeleine cops as 'legal row' could mean suspect WON'T be charged<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/newspress-collage-22112479-1682070684567.jpg\")
<\/picture>'NO EVIDENCE' <\/span><\/p>\nGerman prosecutors slammed after prime Maddie suspect's charges dropped <\/h3>\n
Most read in The Sun<\/h2>\n
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How was the suspect identified?<\/h2>\n
What other cases has Christian B been linked to?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Why is Christian B in prison in Germany?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Read More on The Sun<\/h2>\n
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