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Madeleine McCann investigation: Police looking at further cases of sexual assault on British girls Madeleine McCann investigation: Police looking at further cases of sexual assault on British girls
(about 2 hours later)
British detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are poised to stage operations on Portuguese soil. A ten-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the holiday resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007 in the latest attack to emerge by a suspected serial child abuser targeting young Britons on holiday in the Algarve, the Metropolitan Police revealed on Wednesday.
Investigators from Scotland Yard are waiting for an official agreement later this week, and hope to begin "operational activity" linked to the case in the near future. The attack – two years before Madaleine went missing – is one of 18 linked incidents over six years across the region but the first attack identified in the tiny Praia da Luz fishing village where the three-year-old disappeared while sleeping in a villa on holiday with her parents seven years ago.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said he is "cautiously optimistic" that Portuguese and British officers can act soon. Scotland Yard detectives said that a fresh round of appeals last month led to information about five attacks and one “near miss” that they did not previously know about. All of them – bar the attack on the ten-year-old – had been reported previously to the Portuguese police, but not passed to the Scotland Yard team investigating the case.
He said: "I am cautiously optimistic that in the not-too-distant future we are going to start to see activity." The cases have been linked as the attacker usually walks into the home, sit on the child’s bed or tries to get under the sheets before escaping. In a number of cases, the attacker has been disturbed by the child’s parents.
Mr Hewitt would not reveal what the operations will involve. The serial abuser – described as having a deep-tan with a “stale” smell – has emerged as a key suspect for the abduction and possible murder of Madeleine McCann. Detectives are investigating the possibility that he was a dustman after some of the nine sexual assaults on children aged six to 12 took place early in the morning at the time of refuse rounds.
Police also revealed that they are now looking at five more cases in which young British girls were sexually assaulted during holiday home break-ins by a lone intruder in the Algarve. The new cases highlighted failures by Portuguese police to pass on all the relevant information. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said his major concern was a breakdown in communication between local police and senior colleagues in Portugal which meant that “sitting in police exhibit stores somewhere in the Algarve could be forensic material that we and the Policia Judiciaria are not aware of”.
One of these was in 2005 on a 10-year-old girl in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine, then three, vanished two years later. Officers are believed to have forensic material – thought to be DNA – retrieved from one of the other attacks but have no match on the rudimentary Portuguese database, or in Britain.
Scotland Yard made public appeals to try to trace the paedophile last month, and so far more than 500 people have made contact with information. “We have a range of theories as to who may be responsible,” said DCI Redwood. “Our sense is … we’re looking at one offender but that does not preclude the fact there may be others involved. Our minds are completely open.”
Officers are now looking at a total of nine sexual assaults and three "near misses" on British girls aged six to 12 between 2004 and 2006. The reported 2005 attack on the 10-year-old girl was in the “heart” of Praia da Luz – a former fishing village turned holiday destination with a population of 3,000 – but detectives declined to comment further on the incident. Officers said that in some cases, the parents may not have been aware of the attack at the time.
Last month the team revealed that they were looking at a series of break-ins, including two burglaries in the town where Madeleine disappeared. Police have now been told of three incidents in Praia da Luz before and after Madeleine’s disappearance indicating that her abductor could have been active in the area both before and after the disappearance.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said today: "As a result of those 500 calls, we have now identified a further five sexual assaults and one near miss. None of those six matters we were aware of prior to our appeal. British detectives launched a fresh investigation into the youngster's disappearance in July last year - two years into a review of the case - and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, Ireland Netherlands and Germany.
"In this new tranche of information we have got one crime which is very clearly in the heart of Praia da Luz in 2005, on a young, white, 10-year-old girl. After shelving their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance in 2008, Portuguese authorities said last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it. The Portuguese police has declined to open a joint inquiry with Scotland Yard or to deal with some of their requests for help.
"Clearly the fact that we've now got an assault that is in the heart of Praia da Luz, very close to where a previous matter had been reported, means that we are even more interested in this as part of the inquiry." But senior officers said that they were “cautiously optimistic” that officers in Portugal would start taking action soon on following up leads passed to them by Scotland Yard. Officers have so far not taken up the offer of David Cameron – who has taken a close personal interest in the case – to intervene with his Portuguese counterpart.
British detectives launched a fresh investigation into Madeleine's disappearance in July last year - two years into a review of the case. Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, said “They remain extremely grateful to the British police for what they are doing. It’s in everybody’s interests that the work in Portugal is done as soon as possible.”
After shelving their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance in 2008, Portuguese authorities said last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it.
Portugal has declined to set up an official joint investigation with the Met.
Mr Hewitt said Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May have expressed a personal interest in the case, and stand ready to intervene to press the Portuguese authorities for help if necessary.
PA