Public left ‘seduced’ as ten years on Maddie McCann officers still on ‘significant’ trail

Television has played its part in persuading a global audience believe one of the biggest missing person investigations in policing history could be solved easily, a senior Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer has revealed.

British detectives working on the Madeleine McCann case have achieved “something extraordinary” as the tenth anniversary of her disappearance approaches next week.

But screen dramas, where the most complex inquiries are solved in 30 to 60 minutes, leave the public “seduced by what they see”, claims MPS Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley.

Madeleine vanished from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007 when she was three years old.

Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, have vowed to “never give up” hope of finding their daughter.

Mr Rowley believes officers now have a “complete understanding of it all”.

The 30-strong original inquiry caucus on Operation Grange has been scaled back to four as last month the Home Office confirmed £85,000 was being given to cover operational costs from now until September.

“Where we are today is with a much smaller team focused on a small number of remaining critical lines of inquiry that we think are significant . . . we’ve sifted out many of the potential suspects, many of the people of interest,” added Mr Rowley.

He said that the MPS officers are still pursuing “critical” leads with “significant investigative avenues” that are of “great interest” to both the UK and Portuguese teams.

They have been through some 40,000 documents and looked at more than 600 individuals since 2011., with four people who were considered as possible suspects in 2013 ruled out.

Asked if the team was any closer to solving the case than they were six years ago when the UK investigation was launched, Mr Rowley said: “I know we have a significant line of inquiry which is worth pursuing, and because it’s worth pursuing it could provide an answer, but until we’ve gone through it I won’t know whether we are going to get there or not.

“Ourselves and the Portuguese are doing a critical piece of work and we don’t want to spoil it by putting titbits of information out publicly.”

He declined to expand on the nature of the working theories or reveal whether any suspects were currently being considered, saying that disclosing further detail would not help the investigation.

Mr Rowley said: “We’ve got some critical lines of inquiry, those link to particular hypotheses, but I’m not going to discuss those because they are subject to a live investigation.

“We’ve got some thoughts on what we think the most likely explanations might be and we are pursuing those.”

He described the possibility of a “burglary gone wrong” as a “sensible hypothesis” which has not been “entirely ruled out”.

The senior officer was asked about the theory of a sex predator being responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance.

Mr Rowley said: “That’s been one key line of inquiry. The reality is in the modern world in any urban area if you cast your net widely you will find a whole pattern of offences.

“You will find sex offenders who live nearby. And those coincidences need to be sifted out, what’s a coincidence and what may be linked to the investigation that you are currently doing.

“Offences which may be linked have to be looked at and either ruled in or ruled out.” Mr Rowley said there was still a “lot unknown” in the case, adding: “All the different hypotheses have to remain open.”

Police have looked at more than 600 individuals who were identified as being potentially significant to Madeleine’s disappearance.

In 2013 the team identified four people as suspects in the case. Interviews and searches were carried out but no evidence was found to implicate the four in the disappearance.

Mr Rowley said they are no longer the subject of further investigation and have been ruled out of the inquiry.

Meanwhile, police working on the case continue to receive information on a daily basis.

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