A former girlfriend of the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has said she slept in the van police believe may have been used to kidnap the child.
Authorities in Germany say Christian Brueckner, 44, could have snatched the British youngster from a holiday home in Praia du Luz, Portugal, in 2007.
The convicted rapist - who is currently serving a prison term - was outed in the media by investigators last year, when it was revealed he may have used a campervan in the alleged abduction.
Prosecutors released photographs of the vehicle Brueckner had been driving at the time and which they said could have been used to kidnap Madeleine.
Got a story? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk.
And, seeing those pictures, the suspect's ex-partner Nuray Oezgen, 52, has now said that she spent evenings in the yellow and white Volkswagen T3 Westfalia.
She told the Mail on Sunday : "He used to sleep inside. At the time, I just thought he was very poor. I sometimes stayed at night in the campervan with him."
Ms Oezgen and Brueckner dated for around three months in 2012 before he started taking an interest in swinging and young girls, she said, and they split.
And she has now said that she thinks her former lover could be capable of taking Madeleine - known as Maddie - from an apartment while her parents dined nearby.
"I believe it is possible because Brueckner had two sides, two faces," Ms Oezgen said. "He had a nasty and aggressive side to him."
Lawyers for Brueckner firmly deny that he had any involvement in the disappearance of Maddie.
Reports have suggseted he was not even questioned at the time of the tot's disappearance because he wasn't home when police called.
He was living in the Algarve, not far from the resort the McCanns were staying at.
Brueckner then returned to Germany soon after but was later found to have used a mobile phone close to the family's holiday apartment the night Maddie vanished.
German police began investigating him in relation to the infamous case in 2019.
In May this year, Brueckner made his first comment on the case, branding the probe against him “scandalous” in a letter penned from his cell.
He said the public prosecutor had “brought shame to the legal system”.
He refuses to speak to police or investigators about the case.
Operation Grange - the Met Police's name for the search for Maddie has now cost the taxpayer £12.5million since it was launched in 2011.
Commissioner Cressida Dick said previously that the search will continue until there is “nothing left to do”.
Sign up for our daily newsletter to keep up to date with all the essential information at www.mirror.co.uk/email .
