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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Jeremy Armstrong

Madeleine McCann police 'have enough evidence to charge suspect with abduction and murder'

Police investigating Madeleine McCann's disappearance believe they now have enough evidence to charge a German suspect with her murder.

Christian Hoppe, director of Germany's National Crime Agency, told viewers of the country's ZDF TV channel there may be some people associated with the suspect who were aware of his movements on the night Maddie disappeared.

He appealed to them to come forward and 'clear their conscience' now.

The man, now 43 and held in a German jail, had previous offences against young girls and burglary on his record at the time Maddie was taken.

Prosecutors in Braunschweig, Niedersachsen have already begun to build a case against the suspect - who was 30 at the time of the abduction - who had been working in and around Praia da Luz at the time of Maddie's disappearance.

Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007 (PA)

They now believe that he is responsible for her abduction and murder but are appealing to the public who were in the resort at the time in a bid to fill 'the final gaps' in their case.

They said that they had been aware of his presence in the resort and building up a case against him for the past seven years - since the McCanns made an appearance to appeal for information on German TV in October, 2013.

The suspect had faced sexual and drug dealing charges in Germany before he arrived in Portugal.

Christian Hoppe, director of Germany's National Crime Agency, said police think they have enough evidence to charge the suspect with murder (ZDF)

He had also been involved in crime while in Portugal, including theft and burglary. They are unclear whether the motive was a simple burglary on the night - and he had found Maddie in the flat when he got in - or if he may have gone into the property with the intention of abducting her.

The viewers were given the two mobile numbers used on the night of Madeleine's abduction as detectives try to trace more information on those numbers and also shown two vehicles, a Jaguar and a camping van, regularly used by the suspect around the time of Maddie's disappearance on May 3, 2007.

One of the apartments used was between Praia de Luz and Lagos, the other an empty property around 15km from Lagos, both pictured.

Maddie vanished from her room in the Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz (Jonathan Buckmaster)

The show asked viewers to send in any holiday snaps or video which could be useful to their inquiries.

In a dramatic reconstruction on German TV this evening, Kate and Gerry McCann both relived the terrible moment they realised Maddie was missing.

Kate told the 'Case Files XY' programme - their version of Crimewatch - that they returned from the tapas restaurant on the night she disappeared to find her bed empty and the curtains moving from the breeze coming into the open window.

"It just seemed a very calm and peaceful place when we arrived there," said Kate.

"When I went into her bedroom, I could not see her.

"I thought she was in our bedroom but she was not there either.

"The curtain went 'pssh' and I just remember seeing that the window had been opened."

Gerry said from that moment they knew the 'worst thing imaginable' had happened.

The German suspect moved around Portugal between 1995 and 2007 lived in the Algarve, including for several years in a house between Lagos and Praia da Luz.

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