Survival expert, 55, hiding out in French mountains is named as prime suspect in 1998 murder of Dutch boy after a major DNA breakthrough in cold case

Survival expert, 55, hiding out in French mountains is named as prime suspect in 1998 murder of Dutch boy after a major DNA breakthrough in cold case once linked to Madeleine McCann

Nicky Verstappen, 11, was found dead in forest in August 1998 after youth camp
Police today announced they suspect survival expert Jos Bech, who lived nearby
Bech is an ex-scout leader believed to be hiding in mountainous eastern France
The cold case was linked to Madeleine McCann in 2011 over a shared suspect

By Charlie Moore For Mailonline

Published: 15:51, 22 August 2018 | Updated: 16:09, 22 August 2018

A survival expert hiding out in French mountains has been named as the prime suspect in the murder of a Dutch boy 20 years ago after a major DNA breakthrough.

Nicky Verstappen, 11, was found dead in a forest in August 1998, a day after he went missing from his tent at a youth camp in Limburg.

The cold case, once linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, has gripped the Netherlands ever since.

Police today announced they suspect former scout leader Jos Bech, who lived nearby, of sexually assaulting and killing the youngster after they matched DNA from his abandoned cabin with DNA on Nicky's clothes.

Dutch and French police believe the 55-year-old - who was interviewed at the time of the crime as a witness but presumed innocent - is hiding somewhere in France's mountainous eastern Vosges region, where he owns a cabin.

His family reported him missing in April after the former scout worker, who is believed to be a survival expert, told them he was going for a walk in the mountains.

'We are convinced that the suspect has gone into hiding,' Limburg police chief Ingrid Schaefer-Poels told journalists, asking the public to contact police with any information of his whereabouts.

The case became linked to Madeleine McCann's disappearance in 2011 when Dutch police questioned a German child murderer, Martin Ney, over Nicky's death.

Private detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann wanted to find out if he was in Portugal when their daughter disappeared after they noticed a resemblance between Ney and a photofit of a man seen acting suspiciously hours before Madeleine vanished in 2007.

McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said in May 2011: 'Our private investigators became aware of this man a month ago and they will be liaising with the German investigators.'

Scotland Yard even liaised with German authorities before interest in Ney was dropped on the belief that he only had sexual interest in boys.

Wednesday's announcement brings Verstappen's family one step closer to finding out what happened to Nicky the night he disappeared, in what became one of the most extensive murder investigations to date in the Netherlands.

'We now have a one-on-one DNA match with the traces found on Verstappen's body,' Detective Ferdinand Schellinkhout told a press conference in the southern city of Maastricht on Wednesday.

'We are looking for Jos Brech, 55. He was last seen in France.'

Police said new digital techniques helped them to develop a DNA profile in 2008, from traces found on Verstappen's clothing, but there had been no match.

Earlier this year, some 16,000 men living in the area where Verstappen was murdered volunteered to hand over DNA samples after a call by detectives.

Brech who was 35 at the time, was not among the volunteers but as he was previously interviewed as a witness, police became suspicious.

When his family reported him as missing, Dutch and French police searched his cabin in the Vosges region.

'We found traces of DNA on his personal belongings. It was a match,' said chief prosecutor Jan Eland.

A European-wide warrant for Brech's arrest was issued on June 12.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6087127/Suspect-1998-murder-Dutch-boy-case-linked-Madeleine-McCann.html

What's brewing - another stay of execution for Operation Grange?

MOUNTAIN HIDE-OUT
Hunt for scout leader wanted for 1998 murder of Dutch boy – once linked to Madeleine McCann case

Police have identified DNA linking murdered Nicky Verstappen, 11, to a survival expert who vanished from his home in April to hide out in the mountains

By Harvey Solomon-Brady
23rd August 2018, 4:47 pm
Updated: 23rd August 2018, 4:52 pm
COPS are hunting a scout leader wanted over the 1998 murder of a Dutch boy once linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Survival expert Jos Brech has been named as prime suspect in the murder of Nicky Verstappen, 11, found dead in a forest one day after he went missing from a youth camp.


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Police believe they know who murdered Nicky Verstappen, 11, after he went missing from a holiday camp in 1998

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Brech is believed to be hiding in the French mountains, accused of sexually assaulting and killing the youngster.

Police have matched DNA from his abandoned cabin with DNA on Nicky's clothes.

Previous suspect Martin Ney, a German child murderer, was linked to Madeleine McCann's case when police quizzed him in 2011.
Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry believe Ney was seen acting suspiciously near the spot she vanished from in 2007.


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Jos Brech, 55, who vanished from his home in April after refusing to provide his DNA to police, is thought to be hiding in the French mountains

PA:Press Association
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Nicky's case was linked to Madeleine McCann's in 2011 after the then-suspect, a German child murderer, was thought to have been spotted near the McCann's hotel

politie.n
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Nicky vanished from his tent at a holiday camp in Limburg in 1998

politie.n
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The 11-year-old was found dead not far from the spot in the forest where he was reported missing

How Nicky's death was linked to Maddie's disappearance

The case became linked to Madeleine McCann's vanishing when in 2011 Dutch cops quizzed a German child murderer, Martin Ney, over Nicky's death.
 
Private detectives employed by Kate and Gerry McCann investigated Ney to find out if he was in Portugal when Maddie disappeared after they noticed a resemblance between him and a photofit of a man seen acting suspiciously hours before Maddie vanished in 2007.
 
In May 2011, McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Our private investigators became aware of this man a month ago and they will be liaising with the Germany investigators."
 
Scotland Yard worked with German authorities before interest in Ney was dropped on the belief he only had sexual interest in boys.
Scotland Yard had liaised with German authorities as to whether Ney murderered both Maddie and Nicky, but dropped interest on the belief he only had sexual interest in boys.
Cops have now named Brech as the prime suspect following a DNA breakthrough.

Brech told his family in April that he was going for a walk in the Vosges mountains in France where he owns a cabin. He hasn't been seen since.
Brech was 35 at the time of Nicky's death and was interviewed as a witness when police were undertaking what became one of the most extensive murder investigations in the Netherlands.


AFP
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Left to right: Nicky's mum, sister and dad attended a police press conference yesterday

EPA
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Nicky's mum Berthie Verstappen could not contain her grief as police detailed the new developments to the media

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A police handout of Jos Brech, 55, who is now the prime suspect in a case that has gripped the Netherlands for two decades

AFP
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Police say they now have a 'one-on-one' DNA match linking Nicky Verstappen and Jos Brech

Hi Sharon,so Scotland Yard's finest,liaised with German Police,then overlooked a potential suspect(Mr Martin Ney) due to the killer being involved with an adolescent male child Murdered in Limberg,1998,Nicky Verstappen and suspect Mr Martin Ney?

Mr Martin Ney,was thought to have resemblance to a photo fit of a man seen acting suspiciously hours before Madeleine disappeared in Portugal 2007! 

This was brought to the attention of Private Investigators acting for Kate,Gerry McCann,Clarence Mitchell in May 2011?

The suspect(German,Mr Ney)was dropped as a suspect due to a One-on-One DNA match linking Nicky Verstappen to Jos Brech,a survival expert,Scout Leader,has a cabin in the Vosges,Mountain region in France,last known place to have visited in April 2018.

Mr Jos Brech was a witness,when Netherland's police were investigating Nicky Verstappen's Murder?

What isn't clear is did Mr Martin Ney know Mr Jos Brech?

Was Mr Martin Ney guilty of Madeleine's disappearance in Portugal May 2007?

Does Mr Jos Brech match any Photo fit pictures in Madeleine's case and was Mr Brech ever in Portugal,May 2007?

Operation Grange will now have a field day,One more line of inquiry,which they over looked in May 2011?

Martin Ney from 'wiki'.

Eggman? Spottyman? Tractorman? or which of the other 'suspects'?



Must be 'gorillaman'.

Here's one of him with a mask (or have I got that the wrong way round?), last seen carrying one of the twins off the plane at the airport?

MrJos Brech has been arrested in Spain and is awaiting extradition by Police forces to investigate further evidence on the murder of Master Nicky Verstappen,from Limburg 1998.

International policing protocol does work then - where there's a will there's a way, eh?

What then went wrong with the relationship between Portugal and the UK back in the summer of 2007 and subsequent years?

Verdi wrote:International policing protocol does work then - where there's a will there's a way, eh?

What then went wrong with the relationship between Portugal and the UK back in the summer of 2007 and subsequent years?

Hi Verdi,it's called,Not having an "Hidden Agenda",as the words spell out?

So it transpires that a lone Police Officer possibly missed the chance to nab Mr Jos Brech on the evening of Nicky Verstappen's Murder?
Mr Jos Brech was stopped close to where Nicky Verstappen was camping,(Jos) told the Police officer he was out for a late night stroll for some Midnight Air!

The following day Nicky Verstappen was discovered to have been killed and sexually asssaulted,Mr Brech was thought to have been interviewed as a Witness,Twenty years ago,so he missed being nabbed by a Hairs Breadth,twice then,was this luck or incompetence not checking Police note books records,who was where and when?

If it was him there would be a record of his DNA all over the house from when he got in to when he got out.

Every time you go any where, you take a part of it with you and you leave a part of you behind.

No mention has been made of any DNA on the doors or window that does not belong to the mccann or any of the tapas 7.

The only prints on the outside shutter belong to kate.
What kind of paedophile abductor not belong to the tapas 9 as whole leaves absolutely no forensic evidence in the apartment?

Not a finger print, not fibres, no footprints, no sweat or saliva or other substances.
Absolutely nothing to indicate a stranger had entered the bedroom and removed Maddie from her bed and out the apartment.

The only reliable evidence comes from the mccanns and their chums.

There was a sample which was initially declared to be semen on  a bed in Maddie's bedroom.

Acid Phosphatase Test to detect semen on the small spot on the cloth fragment in envelope no. 5 recovered from the bedspread of the bed next to the window of the children's bedroom: Weakly positive.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/PORTUGUESE-FORENSIC.htm




This was then morphed into saliva

Hobs wrote:If it was him there would be a record of his DNA all over the house from when he got in to when he got out.

Every time you go any where, you take a part of it with you and you leave a part of you behind.

No mention has been made of any DNA on the doors or window that does not belong to the mccann or any of the tapas 7.

The only prints on the outside shutter belong to kate.
What kind of paedophile abductor not belong to the tapas 9 as whole leaves absolutely no forensic evidence in the apartment?

Not a finger print, not fibres, no footprints, no sweat or saliva or other substances.
Absolutely nothing to indicate a stranger had entered the bedroom and removed Maddie from her bed and out the apartment.

Scotland Yards finest are not totally innocent of evidence procedures,Yates of the Yard,Hacking of Phones,unsolved Murder Daniel Morgan,Rupert Murdoch,esq,collusion,corruption,paying Money to Police Officers,ask Rebekah Brooks,Leveson,House of Commons,Committees!

The only reliable evidence comes from the mccanns and their chums.

There was a sample which was initially declared to be semen on  a bed in Maddie's bedroom.

Acid Phosphatase Test to detect semen on the small spot on the cloth fragment in envelope no. 5 recovered from the bedspread of the bed next to the window of the children's bedroom: Weakly positive.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/PORTUGUESE-FORENSIC.htm




This was then morphed into saliva

Hi Hobbs,thanks for your post.

The Birmingham FSS, Bolloxed up the DNA/LCI 15;19 markers result(on purpose) therebye contaminating the rest of the Analysis material?
Now some "Cynics"would say your all the same you "Conspiracy Theorists",but put a UK Police Officer call me Stu,who was in Portugal with the family,then travel to UK to explain results over the Phone to Portugal PJ,100% Match,Martin Brunt,to then wait until we send you the verification tests on paper,three months later,Result changed significantly,is that a dead rat your smelling?