The latest McCann suspect: Scotland Yard has revealed vital new information about a suspect wanted in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

What we know about suspect Christian B...
The 43-year-old suspect, a German citizen, is described as white with short blond hair and about 6ft tall with a slim build at the time Madeleine vanished on 3 May 2007.

He is already serving a long sentence.
Between 1995 and 2007, he's been regularly living in the Algarve.
He lived for a couple of years in a house between Lagos and Praia da Luz in Portugal.
In Lagos, he worked in odd jobs, including in catering.
He financed his life by committing crimes including thefts in hotels, apartments and drug dealing.
Braunschweig is looking after investigation because he last had residence in Braunschweig prior to going abroad.

Christian B is a German paedophile and sex offender
A German paedophile, named as Christian B, has been identified as a key suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Christian Hoppe, from Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), told the country's ZDF television channel the 43-year-old is serving a prison sentence for a sex crime and has two previous convictions for "sexual contact with girls".
Mr Hoppe said German police have not ruled out a sexual motive for the alleged crime, which is being treated as murder by the BKA.

Eastree27 wrote:

Mainline wrote:https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1268501080876474374

Officially charged with murder in Germany...

Not charged (As in he will soon have a court hearing) but suspected

"...The public prosecutions office has charged the suspect with murder. We assume that the girl is dead."

Mainline wrote:

Eastree27 wrote:

Mainline wrote:https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1268501080876474374

Officially charged with murder in Germany...

Not charged (As in he will soon have a court hearing) but suspected

"...The public prosecutions office has charged the suspect with murder. We assume that the girl is dead."

Really REALLY interested on what basis. Surely you can't convict someone for murder on the basis of having made a phone call in the vicinity of a crimescene and re-registering your car

Oh no... I've not been here for ages because, frankly it hurt too much to keep seeing the same game played out year after year. But I couldn't resist returning for that bit of sanity (after hearing Sheila Fogarty on LBC lapping it all up on the McCann's side)..

Suspect Christian B was convicted of rape and drug trafficking
German newspaper Braunschweiger Zeitung reported the suspect, now named as Christian B, was convicted of rape in Braunschweig District Court in December last year.
German magazine Der Spiegel reported he was extradited from Portugal in 2017 and initially convicted of drug trafficking.

Mainline wrote:

Eastree27 wrote:

Mainline wrote:https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1268501080876474374

Officially charged with murder in Germany...

Not charged (As in he will soon have a court hearing) but suspected

"...The public prosecutions office has charged the suspect with murder. We assume that the girl is dead."

I think that might be more like Aguado status than what charged means in the uk. How can you charge when you still appealing for vital infomation.


'This is a significant development' - Downing Street 
Downing Street said the latest developments appeared to be significant.
A spokesman added that Number 10's thoughts were with the McCann family "who have had to endure so much".
"The police have said that this appears to be a significant development in the case," The PM's official spokesman said.
"The investigation is ongoing and I am not in a position to comment any further.
"Our thoughts remain with Madeleine's family, who have had to endure so much over the past 13 years."
The spokesman said that any decisions concerning extradition and charging would be a matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.
There had been £12.3 million in funding for Operation Grange, the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, up until April this year.
"The Home Office maintains an ongoing dialogue with the Met around funding for Operation Grange and regularly reviews its progress," the PM's spokesman said.


Half-hour phone call made to suspect Christian B's phone hour before Madeleine disappearance
The German suspect is known to have been in and around Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast at the time Madeleine vanished on 3 May 2007 while on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie.
A half-hour phone call was made to his Portuguese mobile phone around an hour before Madeleine is believed to have gone missing.
The Met Police's investigation has identified more than 600 people as being potentially significant over the years.
Officers tipped off about the German national, already known to detectives, following a 2017 appeal 10 years after she went missing.
Madeleine vanished shortly before her fourth birthday and would have turned 17 last month.

BBC Radio 4 > 1 o'clock News just now:

* Madeleine McCann - headline item

* Detailed history of the case given by newscaster 

* 10-15 minutes allocated for discussion, including comments from Clarence Mitchel and an in-depth interview with 'crime-expert-who-has-followed-the-case-from-the-beginning' Mark Williams-Thomas (for newcomers here, please visit our 'Mark Williams-Thomas thread elsewhere on the forum).

REMINDER 

This is how South Yorkshire Police ended the search for Ben Needham - from the BBC report, July 2017

QUOTE

Signs of blood have been found on part of a sandal and on soil inside a toy car recovered by police searching for missing Sheffield toddler Ben Needham.

Ben was 21 months old when he disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in July 1991.


Details of the findings have been released on the 26th anniversary of Ben's disappearance.

The car found in Kos is thought to be similar to this one


Ben was last seen playing near to a farmhouse his grandfather was renovating


Ben went missing while playing near a farmhouse, which was being renovated by his grandfather in Iraklis.

An extensive 21-day search of land around the building and a second site 750m (820 yards) away took place in October after it emerged the toddler may have been crushed to death by a digger working on the site.

UNQUOTE 

I would like to ask if anyone, either member or guest here, really believes that this is what happened to Ben?

Alright Gonçalo, get yer arse in gear and get back up on your soapbox...

What the hell this now means for him and the ECHR case I have no idea...anyone?

There is NO WAY anyone can come up with a realistic story for the abduction.

So either this guy is going to be dead soon or "can't remember the exact details".

BlueBag wrote:There is NO WAY anyone can come up with a realistic story for the abduction.

So either this guy is going to be dead soon or "can't remember the exact details".

What happened to the pay-as-you-go mobile phones that were claimed to have been handed out to the T9? What was there to hide? If there IS anything in this claim (and we've heard it all before) then there has to be others involved.

BlueBag wrote:There is NO WAY anyone can come up with a realistic story for the abduction.

So either this guy is going to be dead soon or "can't remember the exact details".

But if there is a court case wouldn't the McCanns and Tapas 7 need to attend court as witnesses?

Could this be Grange's way of getting them under oath to see if their stories stack up and to have them cross examined?

Tony? Peter?

Jill Havern wrote:

BlueBag wrote:There is NO WAY anyone can come up with a realistic story for the abduction.

So either this guy is going to be dead soon or "can't remember the exact details".

But if there is a court case wouldn't the McCanns and Tapas 7 need to attend court as witnesses?

Could this be Grange's way of getting them under oath to see if their stories stack up and to have them cross examined?

Tony? Peter?

You would assume so as unless the body appears even the 'Abduction' would need to proven for the jury.

ITV NEWS = 'Clarence Mitchell says Madeleine McCann's family 'need to find peace, they need to know what happened and they simply want to know the truth and find whoever was responsible for Madeline’s disappearance brought to justice' '



Martin Brunt -
'Christian B: What we know about jailed German Madeleine McCann suspect

UK and German police appealed for information on Wednesday about a convicted paedophile serving time in jail for sex offences.

The new suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation allegedly confessed his part in her disappearance to a man in a bar.
They were sitting in a German bar when a news report about Madeleine's disappearance came on TV.

The suspect, a 43-year-old German named by prosecutors as Christian B, allegedly said something to suggest he was responsible for her going missing.

Later, he showed his companion a video of himself raping an elderly woman, an American tourist, in Portugal in 2005.
That prompted the informant to call German police to alert them to the suspect around the time of the 10th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.
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He was already in jail in Germany, being investigated for alleged child sex abuse crimes.

Last year, he was convicted of the rape in the Algarve and jailed for eight years.

German police have since said that the suspect has previous convictions for child sex abuse.
It is quite extraordinary for police to reveal such detail in the course of such a complex and high profile investigation.

But it shows that after three years, though they have a good deal of circumstantial evidence against the suspect, they are struggling to find hard evidence.
The distinctive VW camper van he was using at the time of Madeleine's disappearance - on 3 May, 2007 - was located and shipped to Germany for forensic examination.
It has not produced any evidence of her presence, but tests continue.
German police have the Jaguar car the suspect was also using at the time, and it is thought that too, has not given the clues that were hoped for.
The suspect was 30 at the time and living in a small, remote rented house a couple of miles from Praia da Luz.

He moved in with his girlfriend, but they later split and he travelled back and forth to Germany, eventually leaving the property and, police think, living in his camper van.
I spoke to the English owner of the house he rented until he disappeared in 2006.
The owner wants to remain anonymous, but said: "My wife and I moved back to the UK in 1992. The house was lent out to friends, and friends of friends, in order to maintain occupancy, look after the land pay the bills.
"The house was occupied for a period of time by what seemed like an ordinary young couple trying to get by in Portugal.
"Living in England, we had relatively little interaction besides talk of the house, the land and any maintenance issues. We met in person when passing through on family holidays to the Algarve.
"At a later date we discovered that the man's girlfriend had parted company and returned to Germany.
"In 2006, my neighbour contacted me in the UK to say that the house had been left ramshackled and abandoned with no sign of occupancy.

"We returned to Portugal and reported the disappearance to the Portuguese police and later discovered that he may have been arrested, details unknown.
"This was the last we heard from him until about a year ago when we were contacted by the UK and Portuguese police requesting what information we had as they were following a new line of enquiry relating to this person. "

Very interesting.

I suppose they would have to check his DNA against that which was found in the apartment. And if it came to court, they would have to establish how he did it, how he disposed of the body, etc.

But then, it's very difficult to get a homicide prosecution if there's no body, isn't it? So I wonder how this will pan out.

If there's a court case I assume Martin Grime be called as a witness to discredit himself by explaining how his dogs managed to alert to Madeleine's DNA in the McCanns hire car.

puzzled wrote:Very interesting.

I suppose they would have to check his DNA against that which was found in the apartment. And if it came to court, they would have to establish how he did it, how he disposed of the body, etc.

But then, it's very difficult to get a homicide prosecution if there's no body, isn't it? So I wonder how this will pan out.

Surely that has already been done being his dna will be on file due to him being in custody.

Jill Havern wrote:If there's a court case I assume Martin Grime be called as a witness to discredit himself by explaining how his dogs managed to alert to Madeleine's DNA in the McCanns hire car.

Bet that is never mentioned.

If, as widely reported, this new foundling has a string of offences under his belt, and is now detained in prison, he must have a police file as long as his arm.  Like where he was and when he was, with witness testimonies that led to previous convictions.

The police would have detail of his movements over years and no doubt his phone records.

Unless he dies in prison under suspicious circumstances, the case against him must be investigated.  You can't go around accusing people of murder without evidence - what will he have to say on the subject?

Ask the dogs Inspector!

Where is this heading I wonder - another case of insufficient evidence to lead to a conviction?

I'll wager this exposé was planned long and they've been waiting for the right time to splash across the headlines.

Shame faced about the coronavirus farce maybe - a timely distraction?

Jill Havern wrote:If there's a court case I assume Martin Grime be called as a witness to discredit himself by explaining how his dogs managed to alert to Madeleine's DNA in the McCanns hire car.

While we are at this subject. I wonder how this German burglar managed to clean all that blood up in the apartment in between all those "checks" by the T7

What is this novel person of interest to be named?

Newfoundman? German? Paedoman? Journeyman? Camperman? Dirtbagman? Patsyman? Invisibleman?

It'll be interesting to see how they get around the physical side of the abduction. If I remember rightly, the Portuguese police established on the 4th May 2007, that there was no evidence of forced entry - despite the claim of banging doors, open windows, forced shutters and whooshing curtains that Kate McCann clings to this very day.

Perhaps they should call Ms McCann as a VIP witness?

I've waited thirteen years, I can now wait with trepidation to see how this develops.

Drat, he's already been named, inspite of the fact a few hours ago they weren't going to release his name..

This has got Netflix stamped all over it.

Witnesses had reported a number of sightings of suspicious men seen hanging around the Ocean Club complex in the days before the three-year-old disappeared.

Police examined claims that two blonde men speaking Dutch or German, were spotted on the balcony of a nearby apartment, just two doors from where the McCanns were staying.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/04/german-madeleine-mccann-suspect-discovered-13-year-investigation/

Eastree27 wrote:Surely that has already been done being his dna will be on file due to him being in custody.

Well, this is what I mean. They must have his DNA, and so it must be possible to compare it to whatever was found in the apartment. That would surely be essential, if this is going to move to a trial. I'm no expert on the law, but surely a suspect cannot be convicted on mere circumstantial evidence.  Wouldn't they need to establish in a trial how he did it and where he hid the body, and so on?  If he tells them where he hid the body, then they could dig it up, and establish a match with Madeleine's DNA. Wouldn't all this be necessary to take it to trial, and to get a successful prosecution?