Witness ‘spotted Madeleine McCann in German-registered VW van three weeks after she vanished’
BRITISH cops alerted Portuguese detectives to a possible sighting of Madeleine McCann in a German-registered VW van three weeks after she disappeared.
Officers sent a memo marked “urgent” explaining how a witness believed they had spotted her at a named restaurant near Valencia, Spain.
⚠️ Click here for the latest news on Madeleine McCann
The witness said she left with a man in a VW with German plates and asked for details of the owner.
Two weeks later, they asked again for the tip to be traced but archived files seen by The Sun on Sunday show no follow up.
German cops have seized the VW camper van that suspect, Christian B, 43, was living in two miles from Praia da Luz — where Madeleine went missing in 2007.
The files also contain a report by a witness who saw a “strange” man matching Christian B’s description loitering near apartment 5A two weeks before Madeleine was taken.
Another tourist reported seeing a suspicious man with a van of the type Christian B drove.
Most read in UK News
Two restaurant workers revealed how a man was “hanging around” for days in the run-up to Madeleine vanishing.
British cops also sent another “urgent” request imploring the Portuguese to investigate two German paedophiles.
The findings, which come after we reviewed 25,000 pages of files into Madeleine’s disappearance, also show that Portuguese cops failed to secure the crime scene or set up roadblocks.
Cops' TV appeal tip-off ignored
A BLUNDER by German cops let Madeleine McCann murder suspect Christian B dodge a probe as far back as 2013.
Police received a tipoff that the serial sex predator was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance after an appeal by British police on German TV.
A report was prepared for the Federal Criminal Police Office — Germany’s FBI equivalent — by local police in Braunschweig after the tip-off was received.
But nothing was done and the report ignored.
Scotland Yard had appealed to European tourists who might have been in Portugal when Madeleine vanished.
The appeal received more than 500 calls.
GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk