Madeleine McCann suspect re-investigated over ‘German Maddie’ 2015 disappearance – after child abuse stash found at farm
POLICE are today re-investigating Madeleine McCann's paedo suspect over the disappearance of a girl dubbed the 'German Maddie'.
Christian B - yesterday unmasked as the prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance - was reported to be in the same area as five-year-old German girl Inga Gehricke when she vanished in May 2015.
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The little girl had been enjoying a family BBQ in woodland in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, around 50 miles from Berlin, when she vanished without a trace in chilling echoes of Madeleine's disappearance.
Police today confirmed they are re-investigating the case for "new clues in connection with a suspect in Braunschweig", Sky News reports.
It comes as:
- German paedophile Christian B is the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance
- The convicted rapist fantasised about wanting to "capture something small and use it for days" in a chatroom
- He had a year-long relationship with a British woman while living in Portugal, it is claimed
- A top UK says Madeleine could still be alive despite German police believing she may have been murdered
- Madeleine's parents are being haunted by trolls after police in Germany say she might be dead
- Cops are hunting the man who made a mysterious phonecall to Christian B before Madeleine vanished
There are now fears from her family Christian B might be involved in the case after a sick stash of child abuse images were found at his German farmhouse lair near where she vanished.
They also fear his involvement amid claims he booked a parking space in a rest area less than 60 miles from the spot where Inga disappeared, Bild reports.
Nine months after Inga vanished, Christian B's ramshackle farmhouse 55 miles away from the spot in Neuwegersleben was raided in connection with the little girl's disappearance.
Photos from the grim lair show tangled weeds creeping over rusted machinery and battered old caravans.
Officers raiding the home at the time discovered child abuse images on a USB stick and young girl's clothing - despite Christian B having no family.
But like Madeleine, police were unable to find any trace of missing Inga on the site of the old box factory.
The indecent images were sent away for inspection but the case against Christian B went cold and no line of inquiry was pursued - despite the convicted paedo having no alibi on the day the little girl vanished.
Now, four years after the ramshackle home was searched, Inga's family have expressed fears over the claims he was nearby when she disappeared.
The family's lawyer Petra Küllmei told Volksstimme: "Just a day before Inga disappeared ...Christian B had a documented parking lot number on the A 2 near Helmstedt."
Küllmei added: “The file was closed again only four weeks after starting work. I think that's not very ambitious."
The youngster was with her family visiting friends for the weekend on May 2, 2015, when she wandered into the forest to look for wood.
Chillingly, she simply "did not return".
After a 15-minute search of the area, her parents raised the alarm and police launched an investigation - but no trace of little Inga has ever been found.
Much like Madeleine's anguished family, her parents refuse to give up hope they will one day find her alive.
And in similar circumstances to the missing Brit, the case has now been thrust back into the spotlight after a bombshell breakthrough.
It was a year after his home was raided by police investigating Inga's disappearance that cops were tipped off about Christian B's potential involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Portrait of Madeleine suspect
It was today revealed that:
- Christian B ws born in Würzburg under a different name in 1976 before being adopted as a baby.
- In 1994, Christian B abused a six-year-old girl in a playground and also dropped his pants to another child, aged nine. He was jailed for two years as he was on probation at the time.
- When asked what he thought of the acts by a judge, he responded: "I didn't think anything.”
- After serving time, he returned to Portugal where he had previously been living and began stealing from holiday homes and apartments.
- He told one pal he had crawled into rooms where "someone had slept".
- Christian B reportedly had an underage Kosovan girlfriend, who regularly phoned the police as he allegedly battered her.
- He has been described in reports as a "manipulative narcissist" who didn't care if he had "sex with children, young women, old women, sex with violence or voluntarily".
- One pal said: "He was very engaging, dominant and sociable, he looked like a hopeless dreamer who always had big plans".
All reports found in German newspaper Bild.
Christian B was first thrust into the frame in connection with Madeleine's disappearance in 2017 after allegedly confessing to abducting the girl while in a bar with a pal in Germany.
He was reportedly chatting to the friend when a TV report came on about the tenth anniversary of the girl's disappearance and he suggested he knew what had happened to her.
German sources claim he boasted he had "snatched her" but didn’t say he had killed her.
Prosecutors in Germany are investigating Christian B "on suspicion of murder" and believe Madeleine is dead and know how she was killed - despite no body being found.
We are now able to show his picture in full in the UK after it was published in a major German newspaper - as cops in both countries appeal for anyone who knows him to come forward.
The convicted paedo, who is currently behind bars, has spent his life in and out of prison since his first crime aged 17.
He was known to have been carrying out burglaries on holiday villas and apartments at the time and had been living at a run-down shack nearby.
Police fear he may have targeted the McCann's apartment when he saw Madeleine and snatched her.
He had expressed a fantasy to "capture something small and use it for days" in a chatroom exchange in 2013, according to reports.
Christian B is currently in prison and was last year sentenced to seven years for the rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz in August 2005, and has a number of previous convictions including one for sexually abusing a child.
He was living in a campervan in Praia da Luz in Portugal around the time the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007.
The suspect had previously been in a relationship with an unnamed British woman while living in Praia da Luz in 2004.
As well as the campervan, the drug dealer and burglar also been linked to a 1993 Jaguar XJR6 with a German number plate seen in Praia da Luz and surrounding areas in 2006 and 2007.
Agony for Madeleine's family
Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry, said today: "They are trying to maintain as normal a life as possible under the circumstances, continuing their medical work where necessary and bringing the twins up as best they can, while shielding them from all the attention.
"They wait to hear any developments from police.
"They certainly will be encouraged to know the appeal is yielding results already and hopefully within that there will be crucial bits of information the police can act upon."
- You can help by calling Operation Grange with information on 0207 321 9251 or email Operation.grange@met.police.uk
On May 4, 2007 - the day after Madeleine vanished - he got the Jaguar re-registered in Germany under someone else's name although it is believed the vehicle remained in Portugal.
German police believe one of the two vehicles were used in the disappearance of Madeleine.
He also took a mysterious 30-minute phonecall just one hour before the disappearance and had also rented two homes in Portugal just miles from the Ocean Club where Madeleine was staying.
Police are now hunting a man called Diogo Silva, who the phone that made the call to Christian B was registered to.
The suspect's extensive rap sheet includes sex attacks on kids, indecent images, sexual coercion, theft and breaking and entering, reports Bild.
He was first convicted aged just 17 in Bavaria in 1994 for “abusing a child” and “performing sex acts in front of a child”.
