Madeleine McCann case ‘unsolvable’ because a crucial CCTV camera was switched off
MADELEINE MCCANN’S disappearance is “unsolvable” because a crucial CCTV camera was switched off when the youngster vanished, a leading crime investigator has warned.
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has worked on major missing persons cases during his career, believes Madeline was the “victim of an opportunistic criminal whose act was random”. In his new book Hunting Killers, the 49-year-old said: “The abduction of Madeleine McCann is one I’d put into the unsolvable category. I believe Madeleine was the victim of an opportunistic criminal whose act was random – she wandered out of the apartment and into the path of this person.
“The case hasn’t been solved simply because a crucial CCTV camera was turned off, meaning that whoever took Madeleine was not identifiable at the scene.”
Mr Williams-Thomas is still hopeful of some kind of resolution in the long-running mystery.
But he warned statistics prove the case is unlikely to be ever solved as most missing youngsters are killed within the first 24 hours.
The former detective added: “The sad reality is, this far on, the likelihood of Madeleine being alive now is incredibly slim.
Madeleine McCann news: Her disappearance is “unsolvable” because a CCTV camera was switched off (Image: PA)
Madeleine McCann disappeared while on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry (Image: PA)
“Unfortunately, in almost every case of stranger child abduction, within the space of 24 hours the child is dead.”
Madeleine was three-years-old when she vanished during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.
The youngster was sleeping in a room with her twin siblings while her parents Kate and Gerry McCann were dining in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.
Kate has previously disputed the likelihood of Madeleine being taken after wandering off or suffering a fatal accident.
Kate and Gerry McCann vowed to continue searching for their missing daughter with ‘unwavering commitment’ (Image: PA)
In her 2011 book about the disappearance, Kate said: “I have always found the third suggestion insulting to our intelligence.
“Obviously, the police are obliged to consider all possible scenarios but there was no doubt in our minds that Madeleine had not left the apartment on her own accord.
“There was no way a three-year-old would have been able to raise the shutters and open the window in the children’s room.
“To give any credence whatsoever to that idea that Madeleine could have walked out on her own you would have to accept that she had gone out the back way, pulling aside the sitting room curtains and drawing them again, then opening the patio doors, the child safety gate at the top of the stairs on the veranda and the little gate to the road – and carefully closing all three behind her.
Mark Williams-Thomas believes Madeleine McCann was the ‘victim of an opportunistic criminal whose act was random’ (Image: PA)
Madeleine McCann was three-years-old when she disappeared (Image: PA)
“What three-year-old do you know who would do that? And we knew our Madeleine. She simply would not wander off like this.
“The theory was not only insulting it was, much more importantly, frighteningly damaging to the chances of finding Madeleine quickly.”
Operation Grange, the Scotland Yard probe launched in 2011 to look into the case, had said they believed Madeleine was snatched or taken during a burglary gone wrong.
The probe continues to be funded by the Home Office as an open investigation and in July received a £300,000 cash boost.
Kate and Gerry McCann wrote a message on the official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page on Christmas Day (Image: PA)Last month, Kate and Gerry vowed to continue searching for their missing daughter with “unwavering commitment”.
They wrote in a message on the official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page on Christmas Day: “We love her, we miss her, we hope as always.
“The search for Madeleine goes on with unwavering commitment.
“Thank you to all our supporters for your steadfastness and compassion this year again and your warm Christmas wishes.”
Kate and Gerry had been given fresh hope just days earlier after it was reported that a German boy was found safe after being missing for two years.
The 15-year-old was discovered by chance by police in the cupboard at the home of a suspected paedophile.
A close friend of the McCann’s said they had been “buoyed up” by the news.
The family friend said: “It shows that dreams can come true and this teenage boy being found two years after he disappeared is another example that will give Kate and Gerry hope.
“This is the news they are dreaming of receiving themselves one day and it is heartwarming that the child can be reunited with his family for Christmas.”
