"I have no doubt."
An investigative criminal reporter who has been following the case of missing British child Madeleine McCann says he believes the child died in her family's rented apartment in Portugal.
Madeleine vanished from her bedroom at a Praia de Luz resort in the Algarve on May 3, 2007. Ten years and thousands of 'sightings' later, police are no closer to finding her.
Now, in a claim that is likely to cause further anguish to Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, Portugese investigator Moita Flores, who worked with the Policia Judiciaria during the search for Madeleine, told the Portugese website
Flash:
“Maddie died in that apartment, I have no doubt.”
He also claims the theory that a kidnapper entered the child's bedroom through a window is flawed, adding: 'It would have been impossible to get through a window with a child'.
Responding, McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell told The Sun Online: “Kate and Gerry will not be fueling any of this pure speculation with any comment whatsoever.”
The claims will come as a double blow to the family, after US crime agency owner Pat Brown made similar accusations, saying police in the UK are 'wasting time and money' on the search for Madeleine.
Brown, who wrote a book on the case entitled Profile Of The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann, told news.com.au:
“There’s no point spending all of this money as nothing they do is going to make that child alive.
“When I analysed (Madeleine’s) case, it led me to believe evidence does not support an abduction.
“An abduction was extremely unlikely based on the amount of time, evidence at the scene, and every other shred of evidence there has ever been.”
Last month an investigative reporter shocked viewers of ITV's This Morning show today by sharing his theory that Madeleine McCann may have wandered away on the night she disappeared.
Speaking to
This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield about his thoughts on the case, former police officer Mark Williams-Thomas says he believes the three-year-old could potentially have woken up and set out in search of her mum and dad Kate and Gerry McCann, who were dining in a tapas restaurant nearby.
Meanwhile police in the Algarve are continuing to search for a man they believe may have held back important information when he was initially interviewed when the three-year-old vanished almost ten years ago.
