A German woman who was investigated by police probing a hit-and-run theory about Madeleine McCann‘s disappearance has spoken out about her ordeal.
The three-year-old British girl vanished while sleeping in a holiday apartment in the Praia da Luz area of the Algarve coast in Portugal, on May 3, 2007.
Her case became one of the most high profile missing persons investigations ever, with searches into her whereabouts still ongoing.
One Portuguese and British police theory is Madeleine woke up, got out of the apartment through an unlocked patio door and was killed in a hit-and-run collision.
Officers investigated a German woman in relation to this seven years ago, when they were focused on this line of inquiry.
The hit-and-run theory and the existence of the unnamed female suspect was leaked to Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha in June.
The title’s report suggested this approach hit a dead end when German authorities declined to get involved and use an undercover detective to look into her further.
Now the German woman has been tracked down in a Sky News investigation – and said she was not even aware she was a suspect.
Madeleine McCann (pictured), then three, vanished while sleeping in a holiday apartment in the Praia da Luz area of the Algarve coast in Portugal, on May 3, 2007
It has since become one of the most high profile missing persons case ever, with investigations into her whereabouts still ongoing. (Pictured: Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann hold up pyjamas similar to their daughter’s during a press conference in 2007)
Now, a German woman investigated as part of the ‘hit-and-run’ theory about her disappearance has been tracked down – and she has, astonishingly, said she was not even aware she was a suspect. (Pictured: Sky News’ investigation finding the woman)
The woman was investigated just before Christian B became the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Christian B, 48, is set to be released from jail in his home country next week.
He is behind bars for raping an American female tourist, 72, in 2005, in the same Praia da Luz resort Madeleine went missing from.
It seems police moved their focus away from the hit-and-run theory when the case against Christian B began to look stronger.
Investigators believe he kidnapped and murdered Madeleine but he denies any involvement and has not been charged.
He remains under investigation and has been told not to go back to Portugal when he leaves jail.
The German woman today spoke out after learning she was under investigation for Madeleine’s disappearance.
She said she was at work at a restaurant near the beach in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine disappeared.
The lady was investigated just before Christian B (pictured last year) became the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance
Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, both 57, had been dining with friends at a tapas restaurant called the Ocean Club that night.
The toddler and her younger twin siblings were asleep back at the ground-floor apartment, around 55m away.
The parents had checked on the children periodically until Mrs McCann discovered at around 10pm Madeleine was missing.
The German woman said she returned home from work after this time, at 10.30pm.
Her British partner – a chef at the Ocean Club and who had served the McCann party there – was already at home when she got back.
‘I don’t even know if there was a car accident because I was working,’ she said.
Portuguese police searched their flat in the ensuing days, as they did for many residents.
But the woman, who had lived in the area for a long time, said she lost her patience during a second search when an officer requested she empty her freezer.
She asked him: ‘Do you think I’ve cut her up in little pieces and I’m going to have her for dinner?’
She said more than ten years later she was contacted by German police – but they only asked if she knew Christian B and saw him near the McCanns’ apartment.
She told them despite other people having seen his van in the area, she did not.
The woman received calls from officers several times over the course of more than a year and was once asked for the SIM card from a phone she had while in Portugal.
This potentially suggests despite asking her primarily about Christian B, German police were looking for more than just information about him from her.
Local reports have claimed she might have borrowed a car – but she said: ‘Do you think I ran her over? I didn’t even have a car at the time.’
And she did not know about the recent Portuguese news report about her until told by Sky News – making her question why her friends did not tell her about it.
The family of her partner, who has since passed away, said they had been questioned as part of the Metropolitan Police’s dedicated investigation, Operation Grange.
The German woman said she returned home from work at 10.30pm, after the time of Madeleine’s disappearance. (Pictured: The investigation tracking her down)
A Met spokesperson said, regarding the investigation into the German woman: ‘We continue to support Madeleine’s family to understand what happened on the evening of May 3, 2007, in Praia da Luz.
‘This includes working with our colleagues in Germany and Portugal.
‘Our thoughts remain with the family and it would be inappropriate to comment further while enquiries continue.’
The McCanns were on holiday with seven friends and eight children, including their three kids. The parents all dined at the restaurant most evenings.
The night before Madeleine disappeared, her parents said she woke up crying and asked where they had been the evening before.
One element of the hit-and-run theory is the girl may have gotten out of bed to look for her parents on the night she vanished.
But Mrs McCann has long insisted her daughter could not have escaped the apartment alone.
In her 2011 book Madeleine, she said: ‘To give any credence whatsoever to the idea 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 door, 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.
Mrs McCann (left, with her husband, in 2017) has long insisted her daughter could not have escaped the apartment alone
‘What three-year-old do you know who would do that?’
Expat Ken Ralphs, who knew Christian B at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, called him ‘a danger to society’ and ‘an injurious monster’.
He warned many in the area and women and children more generally would feel vulnerable and worried again once he is out of prison.
The former community campaigner, from Stockport, has previously spoken out about a mutual British friend who may have been involved.
The friend reportedly said he had entered a plot with Christian B, a convicted child sex offender, to steal a child and sell them to a childless couple.
The two men, along with Mr Ralphs, lived in an off-grid community of people living in campervans near Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
The expat warned Christian B would no longer be welcome in the area – and he would personally watch him 24/7 if he did try to return.
Hans Christian Wolters, a German prosecutor working on the case, has similarly said a psychiatrist has concluded the suspect is dangerous.
Hans Christian Wolters (pictured), a German prosecutor working on the case, has said a psychiatrist has concluded Christian B is dangerous
‘Similar crimes, especially sexual offences, are to be expected from him again,’ he said.
‘We do consider him very dangerous and assume there is a risk of reoffending.’
He continued: ‘For us, he is still the only suspect in the case.
‘We continue to assume that he is responsible for her disappearance and ultimately also for her death.’
German authorities are trying to persuade the courts to place restrictions on Christian B after his release from jail, like a curfew, travel ban, electronic tag or fixed address.