Madeleine McCann: German prosecutor has 'evidence' British girl is dead
Hans Christian Wolters said police need information about where the new suspect has lived so they can search for the girl's body.
Tuesday 9 June 2020 06:28, UK
A German prosecutor has said he has evidence Madeleine McCann is dead as he appealed to British tourists to help identify the suspect's former homes.
Hans Christian Wolters said police need more information about where the new suspect, named only as Christian B, has lived so police can search for Madeleine's body.
He admitted he does not have enough "hard evidence" for the suspect to go on trial.
Mr Wolters believes there are other British victims of sex attacks and has urged them to contact police.
He told Sky News: "After all the information we got, the girl is dead. We have no information that she is alive.
"All indications we have got that I can't tell you point in the direction that Madeleine is dead.
"We got things we cannot communicate that speak for the theory that Madeleine is dead, even if I have to admit that we don't have the body."
Mr Wolters continued: "The hard evidence we don't have, we don't have the crucial evidence of Madeleine McCann's body.
"We expect that she is dead, but we don't have enough evidence that we can get a warrant for our suspect in Germany for the murder of Madeleine McCann.
"At the moment we also don't have enough proof for a trial at court, but we have some evidence that the suspect has done the deed.
"That's why we need more information from people, especially places he has lived so we can target these places especially and search there for Madeleine."
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007.
She had been left sleeping with her young twin siblings while their parents dined with friends nearby.
Speaking at his office in Braunschweig, Mr Wolters said his investigation now covered the entire time the suspect lived in the Algarve, from 1995 to 2007.
He said: "We need help from the people, from British tourists that might have been between 1995 and 2007 in Praia da Luz. Only with these calls we can solve the case of Madeleine McCann."
He also believes that over those years there may have been other victims of sex attacks who had not reported them to police.
He said: "We think our suspect has done more crimes possibly against British, Irish or American people. All these people are asked to call us so we can solve these cases."
Like Scotland Yard, the prosecutor said he and the German police he directs had also had hundreds of calls offering information on the suspect and two vehicles he is thought to have used.
He added: "We are going through them right now and we hope that there are some of them which can help us to make a big step to solve this case.
"Basically, we need every information in that time period, where did he live, where did he work, to which places he had a special relationship, who were his friends and the people he knew.
"Who can tell us what the suspect's life was like, where has he been with his cars, who has been in his houses and can tell us what they look like from the inside. And we hope that maybe we find victims that maybe also got in these houses, victims of sexual crimes."
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The suspect is currently in a German jail for drugs offences, but this week completed two thirds of his sentence and is eligible for early release if a judge agrees to free him.
He is also challenging a conviction last December for the rape of an elderly American woman in Portugal in 2005.
In theory, he could be freed on either count, though legal experts in Germany say it is unlikely while he remains the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann mystery.