‘Key sighting of Madeleine being seized’ ruled out

Officers from Scotland Yard say a man seen by the McCanns’ friend Jane Tanner carrying a child was an innocent British holidaymaker collecting his daughter from the resort’s creche, and are instead focusing on another man with dark hair who was also seen with a little girl in his arms around 45 minutes later, walking towards the beach.

Two of a series of e-fits released by police are thought to be of the same man who was carrying the child, based on descriptions from two witnesses who were staying in Praia da Luz, Portugal, when Madeleine went missing.

Investigators are also looking at a spate of break-ins in the area, one of which happened in the same week a year before her disappearance, where a man got into a flat where young children were sleeping.

Madeleine vanished on May 3 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia de Luz, as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.

Speaking after a new appeal on BBC Crimewatch last night, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: “Our focus in terms of understanding what happened on the night of May 3 has now given us a shift of emphasis. We are almost certain that the man seen by Jane Tanner is not Madeleine’s abductor.

“It takes us through to a position at 10pm when we see another man who is walking towards the ocean, close by to the apartment, with a young child in his arms. This child is described as being about three to four years of age with blonde hair, possibly wearing pyjamas, and the man is a white man with dark hair.

“If this is you, and you are nothing to do with Madeleine’s disappearance, then we really need to speak to you. It’s so important for us to eliminate innocent sightings. But equally if anybody is looking at those e-fits and recognises the person, for whatever reason, then please have the courage to call in and tell us.”

Details of the revised focus of the investigation released ahead of the programme had prompted more than 100 calls before the reconstruction of the youngster’s last hours with her family aired last night and Madeleine’s father Gerry said his family were optimistic it could yield information that may lead them to finding out what happened to her.

Investigators are also trying to identify fair-haired men seen near the apartment who could be Dutch or German, and TV appeals will be run in Holland and Germany, although not Portugal.

Witnesses saw these men on a path looking towards the McCann’s apartment, in the stairwell of the block, and in an empty apartment two doors down from where the family were staying.

Mr Redwood, who suggested it bore the hallmarks of a pre-planned abduction involving reconnaissance, said: “A consistent theme in the physical descriptions of those sightings is possibly blond or fair hair.”

Officers are also looking at bogus charity collectors who were operating in the area at the time, and at a spate of burglaries that peaked in the month Madeleine went missing.

Mr Redwood added: “Windows were a feature, as well as burglaries taking place in the evening.

“We can see that in the week that Madeleine disappeared but in the year before in 2006, that two children were in an apartment when a man came in and he appears to have come through the patio door, had a look around inside and definitely had a look into one of the cots and then left without taking anything.

“Then one of the children raised the alarm.

“The man was described as being a white man with dark hair.”