'Paedophile ring snatched Madeleine'

Portimao: British police were tipped off that Madeleine McCann had been snatched by members of an international paedophile ring who photographed her three days before she vanished, police files disclosed on Wednesday.

According to an email sent by the Metropolitan Police, a child abduction ring based in Belgium placed an order for a "young girl".

Three-year-old Made-leine was spotted while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, by someone connected to the gang who took her picture. The photograph was sent back to Belgium, where the paedophile ring agreed that she should be abducted, the email states.

Three days later, on May 3 last year, Madeleine was taken from her family's holiday apartment while her parents ate at a nearby restaurant. The revelation supports Kate and Gerry McCanns' long-held theory that their eldest child may have been taken by a child-smuggling ring.

The email, sent by an intelligence officer on the Met's vice squad on March 4 this year to counterparts in the Portuguese and Leicestershire forces, is a significant development in the case. Just last month Portuguese police closed their investigation and cleared the McCanns, of Rothley, Leics, of involvement in their daughter's disappearance.

DC John Hughes, from Leicestershire Police, forwarded the email to the Policia Judiciaria at Portimao in the Algarve on April 21, the files showed.

The next day it was sent to Ricardo Paiva, one of the three Portuguese police officers leading the investigation. On April 28, Portuguese police faxed the information to Interpol in Lisbon and asked them to investigate it as a matter of urgency. Interpol replied on May 23, passing on all information gathered from its bureaux in London, Brussels, Germany and Finland.

On May 27, Interpol sent an urgent fax to Portuguese police asking for more information, but an undated return fax told them they had all the information that there was. The inquiry was shelved on July 21.

Belgium has already featured in the case. There was an alleged sighting of Madeleine last August in Tongeren but it was later ruled out. The country was at the centre of one of the most notorious paedophile investigations of recent years which saw Marc Dutroux jailed for life in 2004 after being convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering young girls.