Scotland Yard to take control of McCann case

London: Scotland Yard is to take control of the Madeleine McCann case from the Portuguese authorities, the Daily Mail can reveal.

In a significant development, Home Secretary Theresa May has agreed to fund a full-scale Metropolitan Police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance in Portugal six years ago.

It follows a two-year, £5 million (Dh18.3 million) Met review of her disappearance.

This has identified more than 20 potential suspects and dozens of new leads — but despite the progress made by the review team, the Portuguese authorities have refused to reopen their inquiry. Officials in Portugal say that under the country’s laws they can only reopen the case if there is new evidence, and the new leads do not provide sufficient grounds.

But Met detectives insist their leads could, if properly investigated, result in new evidence and perhaps the case being solved.

With no sign of the deadlock being broken, the Met asked May to provide Home Office funding for a Scotland Yard investigation into Maddie’s disappearance.

It is understood she has approved the request. It is not known how much additional funding was sought but it is believed it could run into millions of pounds. A statement announcing the Met-led investigation is expected in the next few weeks.

Under the plan, Yard detectives will seek the assistance of the Portuguese to carry out some inquiries on their behalf. British police do not have jurisdiction in Portugal but they have the right to investigate and prosecute any British suspects who might be linked to Madeleine’s disappearance.

Sources said that should Scotland Yard gather sufficient evidence to prosecute a foreign national who lives overseas, they will ask the Portuguese authorities to put the suspect on trial. Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve in 2007 as her parents dined with friends nearby.

The shambolic Portuguese inquiry was shelved in 2008 but Scotland Yard began a Home Office-funded review in 2011 following the intervention of David Cameron.

He had been lobbied by Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann — who were falsely accused by Portuguese police of being behind her disappearance.

Officials said the progress made by the Yard review vindicated Cameron’s decision to intervene. Last year the officer in day-to-day charge of the review, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, said his team had identified 195 potential leads.

It emerged last month that the review had identified more than 20 people ‘of interest’, including Britons, who have not been eliminated from the case.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, who supervised the Met’s review said there were a ‘good number’ of individuals who should be questioned.

Well-placed sources said at least 20 potential suspects — including a number of Britons who were in the Algarve at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance — had not been properly eliminated. One authoritative source said last night: “These people include a couple of known child sex offenders who are thought may have been in the Algarve when Madeleine disappeared. More work needs to be done on establishing their movements around the time she vanished. It cannot be disputed that the Portuguese police investigation was very poor.

“They put all their eggs in one basket in terms of the McCanns being responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance. When they were rightly eliminated, they simply closed the inquiry rather than starting again.”

It is understood that, contrary to some media reports, the Portuguese inquiry did identify everyone who was staying at the Ocean Club when she vanished. Most were British tourists.

The Yard is “tidying” up this aspect of the initial inquiry, trying to nail down people’s movements there.

The fact that so many investigative opportunities were missed has galvanised British detectives who believe there is a real possibility they could unravel the mystery.

Last month, the Mail revealed how as part of the review, Yard detectives had flown to Switzerland to probe the movements of one of the country’s most notorious child snatchers, Urs Hans von Aesch.

The 67-year-old was one of many potential suspects dismissed prematurely by Portuguese police.

Von Aesch kidnapped and murdered a five-year-old girl in his native Switzerland less than three months after Madeleine was abducted. He took his own life after killing his victim, who looked remarkably like Madeleine.