DETECTIVES FROM OPERATION Grange are asking for the public’s help to identify a man they are keen to trace in connection with their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
The Metropolitan Police in the UK have today released two images of a man which will feature in the BBC1′s Crimewatch appeal running at 9pm tonight.
Images
These e-fits have been drawn up based on statements and descriptions from two different witnesses who saw this man in the Praia da Luz town area.
The witnesses have described the man in the e-fit as being white, aged between 20-40 years old, with short brown hair, of medium build, medium height and clean shaven.
[If you cannot view the e-fit images on the app, please click here and here]
The sightings are from the evening of Thursday, 3 May 2007, the night that Madeleine went missing.
Work by detectives has given them a far greater understanding of the times when the abduction could have taken place. This in turn has made the statements from the two witnesses far more significant.
One of the main priorities for their investigation is being able to identify the man who is being described.
The search
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, said:
Today I am asking the public for their help. Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us. We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
He added that this “was far from our only line of inquiry” and there will be e-fits released of other sightings as well of people they are equally keen to trace. These people were seen on the day of Madeleine’s disappearance and the days leading up to it.
He added:
Where we have been able to make massive steps forward is by drawing together all the material gathered to date, and reviewing it as a whole.We continue to put Madeleine at the heart of our investigation and I would urge people to watch Crimewatch tonight and if you can help identify this man or have any information about our new appeal points please contact us.
Ireland
He said that Praia da Luz is a popular holiday destination for many nationalities which is why they have made requests for help and asked that the appeal be repeated in many different countries. He said he will be travelling to Holland, Germany and Ireland to seek the support of the public there.
“We still have a lot of material to investigate and much work to do. Your information could be the vital piece we need to finally answer what happened to Madeleine,” he said.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the incident room on 0800 096 1011, if you are UK based. If based outside the UK please call +4420 7158 0126, or email operation.grange@met.police.uk
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say