Police examined claims that two blonde men speaking Dutch or German, were spotted on the balcony of a nearby apartment, just two doors from where the McCanns were staying.
Appeals for information about the
two potential suspects were broadcast in the Netherlands and Germany.
May 2007: Apartment 5a at the Ocean Complex in Praia da Luz on Portugal's Algarve where Madeleine McCann disappeared on the evening of 3 May 2007 CREDIT: Geoff Pugh
Detectives also identified a string of break-ins at apartments across the Algarve, including in Praia da Luz, in the months running up to Madeleine's disappearance.
The patio doors of the McCanns's apartment, pictured above, had been left unlocked on the night of May 3, meaning opportunistic thieves would have had easy access.
The burglaries were thought to have been the work of a gang of roving criminals and police began exploring the theory that Madeleine may have been snatched after waking up and disturbing the intruders.
It had always been assumed that Madeleine had been snatched by 9.15pm, but in 2013 Operation Grange detectives said they believed her abduction could have actually taken place as much as 45 minutes later.
It meant that the witness statement of an Irish family, who had been on holiday in Praia da Luz in May 2007, suddenly took on new significance. Martin Smith from Drogheda reported seeing a man carrying a child around Madeleine's age towards the beach at around 10pm on the night she disappeared.
BREAKTHROUGH:
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, who took over from Ms Wall as the head of Operation Grange, said the
tipster had revealed information about a German man who was known to have been in Praia da Luz at the time of the abduction.
In November 2017 the Scotland Yard team began liaising with the German federal police and following two and a half years of work, made last night’s startling appeal.
