I think this new development may be significant. If there is a connection between CB and MN, could there be a connection between these two men and J Brech?
Hunt for scout leader wanted for murder of Dutch boy linked to McCann
How Nicky's death was linked to Maddie's disappearance
The case became linked to Madeleine McCann's vanishing when in 2011 Dutch cops quizzed a German child murderer, Martin Ney, over Nicky's death.
Private detectives employed by Kate and Gerry McCann investigated Ney to find out if he was in Portugal when Maddie disappeared after they noticed a resemblance between him and a photofit of a man seen acting suspiciously hours before Maddie vanished in 2007.
In May 2011, McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Our private investigators became aware of this man a month ago and they will be liaising with the Germany investigators."
Scotland Yard worked with German authorities before interest in Ney was dropped on the belief he only had sexual interest in boys.
Scotland Yard had liaised with German authorities as to whether Ney murderered both Maddie and Nicky, but dropped interest on the belief he only had sexual interest in boys.
Cops have now named Brech as the prime suspect following a DNA breakthrough.
Brech told his family in April that he was going for a walk in the Vosges mountains in France where he owns a cabin. He hasn't been seen since.
Brech was 35 at the time of Nicky's death and was interviewed as a witness when police were undertaking what became one of the most extensive murder investigations in the Netherlands.