A British paedophile with links to the Algarve remains a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann after police were unable to trace him, it is claimed today.

The man is the only sex offender to remain unaccounted for from a list 52 names sent to Portuguese detectives after Madeleine’s abduction on May 3, Sky News claims.

The list was compiled by Leicestershire Constabulary from records kept by every police force of every person on the sex offenders register who told police that they were travelling to the country. Portuguese officers also examined records at every hotel in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was staying, and the nearby town of Lagos. Portugal is a favoured destination for British paedophiles.

Detectives initially thought that a sexual motive was the most likely reason for the disappearance of Madeleine shortly before her fourth birthday, as there was no ransom demand.

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Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, denied a claim in the news report that police had been unable to find a blue tennis bag “big enough to carry a small child” that had been used by Mr McCann hours before Madeleine vanished. He said that Mr McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, had not used such a bag.

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