CRIME NEWS JOURNAL: Praia da Luz' Portugal: Police Seal Off Scrub-land In Search For Madeleine McCann

15 Oct 2014

London: Police May Question Extradited Paedophile About Madeleine McCann

A convicted child sex attacker on the run in Malta is being being deported to the UK and could face questioning in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Roderick McDonald, 76, was reportedly living in the Algarve at the same time as Madeleine McCann's disappearance in 2007.

He was apprehended in Malta after being on the run since 2012 following his conviction for abusing two girls.

It is understood the Met want to speak to him regarding a possible paedophile ring which could have been operating in the Algarve when Madeleine vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, aged three, according to reports.

McDonald, who also uses the surname Robinson, had been living in an apartment in Ta Cenc, Gozo, Malta and agreed to be extradited when he appeared before Magistrates this week.

Scotland Yard detectives chasing new leads in Praia da Luz where Madeleine went missing wanted to quiz him about paedophile rings in the area in 2007 at the time of Madeleine's disappearance.

Police have reportedly been investigating 18 possible linked break-ins at Algarve villas by a lone intruder from 2004 to 2010.

McDondald, of Aldershot, Hants, was reportedly deported from Portugal to Australia in 2010 accused of raping an eight-year-old girl.

The incident happened in 1989 and while on bail he fled to New Zealand until an international arrest warrant saw him arrested in a campsite in the Algarve in 2010.

He served a six month sentence in Australia for indecent assault and then went to Thailand in 2011 where the authorities deported him back to the UK after learning of his convictions.

The former oil rig worker moved to Brighton, where he was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register, and he then targeted two sisters, aged five and seven, in June 2012.

He fled abroad prior to his sentence and was handed a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years in his absence.

He is wanted in the UK for absconding after being found guilty of sexual assault, and for failing to notify the authorities he had changed his name, address and was going abroad.

In court in Malta he agreed to be extradited and has been remanded in custody.

Madeleine disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal as her parents Kate and Gerry were eating in a near-by restaurant

A European Arrest Warrant had been issued against him on April 25, 2013, by the Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said they would never discuss who they wanted to speak to as part of any investigation.
---------
ENDS:

2 Jun 2014

Praia da Luz, Portugal: Police Seal Off Scrub-land In Search For Madeleine McCann: UPDATED

Police have cordoned off an area of scrubland in Portugal

Police in Portugal are searching scrubland in Praia da Luz where Madeleine McCann disappeared seven years ago.

The area is a few hundred metres from the Ocean Club complex, where the McCanns had been staying when their daughter went missing.

Scotland Yard, which is carrying out its own investigation into what happened to Madeleine, said the force was "not prepared to give a running commentary" about the case.

www.missingchildreneurope.eu & www.childalerts.org.uk & www.garda.ie & www.crime.ie/20131204/missing-children-child-prostitution-dublin/

Missing Children In Ireland - Image Results

More Missing Children In Ireland images

The apparent development came two weeks after Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, from Scotland Yard, said officers are working through every credible line of inquiry in the search for the missing girl.

He said: "In the forthcoming weeks we are going to be going to a substantial phase of operational activity on the ground in Portugal.

"It's something that you would expect in any major inquiry.

"A thorough serious crime investigation works systematically through all the credible possibilities, and often in an investigation you will have more than one credible possibility.

"Therefore, just because we're doing a substantial phase of work in the forthcoming week doesn't mean that it's going to immediately lead to answers that will explain everything."

The Portuguese have also re-opened their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance and while they are working with the UK force, they have refused to set up an official joint investigation.

The area cordoned off today has been searched before.

One line of inquiry for Scotland Yard is a lone male paedophile who staged a series of sex attacks on young British girls while they were on holiday in the Algarve.

They are looking at nine sexual assaults and three "near misses" on British girls aged six to 12 between 2004 and 2006, including one in 2005 on a ten-year-old girl in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished two years later.