Madeleine McCann suspect could have taken missing Joana, 8, who vanished nearby three years earlier, her family say
THE STEP-DAD of a girl who vanished near where Madeleine McCann was taken has urged police to quiz Christian B about her disappearance.
Joana Cipriano was eight when she went missing from Figueira, just five miles from Praia da Luz, in 2004.
Step-dad Leandro Silva has called on German and Portuguese police to investigate any links between Madeleine’s suspect and Joana.
The young girl’s mum, Leonor Cipriano, and uncle, Joao Cipriano, were convicted of murdering the eight-year-old, although her body has never been found.
The pair served nearly two decades in jail, but Mr Silva still claims that they are innocent.
The 54-year-old told : “The moment I saw police had a Madeleine suspect I thought about poor Joana and how he could be involved.
“The disappearance of my step-daughter is an unresolved case, whatever the authorities say.
“Her body has never been found and I know Leonor would never have hurt Joana. She was a good mum."
That’s why I’d like a new police team to re-examine everything and see if this German man is involved.
Step-dad Leandro Silva
Joana was sent out to get tuna and milk from a local shop in Figueira on the evening of September 12, 2004.
A neighbour spotted her about 200 yards from her house walking back from the shop – the last time she was seen alive.
Police argued that the pair killed the eight-year-old because she had witnessed them having incestuous sex.
The siblings were each jailed for 16 years.
Mr Silva also said Christian B could "hold the key" to solving the disappearance.
He continued: “I think the police handled the investigation so badly.
“That’s why I’d like a new police team to re-examine everything and see if this German man is involved."
He added: “Christian [B] is a person who should be questioned. There are still so many unanswered questions hanging over Joana’s disappearance and he could hold the key to solving them.”
MISSING LINKS?
The convicted paedophile has been linked to a number of other child disappearances in recent days.
Carola Titze, who was 16 when she went missing, had reportedly been in contact with a German man days before she vanished in 1996.
Meanwhile, German detectives investigating Christian B have contacted the family of missing René Hasee to say they are looking into his 1996 abduction again.
The youngster, from Elsdorf, Germany, vanished on June 2 1996 while on holiday with his family in Aljezur – just 25 miles from Praia da Luz.
He ran ahead during a family walk on the beach to go in the sea, but his loved ones never saw him again.
Christian B is also being investigated over the disappearance of a girl dubbed the ‘German Maddie’.
The suspect was reportedly in the same area as five-year-old Inga Gehricke when she vanished in May 2015.
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The toddler had been enjoying a family BBQ in woodlands in the state of Saxony-Anhalt – around 50 miles from Berlin – when she vanished without a trace.
Madeleine McCann was just three-years-old when she vanished in Portugal while on holiday with her family in 2007.
Christian B is currently in prison for raping a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal.
