Madeleine McCann disappearance – Maddie’s parents welcome Christian B ‘official suspect’ news as new doc set to air

Suspect's obsession with girls

Christian B's ex-girlfriend also claimed this year that he is "obsessed with little girls".

Nicole Fehlinger, who dated the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeline McCann in 2007 - the year she disappeared - claims he told her he is attracted to their childlike bodies.

Speaking to the , 44-year-old Ms Fehlinger said: "He said he liked small bodies of women and he liked the bodies of girls before they reached puberty."

She also insisted that she was the man's "lover, not his accomplice".

Paedo fantasies

Earlier this year, a study of Christian B's online chat history revealed he had disturbing fantasies about paedophilia.

The convicted rapist and paedophile allegedly discussed kidnapping and sexually abusing a child in a chatroom exchange in September 2013.

In one exchange with his online pal he reportedly claimed he would make a lot of films if he were to capture a “little one”.

While on the darknet in another exchange he is said to have written: "Capture something small and use it for days, that's it," reports .

When a pal responded to warn him this could be dangerous, Christian B reportedly responded: "Oh, if the evidence is destroyed afterwards."

It is not known if Christian B ever carried out this sick fantasy for real.

Cops became aware of the online chats after his then-girlfriend reported him for an attack in 2015 and his home was searched.

Officers discovered a video camera with a memory card loaded with horrific images of child pornography.

When another of his properties was searched police found more memory sticks under the body of his dog.

Explained: Have Kate and Gerry McCann had any more children?

Kate and Gerry McCann have not had any more children since the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine, who would be aged 18 now.

The couple have spent the years since she vanished searching for her using everything at their disposal to find her.

This persistence has seen formal suspects confirmed even now, almost 15 years on.

Former GP Kate, now a medical worker, said her twins have “grown up essentially without Madeleine but knowing their sister is missing and they want her back.”

The anguished mum, speaking in the past to promote her charity Missing People of which she is an ambassador, added: “They have their own friends and they keep busy and they’re really sporty but their only wish is for their big sister to come home.

“We miss our complete family of five.

“As a family 98 per cent of the time we’re busy. I don’t know if that’s a conscious thing but it helps.

"The urge to look for Madeleine absolutely hasn’t changed at all.”

Who are Madeleine McCann's siblings?

Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, from her bed in the family's holiday apartment in Portugal.

Sleeping next to her were Sean and Amelie McCann, her twin siblings.

The twins were only two years old at the time of the disappearance and slept through the break in.

There has been some suggestion that the pair had been sedated, although this has never been proven.

Afternoon, Milica Cosic now taking over the blog. I'll be with you until 10pm tonight.

What will the new documentary feature?

The new three-part documentary features British investigator Mark Williams-Thomas.

He told The Sun: “B had agreed to talk to me but the interview was blocked by prison authorities.

“We have since been in contact at length in ­writing and he has explained his position to me in detail.

“He has told me exactly where he was on the night Madeleine disappeared — and that he was not where the police say he was. He also insists that he is entirely innocent.

“My inquiries have unearthed evidence which is pretty explosive, but I’m not saying whether I believe what he told me. That’s for viewers to judge.”

'Odd that he should give the details to a TV documentary'

A source close to the case in Germany, where B is in prison, said: “He has had nearly two years to explain himself but has constantly declined to comment.

“It’s baffling as to why he should maintain that silence then finally come up with an explanation now.

“And it’s even more odd that he should give the details to a TV documentary rather than the authorities.”

What is an ‘arguido’?

Christian B was told he is now an ‘arguido’ in Portugal in his German prison cell according to an insider.

An “arguido” – normally translated as “named suspect” or “formal suspect” – is someone who is treated by Portuguese police as more than a witness but has not been arrested or charged.

Detectives invoke arguido status on someone as a preliminary to an arrest being made or charges brought, but that does not mean arrests or charges automatically follow.

Where are Madeleine McCann's brother and sister now?

Sean and Amelie live with parents Kate and Gerry at their home in the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire.

They attend a Catholic secondary school the area, which retained a place for Madeleine to join if she is ever found.

The twins are both aspiring athletes and have competed in triathlons and country crossing racing.

For their own privacy and safety, the twins, now 16, are not publicly photographed as teenagers.

Their missing sister remains a cloud over the entire McCann family.

Have Kate and Gerry McCann had any more children?

Kate and Gerry McCann have not had any more children since the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine, who would be aged 18 now.

The couple have spent the years since she vanished searching for her using everything at their disposal to find her.

This persistence has seen formal suspects confirmed even now, almost 15 years on.

Former GP Kate, now a medical worker, said her twins have “grown up essentially without Madeleine but knowing their sister is missing and they want her back.”

The anguished mum, speaking in the past to promote her charity Missing People of which she is an ambassador, added: “They have their own friends and they keep busy and they’re really sporty but their only wish is for their big sister to come home.

“We miss our complete family of five.

“As a family 98 per cent of the time we’re busy. I don’t know if that’s a conscious thing but it helps.

"The urge to look for Madeleine absolutely hasn’t changed at all.”

Latest developments

Madeleine was three when she vanished on a family holiday to Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

Christian B, 44, was declared an official suspect, or arguido, by Portuguese authorities on Friday ahead of the 15th anniversary.

The move is believed to be linked to the country’s 15-year statute of limitations.

The news was broken to Christian B in Oldenburg Prison in Germany, where he is serving seven years for the 2005 rape of a US pensioner in Portugal 18 months before the abduction.

He 'knows what happened'

Christian B's ex, Anastasia Meckesy, told The Sun on Sunday: “He said that he ‘knows what happened to little Maddie from England’.

“He said she was ‘probably handed over’ to someone after being taken and, if she were still alive today, they would have found her by now’.

“We had spoken about the case because the local police wanted to question him. He was nervous and seemed stressed.

“He didn’t say much about it — just, ‘I lived in Portugal at that time in the Algarve and everyone is suspicious’.”

Christian B described as 'human pig' by ex

PRIME Madeleine McCann suspect Christian B confessed to a former lover he knew “what happened to little Maddie from England”.

Anastasia Meckesy also described the child sex predator — now in jail for rape — as a “human pig” who treated her like his sex slave.

He forced her to dress as a schoolgirl at a swingers club and seemed to hate women, she added.

Inside suspect Christian B’s explosive interview

THE parents of missing Madeleine McCann on Thursday welcomed news that caged Christian B has been made an official suspect. Kate and Gerry also said they hoped their daughter was still alive.

B was declared an “arguido” by police in Portugal ahead of the 15th anniversary of the three-year-old vanishing on the Algarve.

Madeleine McCann’s parents spoke directly about the 44-year-old German for the first time, and details will be aired on May 3 — the 15th anniversary of her disappearance — in documentary Madeleine McCann: Prime Suspect, by US network AMC Crime.

A source close to the case in Germany, where B is in prison, said: “He has had nearly two years to explain himself but has constantly declined to comment.

“It’s baffling as to why he should maintain that silence then finally come up with an explanation now.

“And it’s even more odd that he should give the details to a TV documentary rather than the authorities.”Hinting at possible desperation over the “arguido” move, they added: “Why didn’t he give his version of events on day one as soon as he was made a suspect?”

Suspect’s van forensically tested by cops

MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian B’s van has been forensically tested by cops after he was quizzed for first time about her disappearance.

Portuguese cops are now waiting for results from the VW van that Christian B drove while living on the Algarve where the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007.

The German convicted paedophile was questioned by police in Oldenburg jail after authorities named him as an official suspect on Thursday.

According to the , police asked him: “Where were you the night Madeleine McCann disappeared?”

Christian B was pressed to provide an alibi, adding: “If you weren’t by the apartment she ­disappeared from, where were you?”

Insiders close to the case claim he did not answer any of the questions.

Suspect Christian B’s secret cellar

The probe into Christian B has revealed he had access to a number of creepy lairs shut away from prying eyes.

One was a run-down compound on the Algarve with high fences not far from where Madeleine was snatched.

A former lover led cops to the secret bunker, which was previously guarded by four ferocious Kangal dogs – which have the strongest bite of any hound in the world.

The probe also led police to search his former address in Germany.

At one house, the suspect is said to have illegally dug a secret 10ft cellar under the floor.

Locals claimed he planned to live like Austrian cellar monster Josef Fritzl, although there is no evidence of any wrongdoing at the secluded property.

What would Madeleine McCann look like now?

Police released an image of what Madeleine McCann would look like at the age of nine.

With her distinctive right eye, the image shows the young girl’s face aged about six years from previous photographs.

In December 2021, an ex-NHS worker Simone Malik drew up a sketch of what she believes Madeleine McCann would look like at 18 years old.

In 2018, Malik drew up a sketch of child murderer and rapist, Imran Ali, which helped Pakistani police to capture him.

Now Malik believes that her sketch can help in the 14-year long search for McCann.

She said: “I know as a super recogniser that is her face, that’s her nose.”

She added: “Usually, children are like their mother or their father, or a bit of both, but neither does her mother or father have the wide nose and square tip.

“I decided to do a bit more digging, and as I did some digging, I found a very interesting fact: somebody with exactly that nose in her family.

“And it’s actually Philomena McCann, who is Gerry McCann’s sister, so it would be Madeleine’s aunty, from her dad’s side.”

A 15-year hearing limit in Portugal

On May 3 this year, it will be 15 years since Madeleine disappeared from her family holiday.

Portugal has a 15-year hearing limit on murder charges – meaning that police would have a reduced risk of convicting a suspect after next month.

The news comes after Portuguese police said they would continue to investigate Maddie’s disappearance as the Met Police ended its probe.

Recap: How the evening of Maddie’s disappearance unfolded

Parents Gerry and Kate McCann left their three kids, including toddler twins Sean and Amelie, sleeping in their apartment while they dined at a tapas bar 120 metres away.

When Kate returned to check on the kids at about 10pm that evening, she found Madeleine was not in her bed and was missing.

In September of that year, Gerry and Kate, both doctors, were sensationally named as “arguidos” or “suspects” by Portuguese police.

The following summer the McCanns were cleared by investigators in Portugal who declared they had exhausted all avenues in the case.

Christian B's modified 'snatcher van'

In July 2020, it was reported that Christian B modified his VW camper van so that he could use it to hide a child.

The paedophile lived in the vehicle above a basement at an allotment in Hanover around the time three-year-old Madeleine disappeared.

Christian B once boasted he could have used his VW campervan to transport children.

Dein Ghafou, who owned a garage complex Hanover used by Christian B, told how he was visited by police investigating Madeleine’s disappearance.

"I told them he had been working on a ­Volkswagen Camper here and he would lift the roof up and then make it smaller again," 

"He was always cutting the roof, raising it and then lowering it. He came and went here.

"We really didn’t notice, we didn’t realise he was a complete ­criminal. If we had known he was like that we would not let him come and go so often.

"He said he had lived in Portugal at some point but I was not interested and did not ask him anymore."

Crimes in the area

Christian B is being probed over at least five other sex crimes, a German prosecutor revealed last September.

Hans Christian Wolters revealed the convicted paedophile, 44, is being investigated over an attack on a girl, 10, as well as the murder of a teenager, 16, in Belgium.

In a book released last year, Wolters said German cops believed "there is good basis" to suspect the paedo is responsible for a sex attack on a girl aged 10.

He said the assault, which involved a naked man, happened six miles from where Madeleine disappeared in Praia da Luz just one month later.

Wolters also said officers in Belgium are probing the 44-year-old over the killing of Carola Titze, 16, in De Hana in 1996.

The sex offender is also a suspect in the 2004 rape of an Irish woman, 20 in Praia de Rocha, Portugal.

Speaking in the book My Search for Madeleine by Brit journalist Jon Clarke, released last year, Wolters said Christian B is being investigated over an incident in a children's playground in Messines just 40 miles from Praia da Luz in 2017.

He also said German cops were looking at whether the suspect is connected to the disappearance of “German Maddie” – Inga Gehricke who vanished aged five in 2015.

Who are Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann?

Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry are both practising Catholics who met in Glasgow in 1993.

Kate became a GP after studying medicine at the University of Dundee while Gerry has been a consultant cardiologist since 2005.

The couple got married in 1998 before having their first child, Madeleine, in 2003.

They also have twin children, a boy and a girl, who were born in 2005 and live in Rothley, Leicestershire.

Kate and Gerry had been married for nine years when Madeleine disappeared on the night of May 3, 2007.

What will the new documentary feature?

The new three-part documentary features British investigator Mark Williams-Thomas.

He told The Sun: “B had agreed to talk to me but the interview was blocked by prison authorities.

“We have since been in contact at length in ­writing and he has explained his position to me in detail.

“He has told me exactly where he was on the night Madeleine disappeared — and that he was not where the police say he was. He also insists that he is entirely innocent.

“My inquiries have unearthed evidence which is pretty explosive, but I’m not saying whether I believe what he told me. That’s for viewers to judge.”

'Odd that he should give the details to a TV documentary'

A source close to the case in Germany, where B is in prison, said: “He has had nearly two years to explain himself but has constantly declined to comment.

“It’s baffling as to why he should maintain that silence then finally come up with an explanation now.

“And it’s even more odd that he should give the details to a TV documentary rather than the authorities.”