Madeleine McCann suspect’s mystery phone call an hour before she vanished ‘came from man named Diogo Silva’
COPS are today hunting a man who made a call to the new Madeleine McCann suspect shortly before the missing girl was last seen.
Respected Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias claims the phone number was registered to a man named Diogo Silva.
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Scotland Yard are probing who made the 30 minute phone call to German paedo Christian B about an hour before the three-year-old is feared to have been snatched.
Met Police chiefs revealed a German prisoner, 43, has been identified as a major new suspect in the case 13 years after Madeleine disappeared in Portugal in May 2007.
Christian B couldn't legally be pictured in full in the UK but we are now able to show the convicted rapist after a German newspaper published his photo.
German and UK police forces have appealed for anyone who knows him to contact them with information.
Among the bombshell findings is a 30-minute phonecall the suspect took just one hour before the three-year-old is feared to have been snatched from her bed.
Scotland Yard released two mobile phone numbers on Wednesday as part of an appeal for new information about the 13-year-old mystery.
You can help by calling Operation Grange with information on 0207 321 9251 or email [email protected]
Det Chief Insp Mark Cranwell, from the Met Police Operation Grange Taskforce launched in 2013 to find Madeleine, said a phone believed to have been used by the suspect received a call from another Portuguese mobile which started at 7.32pm and ended at 8.02pm on May 3 2007.
Madeleine, then three, disappeared between 9.10pm and 10pm the same evening.
DCI Cranwell, insisting the caller was a “key witness”, said: “Any information in relation to these mobile numbers during the spring and summer of 2007 could be critical to this investigation.”
Jornal de Noticias said the number Christian B was called from (+351) 916 510 683 was registered to a man called Diogo Silva, which is a common name in Portugal.
It also said the same contact was used to register a WhatsApp account which was now "de-activated” and offered no address information.
The caller is not believed to have been in the Praia da Luz area, although police have established that Christian B, thought to have been using the other mobile officers have made public — (+351) 912730680 — was in the resort where Madeleine vanished.
DCI Cranwell said at a press briefing in London on Wednesday: “We know a lot about the suspect, but we need to know more about his movements on the night Madeleine vanished and in the days before and afterwards.
“We know he was in the resort on the night, about an hour before Madeleine was last seen about 9pm.
“He took a phone call on his Portuguese mobile from another Portuguese mobile. The call lasted half an hour.”
He added: 'Any information in relation to these mobile numbers during the spring and summer of 2007 could be critical to this investigation.
“Some people will know the man we are describing today, the suspect in our investigation. I'm appealing to you directly.
“You may know, you may be aware of some of the things he has done. He may have confided in you about the disappearance of Madeleine.”
Any information in relation to these mobile numbers during the spring and summer of 2007 could be critical to this investigatio
Det Chief Insp Mark Cranwell
Sexual predator Christian B, 43, spent several years living at a ramshackle farmhouse on the outskirts of Praia da Luz.
He is thought to have left around 2005 and used his camper van as a home. He has also been linked to another property further inland called Escola Velha, Old School in English, where he used to help its German owner with odd-jobs and dog-sitting.
Both properties are owned by Brits.
MADELEINE MOBILE CLUE
DETECTIVES are appealing for information about the two mobile phone numbers on a mystery call just one hour before Madeleine vanished.
The suspect's number was +351 912 730 680.
The number which called him is +351 916 510 683 – but cops have not found who was using it.
He took a call at 7.32pm and that ended at 8.02pm on the night Madeleine vanished.
Madeleine's dad Gerry found nothing amiss when he looked in on the youngsters just after 9pm.
But when Kate returned at about 10pm she discovered their daughter had vanished.
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Christian B was described as a “choleric man” by former Algarve neighbours at the one-bed cottage where he used to live.
One said: “He moved in in the mid-nineties with a German girlfriend who left around a year and a half later.
“They seemed to have a tempestuous relationship. I would hear them arguing. I knew very little about his life but he seemed to me to be a choleric man.”
Another added: “He had a fall-out with another German he sub-let the place to for around six months.
“He treated him very badly.
“But I never for one moment suspected he could have had anything to do with Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
“It’s something that never even crossed my mind.”
Locals living near the cottage said they had been contacted by police over the last couple of years.
But they insisted detectives had never mentioned the Madeleine link.
One said: “They asked me questions about what he was like and who he frequented but there wasn’t a lot I was able to tell them.
“I saw him come and go and I recognised vehicles like the camper van photos have been published of, but I knew very little about his life.”
Another added “The cottage has had a lot of work done to it. It was in a pretty bad state when the German guy was living there. I heard he was very bad at paying his rent.
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“I couldn’t really comment on whether I think the police have finally got the right guy. His life was pretty much of a mystery to people living round here.
“His girlfriend left a long time ago and she hasn’t been seen around here since.”