A former detective who spent three years searching for missing Madeleine McCann claims her abductor told someone else about the crime.
Detective Inspector Dave Edgar believes the kidnapper is being protected and is urging anyone with information to come forward.
The 60-year-old is sure Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were not involved and said the disappearance was carefully planned.
Speaking to the Mirror, he said: "If anyone confided in you, now is the time to come forward.
'They [abductors] can’t keep it to themselves and research has shown they always confide in someone else."
He also believes she could still be alive.
He said: "Until such time that a body is found it is a live investigation and there is always hope [Madeleine is alive]."
Kate and Gerry McCann hired Detective Edgar to look into Madeleine's disappearance.
The Metropolitan Police took over the case in 2011.
Read more: Madeleine McCann: Twitter meltdown over £11million bill for investigation
Detective Edgar said there was no evidence to arrest paedophile Raymond Hewlett or Euclides Monteiro, two suspects in the inquiry.
Hewlett died in 2007, aged 64, while Monteiro, 40, died in 2009.
Madeleine disappeared from the Portuguese resort Praia da Luz in May 2007 as her parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant.
If Madeleine is still alive, she will be 14 in May.
The inquiry, which has cost more than £12 million, could be in its last year as topped-up funds are set to run out at the end of March.
The news comes after Kate and Gerry McCann lost their third libel case against the Portuguese detective who claimed they faked Madeleine's abduction.
Read more: Madeleine McCann’s parents lose THIRD appeal to silence cop who wrote book about them
The book, Madeleine: The Truth of the Lie, is written by Gonçalo Amaral, the policemen who headed the search.
Earlier this month, Portuguese crime expert Moita Flores made the claim Madeleine died in an apartment in the resort.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article