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Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood said Madeleine could have been abducted later than first thought
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have said they had an "overwhelming response" to an appeal on the BBC's Crimewatch programme.
Officers suggested that Madeleine's disappearance in Portugal in 2007 bore hallmarks of a "pre-planned abduction".
Detectives released two e-fits of a man seen carrying a child in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine went missing.
Scotland Yard said it was also looking into possible links to burglaries and bogus charity collections in the area.
Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was three years old when she disappeared from her parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007.
Police revealed their latest findings in the search for Madeleine on BBC One's Crimewatch on Monday.
Analysis
Scotland Yard has turned the inquiry on its head. Establishing that the Jane Tanner sighting was a "red herring" has opened up possibilities that were all but ruled out by previous investigators - not least the man seen with a child at 10pm.
The importance detectives have put on tracking that man down suggests they may have other information about him they haven't shared; perhaps phone records hold the key, as detectives indicated 10 days ago.
The question as to why it has taken six years for the Tanner sighting to be bottomed out and why e-fits of the 10pm suspect, compiled five years ago, have only now been publicised are uncomfortable ones - but are probably best addressed to the Portuguese authorities, who conducted the first investigation.
Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood, the senior Metropolitan Police investigating officer, said a number of men had been seen by witnesses in the area on the day Madeleine vanished and one theory was they could have been carrying out reconnaissance.
He said they wanted to track down men seen "lurking suspiciously" near the McCanns' apartment block.
DCI Redwood also revealed it had been a "revelation moment" when police discovered that a man seen by the McCanns' friend Jane Tanner at 9.15pm was almost certainly an innocent British holiday-maker collecting his two-year-old daughter from a nearby creche.
He said: "Our focus in terms of understanding what happened on the night of 3 May has now given us a shift of emphasis. We are almost certain that the man seen by Jane Tanner is not Madeleine's abductor.
"It takes us through to a position at 10pm when we see another man who is walking towards the ocean, close by to the apartment, with a young child in his arms."
Police have released two e-fit images of a man they want to speak to in relation to Madeleine McCann's disappearance
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry told Crimewatch they were "hopeful and optimistic" after police made a fresh appeal for information.
Mrs McCann said: "We're not the ones that have done something wrong here. It's the person who's gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family."
In a Crimewatch update, DCI Redwood said there had been an "overwhelming response" with hundreds of calls to the programme.
Footage from the Crimewatch reconstruction has been released
He said: "We have had a number of calls from people who were in the resort at the time, which confirms to me the value of what we're doing."
Inquiry: Key dates
- 3 May 2007: Madeleine disappears from apartment at Ocean Club, Praia da Luz. Police notify border police and airports and hundreds join a search for her
- 15 May 2007: British-born Robert Murat is made an official suspect or "arguido"
- 26 May 2007: Police issue description of man seen carrying what could have been a child the night Madeleine went missing
- 7 Sept 2007: Detectives make Mr and Mrs McCann "arguidos"
- 19 March 2008: McCanns accept £550,000 libel damages from Express newspapers over allegations they were responsible for Madeleine's death
- 15 July 2008: Mr Murat settles for £600,000 in damages from UK newspapers which alleged he was involved in disappearance
- 21 July 2008: Portuguese shelve investigation and lift "arguido" status of the McCanns and Mr Murat
- 13 May 2011: UK PM David Cameron writes to McCanns announcing "new action" by Met Police
- 4 July 2013: The Met Police launch a formal investigation and say they are investigating 38 "persons of interest"
- 14 Oct 2013: Police reveal new details of the investigation on Crimewatch
Earlier, detectives releasing two e-fit images of a man said a family had seen him with a blond-haired child of three or four, possibly wearing pyjamas, heading away from the McCanns' holiday apartment.
DCI Redwood said he could be the man who took Madeleine - but there could be an innocent explanation.
He also said there had been a four-fold increase in the number of burglaries in the area between January and May 2007 and one possible scenario was that Madeleine had disturbed a burglar.
Police are also looking at possible bogus charity collectors operating in the area at the time and have released two e-fit images of Portuguese men they would like to identify.
Police have also released e-fit images of two men seen in the area around the time that Madeleine disappeared. Two are of fair-haired men who fit similar descriptions.
The Crimewatch appeal featured a detailed reconstruction lasting close to 25 minutes and covering events leading up to and surrounding Madeleine's disappearance.
In the programme, Mrs McCann described the moment that "panic kicked in" after returning to the apartment to find her daughter missing.
Portuguese police shelved their inquiry in 2008 but Scotland Yard began a review of the case in May 2011 and opened a formal investigation in July this year.
The Metropolitan Police say their inquiries have led to the timeline and "accepted version of events" surrounding Madeleine's disappearance being significantly changed.
Madeleine and her brother and sister were left in the apartment at 8.30pm while her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.
Mr McCann checked on them at 9.05pm and Mrs McCann raised the alarm at 10pm.
Thursday 3 May 2007: Timeline
- 20:30 Kate and Gerry McCann leave their apartment to have dinner at a Tapas bar
- 21:05 Gerry McCann checks on Madeleine and her siblings
- 22:00 A man is seen carrying a child wearing pyjamas heading towards the ocean
- 22:00 Kate McCann raises the alarm that Madeleine has gone missing
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