An investigative reporter shocked viewers of ITV’s This Morningshow today by sharing his theory that Madeleine McCann may have wandered away on the night she disappeared.
Madeleine vanished from her bedroom at a Praia de Luz resort in the Algarve on May 3, 2007. Ten years and thousands of ‘sightings’ later, police are no closer to finding the child.
Speaking to This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield about his thoughts on the case, former police officer Mark Williams-Thomas says he believes the three-year-old could potentially have woken up and set out in search of her mum and dad Kate and Gerry McCann, who were dining in a tapas restaurant nearby.
‘On that morning of Madeline’s disappearance, we do know she went to [her parents] Gerry and Kate and said: ‘Where were you last night?’ said Williams-Thomas.
‘Because we know the twins did wake up on days prior to her disappearance.
‘And I think as a result of that, Madeline was clearly aware they were in the tapas bar that was in the resort.
‘Now the interesting element in that is in order to get to the tapas bar you had to actually come out of the premises, walk on a public road to go back in again.
‘And that raises a concern I have in regards to Madeleine I believe woke up in the middle of the night, she went looking for Gerry and Kate and she left the apartment and went out.
‘Because we know the patio door at the back was insecure.’
Ending the segment, Phillip told Mark: “Legally we have to leave it there.”
The McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell described the theory as “pure speculation”, adding “Kate and Gerry will not be dignifying it with any sort of comment whatsoever.”
Earlier this year, Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Duthie of Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Major Crime Command spoke out to say that, despite the team being cut from 30 people to just four, there is “always a possibility” Madeleine will be returned to her parents Gerry and Kate.
