By Oliver Farrimond
DETECTIVES are to question a Scottish suspect over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Private investigators working for the McCanns have confirmed that they want to question the man, who is currently awaiting trial for murder and child sex offences in Barlinnie prison in Glasgow.
Already wanted by Spanish police in connection with the disappearance of a German boy, the man was spotted by a prison officer at Barlinnie due to his likeness to a pencil sketch of the chief Maddie suspect.
The insider said: “This man looks like the Maddie suspect drawing that has been in the papers.
“He is also well known to have spent a lot of time in the Spanish region – staff at the prison want the investigation team to speak to him.”
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, operated a cleaning firm for Spanish holiday homes when Maddie vanished in May 2007.
He is currently accused of murdering a 40-year-old woman from Ayrshire with an accomplice, reportedly because the pair feared she would report them for child sex abuse.
The woman went missing from Largs more than a decade ago, and the body has never been found.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, confirmed that investigators were trying to contact the man.
He said: “The investigators currently searching for Madeleine are aware of this man and they do want to speak to him.
“Any credible information they receive is, of course, followed up as top priority.”
Both men face further charges of sex abuse against children, child pornography and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Charged for a second time after the initial evidence was ruled insufficient, both lived in the Canary Islands and in Costa Blanca until being charged again last year.
