As of: February 9, 2024, 6:21 a.m
By: Victoria Krumbeck
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Madeleine McCann (left) disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 when she was three years old.
© Photomontage epa efe Real Madrid Tv/Luis Forra/dpa
There has been speculation about Maddie McCann's disappearance for years.
A man accuses Christian B. of planning the girl's kidnapping.
Praia da Luz – In the case of Madeleine McCann, who was kidnapped in 2007, there are new allegations against the main suspect Christian B. from Germany.
A British emigrant reports that he learned of a plan to kidnap a child a week before Maddie's disappearance.
Christian B. allegedly wanted to sell a child to a childless couple from Germany.
The story opens up new speculations about Maddie McCann's disappearance.
Missing Maddie McCann: Did Christian B. plan her kidnapping?
Briton Ken Ralphs, who lives abroad, told
Sky News
that Chrsitan B. tried to recruit Ralph's friend for the kidnapping plan.
“We were sitting by the fire one evening after dinner, drinking a few beers, and in the early hours of the morning my friend started crying,” the 59-year-old man told the station.
“I asked him what was going on and he finally confessed to me that he had gotten involved with Christian to steal a child from Praia da Luz from a rich family,” Ralphs continued.
At the time, Ralphs, Christian B. and the friend are said to have belonged to a nomadic bohemian community that lived in a remote area in southwest Portugal.
Ralphs shows the Sky News
reporter
the place where his friend lived in a tent with his family.
The town is around 20 miles (32 km) from Praia da Luz, where Maddie McCann disappeared almost 17 years ago.
Christian B. is said to have planned kidnapping - sold Maddie McCann to a German couple?
"Christian knew the man was vulnerable and wanted to travel abroad, but he couldn't leave because he couldn't afford the plane tickets," Ralphs explained.
The friend explained to him that Christian B. wanted to sell the child to a German couple who could not have children.
When Ralphs found out about Maddie's disappearance, he drove to a police station to tell them what he knew.
On his return trip to the Algarve, he also shared his knowledge of Christian B.'s plans with the Portuguese police.
However, they told him that they didn't know anything about it yet.
His friend also disappeared after Maddie disappeared.
The tent in which he lived found Ralph burned.
Christian B. couldn't be found either.
German public prosecutor forwards allegations against Christian B. to investigators
The police no longer contacted Ralphs.
When Christian B. became publicly known as the main suspect in the Maddie case in 2020, he contacted the police again.
The Portuguese officials then contacted Ralphs' friend.
However, he denied knowing Ralphs.
“I have a dozen witnesses who will say he is lying.
“I guess he just didn’t want to be questioned by the police,” he continued.
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The man also had contact with Scotland Yard investigators and German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the investigation into Maddie's case.
Wolters told
Sky News
that he had forwarded Ralph's statement to German investigators.
Trial in Braunschweig: Christian B. accused in five cases
There is still no trace of Maddie McCann, who disappeared on May 3, 2007.
The three-year-old disappeared from an apartment in a holiday resort in Praia da Luz when her parents were meeting friends.
The tracks always led back to the Algarve, but without success.
The main suspect, Christian B., is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for raping a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 in Praia da Luz, Portugal, Germany.
A trial against the suspect begins in Braunschweig in mid-February.
However, the trial has nothing to do with Maddie McCann, even if there is said to be new incriminating evidence against Christian B.
He is accused of three counts of aggravated rape and two counts of sexual abuse of children.
The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office had already charged Christian B. in October 2022.
(vk)