KATE MCCANN FLIES TO GERMANY IN HUNT FOR MISSING MADDIE + MARTIN NEY

KATE McCann flies to Germany this week to make a powerful television appeal for new witnesses to come forward as Scotland Yard detectives investigate fresh leads produced by her book about her daughter Madeleine’s disappearance.

The intriguing developments come as German police intensify their investigation into a serial child killer, Martin Ney, who bears a resemblance to a man said to have been seen with a child in his arms shortly after Madeleine vanished.

Buoyed by the determination and resolve of the 30 strong team of Yard detectives, Kate and her husband Gerry are focusing their energy on a media blitz in Germany in the hope that their emotional appeals will produce key witnesses. On Thurdsay, they will fly to Hamburg to appear on the Reinhold Beckmann Show and will tell the popular presenter they believe German tourists who visit the Algarve each year may be able to unlock the mystery of Madeleine’s disappearance from the resort town of Praia da Luz in May 2007 when she was approaching her fourth birthday.

A source said: “Kate and Gerry have felt for a long time that a German who visited the Algarve or who lives there knows something and they want to stir consciences.”

There are days in which I wished I was able to swap with Madeleine

Kate McCann

Last week the couple undertook a round of interviews with German journalists at a hotel near their home in Rothley, Leicestershire.

The German broadsheet newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung published an interview with the couple yesterday in which Kate revealed in her darker days she wishes the abductor had taken her instead of Madeleine.

“There are days in which I wished I was able to swap with Madeleine,” she said, adding that the ordeal had made her marriage stronger.

“People are still looking out for Madeleine and that gives me hope. It is your child, you must go on.”

Express

Martin Ney

Ney, 40, from Hamburg has worked as a student teacher, teacher, administrator at  Youth camps, most recently as social worker in adult education. He speaks fluent English,  French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

Ney has confessed to abducting and murdering:

STEFAN YEAR, 13, in March 1992, abducted from a boarding school in Lower Saxony. Stefan’s body was tied up in a forest

DENNIS ROSTEL, in July 1995, abducted from a camp in Schleswig-Holstein; his body was buried in  Denmark

DENNIS KLEIN, 9, in September 2001, abducted from a school camp near Bremen; his body was found in the mushroom pickers forest

Other possible victims of Ney are:

JONATHAN COULUM, 10, in April 2004, abducted from a school camp in France. His body was found floating in a pond

NICKY VERSTAPPEN, 11, in August 1988, abducted from a camp in Holland. His body was discovered in a fir plantation.

MARCEL HERMEKING, 10, disappeared on the 21st September 1997 from Berlin, he was on his way to a children’s party at Alexanderplatz

RENÉ HASEE, 6,  from Elsdorf (NRW), disappeared during a walk on the beach whilst on holiday in Portugal (Aljezur) on 19 June 1996

TRISTAN BRUEBACH, 13, from Frankfurt / Main disappeared on 26 March 1998.  Tristan was found with his  throat slit in a tunnel

SAMIR BEGANOVIC, 11, from Berlin.  Missing since the 12th February 1994.  He went to visit an uncle in the evening but never arrived

TILL KRATZSCH, 11, from Bielefeld, disappeared on 14 July 1995 and has not been seen since

TOBIAS DREHER, 11, from Schönbuch (Baden-Württemberg). Disappeared on 30th October 2000; he was
found abused and stabbed to death

Of interest, Ney preferred the following get up whilst hunting young boys….he was referred to as the “Black Man”

Little details, little details matter….