The new masked suspect of disappearing Maddie McCann

Twelve years after the disappearance of the small British Madeleine McCann, the case has opened a new track of investigation. The detectives consider that the German Martin Ney, aged 48, could be the kidnapper who entered the tourist complex of the Algarve, Portugal, and took to the girl.

According to local media reports, The Sun, the man had already been identified as a suspect in 2011 by the London Metropolitan Police, but his dealings with the case had been ruled out, his victims still being men.

Nicknamed "The Masked Man", Ney has been imprisoned since 2012 for kidnapping and murdering three children: Stefan Jhar, 13; Dennis Rostel, age 8; and Dennis Klein, 9 years old. In turn, it was found that at least a dozen children had been badually abused.

Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese police officer who led Madeleine's first-time search and was dismissed from the case in the midst of heated controversy with the family, revealed last week that the British police had in their sights "German pedophile in prison."

The British media pointed out that Ney would look like a man who acted suspiciously near the wall where Madeleine was last seen 12 years ago.

The girl, then three years old, disappeared while she was sleeping in an apartment with her twin brothers, while her parents were having dinner with friends at a restaurant located a few meters away.

The case maintains two lines of open investigation, which work in parallel. One comes from the Judicial Police of Portugal and the other from the United Kingdom, headed by the London Metropolitan Police.