They are now focusing their hunt on a wealthy woman in Morocco.
Three callers to an international telephone hotline set up last week by the McCanns reported separate sightings of the missing youngster in the north African country.
Each caller said that blonde, blue-eyed Madeleine was with the same 60-year-old woman, who they described as “middle class�? Last night, a team of private detectives were on the ground in north Africa searching for the mystery woman.
The investigators are convinced Madeleine was snatched to order from Kate and Gerry McCanns�?holiday apartment at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz on May 3 by a paedophile gang and smuggled out of Portugal.
The private detectives, on the staff of the elite Spanish agency Metodo 3, are working on the theory that she was targeted after a tip-off from someone inside the holiday complex or who had intimate knowledge of guests�?comings and goings.
The kidnappers are thought to have spied on the family for several days, watching their movements and waiting for the best moment to strike.
They snatched Madeleine from her bed while her brother and sister, two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, slept as their parents dined with friends at a restaurant less than 100 yards away.
The investigators believe she was smuggled to north Africa and is being raised by a childless couple as their own or kept in the hands of the paedophile gang.
But they are convinced the Moroccan woman identified in three “important�?phone tip-offs holds the key to tracing her.
A source close to the agency, which boasts a 100 per cent success rate in tracing missing children, said: “We are giving special importance to three calls we received about a girl resembling Madeleine in Morocco.
“One was from a Spaniard, the other two from British people. In each case, the girl was about the same age as Madeleine, with blonde hair and blue eyes. In each case, she was with a Moroccan woman who was about 60 and middle class.�?/DIV>
Metodo 3’s managing director Francisco Marco, 35, said he is certain Madeleine was abducted and her parents were not involved in her disappearance.
He said: “My view is that the most likely place to find her is Morocco.
“We’re working very hard on all information indicating that. But I stress we are following up everything.�?/DIV>
In a signal that the private detectives were leaving no stone unturned, it emerged that investigators are compiling a hit list of Portuguese paedophiles known to target girls of Madeleine’s age.
They then plan to despatch their international network of agents to trace the exact movements of their prime suspects before and after May 3, the day Madeleine disappeared. The source said: “Obviously, talk of Madeleine being bartered around paedophile gangs is extremely upsetting for the McCanns.
“But for the first time a credible theory is being worked on by one of Europe’s leading investigation agencies and it gives them hope she is still alive.
“This is a significant development based on information from experts with access to a huge amount of data.
“It is illegal for
Metodo 3 to work in Portugal, and their investigation is separate from the official police inquiry, but has been approved by the local detectives and all information will be passed on to them.�?/DIV>
Last night the McCann family denounced claims in a Portuguese newspaper that Kate was close to suicide, describing them as another evil slur.
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