According to emails discovered within Portuguese police files, Madeleine McCann was snatched by a paedophile ring.
Maddie was taken from her bed on May 2007, from an apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, where her family was holidaying.
According to an email which was sent in March this year by a London-based police intelligence officer – three-year-old Maddie was followed for three days before her disappearance.
A child abduction ring in Belgium placed an order for a “young girl” – photos of Maddie were sent to the purchaser.
"Intelligence suggests that a pedophile ring in Belgium made an order for a young girl three days before Madeleine McCann was taken,” the officer wrote.
"Somebody connected to this group saw Maddie, took a photograph of her and sent it to Belgium. The purchaser agreed the girl was suitable and Maddie was taken."
The email was originally sent to Leicestershire police, in Maddie’s home town- the information wasn’t forwarded to investigators in Portugal until more than a month later.
By the time Portuguese police acted on the information, Madeleine had been missing for 11 months.
Experts have said if Maddie was taken by paedophiles it’s unlikely she will still be alive.
