UPDATE: Authorities have released new information about the investigation – see here for more.

Call me a pessimist, but I’m not sure that we will ever find out what really happened to Madeleine McCann.

There’s been a renewed worldwide interest in the case, following the success of the docu-series The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Now, as Kate McCann and the rest of the family mark 12 years since Maddie’s disappearance, Portuguese police say that they could be “closing in” on her kidnapper.

According to the Daily Mail, Kate declined to speak publicly at the prayer service, held in her home village of Rothley, Leicestershire, whilst husband Gerry was in Italy for work.

Brian – Mrs McCann’s uncle – said: ‘We are all very grateful to those who turned out this evening in less than pleasant conditions. It means a lot to us that people are still willing to support us.’ …During the service touching messages of support were read out by school friends of Maddie’s younger twin siblings. They joined locals placing name tags of missing people on a vine tree of hope, including Claudia Lawrence and Ben Needham.

A schoolboy paid tribute to British and Portuguese police hunting for Maddie’s abductor, saying: ‘We pray for the team of women and men who still searching for Madeleine. Guide them as they work hard to find the truth.’

Portuguese authorities have been widely criticised for their investigation over the years, and the docu-series didn’t reflect favourably on the country’s law enforcement.

As recently as last month, it was reported that the search for Maddie was grinding to a halt, with a lack of leads and resources curtailing efforts.

It seems things may have changed, though:

Portuguese officers, believed to be acting on a tip off from Scotland Yard, say a sex fiend who speaks English and wears a surgical mask could have snatched Maddie from her room.

The Telegraph believes that fiend may be convicted paedophile and serial killer Martin Ney, who is serving life in prison for abducting and killing three German children between 1992 and 2001:

The 48-year-old child sex monster is said to closely resemble a photofit issued by detectives in the case and was understood to have been in Portugal in 2007, when the three-year-old was abducted… Originally from Hamburg, the predatory paedophile targeted children on holiday sometimes entering their apartments or tents wearing a mask and carrying a weapon and other times using camouflage in order to ambush them. After training as a teacher he is known to have travelled extensively, including to Ecuador, Peru and Portugal…

Clarence Mitchell, the McCann’s spokesman said: “It might be him and he fits the profile, he is a known predatory paedophile and he’s a foreigner. “It is quite possible and plausible police are looking at him again but it could be someone else. There is a degree of credibility it is Ney but we cannot speculate. “Ney has been previously interviewed by detectives over Madeleine’s abduction, and denied it. He is in a German jail now.”

Whilst Scotland Yard are refusing to comment on claims that Ney is being looked at once more, Goncalo Amaral, the former Portuguese police chief sacked in 2007 for claiming that Maddie’s parents were involved in the disappearance of their daughter, told media that “a jailed German paedophile was now the main suspect”.

The Metropolitan Police say that the search is ongoing, and they continue to pursue a number of lines of investigation.

UPDATE: Authorities have released new information about the investigation – see here for more.

[sources:dailymail&telegraph]