A detective who spent three years looking for Madeleine McCann has claimed her abductor told someone else about the crime.

Detective inspector Dave Edgar, 60, believes the kidnapper is being protected and is urging those with information to come forward.

He is sure parents Kate and Gerry McCann were not involved and said the disappearance was intricately planned.

Detective inspector Dave Edgar, 60, claims Madeleine McCann's kidnapper told someone else about the crime and is urging them to come forward with information

Madeleine disappeared in May 2007 from Portuguese resort Praia da Luz. Edgar believes the girl could still be alive. If she is, she will turn 14 in May

Speaking to the Mirror, he said: 'If anyone confided in you, now is the time to come forward.

'They [abductors] can’t keep it to themselves and research has shown they always confide in someone else.'

Edgar also believes she could still be alive.

He said: 'Until such time that a body is found it is a live investigation and there is always hope [Madeleine is alive].'

Edgar was hired by the McCann's to look into Madeleine's disappearance. He also said there was no evidence to arrest suspects Raymond Hewlett and Euclides Monteiro

Edgar, who runs Alpha Investigations Group, was hired by the McCanns to look into Madeleine's disappearance.

The Metropolitan Police took over the case in 2011.

He said there was no evidence to arrest paedophile Raymond Hewlett or Euclides Monteiro, two suspects in the inquiry.

Hewlett died in 2007, aged 64, while Monteiro, 40, died in 2009.

Madeleine McCann disappeared from Portuguese resort Praia da Luz in May 2007 as her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant.

If she is still alive, the girl will turn 14 in May.

The inquiry, which has cost more than £12 million, could be in its last year as topped-up funds are set to run out at the end of March.

In 2009, Edgar told the Belfast Telegraph he believed Madeleine was being held in an underground cell or dungeon, like the victims of Josef Fritzl.

The former detective is sure Kate and Gerry McCann (pictured) were not involved in the disappearance and thinks the abduction had to have been intricately organised

Pictured, the Ocean Club in Praia Da Luz where Madeleine disappeared in May 2007. In 2009, Edgar claimed Madeleine was being held in an underground cell, like the victims of Josef Fritzl

The news comes after Kate and Gerry McCann lost their third libel case against the Portuguese detective who claimed they faked Madeleine's abduction.

Madeleine: The Truth of the Lie was written by Gonçalo Amaral, the policemen who headed the hunt for the girl.

Earlier in March, Portuguese crime expert Moita Flores made the outrageous claim Madeleine died in an apartment in the resort.