With its swimming pool and sea views over Praia da Luz, this is the Portugal holiday home where paedophile Sir Clement Freud entertained the McCanns in the weeks and months after their daughter, Madeleine, vanished.

The shamed MP invited Kate and Gerry to his £1million whitewashed villa on the Algarve where he gave them a lunch of egg and watercress salad and risotto.

Freud's opening words to the couple after they crossed the threshold of the Casa da Colina at midday were, 'Can I interest you in a strawberry vodka?'

It is here, on a hillside not far from where Madeleine disappeared, that the child abusing BBC star bizarrely teased Kate about her being a nymphomaniac.

Luxury: This is the £1million family villa in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, where disgraced MP Sir Clement Freud befriended the McCanns as they hunted for their missing daughter

Invitation: Freud's first words to the McCanns as they entered the villa for the first time at midday were 'Can I interest you in a strawberry vodka?'

'Horrified': The McCanns grew close to Freud, who invited them for meals and cocktails at the villa, and Kate later referred to their meetings as being 'like seeing your granddad after a horrible day at school'

Exposed: Three women have revealed that the former MP Clement Freud sexually abused them, grooming them and assaulting them from the ages of just 11 and 14

In her heartbreakingly candid account of Madeleine’s abduction, Kate described visiting Freud as like ‘visiting your granddad after a horrible day at school’.

She recalled how he brought a smile to her face when he greeted them one night at the property wearing just a night shirt and offered her a large brandy.

Freud, who died in 2009 aged 84, was the McCanns’ shoulder to cry on when he offered Kate and Gerry use of the holiday home to get away from the media glare after Maddie, three, disappeared.

He wrote them a letter, inviting them for lunch at the villa in July 2007.

'I have a house in P da L,' he wrote. 'Been ashamed of the intrusion into your lives by our media and if you would care to come to lunch/dinner at any time before Wednesday next, do ring and let me know. I cook decent meals.'

Kate later revealed: 'I'm embarrassed to admit that Gerry and I thought this letter was a hoax; more embarrassing still, while we were vaguely aware of Sir Clement, we had to have our memories refreshed by Sandy and Justine before we could place him exactly.'

Spotlight: Freud, described as a national treasure by Gordon Brown at his funeral in 2009, invited the McCanns to his villa to escape the media glare in the weeks after Maddie, three, vanished

Getaway: The McCanns went for lunch and strawberry vodkas around the pool of the the £1million villa. Of her meetings with Freud, Kate wrote: 'Thank God for people like Clement who kept us smiling'

Al fresco: Of their next visit, she wrote: 'We found Clement watching a cookery programme, dressed, as promised, in his nightshirt. It was so ordinary and comforting, a bit like going to see your granddad after a horrible day at school'

Popular: She went on: 'He gave me one of his looks and a giant glass of brandy, and managed to get a smile out of me with his greeting: 'So Kate, which of the devout Catholic, alcoholic, depressed, nymphomaniac parts is correct?'

Nearby: Freud's holiday villa in Praia da Luz is a third of a mile from the Mark Warner Ocean Club complex where Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007

They went over to the house the next day, accompanied by their family, for lunch and strawberry vodkas around the pool.

She wrote of the lunch: 'Thank God for people like Clement who kept us smiling.'

Their next visit to the villa came when Kate and Gerry had become the focus of the bungled Portuguese police investigation – when they were incorrectly named as suspects in the investigation.

'We found Clement watching a cookery programme, dressed, as promised, in his nightshirt,' Kate wrote.

'It was so ordinary and comforting, a bit like going to see your granddad after a horrible day at school.

'He gave me one of his looks and a giant glass of brandy, and managed to get a smile out of me with his greeting: 'So Kate, which of the devout Catholic, alcoholic, depressed, nymphomaniac parts is correct?'

Now Kate and Gerry McCann are said to be 'horrified' at claims the 'grandfatherly' figure who befriended them in Praia da Luz, was a child abuser.

Three women, who have so far told of their horrific stories about Freud, have revealed the married father-of-five as a serial child predator.

Sylvia Woosley was just 10 when Freud, then 24, and described as a national treasure by Gordon Brown at his funeral in 2009, began abusing her.

She was later brought up as his daughter and invited into his marital bed alongside his actress wife Jill.

Freud also lured a 14-year-old to his home, got her drunk and molested her in the bathroom, her sister has claimed.

Bizarre:Now Kate and Gerry McCann are said to be 'horrified' at claims the 'grandfatherly' figure who befriended them in Praia da Luz, was a child abuser

Probe:The Metropolitan Police have not commented on how the new information about Freud might relate to Operation Grange, the ongoing investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance

Ordinary: The McCanns initially thought the invitation to Freud's villa, which he sold in 2002 but continued to rent, was a hoax. Kate revealed: 'I'm embarrassed to admit that Gerry and I thought this letter was a hoax; more embarrassing still, while we were vaguely aware of Sir Clement, we had to have our memories refreshed by Sandy and Justine before we could place him exactly'

Lounge: The villa's current owner Andy Wright bought the property from the Freuds seven years before Sir Clement died. He said he had 'known the family for years'

A third woman Vicky Hayes has told how Sir Clement groomed her from the age of 14 and violently raped her when she was 17.

She said he plied her with champagne and took her virginity. Mrs Hayes gave her horrific account to ITV News last night and recalled being 'paralysed with fear' when the manipulative abuser raped her, then callously advised her to 'ring me' if she was pregnant.

Years later, when she was pregnant by her husband with her first child, he tried to molest her again. She reported Freud to police after he died, but then contacted police again when she realised his connection to the Madeleine case when she read in Kate McCann’s book that he had cooked for the McCanns at his Portuguese holiday villa.

Mrs Hayes told ITV News: 'It really jarred with me, left me feeling very uneasy. He had a home in Praia da Luz, but why invite them and cook for them?

'Nobody else would have thought Freud capable of abuse and rape but he did it to me. He was capable of anything.'

She reported her concerns to her local police force in Suffolk, and her son wrote to the Metropolitan Police to pass on his mother's account and concerns over Freud's connection to the McCanns. They received no response.

Ms Hayes said: 'I'm angry the police were dismissive of my information. I have a six-year-old granddaughter, a young girl like Madeline. If you have a something you feel needs to be looked at you have to tell someone.

That's why I contacted the police.' Freud's family says that the former MP was in the UK at the time of Madeleine's disappearance in May 2007.

Concern: One of Freud's victims, Vicky Hayes, was alarmed when she realised his connection to the Madeleine case, after she read about it in Kate McCann's book. She reported her concerns to her local police force in Suffolk, but received no response

Victim: Another of the women to accuse Freud, Sylvia Woosley, who is now in her late 70s, said she 'would like to just return to the child I was before I was molested physically'

A source close to the McCanns said: 'It certainly raises a lot of questions. They will be appalled to hear the details.

'Clement Freud invited them round for drinks, just to show some sympathy. He had a family home in Praia da Luz and the invitation came as a bolt from the blue.

'They were grateful for his sympathy. It was a chance for them to take time out and have a drink by someone being friendly.'

The Metropolitan Police have not commented on how the new information about Freud might relate to Operation Grange, the ongoing investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.

Former murder squad detective Colin Sutton said: 'If this is something that investigators had not been aware of then it would be certainly a potential line of inquiry that would be worth pursuing.

'It is not something that ought to be taken lightly and you would also want to look any connections he may have had in the area at the time.'

The five bedroom villa is a third of a mile from the Mark Warner Ocean Club complex where Madeleine vanished.

Three metres from the beach, it is now rented as a £2,470-a-week holiday let.

The property, which comes with a heated swimming pool, is described as having 'well-maintained gardens with orange trees and a sunken courtyard, a real sheltered sun trap ideal for alfresco living'.

Probe: The Metropolitan Police have not yet commented on how the new information about Freud might relate to Operation Grange, the ongoing investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance

Star: Clement Freud, pictured with his dog Henry in one of his TV adverts for dog food, was described as a 'national treasure' by Gordon Brown at his funeral in 2009 after he died aged 84

Briton Andy Wright bought the villa from the Freuds in 2002, but continued to rent it to Sir Clement.

Mr Wright told MailOnline: 'After I bought it, Sir Clement rented it from us several times for a week at a time. But I've known the family for years.

He continued: 'I knew all about the McCanns staying there because I read about it in Kate McCann's book.