Portuguese police say they interviewed heroin addict linked to disappearance of Madeleine McCann over sex attacks on five British girls

Portuguese police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have revealed they questioned a heroin addict in connection with sex attacks on five young British girls in the Algarve.
Euclides Monteiro, 40, who died in a freak tractor accident in 2009, worked at the Ocean Club Resort in Praia da Luz, which Maddie disappeared from  - he was sacked a year before she vanished.
Now it has been revealed that Portuguese investigators suspected Monteiro of being involved in the sexual abuse of five girls at holiday homes in the region between 2004 and 2006.

Portuguese police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (right)  questioned Euclides Monteiro, (left) a  heroin addict in connection with sex attacks on five young British girls

Resort: Madeleine went missing from this holiday apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz in May 2007. Monteiro worked at the Ocean Club Resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, which Maddie disappeared from and was sacked a year before she vanished

A Portuguese police source told The Mirror: 'These cases were investigated by local police and Monteiro was arrested. No charges were brought due to lack of evidence.'
This week British detectives increased tension with their Portuguese counterparts, who claim they came up the link first in October, when they announced they are looking for a prolific paedophile who was suspected of breaking into holiday properties where British families were staying and sexually abusing five white British girls aged between seven and 10.
In six of the break-ins, the man sat on or got into bed with young girls. On one occasion, he abused two young girls in the same villa.

Questioned: Luisa Rodrigues said she could not remember the night of Madeleine's disappearance - but was sure he would have been at home watching television at the time

Two of the attacks were in the resort of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was staying in a holiday apartment with her family when she was taken.
There were also four in Carvoeiro and six in the Vale da Parra, Praia da Gale district and most of the attacks took place in low season.
They had previously been discounted by Portuguese investigators because they are spread over a wide geographical area and there were no apparent attempts at abduction.
Nine of the 12 incidents were reported to Portuguese police at the time they happened, and details of three of those became known to British investigators only after they made televised appeals last autumn.

New clue: Detectives on the Madeleine case say the man they are looking for wore a distinctive burgundy top

Monteiro was sacked a year before the McCann family arrived at the holiday resort after he was caught stealing from the resort - one theory was that he may have abducted the British girl to get revenge on his former employers.
The Mail has learned, however, that Scotland Yard detectives do not consider Monteiro to be a strong suspect and as well trying to gather more clues on the sex attacks on British children, are investigating a gang of at least three burglars who had previously targeted the holiday resort where Maddie was abducted from.
Analysis of mobile phone data shows the men were close to the complex at the time she vanished, and were in ‘intense’ phone contact with each other in the following hours.

In Portugal, it is claimed that Monteiro’s phone was also near the Ocean Club Resort when Madeleine disappeared.
His widow said she is sure he was not responsible for her disappearance - and insisted he would have been at home watching TV at the time.
The suspect was wearing a distinctive burgundy long sleeve top, on one of those occasions it was described as having a white circle on the back.
But Ms Rodrigues, 40, said 'I can't remember ever seeing him wear anything like that.'
She told the Daily Mirror she met police officers in a cafe near her home in Lagos.
'They said they suspected him because he used to work at the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns were staying and because they had tracked the signal from his mobile phone to the area where Madeleine disappeared the night she vanished,' she said.
'I was speechless. I kept repeating Euclides was innocent but they said it was not for me to say.'

Maddie McCann police hunt 'lone intruder' who prowled Algarve

She lives a 15-minute drive away from the scene of the young girl's disappearance on May 3, 2007.
Ms Rodrigues said that she could not remember the night of Madeleine's disappearance - but insisted she would have turned him in if she thought he was responsible.
She added: 'It's a long time ago, but I'm sure he would have been at home watching TV. That's what he always did after work.'
Monteiro, who fathered Ms Rodrigues 11-year-old son, once served a five-year prison sentence for burglary.
However, his wife said that although he was 'no angel' he would not have been behind the suspected kidnapping.
This week Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: 'This is an offender who has got a very, very unhealthy interest in young, white, female children whom he is attacking whilst they are on holiday in their beds.'

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann posed two years ago with a picture of how she might now look

Witnesses describe the man as having dark, tanned skin with short dark unkempt hair. He spoke in English with a foreign accent, his voice was described as slow, or possibly slurred.
He was sometimes bare chested, some describe him as having a pot belly, and three victims said that he had a noticeable odour.
Police said the suspect may have been in the villa or looking round the villa for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent, or the child waking up, and said he remained calm, even when disturbed.
On two occasions, they said, the noise of a bin collection lorry could be heard nearby.
DCI Redwood said that tracing the man is one of his priority lines of inquiry.
He said: 'We need to establish the identity of this man - these offences are very serious and no-one has been charged in connection with them.' 
Mr Redwood's team currently have 38 people classed as 'persons of interest' to the inquiry, and are also sifting through details of 530 known sex offenders whose whereabouts they cannot account for.
Of those 59 are classed as high priority, and some of those are British.
British investigators have so far sent three international letters of request to Portuguese authorities over the investigation, covering 41 priority areas for the team, involving 287 separate requests.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt showed his anger at the slow pace of the legal process, saying: 'That's causing us frustration because we know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process.'

Another 30 letters have been written to other European countries, but the force would not reveal where.
Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends.

British detectives launched a fresh investigation into the youngster's disappearance in July last year - two years into a review of the case - and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.

After shelving their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance in 2008, Portuguese authorities said last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it.

DM