Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Channel 5
Topics: TV and Film, Documentaries, Madeleine McCann
Jess Hardiman
Topics: TV and Film, Documentaries, Madeleine McCann
A new documentary about Madeleine McCann suspect Christian B airs tomorrow on Channel 5. Watch a clip here:
Airing at 9pm on Wednesday 11 May, Madeleine McCann: The Case Against Christian B follows Mark Williams-Thomas, a former detective turned investigative journalist, as he carries out the first active British TV investigation into the case’s prime suspect.
“On the ground in both Portugal and Germany, Mark delves into Christian B’s previous offences both as a sex offender and breaking into properties,” a synopsis says.
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“Using his known addresses, Mark pieces together where he was thought to be living when Madeleine disappeared.”
Investigators have been working to discover what happened to Madeleine since 2007, when the then-three-year-old vanished from an apartment in the Algarve while on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.
Police have named convicted rapist Christian B as a prime suspect in the case, although he has repeatedly denied his involvement.
Williams-Thomas explains how the crime has 'haunted one family for over 15 years', saying: "Just days after Madeleine was abducted, I was on the ground reporting, and I've been trying to solve the case ever since.
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"In 2020 came the biggest breakthrough in 20 years: German authorities announced they had a prime suspect. He is Christian B, a sex offender, paedophile and burglar.
"But two years on, police have not yet charged him. I'll be testing their evidence, uncovering new witnesses, pursuing a meeting with the prime suspect himself, to find out if this man is the missing link in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann."
Since being named as prime suspect, Christian B has even claimed to have an alibi, saying he had a holiday fling with a German 18-year-old girl the week of Madeleine's disappearance.
The feature-length documentary sees Williams-Thomas test the validity of this alibi by tracking the woman down, saying in the programme: "I can't quite believe what I've been told – that on the night of Madeleine's appearance, Christian B was with a woman outside of Praia De Luz and spent the night with her.
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"And if that's true, he can't be involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
"I now need to find this woman as quickly as possible, and get her to give me her account."
Williams-Thomas goes on the trail of Christian B's movements in Germany after the youngster went missing, visiting the sites of his child abuse offences – including the sweet shop kiosk he ran in Braunschweig and the box factory where 8,000 child abuse files were found.
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The investigative journalist goes on to discover what appear to be weakness in the German prosecution case, with Christian B himself even writing to him with a 'detailed account' of his whereabouts at the time of Madeleine's disappearance.
Watch Madeleine McCann: The Case Against Christian B on Channel 5 at 9pm on Wednesday 11 May.