Three prime suspects for the abduction of Madeleine McCann have been identified by Scotland Yard officers.
Analysis of mobile phone data suggests a burglary gang was operating very near to where she vanished in Portugal in May 2007.
The three men made an unusually high number of calls to each other in the hours after Madeleine was reported missing from her holiday flat in the Algarve.
Police believe the thieves, including at least one Portuguese man, had already carried out one raid in the resort of Praia da Luz, disturbing a child.
That child’s parents, who had been drinking outside the property, rushed inside to find the intruders had fled.
During their bungled investigation Portuguese police attached no significance to the break-in, which came a few days before Madeleine disappeared.
British detectives said this oversight was a ‘disgrace’.
Following the Yard phone breakthrough, informal discussions have taken place about arresting the three burglars and searching their homes and other sites.