On the Run British Paedophile Thought to be Part of Child Sex Ring Linked to Madeleine McCann’s Disappearance
-is Arrested in Malta and Deported to UK
- Roderick MacDonald has been arrested and is to be extradited to Britain
- He may have been living in Portugal at the time of Madeleine's disappearance
- MacDonald is a convicted paedophile for crimes in Australia and Britain
- He was arrested in Malta on Monday and approved for extradition yesterday
- International Arrest Warrant used after he fled following conviction for molesting children in Brighton
AP, 21 October 2014
A convicted paedophile thought to be part of a child sex ring linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is being extradited to Britain.
Roderick MacDonald, 77, was arrested on the Maltese island of Gozo after he fled the UK while he was on licence following his conviction for molesting two girls, five and seven, in Brighton in 2012. He was also previously convicted in Australia for molesting children.
The former oil worker was reportedly living in the Algarve when Madeleine disappeared from the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.
The serial sex offender appeared in court in Malta on Monday after Britain secured a European Arrest Warrant and did not oppose immediate extradition to the UK.
Arrest: Briton Roderick MacDonald, pictured when he was arrested in Pattaya, Thailand, is being extradited back to the UK and was reportedly in Praia da Luz at the the time of Madeleine's disappearance
MacDonald was first arrested at a campsite in the Algarve in 2010 and extradited to Australia - where he was wanted for the 1998 rape of an eight-year-old.
He received six months in prison after accepting a plea deal for indecently assaulting the child in Australia and fled to Thailand after he was released, but Thai authorities deported him back to Britain when they found out about his past.
He then settled in Brighton, East Sussex, but, despite being made to sign the Sex Offenders Register, was convicted of molesting two girls, five and seven in 2012.
He received a year-long sentence but it was suspended for two years. He changed his surname from Robinson to MacDonald and fled to the Far East soon after.
He was arrested in Malta on Monday and his extradition to Britain - to which he consented - was approved in court yesterday.
Madeleine went missing from a resort in the Algarve, Portugal in 2007
Magistrate Audrey Demicoli heard the case and inspector Mario Cuschieri prosecuted.
Scotland Yard said they would not give a 'running commentary' on the Madeleine investigation.
Madeleine was aged three when she went missing on May 3, 2007, from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, as her parents Kate and Gerry dined at a nearby tapas restaurant.
The toddler, who lived in Rothley with her family, had been left in the rented apartment at the seaside Ocean Club resort, along with her siblings, twins Sean and Amelie.
This week a new Portuguese prosecutor was charged with solving the disappearance of Madeleine, seven years after she vanished.
Ines Sequeira will lead the investigation into the case as Scotland Yard prepares to return to Praia da Luz to 're-interview' three suspects.
Ms Sequeira is said to be 'utterly determined' to solve the case, bringing fresh hope to the child's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.
'Ines is still trying to get her feet under the table and is having to be briefed on scores of cases including Madeleine’s,' a source close to the investigation said.
'But she has been appointed as the new prosecutor and the Scotland Yard team has been given renewed hope of being able to start work again in Portugal before the end of the month.
'Ms Sequeira is one of the sharpest and most ambitious prosecutors in Portugal.
'She is utterly determined to get a result on the Madeleine inquiry.'
It comes after British police sent a fifth letter to Portuguese officers requesting access to the investigation.
The courts of justice in Gozo, Malta, where the paedophile had been living before his arrest
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, pictured during a press conference earlier this year, are still trying to find their missing daughter
'They’re banking on this new meeting with Portuguese police being their chance to argue their case face-to-face,' the source added.
'Ines will obviously take the final decision on the letter but she’ll consult the police chiefs on the Algarve before making her mind up.'
Scotland Yard officers are due to fly to Portugal later this month to re-interview three of seven suspects previously questioned in Faro police stations.
Among them are Jose Carlos Fernandes da Silva, an ex-worker at the Ocean Club resort, Paulo Ribeiro, who looks like a man seen near the apartment, and charity collector Ricardo Rodrigues.
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TIMELINE: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN IN 2007
May 3, 2007 - Madeleine disappeared from the seaside Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The police began the hunt for Madeleine on the following day.
May 30, 2007 - Mr and Mrs McCann met the Pope in Rome in the first of a series of trips around Europe and beyond to highlight the search for their daughter.
January 2009 - The fund set up by the McCanns to help find Madeleine announced that £2million in donations had been sent in.
May 2011 - Mrs McCann published a book about her daughter's disappearance on Madeleine's eighth birthday and Scotland Yard launched a review of the case after a request from Home Secretary Theresa May, supported by Prime Minister David Cameron.
April 2012 - Scotland Yard detectives said they believe Madeleine could still be alive and released an age-progression picture of how she might look now as a nine-year-old. They called on the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case.
April 2013 - London's chief crown prosecutor Alison Saunders and her deputy Jenny Hopkins flew to Portugal with Scotland Yard detectives to discuss the case with their Portuguese counterparts.
July 2013 - Scotland Yard said it had 'genuinely new' lines of inquiry and had identified 38 people of interest, including 12 Britons.
October 2013 - Portugal's Attorney General announced that the case was being officially reopened.
March 2014 - British police investigating the disappearance said they were looking for a prolific paedophile who sexually abused five girls at holiday homes in the Algarve before the British toddler went missing.
June 2014 - British Detectives searched scrubland in the holiday resort using radar equipment and sniffer dogs.
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