Woman at centre of ‘hit-and-run’ Madeleine McCann theory says she was ‘shocked’ by police investigation

Detectives investigated theory that missing toddler had escaped the family apartment and died after being hit by a car

The woman behind a theory that suggested Madeleine McCann was killed in a hit-and-run has said she was “shocked” to learn she was investigated by police over the toddler’s disappearance.

Detectives probed the German woman seven years ago while following a theory that the missing three-year-old had escaped her family’s Praia da Luz holiday apartment through an unlocked patio door and been killed in a hit-and-run, reports Sky News.

The hit-and-run theory was leaked to Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha in June. It did not identify the woman, but said the investigation had come to a halt after German authorities refused to deploy an undercover officer to probe the suspect.

Soon after, detectives turned their focus to Christian B, who is now considered the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation. He is currently in a German jail after raping an elderly woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.

Officers pack up a tent at the end of a day of searching for Madeleine McCann (PA Wire)

Speaking to Sky News, the woman said she had not been aware she had been under suspicion in the investigation. She said she had been working in a restaurant in Praia da Luz when Madeleine went missing in May 2007, and had got home after the time the three-year-old was discovered missing from her bed. Her British partner was working as a chef, and had served the McCanns dinner the night Madeleine disappeared.

"I don't even know if there was a car accident, because I was working," she said. "I came home at half ten, and my boyfriend was home already."

She said her home had been searched more than once, like many other neighbours’, after Madeleine went missing. Then, more than ten years later, she says she was contacted by police again, who wanted to know if she knew Christian B and had seen him near the McCanns' apartment.

Madeleine went missing in Portugal in 2007 (PA Media)

She told Sky News she was then called by a German police commissar several times over the next year. On one occasion, he asked for the SIM card from a phone she used when she was living in Portugal.

The family of her British partner, who has since died, also said they were questioned by police from Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange, which was launched to support the German and Portuguese police investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.

The woman also said she had been unaware of the Correio da Manha report until she was tracked down by Sky News.