DNA from a rape linked to Madeleine McCann suspect was destroyed on the orders of Portuguese prosecutors
DNA from a rape case linked to Madeleine McCann suspect Christian B was destroyed on the orders of Portugese prosecutors.
Irish rape victim Hazel Behan waived her right last anonymity last week to say she believes a masked man who targeted her in her Algarve apartment could have been the German sex offender.
She went public about the horrific 2004 attack after discovering Christian B had been convicted late last year of the September 2005 rape of an American OAP in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Madeleine vanished from the same resort town when she was just three-years-old in 2007, sparking over a decade of searching by police.
Mum-of-two Ms Behan said the Met Police had told her they were taking her case very seriously and would be contacting Portuguese counterparts after taking a statement.
Today however it has emerged biological material collected from the crime scene was destroyed around two months before Madeleine’s disappearance.
It means the chance of making any solid link between the two cases if the same offender was responsible could now prove impossible.
The extraordinary decision was laid bare in court papers relating to Ms Behan’s rape in Praia da Rocha - which is a half-an-hour drive east of Praia da Luz.
The former holiday rep suffered the five hour ordeal as she was abducted, gagged, threatened with a machete and raped.
Potentially key evidence was thrown away after the case was mothballed in March 2007.
Cops shelved the investigation as the attack happened during Euro 2004, when there were more people in the area, and they decided it was a "one-off".
Destruction of this DNA evidence is the latest hurdle facing cops as it emerged Christian B's van - which he was driving just before Madeleine vanished - was crushed by police.
It had been seized by Portuguese cops after Christian B had been caught stealing diesel, and then sold for scrap to help pay a fine linked to his conviction.
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry were given fresh hope this month as police identified the new suspect in one of the most significant breakthroughs in 13 years.
Case files in Ms Behan's case describe her rapist as an English speaker who could be “German, Belgian or Dutch.”
Ms Behan’s underwear was among clothes passed on to a lab for expert analysis along with a broken nail.
The documents make it clear biological material was obtained but no DNA profile comparisons could be made because no suspects were identified.
They do not specify the exact nature of the material recovered.
Confirming the destruction of the potential DNA evidence, they said: “On March 15 2007 when the judge decides to archive the investigation, the Public Ministry decide any biological material should be destroyed.
They add: “As they are in a bad condition it is improbable that if this re-investigation was reopened the material could be subjected to counterproof analysis.”
The decision has emerged after the after the former head of Portugal’s National Forensic Medicine Institute said the evidence collected from the McCanns’ holiday apartment could still prove valuable in unlocking the mystery.
Duarte Nuno Vieira, president of Portugal’s National Forensic Medicine Institute when the youngster vanished, said all the samples taken were kept under lock and key at a lab in Coimbra.
He added they could be used for re-testing with today’s modern technology whenever needed.
Mr Vieira told Portuguese broadcaster CMTV: “The samples are still being kept in optimum conditions and despite the fact 13 years have gone by, it’s still possible today to repeat tests.”
However, without the evidence from Ms Behan's case it will now be very difficult t establish a link between the two cases.
Recent unconfirmed Portuguese reports claimed Christian B - a convicted rapist - had been ruled out as a suspect in the Ms Behan's case but gave no indication why.
Dubliner Ms Behan, who has now returned to Ireland, also said she recalled a distinctive mark on the top of her attacker's right thigh which could have been a birthmark or a tattoo.
Christian B is said to have birthmarks on his upper right thigh.
And in another gaffe, it emerged Christian B admitted to an Algarve judge after he was caught for stealing diesel in April 2006 that he had a teenage sex conviction.
He admitted his sordid past in his initial court quiz following his detention, court papers from the time show.
The revelation put Portuguese police under the spotlight over their initial failure to link Christian B to the search of Madeleine at the time.
It showed the information he was a sex offender and not just a petty thief was a matter of public record in Portugal.
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Portuguese police chief Carlos Farinha tried to pass the blame for Christian B slipping through the net 13 years ago by revealing his name was among hundreds passed on to Scotland Yard detectives at Operation Grange.
He only came back on the police radar in 2017, after confessing to a bar room pal in Germany on the tenth anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance that he knew what had happened to her.
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German prosecutors say they have evidence Madeleine is dead and are conducting their case as a murder inquiry.
Meanwhile, British authorities remain hopeful as they say their probe remains a missing persons case.