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27 stunned reactions to the major breakthrough in the search for Madeleine McCann

27 stunned reactions to the major breakthrough in the search for Madeleine McCann

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is one of the most fascinating and contentious news stories in modern British history.

13 years ago, three-year-old Madeleine was snatched from an apartment in Portugal as her parents dined nearby. The search for her been one of the longest, most tumultuous and most expensive ever. The investigation by the Portuguese authorities has been widely criticised and Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, were even considered suspects at one point, though this was later dropped.

But now it looks like there might have been a major breakthrough in the case.

The prisoner, who has not been publicly identified, is a German national, aged 43, with short, blond hair. When Madeleine vanished, he was 30 but he may have looked between 25 and his early thirties. Detectives described the new appeal for information as a “significant development”.

German police said the suspect was a paedophile with multiple convictions, including for sexually abusing children.

They’re now treating the case as a murder inquiry.

Given these significant developments in a case that so many people have strong feelings about, people really don’t know what to think.

Particularly as, well, we’re sort of in the middle of a pandemic and anti-racist protests across the world too, so there’s a lot going on.

On social media, people were stunned by this news.

Some people thought that the millions of pounds spent on finding Madeleine, when children of different ethnicities go missing all the time and don't receive the same attention, is what we should be talking about right now.

And some people still weren't feeling very sympathetic towards the McCanns...

But the overwhelming reaction was one of astonishment.

It remains to be seen whether this new lead will finally find the truth of what happened to Madeleine. We certainly hope it does.

But one thing's for sure, 2020 is already the strangest year any of us can remember.

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