On the 10th anniversary of her disappearance, former police chief gives his theory on Madeleine McCann case

The tenth anniversary of Madeleine McCann's disappearance occurs on 3 May and as a result, the case is a major topic of media discussion at present.

Although there have been numerous theories about what happened the Leicester-born three-year-old, the latest one might be the most chilling. Paulo Pereira Cristovao, a Portuguese investigator, has spoken out about the case and criticised fellow police colleagues in the process. Cristovao, who became head of Portugal’s Association for Missing Children the year Madeleine went missing, said he believes she was snatched from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz and taken to a group of nearby caves. Speaking to The Mirror, he explained that he came up with the explanation after visiting the McCann's holiday accommodation and imagined what the kidnapper would have done: “I put myself in the role of someone who knew nothing about the streets or the region. Where would I put the body of a girl?" “I stood at the apartment door – to the right is the town of Portimao. There are lots of people there, lots of buildings. If I had kidnapped her that’s not the way I’d want to go. I would want to go left, and find the first side road. I put my car on that road, and I went straight to Burgau. It’s a nearby beach, with a lot of rocks with caves." "It’s a good place to put somebody. As far as I know the police never went there, because you would need divers". The ex-police boss said that he did not think Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, had anything to do with Madeleine's appearance. However, he did say that the situation was handled badly and too much emphasis was placed on the number of people investigating, rather than the investigation itself: "That’s one of the lessons too, not always putting big numbers and lots of policemen. Sometimes you don’t need 400 officers, you need only three or four to focus on the results". Commenting on the unsolved case, which is now approaching its tenth year, Cristovao said: "At the end of the day we all forgot one person – Madeleine McCann".