Madeleine McCann: Mystery 'woman in purple' sought by Met police identified as waitress

Fifty-eight-year-old reportedly interviewed days after child disappeared, but not in decade since

Madeleine McCann (PA)

A Spanish criminologist says he has identified a woman sought by police in connection to Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

Scotland Yard investigators are reportedly looking to speak to a woman who was seen dressed in purple standing outside the family's apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, in 2007.

Criminologist Heriberto Gonzalez said he believed the woman to be Bulgarian waitress Luisa Todorov.

The 58-year-old and her husband were working at the Ocean Club resort in the Portuguese civil parish when the three-year-old disappeared.

The couple were interviewed days after Madeleine went missing and denied any knowledge of the case. Investigators have reportedly not spoken to them since.

Mr Gonzalez – who has investigated the case for 10 years – said reports that police were searching Bulgaria had convinced him Ms Todorov was the woman being sought.

“Examining all the known statements it seems highly likely the police are seeking the Todorovs," he told the Mirror.

“They are the only known people with a clear link to Bulgaria."

He said he had not been able to track the couple in Portugal and it was likely that the couple moved back to Bulgaria after a number of workers at the Ocean Club were made redundant.

Madeleine vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on 3 May, 2007.

Her disappearance sparked one of the most high-profile police investigations of recent times.

In 2015 Scotland Yard cut the number of detectives working on the case from 29 to four, but the investigation was granted £154,000 in October to pursue "a new person of significance".