Madeleine McCann latest: Police hunt British paedo who was nearby when she went missing

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Madeleine McCann latest: Police hunt British paedo who was nearby when she went missing
May 03, 2014 23:52 By Russell Myers

Sicko Roderick William Robinson has been on the run for more than a decade and now sources say he could have vital evidence about a suspected paedophile ring



Dangerous: Robinson after his arrest in Thailand

Police are hunting a British paedophile who was in Portugal at the time of child sex attacks linked to the Madeleine McCann case.

Roderick William Robinson, 77, was first arrested while lying low at a rundown campsite on the Algarve in 2010. He had been on the run for more than a decade.

Sources close to the latest Madeleine McCann investigation have indicated that British ­detectives believe he could have vital evidence about a suspected paedophile ring.

The ring operated across the Algarve at the time three-year-old Madeleine was snatched in Praia da Luz in 2007.

A source said: “Roderick Robinson is a ­notorious and dangerous sex offender. He has shown a pattern of disturbing behaviour ­wherever he has travelled.

“He may have vital information which could shed light on the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. He is wanted on an international arrest warrant after failing to notify British police of his whereabouts and it is vital he is found without delay.”

After Robinson’s arrest in 2010 he was ­extradited to Australia where he was wanted for raping an eight-year-old girl in 1998. After agreeing to a plea deal he was convicted of indecently assaulting the child and sentenced to six months in prison.


Within weeks of his release the former oil rig worker fled to Thailand but three months later he was deported back to Britain after Thai authorities found out about his past.

He moved to Brighton, east Sussex, and was made to sign the sex offenders register. But in June 2012 he went on to sexually assault two girls, aged five and seven, on a yacht. This led to another conviction but, despite his past, his 12-month sentence was suspended for two years. Within weeks he changed his name by deed poll and fled to the Far East.

Scotland Yard detectives are currently ­investigating 18 possible linked break-ins at Algarve villas by a lone intruder between 2004 and 2010. Six have come to light since an appeal by UK detectives last month, with five of those involving alleged sex attacks on British girls.

Overall, nine of the 18 break-ins involved assaults on British girls, aged six to 12. Three took place in Praia da Luz.

The attacks stopped at around the time Robinson was deported from Portugal.

He was first arrested by Portuguese police at a campsite in Olhao on the Algarve, 60 miles from Praia da Luz. He associated with other ­paedophiles in the area around the time Madeleine vanished.

A source said: “These are questions that could have particular significance in the ­disappearance of Madeleine McCann.”

When he was deported from Thailand, Robinson told a reporter: “I’m a marked man for the rest of my life which won’t be very long.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We do not comment on ongoing investigations.”

He was first arrested by Portuguese police at a campsite in Olhao on the Algarve, 60 miles from Praia da Luz. He associated with other ­paedophiles in the area around the time Madeleine vanished.

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