three prime suspects for abduction of Madeleine McCann following analysis of mobile phone data

Three prime suspects for the abduction of Madeleine McCann have been identified by Scotland Yard officers.

Data suggests a burglary gang was operating near time of disappearance

Suspects made an 'unusually high' number of calls hours after Maddie was reported missing

Police believe thieves carried out one raid in resort, disturbing a child

Portuguese police attached no significance to the break-in days before

British detectives described oversight as a 'disgrace'

'Main line of inquiry' suggests burglars panicked and kidnapped Maddie

Analysis of mobile phone data suggests a burglary gang was operating very near to where she vanished in Portugal in May 2007.
The three men made an unusually high number of calls to each other in the hours after Madeleine was reported missing from her holiday flat in the Algarve.
Police believe the thieves, including at least one Portuguese man, had already carried out one raid in the resort of Praia da Luz, disturbing a child.
That child’s parents, who had been drinking outside the property, rushed inside to find the intruders had fled.
During their bungled investigation Portuguese police attached no significance to the break-in, which came a few days before Madeleine disappeared.
British detectives said this oversight was a ‘disgrace’.
Following the Yard phone breakthrough, informal discussions have taken place about arresting the three burglars and searching their homes and other sites.
It is believed background checks have taken place into their criminal history, their circle of friends and relatives and the vehicles they have used.
British detectives believe the burglars may have panicked after they woke Madeleine up by mistake and decided to take her away with them.

Kate and Gerry McCann pose with an artist's impression of how their daughter might look at the age of nine last year

An informed source said: ‘After all the far-fetched theories about what may have happened to Madeleine, there may be a far more simple explanation: that a burglary went horribly wrong.
'It is the main line of inquiry for British police.’

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Hundreds of homes flooded and roads are SMASHED as Britain's coast is battered by 30ft waves in fiercest storm for 20 years... and it will get worse this weekend when the North is hit by snow

The fiercest storms in nearly 20 years have left a trail of destruction across the UK, with warnings that conditions are set to worsen over the weekend.
Flooding affecting thousands of homes from Cornwall to Scotland is a 'national emergency', Anne McIntosh, chair of the Commons Environment Select Committee told Sky News.

Flooding is a 'national emergency' says Anne McIntosh, chair of the Commons Environment Select Committee

Environment Agency has urged people to stay away from the sea and rivers because they risk being killed 

Teenager Harry Martin still missing after taking photographs of storm from cliffs close to Plymouth in Devon

Four severe flood warnings, 103 warnings and a further 237 alerts in place across the UK

Torrential rain will batter southern parts of England, before sweeping eastwards

Met Office warns that rain could give way to ice snow as bitterly cold Arctic air brings freezing temperatures

Winds of 70mph-plus and torrential rain to batter UK into next week, peaking on Monday

Two FA Cup ties and horse racing at Sandown Park and Wincanton Racecourse have been called off

Further bad weather is expected today, forecasters said, with rain giving way to snow in southern Scotland and northern England as cold winds from the Arctic bring freezing temperatures.

A man sits and watches as a giant wave crashes over the promenade wall in Barmouth, Wales today

A surge of water engulfs the promenade wall in Barmouth. Along parts of the front the force of the waves smashed through the sea wall

Aberystwyth in Wales felt the full force of the storm, the most powerful for decades, as part of the promenade was torn up