Arrested British paedophile may face Maddie questioning

A CONVICTED British paedophile has been arrested in Malta and is to be extradited to the UK, where he could face questioning over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Roderick McDonald, who is in his late seventies, is believed to have been living in the Algarve, Portugal, at the same time that three-year-old Madeleine went missing.

McDonald has been on the run for two years following his conviction for molesting two underage girls in Brighton, England in 2012. He was arrested on the Maltese island of Gozo on Monday and his extradition to the UK has been approved.

It is thought he will be quizzed about paedophile gangs operating in the Algarve in 2007, the year that Madeleine went missing. The former oil worker is thought to have been living in the area at the time and was arrested in the Algarve in 2010 and extradited to Australia, where he was wanted for the 1998 rape of an eight-year-old.

Originally from Aldershot in England, McDonald has numerous arrests and convictions for child sex offences and it is expected that the Metropolitan Police will question him about Maddie’s disappearance upon his return to the UK.

He reportedly agreed to the extradition and is being held in custody until he is transported to England.