The private eye behind the huge operation to try to find Madeleine McCann after she vanished from a resort in Portugal is speaking about the search for the first time.
Kevin Halligen, who was behind the 2008 Operation Omega, spoke in an exclusive interview with Channel 5.
The interview is for a documentary, The McCanns and the Conman.
Halligen, 53, set up the operation after being commissioned by Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry to fine the girl, who vanished at the age of three in 2007.
The Irishman promised to use his contacts in MI5, MI6, and the CIA to try to track down the girl.
He was paid six-figures, although how he spent the money was later questioned.
The documentary is slated to be screened next week on June 4.
According to the Daily Express, it “reads like the plot of a spy movie.
“It is an extraordinary tale of covert surveillance, sting operations and the bugging of a key witness through the twists and turns of the hunt for a man who was then a prime suspect, code-named ‘George.’
“Halligen’s final report is said to contain significant leads that now form part of the current Scotland Yard investigation, including the crucial e-fits based on the so-called “Smith sighting”, which was aired on Crimewatch last October.
“But it transpired that Halligen was an audacious conman, who led people into believing he was a spy.
“He was arrested in 2009 and jailed in the US for defrauding an unrelated client on a previous kidnap and ransom case.
“He has recently been released from prison.
“Channel 5’s Emma Westcott said: ‘This is the extraordinary story of one man’s audacious claims, and how he fooled the intelligence community.’”
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