The detective believes Madeleine McCann's abductor was caught on camera

THE detective who led the initial investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance believes her abductor was caught on camera – but revealed that the film was wiped before detectives saw it.

Yesterday controversial figure Goncalo Amaral backed Kate and Gerry McCann’s demand for a review and reopening of the investigation.

The Sunday Express took Mr Amaral, whose book Maddy: The Truth Of The Lie was banned briefly from bookstores, to Praia da Luz to ask him to reveal where mistakes were made.

He walked the route he believes the person who snatched Madeleine took. It begins at apartment 5A of the Ocean Club, from where the three-year-old disappeared on May 3, 2007.

Mr Amaral believes the person would have crossed a road leading to a poorly lit road alongside waste ground.

Standing at an entrance to the waste ground, Mr Amaral said: “This area was thoroughly searched.”

He walked a few steps and looked up at a CCTV camera and sighed loudly. The camera belongs to the Estrela da Luz resort hotel. “I believe that the person carrying a child in his arms was captured on film from that very camera,” he said.

“I asked my officers to gather all the CCTV footage in Luz but, by the time they got to this hotel, the film from this camera had been wiped over. It was a mistake and I will always regret it. I do feel Madeleine was let down.”

Walking alongside the waste ground, he enters a narrow street called Rua da Escola Primaria. “This is where there was a significant sighting of a man carrying a child in his arms,” he said. “He was seen by a witness, Martin Smith from Ireland.”

The man with the child continued down the hill and would have come to a crossroads. Opposite the junction is an empty villa with a large garden. The wooden door leading to the garden is open.

“It was open at the time and the villa is still empty,” Mr Amaral said. “My officers spent a lot of time here.”

Mr Amaral concludes that any new investigation should fully consider the statement of Mr Smith. “I hope this is seriously examined because it is an important aspect of the case,” he said.