A man who was on holiday in the Algarve when Madeleine McCann was taken from her bed has been found dead after abducting a five-year-old girl, according to reports.

UK newspaper The Times said Swiss police discovered the body of 67 year-old Urs Hans Von Aesch in a forest. He had apparently committed suicide.



A pushbike, helmet and backpack belonging to a missing five-year-old girl, Ylenia Lenhard, were found next to the body.


Ylenia disappeared last Tuesday from Appenzell, a village in Switzerland.

Mr Von Aesch reportedly lived in Marina Alta in the Alicante province in Spain.

Swiss Police said he was the main suspect in the disappearance of Ylenia and also alerted Interpol to similarities with the abduction of Madeleine McCann.

According to The Times, Portuguese detectives are investigating reports that Von Aesch was on holiday near the resort of Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal at the same time that Madeleine McCann went missing from a hotel room on May 3.


Other reports said British police found traces of blood last week on the wall of the hotel room where Madeleine McCann went missing.

Britain's Daily Telegraph said UK police brought in to re-examine evidence relating to the girl's disappearance used sniffer dogs and ultra-violet technology to examine blood specks.

Portugese police have refused to comment on the reports, with UK police criticising their "inept" handling of the investigation.

Tests will be carried out on the blood specks to determine whether they belong to the missing four-year-old.

The traces of blood were invisible to the naked eye and were found low on the bedroom wall of the apartment where the McCann family was staying at Praia da Luz.

Police said the results of the DNA tests could completely change the course of the investigation.

Police in Belgium are also carrying out DNA tests today on a drink bottle used by a girl resembling the Madeleine.

Reports suggested a possible sighting of the girl in a restaurant in the Belgian town of Tongeren, near the Dutch border.

A customer at the restaurant told police she was "100 percent sure" she had seen the toddler, and Belgian authorities were reportedly investigating another sighting in the region.

Madeleine McCann was staying with her family at the holiday resort of Praia da Luz in Portugal when she went missing on May 3.

Her disappearance has been followed by a frantic search involving a number of false leads.