EXCLUSIVE: Jim Gamble criticised internet sleuths who, he said, have compounded the couple’s suffering by pushing wild conspiracy theories.

Jim Gamble says Madeleine McCann’s parents ‘need truth’

Madeleine McCann’s parents Gerry and Kate deserve to know the truth about what happened to their daughter – and one day they will, the former head of the police force leading the search for the three‑year‑old has predicted. Jim Gamble, who led the initial scoping review into Madeleine’s disappearance on behalf of the Home Office in 2010 – work which led directly to the launch of Operation Grange – believes there is still hope of a breakthrough after last week’s searches in Praia da Luz.

Mr Gamble told Express.co.uk the investigation has effectively split into two parts. He explained: “One, where does the overall investigation stand? We’re almost becoming, focused so much on one particular very strong suspect that we could be getting tunnel vision. If individuals are now thinking, Christian Brueckner is the person, then they stop looking elsewhere.”

READ MORE: Madeleine McCann cops find ‘clothing and bones’ in latest search update

Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine disappeared from a holi (Image: PA)

Nevertheless, he described the evidence against Brueckner as powerful, given his record of sexual offences and the fact that he was living in the area at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Despite the challenges, Mr Gamble said he remains hopeful: “I’m an optimist. I believe … sometime in my lifetime we will find out what happened to Madeleine McCann and … hold to account any individuals involved.”

He added: “I hope they do and I am in no doubt that they deserve to know what happened.”

Mr Gamble, who also discussed the case at length last year on the True Criminals podcast, said the McCanns had suffered in ways few could understand.

Madeleine McCann who disappeared from a holiday flat in Portugal in 2007 (Image: PA)

He said: “Kate and Gerry have had to live with that ambiguity and all of the suspicions that have been created… and the conspiracy theories that have been invented.”

He added: “They’ve had to live with people assuming and asserting things that they have no control over.”

The years of speculation had compounded the pain of losing their daughter, he suggested, subjecting the family to what he called “secondary victimisation.”

He said: “They have suffered more than any other family in the history of high-profile cases, I would suggest. To watch them attacked time and time again, when they simply don’t have the answers – that’s been very difficult.”

In particular, Mr Gamble turned his fire on online trolls and conspiracy theorists who had fuelled suspicion and false narratives for more than a decade.

He said: “There is so much bile and hatred out there on the internet. I just don’t understand what makes some people tick.”

Madeleine McCann disappeared from Praia Da Luz in Portuga (Image: PA)

He added: “There’s nothing wrong with having a theory – as long as you base it on facts, and you argue it in a responsible way.

“But so many of the people who are now pushing this bile on the internet are not doing that. They’re pushing their own agenda, they’re trying to make themselves look smart, they’re trying to entertain.”

He warned: “They’ve created this little subculture around Madeleine McCann that actually has nothing to do with Madeleine McCann.”

And the impact, he said, had spread beyond just the parents.

He said: “There are two children who have grown up in the shadow of their sister’s disappearance. We sometimes forget about the twins … who’ve had to grow up and live under that cloud.”

Despite years of heartbreak and the burden of suspicion placed unfairly on the family, Mr Gamble praised the McCanns’ strength.

Prime suspect Christian Brueckner (Image: Getty Images)