The dramatic arrest of a Brit in the hunt for Madeleine McCann has been described as “potentially highly significant”.
It has boosted the hopes of the missing youngster’s anguished parents Kate and Gerry.
A source close to the couple said: “The arrest only happened as a result of a claim that Madeleine may still be alive.”
The suspect was held in a swoop by Greater Manchester Police after the Sunday Mirror last week revealed that a man bragged about seeing Madeleine alive just weeks ago.
A respected barrister told us the man boasted to him that he had met the child on a Mediterranean island. It was claimed Maddie was “introduced” to the man this summer.
It is understood that the Manchester officers who made the arrest also seized computers from a private address and sent them for forensic examination.
Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange team have been handed the barrister’s detailed statement, which is rated as “high up on the credibility scale”.
The Yard officers had reopened the probe into the disappearance of Madeleine, then aged three, from the McCanns’ holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
The dramatic twist in the inquiry comes as Kate and Gerry, both 45, prepare to appear in a Crimewatch appeal on BBC1 tomorrow night.
It is understood they are being kept fully briefed on developments.
We told last week how the barrister went to police after being told of the Maddie sighting.
Tourist resorts popular with Brits are now thought to feature in the active inquiry. A family source confirmed last night: “This is high up on the credibility scale.
"The barrister did the right thing by going to police. His information has gone into the Operation Grange system and I know they are working on it.
New hope: Madeleine McCann PA
“The fact that he was prepared to risk his reputation by making the statement does suggest that it is credible. There are tip-offs and sightings all the time and many of them can be ruled out immediately as either complete fantasy or because there is no credibility to the source.
“This one is more credible because of the nature of the man who brought it to the authorities’ attention.”
The Sunday Mirror can reveal that the arrested man was at a party attended by the barrister at a private home in an upmarket suburb of Manchester on August 17.
During the evening, the lawyer had a conversation with the man, who told him he had met Madeleine on the island in the Med this summer.
The barrister, shocked and distressed by what the man said about the alleged encounter, contacted his local police force the next day then gave a formal statement.
The barrister, who agreed to speak to us but who we are not naming at his request, refused to comment further on the arrest.
He explained: “I cannot risk compromising the investigation or the search for Madeleine. If she is alive but now disappears again, I would never be able to forgive myself.”
But a separate source close to the arrest said: “A guy at the party told the barrister he had been introduced to Madeleine on the island in the summer.
“The barrister took that to mean that she was with another adult at the time but doesn’t know who it was or anything about them.”
It is unclear whether the barrister was able to give officers the name of the man he spoke to at the party.
Police have not released any details about the man they have arrested.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said in a statement: “A man was arrested in September on suspicion of possession of drugs and conspiracy to distribute indecent images of children. He has been bailed pending further inquiries. An investigation is ongoing into this matter and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
New appeal: Gerry and Kate McCann PA
Last week we revealed how the barrister broke down in tears as he explained what he had been told.
Speaking to us as he walked his dog in a park near his large home in the North West of England, he said: “I can’t tell you exactly why I believe what I was being told. It was just a gut feeling.
"I knew that by reporting it, it would compromise me in all sorts of ways.
“But it was something I couldn’t ignore. If I hadn’t said anything I couldn’t have lived with myself.”
Asked what it was about the description the man at the party gave him of the girl he said was Madeleine, the barrister said: “I have told the police everything that I was told about her. They know what that was and that is why they have acted.”
Meanwhile Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leics, are set to speak of their hope that their daughter will be found finally thanks to new evidence uncovered by a UK police probe.
Former GP Kate and consultant cardiologist Gerry will appear live on BBC1’s Crimewatch at 9pm tomorrow.
Detectives will appeal for help in solving the six-year mystery of what happened in Praia da Luz where Madeleine was on holiday with her parents and younger twin siblings.
The programme will feature a new reconstruction of events, with Madeleine played by a three-year-old girl.
The programme will also be screened in Holland and Germany.
Before this week’s arrest, officers had spoken to 442 people since Operation Grange began. The team had identified 41 “persons of interest”, including carers, residents and workers at the resort.
Det Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, said: “I truly believe there are people out there
who hold the key to Madeleine’s disappearance.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman refused to comment on the arrest and said: “We are not providing a running commentary on the case.”
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