Madeleine McCann: Conman private eye used a CHILD as bait to flush out Maddie's kidnapper

A PRIVATE eye paid £300,000 by Madeleine McCann’s parents to find her tried to use another girl as “bait”.

By Jerry Lawton /

A PI tried to find Maddie using another child CHANNEL 5 / PA

PRIVATE EYE: Conman Kevin Halligen tried to find Maddie's kidnapper by using a child as bait

Kevin Halligen recruited a couple with a young daughter to walk round Praia da Luz in Portugal – where Madeleine vanished.

He planned to flush out the kidnapper. But US security expert Richard Parton was appalled by the ploy.

Speaking in a documentary The Conman And The McCanns, he said: “He got a couple to go on holiday with a child who looks a lot like Madeleine.

“Apparently, she was to have been used as bait.’’ 

Kate and Gerry McCann paid Halligen £300,000 PA

CONNED: Kate and Gerry McCann paid Halligen £300,000 for help finding their daughter

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There were 8 potential sightings of Maddie in Morocco. It's possible she could have been trafficked there AFP/Getty Images
There were 8 potential sightings of Maddie in Morocco. It's possible she could have been trafficked there

    “He got a couple to go on holiday with a child who looks a lot like Madeleine. Apparently, she was to have been used as bait”

    Richard Parton

    Halligen convinced Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry to hire him a year after the three-year-old disappeared in 2007.

    His bizarre methods have emerged following his “unexplained” death in Guildford, Surrey, earlier this month.

    ●WERE you the family recruited by Halligen to help the Maddie investigation or do you know them?

    If you do, contact the Daily Star newsdesk on 02028 612 7373 or email jerry.lawton@dailystar.co.uk