Woman faces questioning over Madeleine McCann disappearance - report

Scotland Yard has zeroed in on a woman it believes could bust the Madeleine McCann case wide open, 10 years after the British toddler disappeared.

A suspect list 600 names long has been whittled down to one, the Sunday Express reports.

"Detectives have scoured Europe looking for this woman who is thought to hold the key to solving the entire case," the paper quoted an insider as saying.

"After months of tireless police work they will soon be in a position to move in and finally get some answers after a decade of dead-ends. It is a hugely significant line of inquiry that officers hope could lead to an arrest."

The woman was spotted close to the scene in Praia da Luz, Portugal on the night of May 3, 2007, when four-year-old Madeleine went missing. She is reportedly not currently living in Portugal.

The Express reports funding for the hunt was about to run out, but the new lead means more money will be freed up, keeping the investigation open until at least September.

Scotland Yard declined to comment on the report.

Last week, a former top Portuguese cop claimed in a TV interview Madeleine died in the McCanns' hotel, and was snuck into a crematorium inside a woman's coffin and burned.

"We had information three figures went into the church via a side door at night," Goncalo Amaral claimed.

"They had a box and there was to be a cremation of a British woman. It is possible the child's remains were in this box and cremated as well. The parents had the key to the church."

Mr Amaral was reportedly paid £10,000 for the interview. He was the initial leader of the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, but was removed after criticising his UK counterparts.

Her parents say while there remains no evidence she is dead, they will have hope.

"Madeleine is part of our life, there's photographs all round the house," Kate McCann recently told the BBC.

"Whether it be a birthday, family occasion or even an achievement or something, that is kind of when you really feel her absence."

She also revealed she still buys birthday and Christmas presents for Madeleine.

Newshub.