A MYSTERY call reporting a burglary minutes after Madeleine McCann went missing could hold the key to finding her abductor.

Portuguese cops were called to a break-in nine miles from where the tot was snatched as the frantic search began.

4

Portuguese cops search for missing Maddie in 2007Credit: PA:Press Association
The new lead was buried in Portuguese police files.

A detailed analysis of police phone records for the first time reveals how the National Republican Guard police station in nearby Lagos received a call 16 minutes after Madeleine was reported missing – diverting them in the other direction.

One of the only patrol cars on duty was sent to respond to an incident in the town of Odiaxere, northeast of Praia da Luz.

4

The new lead suggests local police received a call 16 minutes after Madeleine was reported missingCredit: PA:Press Association
The vital lost hour is now being probed as investigators focus on the theory that the triggering of a burglar alarm could have been used as a ploy to cover the abductor’s escape.

4

Trained dogs are said to have followed a trail to an apartmen two doors from where the McCanns were stayingCredit: Reuters
The burglary call was made from a building in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon owned by Securitas Direct Portugal – a firm contracted to oversee alarm systems.

It can also be revealed that traces of Madeleine’s scent from her clothes were not picked up on the night she vanished because local sniffer dogs were attending a police function hundreds of miles away.

Two untrained dogs failed to pick up any clues in the crucial first minutes. But the day after, trained dogs followed a trail to apartment 5C, two doors from where the McCanns were staying, that was reportedly unoccupied.

4

Kate and Gerry McCann have spent a decade searching for their daughter but have so far been left chasing shadowsCredit: PA:Press Association
Scotland Yard are eager to trace two blond-haired men seen on the balcony of that apartment at 2.30pm on the day of Madeleine’s disappearance.