A BURNLEY psychic medium who helped the FBI catch a serial killer has spoken out about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Grandfather John Warne is convinced that the schoolgirl was snatched on behalf of an American, and that she is now living in Minnesota and attending college. 

Mr Warne (82), a respected Spiritualist for 57 years, began his own pyschic investigation after being annoyed about a claim by television psychic Derek Acorah. 

Acorah said that a messenger from the spirit world told him: “She’s not on this earth any more”, but he has since apologised to Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, saying he was misquoted. 

Mr Warne, of Morse Street, Burnley, said: “I always thought the police would find the little girl. I didn’t want to bother looking into what has happened to her it because it is a lot of strain, but when Derek Acorah said she was dead I had to do.

“It doesn’t make sense to go to people and say she is dead. It’s diabolical. If it was the case that she had died he should have known what happened, who did it and where she is now. It is a terrible thing to say that someone’s missing child is dead.”

Mr Warne’s pyschic investigation leads him to believe that Maddie was kidnapped to order in May 2007, and that the snatcher was in the Algarve holiday resort the day before.

“The bloke who took her was in his early 30s with brown hair, he was 5ft. 8in. and in a light blue outfit. He checked her out the day before it happened.

“Once he grabbed her, he put her in a car round the corner and drove to a waiting boat. By the time the alarm was raised they were gone.

“The guy was an American, but he didn’t take her for himself. He was working for someone.”

Mr Warne is convinced that Maddie is alive and well, but knows nothing of her early life.

“I know she is at college in Minnesota. It is a reddish brown building with several storeys.I have never been there, but I can see it.”

Mr Warne hopes that police and investigators looking into Maddie’s disappearance will follow up his lead. He has worked with police forces over the years, helping to solve murders, and with the FBI in Atlanta, Georgia, in the hunt for a serial killer. An arrest was made within 10 days of Mr Warne’s advice to look for a black professional photographer.

Mr Warne added: “Imagine Maddie’s parents reading that she is dead, it must be terrible for them. That set me off. I know it is not true.”