ABOVE: Madeleine McCann

I am satisfied to have taken out of circulation more than 20 paedophiles, plus those who will be arrested in the future Francisco Marco

DETECTIVES hunting for Madeleine McCann have exposed a child porn network operating in Spain

Thirteen people have been arrested in police swoops sparked by the search for the missing Brit youngster

Barcelona-based private detective agency Metodo 3 was hired by Gerry and Kate McCann, both 40, to help find their daughter Madeleine

Three months into their investigation, its detectives received an anonymous email claiming the youngster appeared in a child porn video being distributed on the internet.

The team, led by agency director Francisco Marco, tracked down the images and discovered Madeleine was not among them.

But they reported their findings to Spain’s National Police and officers launched a major operation to hunt down the paedophiles distributing the videos. 

Armed police staged a series of raids across Spain last month and arrested 13 people. And 10 more are being formally investigated by a judge in Barcelona who is overseeing the police operation.

Father-of-two Marco, 36, said the videos were “the worst images I have seen in my life”.

He added: “In the films all the victims are under 10

“I am satisfied to have taken out of circulation more than 20 paedophiles, plus those who will be arrested in the future.”

Reports in Spain said the sick videos were being distributed by file-sharing programmes

Police sources said that they showed dozens of young children, mostly girls, being sexually abused.

The Spanish paedophiles were said to be allowing internet users around the globe access to the films.
Madeleine was days short of her fourth birthday when she went missing during a family holiday to Praia da Luz in Portugal, back in May 2007.