• 'I know these people were involved and I have been told that Maddie may now be in America' 
• He says gang attacked him after he threatened to unmask them
• McCanns' spokesman says amateur investigator has 'done the right thing' by contacting police
  

Madeleine McCann was kidnapped by a paedophile ring with connections in Britain and could now be in America, a club security man has claimed.
Marcelino Italiano believes Maddie may have been kidnapped by the gang and smuggled out of Portugal, where the three-year-old went missing during a family holiday in 2007.

The bouncer who worked in the Algarve has reportedly spoken to police and named two suspects. He told the Sun: 'I know these people were involved and I have been told that Madeleine may now be in America.

'I can't say how, but I have known these people and believe they can get away with anything.'

'Snatched': the new claims allege that Madeleine McCann was snatched from the Algarve by the paedophile ring. She is pictured left as she might look now and as a three-year-old in 2007 on the right

He also claims to have been attacked by members of the paedophile gang, after he threatened  to reveal their identity.

Mr Italiano, originally from Angola, is said to have named a London-based associate of the paedophile ring's leader and claimed the ring also targeted orphanages.

'I think there have been over a dozen children kidnapped. They prey on the weak and vulnerable,' he told the Sun.

'They are ruthless. I have been attacked twice twice for trying to investigate it and even lost my front tooth in one attack.'

Mr Italiano, a 6ft 4in bouncer, recently fled Portugal and handed his dossier of claims about Madeleine's disappearance to police in Huelva, Spain, on Monday. He has vowed to stop at nothing to expose the ring.

'He has done the right thing': Gerry and Kate McCann said that police should investigate the claims. They are releasing a book about her disappearance

Sightings of Maddie have been reported in North America, Tasmania and Dubai since her disappearance and now Portuguese police and private investigators are looking into his claims.

Mr Italiano said the ring was based in the Algarve and his claims have similarities to the  Casa Pia ring, six members were jailed for sexually abusing more than 30 children living in Portugese state-run orphanages.

A Spanish police source told the Daily Mirror: 'He says he believes the believes Madeleine was taken to the U.S. some time ago that the gang has the capacity to do this.

'He is positive they have taken many more children from the area and is convinced they are behind Madeleine's abduction.'

The Spanish police has passed the evidence to officers in Portugal.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007 as her parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

The official Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance was formally shelved in July 2008, although private detectives employed by the McCanns have continued the search.

It has previously been suggested the British toddler may have been snatched 'to order' by a Belgian child smuggling ring, but Portuguese officers and Interpol were unable to discover further details about the allegation.

Holiday apartment: The Mark Warner complex in Praia Da Luz where the McCanns where staying when Madeleine went missing

Of the latest claims about their daughter, a spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann said: ''As with any information concerning Madeleine, this man has done absolutely the right thing by going to the police in Spain.

''It is entirely appropriate that the police and any other law enforcement body now investigates these claims along with the private investigators currently searching for Madeleine.

'These investigations are now under way.'

The McCanns are planning to release a book about their daughter's disappearance, but have delayed its release to avoid clashing with the royal wedding.  

The couple's account of how the little girl vanished on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007 was due to hit the shops on April 28 2011, just before the fourth anniversary of her disappearance.

But publishers Transworld postponed the release date by a fortnight after it was announced that Prince William would marry Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey in London on April 29.

The book is being written by the McCanns themselves and is simply entitled 'Madeleine'.It  will now be published on May 12, the missing child's eighth birthday.

All proceeds from sales of the book will go to the McCanns' official fund to look for Madeleine, which had been in danger of running out in 2011.