New suspect in Madeleine McCann case ‘biggest break yet’

The instantly recognisable face of missing three-year-old Madeleine McCann appears on most of the front pages. 

The Daily Mail dedicates 11 pages to the announcement that a German man has been identified as the prime suspect in her disappearance – describing it as “the biggest breakthrough” in the 13-year investigation.

“Have they found the man who took Maddie?” asks its headline.

Inside, it prints images of what it describes as the “ramshackle farm building” where the man lived, which it says was on a path running to the Algarve beach where Madeleine played with her family. 

The paper says he has been at the centre of a three-year investigation involving British, German and Portuguese police who have been trying to “unravel” his movements.

The Daily Express prints images of what it calls the man’s “tatty camper van”, alongside a description of him as a “convicted child sex attacker” who is believed to have burgled hotel complexes and holiday apartments. 

The government’s quarantine plans for new arrivals into the UK continue to come under scrutiny.

The Times reports that leading scientists have “hit out” at the policy. One tells the paper the move “makes no sense” as it will have a “negligible impact on public health”.

Another says people arriving in the UK are more likely to be infected by immigration officers at the airport than the other way round.

In its editorial, the Financial Times says the policy represents another example of Britain being “out of step” with its partners around the world, who are beginning to reopen their borders.

It warns the impact on the UK’s financial and professional services sectors could cause serious disruption to the economic recovery and urges the government to establish “air bridges” to countries with low infection rates.

In his column in the Daily Telegraph, Allister Heath warns that mishandling the pandemic could lead to the government’s undoing. 

He urges Boris Johnson to make a televised address to the nation, accepting that “bad mistakes have been made” and announcing sweeping changes including high-profile sackings and the abolition of Public Health England.

Mr Johnson, he writes, must be “bolder and more radical” to prevent economic confidence in his government collapsing, advising him to borrow to invest, ditch the fiscal rules, slash stamp duty and resist tax rises.

The Sun makes similar calls. It says Mr Johnson must ignore demands from ex-chancellors for a new era of austerity. “Lower taxes are the route to a rapid bounce back,” says the paper.

The Guardian says it has obtained figures showing that in some areas of north-east England, almost no schools reopened to more pupils this week.

The paper says data from 11 of the largest local authorities in the region – which has the highest Covid-19 infection rate in the UK – shows just 12% of schools admitted additional pupils. 

It reports that a poll of members of the biggest teaching union – the NEU – suggests that across England, 44% of schools remained closed to most children.

It says scientists in the US have, for the first time, grown hair on a mouse, using human stem cells. The paper hails the research as “a breakthrough” which it says could lead to “an unlimited supply of locks for millions who are follicly challenged.”