MADELEINE MCCANN was killed soon after she was snatched, the German prosecutor leading the investigation believes.
Chief suspect Christian B is said to have boasted about torture and destroying evidence in an online conversation with another paedophile.
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He made chilling threats about wanting to “catch something little and use it for days”, The Times reports.
German cops investigating the disappearance of Inga Gehricke, five, – which Christian B has also been linked to – discovered the conversation.
During the chat, when Christian B was asked about being caught, he reportedly said: “Meh, if the evidence is destroyed . . .”
He then added: “Then I’ll record maaaany videos/clips. I’ll document in detail how she’s being tortured.”
Hans Christian Wolters, Braunschweig state prosecutor, said he feared Madeleine was killed shortly after being abducted from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007.
Mr Wolters told The Times: “My private opinion is that he relatively quickly killed the girl, possibly abused her and then killed her.
“We believe our suspect committed further crimes, especially sexual crimes, in Portugal possibly but also elsewhere in Germany.”
Christian B had also fantasised about wanting to “capture something small and use it for days” in a chatroom exchange, according to earlier reports.
The convicted rapist and paedophile allegedly discussed kidnapping and sexually abusing a child in a chatroom exchange in September 2013, German newspaper Spiegel reported last week.
Cops have no clue where Madeleine’s body is buried but do know how she was killed, it is claimed.
Prosecutors in Germany say they have “evidence” the toddler was killed after she vanished in 2007 in Praia da Luz but not enough to charge suspect Christian B.
My private opinion is that he relatively quickly killed the girl, possibly abused her and then killed her.
Hans Christian Wolters
Meanwhile, there are fears he could be released from prison today if a court in Kiel grants him parole, according to the prosecutor leading the Madeleine McCann investigation.
Christian B is eligible for release after serving two thirds of a 21-month sentence for a drug case from 2011.
Mr Wolters added: “The sooner we get evidence, the better for us to avoid the risk of him ever being released.
“If we find nothing new against him it could be that in seven years at the latest he may be released and leaves Germany for a country that doesn’t extradite.
“If we don’t solve the McCann case perhaps we can prove he committed one or two other crimes, which might be enough to keep him in prison permanently in preventive detention.”
Christian B hasn’t been charged over Madeleine’s disappearance, and can’t be held in jail for it.
