Portuguese police drew up e-fits of suspicious men seen hanging around Praia da Luz before Leicestershire girl Madeleine McCann went missing but never made them public, the newly-released files have revealed.
The two computer images of potential suspects were created based on eyewitness accounts on May 6, three days after the Rothley girl vanished.
But they were not circulated as part of appeals for information about what happened to Madeleine.
De
rek Flack, 64, from Ilford, east London, was staying in his holiday home in Praia da Luz in early May last year.
While out for a walk with his partner on May 2 or 3 he saw a suspicious man gazing towards the Ocean Club complex, where Madeleine and her family were staying at the time.
A Portuguese police report in the file states: "He then realised the man was staring fixedly at the area in question, very focused on what he was doing, and did not notice Flack's presence."
The man was Caucasian, tanned and apparently aged between 25 and 35, and Mr Flack was convinced he was not a tourist. He appeared to be looking at a van parked near a footpath giving access to the back of apartment 5A, the McCanns' holiday flat.
Police showed an e-fit of a man - it is not clear whether this is the person seen by Mr Flack - to another witness, British ex-pat Lance Purser, 45.
Mr Purser said he had seen someone similar in Praia da Luz several times, about a fortnight before Madeleine disappeared.
The man he saw was scruffy, aged 35 to 40, thin, and usually dressed in dark clothes.
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