Informant claimed Madeleine McCan was stolen to order

The ring then ordered her abduction from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz three days later on May 3, 2007, according to the informant.

Scotland Yard sent the information in an email to their counterparts in Leicestershire, where the McCann family lives. It was then passed to detectives in Portugal.

"Intelligence suggests that a paedophile ring in Belgium made an order for a young girl three days before Madeleine McCann was taken," the email says. "Somebody connected to this group saw Maddie, took a photograph of her and sent it to Belgium. The purchaser agreed that the girl was suitable and Maddie was taken."

A Scotland Yard spokesperson has confirmed the contents of the email, but would not comment on the informant's identity or reliability, or how seriously the claim was taken.

Reported by Radio Netherlands, Copyright

This new development comes a day after it was revealed that Annemarie Stam, a shop assistant in Amsterdam, may have seen Madeleine in June 2007.

At the time the news of Madeleine McCann's disappearance had not broken in the international media.

Ms Stam has told Dutch newspapers that she would have done something straight away if she had known about it. As it was, the incident played on her mind, and after a couple of weeks she made a statement to the police.