CHRISTIAN B hatched a plot to snatch a child and sell them to a couple just a week before Maddie went missing in Praia da Luz, it is alleged. The convicted sex offender even tried to recruit a man to help him execute his plan, it has been claimed.
Expat Ken Ralphs, 59, told Sky News that Christian B made the offer to a mutual friend who was living in a tent in the Algarve at the time. He said: “We were sitting around the fire one night after a meal, we had a few beers and during the early hours of the morning my friend began to cry. “I asked him what the matter was and, eventually, he confessed to me he was getting involved with Christian to steal a child from Praia da Luz from a wealthy family.”
Ralphs explained that he was part of a nomadic community – alongside Christian B and their mutual friend- who lived off- the grid in remote parts of Portugal. He said his friend was living in a teepee with his family where he and his wife would bring them food.
He claimed that Christian B took advantage of the man’s financial situation and tried to convince him to participate in the kidnapping plot. “Christian knew the guy was vulnerable and wanted to travel abroad, but he couldn’t leave because he couldn’t afford the air tickets,” he said. He said he urged his friend not to get involved and offered to help him financially.
He continued: “I said you can’t get involved in kidnapping a person for ransom, that’s ridiculous, then he explained – ‘no, it’s not like that’. Christian had a customer, a buyer lined up, a German couple who couldn’t have children.” The allegation comes as the paedophile was accused of kidnapping a child from a beach and sexually assaulting her in 2007.