Daily Mail 27/12/07 - Maddie Detectives hunt for DJ Shifty

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-504606/Madeleine-Private-detectives-hunt-British-barman-known-DJ-Shifty-accused-grooming-age-girl-sex.html


(sorry - not sure why the text below has come out like that)



Madeleine: Private detectives hunt for British barman known as DJ Shifty, accused of grooming an under-age girl for sex
By NEIL SEARS & SAM GREENHILL
Last updated at 11:28 27 December 2007

The private detectives seeking
Madeleine McCann say they are
hunting a Briton who fled Praia da
Luz after being accused of grooming
an under-age girl for sex.
Part-time barman and disc jockey
Christian Ridout, 32, allegedly sent the
British girl obscene text messages when
he worked in an expats' pub 200 yards
from where Madeleine disappeared.
When the 12-year-old's mother discovered
the explicit messages, Ridout - also known
as DJ Shifty - left Portugal in a hurry.
Scroll down for more...
Christian Ridout
This
was some time before Madeleine disappeared
on May 3 - but the missing man's parents
still run the same pub and concerned
locals immediately gave his name to police.
Portuguese officers, widely criticised for a series of blunders in the
Madeleine case, have never succeeded
in tracing Ridout.
The spokesman for Madeleine's
parents Gerry and Kate confirmed
that the Spanish detective
agency working for them,
Metodo 3, was seeking more
information on the missing man.
The mother of the 12-year-old
told the Daily Mail: "He was sending
my daughter messages offering
to pick her up from school,
and suggesting the most disgusting
sex acts. It went on for two
months before I found out."
By coincidence, the Ridout
family were next-door neighbours
of the family of Robert
Murat, the chief suspect in
the Madeleine hunt, when the
Murats lived in the nearby village
of Almadena.
The night after Madeleine went
missing, a British expat walked
into the Plough and Harrow pub
in Praia da Luz, still owned by his
parents Tony, 57, and Jill, 58, and
asked: "Where's Christian then?".
Locals have disparagingly nicknamed
the pub 'The Plough and
Paedophile' and the missing man
is widely disliked in the tight-knit
community.
Scroll down for more...
Christmas past: Madeleine McCann, pictured last year, went missing in May
The Daily Mail has been shown
an image of Mr Ridout acting
indecently while wearing a Santa
hat, which was taken at a Christmas
party several years ago and which he stored on his computer.
And numerous people in Praia
da Luz have reported that he
regularly talked about his interest
in 'pre-teen' girls.
The mother of the 12-year-old,
who lives near Praia da Luz in
Burgau, said: "I came to the
Algarve five-and-a-half years ago
and started working in the
Plough and Harrow.
"I did the day shift in the bar,
while Christian Ridout took over
for the night shift. He was always
coming out with rude innuendos,
and he'd tell people who didn't know him that he was 21, even
though he was 30.
"My two daughters, then 12 and
14 used to come in to see me, and
Christian used to talk to them,
and eventually it turned out he'd
got my youngest girl's mobile
number."
Some weeks later, in 2005, the
42-year-old woman heard a
rumour that Mr Ridout had been
sending the girl disgusting texts.
"I asked her if she'd been getting
any messages from Christian -
and she had, about 25 of them.
They got progressively more obscene. They were talking about
her being a virgin, telling her he'd
done 'it' before and that he'd be
gentle and it wouldn't hurt.
"He was suggesting he should
pick her up from school. The
messages were absolutely vile.
"My youngest girl is quiet - and
police said that it was a clear
case of grooming. It was very
sick. I couldn't even read the
final ones, but just phoned Christian.
I said, 'If you come anywhere
near my daughters again
I'll kill you.'
"He took all the money from the
till at the Plough and Harrow
and went to Spain that night.
"They later found his VW Golf at
Seville airport, with his keys left
hidden in the wheel arch and he
was believed to have gone back
to England.
"The next day I went to see the
Ridouts and resigned.
"I went to the police station in
the large regional town of
Portimao, and they took all the
explicit messages. I went in to
see them just before Madeleine
disappeared and they confirmed
they're still looking for him.
'No one knows where he is, but
he could have been back to this
area."
Jill Ridout said: "I haven't seen
Christian for two years. I have no
comment on this subject."