A REDBRIDGE man provided important evidence for the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, files reveal.

The British toddler has been missing for over a year since disappearing from her parent’s holiday apartment in Portugal, and now the case has been shelved, previously confidential documents can finally be examined.

Among the details is the testamony of 60-year-old Derek Flack, of Ilford, who was staying in his holiday home in Praia da Luz when he saw a suspicious man gazing towards the Ocean Club complex, where Madeleine and her family were staying.

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 Mr Flack saw was white, aged from 25 to 35 with tanned skin and appeared to be looking at a van parked near a footpath giving access to the back of apartment 5A, where the McCanns were staying.

The report continues: "He concluded that the man was monitoring the movements near that path and into the apartment. The man looked suspicious, he was watching the apartment.

"Flack said he does not remember seeing the man there before, or anywhere else in Luz, or since Madeleine's disappearance."