Published: Wednesday, 27th May, 2009 12:00pm

Madeleine suspect lived in Redhills

by Michael Cryan

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An English paedophile, who is a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in the Algarve two years ago, resided in the Redhills area for between eight and nine months between the early and mid 1990s, gardaí in Cavan have confirmed.

Raymond Hewlett was considered by gardaí to be a 'sexual predator' and was investigated while he lived Cavan, although he was never charged with any offence. He was also suspected of raping a young girl in Cavan around that time and in 1991 was the prime suspect in the attempted rape of a nine-year-old girl in Fermanagh. His then wife told gardaí she suspected him of being a rapist.

He travelled frequently back to England and Europe and is believed to have been part of a British paedophile network who actively helped each other find safe houses and locations to track children. His last known address in Ireland was in Fermanagh but between 1997 and his last known sighting in Ireland in 1999, his whereabouts are uncertain.

A garda spokesman told the Anglo-Celt yesterday (Tuesday) that Hewlett also lived in Scotshouse area of Monaghan for a short period as well. He added that Hewlett travelled back and forth between Ireland and Britain for over 20 years.

Hewlett quit Ireland before the Sex Offenders Register was introduced and the spokesman could not confirm if he was ever placed on it. The garda source said: 'Hewlett moved around the country to avoid detection living mostly along the Border in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Louth, Sligo and down south in Cork.'

It is believed that he was part of a network of British paedophiles who used Ireland as a bolt-hole when they came to the attention of the UK police.

He was a prime suspect in the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl on the Yorkshire Moors in October 1975. In 1978, Hewlett attacked another 14-year-old girl, putting a gun to her head. She managed to escape. He received a four-year jail term for attempted rape. He received another jail sentence for the attempted rape of 14-year-old in 1988.

Hewlett also abducted a 12-year-old girl and took her to the moors near his home in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. He incapacitated her with a rag soaked in paint thinners and was in the process of attempting to rape her when the girl escaped. He received only one year"s imprisonment.

He was born in Blackpool in 1945 and served in the Scots Guards before working as a trawlerman and then various odd jobs, and is currently being treated for throat cancer in Germany. He was one of several highly dangerous paedophiles from Britain who were known to have visited Ireland from the "70s onwards.