A shocking allegation has been made against Madeline McCann’s PI

Kevin Halligen, who had been hired by Madeline McCann's parents a year after the three-year-old had gone missing, has been accused of using another child and her parents as 'bait' to find the kidnapper in Portugal.

Kevin died in January of this year and details surrounding an incident in 2008 are coming to light now. Sources claim he employed a family, with a small child the same age as Madeline, to go to Praia da Luz in Portugal, where she disappeared from in 2007. According to The Sun, the incident was recalled by another private investigator, Richard Parton, on a new documentary, The Conman And The McCanns. He said:

"He got a couple to go on holiday with a child who looks a lot like Madeleine. Apparently, she was to have been used as bait."

56-year-old Kevin Halligen was found dead, in January, by police in his girlfriend's home after they were informed that he had been "feeling unwell". Halligen, who was born in Dublin and had dual Irish and American citizenship, had been hired by Madeline McCann's parents and the Find Madeline Fund on a £500,000 (a little over €560,000) contract in 2008, a year after the three-year-old had gone missing. The McCann's hired Halligen when they became frustrated that the Portuguese police had failed to find any clue as to their daughter's case, but subsequently ended their contract with him in 2009, as Sky News reports that they believed he failed to deliver on the work they had paid him for.