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The father of a woman who disappeared nearly 20 years ago fears Madeleine McCann suspect Christian B may have abducted his daughter too.
Phil Kerton’s daughter Louise went missing in July 2001 as she was travelling back from Germany. No trace of her has been found since.
The 75-year-old still lives in the home where Louise, 24, grew up, at Lambardes, in New Ash Green.
Now Mr Kerton has pleaded with police to probe his daughter's disappearance – believing Madeleine McCann suspect Christian B may have also abducted her.
Louise went missing in Germany while the murder suspect was flitting between the Portuguese resort Praia da Luz – where Madeleine is believed to have been kidnapped – and his German homeland.
Christian B has now been linked with cases ranging from a missing girl of five to the killing of a prostitute.
The 43-year-old prime suspect was released from prison for abusing a child just seven months before Louise vanished, court papers reveal.
Mr Kerton said: "I'm delighted to know the McCanns have managed to get new leads after fighting for so long. It shows there are things still to be discovered."
He has been told federal police in Germany have been asked to provide a list of all missing females during this time.
"It is logical Louise ought to be on that list," he said.
"In that era people were looking at credit cards and bank statements.
"There are various rules and regulations about phone companies having to keep phone records.
"I would urge police to make sure his whereabouts and his activities at the time of Louise’s disappearance are properly investigated.”
"It is logical Louise ought to be on that list"
Trainee nurse Louise lived with her fiance Peter Simon in Broadstairs.
But after her final year at Canterbury Christ Church University she decided to spend the summer with his family in Strassfeld, near the former West German capital Bonn.
The last person to reportedly see Louise alive was her future mother-in-law Ramana Simon, who claimed she dropped the 24-year-old at Aachen railway station so she could catch a train to Ostend, Belgium, and get a ferry home.
Mrs Simon did not watch Louise board the train and no trace of her was found despite investigations by police in England, Germany, and Belgium.
After a review of her case in 2011, police officers in Germany decided there was nothing more they could do.
The family has met with government ministers and even hired private detectives in that time.
But Mr Kerton has spoken of the difficulties the family experienced pursuing the investigation in Germany, owing to "cultural differences" in policing and the lack of CCTV in public places at the time.
"They [German authorities] feel they can only investigate if they have evidence not just grounds for suspicion," he said.
This, he says, often led to delays and an unwillingness to fully engage with Kent Police who had "identified concerns that were sufficient to request that it be raised to a criminal investigation".
"We see the same thing in the McCann's case," he said. "The Portuguese police seemed to take the same view."
He believes old-fashioned policing of knocking on doors may have brought different lines of inquiry in that investigation, in particular if there was "a chap down the road who lived in a campervan and seemed a bit dodgy".
He says a major difference was his daughter was an adult at the time, to which he noted in many European countries the attitude was that these people don't want to be found.
That's not to say they don't search, he hastens to add, but it means the investigation is conducted differently.
The family stopped their trips to mainland Europe just before the two-year anniversary of Louise’s disappearance and now have no communication with Louise's fiancé Peter and his family.
A regional German newspaper in Bonn, the General-Anzeiger, released a podcast entitled the "Rhineland files" a few months ago in which various people discussed the case.
According to their website, they speak to GA journalist Jörg Manhold, who reported on the case back then and "came to a clear conclusion" but if that is the case, Mr Kerton says he has never been told.
To add to their heartbreak, Louise’s mum, Mr Kerton’s wife, Kath, died of stomach cancer in 2010.
On the 16th anniversary of his daughter's disappearance in 2017 Mr Kerton spoke of the psychological impact it had on his family.
“You go through all these stages of grieving but never get to the end of it."
He said: “It affects various members of the family, on and off, very badly. It’s like bereavement in many ways.
“You go through all these stages of grieving but never get to the end of it.
“I don’t sit here being miserable, thinking about Louise all day every day, but I do think of her every day.
“I think ‘why didn’t you talk to us about your problems instead of running off?’
“Or else I blame myself – I should have done more, I should have realised what was happening.”
Despite all this, Mr Kerton has never given up hope of finding his daughter.
His home in New Ash Green is just yards away from the family home in Bazes Shaw of another high profile missing person, Sarah Wellgreen.
Ex-partner Ben Lacomba was found guilty of her murder in October but searches continue for the body of the mother-of-five who has never been found.
Speaking in November, Mr Kerton told her family to never give up hope on finding some news or information.
Mr Kerton said: “I’ve always shared posts and news of anyone who has gone missing online so the news spreads.
"I would tell Miss Wellgreen’s family never to give up hope. Some news will come at some time. Something will be discovered which will explain how this has happened."
