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14th January 2018
12:29pm GMT
An Irish-born private detective who was accused of siphoning off money that had been donated to try to find Madeleine McCann has passed away.
Dublin-born Kevin Halligen was found dead in his Surrey home on Monday night according to Press Assocation.
The 56-year-old denied misusing funds that were put aside for McCann's search after their daughter went missing in Portugal in May 2007.
According to the BBC, Adrian Gatton, a TV director and investigative journalist, who made a documentary with Halligen in 2014 said about the death that:
"There was blood around the house, probably caused by previous falls when he was either drunk or blacking out.
"His house was full of empty drink bottles. A lot of people wished him ill but his death is almost certainly related to alcoholism."
Accusations about Halligen's involvement in the misuse of the McCann funds began in 2008 but he always stated that it was false.
In a channel 5 documentary about the investigation, he said that:
Halligen's firm - Oakley International - were paid about €337,000 to hire other private detectives, set up a hotline and process information over a six month period regarding the McCann investigation.
The initial contract was around €500,000 but it was terminated because Halligen "failed to fulfil certain agreements" in the eyes of the McCanns.
In 2012, he was sentenced to 41 months in prison in relation to an unrelated €1.3m fraud case.
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