A con-man private eye who allegedly conned Maddie McCann’s parents into paying him for a scam probe into her disappearance was found dead of unexplained causes.
The Mirror reports that British authorities found Kevin Halligen, 56, dead and covered in blood in a secluded mansion that reportedly belongs to his partner. The so-called “James Bond” private investigator who conned multiple clients had reportedly fallen ill early in the week and then passed away.
“We were called to an address in Cobbett Hill Road, Normandy, Guildford, on Monday following a report of a man in his 50s having been taken unwell, who subsequently died,” a Surrey Police spokesperson told reporters.
“The death is being treated as unexplained and a file will be passed to the coroner’s office in due course.”
Maddie McCann detective conman Kevin Halligen found dead | Daily Mail Online – https://t.co/oc4GsH2FTo
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Halligen once worked for Maddie McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry Mann, who enlisted him to help find their three-year-old daughter who had disappeared the year before while the family was vacationing at a resort in Portugal. And while Halligen reportedly boasted of high-level connections and sophisticated technologies he would use in this investigation, he was found to squandered much of the half-million British pounds he was paid from a public fun on personal luxuries while neglecting to fulfill his promises.
According to the Mirror, Halligen claimed to have access to satellite technology he would use to trace the events of the night Maddie disappeared, but instead took screengrab images of Google Earth. He also reportedly boasted of setting up a tip hotline but never listened to the messages left by potential tipsters or spoke to them.
“…. It was all a complete lie,” a source told the Mirror.
“He would stay in five-star hotels and order the most expensive food and wine. He lived a playboy lifestyle.”
Halligen, who reportedly had a drinking problem, was later charged with fraud for allegedly scamming the Netherland-based company Trafigura after it hired him to help release two executives who had been arrested while traveling in the Ivory Coast. He was reportedly given $12 million initially for the operation, but the day after he was given additional funding of over $2 million, he allegedly used $1.7 million of that money to buy himself a luxury home.
The owner of a restaurant that Halligen frequented told him that that staffers there nicknamed the private investigator “James Bond” because of his tall tales of intrigue.
Police reportedly said they do not suspect at this time that anyone else was involved in Halligen’s death.
Maddie McCann is still missing, more than 10 years since she first disappeared.
[Feature image: Police handout/Maddie McCann]
