A private detective hired to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been found dead in "unexplained" circumstances.
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Madeleine McCann disappeared from Portugal in May 2007, a week before her fourth birthday.
Kevin Halligen, 56, was one of the first private detectives hired to the high-profile case in 2008.
He fell unwell at a home in Surrey, England, and died last week, reports The Telegraph.
He had previously been accused of siphoning £300,000 (NZ$567,700) in public donations to the McCann case in order to pay for first-class travel, luxury hotel rooms, a chauffeur and a mansion.
"The death is being treated as unexplained and a file will be passed to the coroner's office in due course," Surrey police told media.
In 2013, Halligen was sentenced to 41 months in a US prison in an unrelated fraud case.
Newshub.