Madeleine McCann detectives have interviewed an ex-pat British gardener about the disappearance of the three-year-old but he has insisted: "I never saw her."
According to the Sunday People, the man was working near a Portuguese holiday apartment where Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007.
Detectives re-examining the case interviewed him this month on his whereabouts on the night Madeleine went missing from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz.
But the gardener told the People: "I never saw the girl, or the McCanns. I did do work for the Ocean Club.
"Someone apparently told the police they saw someone matching my description lurking around on the night she went missing.
"But I wasn't there – I was in a bar somewhere else."
"They've checked this out before. They sent detectives to the bar to speak to the owner. I have witnesses that I was there."
The gardener, who lives on the Algarve, told the newspaper he was questioned about Madeleine for 'around 11 hours' in 2007.
He added: "Why are they spending all this money? People go missing all the time.
"It's a long time ago. They'll never find her. I've racked my brains. They need to leave it now."
Madeleine's parents Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, were at a tapas bar about 80 yards from their apartment when Madeleine vanished.
Gerry checked on her and her brother and sister at 9.15pm. At 10pm Kate found she had gone.
The gardener says he was at a bar until 7pm, then went home. He returned to the bar at 9.30pm, staying until 11.30pm.
Police believe seven new possible suspects, five men and two women, may have information.