A PRIVATE detective hired to find missing Madeleine McCann was arrested yesterday after spending six months living a life of secret luxury in a top hotel.

Detectives swooped at the Old Bank Hotel, in Oxford, to arrest suspected fraudster Kevin Halligen.

The 48-year-old has remained high on the FBI’s wanted list following an alleged £1.3m con in America.

Now, following a tip-off from an ex-hotel worker, Halligen is now in custody being quizzed by officers.

Around £500,000 was paid to his firm, Oakley International, by the Find Madeleine Fund, set up by Liverpool-born Kate and Gerry McCann.

It followed the disappearance of their three year-old daughter, from a flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007. But his contract was torn up after six months as little or no progress was made with the hunt.

Private investigators allegedly hired by Halligen found it increasingly difficult to claim their fees, including a former national head of undercover operations for the British police, who says he is owed £100,000.

Halligen is said to have offered to provide satellite photos from the night Maddie – whose mother, Kate, is from Allerton – vanished to the family, but failed to do so.

Now, the businessman is being held by Thames Valley Police.