Madeleine McCann cops calling off search will spend weeks poring over samples after digging under ‘Brueckner tent' site
COPS in the Madeleine McCann search will spend weeks poring over samples they have collected for any shred of evidence after it is called off.
Teams have spent three days scanning and digging scrubland near where Maddie disappeared - and paid particular attention to a farmhouse - but are expected to wind up this afternoon.
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A group of officers today returned to the derelict farmhouse scouted on day one of the operation - and donned gloves to carry out a close fingertip search.
They have also dug a trench at the site - where 2007 satellite images showed what appeared to be a white tent.
Prime suspect Christian Brueckner is known to have wild-camped in the hippy hangout area around the time of Maddie's disappearance.
Investigators were seen carting away soil and other material, and will now spend weeks analysing this for anything linking Brueckner to Maddie.
The search was scheduled to last three days from Tuesday with an option to extend if anything of interest was unearthed.
A source close to the investigation told The Sun on Thursday morning: 'There are currently no plans to extend and if the situation remains the same the search will end this evening.
'It's very disappointing but nothing taken away from the search area so far has provided any clues.'
Investigators are in a race against time to turn up evidence pinning Maddie's case to Brueckner - who they are convinced killed the tot - before he flees Germany.
They have zeroed in on an area of scrubland - which prolific thief Brueckner scuttled around as his "rat-run" in 2007.
Plans to scour the wider area were scrapped last night - with cops focusing all their efforts on the abandoned buildings linked to the convicted rapist.
Police said they were scouring at least five structures within the 21-square-kilometre search area, where there is a crumbling farmhouse, disused well and derelict barns.
Cops arrived armed with a radar scanner which can penetrate 15ft into the ground, hoping to find evidence of her body or any other clues.
And on Wednesday a large yellow JCB-type digger rolled up to excavate, with evidence of it digging trenches in some of the crumbling sites.
The Sun team on the ground saw the excavator pulling back earth to clear it for the radar, and teams taking away boxes of soil for lab testing.
It comes after we revealed key figures in the case were flown back to Germany to give further statements on the claims Brueckner kidnapped and killed the toddler in 2007.
The ongoing searches are understood to be linked to these secret meetings, which took place at the start of the year.
A police theory is the three-year-old or her pyjamas might have been dumped in trenches near the holiday resort that were dug as part of extensive works at the time.
Brueckner is set for release from jail in September after serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a 2005 Praia da Luz rape of an elderly American woman.
He has never been formally charged over Madeleine's disappearance and denies any involvement - but German cops are convinced he is guilty.
If released, he is expected to flee Germany for a country without an extradition treaty - so even if evidence linking him to Maddie emerges in the future, it may be impossible to bring him to justice.
3rd Jun 2025, 08:29 By Annabel Bate
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