Maddie McCann search in race against time with just hours left to find evidence

Irish Daily Mirror

a day ago

The search for missing toddler Madeleine McCann has resumed for a third and final day near where she disappeared in Praia da Luz in 2007. It's expected to be called off today if German and Portuguese police fail to find any evidence relating to her disappearance 18 years ago.
This morning search teams have been spotted using a JCB digger to clear rubble from the remains of a derelict building at the far eastern end of the 50-hectare site between Praia da Luz and Lagos. Yesterday, the operation moved away from disused farm buildings close to where prime suspect Christian Brueckner used to live when the three-year-old vanished on May 3 2007.
It comes after Brueckner gave a face-to-face interview with the German network RTL from prison.
A man who claims he was close to Christian Brueckner says investigatiors are currently searching the wrong location.
Ken Ralphs told GB News that Brueckner's alleged accomplice "started to cry" one night and confessed "he was going to get involved with Christian to take a child in Praia de Luz". According to Mr Ralphs, there was a "property and a house" which was being used by the German national before he returned to his homeland.
He believes officers should be focussing on that location, rather than where they're currently searching.
During yesterday's search, investigators were spotted walking away from one of the search areas with a box - which was taken to a tent in their operations centre. Local newspaper Correio da Manha said the material had been collected from one of the abandoned buildings being searched, just a few miles from Praia da Luz.
The newspaper said the material will be analysed to see if it contains anything relevant to the investigation.
German and Portuguese police are yet to make any official comments about the search.
Portuguese detectives at the search scene say they are not planning on being here tomorrow - suggesting this is the final day of the German-led operation.
Officers are trying to find evidence that could implicate the prime suspect, Christian Brueckner, who is currently in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005. He is due to be released in September.
This is the house Christian Brueckner was reportedly staying in Monte Judeu, Portugal.
Searches are being carried out close to Praia De Luz, by officers investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, in countryside a few miles from the resort where she was last seen in 2007. The search is being conducted at the request of the German federal police as they look for evidence that could implicate Brueckner, who German prosecutors say is the prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance.
The search has resumed for a third day.
A JCB digger can be seen clearing rubble from the remains of a derelict building at the far eastern end of the 50-hectare site between Praia da Luz and Lagos.
A completely separate operation to carry out the controlled demolition of unstable cliffs next to the scene is taking place today, involving fire crews, maritime police and local officials.
The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been described by a former neighbour as an "angry" young man who was heard having "arguments with his girlfriend".
Ruth Maclean, a British expat who lived next door to Christian Brueckner in 2007 - just a mile from the latest search area - told The Times: "He was my neighbour, he was German, young, quite angry. I would hear him having arguments with his girlfriend."
She added: "He raped a lady in the town. I heard about that afterwards, just a ghastly piece of work. But I didn't know of him being a ghastly piece of work at the time." Slamming the search effort, Maclean said: "We are all so exhausted. It just goes on and on. It beggars belief."
"I know the properties [being searched] because I ride up there all the time with my horses. There may have been one or two wells in the old days... The fact they are going to dredge them seems absolutely ludicrous, but who knows."
Searches for Madeleine McCann are due to resume this morning close to where she disappeared from Praia da Luz, Portugal.
German and Portuguese police will have until Friday to find any evidence relating to her disappearance 18 years ago.
German police are searching the site in Praia da Luz after they received a tip-off.
Authorities from the country previously searched around the area in 2023 amid suspicion Christian Brueckner might have been at the site around when Madeleine McCann vanished.
Brueckner has claimed he has no involvement with her disappearance and called the area his "paradise" that he liked to visit.
An eyewitness has said its "clear" search activity in Praia da Luz has moved.
Sky News reporter Dan Whitehead, who is at the site, said: "The focus yesterday for police was on disused farm buildings, close to where the prime suspect Christian B lived.
"It's clear that the activity has moved elsewhere at the moment."
In April this year, ministers approved up to £108,000 in additional funding for Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
The probe, known as Operation Grange, has totalled more than £13.2m since 2011.
The investigation into Madeleine's disappearance was initially being handled by the Portuguese authorities, with the aid of the Metropolitan Police - but German investigators took over in 2020 after identifying German national Christian Brueckner as a prime suspect.
Brueckner is coming the end of a seven-year long prison sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal in 2005. He is due to be released in September, but his release may be pushed back to early 2026 if he fails to pay a fine he owes.
The McCann family said in a statement today that they will not be doing any interviews during the investigation.
A spokeswoman for the official Find Madeleine Campaign said: 'Due to an active police investigation, Kate and Gerry are not doing interviews at this time.'
Madeleine McCann's parents are helping their son realise his goal of becoming a gold medal Olympic athlete as investigators search for a trace of his missing sister. Madeleine, who went missing aged just three in 2007 while her family was on holiday in the Algarve, has two younger twin siblings who returned to the UK with Kate and Gerry McCann after her disappearance.
Another round of searches began this week, with Portuguese and German investigators combing through land in the municipality of Lagos, near Praia da Luz in search for a trace of the girl who would now be aged 22. But, back in Britain, elite swimmer Sean McCann is training for a possible shot at Olympic glory.
Sean and his twin sister Amelie were just two years old when their sister disappeared 18 years ago. In the nearly two decades since she went missing, the 20-year-old has become a highly accomplished swimmer tipped to join Team GB in Los Angeles in 2028.
German police were seen using a JCB digger at a large derelict farmhouse - where prime suspect Christian Brueckner used to live - today. This was paired with officers using ground-penetrating radar around the property and on the ground floor of the building.
German police have until June 6 to look through the areas and properties in southern Portugal they believe could be linked to Madeleine McCann's disappearance.
The warrants issued be German prosecutors have allowed police to search the area from June 2 to 6 - meaning there will be just two more days left of this current search.
German officers are aiming to look through "multiple areas a day" in the operation intended to continue until at least Friday.
This search in Portugal comes two years after police were last in the area for this case.
German cops spent a week looking throught the Barragem do Arade reservoir, around 30 miles from where Madeleine was last seen. They searched this location in 2023 after they got a tip-off.
Main suspect Christian Bruekner is said to have visited the area frequently, referring to it as "paradise".
Convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner appeared to show "no guilt" and says he is looking forward to a "nice steak and a beer" when he walks free.
The 48-year-old German at the centre of the Madeleine McCann case gave a face-to-face interview with the German network RTL, from prison - amid the fresh search in Portugal. He is currently serving the end of a seven-year sentence for the brutal rape of a 72-year-old woman, in the Algarve in 2006.
After the interview, the RTL reporter Ulrich Oppold said: "Christian B. seemed intelligent to me, perhaps a little distant, and I think he had prepared himself very well for our conversation. He knew exactly what he wanted to say and, above all, what he didn't want to say."
Brueckner said he would not talk to the reporter about Madeleine, after a discussion with his lawyers.
Images have shown a house the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's case had reportedly been stay in. The property is in Monte Judeu, around a 20 minute drive away from Praia da Luz.
German police have launched a renewed search near Praia da Luz, where Madeleine McCann went missing 18 years ago, but Portuguese cops have shared their thoughts.
An anonymous Portuguese police source said they have "low expectations" about this search. Despite this, they added that they have been given "orders" and are "not going to stand in the way".
The source told The Sun: "The information that's being put out in the public arena is that they'll last five days with the preparation work and clean-up afterwards and we've been told to expect three days of full work on the ground. But on the Portuguese side at least there's wishful thinking this could all be done in one day.
"We would love to be proved wrong and see a significant discovery because it's what we've all been working towards for so many years. But the area that's going to be turned upside down this week has already been searched by Portuguese officers."
Cops have been pictured search in and around several abandoned properties near Praia da Luz. These homes, linked to Christian Brueckner, have been left nearly falling apart with no windows and much of the home brought to rubble.
Parts of these homes had no roof and there was graffiti on the walls. Several other locations in the area have also been looked at by cops.
Police have been pictured using ground-penertaing radar around an derelict home once lived in by prime suspect Christian Brueckner.
German cops have been spotted clearing vegetation around the home and using diggers to remove rubble. The penetrating radars use electromagnetic radiation which sends pulses into the ground to help signal if any objects are below the surface.
This could help police dig in more precise locations rather than pull up huge amounts of land.
A JCB digger has today been spotted moving into the large derelict farmhouse - where prime suspect Christian Brueckner used to live - which was the focus of yesterday's search.
Two German officers are using the ground-penetrating radar on the ground floor of the building.
Yesterday, officers were seen moving mounds of earth before taking it away in plastic bags for further examination.
This week's operation is focusing on a sparsely developed area of land around 3.5 miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was last seen while on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry in May 2007.
Alongside those using ground-penetrating radar and excavating the site with diggers, other members of the search have been combing the designated search area.
The major new operation began earlier this week, and appears to be at its busiest today.
The Metropolitan Police have said they are aware of this week's operation, but that British officers will not be present.
Scotland Yard took over the Madeleine McCann missing persons investigation in 2011, following a request from then-Home Secretary Theresa May.
German police last visited Portugal in connection with the Madeleine McCann case in 2023. They spent a week searching the Barragem do Arade reservoir, located about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, following reports of a tip-off. Christian Bruekner, the main suspect, is said to have visited the area frequently, referring to it as 'paradise.'
The reservoir had previously been searched by divers in 2008 at the request of Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragão Correia, who acted on claims that Madeleine's body might be there. However, both searches ultimately yielded no results.
Police are aiming to search "multiple areas a day" in an operation intended to continue until at least Friday, June 6.
It is not clear what sparked the latest search, which is being carried out just a couple of miles from Praia da Luz - the last known location of Madeleine McCann. Police are likely to be looking for a body, or for any signs that Madeleine was taken to the area after she vanished.
It's been reported that cracks were already appearing yesterday between the Portuguese police who have made it clear they are simply 'complying' with decisions they haven't taken and their German counterparts. A Portuguese police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said overnight: "We have low expectations about these searches but we've got our orders and we're not going to stand in the way.
"The information that's being put out in the public arena is that they'll last five days with the preparation work and clean-up afterwards and we've been told to expect three days of full work on the ground. But on the Portuguese side at least there's wishful thinking this could all be done in one day.
The scale of this week's searches could be the most extensive since the initial investigation into Madeleine's disappearance was closed in 2008 - a year after the toddler vanished in Praia da Luz.
It will focus on wells, ruins, and water storage tanks on 21 plots of privately-owned land.
German police requested the four-day long operation close to a cottage prime suspect Christian Brueckner lived when Maddie went mssing 18 years ago.