Satellite pic from days after Maddie vanished shows eerie ‘tent' in Brueckner's camping spot now being searched by cops
MADELEINE McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner stayed in a 'wild camping' ground on land now being scoured by cops, The Sun can reveal.
Search teams have
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A recent satellite picture of the farmhouse
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A satellite image of the farmhouse in 2007, seemingly with a tent inside
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Police searching the abandoned building on Tuesday
Credit: Dan Charity
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Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Beurckner pictured arriving in to court in 2024
Credit: Dan Charity
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Madeleine McCann disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007
Credit: AFP
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And German police leading the hunt hope
Searchers were yesterday focusing on at least
Sun analysis of a June 2007 satellite image of one building being
The stone-walled property was photographed from space on June 22, 2007 - seven weeks after Maddie was
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Recent pictures of the same spot show the building's massive deterioration - and lay bare the enormous task facing police seeking
The 2007 images shows the roofless cottage or barn is approximately 58ft long by 25ft wide with a white, 9ft tent like structure pitched inside its walls.
It is impossible to say whether the building was occupied by Brueckner or one of a number of hippie types living in the area in camper vans and tents at the time.
But fading hopes of finding evidence linking him to the three-year-old British tot were also being hampered by the
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Chain saws and diggers were drafted in to excavate ground and clear thick undergrowth which has overwhelmed many of the abandoned buildings.
And
luxury
holiday homes have been built on other key spots within a ten acre area being combed by scores of Portuguese and German cops.
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The abandoned house was scoured in the first day of the Maddie search
Credit: Dan Charity
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The barn was filled with overgrown shrubbery
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A mugshot of Christian Brueckner
Teams spent yesterday toiling in 29C heat at the seaside search plot in an area called Atalaia, a mile east of the Ocean Club and half a mile from Brueckner's old house.
Ground penetrating
Locals said the spot close to a cliff was once a romantic spot where Portuguese couples would canoodle after dark in their cars.
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But by the early noughties
the open
scrubland offering sea views and no parking charges attracted a foreign 'wild camper' set -
Police are believed to have launched their 'last throw of the dice' search after tip-offs from associates about the area and geolocation checks of his computer hardware.
Local man Joao
Pedro
, 63, who grew up in the area, told The Sun: 'It used to be a romantic spot - I used to take my girlfriends there.
'But at the time Maddie went missing in the noughties it was very popular with foreign campers and you'd see camper vans and tents there all time.
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'It was totally unregulated back then and strangers would just pitch up and stay there for free and no one would bother them.'
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Police will be searching scrub land, using radar equipment
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A firefighter draining a well with a yellow hose pipe
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One of the derelict and abandoned properties close to Praia De Luz, Portugal, which has been searched by teams investigating on Wednesday
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Kate (R) and Gerry McCann hold pyjamas similar to those of their daughter during a press conference in 2007
Credit: Getty
A police source at the scene told The Sun yesterday that searches were focusing on the area because Brueckner used to camp in the buildings.
One officer said: 'We are here because Brueckner used to camp here. Not only Brueckner but many people.'
The Sun also examined historic satellite imagery showing Brueckner's single story house around half a mile from the current search site at the time of the abduction.
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Images recorded in 2006 and 2007 show vehicles resembling his distinctive VW camper van nearby.
He moved out of the white and yellow bungalow in late 2006 but a white roofed van still appears to be parked outside it in June 2007 after Maddie was snatched.
A white structure erected close to his house in 2006 when he lived there also appears to have vanished the following year.
Imagery also shows scores of open wells across the entire search area which were being drained and methodically checked for clues yesterday.
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Wider satellite pictures taken in 2007 show a string of building plots around the current search area - which have since become luxury homes and holiday estates.
The worst fear of officers is that Brueckner could have hidden Maddie's body or vital clues in the foundations of buildings which would now be impossible to excavate.
Hopes that telltale fragments of clothing - like
the missing
tot's
pink
Eeyore pyjamas - might be found are also remote.
German federal officers are racing against time to find vital DNA clues after the 48-year-old fiend Brueckner boasted he would 'go to ground' when he is released in September.
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The vile pervert - who cops are convinced took and killed Maddie - is currently due to finish a seven year sentence for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.
A Portuguese police source said last night: 'This really is a last ditch effort - search teams here are hoping they get lucky.
'Officers are determined to do everything they possibly can before Brueckner walks free. They know what is at stake.'
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A criminal police investigator walks near ruins as police resume the search for the body of Madeleine McCann today
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One of the derelict and abandoned properties close to Praia da Luz
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One abandoned house was scoured earlier on Wednesday
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Here's a timeline of the case which has gripped the world.
May 3, 2007
January 15, 2016
Neighbour reports a possible 'grave' at Brueckner's abandoned factory in East Germany.
Cops find disturbing
February 16, 2016
Christian Brueckner is convicted for abusing a girl of five in a park after images found on his laptop.
He was sentenced to 15-months behind bars but was already on the run by then.
May 3, 2017
Around this time,
He reports an alleged confession by Christian Brueckner.
September 27, 2018
On-the-run Christian Brueckner is arrested over outstanding drugs claims in Italy.
He is extradited to Germany the following year.
December 16, 2019
Christian Brueckner was convicted, in Germany, for the 2005 rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, after his DNA was matched to a hair found on her bed.
He was sentenced to seven years behind bars.
June 4, 2020
German prosecutors reveal to the world they have a suspect in custody under investigation for the abduction of Madeleine McCann.
For the first time they claim
German media later name him as
June 23, 2023
In his first interview, witness Helge B alleges to German newspaper Bild that Christian Brueckner all-but-confessed the Madeleine abduction to him, by allegedly saying 'she didn't scream' as they talked about the case, at a music festival, in Spain.
February 16, 2024
Brueckner goes on trial accused of non-McCann allegations of rape and sex assault, in Braunschweig, Germany.
Prosecutors hope for a conviction to keep him behind bars permanently and lead to McCann charges.
October 8, 2024
Prosecutors launch an appeal, however. Decision pending.
June 3, 2025
September 17, 2025
Date on which
Prosecutors require an arrest warrant for a retrial over claims from last year - or over the McCann case.
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