Shocking new Madeleine McCann claim that British man and his 'drunk' German wife ran the child over then dumped the body at sea emerges in Portuguese media report
German prosecutors reportedly refused to probe a couple suspected of running over Madeleine McCann in a drink-drive accident, it was sensationally claimed today.
Portuguese authorities demanded an investigation into a British man and his German wife after his UK-based sister tipped off cops she thought he could be covering up a dark secret about Maddie's disappearance.
But German authorities rejected a Portuguese request to use an undercover police officer with a fake identity to try to befriend the female suspect and firm up their suspicions she was driving a car that hit Madeleine while under the influence of alcohol, Portuguese daily Correio da Manha claimed today.
Saying the British sister of the unnamed man it put at the centre of a new theory about Madeleine's May 3 2007 disappearance tipped off police in the UK in 2018, it said: 'German prosecutors were asked to authorise a covert police operation with someone posing as a friend of the woman's and trying to get her to confess, but the courts refused.
'It was decided to continue solely with the investigation into suspect Christian Brueckner, rejecting other possibilities.'
Describing the mystery couple as 'alcoholics' and placing the British man's wife in a cafe near the Ocean Club where she had been 'drinking' the night Madeleine went missing from the Algarve resort, Correio da Manha also reported another witness described as the couple's neighbour had told police separately she heard them rowing the day after the three-year-old disappeared.
She said she heard the man yelling: 'Why did you bring her?' over and over again.
Portuguese police are reportedly said to have got the knock-back from the Germans after urging them to look more closely into the possibility the woman they were tipped off about had driven home 'drunk' with Maddie after hitting her and enlisted her husband's help in disposing of her body at sea.
Correio said the unnamed British man had now died. It did not say whether his German wife was still alive.
In a front page report today, the newspaper claimed: 'The German police refused to co-operate with Portugal's Policia Judiciaria in the investigation of a clue that pointed towards Madeleine McCann being run over and the possibility a couple disposed of her body, hours later, in the sea.
'In 2018 a British woman went to police in the UK to say she suspected her brother had been involved in the disappearance of the youngster.
'She said her brother was an alcoholic and since the day Madeleine vanished had appeared to hide a painful secret.
'When British police exchanged information with the PJ, a coincidence was discovered.
'On May 4 2007 a woman told police she had heard her neighbours arguing.
'They were both alcoholics, he was English and she was German, and she heard the man shouting repeatedly: 'Why did you bring her?'
'The neighbour discovered afterwards it was the man whose sister had reported him to police and was married to the woman who had been drinking in a cafe next to the Ocean Club where little Madeleine was staying with her parents and twin siblings.
'Another report the police had indicated that in an identical car to the one the woman was then using, around the time of Madeleine's disappearance, a female and little girl had been seen inside.
'The PJ concluded she could have run Madeleine over and panicked.'
The newspaper also claimed the mystery British man had always 'refused to tell his sister if he had been involved in Madeleine's death' before she alerted the authorities.
The idea Madeleine left her holiday apartment to look for her parents who were eating tapas nearby - and then fell in an accident or was knocked over by someone who panicked and disposed of her body - has been put forward in the past.
Portuguese police have yet to respond to the Correio da Manha newspaper report.
German police yesterday wrapped up a three-day search on the ground near prime suspect Christian Brueckner's old cottage home close to Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared.
The operation, supported by Portuguese police, was the first of its kind for more than two years following a May 2023 search at the Arade Dam a 40-minute drive from the Algarve holiday resort where Madeleine was last seen.
Nothing of any relevance is thought to have been found. Convicted paedophile Brueckner, 47, is due to be freed from prison in Germany in September after finishing a seven-year sentence for rape.
Although German authorities have named Brueckner as their sole Madeleine McCann suspect, and he is also an official suspect in Portugal, he has yet to be charged over the British youngster's disappearance.
There were no immediate announcements on the outcome of the operation as vans with German license plates and a Portuguese vehicle left one of the search sites in the Atalaia neighbourhood.
A source involved in the operation said the searched area had included several derelict houses, wells and reservoirs covering 'dozens of hectares'.
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