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ITV News
a day ago
- ITV News
What happened to Madeleine McCann? A timeline of events since her disappearance
More than 18 years after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann while on a family holiday in Portugal in 2007, police have begun new searches close to where she was last seen. Police are focusing on an area between Praia da Luz, and the house where Christian Brueckner lived - the case's main and only suspect. In June 2020 German authorities said they believed Christian Brueckner was the man 'responsible' for Madeleine's kidnap and murder. He remains under investigation, and is currently in prison serving a sentence for rape. He has not been charged and denies any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance. Despite numerous appeals, millions of pounds in public donations and the backing of high-profile celebrities, Madeleine has not been found. Here is a timeline of the main developments in the years since Madeleine vanished. 2007 – May 3: Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, leave their children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in southern Portugal while they dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant. Nothing is amiss when Mr McCann checks on the youngsters just after 9pm, but when his wife goes back at about 10pm she finds Madeleine missing. Jane Tanner, one of the friends dining with the McCanns, reports having seen a man carrying a child earlier that night. – May 14: Detectives take Anglo-Portuguese property developer Robert Murat in for questioning and make him an 'arguido', or formal suspect – but this is later withdrawn. – August 11: Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly acknowledge for the first time that she could be dead. – September 7: During questioning of Mr and Mrs McCann, detectives make them both 'arguidos' in their daughter's disappearance – but this is also later withdrawn. – September 9: The McCanns fly back to England with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie. 2008 – July 21: The Portuguese authorities shelve their investigation and lift the 'arguido' status of the McCanns and Robert Murat. 2011 – May 12: Mrs McCann publishes a book about her daughter's disappearance, on Madeleine's eighth birthday. Scotland Yard launches a review of the case after a request from home secretary Theresa May, supported by prime minister David Cameron. 2012 – April 25: Scotland Yard detectives say they believe Madeleine could still be alive, release an age-progression picture of how she might look as a nine-year-old, and call on the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case, but Portuguese police say they have found no new material. 2013 – July 4: Scotland Yard confirms it has launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine's disappearance two years into a review of the case. It has 'genuinely new' lines of inquiry and has identified 38 people of interest, including 12 Britons. – October 24: Portuguese police confirm that a review of their original investigation has uncovered new lines of inquiry, and they reopen the case. 2014 – January 29: British detectives fly to Portugal amid claims they are planning to make arrests. – June 3: Sniffer dogs and specialist teams are used to search an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine went missing. – December 12: Detectives begin questioning 11 people who it is thought may have information on the case. 2015 – September 16: The government discloses that the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine has cost more than £10 million. – October 28: Scotland Yard cuts the number of officers working on the inquiry from 29 to four. 2017 – April 30: The McCanns prepare to mark 10 years since their daughter's disappearance with a BBC interview in which they vow to do 'whatever it takes for as long as it takes' to find her. 2019 – May 3: Local media reports say Portuguese detectives are investigating a foreign paedophile as a suspect in the abduction of Madeleine. Mary Nightingale on the resolve of Gerry and Kate McCann 2020 – June 3: Police reveal a German prisoner has been identified as a suspect in Madeleine's disappearance. – June 4: Scotland Yard's Operation Grange, which had received £12.3 million in funding up to April 2020, is still a missing person inquiry as detectives have no 'definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead'. 2021 – May 4: Kate and Gerry McCann post a statement on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign website saying they still cling to the hope of seeing their daughter again as they prepare to mark her 18th birthday on May 12. 2022 – April 21: Portuguese authorities declare a formal suspect. 2023 - May 22: German authorities request access to the Arade Dam, 50km from the place where Madeliene went missing. Teams from Portugal, Germany and the UK take part, with police divers spotted at the site. - October 30: Portuguese police apologise to Kate and Gerry McCann about their handling of the case and how the family was treated. 2024 - February 16: Christian Brueckner seen in public for the first time since being linked to the McCann case, on trial for five separate sex attacks in Portugal. - May 2: Home Office grants a further £192,000 towards the investigation - October 8: Brueckner is acquitted of the five charges. 2025 - April 22: Julia Wandel, a 23-year-old Polish woman, pleads not guilty to stalking Madeleine McCan's parents and siblings. - June 3: Renewed searches for Madeleine begin, focusing on a location between a house where Brueckner lived and where the toddler was last seen.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Madeleine McCann search development that police hope will solve 18-year mystery
A development in the search for Madeleine McCann has seen German police officers head to Portugal to scour buildings and land in a bid to bring an end to the 18-year hunt Madeleine McCann has been missing for 18 years and this week hopes have once again been raised of finally finding out what happened to the three year old. Madeleine vanished in 2007 while on holiday with her family in the resort of Praia da Luz in Portugal. Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann had gone out to dinner with friends a few hundred yards away, leaving her sleeping in a room at their accommodation with her toddler twin siblings. When they returned to the apartment, Madeleine was gone and for the past 18 years, Kate and Gerry have tirelessly campaigned to find their daughter, with the Metropolitan Police spending more than £13 million on the case in Operation Grange. In 2020, German prosecutors announced they had a prime suspect, Christian Brueckner, in Madeleine's case and authorities from the country later searched areas of Praia da Luz. Chillingly, former friend Helge Busching claimed Brueckner had told him in 2008 it was "strange Madeleine didn't scream" when she was taken. Brueckner has denied all involvement in the tot's disappearance. With the 2023 searches proving fruitless and Brueckner behind bars for raping an elderly woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, there has now been a new development which brings fresh hope. An investigating source explained to The Sun: "Following Brueckner's trial last year, someone contacted them with theories on where anyone who took Madeleine might've dumped her. "They told cops about trenches that were dug in Praia at the time Madeleine disappeared, and the house where Brueckner had lived on the edge of the village. "Of course, all of these places have been searched over and over again, but now they have a new weapon in their ground-scanning radar." Following the tip-off, German police have this week been seen using a JCB digger at a large derelict farmhouse where prime suspect Christian Brueckner used to live. They later turned their attention to a second abandoned farmhouse, with the major search said to be focusing on wells and water storage tanks. Under the terms of their warrant, investigators have until tomorrow to look through the areas and properties in southern Portugal they believe could be linked to Madeleine's disappearance. A spokeswoman for the official Find Madeleine Campaign said of the search: "Due to an active police investigation, Kate and Gerry are not doing interviews at this time." On the 18th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, Kate and Gerry McCann had said poignantly: "No matter how near or far she is, she continues to be right here with us, every day, but especially on her special day. We continue to 'celebrate' her as the very beautiful and unique person she is. We miss her."
Wales Online
a day ago
- Wales Online
Everything we know as as search for Madeleine McCann enters its third day
Everything we know as as search for Madeleine McCann enters its third day The search of land in Praia da Luz continues on Thursday, 18 years after the three-year-old's disappearance. The searches are taking place between Brueckner's old rented cottage and a rural area near Lagos, Atalaia (Image: PA ) Madeleine McCann was three years old when she vanished on May 3, 2007 after her parents left her asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, Portugal. Since then, hers has become one of the highest-profile unsolved missing person cases in the world, with British, Portuguese and European police forces involved in the investigation. Police forces from across Europe have launched multiple searches for Madeleine McCann since her disappearance in 2007. Early efforts focused on the Praia da Luz resort, where she was last seen in her family's holiday apartment. In 2013, British police began Operation Grange, a formal investigation into the case. Searches have included digging in scrubland, draining reservoirs, and using sniffer dogs and ground-penetrating radar. German authorities have also led inquiries in recent years, targeting prime suspect, 48-year-old Christian Brückner. Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday flat in Portugal in 2007 (Image: PA ) Article continues below The latest one commenced on Tuesday this week, searching the suspects old place of residence in Praia da Luz, covering a large patch of land near the home of their prime suspect and the McCanns' holiday apartment. Here's everything we know. The latest investigation Where are police searching? Operational tents have been set up in the nearby village of Atalaia as investigation teams search over 20 plots of land in Praia da Luz. German authorities, who are leading this investigation, are searching the old residence of Christian Brückner, a man who is currently in jail for the offence of rape, to find anything that could prove Madeleine was ever taken there. What have they found? Teams investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have taken samples of potential evidence from properties near Praia Da Luz in Portugal. The search teams were seen using pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws to clear dense vegetation and dig near a derelict building. On Tuesday, fresh searches for Madeleine began in countryside a few miles from Praia da Luz, with firefighters spotted pumping water to drain a well. (Image: © 2025 PA Media, All Rights Reserved ) About a dozen officers focused on one abandoned building where digging was taking place, while another member of the search team cleared large rocks. The Daily Express reported that investigation teams have taken samples of potential evidence from properties near Praia Da Luz in Portugal. A man who knew Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner has made a dramatic appeal to police, claiming they are searching in the wrong place. Ken Ralphs told GB News that Brueckner's alleged accomplice once broke down in tears and confessed plans to help abduct a child in Praia de Luz. He said: "He cried that he needed the money to get out the country with his family and children and that's why he got involved." Mr Ralphs identified what he described as the last property Brueckner stayed in before Madeleine vanished – and urged investigators to focus there. Frustrated by years of inaction, he said: "For over 18 years, I've pressed the police and all they can do is blame each other for not passing this information on." The prime suspect Last year, Christian Brueckner was cleared of unrelated sexual offences between 2000 and 2017 (Image: Phil Harris ) Christian Brückner is serving a jail sentence in Germany after raping a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal in 2005. He is due to be released later this year. He moved to Portugal in 1995 after serving a two-year prison sentence in Germany for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl in 1994, he is known to have been renting a cottage in Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance. Soon after the media descended on the resort in 2007, he moved back to Germany. In October 2024, he was acquitted of two charges rape and two of sexual abuse in a German rape trial where it was argued there was a lack of evidence and witnesses who were not credible. Police have previously claimed he made a 30-minute phone call from the same area just an hour before Madeleine disappeared. He is alleged to have confessed on two occasions to kidnapping and sexually abusing the toddler - once to a friend in a German bar in 2017 and again to his prison cellmate in 2020. The German national was formally identified as a suspect in 2022, but has denied any involvement. He also denied committing the 2005 rape for which he was convicted of in 2019. Brückner has not been charged in the McCann case, but German authorities began investigating him in June 2020 for her kidnap and murder. German authorities maintain that he is the main suspect in Madeleine's disappearance and are pushing for charges before his scheduled release in September. Article continues below The last search The most recent search prior to this one was also executed by German police in spent a week searching the Barragem do Arade reservoir, around 30 miles from Praia da Luz, after receiving of a "tip-off". It was previously searched by divers in 2008 after Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia ordered them to look to see if Madeleine McCann's body was there. Nothing was found.
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Madeleine McCann search so far - fresh 'evidence', alarming clue and new tactic
The 18-year search for missing toddler Madeleine McCann has taken a new turn as German police have begun fresh searches in the area between Praia da Luz and the prime suspect's former home German police are reportedly "hoping for a breakthrough" in the Madeleine McCann case as they begin a new search prompted by a recent tip-off. Madeleine vanished in 2007 aged three, while on holiday with her family in the resort of Praia da Luz in Portugal. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, went out to dinner with friends a few hundred yards away and left her sleeping in a room at their accommodation with her toddler twin siblings. But when they returned to the apartment, Madeleine was gone. For the past 18 years, they have tirelessly campaigned to find their daughter and get answers on what happened on that fateful night of May 3. The Metropolitan Police has spent more than £13million on the case, dubbed Operation Grange, to date. Now, just as German and Portuguese investigators begin fresh searches in the area, new information has reportedly come to light following the trial of Christian Brueckner, who German prosecutors say is the prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance. Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the rape of an elderly woman at her home in Praia da Luz in 2005, has denied any involvement. Where are police searching? The operation began yesterday as German teams armed with shovels and strimmers began sweeping the area between Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old vanished on May 3 2007, and a house near the holiday resort where prime suspect Brueckner used to live. They appeared to be focusing their attention on an abandoned farmhouse surrounded by partially collapsed outbuildings, and have recovered samples of potential evidence. Officers were seen removing mounds of earth before taking it away in plastic bags for further examination. A group of firemen were also spotted draining an abandoned well. The searches are the first in Portugal for more than two years following a near-week-long operation involving Portuguese, German and police officers at a remote dam. The May 2023 probe at Arade Dam, described at the time as Brueckner's 'little paradise', came to nothing. They were the first major searches in Portugal in nine years following an earlier June 2014 operation when British police were given permission for digs in Praia da Luz that involved sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar. New clue On Monday, Portuguese police closed off dirt roads in the area where searches are believed to be taking place, and tents have been set up in the nearby Atalaia area, where Brueckner once lived in a cottage. According to The Sun, the new searches will involve radar equipment that can scan beneath the ground and will focus on trenches that were reportedly dug around the time of the little girl's disappearance. An investigating source told The Sun: "Following Brueckner's trial last year, someone contacted them with theories on where anyone who took Madeleine might've dumped her. They told cops about trenches that were dug in Praia at the time Madeleine disappeared, and the house where Brueckner had lived on the edge of the village. "Of course, all of these places have been searched over and over again, but now they have a new weapon in their ground-scanning radar. It means they don't need to dig for the sake of it. But as soon as they spot anything of interest they are ready to excavate and check it." The source added: "With time running out they are praying they get a breakthrough." The fresh investigation will see around 30 German police officers, including forensic experts, scour the area for any trace of Maddie. German authorities said they are receiving support from Portuguese law enforcement, while the Portuguese police said that searches will be carried out between June 2 and 6 in the municipality of Lagos, in accordance with a European investigation order. A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said: 'We are aware of the searches being carried by the BKA (German federal police) in Portugal as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. 'The Metropolitan Police Service is not present at the search, we will support our international colleagues where necessary.' German police reportedly believe the tip-off could be their final chance to find vital forensic evidence. The investigation source added: 'German cops know it is now or never so they need to push ahead with every credible tip they have." They last carried out searches in 2023 near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz. Why is this search different? Former Met Detective Chief Inspector Peter Kirkham shared his expert insight on the searches, explaining what makes them different to the ones carried out previously. The main difference is that on this occasion, officers are not just working from the crime scene but working back from a possible suspect – Christian Brueckner – too," he wrote in a piece for The Mirror. "This provides a very different context for the investigation as a whole, and for the searches in particular, but the importance of this is often overlooked. "Detectives investigating a serious crime are usually engaged in what is known as a reactive investigation: a crime happens and officers react to it by following lines of enquiry which could explain how it came to happen. Searches connected with a reactive investigation tend to be focused on the crime scene as at least some part of the crime must have happened right there." He continued: "But where detectives know someone who they suspect of committing the crime they can focus on lines of enquiry arising from them too. They will know some things about the suspect – such as where they live or work, what car they drive and hundreds of other things – which provide a new focus for searches. Officers engaged in the previous, reactive investigation simply did not know of the potential new locations." Peter highlighted that this makes the searches 'new', in the sense that the officers conducting the previous, reactive investigation into the disappearance could not have carried them out. "As they were unaware of Brueckner as a significant suspect they had no reason to search locations connected to him. This means the current searches are not just the police going over old ground again in case they missed something previously. And it means there is more chance of something new being found, if (and it is a very big if) the suspicions about Brueckner are correct and he was involved." Who is Christian Bruenecker? The 48-year-old is the man German investigators believe abducted Madeleine from her family's rented holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007. Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the 2005 rape of an elderly woman at the same resort where Madeleine McCann vanished two years later. He was arrested in Italy in 2018 and is scheduled for release in September. Although Brueckner has not been formally charged or indicted in connection with the McCann case, he remains under investigation and denies any involvement. In 2022, Portuguese authorities officially named him an arguido - a formal suspect - in their investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. This designation grants him the legal right to remain silent and to have legal representation. Brueckner moved to Portugal in 1995 after serving a two-year prison sentence in Germany for the sexual assault of a six-year-old girl in 1994. While living in a cottage in Praia da Luz, he came under scrutiny following Madeleine's disappearance in 2007. Shortly after the case drew international media attention, he returned to Germany. Investigators have previously stated that Brueckner made a 30-minute phone call from the Praia da Luz area approximately one hour before Madeleine went missing. He is also alleged to have confessed to abducting and sexually abusing the toddler on two separate occasions - once in 2017 to a friend at a bar in Germany, and again in 2020 to a fellow inmate. However, neither alleged confession included any claim that he had killed her. Brueckner continues to deny any involvement in her disappearance.
India Today
3 days ago
- General
- India Today
Madeleine McCann: Fresh search begins in Portugal after 18 years
It remains one of the most haunting and widely reported missing child cases in recent history — the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Now, eighteen years after the then three-year-old vanished while on holiday with her family in Portugal, authorities are once again back on the ground, reigniting public attention across Europe. This week, Portuguese and German police launched a renewed search in the Algarve region, focusing on a remote area near the Arade Dam, approximately 3.5 miles from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz — the very place where Madeleine was last seen on the night of 3 May At the time, Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, had been dining with friends at a nearby restaurant, checking in on their sleeping children at intervals. But just after 10 p.m., Kate discovered that Madeleine's bed was empty. That moment sparked a sprawling international investigation that spanned continents, generated intense media scrutiny, inspired countless conspiracy theories, and cost millions — yet it never delivered a definitive newly cordoned-off area near the Arade Dam is now swarming with officers and search crews. Acting on warrants issued by German prosecutors, Portuguese authorities are collaborating closely with a team of around 30 German officers. The search operation, which will continue throughout the week, involves forensic tents, fire services, and heavy equipment. Crews have been observed clearing vegetation, inspecting abandoned buildings, and concentrating efforts on old wells near the water's latest activity stems from a breakthrough in 2020, when German authorities named Christian Brckner — a convicted sex offender — as a new prime suspect. Brckner is currently serving a prison sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005, just two years before Madeleine lived intermittently in the Algarve between 2000 and 2017. Investigators have linked his mobile phone records, previous employment at the Ocean Club, and suspicious materials found in his possession to the case. Although he has been officially designated as an 'arguido' (formal suspect) by Portuguese prosecutors, Brckner has not been charged and continues to deny any involvement in Madeleine's a statement marking 18 years since their daughter went missing, Kate and Gerry McCann said their commitment to finding the truth remains 'unwavering.' Operation Grange, the long-standing Metropolitan Police investigation into the case, also remains active and continues to liaise with European counterparts. The UK's investigation has cost over 13 million to this renewed search carries a sense of gravity — and perhaps finality. Authorities have not disclosed what prompted this specific operation, fuelling speculation about whether new intelligence is behind the move, or if this is a last attempt to unearth the world watches with cautious hope, the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues to symbolise both tireless pursuit and heartbreaking uncertainty. Nearly two decades later, one agonising question still hangs in the air: what really happened to Madeleine McCann?
