Latest news with #clifftop
The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Shovels, pickaxes and an abandoned farmhouse: Inside the new search for Madeleine McCann as police race against time
Swinging pickaxes into the hardened ground and clearing piles of rocks and rubble, the dozen or so police officers began work on Tuesday in temperatures that later reached 20C. Gathered on a remote area of clifftop scrubland a few miles from the Portuguese resort Madeleine McCann vanished from 18 years ago, one team dug into the earth next to an abandoned farmhouse under the watchful gaze of nearby journalists. Other officers cleared undergrowth and debris around nearby buildings, while a fire crew pumped water from a disused well before appearing to use a winch to check the site. Almost two decades since Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz without trace, it's here, in the barren countryside nearby, where police hope to finally find answers in the mystery of what happened to the then three-year-old girl. Investigators are reported to be acting on a tip-off and hope to find evidence of her body or clothing. It was claimed they would be using ground-penetrating radar to help narrow their search, but on Tuesday, crews were seen using shovels, pickaxes and chainsaws, as well as a pump to drain the well, as they battled rubble and dense vegetation in the search for clues. The latest efforts come as German police face a race against time to find concrete evidence linking her disappearance to their only suspect. German national Christian Brueckner, 47, is being investigated over the disappearance and murder of the British toddler in 2007, although he denies any involvement. He is due to be released from prison in September as his seven-year term for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005 comes to an end. Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, who have not commented on the latest searches, last month vowed to leave 'no stone unturned' in their fight for answers as they marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance and what should have been her 22nd birthday. On Tuesday, the fresh searches were focused on the abandoned farmhouse and other derelict buildings in the rural area of scrubland off a scenic coastal path stretching between Lagos and Atalaia, near a cottage where Brueckner used to live. 'Following Brueckner's trial last year someone contacted them with theories on where anyone who took Madeleine might have dumped her, or her clothes,' an investigation source told The Sun. '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.' As many as 30 officers could take part in searches of up to 21 locations over the next three days. Tracks around the scrubland, which is dense with vegetation, were cordoned off while journalists were kept back from the multiple search sites on Tuesday. Around a dozen officers focused on one abandoned building where digging was taking place, while another member of the search team cleared a pile of rubble and large rocks. Others were using strimmers and chainsaws to clear the undergrowth and debris surrounding the overgrown buildings. In October last year, Brueckner was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. Prosecutors had argued he should receive a 15-year sentence and preventative detention; however, a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence in the case. In April, ministers approved more than £100,000 in additional funding for Scotland Yard detectives investigating Madeleine's disappearance. The Metropolitan Police said it is aware of the latest operation but that British officers will not be present. German investigators and Portuguese officers last carried out searches in the country in 2023 near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz. Brueckner, who spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017, had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir. It was previously searched in 2008, when Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to search it after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine's body was there. British police were later given permission to examine scrubland near where she vanished in 2014. Last month, Madeleine's family marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance, describing her as 'beautiful and unique' ahead of her 22nd birthday. A statement from her parents, who now live in Rothley, Leicestershire, said: 'The years appear to be passing even more quickly and whilst we have no significant news to share, our determination to 'leave no stone unturned' is unwavering. We will do our utmost to achieve this.'
The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Shovels, pickaxes and an abandoned farmhouse: Inside the search for Madeleine McCann near Praia da Luz
Swinging pickaxes into the hardened ground and clearing piles of rocks and rubble - the dozen-or-so police officers began work on Tuesday in temperatures that reached 20C. Gathered on a remote area of clifftop scrubland a few miles from the Portuguese resort Madeleine McCann vanished from 18 years ago, one team dug at an abandoned farmhouse under the watchful gaze of nearby journalists. Other officers cleared undergrowth and debris around nearby buildings, while a fire crew pumped water from a disused well before appearing to use a winch to the check the site. Almost two decades since Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz without trace, it's here, in the arid countryside, where police hope to finally find answers in the mystery of what happened to the then three-year-old girl. Investigators are reported to have been acting on a tip-off and hope to find evidence of her body or clothing. It was claimed they would be using ground penetrating radar to help narrow their search, but on Tuesday, crews were seen using shovels, pickaxes and chainsaws and a pump to drain the well as they battled rubble and dense vegetation in the search for clues. The latest efforts come as German police face a race against time to find concrete evidence linking her disappearance to their only suspect. German national Christian Brueckner, 47, is being investigated over the disappearance and murder of British toddler in 2007, although he denies any involvement. He is due to be released from prison in September as his seven-year term for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005 comes to an end. Madeleine's parents, who have not commented on the latest searches, last month vowed to leave 'no stone unturned' in their fight for answers as they marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance and what should have been her 22nd birthday. On Tuesday, the fresh searches were focused on the abandoned farmhouse and other derelict buildings in the rural area of scrubland off a scenic coastal path which stretches between Lagos and Atalaia, near a cottage where Brueckner used to live. 'Following Brueckner's trial last year someone contacted them with theories on where anyone who took Madeleine might have dumped her, or her clothes,' an investigation source told The Sun. '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.' Some 30 officers could take part in searches of up to 21 locations over the next three days. Tracks around the scrubland, which is dense with vegetation, were cordoned off while journalists were kept back from the multiple search sites on Tuesday. Around a dozen officers focused on one abandoned building where digging was taking place, while another member of the search team cleared a pile of rubble and large rocks. Others were using strimmers and chainsaws to clear the undergrowth and debris surrounding the overgrown buildings. In October last year, Brueckner was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. Prosecutors had argued he should receive a 15-year sentence and preventative detention, however a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence in the case. In April, ministers approved more than £100,000 in additional funding for Scotland Yard detectives investigating Madeleine's disappearance. The Metropolitan Police said it is aware of the latest operation but that British officers will not be present. German investigators and Portuguese officers last carried out searches in the country in 2023 near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz. Brueckner, who spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017, had photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir. It was previously searched in 2008, when Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to search it after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine's body was there. British police were later given permission to examine scrubland near where she vanished in 2014. Last month, Madeleine's family marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance, describing her as "beautiful and unique" before her 22nd birthday. A statement from her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, who are from Rothley in Leicestershire, said: "The years appear to be passing even more quickly and whilst we have no significant news to share, our determination to 'leave no stone unturned' is unwavering. We will do our utmost to achieve this."
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Sirens, review: a delightful skewering of the mega-rich
Do you enjoy The White Lotus, The Perfect Couple and Succession? Then you have a taste for wealth TV and will luxuriate in the details to be found in Sirens (Netflix), in which Julianne Moore plays the kind of preposterously rich American who gets her favourite chocolate 'overnighted' from Japan and has a peregrine falcon called Barnaby. Michaela Kell, for that is her name, married a billionaire and now lives a life of splendour in a clifftop estate, where a retinue of staff maintain insane levels of perfection and a chef must come up with ever-more original types of smoothie ('Today we have a black cherry cold press with sea kelp and tarragon'). It's a blackly comic affair, and while it's nowhere near the level of Succession or the first two White Lotus series, it whips along with a healthy sense of the absurd. Just when you're wondering about the quality of it, Michaela's husband turns up and he's played by Kevin Bacon, who doesn't do much TV so it's a treat to have him here. We see all this through the eyes of an outsider, Devon DeWitt (The White Lotus's Meghann Fahy), a grungy falafel server whom we first meet after she's spent a night in jail. With her problems piling up – her car has been impounded, she's got no cash, and she's the chief carer for her dad – she heads off on a whim to visit her estranged sister, Simone (Milly Alcock), who has put their tough childhood behind her and found a job as Michaela's super-efficient personal assistant. 'There's a transient person at the house asking for you. She's carrying hot garbage and she says she's your sister,' a maid tells the horrified Simone, whose first instinct is to hide Devon from her boss and try to send her packing. But Devon ends up staying when she begins to suspect that Michaela is running some sort of cult. The action takes place over one weekend – and just five episodes, a welcome change from the usual TV bloat. Fahy is great, swiftly moving beyond the caricature of a hot mess to give us a fearless, likeable character. What lets Sirens down a little bit is the tone. There is emotional depth in the relationship between the two sisters and with Devon and her father (the estimable Bill Camp), who has been diagnosed with dementia. But the scenes suggestive of a cult, with Michaela's Stepford Wives-style acolytes in matching dresses and crazed grins, don't work at all. Moore wafts around being by turns icy, woo-woo and intense, in a role that could just as easily have been played by Nicole Kidman. The main pleasure is in the ridiculous details of the Kells' lifestyle, from bird funerals and perfumed underwear to Michaela asking her PA to script sexy matrimonial text messages. The estate is a character in itself. 'Of course they're bad people,' says a visiting Vanity Fair photographer. 'Look at their house.'
