Police investigating disappearance of Madeleine McCann ‘to search reservoir’
The prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann search, Christian Brueckner, is said to have visited the Portugal reservoir “some days” after her disappearance, a source close to the investigation has revealed.
It comes as divers searching for Madeleine prepare to enter the reservoir in the Algarve for the third day.
German detectives were informed by a “very credible source” who knew the suspect, The Telegraph reported.
The Barragem do Arade is around 31 miles from the Praia da Luz resort where Maddy disappeared. Investigators believe the 45-year-old killed Madeleine, then aged three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment.
On Tuesday, officers acting on “credible information” were said to be seeking any fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to her disappearance, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The development comes just 10 days after Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, issued a tribute on their Leicestershire-born daughter’s 20th birthday, telling her: “We love you and we’re waiting for you. We’re never going to give up.”
Key suspect Christian Brueckner visited reservoir ‘days after disappearance’
The prime suspect in the search, Christian Brueckner, is said to have visited the Algarve reservoir “some days” after Madeleine disappeared, a source close to the investigation revealed.
German detectives were informed by a “very credible source” who knew the suspect, The Telegraph reported.
The Barragem do Arade is around 31 miles from the Praia da Luz resort where Maddy disappeared.
(Reuters)
Maryam Zakir-Hussain25 May 2023 07:31
Madeleine McCann reservoir search: What do we know about Portugal’s Barragem do Arade?
Ms McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was just three years old when she went missing from an apartment complex at the Ocean Club holiday resort of Praia da Luz in the municipality of Lagos on 3 May 2007.
Her case remains unsolved and is still the subject of intense public and press interest.
Her parents, doctors Gerry and Kate McCann, continue to campaign for her return and recently posted a poem remembering her on their Find Madeleine website, reminding readers that she is “still missing … still very much missed”.
They added: “The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough. Thank you to everyone for your support – it really helps.”
Maroosha Muzaffar25 May 2023 08:00
German prosecutor says they have strong ‘indications’ reservoir is important for investigation
Christian Wolters, the Braunschweig prosecutor, said the search of the reservoir was based on very strong “indications” that the site was important.
In an interview with German public service broadcaster NDR, he said: “We have indications that we could find evidence there. I don’t want to say what that is exactly, and I also don’t want to say where these indications came from.
“The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesn’t come from the suspect. So, we don’t have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search.
“It was other indications that prompted us to conduct the search.”
Maryam Zakir-Hussain25 May 2023 07:58
Watch: Sniffer dogs search Portuguese reservoir as Madeleine McCann investigation continues
Sniffer dogs search Portuguese reservoir as Madeleine McCann investigation continues
Maroosha Muzaffar25 May 2023 07:30
How much has the Madeleine McCann investigation cost?
Sixteen years after Madeleine McCann vanished from the Algarve holiday apartment where she was sleeping next to her infant twin siblings, police have launched a major new search for evidence.
After laying dormant for several years since David Cameron kickstarted an ultimately fruitless Metropolitan Police inquiry in 2011, the case of the missing three-year-old was revived once more in 2020 when German prosecutors revealed a new suspect.
But three years on, 43-year-old convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner – who denies any connection to the missing youngster – is yet to be charged, as he languishes in a German prison for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman two years prior to Madeleine’s disappearance at the same resort.
Maroosha Muzaffar25 May 2023 07:00
Madeleine McCann police cut down trees as they search suspect’s ‘little paradise’ in Portugal
The dense vegetation meant they had to use tools including chainsaws to remove trees to access the water properly.
Maroosha Muzaffar25 May 2023 06:30
Madeleine McCann: What we know so far as police search Algarve reservoir
Madeleine McCann: What we know so far as police search Algarve reservoir
Joe Middleton25 May 2023 06:00
Who is Christian Brueckner? Madeleine McCann suspect and the accusations against him
German prisoner Christian Brueckner was first named in connection with the unsolved mystery that summer, and officially named as a suspect last year. His yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan was reportedly identified as having been near to the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal where the young girl went missing on May 3, 2007.
Three-year-old Madeleine disappeared from the bed of her holiday apartment while her parents and family friends dined 180 feet away. Her two-year-old twin siblings were also in the apartment she went missing from. Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann have been searching for answers ever since.
The Metropolitan Police took over the investigation, Operation Grange, in 2011 but they hit dead ends. There has not been another significant suspect in the case since 2007 until Brueckner.
Maroosha Muzaffar25 May 2023 05:30
Madeleine McCann police cut down trees as they search suspect’s ‘little paradise’ in Portugal
Police have cut down trees and swathes of undergrowth as they continue to search Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner’s “little paradise” in Portugal.
Officers were working with strimmers and heavy machinery at the Barragem do Arade on Wednesday, around 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing in 2007.
On the second day of the latest hunt for the missing girl, the search team were this morning focusing on a valley slightly north of a secluded clearing behind trees near where three tents were put up on Monday.
Joe Middleton25 May 2023 05:00
Madeleine McCann case: Timeline of the missing child’s disappearance
Kate and Gerry McCann’s eldest daughter vanished from a Portuguese holiday resort 16 years ago but the emergence of a new suspect has brought fresh hope of answers and closure:
Maroosha Muzaffar25 May 2023 04:30
