Shovels, pickaxes and an abandoned farmhouse: Inside the new search for Madeleine McCann as police race against time
With police scouring derelict farm buildings in Praia da Luz, time is running out to find evidence linking Madeleine’s disappearance to the only suspect, The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin writes
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.
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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.”