Madeleine McCann search latest: Animal bones among limited findings as police hunt ends in Praia da Luz
The three-day search was called off after limited findings including animals bones were unearthed in Praia da Luz
Animal bones are reported to be among limited findings after a three-day search for forensic evidence in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann case, who vanished from a holiday home in Portugal 18 years ago, was called off.
Local media said some material had been gathered on Wednesday and sent for analysis to see if it contained anything relevant to the investigation.
German investigators were given until Friday to search an area between Praia da Luz and the cottage where he lived at the time of the toddler’s disappearance in 2007, but the search was wound up on Thursday.
Christian Brueckner, a suspect in case, is due to be released from prison within months.
A neighbour who lived near Brueckner around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance described him as “quite angry”, and said she would hear him having rows with his girlfriend.
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann ramped up their hunt of scrubland and abandoned buildings on Wednesday with heavy machinery, including JCB and ground-penetrating radar.
Madeleine was three when she disappeared, sparking a Europe-wide police investigation.
German national Brueckner, who was formally identified as a suspect in 2022, has denied any involvement.
Holidaymakers were unaware of ongoing search
Amy-Clare Martin reports from Praia da Luz:
Holidaymakers from across Europe were sunbathing by the pool inside the Ocean Club resort on Thursday. Most were blissfully unaware of the grim search efforts ongoing nearby.
After 18 years of of media scrutiny as her unsolved disappearance has continued to make worldwide headlines, staff at the whitewashed complex said they were unable to comment on the investigation.
Eric Hoffman, 78, told The Independent he had no idea he was staying at the infamous spot where Maddy vanished when he booked a two week holiday from Switzerland.
“We were surprised, we know of the case from the papers but we didn’t know before we booked that it was this building,” he said. Asked about the latest searches, he added: “It’s quite difficult now to find something because it’s been so long.”
Did police find enough evidence to charge their suspect?
The renewed search for clues in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance was spurred by the impending release from prison of the only current suspect, Christian Brueckner.
The convicted rapist was made an official suspect in the toddler’s disappearance in 2022, but police have so far not charged him. He has denied any involvement.
Currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, Brueckner is set to be released by September unless further charges are brought.
Earlier this year, German prosecutors confirmed Brueckner had applied for early release.
In an interview with RTL, Brueckner said he planned to vanish after his release due to the intense attention he had received as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Neither German nor Portuguese police have released any formal statements since wrapping up the search last night, but a Portuguese officer told the Sun: “We have found nothing”.
Watch: Inside buildings scoured in latest search for Madeleine McCann
In pictures: The vast search for clues in Madeleine McCann's disappearance
'STOP McCann circus': The resort town haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Amy-Clare Martin was on the ground in Praia da Luz:
On a stop sign at the entrance to Praia Da Luz, faded graffiti declares: “STOP McCann circus.”
The stencilled message - now hastily sprayed over - was once daubed on every stop sign in the town as locals reeled from the devastating impact of the British toddler’s disappearance in 2007.
Tourism halved in the charming Algarve resort as the mystery of Madeleine McCann turned into a media storm which they have struggled to escape ever since, according to weary residents.
This week, the storm returned - 18 years after her disappearance - as German police mount fresh searches a mile away on top of dramatic volcanic cliffs overlooking the town.
And as a new three-day search led by German authorities appeared to wind down on Thursday, many expressed their frustration at “the case that won’t go away”.
Inside the Algarve resort haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Praia da Luz farewells yet another search for answers
Amy-Clare Martin reports from Portugal:
In Praia da Luz, Many locals have their own theories about what happened to Madeleine McCann, who vanished from a holiday apartment at Ocean Club resort while her parents had dinner nearby 18 years ago.
And as a new three-day search led by German authorities appeared to wind down on Thursday, many expressed their frustration at “the case that won’t go away”.
British expat Julia Newbould, 79, has lived in the town for 40 years after emigrating from Sheffield.
“Everybody’s fed up with it – I have spoken to people of different ages and different nationalities, and everybody is feeling the same,” she told The Independent.
“It’s the case that won’t go away. It was terrible at first. People stopped coming and cancelled their holidays, it was devastating.
She isn’t surprised that the search teams, who have been using ground penetrating radar and a digger to scour derelict farm buildings near where suspect Christian Brueckner used to live, appear to have found little evidence connected to Madeleine’s disappearance after all this time.
“They won’t find anything because the ground is rock hard,” she said. “But they just keep bringing it up and bringing it up.”
Recap: How did the search play out?
A three-day search for Madeleine McCann failed to bear fruit and was brought to a close by German police on Thursday afternoon.
Media flocked to Praia da Luz, the charming Algarve resort where Maddie went missing, amid hopes that authorities had found a lead in where the girl’s body could be.
Police used ground penetrating radar and a digger to scour derelict farm buildings near where suspect Christian Brueckner used to live, reported The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin, who was on the scene.
Images showed as authorities scoured bushes in the area, discovering animal bones among other findings which have not appeared to bring answers any closer.
As the search finally came to a close, teams of German and Portuguese police officers were seen shaking hands and embracing following a debrief and started to pack up a tent at their base in the 120-acre search site in Atalaia, which was once home to a farming community, Amy-Clare Martin reported.
In pictures: The cottage reportedly lived in by main suspect near Praia da Luz
Christian Brueckner has been the official main suspect in the case since 2022, and has denied any involvement.
At the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, he lived within a few miles of Praia da Luz.
A neighbour remembered him as an “angry” young man.
Previous searches led nowhere
Since Madeleine McCann’s disappearance 18 years ago, there have been several large-scale searches for a trace of her involving international police teams.
In January 2014, British detectives travelled to Portugal promising new arrests, and finally searched the village in June. They interviewed four people the following month but failed to unearth new information.
In May 2023, 16 years after Madeleine disappeared, German investigators launched a major search operation at a reservoir in the Algarve.
With help from Portuguese police and with Scotland Yard detectives watching on, German police carried out a thorough examination of the Barragem do Arade beauty spot in Silves.
The site is located approximately 30 miles northeast of the Ocean Club resort, from which the missing girl first disappeared.
It remains to be seen if this week’s search will prove to be a breakthrough in the case, as German police now sift through any evidence collected.
How the 18-year mystery began
This week’s search in scrubland near Praia da Luz is one of many hunts for answers in the 18 years since Madeleine McCann disappeared. Here’s how the case began.
Madeliene disappears: 3 May, 2007
Kate and Gerry McCann were holidaying with their three children in Praia da Luz, and were eating tapas with friends when their three-year-old daughter vanished from her bed, just tens of metres away.
A search begins, and runs through summer, with British police sending sniffer dogs to aid the effort in July. By August, Madeline has been missing for 100 days, and police admit she may never be found.
In September, Portuguese police name Madeleine’s parents as official suspects. They vigorously denied they had anything to do with her disappearance. The McCanns return to Britain on 9 September, without any answers about Madeleine.
Gerry McCann issues a video in November, speculating that his family may have been watched by a “predator” during their stay in the Ocean Club resort, and the couple release a sketch of a “creepy man” they claimed other holiday makers had seen loitering around the club.
