Madeleine McCann search latest: Investigators scour abandoned farmhouse near Christian Brueckner’s home in Portugal – UK Times

The search currently underway in Portugal for evidence linked to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance 18 years ago could be a “desperate last throw of the dice” according to an expert.

Jim Gamble, the former chief executive of Child Exploitation & Online Protection Command, told Sky News the clock was ticking for German prosecutors to find evidence linking Madeleine’s disappearance with their suspect, Christian Brueckner.

“I’ve said many, many times the crime scene was bungled [at the time], and so there was no control,” he said. “And so that chaos at the beginning, that came at a cost to the investigation.”

Mr Gamble said police would need “one piece of forensic evidence” linking Brueckner to the crime.

Brueckner has denied any involvement, and is set to be released from prison in Germany within months.

“And that’s why they’re pushing,” he said. “But based on the intelligence and the information they have, I hope… they know what they’re looking for.”

Dozens of officers from Germany and Portugal are expected to search for traces of Madeleine McCann until Friday.

Investigators from Germany and Portugal are searching a vast area covered in scrub and long grass near the sea in the Algarve region of south-east Portugal.

Some officers can be seen searching the scrub, while others have focused on an abandoned farmhouse in the vicinity.

Dirt roads have been cordoned off to prevent anyone other than official investigators accessing the site.

German police have been searching an abandoned farmhouse in their renewed search for Madeleine McCann.

Photos show officers searching around an abandoned building, and the Mirror reports that officers could be seen digging inside the derelict building.

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has complained about being attacked by fellow prisoners and spoken about the meal he is looking forward to on his release from prison.

Christian Brueckner spoke in an interview with Germany’s RTL, but declined to talk about the McCann case. He was named a prime suspect by German police in 2020, but has previously denied any involvement.

Brueckner is serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005. He is due to be released from prison in September.

In the interview, Brueckner said a fellow inmate attacked him and broke a rib.

He told RTL he would go into hiding after his release, because of the publicity around him. He is also looking forward to having a beer and a steak once freed.

Photographs from the site of a renewed search for the body of Madeleine McCann show the area is covered by dense scrub.

The BBC reports the search is centred around what appears to be an abandoned cottage.

German police are focusing the search today around the Atalaia area, where Christian Brueckner was staying when Madeleine disappeared in 2007.

The Sun has reported search teams are expected to use radar equipment that can scan beneath the ground.

It has been reported that investigators will look at 21 pieces of land including trenches that were dug near the resort around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, as well as wells, ruins, and water tanks.

The search is being carried out at the request of the German federal police as they look for evidence that could implicate prime suspect Christian Brueckner, who is in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.

Brueckner has denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.

Police from Germany and Portugal have gathered in the countryside a few miles from the Praia da Luz resort where she was last seen 18 years ago.

Madeleine, then aged three, disappeared while on holiday with her family after her parents went out to dinner nearby, and left her sleeping in a room with her toddler twin siblings.

Police vehicles were seen around 3.5 miles from the resort on Tuesday, in the Atalaia area.

Four vans carrying German officers were seen driving down a road leading to the sea, the BBC reported, alongside Portuguese police and a fire engine.

There have been multiple searches for answers and clues in the 18 years since Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, including a lengthy initial investigation from Portuguese police.

Here are the key searches that have happened since then.

2008: Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for specialist divers to search the Barragem do Arade reservoir after he claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine’s body was there.

2014: Sniffer dogs and specialist teams are used to search an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine went missing.

2023: In late May, Portuguese police seal off an area near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, and the next day police divers began searching the water.

Meanwhile, teams of officers with sniffer dogs, rakes and metal poles searched the banks of the reservoir.