Police begin new search near Portugal’s Praia da Luz

Portuguese and German authorities have started a new search for Madeleine McCann in Portugal, nearly two decades after her disappearance.

Madeleine was three years old when she vanished from an apartment complex in Praia da Luz in the Algarve during a family holiday on 3 May, 2007.

The British toddler’s disappearance sparked a Europe-wide police investigation, and is one of Europe’s highest-profile unsolved missing person cases.

On Monday, Portuguese police confirmed the search, carrying out warrants by German prosecutors between the resort where Madeleine went missing and where the German investigators’ prime suspect had been staying at the time. The site reportedly covers 21 plots of land.

The search – which covers the municipality of Lagos, near Praia da Luz in a busy, tourist area – is due to continue until Friday.

On Tuesday morning, a Portuguese fire engine and four vehicles carrying German police arrived at the search site – located around 3.5 miles from the Ocean Club resort, where Madeleine and her family had been staying.

Roads leading up to the site – which is sizable and mostly scrubland – have been closed off since Monday, while the day’s focus appears to be on disused buildings near the coast.

The team has been clearing grass and vegetation around the search site, as well as looking into well-like structures. A large, blue tent has also been erected in the same area.

Around 30 German officers are expected to take part in the search.

Charlie Hedges, the former missing children chief at the National Crime Agency who has worked on some of the UK’s highest-profile cases, said it appeared investigators were “casting the net a bit wider” with the latest search.

“It seems a bit widespread to be [that] they’re looking for something particular,” he told the BBC. “If it was a firm lead, you’d have thought it would be defined and towards one place.”

However, he said they must have had enough justification to acquire the search warrants.

“They’d need to get approval for funding from Germany, and it should be quite a considerable cost with the number of resources and working abroad and the rest of it.”

Madeleine’s case was initially handled by the Portuguese authorities with the aid of the Metropolitan Police.

German investigators have taken a lead since 2020, when they identified German national Christian Brückner as their prime suspect.

The 48-year-old is currently serving a sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal in 2005. He was due to be released in September, but that could be pushed back to early 2026 if he does not pay a fine he owes.

German authorities fear that if Brückner is not charged with anything, he will disappear following his release.

German police suspect him of murder. British police continue to treat the case as a missing persons investigation.

Brückner has repeatedly denied any involvement and no charges have been brought against him relating to her disappearance.

Portuguese authorities have also named Brückner as a formal suspect, or “arguido”. They said they will hand over any evidence seized in the latest search to German authorities.

The Met Police, which said this week that it was aware of the searches being carried out by German police in Portugal, continues its investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.

The case, known as Operation Grange, has been ongoing since 2011 and has cost around £13.3m to date.

Officials have not disclosed if they are conducting this latest search in Portugal based on any new information, making it appear as if they are taking one last look in places where evidence or a body could have been hidden.

German police have a European warrant, which has been approved by Portuguese prosecutors, to allow them to conduct searches on private land.

The last search took place two years ago and was focused around a reservoir where Madeleine was last seen.

Brückner, who spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017, was found to have photographs and videos of himself near the reservoir.

Mr Hedges said the latest search area could be “a gap they’re trying to plug”. He suggested Brückner’s impending release was “probably driving things” and police needed to “nail down” further evidence.

On the night Madeleine disappeared, her parents had been at dinner with friends at a restaurant a short walk away while their three-year-old daughter and her younger twin siblings were asleep in the ground-floor apartment.

Her mother, Kate, discovered she was missing at around 22:00.

A German documentary in 2022 found evidence that Brückner occasionally worked at the Ocean Club as a handyman, while German prosecutors have also linked his mobile phone data and a car sale to their case against him.

Last month, Madeleine’s parents marked the 18th year anniversary of her disappearance, saying their “determination to leave no stone unturned is unwavering”.