Madeleine McCann cops launch 'last-throw-of-dice' search for Brit girl in Portugal

A new search effort is underway in a bid to finally uncover what happened to Madeleine McCann in a "last-throw-of-the-dice" search, almost 20 years after the little girl vanished on holiday in Portugal.

German police have began a four-day hunt in the municipality of Lagos, which is situated next to Praia da Luz, the town in the where the three-year-old went missing during a family holiday on May 3, 2007.

Despite years of renewed searches and a Europe-wide police investigation, the circumstances surrounding her disappearance remain a mystery. On Tuesday, teams were spotted chopping back sections of undergrowth close to a derelict farmhouse. Officers also cordoned off dirt roads as they scoured through a large area of long grass in the area.

The major search, the first for more than two years in Portugal, will focus on ruins and water storage tanks. Two wells in the Praia da Luz area will also be drained, according to local media. It comes just after Madelaine's parents, Kate and Gerry marked the 18th anniversary of their daughter's disappearance and vowed to keep looking for her.

They said: "No matter how near or far she is, she continues to be right here with us, every day, but especially on her special day. We continue to 'celebrate' her as the very beautiful and unique person she is. We miss her."

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With the search for the missing girl underway, sources have stepped forward to share their thoughts on another hunt. It has been reported that cracks were already appearing this morning between the Portuguese police who have made it clear they are simply “complying” with decisions they haven’t taken and their counterparts.

A Portuguese source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said overnight: “We have low expectations about these searches but we’ve got our orders and we’re not going to stand in the way. The information that’s being put out in the public arena is that they’ll last five days with the preparation work and clean-up afterwards and we’ve been told to expect three days of full work on the ground. But on the Portuguese side at least there’s wishful thinking this could all be done in one day.

“We would love to be proved wrong and see a significant discovery because it’s what we’ve all been working towards for so many years. But the area that’s going to be turned upside-down this week has already been searched by Portuguese officers.”

Brueckner, currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a 2005 Praia da Luz rape and yet to be formally charged over disappearance despite being named as the sole suspect, is set for release from jail in September. German prosecutors who requested this week’s searches through a formal request to Portuguese legal chiefs are not thought to have offered up any information about new intelligence or tip-offs.

Another well-placed Portuguese source said: “If the Germans have got any game-changing new intelligence they haven’t shared it with us yet. We know the clock is ticking on Brueckner’s prison release and whilst we applaud all the efforts that are being made to seek justice here, we can’t at this stage see that we’re likely to be any further forward come next week.”

It emerged yesterday where Madeleine McCann vanished as her parents Kate and Gerry ate tapas nearby with their holiday friends. The start point for today’s searches is expected to be the one-bed cottage Brueckner lived in for several years a 10-minute drive from Praia da Luz. The 48-year-old drifter had already served two short prison sentences in Portugal for disobedience and theft by the time Madeleine vanished.

The May 2023 dam searches were the first major searches in Portugal for Madeleine McCann in nine years following an earlier June 2014 operation when British police were given permission to do digs in Praia da Luz that involved sniffer trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar.

Those Yard digs were linked to the leading UK police theory at the time Madeleine died during a break-in and burglars dumped her body nearby. They also failed to produce any evidence pointing to the missing youngster’s whereabouts.

In a smaller operation in July 2020, Portuguese police and firefighters searched three wells for Madeleine’s body but failed to find any trace of her. Portuguese sources said yesterday the new searches would take place on more than 20 privately-owned pieces of land between Brueckner’s old rented cottage and a rural area east heading towards Lagos known as Atalaia.

One said: “The search will take place on 21 privately-owned pieces of land which in some cases are open and not fenced off. Wells, ruins and water storage tanks will be searched. The landowners haven’t had to be asked for permission and they can’t stop the searches from continuing if they turn up because police will be acting with a judicial warrant.”

The Policia Judiciaria police, which in Portugal has been the lead police force in the hunt for Madeleine McCann, said in its first official comment about the searches: “The Polícia Judiciária (PJ) is complying with a European Investigation Decision (DEI) issued by the German authorities and issued by the Coordinator of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Faro District, with a view to carrying out a wide range of measures, specifically search warrants. They will be carried out between June 2 and June 6 in the municipality of Lagos.

The search warrant was issued by the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office, which is conducting preliminary proceedings against a German citizen suspected of the murder of British citizen Madeleine Beth McCann, who disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007. All the evidence seized by the PJ will, with the prior authorisation of the national Public Prosecutor's Office, be handed over to the agents of the German Federal Criminal Police Service.”