Genial South African Wim Bosman has just one rule in his Praia da Luz restaurant: “No talking about politics, religion… or Madeleine McCann”.
It is 15 years since the youngster vanished from her parents’ holiday apartment in the resort while they dined in a nearby tapas bar.
Yet, to this day, that night brings back painful memories for those who call “Luz” home.
“It’s become the thing that nobody talks about,” says Wim, who opened Bosman’s restaurant a decade before Madeleine vanished just before turning four.
“What happened to her is tragic and I cannot imagine what her parents have gone through but it’s part of the past here now.
“If someone does mention it, it inevitably turns into an argument because people’s opinions differ so wildly.
“Some blame the parents and say they should never have left her alone, others are full of sympathy for them.
“Then people have their theories about what happened to her but the truth is I don’t think we will ever know.”
The sun-kissed resort has changed little in the past 15 years.
Although visitors were initially replaced by journalists covering the story, the tourists have returned and locals believe it no longer carries the stigma of being “the place where Maddie vanished”.
Wim adds: “Aside from a few months, I firmly believe visitors and families were not put off from coming here. The resort was hit by the financial crisis and Covid just as much as it was by bad publicity to do with the Maddie case.”
Luz does feel like a place that has moved on.
The apartment on Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva where Madeleine vanished is once again being rented out to holidaymakers and the home of a previous suspect, searched at the time, has been bulldozed in favour of new flats.
But locals recently found their home town back in the news when Christian Brueckner was named an “arguido” –formal suspect – in the case.
The German paedophile spent years renting a farmhouse before Madeleine’s disappearance. Despite moving out a year before she vanished, the house has become a macabre tourist attraction.
It is now owned by a British man who told the Mirror he is “sick and tired” of people stopping to “gawp” at it. He adds: “It’s really frustrating because the whole place has been renovated since he lived here.
“Nobody in the resort wants to talk about Madeleine or the guy they think took her, it’s just not spoken about.
“He was living in a camper van when she went missing, not here. This property has nothing to do with it.” Outside Paroquia de Senhora da Luz church two women stand chatting.
One of them, Benedita Fernandes, 72, is a rarity – a local willing to talk about Madeleine’s disappearance.
“People do not like reminding of it but I disagree,” she says.
“She was a little girl and we must never forget her. I don’t blame her parents. It is cruel to do so. Someone evil came to this place that night. It is they who are to blame.
“I pray for Madeleine all the time and also for her family. I truly hope we will find out what happened to her.”
Kate, 54, and Gerry, 53, will mark the day in a low-key manner.
As German investigators remain convinced Brueckner is responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance – which his lawyer strongly denies – Scotland Yard’s hunt for her abductor, named Operation Grange, is expected to be shelved later this year.
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