The first major search for Madeleine McCann in a decade is expected to be extended into a third day as Portuguese and German police continued to dig into the wooded banks of a reservoir in the Algarve.
The operation, 30 miles from where the then three-year-old went missing in 2007, had been due to end on Wednesday but sources close to the investigation indicated that a further day would be taken.
There is yet to be any official confirmation.
Trimmers and chainsaws were used to clear land yet to be dug throughout Wednesday and officers were seen taking away bags from a peninsula jutting into the Barragem do Arade reservoir where the investigation has been focused.
The operation at the reservoir had been requested by German police after they reportedly discovered photos of convicted rapist Christian Brückner at his self-described “little paradise” near the town of Silves.
Brückner, who was jailed in 2019 for the rape of a 72-year-old American tourist a mile from where Madeleine went missing, was officially named by the Portuguese police as a suspect, or arguido, last year in relation to Madeleine’s disappearance from her parents’ holiday apartment in the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on the evening of 4 May 2007.
Speaking on Wednesday, Hans Christian Wolters, a spokesperson for the Braunschweig state prosecution, which is leading the investigation, told the German broadcaster NDR that Brückner was not helping them in the search.
He said: “We have indications that we could find evidence there. What precisely that is, I actually don’t want to say. From where these clues come from I also don’t want to say. The only thing that I would like to clarify is, that this does not come from the accused himself.
“That’s to say we have no confession or similar [from him]. And it’s also unfortunately not the case that it’s a tip from the accused as to where it would make more sense for us to search. Rather there are other clues which have prompted us to carry out this search operation. More than that I cannot say right now.”
