Materials obtained during a three-day search of a reservoir in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are set to be analysed by forensic experts.
Portuguese cops acting under orders from German police have been raking the area around the Barragem do Arade this week – just over 30 miles from where Madeleine, who would now be 20, disappeared in 2007. The search, which was supervised by Metropolitan Police officers, has now been concluded.
The Mirror reports that officers confirmed the searches had yielded "the collection of some material" that would be examined by those with "competent expertise". Sources with knowledge of the investigation have suggested that police are looking for a gun and a camcorder belonging to the prime suspect.
German convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner, 43, remains under suspicion of abducting and killing Madeleine – a charge he has reportedly denied. "Certain tips" given to prosecutors in Germany suggest that items stolen in a raid of Brueckner's home in Portugal were thrown into the reservoir, according to the Mail.
Informers reportedly told investigators that the items were a gun and a camcorder – the latter of which could contain images of Madeleine as well as two other women Brueckner is alleged to have attacked. The tipsters are said to have backed up information from key witnesses Manfred Seyferth and another man called Helge Busching.
The pair have already told German investigators they broke into the house while Brueckner was in jail. Seyferth said the pair had found a gun and a video camera at the isolated house where Brueckner lived.
He is reported to have lived only a few miles from the reservoir at Silves on the Algarve that has been the focus of the latest police search, for a time. German prosecutors believe he lived in the area between 1995 and 2007.
He has two previous convictions for "sexual contact with girls". In 2016, he was jailed for a year and three months for "abusing a child in the act of procuring himself and possessing child pornography", and in June 2017 got 15 months' jail for the sexual abuse of a child.
He is currently in prison in Kiel, northern Germany, after being jailed for drug trafficking and then for raping a 72-year-old American woman. The woman was attacked in Praia da Luz in September 2005, almost a year-and-a-half before Madeline went missing.
Police released a new statement minutes after the conclusion of the searches. Huge piles of soil were left next to the concentrated digging area.
Portugal's Judicial Police force said: "Following the statement of May 22, 2023, the Judiciary Police informs that the steps requested by the German authorities, through a request for international cooperation, have been fulfilled, which resulted in the collection of some material that will be subject to the competent expertise.
"The operation was coordinated by the Judiciary Police, which involved investigators, criminal experts and security personnel. The works had the participation of the German authorities (BKA) and were attended by British authorities (MPS).
"It also had the collaboration of the Faro Command of the National Republican Guard in various aspects, as well as the Regional Command of Emergency and Civil Protection of the Algarve and the Municipality of Silves, with regard to the logistics necessary for the development of the works.
"Safeguarding the interests of the investigation still underway in Portugal, the collected material will be delivered to the German authorities."
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