New search in Portugal for Madeleine McCann, 18 years after disappearance
German and Portuguese authorities are conducting fresh inquiries near the resort where the British toddler vanished in 2007
Police investigating the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann will carry out fresh searches near the Portuguese holiday resort where she was last seen 18 years ago, authorities said on Monday.
The three-year-old disappeared from her bed while on holiday with her family in the Praia da Luz resort, in southern Portugal, on May 3, 2007. She has not been seen since.
Detectives acting on a request from a German public prosecutor will carry out “a broad range” of searches this week in the area of Lagos, in southern Portugal, a Portuguese police statement said.
The main suspect in the case is a German national identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.
He is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case but has not been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of the child’s disappearance. Brueckner has denied any involvement in her disappearance.