Police investigating the disappearance of McCann police say they have recovered a number of items from their recent search of a reservoir in Portugal.
German authorities last week helped Portuguese crews comb a remote area inland from the Algarve coastal resort where Madeleine went missing from her bedroom during a family holiday in 2007.
Prosecutors said they would evaluate the undisclosed items in the coming days and weeks.
Madeleine McCann went missing on a family holiday in Portugal in 2007
(PA Media)
“Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed,” the prosecutor’s statement read.
Last week, police in Portugal undertook a three-day search at the remote reservoir which is located around 31 miles from the Praia de Luz resort- the hotel where Madeleine vanished while her parents were at dinner in a tapas bar with friends around 100 yards away from their holiday apartment.
As part of this investigation, police dug holes of around 60cm and the surrounding woodland showed pathways had been cut by heavy machinery, leading to the main flattened 160 square foot excavation area.
Kate and Gerry McCann, posted a statement on the Find Madeleine website on 3 May 2023 marking the latest anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance, reiterating their hopes of being reunited with her one day
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The fresh search operation took place at the request of German investigators who believe their prime suspect, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 45, kidnapped and murdered the youngster.
German authorities have not revealed what triggered the latest search operation, but the prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, Christian Wolters, said they were acting on the basis of “certain tips”.
Teams searched the water for three days
(PA)
Holes dug apparently for soil samples in the area around Barragem do Arade reservoir, in the Algarve
(PA)
He told German public broadcaster NDR the new information had not come from the suspect and they did not have a confession or “any indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search”.
Brueckner is in prison in Germany for the rape of a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further rapes and child sexual abuse committed in the area between 2000 and 2017.
He has denied any involvement and is currently behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same part of Portugal.