Police hunting for Madeleine McCann's body in suspect's 'little paradise' set to reveal major update
9 July 2023, 08:12 | Updated: 9 July 2023, 08:35
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are set to issue a major update on their search.
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German police officers have been using sniffer dogs, radar and search teams to scour the area around the Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal, around 30 miles from where Madeleine was last seen in May 2007.
Prime suspect, German man Christian Brueckner, once called the area his "little paradise".
Eight holes around 2ft deep were also drilled in the area suggesting officers were looking for buried items or soil samples.
But officers are set to confirm they have not found anything of note.
German public prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told Bild: “Please don’t expect too much.”
Read more: Madeleine McCann police seize 'a number of items' after reservoir search in Portugal
Brueckner is currently behind bars for the rape of a woman close to where Madeleine McCann disappeared.
He's also suspected of further rapes and child sexual abuse committed in the area between 2000 and 2017.
He has reportedly denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Madeleine was three when she vanished while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, after they left her and her younger twin siblings asleep in their apartment while they went out to dinner with friends.
Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia previously claimed that criminal contacts had told him that Madeleine's body was in the reservoir.
In 2008 he raised funds for unsuccessful private searches of the water.
The latest searches came as the Home Office granted an extra £110,000 in funding this financial year for the Metropolitan Police to assist with finding Madeleine, down from just over £300,000 last year.
The total funding given to Operation Grange has been just under £13.1 million since 2011.
Items seized in Madeleine McCann search ‘cannot yet be linked’ to disappearance
