Portuguese investigators have issued a new update on the finds unearthed in last week’s Madeleine McCann searches following reports that bones, animal clothing and guns had been sent to Germany
No samples of any kind have been sent back to Germany following the Madeleine McCann searches last week, Portuguese investigators have said.
Portuguese sources insisted today that reports about German police taking back fragments of bone and clothing were misplaced – and said analysis of material unearthed is being done in Portugal. They also reacted to claims two guns had been found by confirming objects had been discovered – but predicting they would prove unrelated to the Madeleine inquiry. One is already at the centre of a separate investigation after being dismissed as “irrelevant” to the ongoing Madeleine McCann probe.
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A Portuguese investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the gun reports: “The objects found are very old and very rusty. I’d describe them almost as archaeological artefacts.”
Another well-placed insider added: “One has already been ruled out as having any connection to the Maddie inquiry. A separate investigation is underway to try to establish how it ended up where it did and what exactly it is.”
The forensic analysis of fragments believed to be animal bones and other tiny piece of adult clothing has been booked in at a Portuguese police scientific laboratory in Lisbon, and the results will be sent back to German prosecutors, investigators in Portugal insisted today. The well-placed Portuguese insider said German forensic officers had been offered the opportunity of being present at the tests, although it was unclear today if they had accepted the invite.
The source said: “The feeling on the Portuguese side at least is that what’s been unearthed during last week’s searches is unlikely to have anything to do with the suspect Christian Brueckner or the Madeleine McCann investigation.
There is a separate ongoing inquiry in Portugal alongside the German investigation, and Brueckner is a suspect in both countries, although he hasn’t been formally charged in either.
The source added: “The idea is that Portuguese investigators check first whether anything relevant to their inquiry is found and all the results get sent back to Germany once the analysis has been done. German forensic experts have been invited to attend the tests in Portugal.
“They were shown some of the bones that were unearthed last week in a video-conferencing session but couldn’t come to any real conclusions about exactly what they were via the screen they were seeing them on. What we can say for sure is that no samples of any kind recovered during last week’s searches have been taken out of Portugal despite reports to the contrary.”
German prosecutors have declined to provide any information about the results of the search, which started last Tuesday near the ramshackle cottage home where convicted paedophile Brueckner used to live and is close to the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz where Madeleine vanished on May 3 2007. The operation was wrapped up on Thursday evening after wells, ruins and water tanks on more than 20 privately-owned plots of land spanning a 120-acre area were inspected.
The German prosecution statement said: “The search operation conducted in Portugal last week has been completed as planned. No information can be provided at this time regarding the results of the investigation. Our sincere thanks go to all police officers involved in the search.
“The co-operation between the Portuguese police and the Federal Criminal Police Office was excellent and very constructive. We don’t want to say anymore at the moment.”
Luis Neves, the National Director of the Policia Judiciaria police force which in Portugal has been the lead police force in the hunt for Madeleine and whose officers worked along German counterparts at last week’s search, insisted last Friday it had “not been in vain” despite the apparent lack of results. He said: “Nothing is in vain, not least because doors are being closed”.
At the last Madeleine McCann search in Portugal just over two years ago, when the Arade Dam a 40-minute drive from Praia da Luz was combed, German police who requested the operation did take back home with them samples believed to be mainly soil samples. The remote dam was described at the time as Brueckner’s “little paradise.”
The May 2023 dam searches were the first major searches in Portugal for Madeleine McCann in nine years following an earlier June 2014 operation when British police were given permission to do digs in Praia da Luz that involved sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar.
Those Scotland Yard digs were linked to the leading UK police theory at the time Madeleine died during a break-in while her parents were eating tapas nearby with friends, and burglars dumped her body. They also failed to produce any evidence pointing to the missing youngster’s whereabouts.
In a smaller operation in July 2020 Portuguese police and firefighters searched three wells for Madeleine’s body but failed to find any trace of her. Last Friday Portuguese daily Correio da Manha claimed German prosecutors had refused to probe a couple suspected of running over Madeleine McCann in a drink-drive accident.
Portuguese authorities demanded an investigation into a British man and his German wife after his UK-based sister tipped off cops in 2018 she thought he could be covering up a dark secret about Madeleine’s disappearance, the newspaper reported. But it said German authorities rejected a Portuguese request to use an undercover police officer with a fake identity to try to befriend the female suspect and firm up their suspicions she was driving a car that hit Madeleine while under the influence of alcohol. There has so far been no official response from German, Portuguese or UK police to the claims.
Christian Brueckner remains in prison in Germany where he is serving a seven year term for rape. The 48-year-old convicted paedophile, set to be released from jail in September unless German prosecutors charge him over Madeleine, denies any involvement in her disappearance.
His earliest possible release date is September 17 – though his lawyer said he would have to pay €1,500 (£1,300) in outstanding fines from a series of motor offences to leave then.