A hard drive found at a disused factory bought by the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation contains evidence suggesting that she is dead, according to reports.
German police believe that Christian Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug trader, killed the three-year-old after she vanished during a family holiday in Praia De Luz, Portugal in 2007.
See also: Timeline of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance
Officers discovered the drive along with children’s clothes, toys, masks, chemicals and guns at the abandoned home in Neuwegersleben, central Germany, according to The Sun. Brueckner is said to have purchased the property for £20,000 in 2008.
The newspaper said that police were alerted to the factory by a dog in 2016 and later discovered Brueckner’s dead dog, a wallet with six USB sticks and two memory cards containing disturbing material.
Officers discovered evidence of Skype chats with other paedophiles, including one conversation in which Brueckner allegedly said he wanted to “capture something small and use it for days”.
The hard drive seized by police contains images taken in Portugal that have persuaded investigators that Madeleine died after her disappearance, The Sun reported.
The claims will air in a Channel 4 documentary set to be broadcast on Wednesday evening.
Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison term in Germany for raping a woman in the part of Portugal's Algarve region where McCann went missing. His sentence runs until September 2025.
In October last year, Brueckner was acquitted of unrelated charges of rape and sexual abuse of children by a German court, raising the possibility that he will be released from jail this year.
German police said in June 2020 that McCann was assumed dead and that Brueckner, in his 40s, was likely responsible for it.
Madeleine vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying in at the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal while her parents, Kate and Gerry, ate with friends - who became known as the "Tapas 7" - at a nearby restaurant.
The apartment was broken into while Madeleine and her twin baby siblings were asleep, and local police concluded it was a kidnapping.
The family voiced concern at what they called a slow initial police response and failure to secure the crime scene.
