Police probing Madeleine McCann’s abduction have drawn up a list of potential new witnesses to quiz.
German officers are directing Portuguese special search units to pursue new lines of inquiry as they ramp up a probe into paedo Christian Brueckner.
He was named last month as the prime suspect in the abduction – more than 13 years after Madeleine vanished from Praia da Luz in May 2007.
A 10-strong team of local police, firefighters and divers has been scouring a network of wells in the village of Budens.
According to Portuguese reports, police now intend to focus the hunt on the area around the Boca Do Rio beach where Brueckner is known to have spent time in his camper van.
It is claimed fresh sightings have emerged of Brueckner’s VW Westfalia – which he sold for scrap in 2017 in the Algarve for £5,000 – in the area around the wells.
Detectives may start searching properties in the area while questioning his former girlfriends, colleagues and pals.
A source said: “Since he was named, people have come forward saying they saw his camper van around beaches and camping sites in Vila Do Bispo.
"German police believe he may have tried to bury or throw Madeleine’s body in wells in the area, but there are dozens.
"Now Brueck-ner is the focus of the investigation they are focusing on places he frequented.”
An eight-hour search of wells on Thursday took place a 10-minute drive from Praia da Luz but it is believed divers did not find any important evidence.
Police are thought to have acted on a tip-off, possibly from German investigators, that Brueckner’s VW van was seen in an area popular with German surfers and campers.
His van was also photographed on a beach at Praia do Barranco, 40 minutes from Praia da Luz.
Former detective Jim Gamble, who headed the National Crime Agency’s child unit, said: “The level of circumstantial evidence pointing to Brueckner is substantial. The fact police are so heavily re-engaged and carrying out this detailed and difficult search – that all has to be positive.”
Brueckner, 43, is in a German jail for drug offences. He is appealing against his conviction last year for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.
Prosecutors say they have evidence he killed Madeleine, three, but he denies involvement in her disappearance.
