Animal bones are reported to be among limited findings after a three-day search for forensic evidence in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann case, who vanished from a holiday home in Portugal 18 years ago, was called off.
Local media said some material had been gathered on Wednesday and sent for analysis to see if it contained anything relevant to the investigation.
German investigators were given until Friday to search an area between Praia da Luz and the cottage where he lived at the time of the toddler’s disappearance in 2007, but the search was wound up on Thursday.
Christian Brueckner, a suspect in case, is due to be released from prison within months.
A neighbour who lived near Brueckner around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance described him as “quite angry”, and said she would hear him having rows with his girlfriend.
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann ramped up their hunt of scrubland and abandoned buildings on Wednesday with heavy machinery, including JCB and ground-penetrating radar.
Madeleine was three when she disappeared, sparking a Europe-wide police investigation.
German national Brueckner, who was formally identified as a suspect in 2022, has denied any involvement.
Key Points
- German and Portuguese police congratulate each other as search ends
- Praia da Luz farewells yet another search for answers
- Did police find enough evidence before their suspect disappears?
- Recap: How did the search play out?
Praia da Luz farewells yet another search for answers
16:55 , Amy-Clare MartinAmy-Clare Martin reports from Portugal:
In Praia da Luz, Many locals have their own theories about what happened to Madeleine McCann, who vanished from a holiday apartment at Ocean Club resort while her parents had dinner nearby 18 years ago.
And as a new three-day search led by German authorities appeared to wind down on Thursday, many expressed their frustration at “the case that won’t go away”.
British expat Julia Newbould, 79, has lived in the town for 40 years after emigrating from Sheffield.
“Everybody’s fed up with it – I have spoken to people of different ages and different nationalities, and everybody is feeling the same,” she told The Independent.
“It’s the case that won’t go away. It was terrible at first. People stopped coming and cancelled their holidays, it was devastating.
She isn’t surprised that the search teams, who have been using ground penetrating radar and a digger to scour derelict farm buildings near where suspect Christian Brueckner used to live, appear to have found little evidence connected to Madeleine’s disappearance after all this time.
“They won’t find anything because the ground is rock hard,” she said. “But they just keep bringing it up and bringing it up.”
Recap: How did the search play out?
16:21 , Rachel ClunA three-day search for Madeleine McCann failed to bear fruit and was brought to a close by German police on Thursday afternoon.
Media flocked to Praia da Luz, the charming Algarve resort where Maddie went missing, amid hopes that authorities had found a lead in where the girl’s body could be.
Police used ground penetrating radar and a digger to scour derelict farm buildings near where suspect Christian Brueckner used to live, reported The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin, who was on the scene.
Images showed as authorities scoured bushes in the area, discovering animal bones among other findings which have not appeared to bring answers any closer.
As the search finally came to a close, teams of German and Portuguese police officers were seen shaking hands and embracing following a debrief and started to pack up a tent at their base in the 120-acre search site in Atalaia, which was once home to a farming community, Amy-Clare Martin reported.
In pictures: The cottage reportedly lived in by main suspect near Praia da Luz
15:47 , Rachel ClunChristian Brueckner has been the official main suspect in the case since 2022, and has denied any involvement.
At the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, he lived within a few miles of Praia da Luz.
A neighbour remembered him as an “angry” young man.
Previous searches led nowhere
15:14 , Rachel ClunSince Madeleine McCann’s disappearance 18 years ago, there have been several large-scale searches for a trace of her involving international police teams.
In January 2014, British detectives travelled to Portugal promising new arrests, and finally searched the village in June. They interviewed four people the following month but failed to unearth new information.
In May 2023, 16 years after Madeleine disappeared, German investigators launched a major search operation at a reservoir in the Algarve.
With help from Portuguese police and with Scotland Yard detectives watching on, German police carried out a thorough examination of the Barragem do Arade beauty spot in Silves.
The site is located approximately 30 miles northeast of the Ocean Club resort, from which the missing girl first disappeared.
It remains to be seen if this week’s search will prove to be a breakthrough in the case, as German police now sift through any evidence collected.
How the 18-year mystery began
14:40 , Rachel ClunThis week’s search in scrubland near Praia da Luz is one of many hunts for answers in the 18 years since Madeleine McCann disappeared. Here’s how the case began.
Madeliene disappears: 3 May, 2007
Kate and Gerry McCann were holidaying with their three children in Praia da Luz, and were eating tapas with friends when their three-year-old daughter vanished from her bed, just tens of metres away.
A search begins, and runs through summer, with British police sending sniffer dogs to aid the effort in July. By August, Madeline has been missing for 100 days, and police admit she may never be found.
In September, Portuguese police name Madeleine’s parents as official suspects. They vigorously denied they had anything to do with her disappearance. The McCanns return to Britain on 9 September, without any answers about Madeleine.
Gerry McCann issues a video in November, speculating that his family may have been watched by a “predator” during their stay in the Ocean Club resort, and the couple release a sketch of a “creepy man” they claimed other holiday makers had seen loitering around the club.
Full story: Inside the Algarve resort haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
14:09 , Rachel Clun
Inside the Algarve resort haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
In pictures: The abandoned buildings searched for a trace of Madeleine McCann
13:37 , Rachel ClunDozens of police spent three days shifting rubble, digging with shovels and even drained a well among abandoned buildings in a 120-acre piece of countryside near Praia da Luz for evidence in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
Watch: Inside buildings scoured in latest search for Madeleine McCann
13:05 , Rachel ClunFormer neighbour describes suspect as 'angry' young man
12:33 , Amy-Clare MartinAmy Clare Martin reports from Portugal
A neighbour of German suspect Christian Brueckner, who lived near Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, described him as an “angry” young man who she would hear having rows with his girlfriend.
Brueckner, who has denied any involvement in the McCann case, was living in the town around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
The neighbour said: “If I was riding past and he'd be standing outside, we'd say hello, you know, how are you,” she said. “Nothing more. Then we found out he was a really nasty piece of work.”
The resident, who used to ride her horse around the 120-acre search area, said the farmhouses and outbuildings on the site have been derelict since at least the 80s.
“It is the first time I've heard of Atalaia being searched,” she said. “I know the properties because I used go up there all the time with my horse. I know exactly where they are. Whether he'd been up there or done anything, no clue.”
The neighbour said locals were “exhausted” by the search operation - just the latest in a long history of investigations in the 18 years since Madeleine disappeared.
Animal bones among the limited findings in final hours of the search, reports claimed
11:50 , Rachel ClunNeither German nor Portuguese police have released official statements since the renewed search began this week for solid answers over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 18 years ago.
However, local media reported that some evidence has been collected over the past day for testing.
Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported that some material had been gathered on Wednesday and was being processed and analysed to see if it contained anything relevant to the investigation.
A local television station, SIC, reported that animal bones and clothing were among the limited findings of the large-scale investigation.
Dozens of police from Germany and Portugal spent three days scouring a 120-acre swathe of scrubland, just a couple of miles from where Madeleine was last seen alive.
Mapped: Where police focused their renewed search for evidence
11:18 , Rachel ClunIn pictures: Last-ditch effort in hunt for clues
10:46 , Rachel ClunThe renewed search for clues in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann ended on Thursday, with no official comments from police about whether they found any significant evidence.
‘Everybody’s fed up’: Inside the Algarve resort haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
10:14 , Amy-Clare MartinThe ghost of Madeleine McCann has returned to Praia da Luz 18 years later as German police mount fresh searches a mile away on top of dramatic volcanic cliffs overlooking the town.
Inside the Algarve resort haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Full story: Timeline of the 18 year missing girl mystery
09:34 , Rachel Clun
What happened to Madeleine McCann? Timeline of the 18 year missing girl mystery
Did police find enough evidence before their suspect disappears?
09:12 , Rachel ClunThe renewed search for clues in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance was spurred by the impending release from prison of the only current suspect, Christian Brueckner.
The convicted rapist was first named in connection with the toddler’s disappearance in 2020, and was made an official suspect in 2022, but police have so far not charged him. He has denied any involvement.
Currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, Brueckner is set to be released by September unless further charges are brought.
Earlier this year, German prosecutors confirmed Brueckner had applied for early release, after he was cleared in October last year by a German court of unrelated sexual offences, alleged to have taken place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
In an interview with RTL, Brueckner said he planned to vanish after his release due to the intense attention he had received as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Neither German nor Portuguese police have released any formal statements since wrapping up the search last night, but a Portuguese officer told the Sun: “We have found nothing”.
Holidaymakers were unaware of ongoing search
08:41 , Rachel ClunAmy-Clare Martin reports from Praia da Luz:
Holidaymakers from across Europe were sunbathing by the pool inside the Ocean Club resort on Thursday, most blissfully unaware of the grim search efforts ongoing nearby.
After almost two decades of media scrutiny as her unsolved disappearance has continued to make worldwide headlines, staff at the whitewashed complex said they were unable to comment on the investigation.
Eric Hoffman, 78, told The Independent he had no idea he was staying at the infamous spot where Maddy vanished when he booked a two week holiday from Switzerland.
“We were surprised, we know of the case from the papers but we didn’t know before we booked that it was this building,” he said. Asked about the latest searches, he added: “It’s quite difficult now to find something because it’s been so long.”
Praia da Luz farewells yet another search for answers
08:34 , Rachel ClunAmy-Clare Martin reports from Portugal:
In Praia da Luz, Many locals have their own theories about what happened to Madeleine McCann, who vanished from a holiday apartment at Ocean Club resort while her parents had dinner nearby 18 years ago.
And as a new three-day search led by German authorities appeared to wind down on Thursday, many expressed their frustration at “the case that won’t go away”.
British expat Julia Newbould, 79, has lived in the town for 40 years after emigrating from Sheffield.
“Everybody’s fed up with it – I have spoken to people of different ages and different nationalities, and everybody is feeling the same,” she told The Independent.
“It’s the case that won’t go away. It was terrible at first. People stopped coming and cancelled their holidays, it was devastating.
She isn’t surprised that the search teams, who have been using ground penetrating radar and a digger to scour derelict farm buildings near where suspect Christian Brueckner used to live, appear to have found little evidence connected to Madeleine’s disappearance after all this time.
“They won’t find anything because the ground is rock hard,” she said. “But they just keep bringing it up and bringing it up.”
The three-day search, in pictures
08:27 , Rachel ClunDozens of investigators spent three days scouring scrubland in the Algarve for evidence of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
German and Portuguese police congratulate each other as search ends
08:20 , Rachel ClunAs the third day of the search for evidence in that 18-year-old mystery of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance drew to a close, German and Portuguese investigators congratulated and embraced each other.
The latest search for evidence in the case wound down on Thursday in Atalaia, not far from Praia da Luz, the last place Madeleine was seen alive.
The search effort focused on a 120-acre swathe of land covered in scrub and abandoned farm buildings.
Searchers used everything from a JCB and drones to shovels, pickaxes and their hands to search the vast area in 29C heat.
On Thursday evening, after the Augustiner beers were carried away, some officers struggled to grapple with the tents they were taking down because of the blustery conditions.
Watch: Inside buildings scoured in new search for Madeleine McCann
08:13 , Rachel Clun
Recap: How did the search play out?
07:46 , Alex CroftA three-day search for Madeleine McCann failed to bear fruit and was brought to a close by German police on Thursday afternoon.
Media flocked to Praia da Luz, the charming Algarve resort where Maddie went missing, amid hopes that authorities had found a lead in where the girl’s body could be.
Police used ground penetrating radar and a digger to scour derelict farm buildings near where suspect Christian Brueckner used to live, reported The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin, who was on the scene.
Images showed as authorities scoured bushes in the area, discovering animal bones among other findings which have not appeared to bring answers any closer.
As the search finally came to a close, teams of German and Portuguese police officers were seen shaking hands and embracing following a debrief and started to pack up a tent at their base in the 120-acre search site in Atalaia, which was once home to a farming community, Amy-Clare Martin reported.
One team member was seeing carrying a crate of German beer.
Police search for Madeleine McCann in Portugal: The Independent reports from abandoned site
07:15 , Alexander ButlerMapped: Where police searched for Madeleine McCann
05:00 , Alexander ButlerGerman police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann launched a major new search in Portugal this week.
Madeleine disappeared in 2007 while on holiday with her family in the resort of Praia da Luz. She vanished from a bedroom in a holiday apartment complex while her parents were out for dinner with friends a short walk away.
The subsequent search for the missing girl became one of the highest-profile unsolved missing person cases in the world.
Mapped: Where police will begin new major search for Madeleine McCann
What happened to Madeleine McCann? Timeline of the 18 year missing girl mystery as new search launched in Portugal
04:00 , Alexander ButlerWhat happened to Madeleine McCann? Timeline of the 18 year missing girl mystery
What we know about the new search for Madeleine McCann
03:00 , Alexander Butler
Christian Brueckner was a drifter and sex offender – why did police ignore him when Maddie McCann disappeared?
02:00 , Alexander Butler
Will Christian Brueckner ever face charges over the disappearance of Maddie McCann?
‘Everybody’s fed up’: Inside the Algarve resort haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Friday 6 June 2025 00:01 , Alexander ButlerOn a stop sign at the entrance to Praia Da Luz, faded graffiti declares: “STOP McCann circus.”
The stencilled message - now hastily sprayed over - was once daubed on every stop sign in the town as locals reeled from the devastating impact of the British toddler’s disappearance in 2007.
Tourism halved in the charming Algarve resort as the mystery of Madeleine McCann turned into a media storm which they have struggled to escape ever since, according to weary residents.
Read the full story by The Independent’s crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin:
Inside the Algarve resort haunted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
German and Portuguese investigators congratulated and embraced each other as searches connected to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann drew to a close.
Search teams wound down the operation in Atalaia, near Lagos, Portugal, on Thursday, after three days of scouring scrubland and abandoned structures.
Officers involved in the latest searches held a debrief before leaving the site, and there was a round of applause before a crate of German beer was removed from one of the tents in the designated base area.
After the Augustiner beers were carried away, some officers struggled to grapple with the tents they were taking down because of the blustery conditions.
Earlier in the day, personnel could be seen holding pitchforks as they combed stretches of land.
Pick-axes and shovels were used to dig some of the undergrowth and a digger was again used to remove rubble from one of the abandoned structures at the site.
They spent the first two days of the search focusing on one particular derelict building, using ground-penetrating radar on the cobbled ground after clearing the area of debris and vegetation using a digger and chainsaws
Shovels, pickaxes and an abandoned farmhouse: Inside the new search for Madeleine McCann
Thursday 5 June 2025 22:50 , Alexander Butler
Inside the new search for Madeleine McCann as police race against time
Christian Brueckner was a drifter and sex offender – why did police ignore him when Maddie McCann disappeared?
Thursday 5 June 2025 22:30 , David James SmithThe assertion that 47-year-old Christian Brueckner could be the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCannlooked a little thinner when he was acquitted in October on five unrelated sexual offences – two of which involved children – following a trial that began in February 2024.
Despite the huge amount of interest around Christian Brueckner’s past, the verdicts were no great surprise. They had been anticipated since last July when the presiding Judge, Uta Inse Engemann, in the German regional court of Braunschweig had ruled that there was “no longer sufficient evidence of guilt for all of the charges”.
Brueckner, a German national, remains in jail, serving the final months of a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz — the same hotel where Madeleine went missing two years later.
But as he seeks early release from the 2019 sentence, police in Germany are hurrying to charge the prime suspect in the disappearance of the British toddler before he walks free from prison in the next two weeks.
Will Christian Brueckner ever face charges over the disappearance of Maddie McCann?
Vast search involving dozens of police and high-tech equipment to cost £300,000, according to reports
Thursday 5 June 2025 22:10 , Alexander ButlerDozens of police from Germany and Portugal have spent most of the week scouring a 120-acre stretch of scrubland and abandoned buildings for clues about Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
That effort, set to end today unless significant evidence is uncovered, is estimated to have cost at least £300,000, The Times reports.
The newspaper reports more than 60 officers have been involved in the hunt, and on Wednesday aerial drones were deployed and an excavator was brought in to help clear rubble.
Searchers also used ground penetrating radar, which can detect abnormalities underground, such as a hidden burial.
The search area is just a couple of miles from Praia de Luz and the Ocean Club resort where Madeleine had been sleeping before she vanished on May 3, 2007.
Former neighbour describes suspect as 'angry' young man
Thursday 5 June 2025 21:50 , Alexander ButlerA neighbour of German suspect Christian Brueckner, who lived near Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, described him as an “angry” young man who she would hear having rows with his girlfriend.
Brueckner, who has denied any involvement in the McCann case, was living in the town around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
The neighbour said: “If I was riding past and he'd be standing outside, we'd say hello, you know, how are you,” she said. “Nothing more. Then we found out he was a really nasty piece of work.”
The resident, who used to ride her horse around the 120-acre search area, said the farmhouses and outbuildings on the site have been derelict since at least the 80s.
“It is the first time I've heard of Atalaia being searched,” she said. “I know the properties because I used go up there all the time with my horse. I know exactly where they are. Whether he'd been up there or done anything, no clue.”
The neighbour said locals were “exhausted” by the search operation - just the latest in a long history of investigations in the 18 years since Madeleine disappeared.
Full story: A timeline of the 18 year missing girl mystery
Thursday 5 June 2025 21:30 , Alexander ButlerThe current search, a few miles from where Madeleine McCann was last seen in a Praia da Luz resort, is just the latest in the years-long, international effort to find answers.
Read the full history of the toddler’s disappearance and the effort to find her below:
What happened to Madeleine McCann? Timeline of the 18 year missing girl mystery
Animal bones among the limited findings in final hours of the search, report claims
Thursday 5 June 2025 21:10 , Alexander ButlerPortuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported that some material had been gathered on Wednesday and was being processed and analysed to see if it contained anything relevant to the investigation.
A local television station, SIC, reported that animal bones were among the limited findings of the large-scale investigation.
Since Tuesday, dozens of police from Germany and Portugal have been scouring a 120-acre swathe of scrubland, just a couple of miles from where Madeleine was last seen alive.
The search is expected to finish this afternoon if nothing significant has been found.
