Christian Brueckner: To be or not to be

no the cb saga started well before that happened, the hcw styled into a reliable witness helge b, talked cb into all of it. he talked first to grange and then the germans, the germans asked portugal for cases that fitted the descriptions as given by that trafficker of humans, and that is how the case of the american lady ended up in germany. 

hcw is not the only one who gets tips, it looks like it the ones amaral gets are of a better standard of reliability than the hcw ones. 

i know it would have been a marvel of a joke, all the media in the uk and a bit in germany dived into it, but amaral is to much a gentleman to joke around in this case. 

i think they not even have found the other sock this time. 

it is said the muck will be studied over in germany, it are modern times, so we burn in amsterdam a lot of garbage from the uk, to heat up houses, and from rome too. so it is only fair if germany do their share in saving the planet. portugal and its people would not care that much for some left overs of life. 

maybe jon clarke and mwt will take a chance in finding the other sock. so they have a fresh excuse to get their bottoms on the sofa of hcw, to tell his officers have bungled, just like before.

onehand wrote:they stopped the search early, the uk investigators who only where there toi observe left already this morning says sic noticias. 

the supervision of the search was in the hands of the portuguese police a contingent from the office in porto.

there is a press conference promised, in the bylines of the chat someone said around 19.00 hours. i have not found a source for that.

cmjornal has a bit of a puzzle in their text, first a relevant piece was found today, but in the next bit they write no indications they found something in relation to madeleine mccann.

cm says the objects found are going to germany to be studied.

 
Collected material to be sent to Germany. How secure is this in terms of obtaining a true and informed scientific analysis? Not wishing to cast aspersion or slander the German process but if I were CB's lawyer would be interested in the exact details of a due process.

Yes, they are spreading it even thinner and further, there's room for underhand goings on before and after it's sent. it gets sillier by the day.

excuses because it is not in english, but this is what amaral himself told in a radio talk and how he sees this search and the role of cb in it al.

so please do use the translating app of your own choice.

https://24.sapo.pt/atualidade/artigos/caso-maddie-e-preciso-um-bode-expiatorio-e-esta-aqui-afirma-antigo-inspetor-da-pj

verdi would you be so kind to look if the translation can be copied on to the forum itself. 

it is not very new to hear what amaral thinks about it all, but i think he has a realistic view on it all.

there is a statement on the website of the pj from today;

https://www.policiajudiciaria.pt/investigacao-ao-desaparecimento-de-uma-crianca-inglesa-2/

translation;

sometimes you ask yourself if this case is for real. we already have made at times a bit of a laugh about the two names the hans christian wolters shares with that of a well known writer of stories.

well, who do you think is the german official who leads the investigation into the death of madeleine mccann?

his name is rainer grimm.

he is said to be working at the federal department of the german criminal police. i do hope he not has a brother who works on this case too. and i already had reached the idea i was ending up in a bad episode of tatort. i think the uk must have escaped that endless row of tv series. 

i have still not found a press conference, even the media in portugal use only the information from the pj website.

If he has a brother, we'll know they're taking the mickey out of the whole awful business.

Madeleine McCann: Portugal reservoir search ends after three days
 
25th May 2023   1 minute ago


By Daniel Sandford, home affairs correspondent, and Navtej Johal
BBC News
 
A fresh search linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal has ended.
 
Portuguese authorities said material recovered during the three-day operation around the Arade reservoir in the Algarve would now be analysed.
The German police-led operation was looking for evidence to link the British toddler's disappearance to Christian Brueckner, a German national.
He was made a formal suspect by Portuguese prosecutors in 2022.
German prosecutors have named Brueckner as the main suspect in their Madeleine McCann murder investigation. British police do not use that phrase, saying that as far as they are concerned it is still a missing person investigation.
The search at the Arade reservoir near Silves was part of the German investigation. They asked Portuguese officials for assistance, and the Metropolitan Police said its officers were also in Portugal so they can inform Madeleine's family of any developments.
A statement from Portugal's national police agency said the "collected material" from the scene will be delivered to the German authorities for further inspection.
All the work carried out around the reservoir was on a peninsula jutting out into the Arade dam from its Western shore - 31 miles (50km) from where Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz 16 years ago.
Officers were seen using rakes and hoes, strimmers and a small excavator to clear paths through the scrub on a nearby slope - the sound of machinery at work audible in the remote area.
Police also dug a number of smaller holes, leaving huge piles of soil and broken rock next to the 160 sq ft (14 sq m) excavation area.
The spit of land has a small car park on it, which is often used as an unofficial campsite.
Brueckner, a 45-year-old German national, is thought to have stayed there often in his Volkswagen T3 camper van.
He is also known to have visited the picturesque spot around the time Madeleine, who would now be 20, went missing.
White tents were set up on the site and sniffer dogs were used. However, no divers were seen going under the water.
 
German authorities have not revealed what triggered the latest search operation but state prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said they were acting on the basis of "certain tips".
He told German public broadcaster NDR: "We have indications that we could find evidence there. I don't want to say what that is exactly, and I also don't want to say where these indications come from.
"The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesn't come from the suspect - so we don't have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search."
Mr Wolters is treating Brueckner as the main suspect in Madeleine's case, although he has never been charged over Madeleine's disappearance and has denied any involvement.
 
Madeleine disappeared from a holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007, nine days before her fourth birthday.
Hers has become one of the most infamous missing person's cases in modern times, attracting attention in countries across Europe, and in America and Australia.
 
News crews from around the world remain stationed around the Arade reservoir, where they are reporting the latest developments.
Brueckner was living near the Praia da Luz resort when the McCann family was on holiday, and he spent time in the area between 2000 and 2017.
He is currently in prison in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in 2005 in the same area where Madeleine went missing.
 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65710265

Maddie probe: tents start being dismantled as latest searches come to an end

By Natasha Donn -
25th May 2023

Reports suggest ‘gun and camcorder’ on list of German police

With speculation running rampant over the last few days, the truth is that the latest searches for clues into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann look like they have come to an end.

As we wrote this text, reporters at the Arade dam site bristling with police and press since Tuesday were told “the presence of authorities would only be maintained until 4pm”.

It seems unlikely that German police, who requested these searches, will be giving any kind of statement today.

PJ police did promise, early on, that they would give information “on the results” when the searches were over, but so far nothing – beyond speculation by various sources, extending even to the “possibility of other bodies, of other missing children…” being found.

The UK’s Daily Mail ran with an exclusive this afternoon suggesting “the very reliable source” that had tipped off German police had talked of a gun and a camcorder, allegedly stolen from the home of ‘the one and only suspect’ Christian Brückner, and then “thrown into the dam”.

This doesn’t explain why vegetation was cleared. But, according to the Mail, “Police are desperate to find the video camera as they believe it may contain images of Madeleine, but also of other sex attacks Brueckner (sic) is said to have carried out on at least two unidentified women”.

On the basis that the original tip-off about Brückner came from what his defence lawyer has described as the worst witness you can get, it is perhaps not surprising that former PJ coordinator Gonçalo Amaral has said these latest searches are another attempt to “pin the case” on Brückner, whom he has always described as a convenient scapegoat.

The Mail however has branded Amaral as “shameless”.

Amaral’s interview with Sábado did see him suggesting that if what he sees as “the political pressures” in this long-running mystery finally come to an end “this case will end and there will be answers”.

https://www.portugalresident.com/maddie-probe-tents-start-being-dismantled-as-latest-searches-come-to-an-end/

Drole !

EXCLUSIVE - Madeleine McCann police were searching remote Algarve spot for a GUN and camcorder 'that were stolen from Christian Brueckner': Holes dug in the ground for soil analysis are revealed as search ends

   Authorities were tipped off about gun and camcorder stolen from prime suspect
   They believe it could contain footage of Madeleine and other sex crime victims

By Nick Pisa In The Algarve and Gerard Couzens

Published: 16:09 BST, 25 May 2023 | Updated: 20:32 BST, 25 May 2023

Investigators searching a reservoir for clues in the Madeleine McCann case have been looking for a gun and camcorder stolen from prime suspect Christian Brueckner's house.

A criminal informer tipped off German prosecutors that items taken in the 2007 raid at Brueckner's isolated home were then thrown into the reservoir.

Police are desperate to find the video camera as they believe it may contain images of Madeleine, but also of other sex attacks Brueckner is said to have carried out on at least two unidentified women.

The informer has backed up information from key witnesses Manfred Seyferth and another man called Helge Busching, who have already told German investigators they broke into the house while Brueckner was in jail.

Seyferth said the pair had found a gun and a video camera at the isolated house in Floral where Brueckner lived, a few miles from the reservoir at Silves on Portugal's Algarve, the focus of the latest police search.



Investigators have been combing the shores of the reservoir rather than searching under the water, as it is considerably lower than usual due to lack of rain.

Just after 5pm police lifted the cordon and allowed media through to the site that had been searched the last three days.

An area of around 160 square feet had been flattened and cleared of grass and shrubs with several holes dug into the ground to a depth of around two feet.

There were also other holes dug into the foreshore close to the waterline and path close to the edge of the reservoir had been cleared by the rotovator.

It is thought the soil removed was taken away by German officials for closer analysis at a lab in Wiesbaden where the country’s investigative force, the BKA, are based.

Germans Seyferth and Busching, who tipped off the police, were living on the Algarve at the same time as Brueckner and the two were involved in petty theft with him before having a falling out.

Footage on the video camera was said to show Brueckner torturing and raping an American woman, with footage of a girl around 15 years old also subjected to the same horrific ordeal.

In 2019 Brueckner was convicted by a German court of the rape of an elderly American woman in her home at Praia da Luz close to where Madeleine vanished, and was given a seven-year sentence.

It is not known if this is the same woman on the missing video tape but investigators are keen to track it down to build up a more damning case against Brueckner.

A source close to the investigation told MailOnline: 'Both men have told the BKA (German investigation police) they broke into Brueckner's home.

'They had all been part of a network of petty criminals in the Algarve back in the early 2000s around the time Madeleine went missing but then fell out.

'Seyferth has told police that he and Busching found a video camera and a gun at the house after they broke in.

'When the video camera was played that said it showed a masked man carrying out a sex attack on a woman and the voice they heard was Brueckner's.

'Seyferth said a gun was also found and that after finding the video camera they panicked, drove off and later threw both items in the lake.

'Seyferth has told investigators the material on the video tape was evil and if this can be found will be vital to building a case against Brueckner.

'Now another witness has come forward to confirm the story of the first two men and this has prompted intensification of the investigation.'

Last year police in Germany charged Brueckner with a variety of historical sex crimes including rapes against two unidentified women and Irish tour guide Hazel Behan between 2000 and 2006.

Meanwhile, Portuguese and German police left the scene this afternoon. In a sign that the search was over, blue tents that had been set up earlier this week were dismantled and packed away.

Officers could be seen shuttling back and forth packing tables and chairs and carrying them to vans.

While a truck used to empty portable toilets also arrived at a forward operating area that had been set up near the investigation site.

The last vehicles to leave were the German registered black Mercedes vans belonging to the BKA investigative police.

Sources close to the investigation said that material found at the scene, mainly soil samples, would be taken back to Germany for analysis.



Forensic biologist Dr. Mark Benecke told German media: 'Soil samples contain stones, pollen and a few other small components that can be transmitted during an act.'

'This means that if I find old shoes, for example, that now contain exactly the same components as in the earth, I know the person was there.'

He added that traces of textile fibres, pebbles or pollen could still be used even centuries later.

He told RTL: 'The only question is whether no one walked around there and left other traces that disturb the whole thing.

'If other people celebrated at that point, maybe urinated, vomited, somehow left their own skin, then of course it will be more difficult.'

Meanwhile German proscutor Hans Christian Wolters told MailOnline:'We will see how successful we were after the search is complete.

'If necessary, we will then issue a short press release in the coming week. But that also depends on the result of the action.

'If we don't find anything, we will certainly tell you quickly.. If there were any finds, this would probably not be possible.'

Just before 1.30pm local time there was a noticeable increase in activity as machinery and equipment brought to the search site was driven away.

A large rotavator used for cutting away thick bushes and shrubs was seen being driven away on a trailer along with strimmers, wheelbarrows, pick axes and spades.

A driver in one truck shouted 'Finito' as he made his way back up the dirt track from the reservoir leading to the main road.

In a statement issued after the end of the search the Portuguese Judicial Police said: 'Following the statement of May 22, 2023, the Judiciary Police informs that the steps requested by the German authorities, through a request for international cooperation, have been fulfilled, which resulted in the collection of some material that will be subject to the competent expertise.

'The operation was coordinated by the Judiciary Police, which involved investigators, criminal experts and security personnel.

'The works had the participation of the German authorities (BKA) and were attended by British authorities (MPS).

'It also had the collaboration of the Faro Command of the National Republican Guard in various aspects, as well as the Regional Command of Emergency and Civil Protection of the Algarve and the Municipality of Silves, with regard to the logistics necessary for the development of the works.

'Safeguarding the interests of the investigation still under way in Portugal, the collected material will be delivered to the German authorities.'

It comes as shameless former police detective Goncalo Amaral slammed the current search for McCann as an attempt to 'pin the case' on the prime suspect.

Amaral was kicked off the original investigation in 2008, after suggesting Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry were responsible for the then three-year-old's disappearance and later wrote two books on the mystery.

Speaking for the first time since police began searching the area around the Arade Dam, just 35 miles from the resort of Praia da Luz, he claimed the fresh hunt was just an attempt to make prime suspect Christian Brueckner a 'scapegoat'.

He told respected Portuguese news weekly Sabado: 'The question should be how are the German police involved ? How did the (Portuguese) Judicial Police agree to this and why?

'In simple analysis I see that there is no new investigation, what is happening is an act of building the profile of a scapegoat and a virtual blaming.'

He then suggested the search was an attempt to show the public 'Brueckner must be guilty' as a lot of ' time, money and human hours have been invested'.

When asked what would be found he said: 'If there was anything there, it would be possible to find bones, perhaps hair and even part of the missing girl's pyjamas.

'On the other hand, finding the child's remains would only be possible if she had not been cremated, as seems to have happened.'

In the interview, which came as a joint police team from Portugal, Germany and the Metropolitan Police continued their hunt for a third day, Amaral again pushed his theory Brueckner was a 'convenient scapegoat'.

He said:' When British police began to consider Christian Brueckner as a suspect, he was living in Portugal and walking freely around.

'The investigation should have focused on the individual through special techniques, namely telephone and computer interceptions, personal and electronic surveillance, undercover agents etc, in order to advance the investigation of the suspect's possible responsibility and subsequent death of the child.

'But astonishingly, the German police put him in a German jail, isolating him from the outside world, making any kind of investigation centred on the suspect impossible.

'Little by little, the Germans built up the suspect's profile as a rapist, paedophile and murderer, gathering similar Portuguese cases, accusing him of them, and then the great moment came and they named him to the world.

'In concussion they did not allow a professional and serious investigation and made this individual a scapegoat as a suspect without any evidence or proof.'

Amaral ended his interview by claiming the case was being pushed by senior figures and said:' If the political pressures end, this case will end and there will be answers.'

Last year the McCanns lost a lengthy 13-year court battle against Amaral for the claims he made in his two books which shamelessly suggested they had been involved in her disappearance.

Amaral's 2008 book Maddie: The Truth About The Lie, implicated the McCanns in their daughter's abduction and accused them of hiding her body.

Their fight took him to the European Court of Human rights and it rumbled on for years before coming to an end last September.

Their lawyers argued that the Portuguese authorities had breached their right to respect for a private and family life in the way the court in Lisbon dealt with their libel claim against Amaral.

Initially they had won their case in 2015 and Amaral was ordered to pay 500,000 euros in damages but he appealed and the case was overturned and eventually thrown out by the Portuguese supreme court in 2017.

It was then that Kate and Gerry decided to take the case to the ECHR in Strasbourg but judges there ruled against them and they later issued a statement saying they were 'naturally disappointed' with the ruling.

Meanwhile in another interview with Portuguese outlet Renascenca, Amaral even outrageously claimed detectives had contacted the factory where Madeleine's pyjamas had been made, hinting this could be used to plant evidence against Brueckner.

He said how investigators had 'these pyjamas from the factory that produced them and they were now in the hands of English authorities'.

Amaral controversially went on:' I don't know under what conditions the pyjamas are kept and what could happen to them

'The parents and friends cannot be held responsible so a scapegoat is needed and here it is. The Germans just want to prove that this individual has something to do with the case.'

He also blasted the German investigation that saw Brueckner convicted of the 2005 rape of an elderly American woman in Praia da Lux and for which he was jailed for seven years in 2019.

Amaral said:'The gynecological examination carried out at the Portimão Hospital, on the night the alleged crime took place, shows that there was no rape.

'The individual is convicted for something that did not exist. The sheets, etc., were also collected from the woman's house and nothing was found that had traces of this German.'

Brueckner was convicted after DNA was found on the sheets but he insists this was because he had stroked the victim's cat and they had been transferred onto the bedclothes.

Meanwhile police continued with their search this morning at the reservoir that has been a focus of activity since Tuesday and is expected to finish later today.

Teams of officers wearing face coverings arrived to carry on digging through soil at a picnic spot on the western edge of the reservoir where prime suspect Brueckner, 45, is said to have parked his campervan.

Brueckner visited the Barragem do Arade reservoir, possibly with others, 'some days' after Madeleine was snatched from her bed in 2007, the suspect's former friend told police.

The source also claimed that investigators also believe Madeleine could have been alive for two or three days after she disappeared from the holiday resort of Praia da Luz, reports The Times.

It comes as the search of the site, which Brueckner referred to as a 'little piece of paradise' and is located 30 miles from where Madeleine was taken, enters its third and final day.

A no fly zone out in for two days ended at 10pm on Wednesday night and according to the website of the Portuguese civil aviation authority had not been renewed suggesting the search would be ending.

Portuguese media is reporting that so far no significant discoveries have been made but that a press conference is planned when the operation eventually ends.

While the focus of the search is on finding clues about Madeleine's disappearance, investigators are hoping to find evidence of other potential victims who are believed to have been targeted by convicted sex offender Brueckner on the Algarve.

The search was ordered by prosecutors in Germany, who say they have 'credible information' linking Brueckner to the site promoting speculation they are looking for clothes or remains.

Officials are said to be looking for fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to Madeleine's disappearance - particularly the pink pyjamas she was wearing the night she vanished.

The reservoir is located near the town of Silves, where a lorry driver had claimed to see a woman passing off a child resembling Maddie's description to a man two days after the toddler disappeared.

The hunt is focusing on the foreshore as the water level in the reservoir is considerably lower due to low rainfall last few months. This may explain why no divers have been seen operating in the area although they are on standby.

Madeleine was aged three in May 2007 when she vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying at in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve coast. The reservoir is about 31 miles inland from the resort.

The first major search for the toddler in nine years comes after German police discovered photos of Brueckner at his self-described 'little paradise' in the Portuguese region, it is understood.

German prosecutors last year named convicted child abuser and drug dealer Brueckner as the prime suspect in McCann's disappearance.

He is currently behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region from where McCann went missing.

The case, unsolved for the past 16 years, remains a mystery as no body has ever been found. It sparked a media frenzy in Britain, with developments also followed by outlets around the world and celebrities joining appeals to help find Maddie.

Photos and footage of the search operation yesterday showed a group of Portugal's National Republican Guard (GNR) being led by sniffer dogs to a small grove close to the water's edge. Officers were seen clearing branches shortly after.

According to respected Portuguese media outlet Expresso, the operation was launched because of a 'very credible tip'.

'Expresso knows that these searches have their origin in a tip from a BKA informant who that police force considers very credible,' it reported on its website. 'This informant told investigators details that the German police took very seriously.'

It added: 'The searches were requested by the German police after receiving this information.' The media outlet said it had obtained its information from a 'source close to the investigation.'  

Emergency services with brush cutters to clear the search area arrived at the temporary camp set up on the shores of the Arade reservoir early on Wednesday.

Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts, had focused their search on Tuesday on the reservoir's shoreline.

Yesterday morning police appeared to be focusing on a valley slightly north of a secluded clearing behind trees near to where three tents were put up on Monday.

The dense vegetation meant they had to use tools including chainsaws to remove trees to access it properly.

Meanwhile, a fire service vehicle and rigid-hull inflatable boat were again on the banks of the reservoir, and appeared ready to launch on to the water.

Later in the day, emergency services brought in a remote-controlled tractor-mounted tree cutter to clear what appeared to be a new search area, a few hundred yards away from a temporary camp set up on Tuesday on the shores of the Arade reservoir by Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts.

On Wednesday, the German prosecutor leading the country's investigation into Brueckner's suspected link to Madeleine's disappearance said they do not have a confession from the convict.

Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters said that while investigators have 'indications' that evidence could be found at the reservoir, this has not come from Brueckner himself.

'We have indications that we could find evidence there. I don't want to say what that is exactly, and I also don't want to say where these indications come from,' Wolters told German public broadcaster NDR yesterday.

'The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesn't come from the suspect - so we don't have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search, ' Wolters said, adding that 'it was other indications that prompted us to conduct this search.'

However, Wolters appeared to calm expectations of what might be found, saying, 'We never said that the girl disappeared where we are now searching.'

Tuesday saw about 20 officers with rakes and hoe-like tools spread out in a line, poking and raking the soil close to the Arade dam. Police also used a drone to scan the area from above and searched with sniffer dogs on both sides of the water.

Footage from the site showed officers taking bags away from the reservoir on Tuesday afternoon but it was not clear what was inside them. One video showed an officer being handed a bag by a colleague as they drove by in a black Ford SUV.

Tuesday night a Portuguese source close to the investigation told The Sun: 'The search is being taken very seriously and is being controlled totally by the Germans.

'They asked Portuguese officers assisting them to look for any evidence - but especially rags.'

The Times reported that Madeleine's pyjamas, which were pink and decorated with images of Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh, were a focus of the hunt.

A similar pair of pyjamas was held up by Kate and Gerry McCann during a press conference in June 2007, the month after their daughter vanished, in the hope of prompting witnesses who may have seen her that night to come forward.

Also last night the McCann's former spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the Mirror the couple were being kept updated.

'Until a body is found and proved to be Madeleine's, Kate and Gerry are not giving up hope. They will be kept informed every step of the way of any development. It leaves Kate and Gerry on tenterhooks. It is another incredibly difficult time for them.'

According to Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha, excavations were carried out at two different spots around the water's edge on Tuesday.

The reservoir is currently less than half full owing to a drought affecting Portugal and neighbouring Spain. Much of the area being searched would be below water level in years of normal rainfall.

In the afternoon police appeared to be concentrating their efforts on a peninsula of land jutting into the reservoir.

Officers using sticks were beating back undergrowth as they inched their way through the woods before fanning down onto the beach to carry on the search.

However, just before 5.30pm, a violent thunderstorm and driving rain struck the search area and the operation was abandoned after it became clear the weather would not improve. The search was meant to continue until 9pm.

A no fly zone has been set up around the area extending for six miles.

The Portuguese police are expected to give an update on the operation once it has been completed later this week.

Two sides of the area have gently sloping banks towards the water, while the third is a sheer cliff, where three white police tents could be seen set back from the edge.

The reservoir is popular with tourists, particularly campervan users, and has BBQ stands and sun loungers scattered around.

Brueckner is known to have driven there frequently in his VW campervan, and is understood to have described it as his 'little paradise'.

Sources close to the investigation have said they had evidence the clearing in the trees - where the white tents have been set up - was the spot Brueckner used to spend time at after parking up his campervan nearby.

A local who asked not to be named, but knows the area well, said: 'It's pretty well-hidden by the trees and you don't realise it's there until you're almost upon it.

'People wild camp there overnight from time to time which is why you'll find the remains of fires inside small walls of stone.

'It's got old sun loungers in it and makeshift benches that visitors use to rest on. It's very out-of-the-way and very peaceful but at the same time it's got a slightly eerie feel about it,' they said.

Local Portuguese reports, partly confirmed by police sources, claimed the searches were requested and authorised after German police obtained videos and photos of Brueckner by the planned dig site.

They are thought to have been found buried in the paedophile's 'secret lair' in a dilapidated factory site in the German village of Neuwegersleben 65 miles south-east of Hanover.

Police raided the site in February 2016 in search of the body of missing five-year-old Inga Gehricke, who vanished while on a family outing in Saxony-Anhalt in May 2015 and has been dubbed the 'German Maddie.'

Reports at the time said German detectives had discovered more than 8,000 images and videos on USB sticks and hard drives filled with child abuse images.

They were said to have been buried under the body of Brueckner's dead dog.

Officials have been tight-lipped about the search.

In a statement on Tuesday, German prosecutor Wolters said: 'Criminal proceedings are currently taking place in Portugal as part of the investigation into the Madeleine McCann case. Wolters said German officers are investigating in Portugal 'on the basis of certain tips.'

He said he was unable at this stage to give more detail on what prompted the search, and what officials were hoping to find, but said that such details would be released 'if we... think the results are publishable'.

'Yes, the measures in Portugal are connected with the Madeleine McCann proceedings, which means that we are investigating there in Portugal on the basis of certain tips (tip-offs),' Wolters said on Tuesday.


Christian Brueckner

Madeleine (left) was aged three in May 2007 when she vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying at in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve coast. German prosecutors believe Christian Brueckner (right) is behind her disappearance
Portuguese police investigators dismantle base camp at the end of the three-day search for remains of Madeleine McCann at Barragem do Arade Reservoir on May 25, 2023 in Silves, Portugal

Portuguese police investigators dismantle base camp at the end of the three-day search for remains of Madeleine McCann at Barragem do Arade Reservoir on May 25, 2023 in Silves, Portugal
An area of around 160 square feet had been flattened and cleared of grass and shrubs with several holes dug into the ground to a depth of around two feet

An area of around 160 square feet had been flattened and cleared of grass and shrubs with several holes dug into the ground to a depth of around two feet
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Investigators have been combing the shores of the reservoir rather than searching under the water, as it is considerably lower than usual due to lack of rain.

Just after 5pm police lifted the cordon and allowed media through to the site that had been searched the last three days.

An area of around 160 square feet had been flattened and cleared of grass and shrubs with several holes dug into the ground to a depth of around two feet.

There were also other holes dug into the foreshore close to the waterline and path close to the edge of the reservoir had been cleared by the rotovator.

It is thought the soil removed was taken away by German officials for closer analysis at a lab in Wiesbaden where the country’s investigative force, the BKA, are based.

Germans Seyferth and Busching, who tipped off the police, were living on the Algarve at the same time as Brueckner and the two were involved in petty theft with him before having a falling out.

Footage on the video camera was said to show Brueckner torturing and raping an American woman, with footage of a girl around 15 years old also subjected to the same horrific ordeal.

In 2019 Brueckner was convicted by a German court of the rape of an elderly American woman in her home at Praia da Luz close to where Madeleine vanished, and was given a seven-year sentence.
It is thought the soil removed was taken away by German officials for closer analysis at a lab in Wiesbaden where the country¿s investigative force, the BKA, are based

It is thought the soil removed was taken away by German officials for closer analysis at a lab in Wiesbaden where the country’s investigative force, the BKA, are based

There were also other holes dug into the foreshore close to the waterline and path close to the edge of the reservoir had been cleared by the rotovator

It is not known if this is the same woman on the missing video tape but investigators are keen to track it down to build up a more damning case against Brueckner.

A source close to the investigation told MailOnline: 'Both men have told the BKA (German investigation police) they broke into Brueckner's home.

'They had all been part of a network of petty criminals in the Algarve back in the early 2000s around the time Madeleine went missing but then fell out.
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'Seyferth has told police that he and Busching found a video camera and a gun at the house after they broke in.

'When the video camera was played that said it showed a masked man carrying out a sex attack on a woman and the voice they heard was Brueckner's.

'Seyferth said a gun was also found and that after finding the video camera they panicked, drove off and later threw both items in the lake.

'Seyferth has told investigators the material on the video tape was evil and if this can be found will be vital to building a case against Brueckner.

'Now another witness has come forward to confirm the story of the first two men and this has prompted intensification of the investigation.'

Last year police in Germany charged Brueckner with a variety of historical sex crimes including rapes against two unidentified women and Irish tour guide Hazel Behan between 2000 and 2006.

Meanwhile, Portuguese and German police left the scene this afternoon. In a sign that the search was over, blue tents that had been set up earlier this week were dismantled and packed away.

Officers could be seen shuttling back and forth packing tables and chairs and carrying them to vans.

While a truck used to empty portable toilets also arrived at a forward operating area that had been set up near the investigation site.

The last vehicles to leave were the German registered black Mercedes vans belonging to the BKA investigative police.

Sources close to the investigation said that material found at the scene, mainly soil samples, would be taken back to Germany for analysis.
Detectives leave the scene of the search for clues in the Algarve

Detectives leave the scene of the search for clues in the Algarve
Portuguese police have been told they will no longer be needed after 4pm today at the Algarve reservoir where the search for clues into Madeleine McCann's disappearance is unfolding

Portuguese police have been told they will no longer be needed after 4pm today at the Algarve reservoir where the search for clues into Madeleine McCann's disappearance is unfolding
Members of the search team were pictured packing up their equipment after they were told they were no longer needed

Members of the search team were pictured packing up their equipment after they were told they were no longer needed
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann pack up their equipment on Thursday as the search draws to a close

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann pack up their equipment on Thursday as the search draws to a close
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann pack up their equipment on Thursday as the search draws to a close

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann pack up their equipment on Thursday as the search draws to a close

Continued..

Forensic biologist Dr. Mark Benecke told German media: 'Soil samples contain stones, pollen and a few other small components that can be transmitted during an act.'

'This means that if I find old shoes, for example, that now contain exactly the same components as in the earth, I know the person was there.'

He added that traces of textile fibres, pebbles or pollen could still be used even centuries later.

He told RTL: 'The only question is whether no one walked around there and left other traces that disturb the whole thing.

'If other people celebrated at that point, maybe urinated, vomited, somehow left their own skin, then of course it will be more difficult.'

Meanwhile German proscutor Hans Christian Wolters told MailOnline:'We will see how successful we were after the search is complete.

'If necessary, we will then issue a short press release in the coming week. But that also depends on the result of the action.

'If we don't find anything, we will certainly tell you quickly.. If there were any finds, this would probably not be possible.'

Just before 1.30pm local time there was a noticeable increase in activity as machinery and equipment brought to the search site was driven away.

A large rotavator used for cutting away thick bushes and shrubs was seen being driven away on a trailer along with strimmers, wheelbarrows, pick axes and spades.

A driver in one truck shouted 'Finito' as he made his way back up the dirt track from the reservoir leading to the main road.

In a statement issued after the end of the search the Portuguese Judicial Police said: 'Following the statement of May 22, 2023, the Judiciary Police informs that the steps requested by the German authorities, through a request for international cooperation, have been fulfilled, which resulted in the collection of some material that will be subject to the competent expertise.

'The operation was coordinated by the Judiciary Police, which involved investigators, criminal experts and security personnel.

'The works had the participation of the German authorities (BKA) and were attended by British authorities (MPS).

'It also had the collaboration of the Faro Command of the National Republican Guard in various aspects, as well as the Regional Command of Emergency and Civil Protection of the Algarve an

d the Municipality of Silves, with regard to the logistics necessary for the development of the works.

'Safeguarding the interests of the investigation still under way in Portugal, the collected material will be delivered to the German authorities.'

It comes as shameless former police detective Goncalo Amaral slammed the current search for McCann as an attempt to 'pin the case' on the prime suspect.

Amaral was kicked off the original investigation in 2008, after suggesting Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry were responsible for the then three-year-old's disappearance and later wrote two books on the mystery.

Speaking for the first time since police began searching the area around the Arade Dam, just 35 miles from the resort of Praia da Luz, he claimed the fresh hunt was just an attempt to make prime suspect Christian Brueckner a 'scapegoat'.

He told respected Portuguese news weekly Sabado: 'The question should be how are the German police involved ? How did the (Portuguese) Judicial Police agree to this and why?

'In simple analysis I see that there is no new investigation, what is happening is an act of building the profile of a scapegoat and a virtual blaming.'

He then suggested the search was an attempt to show the public 'Brueckner must be guilty' as a lot of ' time, money and human hours have been invested'.

When asked what would be found he said: 'If there was anything there, it would be possible to find bones, perhaps hair and even part of the missing girl's pyjamas.

'On the other hand, finding the child's remains would only be possible if she had not been cremated, as seems to have happened.'

In the interview, which came as a joint police team from Portugal, Germany and the Metropolitan Police continued their hunt for a third day, Amaral again pushed his theory Brueckner was a 'convenient scapegoat'.

He said:' When British police began to consider Christian Brueckner as a suspect, he was living in Portugal and walking freely around.

'The investigation should have focused on the individual through special techniques, namely telephone and computer interceptions, personal and electronic surveillance, undercover agents etc, in order to advance the investigation of the suspect's possible responsibility and subsequent death of the child.



'But astonishingly, the German police put him in a German jail, isolating him from the outside world, making any kind of investigation centred on the suspect impossible.

'Little by little, the Germans built up the suspect's profile as a rapist, paedophile and murderer, gathering similar Portuguese cases, accusing him of them, and then the great moment came and they named him to the world.

In concussion they did not allow a professional and serious investigation and made this individual a scapegoat as a suspect without any evidence or proof.'

Amaral ended his interview by claiming the case was being pushed by senior figures and said:' If the political pressures end, this case will end and there will be answers.'

Last year the McCanns lost a lengthy 13-year court battle against Amaral for the claims he made in his two books which shamelessly suggested they had been involved in her disappearance.

Amaral's 2008 book Maddie: The Truth About The Lie, implicated the McCanns in their daughter's abduction and accused them of hiding her body.

Their fight took him to the European Court of Human rights and it rumbled on for years before coming to an end last September.

Their lawyers argued that the Portuguese authorities had breached their right to respect for a private and family life in the way the court in Lisbon dealt with their libel claim against Amaral.

Initially they had won their case in 2015 and Amaral was ordered to pay 500,000 euros in damages but he appealed and the case was overturned and eventually thrown out by the Portuguese supreme court in 2017.

It was then that Kate and Gerry decided to take the case to the ECHR in Strasbourg but judges there ruled against them and they later issued a statement saying they were 'naturally disappointed' with the ruling.

Meanwhile in another interview with Portuguese outlet Renascenca, Amaral even outrageously claimed detectives had contacted the factory where Madeleine's pyjamas had been made, hinting this could be used to plant evidence against Brueckner.

He said how investigators had 'these pyjamas from the factory that produced them and they were now in the hands of English authorities'.

Amaral controversially went on:' I don't know under what conditions the pyjamas are kept and what could happen to them

'The parents and friends cannot be held responsible so a scapegoat is needed and here it is. The Germans just want to prove that this individual has something to do with the case.'

He also blasted the German investigation that saw Brueckner convicted of the 2005 rape of an elderly American woman in Praia da Lux and for which he was jailed for seven years in 2019.

Amaral said:'The gynecological examination carried out at the Portimão Hospital, on the night the alleged crime took place, shows that there was no rape.

'The individual is convicted for something that did not exist. The sheets, etc., were also collected from the woman's house and nothing was found that had traces of this German.'

Brueckner was convicted after DNA was found on the sheets but he insists this was because he had stroked the victim's cat and they had been transferred onto the bedclothes.

Meanwhile police continued with their search this morning at the reservoir that has been a focus of activity since Tuesday and is expected to finish later today.

Teams of officers wearing face coverings arrived to carry on digging through soil at a picnic spot on the western edge of the reservoir where prime suspect Brueckner, 45, is said to have parked his campervan.

Brueckner visited the Barragem do Arade reservoir, possibly with others, 'some days' after Madeleine was snatched from her bed in 2007, the suspect's former friend told police.

The source also claimed that investigators also believe Madeleine could have been alive for two or three days after she disappeared from the holiday resort of Praia da Luz, reports The Times.

It comes as the search of the site, which Brueckner referred to as a 'little piece of paradise' and is located 30 miles from where Madeleine was taken, enters its third and final day.

A no fly zone out in for two days ended at 10pm on Wednesday night and according to the website of the Portuguese civil aviation authority had not been renewed suggesting the search would be ending.

Portuguese media is reporting that so far no significant discoveries have been made but that a press conference is planned when the operation eventually ends.

While the focus of the search is on finding clues about Madeleine's disappearance, investigators are hoping to find evidence of other potential victims who are believed to have been targeted by convicted sex offender Brueckner on the Algarve.

The search was ordered by prosecutors in Germany, who say they have 'credible information' linking Brueckner to the site promoting speculation they are looking for clothes or remains.

Officials are said to be looking for fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to Madeleine's disappearance - particularly the pink pyjamas she was wearing the night she vanished.

The reservoir is located near the town of Silves, where a lorry driver had claimed to see a woman passing off a child resembling Maddie's description to a man two days after the toddler disappeared.

The hunt is focusing on the foreshore as the water level in the reservoir is considerably lower due to low rainfall last few months. This may explain why no divers have been seen operating in the area although they are on standby.

Madeleine was aged three in May 2007 when she vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying at in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve coast. The reservoir is about 31 miles inland from the resort.

The first major search for the toddler in nine years comes after German police discovered photos of Brueckner at his self-described 'little paradise' in the Portuguese region, it is understood.

German prosecutors last year named convicted child abuser and drug dealer Brueckner as the prime suspect in McCann's disappearance.

He is currently behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region from where McCann went missing.

The case, unsolved for the past 16 years, remains a mystery as no body has ever been found. It sparked a media frenzy in Britain, with developments also followed by outlets around the world and celebrities joining appeals to help find Maddie.

Photos and footage of the search operation yesterday showed a group of Portugal's National Republican Guard (GNR) being led by sniffer dogs to a small grove close to the water's edge. Officers were seen clearing branches shortly after.

According to respected Portuguese media outlet Expresso, the operation was launched because of a 'very credible tip'.

'Expresso knows that these searches have their origin in a tip from a BKA informant who that police force considers very credible,' it reported on its website. 'This informant told investigators details that the German police took very seriously.'

It added: 'The searches were requested by the German police after receiving this information.' The media outlet said it had obtained its information from a 'source close to the investigation.'

Emergency services with brush cutters to clear the search area arrived at the temporary camp set up on the shores of the Arade reservoir early on Wednesday.

Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts, had focused their search on Tuesday on the reservoir's shoreline.

Yesterday morning police appeared to be focusing on a valley slightly north of a secluded clearing behind trees near to where three tents were put up on Monday.

The dense vegetation meant they had to use tools including chainsaws to remove trees to access it properly.

Meanwhile, a fire service vehicle and rigid-hull inflatable boat were again on the banks of the reservoir, and appeared ready to launch on to the water.

Later in the day, emergency services brought in a remote-controlled tractor-mounted tree cutter to clear what appeared to be a new search area, a few hundred yards away from a temporary camp set up on Tuesday on the shores of the Arade reservoir by Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts.

On Wednesday, the German prosecutor leading the country's investigation into Brueckner's suspected link to Madeleine's disappearance said they do not have a confession from the convict.

Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters said that while investigators have 'indications' that evidence could be found at the reservoir, this has not come from Brueckner himself.

'We have indications that we could find evidence there. I don't want to say what that is exactly, and I also don't want to say where these indications come from,' Wolters told German public broadcaster NDR yesterday.

'The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesn't come from the suspect - so we don't have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search, ' Wolters said, adding that 'it was other indications that prompted us to conduct this search.'

However, Wolters appeared to calm expectations of what might be found, saying, 'We never said that the girl disappeared where we are now searching.'

Tuesday saw about 20 officers with rakes and hoe-like tools spread out in a line, poking and raking the soil close to the Arade dam. Police also used a drone to scan the area from above and searched with sniffer dogs on both sides of the water.

Footage from the site showed officers taking bags away from the reservoir on Tuesday afternoon but it was not clear what was inside them. One video showed an officer being handed a bag by a colleague as they drove by in a black Ford SUV.

Tuesday night a Portuguese source close to the investigation told The Sun: 'The search is being taken very seriously and is being controlled totally by the Germans.

'They asked Portuguese officers assisting them to look for any evidence - but especially rags.'

The Times reported that Madeleine's pyjamas, which were pink and decorated with images of Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh, were a focus of the hunt.

A similar pair of pyjamas was held up by Kate and Gerry McCann during a press conference in June 2007, the month after their daughter vanished, in the hope of prompting witnesses who may have seen her that night to come forward.

Also last night the McCann's former spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the Mirror the couple were being kept updated.

'Until a body is found and proved to be Madeleine's, Kate and Gerry are not giving up hope. They will be kept informed every step of the way of any development. It leaves Kate and Gerry on tenterhooks. It is another incredibly difficult time for them.'

According to Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha, excavations were carried out at two different spots around the water's edge on Tuesday.

The reservoir is currently less than half full owing to a drought affecting Portugal and neighbouring Spain. Much of the area being searched would be below water level in years of normal rainfall.

In the afternoon police appeared to be concentrating their efforts on a peninsula of land jutting into the reservoir.

Officers using sticks were beating back undergrowth as they inched their way through the woods before fanning down onto the beach to carry on the search.

However, just before 5.30pm, a violent thunderstorm and driving rain struck the search area and the operation was abandoned after it became clear the weather would not improve. The search was meant to continue until 9pm.

A no fly zone has been set up around the area extending for six miles.

Continued..

The Portuguese police are expected to give an update on the operation once it has been completed later this week.

Two sides of the area have gently sloping banks towards the water, while the third is a sheer cliff, where three white police tents could be seen set back from the edge.

The reservoir is popular with tourists, particularly campervan users, and has BBQ stands and sun loungers scattered around.

Brueckner is known to have driven there frequently in his VW campervan, and is understood to have described it as his 'little paradise'.

Sources close to the investigation have said they had evidence the clearing in the trees - where the white tents have been set up - was the spot Brueckner used to spend time at after parking up his campervan nearby.

A local who asked not to be named, but knows the area well, said: 'It's pretty well-hidden by the trees and you don't realise it's there until you're almost upon it.

'People wild camp there overnight from time to time which is why you'll find the remains of fires inside small walls of stone.

'It's got old sun loungers in it and makeshift benches that visitors use to rest on. It's very out-of-the-way and very peaceful but at the same time it's got a slightly eerie feel about it,' they said.

Local Portuguese reports, partly confirmed by police sources, claimed the searches were requested and authorised after German police obtained videos and photos of Brueckner by the planned dig site.

They are thought to have been found buried in the paedophile's 'secret lair' in a dilapidated factory site in the German village of Neuwegersleben 65 miles south-east of Hanover.

Police raided the site in February 2016 in search of the body of missing five-year-old Inga Gehricke, who vanished while on a family outing in Saxony-Anhalt in May 2015 and has been dubbed the 'German Maddie.'

Reports at the time said German detectives had discovered more than 8,000 images and videos on USB sticks and hard drives filled with child abuse images.

They were said to have been buried under the body of Brueckner's dead dog.

Officials have been tight-lipped about the search.

In a statement on Tuesday, German prosecutor Wolters said: 'Criminal proceedings are currently taking place in Portugal as part of the investigation into the Madeleine McCann case. Wolters said German officers are investigating in Portugal 'on the basis of certain tips.'

He said he was unable at this stage to give more detail on what prompted the search, and what officials were hoping to find, but said that such details would be released 'if we... think the results are publishable'.

'Yes, the measures in Portugal are connected with the Madeleine McCann proceedings, which means that we are investigating there in Portugal on the basis of certain tips (tip-offs),' Wolters said on Tuesday.

There is a major search operation taking place that is being implemented by the Portuguese authorities. But there are also German officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office on site who are supporting the whole thing.'

He added: 'I can't disclose the background at the moment, i.e. why we are searching there and what we hope to find there. That shall remain our secret for the moment.'

'If we find something and we think the results are publishable, then we will certainly inform you about it. But give us a little bit of time. The action itself will also take a bit of time. It will not be completed within two hours or so. And whether we then find something and what we find, of course, we have to see that first.'

The Metropolitan Police has said officers are present in Portugal so they can inform Madeleine's family if there are any developments.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell said: 'The Met continues to work with and support colleagues in Portugal and Germany, with their investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

'Met officers will be in Portugal and I am grateful to the Policia Judiciaria and Bundeskriminalamt for allowing us to be present whilst their work is ongoing, so that we can inform Madeleine's family of any developments.'

The reservoir was searched by divers hired by a Portuguese lawyer in February and March 2008. Back then, the diving team leader described the 'long process' his team faced navigating the 'black' waters.

Marcos Aragao Correia organised the privately-funded operation after claiming he had been tipped off by underworld contacts that Madeleine had been murdered and her body thrown into the reservoir within 48 hours of her disappearance.

Two bags containing small bones were found during the second search after divers had earlier recovered several lengths of cord, some plastic tape and a single white cotton sock.

Portuguese police were alerted following the discovery but subsequently ruled out the possibility the bones were human because of their size.

Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate McCann had previously dismissed Mr Correia as a self-publicist and said there was no evidence suggesting any link between their daughter and the reservoir.

The dam, near the town of Silves where a lorry driver says he saw a woman handing a child like Madeleine over to a man two days after she went missing from her Praia da Luz holiday apartment on May 3 2007, is not thought to have been searched since March 2008 as part of the ongoing investigation into her disappearance.

The search is the first major operation of its kind since June 2014 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.

The Scotland Yard digs nearly nine years ago in Praia da Luz were linked to the leading UK police theory at the time Madeleine died during a break-in and burglars dumped her body nearby.

The searches failed to find any trace of the missing youngster.

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.

The abandoned wells are a 15 minute drive from a cottage Brueckner rented on the outskirts of Praia de Luz, on a narrow road leading down to a beach where the paedophile used to park his VW camper van.

German prosecutor Wolters has consistently said he is convinced Madeleine is dead and caged paedophile Brueckner has been named as the sole suspect.

The deviant, currently serving time for the September 2005 rape of an American OPA in the resort where Madeleine vanished, has yet to face any formal accusation over the youngster's disappearance.

Last April he was made an official suspect or arguido in Portugal over Madeleine's disappearance, although his defence lawyer Friedrich Fulscher labelled it a 'procedural trick' linked to statute of limitations legislation at the time.

Last autumn Bruecker was charged in Germany with several sex crimes on the Algarve against women and children including the rape of an Irish holiday rep in 2004 and the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl on a beach near Praia da Luz in 2007.

Brueckner's lawyer revealed in April those charges had been dropped against him in a bombshell development after successfully arguing prosecutors had no jurisdiction over him in Braunschweig where the Madeleine case was being brought.

The case could end up with prosecutors in Saxony-Anhalt instead but an appeal lodged by the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office has yet to be decided.

Braunschweig prosecutor Mr Wolters has insisted they are still in control of the Madeleine McCann investigation and Brueckner, who denies any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance, remains in custody.

The Arade Dam, the Barragem do Arade in Portuguese, is fed by the watercourse of the Arade River whose source lies to the southwest of the Serrra do Caldeirao mountain range and runs through the municipalities of Silves, Lagoa and Portimao before reaching the ocean.

Construction was completed in 1955 and it began operating the following year

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12124801/Madeleine-McCann-investigators-searching-remote-Algarve-spot-stolen-GUN-camcorder.html

onehand wrote:excuses because it is not in english, but this is what amaral himself told in a radio talk and how he sees this search and the role of cb in it al.

so please do use the translating app of your own choice.

https://24.sapo.pt/atualidade/artigos/caso-maddie-e-preciso-um-bode-expiatorio-e-esta-aqui-afirma-antigo-inspetor-da-pj

verdi would you be so kind to look if the translation can be copied on to the forum itself. 

it is not very new to hear what amaral thinks about it all, but i think he has a realistic view on it all.

Maddie Case: "A scapegoat is needed and it is here", says former PJ inspector

The case of Maddie McCann is back on the agenda in Portugal, with searches in the Algarve to try to find clues about the disappearance of the English child, Gonçalo Amaral, former inspector of the Judiciary Police (PJ), has many doubts about the new suspect and the way it was found.

May 25 , 2023 07:37

Speaking to Rádio Renascença, Gonçalo Amaral, former inspector of the Judiciary Police, now retired, who had the case of the disappearance that happened on May 3, 2007 in his hands, considered that the resumption of the searches serves to create a scapegoat that has nothing to do with the case and which has already been evaluated by the Portuguese police.

"This budget and means on the ground for this operation are a little strange. I wonder why? For this you need to have strong foundations and not just a simple 'he was in this place so let's look there'. Why not in the Santa Clara dam the Velha, further up, where he also went and was assiduous and there was a German community? There is something here that does not work", he underlined in statements to Renaissance.

Amaral is also surprised by the new information and suspicions about Christiane Bruckner and questions Germany's involvement, questioning the whole process: "A person came and said that this German, once at a festival in southern Spain, confided in him that he was responsible for the disappearance from Maddie. It was an individual who lived in Portugal, who had allegedly committed the crime in Portugal, the investigation was running in Portugal, so why do the English instead of sending it to our country send it to the German police?”.

Without a doubt, Amaral states that “it is since then that a profile has been built in relation to this individual who is detained even for a violation that happened nearby (Praia da Luz), a violation that did not exist! In this case of rape in 2005, the gynecological examination carried out at the Hospital de Portimão, on the night the alleged crime took place, shows that there was no rape. The exam had a handwritten report and the translator said it was illegible, it was not taken into account in the process, but they did not even ask the Portuguese colleagues. The individual is trapped by something that did not exist. The sheets, etc., were also collected from the woman's house and nothing was found that had traces of this German."

Finally, the retired inspector considers that a scapegoat is being created: "Parents and friends cannot be held responsible and a scapegoat is needed and here it is! After eight years, that's it. The German investigation just wants to prove that this individual has something to do with this case. With so much money, what could the reconstruction of May 3, 2007 be done, with parents and friends and witnesses and that could bring out the truth", concludes Gonçalo Amaral.

https://24.sapo.pt/atualidade/artigos/caso-maddie-e-preciso-um-bode-expiatorio-e-esta-aqui-afirma-antigo-inspetor-da-pj

The gun and the video were disposed of before Madeleine disappeared if I remember correctly, and CB has already been convicted of the rape of the American lady, so even if they find them it can have nothing to do with Madeleine or the American lady.
We know CB visited the reservoir so no surprise if they do find any traces of him there.
The only evidence of any good would be Madeleine's pyjamas and we know they won't be found.

Gerry and Kate McCann should have been at the search of the lake, clutching each other and cuddlecat, and holding a photo of Madeleine. They would have looked 'buoyed'.

PeterMac wrote:The inimitable Pat B speaks.  FB

German police to visit a golf course, winery and top restaurant that CB used to visit 

*********
AND DIG THEM UP !
It is what Jon Clarke intrepid Super-Sleuth had been arguing for,   
Digging up the "Secret hideaway" (aka a villa on an urbanisation )
digging up the gardens of anywhere he had ever lived or visited
Digging up the concrete floor of the disused cardboard box factory
digging up. . . . half of Nieder-Saxen and most of the Algarve

He is clearly unfamiliar with the findings of the extensive cross-force survey 'SEEKUM; which showed that bodies and stolen goods are most usually dumped 
within 20 yards of a footpath, or similar pedestrian accessible route for VERY obvious reason I should have thought.

But he lives in the Famous Five, Boy' Own Paper, "Jondiana Clarke and the Missing Child" world of secret tunnels, hidden lairs, fantastic machines, incredible coincidences
and Conspiracies


[Sorry I obvious hit the edit button not the Quote.]

The BKA designation for this Investigation is Operation Rechen, or 'Rake'.
They are certainly Raking over everything remotely connected with CB.

Is Wolters maybe under Pressure to 'Wrap this up' before it is taken out of his Hands, and moved to Magdeburg?

Where CB could expect a more Objective Judgement?

i find a bra strap a bit disappointing, i did hope for the second sock. 

i like the part of looking for the camcorder/video camera as stolen, indeed in 2006 by helge b in relation to the term reliable witness. 

you can hardly debate it was a hot tipp about a gun and a video camera, as by mouth of ms it was told to every kind and form of media who was paying him to say something.

but the camcorder/ video camera and the tapes, was that not supposed to be really exposed of by the hb figure with his old camper van, that he left at the scrapyard around silves.  

i do think the meaning of reliable witness will end up in the same manner as the meaning of concrete evidence as understood and promoted by a specific german cps. 

and it is indeed 'nasty word' to put out such a search party on the wishes of a certain german cps, to look for the video that would prove a case that already reached it conclusion in a conviction. 
ms and hb never have gave a witness statement and there was never a video available in court or elsewhere that showed anything substantial to the 2005 rape case itself. 

the testimony was only used to present a mo that had details alike with the statement of the victim in the 2005 rape case. 

there is a bit of rumor getting out that german cps has now a third witness that also is supposed to have a form of knowledge about a video of a alleged crime possibly classified as rape or abuse of a sexual nature by cb to other woman. 

the 2005 rape case has still a lot of questions around, but the verdict is still standing, and the defendant had not send his appeal in the allowed time. usually you let your lawyer register for appeal, but you can do it yourself or hire a better lawyer to do it for you if you think you are unlawful spoken guilty.  

normally, and nothing around this case and its sideshows looks to fit under normal, a cps would not even think to reopen the case he needed to keep his supposed perp for other crimes in his hands. there is a possible of course, like when there becomes known the defendant of that concluded case could not have done that crime, like another crook confesses to it with enough knowledge of that crime to agree he was the perp.  
but even than it is not likely to trow out such a large and costly search to undo the damage. 

pretty useless because nothing could be found of importance when your guy did not do it. fishes do not give pretty alibi's. 

also finding a gun, and or a camcorder/ video device, from the first ms told only it was a big one, the camera was a little one, how do you really know it are indeed the same ones. and because it was well before may 2007, both cannot relate to the madeleine mccann case. 
and it would be of little use to fix the reliability of both and even a third witness their other statements. 
people can pick and choose about what they tell porkies. 

pyjama's have a problem too, they have to be still in pretty good condition, to prove it are at least pyjama of the same kind, like recognizable patterns. the original set of pyjama's is to be understood as left with madeleine together at that same time, so there is no original sample left of exactly that set.

they are made of cotton per statements, and cotton fibers are known to be very hard to use in fiber research in crimes. first because they are usually from very mixed batches from different regions of the world. also these kind of pyjama's are made in mass production, and the next batch with a different pattern or model could be of the same bale of cotton used to make the treads to weave them. 
using just another set, even from the same point of sale would not mean it is from the same batch.

when you only are left with a sample from a find that had many years of exposure to the elements, from a place other people are as likely to have used such clothing from also cotton fibers it is impossible to prove it was from a specific supposed wearing set of cotton pyjama's in an alleged crime. 

these cheap kind, mass product sets of pyjama's have usually only printed coloring and designs on them.they are made to use for at the most a few years if you accept the colors and patterns will fade. in day to day life they made it hardly into hand me downs to a next child. the stitches are usually not made for longer use, the cotton weaving also not. it looses its form, the decorations and a child grows quickly out of it and they end up as rags. 

even the not cotton fibers, like elastic band in the pyjama are from mass production. 

so it is pretty impossible to state with certainty something found only could come from the set of pyjama's from madeleine mccann. so it will hardly go beyond a witness that could declare cb was there around that time, if it was sure he got himself a bit of an alibi from that, and that the findings could have belong to a pyjama alike that of madeleine. the usual 1 + 1 = 2 uses of circumstantial evidence. 

if there already was hard and solid evidence their would have been already brought charges, no excuses to not follow trough if you have such evidence. so hcw is going for a typical german indications process, a lot of little bits, that are not evidence on its own value, but all together, and even most can be explained differently would be te story the judges will decide their verdict on.  

so cb could have been around, could have been using a phone, could be able to get access to a holiday apartment, has already convictions for sexual abuse and connections are known on the darknet. all little bits that could say , it could have been cb will count. 

the same indications process style was used in the case of the missing girl peggy knoblauch and they got a conviction out of it, a bit later on they found out they had the wrong one. 
also the 2005 rape case was mostly an indications process, only one hair, and even that had gotten questions from other experts who looked in that as evidence, was used a form of hard evidence. 

so yes in germany you can get a guilty verdict only on indications you could have done it. most other countries wants to see at least one piece of hard evidence together with a lot of circumstantial evidence.
one of the cps people i worked with always said, give me one solid piece of evidence and i have an very maybe win , but the chances of a fail is far greater, give me two pieces of hard evidence and that will equal the odds, give me three pieces of solid evidence, and i wil get a 100% conviction out of it. 

most you will use in a process is circumstantial evidence, during the investigation you do not call it evidence, but leads, indications and capabilities, and form talks too. solid or hard evidence is not always around in a high number. all beside that will have to get its meaning and importance and result during the court case itself. 

finding dna, mean only the dna in itself is hard evidence, but the circumstances around where the dna was found or when it was left there, are usually much softer, meaning there could be more than one explanation possible, so that will be circumstantial evidence. both are important, both have their needs. 

germany can follow up a case in court only based on indication you did things. because you did this, you could have done that also. it is up to the defense to tell a different story on the same indications. 
hcw mostly is into the murder of madeleine by the hands of cb, that where he still wants some evidence or indications for, the alleged abduction from 5a he has to to use mostly the spoken form of cb in how he entered other premisses, that is why he needs the rape cases to older woman in his pocket.
his interest in young female children he can use the older convictions, the dark web contacts and refresh that with the beach and playground events in portugal, the first proves his interest around that same time of 2007, the second one it proves it is still a ongoing habit to want young female children. 

so even very different victims can fill some gaps there is no evidence for. that kind of circumstantial evidence he already has, or can get from the other 5 cases. 
probably there is also to prove cb sold child porn on the web, that he made productions of his victims to do that. together with the findings on the old box factory, the witnesses ms and hb, maybe even cp, but also from the irish holiday rep case. 

all he still needs is some little thing that binds cb more directly to madeleine and/or her fate. 
a could be can be enough. 

if hcw sees a way to get the 5 other cases in court and preferably with a conviction, i would not be surprised when his chances to get a win in the madeleine case too. he needs these 5 cases, or at least some of them also to sell witnesses and indications and form to a judge. 

so it will be up to the defense to get in his way. there is a team of 3 different lawyers active for cb, so some fire works will be expected. 

hcw would not stop, only a higher court can do that based on the standing opinion the case does not belong under the courts of braunschweig and nieder sachsen. and by that hcw also can not lead these cases from his place. or the replacement bundesland sachsen anhalt must say we do not do this case and frankfurt also decides there is no court case in it. if one or both just say no capacity, the case could legally even go back to hcw. 
also there is also still a german national responsible on justice that could decide with an yes or no solution to it all. 
hcw will not be stopped that easily. none of the 5 other cases are started, so nothing truly get busted. 

hcw already had won the public votes by now. with other lawyers he has now and when he gets the 5 cases or at least some through a court, he already had a win chance of about 25%, the standing defense makes it to 10% chance win for hcw. 

court is not always know for being realistic or about truth. there are 3 countries that wants this case to end. and cb is still a welcome patsy to serve that goal. it will be a defense case.

The second sock would have to match, or the circus would become even more farcical.

CaKeLoveR wrote:Gerry and Kate McCann should have been at the search of the lake, clutching each other and cuddlecat, and holding a photo of Madeleine. They would have looked 'buoyed'.

Never forget the good quality wristbands, oh and of course ....

Rogue-a-Tory wrote:Collected material to be sent to Germany. How secure is this in terms of obtaining a true and informed scientific analysis? Not wishing to cast aspersion or slander the German process but if I were CB's lawyer would be interested in the exact details of a due process.

Forensic Science Service anyone?