Christian Brueckner: To be or not to be

Nothing about this charade stacks up to close scrutiny.

The German criminal profiler with the bulging eyes insists he who can't be named, Christian Brueckner, fits the bill for a would be Madeleine McCann abductor/murderer.

For crying out loud, the bloke (he who can't be named) is said to have a criminal past covering a couple of decades and spreading across Europe - at least southern Europe, all the while off the radar except somehow his movements and crimes have been documented - at least enough to point the finger at a master criminal.

Now let me think..

Burglary - prolific
Petty theft
Drug dealing
Partying
Philandering
Child molesting
Flashing
Rape of the female sex ranging between very young to very old
Hanging out (?) with known felons
Lurking
Of no fixed abode
Vehicle dealing
Buck teeth

Where exactly does the profile of a Madeleine McCann abductor/murderer fit in?

According to the Guardian, published back in June 2022, this is a chronological resumé of Brueckner's life and times - you know, the off the radar run of events..

1994

Convicted of sexual abuse of a child, attempted sexual abuse of a child, and carrying out sexual acts in front of a child.
1995

Flees to Portugal as an 18-year-old to escape a two-year youth custody sentence for the above offences.
1999

Returns to Germany to serve a youth custody sentence he had escaped.
2004-5

Dates an English woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
2005

Rapes a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz.
2006

Portuguese authorities drop the rape investigation due to lack of evidence.
2006

Arrested and convicted for stealing diesel fuel in Portugal.
2007

Madeleine McCann disappears from Praia da Luz.
2007

Buys marihuana and hashish and sells it to a middle-man on the northern German island of Sylt, where it is sold on.
2012

Opens a kiosk in Braunschweig, in north-west Germany.
2013

McCanns appeal to the German public on TV for evidence over Madeleine’s disappearance. Brückner’s name crops up in connection with the case.
2017

Convicted of sexual abuse of a child in Germany and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
2018

Arrested in Milan and returned to Germany.
2019

August – charged with the rape of a US citizen.
2019

December – convicted. Sentenced to seven years for the rape. Prison term not yet started pending an appeal that the conviction was unlawful but he is being held in police custody.

What a sham-balls.

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann was/is a criminal investigation.

If the German judiciary has any information that might assist the investigation, even if that investigation is archived pending new evidence or intelligence, said judiciary - or that of any other domain, has no choice but to convey that information to the investigative force - in this case the Portuguese judiciary,

They don't get to choose what information is divulged..

That aside, if media and press reports are to be believed, the information said to connect Christian Brueckner to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the German authorities have long since shared their intelligence with Portugal and UK's Metropolitan Police. Isn't that why the Portuguese judiciary declared Brueckner a suspect?

@Silentscope,

I ask again that you refrain from posting links to foreign speaking platforms and/or defunct paths.

This is essentially an English speaking forum, please respect our position.

Madeleine McCann police to begin major search of remote reservoir

The search will be the first major operation of its kind since June 2014 when British police were given permission to do digs in Praia de Luz.
By LUKE WHELAN, GERARD COUZENS
12:15, Mon, May 22, 2023 | UPDATED: 12:18, Mon, May 22, 2023

German police searching for Madeleine McCann's body are about to start a major search of a remote Algarve reservoir suspect Christian Brueckner used to visit. Portuguese police are soon expected to start closing off roads soon leading to the man-made dam near the town of Silves ahead of the official start of the search tomorrow (TUE). Scotland Yard detectives are understood to have travelled to the area but only with a "watching brief".

The search is expected to last for at least two days but could last longer if anything of relevance is uncovered.

The search will be 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.

More to follow

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1773062/Madeleine-mccann-search-german-police-Algarve-reservoir

This story has spread like wildfire, it could almost make the reader think it to be a revelation, a new development.

My first thought was .... 'we've been this way before, more than once'.

I can see as hours pass, the various versions of this story will gather debris as the stone keeps turning, bits taken from here there and everywhere to form yet another false lead.

Still, just as long as it discredits the PJ who cares!

Maddie Police To Search Reservoir

POLICE are to search an isolated reservoir in the hunt for missing Madeleine McCann.

News
ByDailyrecord.co.uk

00:00, 15 OCT 2007Updated01:58, 1 JUL 2012

POLICE are to search an isolated reservoir in the hunt for missing Madeleine McCann.

Dozens of Portuguese officers will be called in to trawl dense undergrowth and land around the man-made beauty spot - which was popular with anglers and weekend sailors until a recent crackdown.

Divers will also be used to search the Reservoir da Brevura - known locally as the Reservoir of the Wilderness - near the village of Odiaxere, north-east of Praia da Luz. The reservoir is just 15 miles from the holiday apartment where the McCann family were staying when Madeleine disappeared.

The search comes after a new chief investigator, Paulo Rebelo, 45, was put in charge of the case.

The McCann family's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "Kate and Gerry are realistic enough to know that Madeleine may be dead and it would be a tragedy that she is found as such, because it rules out the hope that she is alive.

"But any widening of the search area is encouraging and we would welcome that. If she is dead then she is dead, but not by their hand."

It's not thought that any specific intelligence is linked to the new search, which comes after Rebelo reviewed the case.

His team has been boosted by four new detectives from the capital Lisbon.

Rebelo has also demanded similar searches be conducted in other areas within a 10-mile radius of Praia da Luz.

But the McCann family fear that the main thrust of the police investigation is aimed at showing they were involved in Madeleine's disappearance.

And they could soon become the only suspects in the inquiry if ex-pat property developer Robert Murat gets the all-clear.

Murat, 33, had his Praia da Luz home repeatedly searched by police after being named an "arguido", or formal suspect, on May 14.

But under Portuguese law that status will be automatically lifted on November 14 - six months after it was imposed - unless a senior officer applies for an extension.

Murat's lawyer Francisco Pagarete said: "If they consider that the situation with regards to my client has already been resolved then his status will be lifted and he can get on with his life."

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/maddie-police-to-search-reservoir-960388

Exclusive: Madeleine McCann cops ignored tip-off that her body was dumped in lake

An employee of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz found note in the doorway of apartment 5A, where Madeleine vanished, on the first anniversary of her disappearance

ByDavid Collins

22:30, 24 Nov 2014Updated07:59, 25 Nov 2014

A letter handed in to Portuguese police claimed to know the final resting place of Madeleine McCann, it has emerged.

An employee of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz found the letter in the doorway of apartment 5A, where Madeleine vanished, on the first anniversary of her disappearance.

The handyman, who we are not naming but was formerly employed by the holiday resort, immediately handed in the note to the police in May 2008.

He described the letter as being headed: “Madeleine Beth McCann”, with a description below of how she had been dumped in the Barragem da Bravura reservoir, nine miles from the holiday resort.

He said: “It was raining that night so it was soaking wet when I found it. It clearly said Madeleine’s name at the top. It was written in Portuguese.

“Beneath it was a location for what it claimed was her final resting place.

“I spoke to the other staff about it and they said to hand it in to the Portuguese police. I gave it to them, but I have no idea what they did about it.

“It would be the perfect place to hide a body.”


"Perfect place to hide a body": Words of handyman who handed note in to police

It is believed that although the surrounding woodland was initially looked at by detectives on the case, there has never been an underwater search of the reservoir.

Tonight a spokesperson for Kate and Gerry McCann said they would “welcome” any new searches of the area.

Clarence Mitchell said: “Kate and Gerry will be informed of what this witness is telling the Daily Mirror.

"We would welcome any new searches. But they cannot comment on any specific detail as that is entirely a matter for Operation Grange and the Portuguese authorities.”


Scene: Mirrorman David Collins by reservoir in Praia da Luz ( Image:
Daily Mirror)

The man-made lake is close to the A22 motorway which runs from Praia da Luz towards the Spanish border.

In October 2007, five months after Madeleine disappeared, officers from the Civil Guard helped search the large area of woodland, which has a lake in the middle supplying water to surrounding towns and villages.

The search was re-ordered by lead investigator Paulo Rebelo, who took over the stalled investigation, after concerns the area had not been searched properly when Madeleine went missing.

Detectives believed it was a possibility the youngster’s body may have been weighed down with rocks and disposed of in the huge expanse of water.

However reports at the time say police, along with specially trained sniffer dogs, spent just two hours at the site and are not thought to have deployed underwater search teams.

One eyewitness, who was there at the time of the search, said: “I never saw any divers physically trawl through that lake. The water is dark and murky and would need to be searched thoroughly.

”It’s so close to Praia da Luz, and such an obvious place to hide a body, that I’m amazed following an actual tip off this hasn’t been done.”


Map of the area where the lake is

The Portuguese investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has been widely criticised and is known to have made several serious mistakes, including the failure to close off the apartment which led to the contamination of the crime scene after up to 20 people were allowed inside.

It has previously been reported how a Dutch newspaper was sent an anonymous letter and a map of the area near the same reservoir bearing a cross and the words: “Where Madeleine is buried.”
Madeleine McCann
Madeleine McCann
View gallery

The desolate Barragem da Bravura lake, or the “Reservoir of the Wilderness”, occupies an area two-and-a-half miles wide and a perimeter of 25 miles.

Only a handful of isolated dwellings dot the beauty spot.

Many of the Ocean Club staff believe the four-year-old could have been taken there after she vanished from the McCanns’ holiday apartment.

In February 2008, a team of divers hired by Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia searched the Barragem do Arada reservoir, which is 35 miles east of Praia da Luz.

The human rights lawyer claimed that underworld criminals told him Madeleine was dumped in a nearby lake that was “deserted with lots of trees and a beach area” - however the search came to nothing.

Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, of Rothley, Leics, were at a tapas bar about 80 yards from their apartment when Madeleine vanished.

Gerry checked on her and her brother and sister at 9.15pm. At 10pm Kate found she had gone.

Police believe seven new possible suspects, five men and two women, may have information.

It has been reported they also plan to re-interview expat Robert Murat, 41, who was cleared by the 2007 inquiry.

A friend of the McCann’s from Rothley, Leics, said they were desperate to find out what had happened to Madeleine and were confident Scotland Yard would “do everything in their power” to unravel the mystery.

The friend said: “They hope police search any potentially significant new place but until there is evidence to suggest otherwise Kate and Gerry remain hopeful that Madeleine could still be alive.

”If an anonymous letter has come to light which suggests their daughter’s body could be in a lake in a barren area not far from Praia da Luz then they know police will be thinking ‘Was this area searched before and do we need to look at it again?’

”They would hope it has been acted on before but if there is new information it will surely be in police hands.”

Former GP Kate and heart doctor Gerry, both 46, rarely comment on the huge multi-million police inquiry ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron.

But in a joint statement released this summer when cops were digging up part of the resort from were three-year-old Maddie was snatched in May 2007, they said: “We are very pleased that significant activity has taken place in Praia da Luz over the last eight days with police officers and support teams from the UK working closely with the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria and the Guarda Nacional Republicana.

”We are further encouraged that, despite intensive searches, no trace of Madeleine has been found and this reinforces our belief that she could still be alive.”

Kate and Gerry’s Portuguese lawyer Isabel Duarte told the Mirror: “They want to know exactly what has happened to their child.”

A Scotland Yard spokesperson refused to comment.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-cops-ignored-tip-off-4688474

POLICE SEARCH LAKE FOR BODY

WEDNESDAY 15 OCTOBER 2007

By David Pilditch and Martin Evans in Praia Da Luz


Barragem de Bravua reservoir lake

Daily Express: Wednesday 15th October 2007

By David Pilditch and Martin Evans in Praia Da Luz

Police divers were last night preparing to trawl a reservoir in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

Detectives believe her body may have been weighed down with rocks and dumped in the Barragem de Bravua lake nine miles from Praia De Luz.

The search is one of a series to be carried out in the next few days, a Portuguese newspaper claimed yesterday.

The operations will centre on an area within a 10-mile radius of the Ocean Club apartment from where Madeleine disappeared on May 3, aged three.

Under the orders of Paulo Rebelo, who now heads the investigation, search teams will also comb a three-mile stretch of beaches and rugged coastline between Praia da Luz and Burgau.

And mobile phone trackers will be bought in to pinpoint the movements of Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, and their friends in the days after she vanished.

They will concentrate on the places visited by the McCanns after the couple hired a silver Renault Scenic in which Madeleine's DNA was allegedly found. The technicians use satellite technology to trace the exact location of every call, down to a few feet.

The results of vital DNA tests carried out in Britain will finally be handed to investigators today, it was claimed yesterday.

Experts at the Forensic Science Service laboratory in Britain have spent more than two months analysing evidence collected by detectives in the Algarve.

Police there believe the DNA findings will provide them with enough evidence to bring charges against the McCanns.

It has been alleged that they believe Kate accidentally killed Madeleine 165 days ago with an overdose of sedatives administered to help her sleep then later dispose of her body.

Today a forensic expert is expected to reveal that a bloody footprint was discovered in the McCanns apartment, outside Madeleines bedroom, matching a mark on their hire car.

But tests have proved inconclusive, indicating that the blood was only a "moderate" match for Madeleine's.

The print was believed to be from an adults size five or six shoe, and matched a mark on the rear bumper of the Renault hired by the couple 25 days after their daughter's disappearance.

Portuguese police believe the mark on the vehicle, which had no trace of blood on it, could be consistent with someone loading something heavy into the boot.

Friends of the McCanns said the footprint claim "sounds like an Agatha Christie novel".

A source close to the investigation said the blood in the footprint was only a few specs, and added: "It cannot be said the blood belongs to Madeleine. This latest evidence is flimsy and doesn't take the inquiry any further forward".

The McCanns official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We cannot comment on yet another unsubstantiated report and certainly would not comment on anything that goes to the heart of the inquiry".

Mr.Rebelo, who is Portugal's second most senior policeman, has bought in 10 officers who are effectively starting the inquiry from scratch. He is reviewing every aspect of the investigation.

All the weekend his team began examining files containing more than 4,000 pages of evidence.

Yesterday it was reported that all lines of inquiry would be re-opened, including the possibility that Madeleine was snatched from the family's apartment. But police sources have revealed Mr.Rebelo will continue to treat Madeleines parents as the chief suspects.

The reservoir at the centre of the latest search, reported in the Diario de Noticias newspaper yesterday, is in scrubland close to the town of Odiaxere - where a hunt for Madeleine was carreid out in June.

The search followed a tip-off to a Dutch newspaper that her body was hidden in undergrowth and buried under a pile of rocks. Police found nothing.

In the days after Madeleine disappeared a team of 60 officers from the Civil Guard and sniffer dogs also searched the area near the reservoir. They were joined by firemen and volunteers but no underwater team was deployed.

Last night friends of part-time GP Kate zand consultant cardiologist Gerry, both 39, said the couple welcomed new searches and were encouraged by any efforts to find their missing daughter.

The couple, now home in Rothley, Leics with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, categorically deny being involved in Madeleine's disappearance and insist they will continue to believe she is alive until they are shown evidence to the contrary.

A family friend said: "Any widening of the search area is encouraging and we would welcome that".

On police searching areas where the McCanns and their friends used their mobile phones, the friend said: "That implies they believe the phone calls are covering up something guilty.

"All l can say is that the police don't need to focus on the friends or family because they have nothing to do with this.

"Having said that, anything that helps to eliminate Kate and Gerry from the inquiry is good".

The couple have been bouyed by the appointment of new chief investigator Mr.Rebelo, 45.

Yesterday it was reported his team includes two murder experts and a specialist in investigating cases of sexual abuse.

It was reported searches will take in a cemetery byt he church in Praia da Luz where the couple often prayed alone after they were given their own keys to the building.

[Acknowledgement: pamalam of gerrymccannsblog]

Frogmen resume search of reservoir where lawyer claims Madeleine McCann's body was dumped.

Original Source: MAIL: MONDAY 10 MARCH 2008
Last updated at 23:44 10 March 2008

Divers yesterday began a fresh search of a reservoir where it is feared the body of Madeleine McCann could have been dumped.

It follows an underworld tip-off that Madeleine, aged three at the time, was raped, murdered and dumped in a lake within 48 hours of being taken from her parents' holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, last May.

Lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia received the tip-off and paid for the first search of the reservoir near the town of Silves in the Algarve five weeks ago.

The Portuguese Society of Engineering and Construction is helping fund the latest search.

Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, both 39, say they still believe their daughter is alive.


Divers search the reservoir for the first time several weeks ago

Firefighter divers joined specialists from Lagos-based dive school Dive Time yesterday morning as the original search area around a water pumping tower was widened.

Marcos, from Madeira, says he pinpointed it as Madeleine's burial site after being told by underworld criminals she had been raped, murdered and dumped in a lake in the area within 48 hours of being snatched.

The McCanns' private investigators Metodo 3 have been informed of the new search - but are still working on the theory she is alive and being held against her will.

The second round of searches involves up to seven divers a day and will finish on Friday.

Mr Aragao said: "If I was Madeleine's parents, I'd want to be helped.

"It may not be the outcome they want if I find Madeleine, but it's important for them that they find out what happened to her and recover her body if she is dead.

"There may be genetic evidence on the corpse that could help the police discover who killed her," he added.

"We've used the time between the first and second searches to consult experts on the most likely current location of Madeleine's body. The result is a widened search area.

"Dive Time will continue to be in charge of the searches. But they have been joined by divers from a neighbouring town highly experienced in searches for bodies in natural and artificial lakes."

A Portuguese lorry driver told Metodo 3 he saw the German girlfriend of Madeleine suspect Robert Murat handing over a child in a blanket to a mystery man in Silves, a five-minute drive from the reservoir, on May 5 last year.

Michaela Walczuch has claimed she is being framed to protect the McCanns and denied any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.

She has never been made an official suspect and has only ever been quizzed as a witness.

[Acknowledgement: pamalam of gerrymccannsblog]

What are the German's hoping to find - rotting sea bass?



The original stories fit-in timely with the McCanns being named official suspects in September 2007 and the round of rogatory interviews held in April 2008 don't they - what a coincidence.

Rather than throwing more thousands £ down the proverbial, if there be any truth in this latest story, there is a very simple solution .... take Gerry and Kate McCann back to Portugal for renewed police interviews.

They know the truth - they were there.

CaKeLoveR wrote:Even i f the reservoir contains  Madeleine's body, that doesn't mean C.B. put her there. Anyone could have done so.

If you read back over the reports of the original reservoir dive initiated by the Portuguese lawyer back in autumn 2007, there appears to be a few versions of lurking suspects - if the reservoir (remote?) was so popular with visitors for varying reasons, what opportunity would there be to dump a dead body, after transporting from the crime scene!?!

Pin the tale on the ass.

CaKeLoveR wrote:The  idea  is completely improbable, isn't it?

Completely impossible I dare to suggest.

It's the PJ's fault (that's the Portuguese Judiciary, not the pyjamas), they were incompetent and munching sardines when they should have been out searching - like what the parents McCann didn't do.

It will be interesting to see how this charade develops, I just heard the name Madeleine McCann on the radio.

If it proceeds I'm guessing it will end the same way as the epic theatrics a la Operation Grange back in the day. A lot of strutting, a lot of digging, a lot of waffling and little or nothing else to justify the exploit.


Mission Impossible

our dutch national news has it also and used this portuguese article as their source;

https://sicnoticias.pt/especiais/caso-maddie---10-anos/2023-05-22-Caso-Maddie-PJ-faz-novas-buscas-a-50-km-da-Praia-da-Luz-24f83155

it has a bit of video if you want to see a bit of the area. 

we had quite a neutral article, starting from a disappearing madeleine, usually we still got the abducted one, so it is nice to know it can be done. 

must have been a busy place there in the outback of portugal, all those former and actual suspects that had been around. okay, in the uk you have to read articles from well before the uk media was muzzled up, and put on full blinkers. 

that portuguese media write the area will be of limits until at least wednesday. and they say it is the barragem do arade that will be searched, not the barragem da bravura. 
barragem do arade is the southern one of the two reservoirs around funcho.

Meanwhile in the land of Bilge..


By: Kai Feldhaus
22.05.2023 - 17:43

They don't give up, they want to finally solve the disappearance of little Maddie!

Praia da Luz (Portugal) - For the first time in almost ten years, the search for the girl who disappeared in 2007 is being actively carried out in Portugal.

As BILD learned, a reservoir near the town of Silves in the Algarve is to be submerged from Tuesday - about 40 kilometers from Praia da Luz, where Maddie McCann (then 3) disappeared from her family's holiday apartment on the evening of May 3rd. The forest area around the reservoir should also be searched.

Reason for the new search: a clue that German investigators want to investigate!

According to BILD information, a BKA team is traveling to the Algarve to coordinate the search and evaluate any traces found. It is unclear whether the investigators are reviewing old information – or whether a new one has been received. The public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig, which considers the previously convicted child molester Christian Brückner (45) to be Maddie's murderer and has been investigating him for some time, wants to explain the search on Tuesday.



Investigators hope for knowledge from the reservoir

The Portuguese police have already cordoned off roads leading to the "Barragem do Arade" and set up tents.

The reservoir had already been searched in 2008: A truck driver claimed to have observed how a woman handed over a child to a man who resembled Maddie. At that time, divers had found two bags with bones, which had been judged to be inhuman because of their size.

According to BILD information, suspect Christian Brückner had friends in the area around the reservoir. The police secured Brückner's VW bus at a nearby junkyard.


New information on the Maddie case could be hiding in these waters. The investigators have blocked access roads to the reservoir

The search with divers and excavators should initially take two days. It is the first major operation of this kind since June 2014, when the British police received permission from the Portuguese to search the holiday resort of Praia da Luz with sniffer dogs and to use ground-penetrating radar to locate bodies.

https://www-bild-de.translate.goog/news/ausland/news-ausland/hinweis-aus-deutschland-polizei-taucht-in-stausee-nach-maddies-leiche-84017738.bild.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr&_x_tr_hist=true

Verdi wrote:

CaKeLoveR wrote:Even i f the reservoir contains  Madeleine's body, that doesn't mean C.B. put her there. Anyone could have done so.

If you read back over the reports of the original reservoir dive initiated by the Portuguese lawyer back in autumn 2007, there appears to be a few versions of lurking suspects - if the reservoir (remote?) was so popular with visitors for varying reasons, what opportunity would there be to dump a dead body, after transporting from the crime scene!?!

Pin the tale on the ass.

This - plus, why travel all that way inland to a reservoir when there's a whole coastline next to Praia da Luz?

Madeleine McCann: new searches to begin in Arade dam, Silves

By
Natasha Donn - 22nd May 2023

Portuguese police act on requests from German counterparts

Over 16 years since three-year-old Madeleine Beth McCann went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, police are back conducting searches, this time at Silves’ Arade dam – on the request of German authorities convinced of the guilt of principal suspect Christian Brückner.

In the early days, intense searches took place at the dam, following a ‘tip off’ that Madeleine had been “raped, murdered and her body dumped within 48-hours of her disappearance” on May 3, 2007.

This could be the line German prosecutors are running with, bearing in mind they have been focused on Brückner’s alleged sexual deviance.

According to archive reports, the dam was searched for any trace of Madeleine’s body on at least three occasions in 2008.

The Evening Standard quoted lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia as having acted independently on information that Madeleine’s body had been “weighted down” and thrown “from a pumping tower into the murky water beneath“- where depths at the time reached 55 ft… (With the effects of years of low rainfall, depths now will be greatly reduced, and this may be a reason for the renewed police interest.)

Following Aragao Correia’s privately-funded searches, PJ police led by former national director Alipio Ribeiro also focused on the dam area.

Say reports today, the secluded spot “used to be frequented by Christian Brückner” who described it as a “little paradise”.

Says SIC Notícias: “German authorities want to know if there are any remains, or evidence that could bring new clues on the disappearance of the child”.

Christian Brückner – who has stressed to police that he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann – remains in jail in Germany for the rape of an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.

As part of their investigations, German police last year charged Brückner with further sex crimes, including against children, but these appear to have led nowhere, confused also by jurisdiction issues.

British media reports say that Portuguese police will be running this week’s searches. They are “expected to start closing off roads soon leading to the man-made dam (…) ahead of the official start of the search tomorrow (Tuesday).

“Scotland Yard detectives are understood to have travelled to the area, but with only a ‘watching brief’.

“The search is set to last for at least two days and beyond that if anything of relevance is found”, writes the Daily Mail, adding that “this time round expert divers are set to explore the murky depths of the dam but digs will also take place in woodland by the water”.

The first question is whether the dam really does present “murky depths” after such a long period of drought.

Updates to follow as and when.

It needs to be stressed that Christian Brückner’s lawyer, as well as a number of sources connected to this mystery over the years, have repeatedly suggested the German police theory is bogus. But due to the Statute of Limitations, Christian Brückner is the only suspect in this case who could possibly face prosecution.

https://www.portugalresident.com/madeleine-mccann-new-searches-to-begin-in-arade-dam-silves/