Everything we know as as search for madeleine mccann enters third day

THE SEARCH OF LAND IN PRAIA DA LUZ CONTINUES ON THURSDAY, 18 YEARS AFTER THE THREE-YEAR-OLD'S DISAPPEARANCE. 09:01, 05 Jun 2025Updated 09:03, 05 Jun 2025 Madeleine McCann was three

years old when she vanished on May 3, 2007 after her parents left her asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, Portugal. Since then, hers has become one of the

highest-profile unsolved missing person cases in the world, with British, Portuguese and European police forces involved in the investigation. Police forces from across Europe have launched

multiple searches for Madeleine McCann since her disappearance in 2007. Early efforts focused on the Praia da Luz resort, where she was last seen in her family's holiday apartment. In

2013, British police began Operation Grange, a formal investigation into the case. Searches have included digging in scrubland, draining reservoirs, and using sniffer dogs and

ground-penetrating radar. German authorities have also led inquiries in recent years, targeting prime suspect, 48-year-old Christian Brückner. Article continues below The latest one

commenced on Tuesday this week, searching the suspects old place of residence in Praia da Luz, covering a large patch of land near the home of their prime suspect and the McCanns'

holiday apartment. Here's everything we know. THE LATEST INVESTIGATION WHERE ARE POLICE SEARCHING? Operational tents have been set up in the nearby village of Atalaia as investigation

teams search over 20 plots of land in Praia da Luz. German authorities, who are leading this investigation, are searching the old residence of Christian Brückner, a man who is currently in

jail for the offence of rape, to find anything that could prove Madeleine was ever taken there. WHAT HAVE THEY FOUND? Teams investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have taken

samples of potential evidence from properties near Praia Da Luz in Portugal. The search teams were seen using pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws to clear dense vegetation and dig near a

derelict building. On Tuesday, fresh searches for Madeleine began in countryside a few miles from Praia da Luz, with firefighters spotted pumping water to drain a well. About a dozen

officers focused on one abandoned building where digging was taking place, while another member of the search team cleared large rocks. The Daily Express reported that investigation teams

have taken samples of potential evidence from properties near Praia Da Luz in Portugal. A man who knew Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner has made a dramatic appeal to

police, claiming they are searching in the wrong place. Ken Ralphs told GB News that Brueckner's alleged accomplice once broke down in tears and confessed plans to help abduct a child

in Praia de Luz. He said: "He cried that he needed the money to get out the country with his family and children and that's why he got involved." Mr Ralphs identified what he

described as the last property Brueckner stayed in before Madeleine vanished – and urged investigators to focus there. Frustrated by years of inaction, he said: "For over 18 years,

I've pressed the police and all they can do is blame each other for not passing this information on." THE PRIME SUSPECT Christian Brückner is serving a jail sentence in Germany

after raping a 72-year-old American tourist in Portugal in 2005. He is due to be released later this year. He moved to Portugal in 1995 after serving a two-year prison sentence in Germany

for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl in 1994, he is known to have been renting a cottage in Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance. Soon after the media descended

on the resort in 2007, he moved back to Germany. In October 2024, he was acquitted of two charges rape and two of sexual abuse in a German rape trial where it was argued there was a lack of

evidence and witnesses who were not credible. Police have previously claimed he made a 30-minute phone call from the same area just an hour before Madeleine disappeared. He is alleged to

have confessed on two occasions to kidnapping and sexually abusing the toddler - once to a friend in a German bar in 2017 and again to his prison cellmate in 2020. The German national was

formally identified as a suspect in 2022, but has denied any involvement. He also denied committing the 2005 rape for which he was convicted of in 2019. Brückner has not been charged in the

McCann case, but German authorities began investigating him in June 2020 for her kidnap and murder. German authorities maintain that he is the main suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance and

are pushing for charges before his scheduled release in September. Article continues below THE LAST SEARCH The most recent search prior to this one was also executed by German police in

2023.They spent a week searching the Barragem do Arade reservoir, around 30 miles from Praia da Luz, after receiving of a "tip-off". It was previously searched by divers in 2008

after Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia ordered them to look to see if Madeleine McCann's body was there. Nothing was found.