Madeleine McCann news – latest: Soil from reservoir compared to samples from prime suspect’s van
Soil from a reservoir in Portugal[1] searched by police[2] last month is being compared with samples from main suspect Christian Brueckner[3]’s camper van, it has been reported.
Detectives believe Brueckner visited the remote Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal’s Algarve[4] region days after Madeleine disappeared.
Officials now believe they can prove that Brueckner’s van was in the area at the time the three-year-old was abducted , sources told The Daily Mirror.
The insider claimed that if the soil sample analysis reveals a “positive match”, police may be able to further “close the net” around Brueckner, 45, who has not yet been charged.
Earlier, a forensics expert warned that “traditional” evidence will be difficult to find after 16 years have passed since Madeleine McCann[5]’s disappearance[6].
Dan Matthews said that investigators would have searched the remote reservoir in Portugal for “things that could’ve stood the test of time and not been destroyed by its passage”, such as clothing fragments or jewelry.
Key Points
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Detectives analyse soil from suspect’s camper van
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Kate and Gerry forced to wait ‘weeks’ for reservoir search results
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‘The world believes I killed Maddie, I didn’t’
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‘Relevant clue’ found in search of reservoir
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How the search was completed
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Key suspect Christian Brueckner visited reservoir ‘days after disappearance’
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Portugal police give update as search of reservoir closes to an end
ICYMI: How much has the Madeleine McCann investigation cost?
12:31 , Katy Clifton
Sixteen years after Madeleine McCann[7] vanished from the Algarve[8] holiday apartment where she was sleeping next to her infant twin siblings, police have launched a major new search[9] for evidence.
After laying dormant for several years since David Cameron kickstarted an ultimately fruitless Metropolitan Police[10] inquiry in 2011, the case of the missing three-year-old was revived once more in 2020 when German prosecutors revealed a new suspect.
Here, Andy Gregory takes a look at how much the investigation has cost:
How much has the Madeleine McCann investigation cost?[11]
ICYMI: Items seized in Madeleine McCann search ‘cannot yet be linked’ to disappearance
Wednesday 7 June 2023 10:20 , Matt Mathers
German prosecutors have said items seized as part of fresh searches for evidence in the Madeleine McCann[12] case cannot yet be linked with the investigation into her disappearance.
A large section of the Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal[13] was cordoned off last week, about 30 miles from where three-year-old Madeleine went missing in 2007.
Josh Payne reports:
Items seized in Madeleine McCann search ‘cannot yet be linked’ to disappearance[14]
Updated timeline of missing Madeleine’s disappearance
Tuesday 6 June 2023 23:30 , Sam Rkaina
The mystery began when the McCanns – affluent doctors Kate and Gerry, their three-year-old daughter Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings – joined a group of seven family friends and their five children on holiday at the Ocean Club in the village of Praia da Luz on the southwestern tip of Portugal[15] on 28 April 2007.
After a pleasant spring break by the sea, the adults in the party went out for dinner at the resort’s open-air tapas bar on 3 May, gathering at 8.30pm. The children were left behind sleeping in their respective apartments with the doors unlocked and a rota system in place among the parents to ensure that someone returned every half-hour to check on them.
When Kate McCann[16] took her turn and returned to her apartment at 10pm, she raced back to the restaurant screaming “Madeleine’s gone! Someone’s taken her!” The police were quickly called and 60 staff and fellow guests searched the complex, calling out the girl’s name in vain until daybreak the following morning.
Border police and airport staff were put on alert and hundreds of volunteers joined the efforts to find the missing girl over the coming days, the case fast becoming a sensation.
Click here for the latest timeline on the little girl’s mysterious disappearance.[17]
‘Traditional’ evidence from reservoir search ‘could be microscopic’
Tuesday 6 June 2023 22:30 , Sam Rkaina
Forensics expert Dan Matthews has warned “traditional” evidence might be difficult to find now 16 years have passed since Madeleine’s disappearance.
The Forensic Science Senior Lecturer at the University of Lincoln suggested investigators would be searching the remote reservoir for “things that could’ve stood the test of time and not been destroyed by its passage”, such as clothing fragments, plastic items or jewellry.
“If they’re looking for body remains, then the only things remaining will be skeletal,” he added.
Police will be hoping to have found something that links back to Madeleine’s case, but Mr Matthews says how long it will take to get the results of the search is “very difficult to say”.
Clothing, for example, should not take long to analyse, he explained - but any fragment could be microscopic and could have significantly deteriorated over such a long period of time.
“The analysis can be quite an arduous process,” he said. “Especially when you’ve got samples that are not in pristine condition.
“You could potentially be looking at things that are not visible to the naked eye and using something like a microscope takes time.”
Click here for the full story.[18]
How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded – and what police found
Tuesday 6 June 2023 21:42 , Sam Rkaina
The long-running hunt for missing Madeleine McCann returned to the headlines last month[19] during a three-day search of a Portuguese reservoir.
Police combed the remote Barragem do Arade in response to what was vaguely described as “certain tips” about an area the prime suspect in the case, Christian Brueckner[20], regularly frequented between 2000 and 2017.
Although police are remaining tight-lipped about the details, they said they recovered “a number of items” from the scene, which will now be evaluated in the coming days in the hope of shedding light on the ongoing mystery surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance from an Algarve[21] holiday resort on 3 May 2007.
Hans Christian Wolters, prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, said last week: “Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed.”
Click here for the full story.[22]
Police who searched reservoir were looking for a gun and camcorder
Monday 5 June 2023 14:05 , Matt Mathers
Detectives in the Madeleine McCann case who searched a reservoir in Portugal were looking for Christian B’s gun and camcorder, it has been reported.
Officers scoured the emote reservoir after "certain tips" were given to German prosecutors[23] about the case, according to the Daily Mail.
The paper said German police were tipped off by a criminal informer who said the items had been stolen from Christian B’s house.
ICYMI: Madeleine McCann police confirm ‘number of items’ recovered from Algarve reservoir search
Monday 5 June 2023 10:55 , Matt Mathers
Police[24] investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann[25] say they have recovered a number of items from their recent search of a reservoir[26] in Portugal[27].
German authorities last week helped Portuguese crews comb a remote area inland from the Algarve coastal resort where Madeleine went missing from her bedroom during a family holiday in 2007.
Full report:
Madeleine McCann police confirm ‘number of items’ recovered from reservoir search[28]
ICYMI: Madeleine McCann police shouldn’t just focus on prime suspect, forensics expert warns
Monday 5 June 2023 10:30 , Matt Mathers
Forensics experts have warned investigators in the Madeleine McCann[29] case cannot focus purely on their prime suspect[30] and that, 16 years after she disappeared, “traditional” evidence[31] may not have survived.
German authorities last week helped Portuguese crews comb a remote reservoir inland from the Algarve[32] coastal resort in Portugal[33] where the then-three-year-old Madeleine went missing from her bedroom on a family holiday in 2007.
Tara Cobham reports:
Madeleine McCann police shouldn’t just focus on prime suspect, forensics expert warns[34]
Sixteen years and countless heartbreaks: Where are Madeleine McCann’s family now?
Monday 5 June 2023 10:00 , Matt Mathers
Parents refuse to give up hope and have spoken movingly about ‘new normality’ of raising twins without their missing daughter, Joe Sommerlad[35] reports.
Read the full story here:
Sixteen years and countless heartbreaks as Madeleine McCann’s family wait for answers[36]
Recap: Timeline of Madeleine’s disappearance
Monday 5 June 2023 09:33 , Matt Mathers
Madeleine McCann[37], a three-year-old girl from Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve[38] on 3 May 2007, a case still unsolved and still the subject of intense interest among the public and press.
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann[39], posted a statement on the Find Madeleine[40] website on 3 May 2023 marking the latest anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance, reiterating their hopes of being reunited with her one day and posting a poem, “The Contradiction” by Clare Pollard, to express their feelings.
“Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s abduction. Still missing... still very much missed,” they wrote[41].
“The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough. Thank you to everyone for your support- it really helps.”
Here is a reminder of the events of the case:
What happened to Madeleine McCann?[42]
Christian B ‘claims five chilling words made him prime Madeleine McCann suspect’
Monday 5 June 2023 09:06 , Matt Mathers
The prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case[43] has claimed he became the focus of the investigation after a former friend alleged he made a chilling comment about the case, according to reports.
German prisoner Christian Brueckner was first named in connection with the unsolved mystery in the summer of 2020, and officially named as a suspect last year.
His yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan was reportedly identified as having been near to the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal where the young girl went missing on May 3, 2007.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:
Christian B ‘claims five chilling words made him prime Madeleine McCann suspect’[44]
Recap: How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded – and what police found
Monday 5 June 2023 09:01 , Matt Mathers
The long-running hunt for missing Madeleine McCann returned to the headlines last month[45] during a three-day search of a Portuguese reservoir.
Police combed the remote Barragem do Arade in response to what was vaguely described as “certain tips” about an area the prime suspect in the case, Christian Brueckner[46], regularly frequented between 2000 and 2017.
Jane Dalton and Joe Sommerlad report:
How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded and what police found[47]
Detectives compare soil from reservoir to main suspect’s camper van
Monday 5 June 2023 08:58 , Matt Mathers
Soil from a reservoir in Portugal searched by police last month is being compared with samples from Christian Brueckner’s camper van, it has been reported.
Detectives believe Brueckner visited the remote Barragem do Arade reservoir in the Algarve days after Madeleine disappeared.
Officials now believe they have a good chance of proving that Brueckner’s van was in the area at the time of Madeleine’s abduction, sources told The Daily Mirror.
The insider claims that if the soil sample analysis reveals a “positive match”, police may be able to further “close the net” around Brueckner, 45, who has not yet been charged.
Monday 5 June 2023 08:52 , Matt Mathers
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of the Madeleine McCann case.
Investigators are still looking into German national Christian Brueckner, who is the main suspect.
We’ll bring you updates on this story throughout the day.
Blog closed
Friday 2 June 2023 23:00 , Joe Middleton
The blog is now closed. For the latest news on Madeleine McCann’s disappearance click here.[48]
Who is Christian Brueckner? Madeleine McCann suspect and the accusations against him
Friday 2 June 2023 22:00 , Joe Middleton
Madeleine McCann’s disappearance has puzzled detectives for more than 15 years – but in 2020 a new potential suspect emerged. Now, police are searching a remote reservoir in Portugal’s the Algarve that he used to visit in a renewed effort to shed further light on the case.
German prisoner Christian Brueckner was first named in connection with the unsolved mystery that summer, and officially named as a suspect last year. His yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan was reportedly identified as having been near to the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal where the young girl went missing on May 3, 2007.
All we know about Madeleine McCann suspect Brueckner and the accusations against him[49]
Read Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner’s bombshell prison letters for the first time
Friday 2 June 2023 21:00 , Joe Middleton
Letters written by the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, in which he protests his innocence and tries to claim he had nothing to do with her disappearance, have been revealed for the first time.
Christian Brueckner, who is in jail for rape, penned a series of letters from his prison cell, attempting to distance himself from the unsolved case of the then-three-year-old, who vanished while on a family holiday from Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.
“You can never imagine how it is when the whole world believes you are a child murderer, and you are not,” he wrote in the string of neatly written letters unveiled by MailOnline.
Read Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner’s bombshell prison letters[50]
Madeleine McCann case: Timeline of the missing child’s disappearance
Friday 2 June 2023 20:00 , Joe Middleton
Madeleine McCann, a three-year-old girl from Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve on 3 May 2007, a case still unsolved and still the subject of intense interest among the public and press.
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, posted a statement on the Find Madeleine website on 3 May 2023 marking the latest anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance, reiterating their hopes of being reunited with her one day and posting a poem, “The Contradiction” by Clare Pollard, to express their feelings.
What happened to Madeleine McCann?[51]
How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded – and what police found
Friday 2 June 2023 19:00 , Joe Middleton
The long-running hunt for missing Madeleine McCann returned to the headlines last week during a three-day search of a Portuguese reservoir.
Police combed the remote Barragem do Arade in response to what was vaguely described as “certain tips” about an area the prime suspect in the case, Christian Brueckner, regularly frequented between 2000 and 2017.
Although police are remaining tight-lipped about the details, they said they recovered “a number of items” from the scene, which will now be evaluated in the coming days in the hope of shedding light on the ongoing mystery surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance from an Algarve holiday resort on 3 May 2007.
How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded and what police found[52]
Allegations Kate and Gerry faced at time of daughter’s disappearance
Friday 2 June 2023 18:00 , Martha Mchardy
After Madeleine’s disappearance from the family’s rented apartment complex – while her parents and a group of friends ate dinner at an open-air tapas restaurant, a member of the party checking on the otherwise-unattended children every half-hour – the McCanns led the public appeals for information and became fixtures on newspaper front pages and television screens.
They were also subjected to lurid tabloid allegations suggesting that they and their friends might be swingers or, as physicians, might have been in the habit of sedating their children. Others claimed to have spotted inconsistencies in their account of the night’s events, insinuating that they might have been involved in their daughter’s disappearance.
The intensity of the hostility towards the McCanns would later be described by Roy Greenslade of The Guardian as “no journalistic accident”[53] and “a sustained campaign of vitriol against a grief-stricken family”.
The couple were interviewed as “arguidos” (suspects) by the Portuguese authorities in September 2007, with the parents told that police dogs had discovered DNA evidence from the missing girl in the boot of their holiday rental car. They vehemently denied the accusations against them and subsequently launched a libel action against one of the detectives who had gone on to write a book about the case.
After the family returned to England, chief inspector Tavares de Almeida of the Policia Judiciaria in Portimao signed a nine-page report alleging that Madeleine had died in the holiday apartment as a result of an accident (rather than been abducted by a stranger), that the tapas dinner and rota checks had been part of a planned cover-up, that the family’s friends had helped to mislead the police and that the McCanns had concealed her body and then faked a kidnapping.
That official suspicion lingered until July 2008 when Portugal’s attorney general, Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro, announced that there was no evidence to link either the McCanns or another suspect, local man Robert Murat, to the disappearance after all and closed the case unsolved.
Joe Sommerlad reports:
Sixteen years and countless heartbreaks as Madeleine McCann’s family wait for answers[54]
McCann family’s ‘new normality’ living without daughter
Friday 2 June 2023 17:00 , Martha Mchardy
Reflecting on the importance of the twins in keeping their family unit together in a 2017 interview with the BBC’s Fiona Bruce, Gerry McCann said the ordeal had forced them to face “a new normality”[55] in living without their daughter.
Kate McCann added: “What people do say is that you don’t realise how strong you are until you have no option.
“And I think that’s very true. Obviously massive events like this cause a lot of reaction, a lot of trauma and upset.
“But ultimately you have to keep going – and especially when you have got other children involved.
“Some of that is subconscious I think – your mind and body just take over to a certain extent. But if you can’t change something immediately, you have to go with it and do the best that you can.”
The couple also addressed the online abuse they have received, commenting: “I’m sure it is a very small minority of people who spend their time doing it, but it has totally inhibited what we do.
“Personally, we don’t use social media, although we have used it in Madeleine’s campaign.
“But for our twins who are growing up in an era where mobile technology is used all the time, we don’t want them not to be able to use it in the same way that their peers do.”
Ms McCann described the actions of some online commentators as shocking but said she preferred to focus on the support many more members of the public had offered the family.
‘The world believes I killed Maddie, I didn’t,’ says Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner
Friday 2 June 2023 16:00 , Martha Mchardy
A suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has claimed he “didn’t” abduct and murder the girl, MailOnline has reported.
In a series of letters, Christian Brueckner – a convicted German rapist – is reportedly saying “I am not a monster” and claiming that he had nothing to do with the abduction or murder of then three-year-old Madeleine McCann.
“The world believes I killed Maddie, I didn’t”, he wrote in the neatly written letters, according to MailOnline.
ICYMI: Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner’s bombshell prison letters revealed
Friday 2 June 2023 15:00 , Martha Mchardy
Letters written by the prime suspect[56] in the Madeleine McCann case[57], in which he protests his innocence and tries to claim he had nothing to do with her disappearance, have been revealed for the first time.
“You can never imagine how it is when the whole world believes you are a child murderer, and you are not,” he wrote in the string of neatly written letters unveiled by MailOnline[58].
According to MailOnline, he goes on to say there is no evidence linking him to the case.
“I got told a long time ago that the prosecuter’s office was closing the Maddie case because there is not even the smallest evidence. There will never be a trial,” he wrote.
“The prosecutors are not saying anything to the public because they must give the files to my lawyers - and they contain many (sic) material which confirms my innocence.”
In another one of his letters, written from jail in Germany, he reportedly sketched a long, dark corridor of a prison wing and claimed police and prosecuters are “attempting to create a monster”.
Brueckner then writes about the psychological toll of the case. “The torture I’m going through is the best evidence I can have,” he reportedly wrote.
In his latest letter, he signed off saying: “I’m writing this without self-pity and my self-confidence and self-control was never at a higher level. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Chin up! Better days are coming.”
Tara Cobham reports:
Read Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner’s bombshell prison letters[59]
How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded – and what police found
Friday 2 June 2023 14:00 , Martha Mchardy
The long-running hunt for missing Madeleine McCann returned to the headlines last week[60] during a three-day search of a Portuguese reservoir.
Police combed the remote Barragem do Arade in response to what was vaguely described as “certain tips” about an area the prime suspect in the case, Christian Brueckner[61], regularly frequented between 2000 and 2017.
Although police are remaining tight-lipped about the details, they said they recovered “a number of items” from the scene, which will now be evaluated in the coming days in the hope of shedding light on the ongoing mystery surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance from an Algarve[62] holiday resort on 3 May 2007.
Hans Christian Wolters, prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, said: “Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed.”
Earlier this week, officers said “materials collected” during the search had already been sent on to Germany for analysis.
Jane Dalton and Joe Sommerlad report:
How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded and what police found[63]
ICYMI: Police issue update on Madeleine McCann search
Friday 2 June 2023 13:00 , Martha Mchardy
Police[64] investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann[65] say they have recovered a number of items from their recent search of a reservoir[66] in Portugal[67].
German authorities last week helped Portuguese crews comb a remote area inland from the Algarve coastal resort where Madeleine went missing from her bedroom during a family holiday in 2007.
Prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, Christian Wolters, said the individual items seized as part of searches would be evaluated over the coming days and weeks.
“Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed,” the prosecutor’s statement read.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:
Madeleine McCann police confirm ‘number of items’ recovered from reservoir search[68]
ICYMI: Read the statement Madeleine McCann’s parents issued 16 years after her disappearance
Friday 2 June 2023 12:00 , Martha Mchardy
In May, in a short statement on the official Find Madeleine Campaign website, Kate and Gerry McCann[69] said: “Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s abduction. Still missing… still very much missed.
“It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel.
“The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough. Thank you to everyone for your support – it really helps.”
Matthew Cooper reports:
Madeleine McCann’s parents issue statement 16 years after her disappearance[70]
ICYMI: Madeleine Mccann Campaign Shares Video On 16th Anniversary Of Child Going Missing
Friday 2 June 2023 11:00 , Martha Mchardy
Watch: Police leave holes two feet deep in Madeleine McCann reservoir search
Friday 2 June 2023 09:00 , Martha Mchardy
British couple ‘found Madeleine McCann shrine’ at Portugal reservoir searched by police
Friday 2 June 2023 07:48 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
A British couple claim to have found a ‘shrine’ to missing Madeleine McCann[71] in an area close to the desolate reservoir in Portugal searched by police earlier this week.
The retired pair say they discovered a makeshift memorial, consisting of a photograph of the missing toddler surrounded by flowers and stones,[72] at Christmas in 2007. The three year-old had vanished from a holiday resort in Portugal in May that year.
The husband and wife, named only as Ralf and Ann, say they took photographs of it and sent them to Portuguese detectives but never heard anything back.[73] Just days later, the ‘shrine’ had disappeared, they claim.
UK couple claim to have ‘found Madeleine McCann shrine’ at reservoir police searched[74]
Thursday 1 June 2023 23:15 , Natalie Crockett
We’re pausing our live coverage for the evening but will bring you the latest updates when we have them.
How much has the Madeleine McCann investigation cost?
Thursday 1 June 2023 20:15 , Martha Mchardy
The fresh search at the reservoir – one of six in the Algarve – is the first in Portugal[75] since 2014, and comes as the Metropolitan Police were granted a further £110,000 by the Home Office to fund their search for Madeleine, who would turn 20 this month.
It brings the total amount spent on the search for the Leicestershire-born girl, codenamed Operation Grange, to just shy of £13.1m since 2011, and is significantly less than the more than £300,000 approved by the Home Office the year prior.
While the costs incurred by German and Portuguese authorities are unknown, Lisbon’s then-attorney general Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro said in 2012 that the search for Madeleine had been the most expensive in the country’s history.
Andy Gregory reports:
How much has the Madeleine McCann investigation cost?[76]
ICYMI: Madeleine McCann police confirm ‘number of items’ recovered from Algarve reservoir search
Thursday 1 June 2023 19:15 , Martha Mchardy
Police[77] investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann[78] say they have recovered a number of items from their recent search of a reservoir[79] in Portugal[80].
Prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, Christian Wolters, said the individual items seized as part of searches would be evaluated over the coming days and weeks.
“Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed,” the prosecutor’s statement read.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:
Madeleine McCann police confirm ‘number of items’ recovered from reservoir search[81]
British couple ‘found Madeleine McCann shrine’ at Portugal reservoir searched by police
Thursday 1 June 2023 18:15 , Martha Mchardy
A British couple claim to have found a ‘shrine’ to missing Madeleine McCann[82] in an area close to the desolate reservoir in Portugal searched by police earlier this week.
The retired pair say they discovered a makeshift memorial, consisting of a photograph of the missing toddler surrounded by flowers and stones,[83] at Christmas in 2007. The three year-old had vanished from a holiday resort in Portugal in May that year.
The husband and wife, named only as Ralf and Ann, say they took photographs of it and sent them to Portuguese detectives but never heard anything back.[84] Just days later, the ‘shrine’ had disappeared, they claim.
Joe Middleton reports:
UK couple claim to have ‘found Madeleine McCann shrine’ at reservoir police searched[85]
Who are Madeleine McCann’s siblings Amelia and Sean McCann?
Thursday 1 June 2023 16:15 , Martha Mchardy
Out of respect for their privacy, especially given their ages, Madeleine’s younger siblings have largely been shielded from the glare of the spotlight.
However, Amelie McCann, now 18, did join her parents in remembering her missing sister on the 16th anniversary of her disappearance on 7 May 2023.
Speaking publicly for the first time[86] at a prayer meeting in Rothley, she said: “It’s nice that everyone is here together but it’s a sad occasion.”
Ms McCann reportedly joined in with chants including “Never never give up”, “leave no stone unturned”, “don’t forget about me” and “still missing, still missed”.
Her parents were among the 70-strong crowd in attendance but her brother Sean was not, preferring to remain off stage.
Rob Gladstone, leading prayers at the event, told his audience: “We are here this evening to show our loving concern for Madeleine and for all young children who have been taken away from their families against their will.
“We are also here to encourage one another to keep up hope and pray for a renewal of strength even after this long time.”
Reflecting on the importance of the twins in keeping their family unit together in a 2017 interview with the BBC’s Fiona Bruce, Gerry McCann said the ordeal had forced them to face “a new normality”[87] in living without their daughter.
Kate McCann added: “What people do say is that you don’t realise how strong you are until you have no option.
“And I think that’s very true. Obviously massive events like this cause a lot of reaction, a lot of trauma and upset. But ultimately you have to keep going – and especially when you have got other children involved.
“Some of that is subconscious I think – your mind and body just take over to a certain extent. But if you can’t change something immediately, you have to go with it and do the best that you can.”
The couple also addressed the online abuse they have received, commenting: “I’m sure it is a very small minority of people who spend their time doing it, but it has totally inhibited what we do.
“Personally, we don’t use social media, although we have used it in Madeleine’s campaign.
“But for our twins who are growing up in an era where mobile technology is used all the time, we don’t want them not to be able to use it in the same way that their peers do.”
Who are Madeleine McCann’s parent Kate and Gerry McCann?
Thursday 1 June 2023 15:15 , Martha Mchardy
Madeline’s mother was born Kate Marie Healy in Huyton near Liverpool in 1968.
After attending All Saints School in Anfield and Notre Dame High School in Everton Valley, she took a degree in medicine from the University of Dundee and graduated in 1992. Beginning her career by specialising in obstetrics, gynaecology and anaesthetics, she subsequently became a GP.
She met her future husband Gerald Patrick McCann in 1993 and they married in 1998. Madeleine, their eldest child, was born in 2003 and the couple had twins, Amelia and Sean, in 2005.
Mr McCann was born in Glasgow in 1968 and attended Holyrood RC Secondary School before graduating from the University of Glasgow with a bachelor of science degree in physiology and sports science in 1989.
He obtained his medical doctorate from the same institution in 2002 and has worked as a consultant cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, since 2005, with the family setting up home in Rothley, Leicestershire.
Items seized in Madeleine McCann search ‘cannot yet be linked’ to disappearance
Thursday 1 June 2023 14:11 , Martha Mchardy
German prosecutors have said items seized as part of fresh searches for evidence in the Madeleine McCann[88] case cannot yet be linked with the investigation into her disappearance.
A large section of the Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal[89] was cordoned off last week, about 30 miles from where three-year-old Madeleine went missing in 2007.
Police[90] flattened a specific area of woodland and dug a number of holes near the remote reservoir as part of the three-day hunt for evidence.
Prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, Christian Wolters, said the individual items seized as part of searches would be evaluated over the coming days and weeks.
Read the full story:
Items seized in Madeleine McCann search ‘cannot yet be linked’ to disappearance[91]
Footage from end of Portugal search
Thursday 1 June 2023 13:35 , Sam Rkaina
Reservoir search sparked by “certain tips”
Thursday 1 June 2023 13:00 , Sam Rkaina
Police were given the go-ahead to search the area after German prosecutors received “certain tips” about the case.
The operation was carried out at the request of German investigators who believe their prime suspect, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, kidnapped and murdered the youngster.
He is in prison in Germany for the rape of a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, and is suspected of further rapes and child sexual abuse committed in the area between 2000 and 2017.
He has reportedly denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Madeleine was three when she vanished while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, after they left her and her younger twin siblings asleep in their apartment while they went out to dinner with friends.
Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia previously claimed that criminal contacts had told him that Madeleine’s body was in the reservoir, and in 2008 he raised funds for unsuccessful private searches of the water.
The new searches came as the Home Office granted an extra £110,000 in funding this financial year for the Metropolitan Police to assist with finding Madeleine, down from just over £300,000 last year.
The total funding given to Operation Grange has been just under £13.1 million since 2011.
How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded
Thursday 1 June 2023 12:01 , Sam Rkaina
The long-running hunt for missing Madeleine McCann returned to headlines last week,[92] during a three-day search of a Portuguese reservoir.
Acting on tip-offs, police searched the remote Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal[93] last week, an area that prime suspect Christian Brueckner frequented from 2000 to 2017.
Although police are remaining tight-lipped about the details they did confirm “materials collected” had been sent to Germany for analysis in the ongoing mystery of Madeleine’s disappearance on 3 May 2007.
And a “relevant clue” was found during the police operation in the Algarve[94] last week, Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported.
Click here to read about how the search unfolded.[95]
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