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Madeleine McCann police using radars to ‘scour’ trenches in fresh search after ‘tip-off’
Police in Portugal have begun using radar to scan roadwork trenches for any traces of the body of Madeleine McCann.
Madeleine was three when she disappeared on May 3, 2007, during a family trip to the child-friendly resort of Praia da Luz in the Algarve region.
Authorities launched a fresh search near where the toddler was last seen 18 years ago, covering 20 properties, cisterns, wells and ruins, according to sources close to the investigation.
This search will be focused more on groundworks and roadworks, which had been taking place when Madeleine disappeared. Police fear she may have been buried in trenches near Praia da Luz.
Police received a tip-off after suspect Christian Brueckner’s trial last year about where someone who took Maddie’s body would dump it, prompting the new search with high-tech ground-penetrating radar.
Germany’s MI5, known as the BKA, is using ground-penetrating radar to see if it can find any traces of the young British girl.
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A nearby property, which was used by the suspect Brueckner, 48, will also be a focal point.
The German national used a cottage just half a mile away from where she disappeared as a ‘rat-run’.
Though this is the first major search for Madeleine in nine years, there are worries police may not find anything.
The last major search was in June 2014, and saw British police dig around Praia da Luz with sniffer dogs and use ground-penetrating radar.
Those Scotland Yard digs were linked to the theory that Madeleine died during a break-in and burglars dumped her body nearby.
British officers also failed to produce any evidence pointing to the missing youngster’s whereabouts.
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How does the ground-penetrating radar work?
Ground-penetrating radar, which is being used by German authorities in Portugal right now, uses high-frequency radio waves to detect any changes in the soil.
The transmitted waves, when returned back to the receiver at the surface, can help create a sort of topographical map of the soil beneath the operator’s feet.
The technology was used in Canada to identify burial sites on the grounds of former residential schools, where hundreds of indigenous children were found.
Kisha Supernant, who works at the University of Alberta, previously explained how the tech works.
‘When we’re using it to try to locate potential unmarked graves, what we’re really doing is we’re sending that signal through the ground and then trying to create a map of what we think we see below the surface,’ she told the Vancouver Sun.
‘When you dig a grave, you disturb the soil … and ground-penetrating radar can sometimes detect that change in the soil from the digging of the grave itself.’
A timeline of Maddie's disappearance
May 3, 2007: Kate and Gerry McCann leave their children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while they dine with friends. They check on their children three times throughout the night, and, at 10pm, they find her missing
May 14, 2007: Police take property developer Robert Murat in for questioning and make him a formal suspect – this is later withdrawn.
August 11, 2007: 100 days after her disappearance, detectives acknowledge that she could be dead.
September 7, 2007: Maddie’s parents become formal suspects in their daughter’s disappearance.
September 9, 2007: The McCanns return to England with their two-year-old twins.
July 21, 2008: Portuguese authorities shelve the investigation and remove the McCanns and Murat as suspects.
May 12, 2011: Kate McCann publishes a book about her daughter’s disappearance on her eighth birthday
April 25, 2012: Scotland Yard detectives say they believe Madeleine could still be alive and release a picture of how she may look as a nine-year-old. They ask Portuguese police to reopen the case, but they say they have found no new information.
July 4, 2013: Scotland Yard confirms it has launched its own investigation and says it has identified 38 people of interest, including 12 Britons.
October 24, 2013: Portuguese police decide to reopen the case
June 3, 2020: Police reveal that a 43-year-old German prisoner, later named as Christian Brueckner, has been identified as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
January 29, 2014: British detectives fly out to Portugal
June 3, 2024: Sniffer dogs and specialist teams are used to search an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine went missing.
December 12, 2024: Detectives begin questioning 11 people who it is thought may have information on the case.
September 16, 2014: The Government states that the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has so far cost £10 million
October 28, 2014: Scotland Yard cuts the number of officers working on the inquiry from 29 to four.
April 30, 2017: The McCanns mark 10 years since her disappearance with a BBC interview.
May 3, 2019: Local media reports say Portuguese detectives are investigating a foreign paedophile as a suspect in the abduction of Madeleine.
June 3, 2020: Police reveal that a 43-year-old German prisoner, later named as Christian Brueckner, has been identified as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.
April 21, 2022: Christian Brueckner is made a formal suspect by Portuguese authorities.
October 11, 2022: Brueckner is charged with three counts of rape and two charges of child sex abuse, unrelated to Madeleine’s disappearance.
May 3, 2023: Kate and Gerry McCann mark the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance by saying she is “still very much missed” and that they ‘await a breakthrough’.
May 22, 2023: An area near the Barragem do Arade reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, is sealed off as police prepare to start searching on May 23.
May 23, 2023: Searches begin with police divers in the water and officers with sniffer dogs and rakes seen on the banks.
June 23, 2023: A man named Helge B claimed to the German newspaper Bild that Brueckner almost confessed to killing Maddie, allegedly telling him ‘she didn’t scream’ when the pair talked about the case at a music festival
July 11, 2023: The German prosecutor involved with the case warns not to ‘expect too much’ from the search.
February 16, 2024: Brueckner’s trial starts over three counts of alleged rape and sexual abuse of two children not connected to the Madeleine investigation
October 8, 2024: He is acquitted of all the allegations due to ‘insufficient’ evidence. An appeal over the acquittal is launched, which is still ongoing
March 27, 2025: A 60-year-old woman is charged with stalking the McCann family
May 3, 2025: Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann mark the 18th anniversary of her disappearance with a heartbreaking message
September 17, 2025: This is the date Brueckner could be released from prison if no further charges are brought
What links Christian Brueckner to her disappearance?
Brueckner has denied all the charges against him and any involvement in Maddie’s disappearance.
Brueckner is known to have frequented various areas in the Algarve region surrounding Praia de Luz.
He allegedly exposed himself to a German girl on a beach in Salema in April 2007 and is said to have sold cannabis to teenagers near the holiday apartment where the McCanns stayed, according to MailOnline.
Multiple searches have been carried out in Portugal and Germany over the years, including a remote reservoir in the Algarve.
He may have visited the spot around the time of Maddie’s disappearance.
When searching an abandoned factory owned by Brueckner, detectives made disturbing findings they have revealed now, including children’s clothes, toys and a suitcase full of images of young girls.
They also found more than 75 children’s swimming costumes, a handgun and chemicals, which were never tested before police destroyed them. They are thought to have been chloroform or ether.
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