New searches are expected to begin tomorrow, Tuesday, by police near where Madeleine McCann was last seen.

The searches will take place between Praia Da Luz, the area where Madeline disappeared on May 3, 2007, and a house where the main suspect in the case, Christian Bruckner, lived. According to the Daily Mail, the investigations were requested by German police.

“It will only be land-based searches. The main aim is to look for any traces of Madeleine’s body,” a source close to the investigations said. The search is expected to last about three days unless something comes up in the case.

It will be the first search in Portugal in two years, following a nearly week-long operation involving Portuguese and German police at a remote dam 40 minutes’ drive from Praia da Luz.

Searches carried out in May 2023 at the Arade dam, an “area of interest” that Bruckner reportedly called his “little paradise”, yielded no results.

They were the first major searches in Portugal for Madeleine in nine years, following an earlier operation in June 2014 when British police were granted permission to carry out excavations in Praia da Luz, with the help of body-sniffing dogs and radar.

In a smaller operation in July 2020, Portuguese police and the fire service searched three wells for Madeleine’s body, but found no trace.

The suspect

The prime suspect Christian Bruckner is in a German prison serving a seven-year sentence for rape. The 48-year-old convicted paedophile sees his hopes of release in September dashed after reports that he has been charged with new offences. He is under investigation for suspected kidnapping and murder in the McCann case, but denies any involvement.

Although German investigators have taken the unusual step of naming Bruckner as a suspect in the case, he has not been charged.

Bruckner’s prison sentence is due to expire in September. The convicted rapist is no longer being held in solitary confinement as he nears the end of his sentence.