Madeleine McCann: Portuguese police teams search wells for body of missing British girl

Police teams and divers have searched remote wells for the body of Madeleine McCann, according to reports.

Search teams have explored at least three wells near the town of Vila do Bispo, about 16 kilometres away from the seaside town of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished.

Portuguese media have reported extensive searches were conducted last Thursday, including one well that was 13 metres deep.

German man Christian Brueckner, 43, was named by prosecutors last month as a new prime suspect in the world's most famous missing person case.

His VW campervan is believed to have travelled around the Vila do Bispo area at the time of Maddie's disappearance.

Brueckner is currently in a German prison on crimes unrelated to Madeleine, who vanished in 2007.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters has claimed his investigation has "concrete evidence" Madeleine is dead and that she was murdered.

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However, despite these claims and a current German homicide investigation, London Metropolitan Police have maintained the case is still a missing person investigation.

Madeleine went missing in 2007 while on holiday in Portugal with her family.

She was aged three at the time of her disappearance.

Since German prosecutors declared they had a new Maddie suspect there has been intense interest in the cold case.

German prosecutor Mr Wolters at one point claimed he had written a letter to Madeleine's parents, informing them she was dead.

But immediately, Kate and Gerry McCann issued a public statement denying they had received any such letter.

Brueckner is currently appealing a conviction for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman, for which he was sentenced to seven years in jail.