Renewed search for Madeleine McCann 'major breakthrough', expert says
A top criminologist says the renewed search for Madeleine McCann in Portugal could represent a "major breakthrough" for the long-standing case.
Portugal's Judicial Police released a statement confirming local media reports that they would conduct the search at the request of the German authorities and in the presence of British officials in the Algarve region, where three-year-old Madeleine disappeared in 2007.
Earlier on Monday, police were seen erecting tents and cordons in an area by the Arade dam, about 50km from Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old was last seen alive.
READ MORE: What happens next to Maddie suspect Christian Brueckner?
British girl Madeleine McCann vanished from the resort town of Praia da Luz in Portugal in May 2007, while on holiday with her family. AAP
The dam had been previously searched in 2008.
However, a suspect in the case, German man Christian Brueckner, was active in the region during the time Madeleine disappeared.
Brueckner, who has been charged in Germany over several separate cases involving sexual offences allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
He has denied any involvement in Madelaine's disappearance, and has not been charged in relation to that investigation.
Criminologist and forensic anthropologist Xanthe Mallett told Today Extra that investigators had mapped off about a mile (1.6km) of the reservoir to search, and they estimated the process would take about two days.
"They don't undertake these searches lightly. It will be a very difficult search," Mallett said.
"Water bodies are difficult, they can be silty and dark, visibility is a problem. But obviously they have good reason to be going back to this reservoir."
Pieces missing since 2007
British, Portuguese and German police are still piecing together what happened when the toddler disappeared from her bed in the southern Portuguese resort on May 3, 2007.
She was in the same room as her two-year-old brother and sister while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.
In mid-2020, Germany's police identified Brueckner, a 45-year-old German citizen who was in the Algarve in 2007, as a suspect in the case.
He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine's disappearance.
READ MORE: Great-grandmother Tasered by police receiving end-of-life care as top cop faces tough questions
Christian Brueckner, a suspect in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann Supplied
Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolter said Monday his office would release a statement about the case on Tuesday morning.
Madeleine's disappearance stirred worldwide interest, with public claims of having spotted her stretching as far away as Australia, along with a slew of books and television documentaries about the case.
Rewards for finding Madeleine reached several million dollars.
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