Madeleine McCann cops to scour roadwork trenches near villa & Brueckner’s ‘rat run’ of paths using radar in new search

POLICE will tomorrow start a fresh dig for Madeleine McCann’s body.

Radar will scan 15ft down in Praia da Luz, Portugal, where she vanished from a holiday flat in 2007 aged three.

German cops face a race to charge suspect Christian Brueckner.

A source said: “It’s now or never.”

The new search for ­Madeleine will focus on extensive groundworks that took place at the time she vanished.

A police theory is the three-year-old or her pyjamas might have been dumped in trenches near the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz where her family were staying in May 2007.

At least 30 agents from Germany’s FBI — the BKA — acting on a tip-off arrived in the Portuguese resort on Monday.

They are equipped with ground-penetrating radar that can scan 15ft below the surface.

The search area will include a cottage half a mile away used by the main suspect, German-national Brueckner, 48, and nearby scrubland.

The area was a rat run for prolific thief Brueckner and leads to the property where he raped a US woman in 2005 — for which he is currently in a German jail.

Police were closing dirt roads and putting up tents in Atalaia, next to Praia, this afternoon.

The search comes weeks after a Sun and Channel 4 investigation revealed new clues linking Brueckner to the Madeleine case.

He is due for release in September, has never been charged over the toddler, and denies involvement.

Investigators need forensic evidence to charge him.

An investigation source said: “German cops know it is now or never so they need to push ahead with every credible tip they have.

“Following Brueckner’s trial last year someone contacted them with theories on where anyone who took Madeleine might have dumped her, or her clothes.

“They told cops about trenches that were dug in Praia at the time Madeleine disappeared — and the house where Brueckner had lived on the edge of the village.

“Of course, all these places have been searched over and over again — but now they have a new weapon in their ground-scanning radar.

“It means they don’t need to dig for the sake of it. But as soon as they spot anything of interest they are ready to excavate and check it.

“With time running out they are praying they get a breakthrough.”

British cops are said to have no involvement in the searches.

It is the first official police action in Portugal since the Arades Dam, around 30 miles from Praia, was scoured in 2023.

Unconfirmed reports suggested a tipster had sent images to German detectives of the Praia sites where they believe Madeleine could be buried — or items, such as pyjamas, could have been dumped.

The source added: “Brueckner is still the only suspect and he still maintains silence with German cops. But they have been studying him closely and looking at the way he behaves.

“They think his pattern of behaviour is to return to familiar places after he has committed a crime.

“That’s why they want to search his cottage — even though he didn’t live there in 2007 when Madeleine vanished.”

A well-placed Portuguese source said: “These will be land searches only. The main objective is to look for any signs of Madeleine’s body.”

Police have previously placed Brueckner’s phone in the area on the night she vanished.

A 30-minute call was connected to the device, suggesting he was likely there.

The other party to the call has never been detected and Brueckner refuses to answer police questions about it.

The latest tip-off has been with German cops since last year when he was cleared in a separate rape case.

However, the search request has been delayed by red tape.

Brueckner lived at the cottage around 2005-06.

While he did not live there in May 2007, a Sun investigation revealed a satnav showing he often visited and took bizarre intimate selfies at the site.

During the 2023 dam searches, soil samples were taken but no Madeleine clues were found.

An earlier June 2014 operation saw British police dig in Praia da Luz and use sniffer dogs trained to find bodies plus ground-penetrating radar.

In a smaller operation in July 2020 Portuguese police and fire-fighters searched three wells for Madeleine, whose parents Gerry and Kate are from Rothley, Leics.

Brueckner is set for release from jail on September 17, with time running out for new appeals and arrest warrants to be granted.

Last October, in an unrelated trial, he was cleared of rape and sexual abuse in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

Our recent TV investigation shed new light on his disturbing obsession with children and his potential involvement in the Madeleine case.

Among police findings was a hard drive of images reportedly thought to uphold investigators’ long-held belief that she was killed.

Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria confirmed it was complying with a search warrant issued by the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office in Germany.

It added: “This is conducting preliminary proceedings against a German citizen suspected of the murder of British citizen Madeleine Beth McCann, who disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007.

“All the evidence seized by the PJ will, with the prior authorisation of the national Public Prosecutor’s Office, be handed over to the agents of the German Federal Criminal Police Service.”

German officials did not comment.

The Met Police said: “We are aware of the searches in Portugal and will support our international colleagues where necessary.”