Police officers who scoured a reservoir in Portugal in the search for Madeleine McCann have hit a fresh roadblock in their investigation.
A large section of the Barragem do Arade reservoir was cordoned off in May, about 30 miles from where three-year-old Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz 16 years ago.
It is believed that the main suspect in the case, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, regularly visited the reservoir’s peninsula and had described it as a “little slice of paradise”.
But detectives searching the reservoir have now said there is “no compelling evidence” Madeleine is there, according to The Sun.
Holes up to 2ft deep were dug up in the reservoir search, in the hope of unearthing clothing fibres, local media reported.
But despite initial hope, German public prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told newspaper Bild: “Please don’t expect too much”.
It came after police reportedly received a tip off that Brueckner had visited the lake shortly after the three-year-old went missing in May 2007.
Madeline McCann went missing in Portugal in 2007— (PA)
Madeleine disappeared from the bed of her holiday apartment in a Praia da Luz resort while her parents dined 50m away.
Her younger twin siblings were also in the apartment at the time but were left untouched.
The Arade Dam reservoir in Portugal was searched in June— (AP)
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, have been searching for answers since.
The Arade Dam is approximately 30km from the resort where the family was staying.
Christian Brueckner is a suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance— (Italian Carabinieri)
Brueckner was first named in connection with the mystery in 2020 and officially made a suspect last year.
His yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan was reportedly spotted near the Praia da Luz resort around the time Madeleine vanished.
He is currently in a German prison over the rape of an elderly woman in Praia da Luz in the 2000s.
