Police were scouring the remote Barragem do Arade reservoir in the Algarve, Portugal last week, around 35 miles from where the then-three-year-old went missing in 2007 while on a family holiday in Praia da Luz
A former friend of Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the ongoing Madeleine McCann case, has claimed that he revealed crucial information to Scotland Yard in 2008 but was ignored.
In his first public interview, Helge Busching claimed that the jailed paedophile had told him “She didn’t scream” during a conversation about the missing three-year-old.
He told German outlet Bild that he had contacted the special hotline to report Brueckner’s comments but failed to receive a response. After leaving prison in 2017 and hearing about the 10th anniversary of her disappearance, he made a second call.
Brueckner, who is currently serving a prison sentence for raping a pensioner, was named as a prime suspect in 2020.
Last month, a reservoir in Portugal was searched by police after sources claimed that Brueckner had described it as a “little slice of paradise” while living near the Praia de Luz resort.
Scotland Yard has been contacted for comment.
