IS THIS WHERE SHE IS?

Hunt at reservoir linked to prime suspect

- MARTIN FRICKER AND GERARD COUZENS

DETECTIVES think a remote reservoir could hold the key to solving the mystery of Madeleine McCann's disappearance in May 2007.

Police search teams are due to begin scouring the site in Portugal today.

German paedophile Christian Brueckner, 45 the prime suspect in the case - described the reservoir, Barragem do Arade, as his "little paradise".

He is believed to have lived there for a time in a motorhome.

This will be the first major search for Madeleine for nine years. The British girl was three when she vanished from Portuguese resort Praia da Luz.

Roads to Barragem do Arade, a man-made dam about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, were sealed off yesterday ahead of the search. German prosecutors are leading the operation, with Scotland Yard detectives also in attendance.

Officers from Portugal's Policia Judiciaria are expected to carry out the physical search, which is due to last two days.

Divers will explore the murky depths of the reservoir, which is near the town of Silves.

Teams will also comb scrubland next to the water.

It is the first overseas-led search since British police dug for clues on wasteland in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in 2014. 

Brueckner was living in a ramshackle farmhouse close to the resort shortly before Madeleine vanished.

His friend Michael Tatschl claimed in 2020 that Brueckner often visited a reservoir half an hour inland from Praia da Luz. He added that Brueckner "spent a lot of time there" with fellow German drifter Christian Post.

Mr Post denied any knowledge of the reservoir when the Mirror tracked him down in Cambodia last year.

But he said he was "100% certain" Brueckner, who made a living burgling holiday apartments, snatched Madeleine.