Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are searching for a second German drifter who lived in Algarve the same time the three-year-old vanished.
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are searching for a second German drifter who lived in Algarve the same time the three-year-old vanished.
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are searching for a second German drifter who lived in Algarve the same time the 3-year-old vanished.
The man in question is understood to be a former friend of prime McCann suspect and convicted paedophile, Christian Brueckner.
The Mirror reported the unnamed man is being treated as a witness, not a suspect, and hope he can blow the case against Brueckner wide open.
The German drifter is believed to have lived in a campervan near a remote reservoir less than 15km from Praia da Luz, where McCann went missing.
"They said he may have stayed up at Barragem da Bravura," a source told the Mirror.
"My friends and I don't recall Christian hanging out there but he was pretty private."
Police want to speak to a second German man who was an associate of Christian Brueckner.
Notes left at the resort in Praia da Luz a year later and sent to a Dutch newspaper are said to identify the vast area of water as McCann's "final resting place".
A local who has lived next to the reservoir for more than 30 years told the Mirror a number of Germans lived in campervans in the area during the 2000s.
It is understood police searched the area for just two hours before moving on.
News of a new witness comes as Portuguese police fear Brueckner will never be convicted for his suspected crimes against McCann.
Brueckner is currently in jail for drug offences and is appealing a 7-year sentence for raping a 73-year-old woman.
Sources told the Sun while police are working around the clock, leads have dried up over the past few weeks.
"They know [he] will never talk. So it will be up to them to find the missing pieces of the jigsaw to lead them to finally find out what happened to Maddie."
In the first few days of releasing Brueckner's name, police were inundated with hundreds of new leads every week.
Now they aren't getting any.
Portuguese detectives are keen to work alongside German authorities, believing they can help nail Brueckner.
But communication has broken down between the two forces, leaving the Portuguese fearful Brueckner won't face retribution.
The relationship between the two forces has been frosty after the Portuguese named Maddie's parents, Kate and Gerry, suspects in the case by the bumbling detective Goncalo Amaral.
