Madeleine McCann news update: Items found in reservoir search, police confirm in major update

German prosecutors said on Thursday authorities had secured some items during a search of a reservoir in Portugal in the 16-year-old hunt for missing British girl Madeleine McCann which would be evaluated in coming days and weeks.

“Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed,” the prosecutor’s statement read.

German authorities, who have named a suspect in the case, last week helped Portuguese crews comb the remote area inland from the Algarve coastal resort where McCann – then aged three – went missing from her bedroom during a family holiday in 2007.

A suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has claimed he “didn’t” abduct and murder the girl, MailOnline has reported.

In a series of letters, Christian Brueckner – a convicted German rapist – is reportedly saying “I am not a monster” and claiming that he had nothing to do with the abduction or murder of then three-year-old Madeleine McCann.

“The world believes I killed Maddie, I didn’t”, he wrote in the neatly written letters, according to MailOnline.

Letters written by the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, in which he protests his innocence and tries to claim he had nothing to do with her disappearance, have been revealed for the first time.

“You can never imagine how it is when the whole world believes you are a child murderer, and you are not,” he wrote in the string of neatly written letters unveiled by MailOnline.

According to MailOnline, he goes on to say there is no evidence linking him to the case.

“I got told a long time ago that the prosecuter’s office was closing the Maddie case because there is not even the smallest evidence. There will never be a trial,” he wrote.

“The prosecutors are not saying anything to the public because they must give the files to my lawyers – and they contain many (sic) material which confirms my innocence.”

In another one of his letters, written from jail in Germany, he reportedly sketched a long, dark corridor of a prison wing and claimed police and prosecuters are “attempting to create a monster”.

Brueckner then writes about the psychological toll of the case. “The torture I’m going through is the best evidence I can have,” he reportedly wrote.

In his latest letter, he signed off saying: “I’m writing this without self-pity and my self-confidence and self-control was never at a higher level. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Chin up! Better days are coming.”

Police combed the remote Barragem do Arade in response to what was vaguely described as “certain tips” about an area the prime suspect in the case, Christian Brueckner, regularly frequented between 2000 and 2017.

Although police are remaining tight-lipped about the details, they said they recovered “a number of items” from the scene, which will now be evaluated in the coming days in the hope of shedding light on the ongoing mystery surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance from an Algarve holiday resort on 3 May 2007.

Hans Christian Wolters, prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, said: “Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed.”

Earlier this week, officers said “materials collected” during the search had already been sent on to Germany for analysis.

Jane Dalton and Joe Sommerlad report:

German authorities last week helped Portuguese crews comb a remote area inland from the Algarve coastal resort where Madeleine went missing from her bedroom during a family holiday in 2007.

Prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, Christian Wolters, said the individual items seized as part of searches would be evaluated over the coming days and weeks.

“Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed,” the prosecutor’s statement read.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:

In May, in a short statement on the official Find Madeleine Campaign website, Kate and Gerry McCann said: “Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s abduction. Still missing… still very much missed.

“It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel.

“The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough. Thank you to everyone for your support – it really helps.”

Christian Brueckner has also been linked to other disappearances of children, including a boy, six, in Portugal in 2000, a five-year-old girl in Germany in 2015 and a number of others.

In 2020, he was being investigated over the rape and murder of Tristan Brübach, a 15-year-old boy from Germany.

Belgian authorities have also linked him to the murder of teenager Carola Titze, 16. She went missing while on holiday in De Haan, Belgium on July 5, 1996 and her body was discovered among sand dunes severely mutilated on July 11.

Other cases believed to be linked to Brueckner include that of Inga Gehrike who went missing from Saxony-Anhalt in Germany on May 2, 2015, René Hasee, six, who vanished while on a family holiday in Aljezur, Portugal on June 21, 1996 and Jair Soares who disappeared in August 1995.

Peggy Knobloch’s case has also been linked to Brueckner after she went missing in May 2001.

A British couple claim to have found a ‘shrine’ to missing Madeleine McCann in an area close to the desolate reservoir in Portugal searched by police earlier this week.