Madeleine McCann: Search begins at Barragem do Arade reservoir

As the search for Madeleine McCann at a reservoir in the Algarve continues, a search expert has predicted the outcome and suggested why the search could be taking place. German police with spades and shovels are expected to dig around a clearing in the woods at Arade dam, a 45-minute drive from where Madeleine went missing. Boats carrying divers have also been spotted on the waterway.

But according to Kevin Hurley, former Detective Chief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police, “it’s very unlikely” police will find anything, 16 years after little Madeleine went missing.

The Arade dam is several miles long with a total surface area of five miles squared. The area was previously called a “little paradise” by the primary suspect of the investigation, 45-year-old Christian Brueckner.

To no avail, it was last searched back in 2008 by a private diving specialist team after a Portuguese lawyer, Marcos Aragao Correia, received a tip-off that Madeleine’s body was in the water.

Mr Correia organised the team of British divers to wade through the water, going as deep as 150ft. But the operation quickly ran out of cash.

Talking about this week’s search, Mr Hurley told GBNews: “It’s very unlikely that they’re going to find something this many years later in a reservoir as large as that.”

He suggested there is “always a possibility” of finding material to identify Madeleine but he warned, “we are talking about a very small child”.

He added: “If you look at the site it’s absolutely huge.

“To do a full underwater fingerprint search in deep water with a team of divers there is going to be really difficult.”

Back in 2008, Mr Correia’s hunt was never formally linked to the investigation, although it found some potentially suspicious items such as a 17ft length of cord and strips of tape.

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Mr Correia told Express.co.uk: “I didn’t know at the time which lake it was, but I soon communicated all this data to the Portuguese Judiciary Police, who completely ignored them, and then to Metodo 3, the Spanish private detective agency that was later hired by Madeleine’s parents to look for their daughter.

“Metodo 3 did its best to search for Madeleine and discover what had happened to her. It was the only ‘institution’ that listened to me.”

The renewed search at the Arade dam was requested by German police who believe the primary suspect, Christian Brueckner, murdered Madeleine after kidnapping her from a holiday home in Praia Da Luz in 2007.

It’s not clear what prompted the German police to request the search, however, DCS Hurley has suggested a few possible reasons.

He said there may have been an “indication” about the dam by someone in contact with Bruckner.

Alternatively, “psychopath” Brueckner could be “manipulating the German investigators for attention-seeking purposes”.

He also posed the idea he could be trying to “negotiate some kind of deal” on the other offences he is charged with in Germany.

“He might say let me help you with this and it might improve any potential sentencing outcome he’s got,” added Mr Hurley.

Christian Brueckner is a caged paedophile who was declared the primary suspect last April.

He raped an elderly American woman back in 2005 at the same resort where Maddie went missing.

He is also charged in Germany with several sex crimes on the Algarve.

Brueckner allegedly raped an Irish holiday rep in 2004 and sexually abused a 10-year-old girl on a beach near Praia da Luz in 2007.

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