POLICE leading Madeleine McCann investigation have revealed the real reason they are testing soil samples collected from the Algarve dam during their recent search.

Detectives spent three days scouring the Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal, where they believe top suspect Christian B. was, in the days after three-year-old Maddie disappeared.

Cops searched the remote spot the convicted rapist and paedophile called his “little paradise” and uncovered a "number of items" that could be linked to the missing tot's case.

Search teams also dug deep holes to collect samples of soil which are set to be compared to dirt samples on file from the suspect's van,sources told the Daily Mirror.

German prosecutors first linked Christian B to the remote beauty spot through photos that have not been made public.

Sources said proving that Christian B. visited Barragem do Arade in May 2007 could be "pivotal" to the case.

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One source said: "Photos led German police investigating Maddie’s disappearance to the reservoir.

"One of their focuses now is to close the net around Brueckner by showing through soil sample analysis that his van was there.

"A positive match of the soil they already have from the vehicle with the earth they removed during the search last week will be another important piece of evidence against him.

"It will be a slight setback if the forensics people don’t get a match but at this stage investigators remain hopeful.

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"The search that took place last week would never have been requested and authorised if the motive for it hadn’t been well supported."

The site is a 45-minute drive from the Praia da Luz holiday apartment where Madeleine was snatched in May 2007.

Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann are being kept updated on the German investigation by Scotland Yard.

German and Portuguese search teams spent days in the area following a "very credible" tip-off last month.

Police were spotted removing what appeared to be large brown evidence bags from the search site.

Meanwhile, a village where suspect Christian B lived could hold vital clues for the case while detectives believe there could be at least two other areas to search.

Last week it emerged that Christian B, allegedly told his former friend Helge Buschling that "she didn't scream" shortly after Maddie disappeared in Portugal.

Buschling was the first person to give police Christian B’s name in connection to the missing girl's case.

The twisted rapist even compared himself to a terrorist in a vile cartoon where he wondered “Who is stealing the show?”.

He was named as the prime suspect in 2020.

Police revealed that he was in the area when she vanished while on a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

He is currently serving a seven-year sentence in Germany over the rape of a pensioner in Praia da Luz-the same area in Portugal where Maddie went missing.

He was charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of the sexual abuse of children, in alleged crimes spanning 17 years between 2000 and 2017.

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The German has also been linked to at least three rapes and a series of indecent exposures in the area from December 2000 to June 2017.

Christian B, has denied any involvement in Maddie's disappearance and insisted the allegations were a "fairy tale".

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