Madeleine McCann: Portuguese police search wells as part of investigation

Sites are reportedly close to where suspect's camper van was pictured in 2007 and 10 miles from resort in Praia da Luz where the three-year-old disappeared

Portuguese police have reportedly searched three disused wells close to the resort where Madeleine McCann went missing as part of their investigations into her disappearance.

Police and divers are thought to have spent eight hours at the locations in Vila do Bispo on Thursday, according to The Mirror.

The search sites are located roughly 10 miles from the resort in Praia da Luz where the three-year-old had been staying with her family in 2007.

The paper also reported that the wells are close to where suspect Christian Brueckner’s camper van was pictured in 2007.

German authorities announced in June that they were investigating Brueckner, a 43-year-old convicted German paedophile, in connection with the case.

He is serving time in a German prison for raping a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005 and for drug dealing.

Hans Christian Wolters, the prosecutor who is leading the case in Germany, has said that there is “concrete evidence” that Madeleine is dead.

However, the Met Police are continuing to treat their ongoing Operation Grange as a missing person inquiry because they say there is no “definite evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”.

Days after a renewed appeal for information in June, the force said it had received almost 400 tips relating to Madeleine’s disappearance.