Police search scrubland for Madeleine clue

British police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal seven years ago have started a search of waste ground on the Algarve.

The large area of scrubland in Praia da Luz on the Algarve, where 3-year-old Madeleine disappeared in May 2007, has been cordoned off and local police officers with dogs have been stationed at the site.

It is about five minutes’ walk from the Ocean Club complex, where the McCanns were staying when Madeleine disappeared.

Police are expected to use ground-penetrating radar equipment to search the area, looking for disturbed earth.

Scotland Yard, which is carrying out its own investigation into what happened to Madeleine, refused to comment on reports that British officers were at the scene and said the force was “not prepared to give a running commentary” about the case.

Parents Gerry and Kate McCann will be kept updated but have not travelled to Portugal.

The development came two weeks after Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said officers are working through every credible line of inquiry in the search.

He said: “In the forthcoming weeks, we are going to be going to a substantial phase of operational activity on the ground in Portugal.

“It’s something that you would expect in any major inquiry.

“A thorough serious crime investigation works systematically through all the credible possibilities, and often in an investigation you will have more than one credible possibility.

“Therefore, just because we’re doing a substantial phase of work in the forthcoming week doesn’t mean that it’s going to immediately lead to answers that will explain everything.”

Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley said the radar equipment likely to be used in the operation can detect if the ground has been disturbed as far back as seven years ago.

The Portuguese have also reopened their inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance and, while they are working with the UK force, they have refused to set up an official joint investigation.

The area cordoned off has been searched before.

A 77-year-old man who has lived near the area of scrubland for 13 years told the BBC the latest search was “ridiculous”.

“The police have been here before,” said the man. “We all helped search this area three or four days after it happened.

“I walk my dog every day and no one was digging holes.”

One line of inquiry for Scotland Yard is a lone male paedophile who staged a series of sex attacks on young British girls while they were on holiday in the Algarve.

They are looking at nine sexual assaults and three “near misses” on British girls aged 6 to 12 between 2004 and 2006, including one in 2005 on a 10-year-old girl in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished two years later.

Hundreds of people have already made contact with police in response to appeals for help to find the attacker.

Meanwhile, a conman who set up a firm to hunt for Madeleine has denied allegations he funded a lavish lifestyle using cash donated by the public.

Irishman Kevin Halligen’s Washington-based company received around £300,000 (€370,000) from backers of the McCanns but his contract was terminated early and he was later convicted of fraud in the US on a separate matter.

The McCanns used his firm, Oakley International, for around six months to look for their daughter.

They terminated the arrangement without paying the full fees because Halligen apparently failed to fulfil certain agreements. He has denied the claims.