Madeleine McCann cops ‘preparing to search old wells at German paedo Christian B’s Portuguese lair’
MADELEINE McCann detectives have investigated if her body could be in wells near main suspect Christian B’s former home in Portugal, it is reported. Earlier this month, cops were reportedly preparing to dig up land around two Portuguese lairs where Christian B lived near Praia da Luz. One home, a farmhouse, is just 25 minutes’ […]
MADELEINE McCann detectives have investigated if her body could be in wells near main suspect Christian B’s former home in Portugal, it is reported.
Earlier this month, cops were reportedly preparing to dig up land around two Portuguese lairs where Christian B lived near Praia da Luz.
One home, a farmhouse, is just 25 minutes’ walk from the hotel where the three-year-old went missing 13 years ago.
The single-storey farmhouse property is littered with abandoned wells and sits on a hillside with a footpath to the beach where she played.
Portuguese police were said yesterday to be considering searching the abandoned wells near the farmhouse, which was rented by Christian B.
According to Portuguese newspaper Sol, the Judicial Police (PJ) has looked at the possibility Madeleine’s body could be in the wells.
But Portuguese cops haven’t yet received a request from German authorities to search places frequented in the Algarve by Christian B, Sol reports.
SUSPECT ‘REMAINING SILENT’
Christian B, 43, is in jail in Germany for drug dealing and is appealing a 2019 conviction for a rape in 2005.
In June 2014, Scotland Yard detectives backed by a team of sniffer dogs excavated scrubland around 300 yards from the farmhouse building, but unearthed no clues.
The beauty spot is also well known to Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, who regularly jogged around Black Rock after launching their hunt for their daughter in Praia da Luz in May 2007.
A Portuguese source said: “Judicial Police have confirmed they have been approached by German authorities in connection with the case and they will undoubtedly be prepared to carry out fresh searches in the hope of giving the McCanns closure.
“The obvious focus would be around the hillside former farm building and another property nearby with links to him.”
Meanwhile, Christian B’s lawyers say he will refuse to answer questions because prosecutors must have proof he was involved in her disappearance, it is reported.
Lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said: “Mr B is remaining silent on the allegation at this time on the advice of his defence counsel.
Mr B is remaining silent on the allegation at this time on the advice of his defence counsel.
Lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher said:
“This is quite common in criminal proceedings.
“It is the duty of the state to prove that a suspect committed a crime. No accused person has to prove his innocence to the investigating authorities.”
And a former German police chief has admitted it was a “huge mistake” to notify Christian B in 2013 that he was a person of interest in Madeleine’s disappearance.
Cops in Braunschweig sent Christian B a summons seven years ago to appear for “questioning” in relation to the Madeleine case, Der Spiegel reported last Friday.
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There are fears the alleged blunder could have allowed him to destroy any evidence that may have existed, experts told the German newspaper.
Ulf Kuch, the former head of police in the German city of Braunschweig, said sending the letter “was a huge mistake”.
Mr Kuch said he didn’t know about the Christian B summons despite his role at the time as supervisor for the officer who issued the notice, The Telegraph reported.
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