Investigators are set to widen the search for Madeleine McCann after photos belonging to prime suspect Christian Brueckner revealed ‘clues’.

Two other areas surrounding Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared in 2007, could be searched by police, the Sun reported.

Investigators made the discovery after looking through more than 8,000 photographs belonging to Brueckner.

A source told the Sun: “German officers have gone through more than 8,000 pictures belonging to Christian B. That forensic work led them to Barragem – but there are other places that have come up in the pictures too.

“Detectives are seeking to work out where they are and why Christian B was taking pictures of those places.”

It comes after police searched the remote Barragem do Arade reservoir in the Algarve, Portugal last week, around 35 miles from where the then-three-year-old went missing.

A “relevant clue” was found during the last day of the search after investigators cleared a large area of woodland at the reservoir and dug eight deep holes to collect samples of soil, which have been sent for forensic and DNA testing in Germany.

The office of German prosecutor Christian Wolters said investigators were acting in response to “certain tips”.

The reservoir is known to have been frequented by the latest suspect in the case Christian Brueckner.

According to Portuguese broadcaster SIC, the suspect considered the area his “little slice of paradise”.

Letters written by the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, in which he protests his innocence and tries to claim he had nothing to do with her disappearance, have been revealed for the first time.

The office of German prosecutor Christian Wolters said investigators were acting in response to “certain tips” in the search for Madeleine McCann.

The reservoir is known to have been frequented by the latest suspect in the case Christian Brueckner.

According to Portuguese broadcaster SIC, the suspect considered the area his “little slice of paradise”.

Officers were led to the resevoir after trawling through thousands of pictures belonging to Christian B – but there are other places that have come up in the pictures too.

A British couple claim to have found a ‘shrine’ to missing Madeleine McCann in an area close to the desolate reservoir in Portugal searched by police earlier this week.

Last week, police were spotted at a reservoir some 30 miles from the Praia da Luz resort, in what was soon reported to be international authorities gearing up for a major new search this week based on leads suggesting Brueckner made repeated trips to the area which he dubbed his “little slice of paradise”.

The fresh search at the reservoir – one of six in the Algarve – is the first in Portugal since 2014, and comes as the Metropolitan Police were granted a further £110,000 by the Home Office to fund their search for Madeleine, who would turn 20 this month.

Andy Gregory has more on the investigation costs here:

Christian Brueckner was declared a prime suspect in the case of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann by Portuguese police in April 2022.

Already in prison in Germany for the rape and murder of a 72-year-old woman, he has now also been charged with multiple sex offences which are alleged to have taken place between 2000 and 2007.

Police in Germany claim to have “concrete evidence” that the British girl is dead though this has not been proven.

A spokesperson from the Braunschweig prosecutor’s office previously said: “The accused is the same person against whom charges were brought in connection with the disappearance of the then three-year-old British girl Madeleine Beth McCann.

“Specifically, the accused is charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children.

“The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues.”

The charges mentioned do not relate to the McCann case. But in May German police claim to have found new evidence linked to Madeleine inside a van belonging to Brueckner.

Madeleine McCann, a three-year-old girl from Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve on 3 May 2007, a case still unsolved and still the subject of intense interest among the public and press.

Read the full timeline here: