Police scour derelict farm in Madeleine McCann search

Time is running out to find evidence linking the toddler’s 2007 disappearance to the main suspect, and German police are sifting through a new area near Praia da Luz after a tip-off

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

Swinging pickaxes into the hardened ground and clearing piles of rocks and rubble, the dozen or so police officers began work on Tuesday in temperatures that later reached 20C.

Gathered on a remote area of clifftop scrubland a few miles from the Portuguese resort Madeleine McCann vanished from 18 years ago, one team dug into the earth next to an abandoned farmhouse under the watchful gaze of nearby journalists.

Other officers cleared undergrowth and debris around nearby buildings, while a fire crew pumped water from a disused well before appearing to use a winch to check the site.

Almost two decades since Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz without trace, it’s here, in the barren countryside nearby, where police hope to finally find answers in the mystery of what happened to the then three-year-old girl.

Investigators are reported to be acting on a tip-off and hope to find evidence of her body or clothing.

It was claimed they would be using ground-penetrating radar to help narrow their search, but yesterday, crews were seen using shovels, pickaxes and chainsaws, as well as a pump to drain the well, as they battled rubble and dense vegetation in the search for clues.

The latest efforts come as German police face a race against time to find concrete evidence linking her disappearance to their only suspect.