Cops in race against time

Officers hunt in Portugal for British toddler | Fears prime suspect will be free in months

- BY MARTIN FRICKER in Praia da Luz

SEARCH teams yesterday began a new hunt for Madeleine McCann, urgently scouring for answers as the prime suspect nears the end of his jail term.

Officers armed with pick-axes, shovels and chainsaws spent the day searching a derelict farmhouse close to Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Prosecutors in Germany claim they have evidence that Christian Brueckner, 48, killed Madeleine, who disappeared from her parents Kate and Gerry's holiday apartment aged three in 2007.

But Brueckner has not been charged and, nearing the end of a seven-year jail term for raping a pensioner in Praia da Luz, he could be freed as early as September.

Yesterday's operation, led by German police with the aid of local officers and firefighters, took place in the shadow of Rocha Negra - a lookout point where Madeleine's parents sought solace after her disappearance.

Firefighters searched abandoned wells in the Atalaia area, less than a mile from Brueckner's ramshackle former home.

Searches also took place in another abandoned building next to a British-owned vineyard. The two areas are linked by popular hiking trails.