Focus on farmhouse in hunt for madeleine

POLICE have begun a last-ditch hunt for Madeleine McCann as their prime suspect nears the end of his jail term.

- From Martin Fricker in Praia da Luz

German officers armed with pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws spent yesterday painstakingly searching a derelict farmhouse close to Praia da Luz.

The operation took place in the shadow of Rocha Negra - a lookout point where Madeleine's parents sought solace following their child's disappearance.

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

Searches also took place in another derelict building that is close to a Britishowned vineyard.

The two areas are linked by a series of hiking trails popular with locals and tourists visiting the Algarve.

Police cordoned off a 123-acre swathe of barren brush on Sunday evening ahead of the search.

German police arrived shortly after 8.30am yesterday in two minibuses that had blacked-out windows.

They held a 15-minute briefing with their Portuguese counterparts before the search operation began.

Officers at first focused on an abandoned outhouse next to a derelict overgrown farmhouse.

They were seen collecting soil samples and excavating the ground floor of the building using a pickaxe.