MADDIE COPS ARE HOMING IN

Race against time to find new evidence in Portugal dig

- BY JERRY LAWTON

POLICE yesterday launched a new search for Madeleine McCann in a desperate last throw of the dice to solve the mystery that has baffled the world for two decades.

Officers armed with pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws began a fresh operation to find the girl who vanished from Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

Cops were seen clearing dense vegetation and digging near an old farmhouse a few miles from the Algarve resort, while firefighters pumped water out of a well.

The operation was launched by the BKA - Germany's federal police - which faces a race against time to gather evidence linking prime suspect Christian Brüeckner to the case before he is freed from jail after serving an unconnected seven-year sentence for rape.

Today a 30-strong search team of German and Portuguese officers are scheduled to move to a rundown farmhouse once reportedly owned by the suspect.

They will be armed with groundpenetrating radar capable of unearthing remains up to 15ft below the surface.

DUTY A source told this reporter: "This isn't just a last throw of the dice.