Madeleine McCann suspect 'visited Portuguese lake DAYS after she vanished from ... trends now

Investigators will search a remote reservoir in Portugal for the third day today after an 'very credible' informant revealed the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance visited the beauty spots just days after she was taken.

Christian Brueckner visited the Arade dam of the Barragem do Arade reservoir, possibly with others, shortly after the toddler vanished from her bed in May 2007, a former friend has told police.

Brueckner, 45, referred to the area as a 'little piece of paradise', The Times reported. The beauty spot is located about 30 miles from the holiday resort of Praia da Luz, where Maddie was snatched.

The informant gave detectives 'details' they took 'very seriously' and authorities 'have indications that we could find evidence' in the area.

This came after reports said officials are seeking any fragments of clothing and old rags that could be related to her disappearance - particularly the pink pyjamas she was wearing the night she vanished.

German police are also hoping to find evidence of other potential victims who were believed to have been targeted by convicted sex offender Brueckner on the Algarve. 

Police used information from the tipster to give search teams maps of detailed locations to excavate near the Barragem do Arade reservoir.

The reservoir is located near the town of Silves, where a lorry driver had claimed to see a woman passing off a child resembling Maddie's description to a man two days after the toddler disappeared. 

The hunt is focusing on the foreshore as the water level in the reservoir is considerably lower due to low rainfall last few months. This may explain why no divers have been seen operating in the area although they are on standby. 

The search area has also been extended to include a zone currently covered by vegetation, a Portuguese source told The Sun. Officials are cutting back the growth so they can examine the ground.

'It's clear that they believe there may be something very important here and they've been given more time to search for it,' the insider said, adding that 'indications' suggest the operation may continue past Thursday.

Madeleine was aged three in May 2007 when she vanished from her bedroom in the apartment her family were staying at in the Praia da Luz resort on the Algarve coast. The reservoir is about 31 miles inland from the resort.

The first major search for the toddler in nine years comes after German police discovered photos of Brueckner at his self-described 'little paradise' in the Portuguese region, it is understood.

German prosecutors last year named convicted child abuser and drug dealer Brueckner as the prime suspect in McCann's disappearance. 

He is currently behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve region from where McCann went missing.

The case, unsolved for the past 16 years, remains a mystery as no body has ever been found. It sparked a media frenzy in Britain, with developments also followed by outlets around the world and celebrities joining appeals to help find Maddie.

Photos and footage of the search operation yesterday showed a group of Portugal's National Republican Guard (GNR) being led by sniffer dogs to a small grove close to the water's edge. Officers were seen clearing branches shortly after.

According to respected Portuguese media outlet Expresso, the operation was launched because of a 'very credible tip'.

'Expresso knows that these searches have their origin in a tip from a BKA informant who that police force considers very credible,' it reported on its website. 'This informant told investigators details that the German police took very seriously.'

It added: 'The searches were requested by the German police after receiving this information.' The media outlet said it had obtained its information from a 'source close to the investigation.'  

Emergency services with brush cutters to clear the search area arrived at the temporary camp set up on the shores of the Arade reservoir early on Wednesday.

Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts, had focused their search on Tuesday on the reservoir's shoreline.

Yesterday morning police appeared to be focusing on a valley slightly north of a secluded clearing behind trees near to where three tents were put up on Monday.

The dense vegetation meant they had to use tools including chainsaws to remove trees to access it properly.

Meanwhile, a fire service vehicle and rigid-hull inflatable boat were again on the banks of the reservoir, and appeared ready to launch on to the water. 

Later in the day, emergency services brought in a remote-controlled tractor-mounted tree cutter to clear what appeared to be a new search area, a few hundred yards away from a temporary camp set up on Tuesday on the shores of the Arade reservoir by Portuguese police, assisted by German and British counterparts. 

On Wednesday, the German prosecutor leading the country's investigation into Brueckner's suspected link to Madeleine's disappearance said they do not have a confession from the convict.

Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolters said that while investigators have 'indications' that evidence could be found at the reservoir, this has not come from Brueckner himself.

'We have indications that we could find evidence there. I don't want to say what that is exactly, and I also don't want to say where these indications come from,' Wolters told German public broadcaster NDR yesterday.

'The only thing that I would clarify is that it doesn't come from the suspect - so we don't have a confession or anything similar now, or an indication from the suspect of where it would make sense to search, ' Wolters said, adding that 'it was other indications that prompted us to conduct this search.'

However, Wolters appeared to calm expectations of what might be found, saying, 'We never said that the girl disappeared where we are now searching.' 

Tuesday saw about 20 officers with rakes and hoe-like tools spread out in a line, poking and raking the soil close to the Arade dam. Police also used a drone to scan the area from above and searched with sniffer dogs on both sides of the water.

Footage from the site showed officers taking bags away from the reservoir on Tuesday afternoon but it was not clear what was inside them. One video showed an officer being handed a bag by a colleague as they drove by in a black Ford SUV.

Tuesday night a Portuguese source close to the investigation told The Sun: 'The search is being taken very seriously and is being controlled totally by the Germans. 

'They asked Portuguese officers assisting them to look for any evidence - but especially rags.'

The Times reported that Madeleine's pyjamas, which were pink and decorated with images of Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh, were a focus of the hunt. 

A similar pair of pyjamas was held up by Kate and Gerry McCann during a press conference in June 2007, the month after their daughter vanished, in the hope of prompting witnesses who may have seen her that night to come forward. 

Also last night the McCann's former spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the Mirror the couple were being kept updated.

'Until a body is found and proved to be Madeleine's, Kate and Gerry are not giving up hope. They will be kept informed every step of the way of any development. It leaves Kate and Gerry on tenterhooks. It is another incredibly difficult time for them.'