Police searched reservoir in Maddie McCann case after British couple discovered ... trends now

Police searched reservoir in Maddie McCann case after British couple discovered ... trends now
Police searched reservoir in Maddie McCann case after British couple discovered ... trends now

Police searched reservoir in Maddie McCann case after British couple discovered ... trends now

A British couple have told The Mail on Sunday how they spotted a bizarre 'shrine' to missing Madeleine McCann in the reservoir police searched last week – just seven months after she vanished.

The retired couple, who have asked to be named only as Ralf and Ann, were so disturbed by what they saw they took pictures and sent them to Portuguese detectives, thinking they were of significance but, amazingly, never heard back.

Consisting of boulders in the shape of an arrow pointing towards a picnic site which was dug over by police last week, the makeshift memorial was weighed down by a large rock and had a bouquet of flowers and a photograph of abducted Madeleine on it.

Three years ago – when prime suspect Christian Brueckner, 45, was identified by German police – the couple contacted detectives after seeing an appeal for anyone who was on holiday in the Algarve when Madeleine went missing in May 2007 to get in touch.

This time, the German officers from the BKA (criminal investigation unit) responded within hours of Ralf and Ann emailing them and quizzed them on the telephone for several hours before asking them to give a formal statement.

Madeleine McCann

A British couple spotted a bizarre 'shrine' to missing Madeleine McCann (pictured) in the reservoir police searched last week – just seven months after she vanished

Three years ago prime suspect Christian Brueckner (pictured), 45, was identified by German police 

The makeshift memorial (pictured here) was weighed down by a large rock and had a bouquet of flowers and a photograph of abducted Madeleine on it

The makeshift memorial (pictured here) was weighed down by a large rock and had a bouquet of flowers and a photograph of abducted Madeleine on it

Pictured: Three rocks in the Arade Reservoir in 2007 where a shrine was found. The flowers and tribute were left on the middle rock

Pictured: Three rocks in the Arade Reservoir in 2007 where a shrine was found. The flowers and tribute were left on the middle rock

It raises the question whether it was their information that prompted the German authorities to request a search of the remote picnic area campsite on the edge of the reservoir near Silves, which Brueckner sinisterly used to call his 'little paradise'.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday from their holiday home, just a few minutes' drive from the reservoir, retired builder Ralf and former bank cashier Ann described the bizarre find. Ralf, 66, a father of two, said: 'It was around Christmas 2007, so Madeleine had only gone missing a few months beforehand and I went down to the reservoir with Ann, our daughter, who was then 16, and the dog . . .

'Our daughter ran on ahead of us and all of a sudden she just shouted to us, "Quick, come and look, someone must have died here."

When we got down, we noticed a row of stones stretching out into the water and on the last one there was a bouquet of fresh white lilies. We went out and had a look, and on the stone where the flowers were, there was a photograph of Madeleine.

'There was no note or anything and it was all very strange.'

Ann, 67,

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