The search for Madeleine McCann has taken another turn as a bombshell new theory has emerged surrounding a mystery couple.
German prosecutors refused to probe a couple suspected of running over the toddler in a drink-drive accident, according to a new claim.
Investigators in Portugal demanded an investigation into a British man and his German wife after his UK-based sister tipped off detectives about the incident.
German authorities allegedly turned down a Portuguese request to use an undercover police officer with a fake identity to try to befriend the female suspect.
The investigation continues into Madeleine McCann
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They had requested to firm up their suspicions she was driving a car that hit Madeleine while under the influence of alcohol, reports a local Portuguese media outlet.
The woman who tipped off the police as early in 2018, placed the suspect in a cafe near the Ocean Club where she had been "drinking" the night Madeleine went missing from the Algarve resort.
It was claimed that the sister of the British man told investigators that she heard the man yelling: "Why did you bring her?"
The Portuguese newspaper claimed: "German prosecutors were asked to authorise a covert police operation with someone posing as a friend of the woman’s and trying to get her to confess, but the courts refused.
"It was decided to continue solely with the investigation into suspect Christian Brueckner, rejecting other possibilities."
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Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner pictured in a court in GermanyReutersIn a front page report today, the newspaper claimed: "The German police refused to co-operate with Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria in the investigation of a clue that pointed towards Madeleine McCann being run over and the possibility a couple disposed of her body, hours later, in the sea.
"In 2018, a British woman went to police in the UK to say she suspected her brother had been involved in the disappearance of the youngster.
"She said her brother was an alcoholic and since the day Madeleine vanished had appeared to hide a painful secret.
"When British police exchanged information with the PJ, a coincidence was discovered. On May 4, 2007 a woman told police she had heard her neighbours arguing.
"They were both alcoholics, he was English and she was German, and she heard the man shouting repeatedly: 'Why did you bring her?’"
Officers conducted a fingertip search around the perimeter of a large farmhouse on ThursdayPA
The idea Madeleine left her holiday apartment to look for her parents who were eating tapas nearby and then fell in an accident or was knocked over by someone who panicked and disposed of her body, has been put forward in the past.
Portuguese police have yet to respond to the Correio da Manha newspaper report.
German police yesterday wrapped up a three-day search on the ground near prime suspect Christian Brueckner’s old cottage home close to Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared.
The operation, supported by Portuguese police, was the first of its kind for more than two years following a May 2023 search at the Arade Dam a 40-minute drive from the Algarve holiday resort where Madeleine was last seen.
Christian Brueckner is the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann caseGETTYNothing of any relevance is thought to have been found.
Convicted paedophile Brueckner, 47, is due to be freed from prison in Germany in September after finishing a seven-year sentence for rape.
Although German authorities have named Brueckner as their sole Madeleine McCann suspect, and he is also an official suspect in Portugal, he has yet to be charged over the British youngster’s disappearance.
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