A fresh search for missing Madeleine McCann ended this week with no new information seemingly found – however today a new bombshell theory about her disappearance emerged

A new bombshell theory about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has emerged. It comes following a fresh search for the toddler from Leicestershire, who shockingly vanished in 2007 while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

This week German and Portuguese police descended on an area of southern Portugal close to Praia da Luz where Madeleine vanished. The last time authorities conducted a search related to Madeleine’s disappearance around this area was in 2023. But after three days searching the area this week, detectives were pictured packing up their equipment following an operation thought to have cost around £300,000.

Police use ground penetrating radar in their search this week (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror) 

Today however, a shocking new theory about Madeleine’s disappearance emerged. Portuguese daily Correio da Manha reported German prosecutors refused to probe a couple suspected of running over Madeleine McCann in a drink-drive accident.

The newspaper said Portuguese authorities demanded an investigation into a British man and his German wife after his UK-based sister tipped off cops. Here are all the new claims…

Alleged drink-drive incident

German prosecutors reportedly refused to probe the couple suspected of running over Madeleine McCann in a drink-drive accident.

German authorities are said to have rejected a Portuguese request to use an undercover police officer with a fake identity to try to befriend the female suspect and firm up their suspicions she was driving a car that hit Madeleine while under the influence of alcohol.

Brit ‘tipped off cops in 2018’

The Portuguese newspaper reported that the sister of the unnamed British man at the centre of the new theory tipped off police in 2018. The report stated: “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.”

Madeleine vanished from the holiday apartment in 2007(Image: Phil Harris)

‘Alcoholic’ couple

The report described the mystery couple as “alcoholics” and placed the British man’s wife in a café near the Ocean Club where she had supposedly been “drinking” the night Madeleine went missing from the Algarve resort.

Correio da Manha also reported another witness described as the couple’s neighbour told police separately she heard them rowing the day after the three-year-old disappeared. She said she heard the man yelling: “Why did you bring her?”

Brit man dead

Correio da Manha said the unnamed British man had now died. It did not say whether his German wife was still alive. In the 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.

“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.”

The new theory emerged today(Image: PA)

Portuguese police ‘thought driver might have panicked’

Portuguese police thought the woman allegedly behind the wheel of the car driver might have “panicked”

The newspaper report went on: “The neighbour discovered afterwards it was the man whose sister had reported him to police and was married to the woman who had been drinking in a cafe next to the Ocean Club where little Madeleine was staying with her parents and twin siblings.

“Another report the police had indicated that in an identical car to the one the woman was then using, around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance, a female and little girl had been seen inside. The PJ concluded she could have run Madeleine over and panicked.”

Brit ‘refused to tell sister’

The newspaper claimed the mystery British man had always “refused to tell his sister if he had been involved in Madeleine’s death” before she alerted authorities.

Portuguese police are yet to respond to the Correio da Manha newspaper report.