Madeleine cops hunt for DNA in rags and clothing from dig site
THE parents of Madeleine McCann face an agonising wait to discover if police found any crucial evidence when they searched a reservoir.
Scientists will carry out forensic and DNA testing on items recovered in the three-day hunt including rags, pieces of clothing and soil samples.
Initial results from the search on the banks of Barragem do Arade, near Silves in southern Portugal, are expected early next week.
At the site, eight holes the size of dinner plates and up to 2ft deep had been dug in a cleared 10ft by 16ft piece of woodland.
Abandoned items including a surfboard, broken chair, sofa and a buoy littered the site
Locals said the area is used regularly by travellers, campers and picnickers. Scotland Yard officers have been in Portugal to help keep Kate and Gerry McCann up to date. German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: “We’ll see how successful we were after the search is complete.
“If we don’t find anything, we would reveal that at short notice.” German sex offender and prime suspect Christian Brueckner, 45, reportedly visited the area soon after three-year-old Madeleine vanished in the resort of Praia da Luz, 30 miles away, in May 2007.
He is said to have driven there in his VW campervan, calling the place his “little paradise”.
German forensic biologist Dr Mark Benecke said the soil samples could be crucial to police inquiries, adding: “[They] contain stones, pollen and a few other small components that can be transmitted.”
But Dr Benecke cautioned: “If other people were there at that point then it will be more difficult.”
Ex-Met Police murder detective Peter Kirkham said: “They will have been searching the site for small samples taken from the soil, rags or other items to take back to the lab to see if they can extract a bit of human DNA or find fibres that might match to clothing Madeleine was wearing.”