A WOMAN quizzed by British cops last month over Madeleine McCann has revealed she tipped off police about the prime suspect’s “special place” two years ago.
Elke Piro’s revelation about paedo pal Christian Brueckner sparked a search for missing Madeleine’s body in Portugal in 2023.
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They found no evidence at the Arade Dam, just 30 miles from where the girl, then aged three, vanished from the resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.
Specialist search teams backed by dogs and drones excavated a site where Brueckner, 48, would spend days alone in his VW camper van.
German national Elke, 69, and husband Bernhard, 72, knew Brueckner for years and often let him stay in his van at their remote Algarve home.
The gran told The Sun on Sunday: “Christian loved the lakeside area around the dam and called it his special place.
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“He would disappear for a week at a time and when I asked where he had been, he would often say he’d been alone at the Arade Dam. When I found out he was a suspect in the Maddie case I told the police how much he loved it there and they were very interested.
“He described a precise area with rocks leading down to the water and I was able to pinpoint it exactly to the police — and that’s where they searched.
“Christian would live there for days in his camper van and I believed he could have taken Maddie there.
“I was able to direct them to the exact spot he described and hoped that it might have helped them find some trace of Maddie — but it wasn’t to be.”
The Piros were quizzed by Scotland Yard officers who flew to Portugal.
Detectives from the Met Police’s Operation Grange team have now taken a lead role in the case from German officials.
Brueckner last stayed with the Piros in 2016 for a month when he was on the run from the German police.
In 2019, his VW camper van was seized by Portuguese cops in Mr Piro’s breaker’s yard and became the focus of police appeals when Brueckner was named as the Madeleine prime suspect in 2020.
Met commissioner Mark Rowley recently declared Brueckner was their main suspect and hinted at moves to extradite him to the UK to face trial.
Brueckner remains in hiding at a secret address in Germany following his release at the end of a seven-year jail term for raping a US pensioner in 2005.
No charges have been brought against him over Madeleine and he has insisted he has nothing to do with her disappearance.
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Timeline of events
Here’s a timeline of the case which has gripped the world.
May 3, 2007
Madeleine McCann disappears from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, sparking a massive police search and becoming one of the most famous missing persons cases in history.
January 15, 2016
Neighbour reports a possible ‘grave’ at Brueckner’s abandoned factory in East Germany.
Cops find disturbing images on USB sticks and launch a full-scale search.
February 16, 2016
Christian Brueckner is convicted for abusing a girl of five in a park after images found on his laptop.
He was sentenced to 15-months behind bars but was already on the run by then.
May 3, 2017
Around this time, Helge B calls an information hotline after watching a ten-year anniversary special on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
He reports an alleged confession by Christian Brueckner.
September 27, 2018
On-the-run Christian Brueckner is arrested over outstanding drugs claims in Italy.
He is extradited to Germany the following year.
December 16, 2019
Christian Brueckner was convicted, in Germany, for the 2005 rape of an American woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal, after his DNA was matched to a hair found on her bed.
He was sentenced to seven years behind bars.
June 4, 2020
German prosecutors reveal to the world they have a suspect in custody under investigation for the abduction of Madeleine McCann.
For the first time they claim Madeleine is dead.
German media later name him as Christian B (Christian Brueckner).
June 23, 2023
In his first interview, witness Helge B alleges to German newspaper Bild that Christian Brueckner all-but-confessed the Madeleine abduction to him, by allegedly saying “she didn’t scream” as they talked about the case, at a music festival, in Spain.
February 16, 2024
Brueckner goes on trial accused of none-McCann allegations of rape and sex assault, in Braunschweig, Germany.
Prosecutors hope for a conviction to keep him behind bars permanently and lead to McCann charges.
October 8, 2024
Brueckner was acquitted of all claims.
Prosecutors launch an appeal, however. Decision pending.
September 17, 2025
Date on which Christian Brueckner will be released from custody without action being taken.
Prosecutors require an arrest warrant for a retrial over claims from last year – or over the McCann case.