Police investigating Madeleine McCann disappearance start digging up allotment in Germany, near to where suspect lived

German police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have begun digging up land close to a former home of the prime suspect.

Detectives using heavy equipment, including an excavator, started work early on Tuesday examining an allotment just outside Hannover, the city where Christian Brückner lived temporarily in 2017.

Julai Meyer from the prosecutor's office in nearby Braunschweig told the Telegraph: "I can confirm that the search is being carried out in connection with the investigation into the Maddie McCann case and is still ongoing. I can't disclose any further details about the operation.”

Brückner, a convicted paedophile, who was living in the Algarve when Madeleine went missing in May 2007, was named as the prime suspect in her disappearance last month.

German authorities have said they are convinced she is dead and claim to have evidence linking Brückner to the case.

Local police have admitted they do not have enough to charge Brückner and have refused to divulge what evidence they have against the drifter and convicted sex offender

He is currently in prison in Kiel, northern Germany, serving a sentence for drug offences but has also been convicted of rape in Praia da Luz which occurred in 2005.

Specialist detectives, accompanied by sniffer dogs, arrived at the allotments shortly after dawn and spent much of the day excavating a specific corner of a plot.

One officer could be seen chest deep in a hole, while colleagues appeared to be placing samples of earth in large plastic bags.

Around a dozen detectives were at the site and the excavator was being used in order to remove large stones from the ground.

Forensic vans were also parked up nearby.

The area the police are examining is around 20 square metres and sits next to a canal. It is thought that one hole they have dug is at least two metres deep. An elderly couple who live nearby said they were woken up early on Tuesday morning by the sound of officers arriving.

Federal detectives travelled from Wiesbaden, Braunschweig and Hannover to the scene and at least one vehicle had driven from Berlin.

The work went on all day, and finished at 6:30pm. It is expected to continue on Wednesday.

Earlier this month detectives in Portugal carried out a series of searches at wells in the Algarve region.

Brückner is known to have lived in Hannover in 2017, sleeping in a trailer while working at a car repair centre around four miles away from the allotment site.

He first became a suspect around that time when he boasted to a friend in a bar that he knew what had happened to Madeleine McCann as they watched a TV appeal on the tenth anniversary of her disappearance.

Brückner has not been formally interrogated by the German police about the Madeleine McCann investigation and it is not clear why, three years into their investigation, they have suddenly begun digging at this site.

However in 2016 he was jailed for 15 months after police found indecent images of children contained on USB sticks that he had buried underneath the body of his dead dog at a site in Braunschweig.

In December he was convicted of the 2005 rape of an American tourist in Praia da Luz and given a seven year prison sentence.

Brückner has appealed his conviction and if successful could be released from prison as early as December when his sentence for his drug offences is complete.

The German authorities, who are convinced of Brückner’s involvement in Madeleine’s abduction are desperate to make a breakthrough in the case before he is eligible for release.

Brückner has a string of convictions which date back to when he molested a six-year-old girl in a park as a teenager.

Hans Christian Wolters, the Braunschweig state prosecutor recently said: “You also have to be realistic enough that the investigation may not lead to a charge for the murder of Madeleine McCann. It could be stopped if we fail to find the missing evidence.

“I am currently unable to predict the outcome of our investigation but we are still convinced of the guilt of the accused and hope for further promising investigative approaches.”

While the German police insist they are conducting a murder investigation, Scotland Yard are still treating Madeleine as a missing person.

Police in Portugal have reopened an investigation into the rape of an Irish holiday rep in Praia da Roche in 2004. Hazel Behan was assaulted in the town just 30 minutes from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine went missing. She described her attacker as blonde haired, blue eyed and speaking English with a German accent.

Last month, Brückner’s lawyer Friedrich Fülscher said about the Madeleine case: "As a precaution, we have informed the public prosecutor's office that Christian will only comment on the allegations, if at all, through us.

"He is currently making use of his right to remain silent. This does not mean he has anything to hide."