Madeleine McCann case: 15 years of anguish for parents Gerry and Kate

Portuguese police name German national Christian Brueckner an official suspect in the ongoing criminal case

Kate and Gerry McCann display a poster of their missing daughter Madeleine at a press conference in June 2007, a month after she disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal. All photos: Getty Images

An aerial view of the resort and surrounding area where Madeleine McCann went missing in Praia da Luz.

British tourists look down a well while searching for Madeleine McCann in wasteland in May 2007.

Everton fans hold a banner appealing for the safe return of Madeleine McCann before a Premier League match in May 2007. She was a supporter of the club.

Kate McCann sits on board a private jet owned by Sir Philip Green bound for Rome and an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, at Faro Airport, Portugal in May 2007.

A mother and her children show their support for the missing girl in Rothley, the McCanns' town, in May 2007.

An appeal is displayed on the scoreboard at the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in May 2007.

Kate and Gerry McCann hold an outfit, similar to the one Madeleine was wearing on the day she went missing, at a press conference in June 2007 in Berlin.

Pupils at Bankhead Primary School release yellow balloons for Madeleine McCann in June 2007 in Glasgow, Scotland. About 400 were released, each with a tag attached containing appeal information.

Kate McCann listens to her husband Gerry speak during a press conference in June 2007 in Madrid, Spain.

Gerry and Kate McCann leave a hotel on route to an interview with television crews in August 2007 in Praia da Luz.

Kate and Gerry McCann arrive back in the UK from Faro in September 2007. The McCanns had been made formal suspects in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine.

Kate and Gerry McCann speak in front of an age-progressed police image of their daughter during a news conference to mark the fifth anniversary of her disappearance, in May 2012 in London.

Luis Mota Carmo (L), head of the Policia Judiciaria in the Algarve, speaks to British Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood as scrubland in in Praia da Luz is searched, in June 2014.

Police search scrubland in June 2014 in Praia da Luz.

British detectives arrive at Faro Police Station in December 2014 in Portugal, to observe questionings by Portuguese police of 11 people as part of the investigation into the disappearance.

Robert Murat and his wife Michaela Walczuch leave Faro's Police Station after being interviewed as witnesses in December 2014 in Faro.

Kate and Gerry McCann are interviewed by the BBC in April 2017.

A police officer erects fencing around an allotment that belonged to Christian Brueckner, who was named as the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, in July 2020 in Hannover, Germany.

Police dig at the allotment in Hannover in July 2020.

It's been more than 15 years since Madeleine McCann disappeared from her holiday apartment in Portugal's Algarve, triggering a missing persons' case that has only heightened the anguish for her parents Gerry and Kate.

But a development this week could herald a major breakthrough after Portuguese police formally identified German national Christian Brueckner as a murder suspect.

Investigators have given convicted sex offender Brueckner, 44, the title of “arguido” — meaning he is now officially the centre of the criminal investigation.

Brueckner is currently serving a prison sentence in northern German for raping a woman in 2005.

Here is a breakdown of the main events since Madeleine, 3, vanished.

2007

– May 3: Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, leave their children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in southern Portugal, while they dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.

Nothing is amiss when Mr McCann checks on the youngsters just after 9pm, but when Ms McCann goes back at about 10pm she finds Madeleine missing.

Jane Tanner, one of the friends dining with the McCanns, reports having seen a man carrying a child earlier that night.

– May 14: Detectives take Anglo-Portuguese property developer Robert Murat in for questioning and make him a formal suspect — but this is later withdrawn.

– August 11: Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly say for the first time that she could be dead.

– September 7: During questioning of Mr and Mrs McCann, detectives make them arguidos in their daughter’s disappearance — but this is also later withdrawn.

– September 9: The McCanns, with their twins Sean and Amelie, 2, fly back to England.

2008

– July 21: The Portuguese authorities shelve their investigation and lift the arguido status of the McCanns and Robert Murat.

2011

– May 12: Mrs McCann publishes a book about her daughter’s disappearance, on Madeleine’s 8th birthday.

London's Metropolitan Police launch a review of the case after a request from Theresa May, home secretary at the time, supported by David Cameron, prime minister at the time.

2012

– April 25: UK detectives say they believe Madeleine could still be alive, release an age-progression picture of how she might look at 9 and call on the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case. However, Portuguese police say they have found no new evidence.

2013

– July 4: UK police say they have launched their own investigation ― Operation Grange ― into Madeleine’s disappearance, two years into a review of the case. They claim to have “genuinely new” lines of inquiry and have identified 38 people of interest, including 12 Britons.

– October 24: Portuguese police confirm that a review of their original investigation has uncovered new lines of inquiry, and they reopen the case.

2014

– January 29: British detectives fly to Portugal, amid rumours they are planning to make arrests.

– June 3: Sniffer dogs and specialist teams are used to search an area of scrubland close to where Madeleine went missing.

– December 12: Detectives begin questioning 11 people who it is thought may have information on the case.

2015

– September 16: The UK government says that the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine has cost more than £10 million.

– October 28: London's Met Police cuts the number of officers working on the inquiry from 29 to four.

2017

– April 30: The McCanns prepare to mark 10 years since their daughter’s disappearance with a BBC interview in which they vow to do “whatever it takes for as long as it takes” to find her.

2019

– May 3: Local media reports say Portuguese detectives are investigating a foreign paedophile as a suspect in the abduction of Madeleine.

2020

– June 3: Police say a German prisoner — later named as Christian Brueckner, 43 — has been identified as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.

– June 4: London's Met Police say Operation Grange — which had received £12.3 million in funding up to April 2020 — is still a missing person inquiry, as detectives have no “definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”.

2021

– May 4: Kate and Gerry McCann post a statement on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign website saying they still cling to the hope of seeing their daughter again, as they prepare to mark her 18th birthday on May 12.

2022

– April 21: Christian Brueckner is made an arguido formal suspect by Portuguese authorities.