‘I tipped off Madeleine McCann cops about Christian Brueckner’s special place’

Elke Piro, 69, and her husband would occasionally allow Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner stay at their remote home in the Algarve before he was linked to the tot’s disappearance

A former friend of Christian Brueckner^[1] has admitted to being the individual who drew police attention to the “special place”^[2] cops searched two years ago.

Back in 2023, a huge search was launched after Elke Piro tipped off police as they searched for Madeleine McCann’s body^[3] at the Arade Dam in Portugal.

Despite a lengthy operation involving dogs^[4], drones, and hundreds of officers, they found no trace of the little girl who disappeared from her parent’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz back in 2007.

READ MORE: Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner declared homeless after prison release^[5]READ MORE: Madeleine McCann suspect celebrates freedom with McDonald’s after prison release^[6]

It’s understood the 48-year-old convicted sex offender would drive to the rugged wilderness spot and spend days at a time alone in his VW camper van.

Elke, 69, and her husband Bernhard, 72, were friendly with the monster for several years. Elke said they cut ties after he shared details of his vile past, but their last contact was said to be in 2018. The couple often let him stay in his van at their home in the Algarve, she said.

Speaking to The Sun on Sunday^[7], Elke said: “Christian loved the lakeside area around the dam and called it his special place.

“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.”

Yesterday, it emerged that British cops had secretly flown to Portugal to question Elke and her husband.

The couple, who took in the convicted sex offender a few months before Madeleine’s disappearance^[8] in Praia da Luz in 2007, were questioned over the course of several hours in Faro as witnesses.

It comes as the monster was moved to a new location in Germany after serving a seven-year jail sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in the same town Madeleine disappeared from two years before her disappearance.

Elke, a German national, is sure that Brueckner “did something bad” to Madeleine.

She told The Sun^[9] : “It’s frustrating because I got to know Christian over many years and believe he did something bad to Maddie. My hope now is the police can find a way to bring him to trial in the UK. That would be wonderful. I will be happy to co-operate and testify in court if needed.”