Overview

• Sky News located the German woman linked to a past hit-and-run line of inquiry, which Portuguese and British police explored about seven years ago.
• The woman said she was working at a beachside restaurant on the night in 2007 and returned home after Madeleine was reported missing.
• She said Portuguese police searched her flat twice in the days after the disappearance and recalled being asked to empty her freezer, prompting an angry retort.
• She later received repeated calls from a German police commissar asking if she knew Christian Brueckner and requesting the SIM card from a phone she used in Portugal, while her late partner’s family said they were questioned by Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange.
• A June report in Correio da Manha said the hit-and-run probe stalled when German authorities declined an undercover approach, and prosecutors now describe Brueckner as dangerous and due for release next week as authorities seek possible restrictions with UK, German and Portuguese cooperation ongoing.