New area for Madeleine search cordoned off
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have cordoned off a new area of land near where the youngster went missing seven years ago.
British police are expected to join their Portuguese counterparts on the patch of scrubland later today as the search for clues in Praia da Luz on the Algarve enters a second week.
Yellow and white police tape was stretched around the new area early this morning with a number of armed local police on guard at intervals along it.
The new area is on the outskirts of the small resort and is more overgrown than the site searched last week, with long grass, trees and bushes.
Specialist teams spent last week investigating an area of land a few minutes walk from the Ocean Club resort where Madeleine was staying with her family in May 2007 when she disappeared aged three.
The operation was extended after British police applied to the judiciary to spend an extra seven days in the resort but no work has been carried out so far this week due to a Portuguese national holiday.
Graffiti has been scrawled on a wall overlooking the new site accusing British police of being stupid.
The message in large red letters reads: “Policia inglesa estupidos.”
