A “SHRINE” to missing Madeleine McCann that appeared months after she vanished on holiday in Portugal may have triggered this week’s fresh hunt, it is claimed.
Three boulders – the last featuring a bouquet of flowers and a photo of Maddie – were found by Brit tourists seven months after the child disappeared in 2007.
The formation, on the water’s edge of remote Barragem do Arade reservoir, near Silves, was shaped like an arrow and pointed towards a picnic spot that was dug up by cops this week.
“Ralf” and “Ann” took photos of their discovery – found during a walk around Christmas time – before notifying Portuguese authorities.
They heard nothing back.
But three years ago – when prime suspect Christian B, 45, a convicted rapist was identified by German police – a fresh appeal saw the couple email detectives.
German officers from the BKA (criminal investigation unit) responded within hours and quizzed the pair over the phone before Ann visited cops in Germany.
This week, search teams carried out a three day scour of the reservoir’s banks, which Christian B allegedly referred to as “his little paradise”.
Speaking to the Mail on Sunday from their holiday home, just a few minutes’ drive from the reservoir, “Ann”, 67, said the couple’s discovery still “gives me goosebumps”.
She added: “When we saw where the police were searching the past few days you could see that’s where the row of stones was pointing to.
“Back then when we found it the whole thing was just so weird.
“At the time I thought, ‘has someone dumped Madeleine in the water and then come back to make a shrine in her memory?’ It was so odd.”
When the couple returned to the spot two days later, the flowers and photograph had vanished.
It comes as exclusive pictures show the secret camp Christian B set up next to the reservoir searched by Madeleine McCann cops.
Witnesses told The Sun on Sunday Christian B used stones from the water to build a wall, fixed up a table and a chair — and swam in the lake to “cleanse” himself.
Activity was stepped up at the reservoir this week as Portuguese sources claimed an informant who knew Christian B gave cops a tip-off – and claimed he had been to the spot days after Maddie vanished.
Teams in overalls and rubber gloves were directed by a senior German officer and a photographer logging snaps of key clues.
Police were spotted removing what appeared to be large brown evidence bags from the search site.
The reservoir is 31 miles from the Ocean Club holiday apartment in Praia da Luz where three-year-old Maddie, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was snatched.
Cops also left behind two-foot deep holes following their search at a “hippy camp” close to the reservoir this week.
Soil samples taken from the area searched last week have been sent to Germany for analysis
But authorities have not revealed any information about what was found.
The German prosecutor downplayed reports that a bra, clothing and other objects had been found, the Mail on Sunday reports.
