German Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters has claimed missing girl Madeleine McCann is dead, and that she died in Portugal.
In the latest update of one of the most prolific missing person cases in British history, Wolters said there was no way Madeleine McCann was still alive.
McCann was three-years-old when she went missing from a Praia da Luz holiday complex in the Algarve in May 2007.
Hans Christian Wolters reacted to an apology made by Portuguese investigators after they travelled to the UK to meet with Madeleine's parents to say sorry for their handling of the investigation.
He said "it was a good sign" and shows that "there's development in the McCann case."
Portuguese officers met with Gerry McCann to say sorry about the way they handled her disappearance when she first went missing.
Hans Christian Wolters says Madeleine McCann died in Portugal
BBC
In a new BBC documentary, 'Prime Suspect: Who Took Madeleine McCann?', the case of suspect Christian Brueckner who is accused of abducting the school girl is probed with Portuguese and German authorities speaking on a number of issues surrounding the case.
Wolters also told the investigative journalist that they have "only one suspect at the moment", and believe that 46-year-old German national Christian Brueckner was man responsible for Madeleine's disappearance.
The journalist asked Wolters: "From what you've seen, you're sure she's dead?", to which he agreed, "yeah".
Wolters was then asked about the location of which McCann could have died, where he claimed she "died in Portugal".
When pressed on whether the German authorities are aware of the location of the crime, Wolters simply replied "maybe".
Madeleine McCann went missing on May 3 in 2007, in Portugal
PA
Brueckner has emerged as a prime suspect in recent years of the case's investigation, and Wolters said his team hope to finish their five-year investigation into Brueckner next year.
Brueckner was made a formal suspect by prosecutors in 2022, and is currently serving a seven-year term in a German prison.
He is currently serving his sentence for drug trafficking as well as the rape of a 72-year-old woman in 2005, in the same area where Madeleine went missing.
Brueckner has also been charged with a further three rapes, sexual assault and the sexual assault of a child, all alleged to have been committed on the Portuguese Algarve.