Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have searched a garden in Germany.

It’s reported they found the remains of a cellar at the property in Hanover.

Prosecutors said the search was connected to murder inquiries concerning a 43-year-old man.

The man was not named.

However, officers believe Christian Brueckner killed three-year-old Maddie soon after abducting her from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Brueckner is currently in prison in Germany for drug dealing.

He is also appealing against a conviction for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old woman, also at Praia da Luz.

The German newspaper Bild reported the foundations of a garden house were found on the site and a hidden cellar room was uncovered.

Two excavators, forensic teams, sniffer dogs and detectives have been digging the site and combing through the spoil.

Brueckner reportedly lived there during 2007, a former neighbour told local media.

He said he had lived “off grid” and had left within a year.

A spokeswoman for the state prosecutor confirmed that the search was part of its investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine in in 2007.