Eileen McCann, who was one of the figureheads of the campaign to find Madeleine, died after contracting Covid-19. Photo / AP / Getty
Eileen McCann, who was one of the figureheads of the campaign to find Madeleine, died after contracting Covid-19. Photo / AP / Getty
Madeleine McCann's grandmother died of suspected coronavirus just weeks before police announced a major breakthrough in the investigation into her missing granddaughter.
Eileen McCann, who was one of the figureheads of the campaign to find Madeleine, said that she would never give up hope of the young girl coming homealive, and kept a large pink teddy bear with a white heart on a bed in her house for her return.
The 80-year-old, who passed away last month, was a former pub landlady and it is understood that Kate and Gerry attended her small, socially distanced funeral in St Conval's, East Renfrewshire, near to where she lived.
In the wake of Madeleine's disappearance, she regularly visited Praia da Luz to offer comfort and support to her son and his wife, saying: "As long as they don't find her body, I'll never give up hope. When we do finally get her home she'll have so much love and hugs from us all."
Eileen McCann, who was one of the figureheads of the campaign to find Madeleine, died after contracting Covid-19. Photo / AP / Getty
Clarence Mitchell, the McCann family spokesman, said: "It is a private family matter and Gerry and Kate simply do not wish to comment."
On Thursday night, it emerged that Christian Brückner, the prime suspect, had a third car which he used to drive around the Algarve. The German drove a "battered Volkswagen estate", a British ex-girlfriend told the Mirror.
So far, police have only asked for information about two vehicles, a VW campervan and a Jaguar XJR6.
Last week, German prosecutors said that they have evidence that proves that Madeleine is dead, but they do not have enough evidence to charge their prime suspect, a convicted paedophile with a history of burglaries and sexual assaults across Europe.
Braunschweig state prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said police needed more information about where Christian Brückner has lived so they can search for Madeleine's body.
German prosecutors said that they have evidence that proves that Madeleine is dead, but they do not have enough evidence to charge their prime suspect Christian Brückner.
In an interview with The Telegraph, he accused Portuguese officials of being blinkered, and that he thought they still believed that it was Madeleine's parents who were responsible for the disappearance.
Portuguese officials made Kate and Gerry "arguidos" - or suspects - in the wake of the incident in May 2007 and took 10 months to find no evidence of them being involved.
On Thursday, Rogerio Alves, the lawyer for the McCann family in Portugal told The Telegraph that the comments were "unhelpful" and that the police should "work together to find the truth and not quarrel all the time".
He said: "What I think the Portuguese police believe is that both the father and mother have no responsibility at all in what happened."
Police sources also hit back at Mr Woltors, telling Mail Online: "'The German prosecutor has stated as a fact that Madeleine McCann is dead but then in another breath he says they have no idea where the body is and the evidence is circumstantial.
"We are ready to help, but all we have seen is a talking head and nothing more."
On Thursday, the lawyer acting for the father of the German five-year-old Inga Gehricke, whose 2012 disappearance has been linked to Brückner, said there is a pattern emerging of the 43-year-old's connection to missing children.
"There is a thread in the life of Mr Brückner that whenever children disappear, he always finds himself near the crime scene," Khubaib Ali Mohammed said.
His comments came as the Belgium authorities confirmed that they would be officially reopening the investigation into Carola Titze, 16, who was found dead in 1996.
