The initial Portuguese investigation failed to preserve the scene adequately, so the opportunity to gather forensic evidence from Madeline McCann's room at the Ocean Club was lost. Long-term residents remember joining in uncoordinated and ad-hoc searches of the town.

Police have concluded their three-day search for Madeleine McCann. German and Portuguese police and firefighters have combed an area on the outskirts of Lagos in Portugal 18 years after the three-year-old British girl disappeared. With officers seen shaking hands and embracing at the end of the search, it closed the book on the £300,000 operation.