Madeleine McCann latest: German police to swab prime suspect's van for DNA clues

A request has been made to the Rosier dealership in the city of Braunschweig, which leased the van to Brueckner.

Germany's federal police, the BKA, want to examine the vehicle in hopes it could still contain DNA or other clues.

An employee at the garage which took the van back when Brueckner was finished with it said: “We cleaned it and repaired it but it wouldn’t have been wiped of all DNA.

“There could still be hairs and other traces of anyone who was kept inside.

“Due to data protection issues we cannot give you exact dates or further details of the client.”

The existence of the van was revealed in February, with a BKA spokesperson confirming they were getting in touch with the dealership to examine the vehicle.

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Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: “I know that the white Sprinter information has been passed on to the BKA.”

It is thought that Brueckner was using the van in 2015 - at the time when a girl known as the "German Maddie" disappeared.

Five-year-old Inga Gehricke vanished from a family picnic in a wood in Wilhelmshof, Saxony-Anhalt.

At the time the only clue was a sighting of a white Sprinter van driving down a track through the forest.

Brueckner was looked at as a suspect by the police and although the case, which remains opened, was shelved, the 47-year-old hasn't been officially discounted.

Earlier this year a friend of Brueckner's told The Sun about his van: “He drove around Europe with it and even took a girlfriend to Portugal and Spain with it.

“I went in it a few times with him and he used it all the time to move his stolen goods around.”