More than 17 years on from Madeleine McCann’s tragic disappearance, justice has still not been served.

Questions remain unanswered about what happened to the youngster on the fateful night of May 3, 2007, in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, with her heartbroken family still without closure after all these years. In recent times, claims have been made about prime suspect Christian Brueckner – the convicted paedophile who was living in an area close to the holiday apartment where Maddie was last seen.

The latest allegation came earlier this week, with a former cellmate of the German native claiming he had confessed to snatching the three-year-old. Brueckner’s old jailmate Laurentiu Codin told a court: “He told me that in Portugal, he had stolen there.”

“He was in a region where there are hotels and rich people live. He said there was somewhere with an open window, he told me this. He was looking for money.”

“He said he didn’t find any money but found a kid and took the child. He said that two hours later, there were police and dogs all over the place, so he then went away, out of the area.” Mr Codin added: “I am just saying what he told me. He told me that a person was with him, who he had had an argument with, allegedly it was his woman. He said he took the child in Portugal in his car, and in the time when the police and dogs were at the house, he drove away and he was gone.”

“He asked me if the DNA from a child can be taken from bones under the ground.” The allegation came as Brueckner, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for raping a pensioner, is now on trial accused of a string of sex offences in Portugal between 2000 and 2017, unrelated to Madeleine’s case.

He is charged with raping an Irish tour rep, a teenage girl and an elderly woman in her holiday apartment. He also faces a child sex charge for allegedly exposing himself to a German girl on a beach in Salema in 2017. He denies all charges against him and denies any involvement with the famous missing person’s case.

Maddie’s mum Kate previously told the Mirror, ahead of her book launch, that her twins gave her the strength to fight on, with son Sean promising: ‘When you’re old, me and Amelie will look for Madeleine’. She then revealed: “I was chatting to Amelie and she said, ‘Mummy’s sad because Madeleine is not here. But Amelie is here, and Amelie and Sean will always be here.’”

Keeping busy is the family’s way of coping, though it will never fill the void left by Maddie’s absence. Speaking in her ambassador role for charity Missing People, Kate said about the twin teens: “They have their own friends and they keep busy and they’re really sporty but their only wish is for their big sister to come home. We miss our complete family of five.”

“As a family 98 per cent of the time we’re busy. I don’t know if that’s a conscious thing but it helps. The urge to look for Madeleine absolutely hasn’t changed at all.”

Amelie was said to be in the process of applying to university, but inevitably the absence of their sister has left a dark cloud over the lives of her and her brother. In an interview with The Sun, Kate said Sean and Amelie have “grown up essentially without Madeleine but knowing their sister is missing and they want her back.”

In May of last year, the sister joined her parents at a vigil for missing children on the poignant 16th anniversary of her disappearance. Amelie lit a candle in her memory and later said: “It’s nice that everyone is here together but it’s a sad occasion.” Amelie, accompanied by her friend Georgina, joined in repeating mantras read out by individual people in the 70-strong crowd including “Never never give up”, “leave no stone unturned”, “don’t forget about me” and “still missing, still missed.”

Later in the month, parents Kate and Gerry marked what would have been Maddie’s 20th birthday by telling their daughter: “We’re waiting for you”. The couple marked the milestone birthday at a small private family gathering.

In a Facebook post on the official Find Madeleine Campaign page, they wrote: “Happy birthday Madeleine! We love you and we’re waiting for you. We’re never going to give up.” They also posted a photo of their daughter taken on the fateful trip to the Algarve 17 years ago and a video of other photos.

A caption underneath the clip read: “Madeleine McCann is 20 years old today. She’s still missing, still missed and we are never going to give up trying to find her.”