A self-styled investigator hunting for Madeleine McCann says he has found a burial site under a driveway in the Portuguese town where she went missing in five years ago.

Stephen Birch, who invested £30,000 of his own money investigating the case, says the site in question is on a property not far from where the toddler was last seen.

Birch, a South African property developer has asked Portuguese authorities to excavate the area after making ground radar scans, but the request has been refused.

Birch told the Huffington Post: "The scans indicate that the ground beneath the gravel driveway was disturbed and something lies buried underneath the driveway."

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Birch received a letter from the Portuguese Prime Minister's office on September 10, which included a response from Almeida Rodrigues, head of Portugal's judicial police.

According to the letter, authorities examined the same location with a ground-penetrating radar device in 2007 and did not find any areas of interest.

"Therefore, we are of the opinion that this does not justify the realisation of the desired diligence by the advocate," they wrote.

Carter-Ruck, the law firm representing Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, said they stand behind the decision of the authorities not to dig.

In July Birch said he had passed radar scans to Scotland Yard, who are conducting an investigative review of the case.

He told Sky News: “All I want to do is solve the mystery and bring closure to Madeleine’s family. I am convinced she lies where I have scanned.

“I’ve had the scans analysed and they show digging, a void and what could be human bones.”

Madeleine was nearly four-years-old when she vanished in 2007 from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as her parents dined with friends at a tapas bar nearby.

Her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, continue their search, claiming: “There is absolutely nothing to suggest that Madeleine has been harmed.”

A spokesman for Scotland Yard told Huffington Post UK he was "not prepared to discuss specific lines of inquiry."

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  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    A photo of Madeleine McCann that was taken when she was 3 years old.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate McCann looks at an inflatable News of the World poster of missing daughter Madeleine measuring approx 800sq ft on the beach in Praia Da Luz, Portugal.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate McCann, mother of missing Madeleine, during the recording of a television interview for the spanish television show "Los Mas Buscados" with images of Madeleine on a large TV screen behind her, in the Hotel Villa Magna in Madrid.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    The GPR image that Stephen Birch believes shows a grave.

  • Missing girl in Algarve

    A photo of the May 15, 2007 search of the property in Praia da Luz where Stephen Birch believes he found a grave. The black box indicates the rubble pile he claims police never searched.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An October 2007 photo of the same location. Stephen Birch said this photo indicates the rubble pile had not been touched during the May 2007 search.

  • Missing girl in Algarve

    An overlay of the two photos.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

  • Missing Madeleine McCann

    Kate and Gerry McCann in Quorn, Leicestershire, as they launch a petition to lobby the UK and Portuguese governments for a joint or independent review over their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate McCann, mother of missing girl Madeleine McCann leaves the village chruch in Praia Da Luz on the Algarve, Portugal, following a service.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate McCann leaves a church service in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, 2 weeks after Madeleine McCann went missing on the evening of Thursday May 3.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

  • Missing Madeleine McCann

    Kate and Gerry McCann give a press conference in central London on their newly published book 'Madeleine' about their daughter's disappearance in 2007.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Business card sized leaflets showing missing girl Madeleine McCann, which were handed out to fans during the Espanyol v Sevilla Uefa Cup final at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

  • Missing girl in Algarve

    Kate McCann leaves the special service for the 100th day of Madeleine McCann's disappearance at the local church in Praia Du Luz, Portugal.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate and Gerry McCann make an appeal for their three year old Madeleine's return.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.