From your quoted article:
In 2015, Peter W, of Regensburg, southern Germany, paid suspect Christian Brueckner £5,000 for his yellow and white Volkswagen T3 Westfalia campervan in the Algarve, Portugal.
Police seized it from Peter W’s scrapyard and shipped it to Germany for forensic tests.
https://www.mittelbayerische.de/region/regensburg-stadt-nachrichten/fall-maddie-spur-fuehrt-zu-autowerkstatt-21179-art1970402.htmlREGENSBURG. In the case of Maddie McCann, who disappeared on Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 and made headlines around the world, a Regensburg resident may hold the key to clarifying the case.
The emigrant Peter W. (name changed) involuntarily came into the focus of investigators from Great Britain and Germany. That is why his car plays a key role.
(Rest of article behind a paywall)
Credit to Sharkbite on Websleuths.
Reading between the lines, I think the Westfalia was kept, on & off, at Piro's scrapyard for a number of years. The reported change of ownership in 2015 seems to coincide with the son's departure to pastures new.