Release of Main Suspect in Madeleine McCann Disappearance Confirmed
The main suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann is set to be released from a German prison on Wednesday, where he has been serving a seven-year sentence for an unrelated sexual offense.
German prosecutors first named Christian Brückner as a suspect in 2020 while he was serving time for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in the Algarve region of Portugal—the same area where McCann went missing.
His prison sentence is set to end on Wednesday. According to Der Spiegel, his passport has been canceled, he will be fitted with an electronic tag, and he will be required to report his place of residence and remain confined unless given explicit permission to leave.
Citing attorney Philipp Markwort, Der Spiegel reported, “This is an effort by prosecutors to keep him under a form of investigative custody where they can access him at all times.”
Brückner’s lawyer has denied any connection to the McCann case. In addition to the rape charge, Brückner faces allegations of child abuse and drug trafficking linked to the same woman, who has since passed away.
Police from the UK, Germany, and Portugal—who have long considered Brückner their primary suspect—have been searching for concrete evidence to link him definitively to the case. In June, investigators from Portugal and Germany spent four days combing the Algarve for evidence.
On Monday, British police said that Brückner, currently held in Sehnde prison in northern Germany, declined their request for questioning in connection with the disappearance. They confirmed they would continue to pursue all possible lines of inquiry.
At the time of her disappearance, three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished from her holiday resort bedroom while her parents dined only meters away.
Brückner, now 49, lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007, where, according to court documents reviewed by Reuters, he was involved in burglaries at hotels and holiday apartments.
McCann’s parents continue to campaign in search of their daughter, who would now be 22 years old, and issue statements each year on the anniversary of her disappearance.
On their website, they wrote, “We love her very much and cannot put into words how much we miss her.”
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