Prime suspect in Madeleine McCann case could be freed from prison soon – but German prosecutors have ‘no current plans’ to charge him
German prosecutors currently have “no plans” to charge a man they suspect was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann despite his potential release from prison.
Christian Brueckner has been serving a seven-year sentence for the 2005 rape of a woman in Portugal’s Algarve region, in the area where Madeleine went missing.
In 2020 it emerged that German prosecutors were investigating Brueckner in connection to Madeleine’s disappearance, and he was officially named as a suspect in 2022.
Brueckner’s original sentence is due to end in September, but Braunschweig Chief Public Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters confirmed to The Independent that Brueckner had filed a motion for early release.
Mr Wolters said the Hildesheim Regional Court was yet to decide on that motion, and there was no date for a hearing yet.
“There are currently no plans to file charges in the Maddie case,” Mr Wolters added. “We are currently awaiting the decision of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe regarding the cases heard last year. However, that will certainly take a few more months.”
Three-year-old Madeleine vanished from the bed of her Portuguese holiday apartment on May 3, 2007, while her parents and their friends dined nearby. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have been searching for answers ever since.
Brueckner’s yellow and white VW T3 Westfalia campervan was reportedly seen near the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal where the young girl went missing.
Brueckner, who has always denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance, was convicted in 2019 to seven years in prison for the rape of an American woman in Portugal.
In a separate trial, Brueckner faced three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children that took place between 2000 and 2017.
But in October last year, his lawyer successfully argued he should be acquitted, telling the court: “This trial should never have taken place”, and a judge ”ruled the evidence against Brueckner was “insufficient.
Earlier this year, Mr Wolters said there was “no prospect” of filing charges against Brueckner in the McCann caseas the prosecutor’s office was still searching for forensic evidence to link him to her disappearance.
Scotland Yard still considers the case a missing person inquiry, because there was no “definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”.
Ahead of the 17th anniversary of her disappearance last year, the Home Office granted Scotland Yard up to £192,000 in additional funding to continue investigating the case. As of March 31 last year, the total cost of the investigation was £13.2 million.
