The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is set to be released from jail today, with prosecutors fearing he will immediately flee the country.
Convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 48, was named by German authorities as the man responsible for the ‘abduction and murder’ of Madeleine in 2020, but no charges have been brought against him since. He denies any involvement.
Repeated searches in Praia da Luz, Portugal where Madeleine McCann disappeared aged three in 2007 have focused on Brueckner, but without a charge he must be released from prison without delay, the lead prosecutor investigating said.
Hans Christian Wolters says he believes Brueckner is still a ‘danger to society’.
‘We haven’t found anything in the last five years that exonerates [him],’ he told the BBC. ‘We found evidence that strengthens our case. But in our view it’s not strong enough to make a guilty verdict likely, and that’s why so far we couldn’t charge him or apply for an arrest warrant.’
Brueckner will walk out of Sehnde prison, near Hannover, today after completing six years of a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-American woman in 2005 in the same area where Madeleine vanished from.
German authorities fear he will disappear overseas and have made desperate appeals for him to wear an ankle tag but this is thought to have been overruled, and his legal team insist he has ‘served his time and can come and go as he pleases’.
It has since emerged that an ankle tag would not work if he left Germany, and would prove useless in tracking him.
Meanwhile in a series of letters to the Daily Mail, Brueckner has insisted he has ‘nothing to do’ with Madeleine’s disappearance and his lawyer Friedrich Fulscher insists he has been made a ‘scapegoat’.
Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, is expected to be released from prison in Germany today
Police officers stand next to the high-security prison in Sehnde, near Hanover, September 17
Mr Wolters said: ‘He is not only our number open suspect he is our only suspect – there is no-one else.
‘We have evidence which speaks for itself, and which points to him being responsible for the disappearance and death of Madeleine McCann.
‘We have evidence against him but it’s just not strong enough to bring a case and so that’s why we haven’t charged him yet – we hope we can at some stage.’
He added: ‘You have to expect him to commit further crimes.’
The family of his US rape victim, Diana Menkes, also fears Brueckner is still a danger to the public.
Mrs Menkes died three years ago and her family in Pasadena, California, agreed for her to be named also expressed shock and disappointment at his impending release.
Her nephew Michael Foulger told the Daily Mail: ‘It feels to us that he is still a danger to the public and should be closely monitored especially if he is connected to the Madeleine McCann case.’
Madeleine’s disappearance almost 20 years ago has remained a mystery that has gripped public opinion, and her parents Kate and Gerry have always held out hope their daughter will eventually be found.
She vanished from the holiday apartment where she was staying with her family in May 2007 and sparked a massive Europe wide search which has become one of the highest profile missing person cases in the world.
With his long list of previous Brueckner fits the bill as the ‘prime suspect’ his first conviction for child sex offences was in 1994 when he was a teenager and it carried on throughout the late 90’s and into the 2000s.
Madeleine McCann went missing from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007
He spent years drifting across Portugal and Spain and was known to be working as an odd job man in the Praia da Luz area at the time when Madeleine vanished and he was also involved in hotel burglaries and diesel theft.
Mobile phone data has placed him in the area of the Ocean Club holiday complex where the McCanns were staying, and he is known to have received a lengthy call before she vanished, and prosecutors are desperate to know who from.
When she disappeared, her parents were with friends at a nearby restaurant and Kate returned to check on Madeleine and her siblings and raised the alarm when she returned, found the window open and her daughter missing.
Over the years there have been numerous false sightings but nothing of substance until Brueckner was named by the German authorities as the prime suspect and it has since emerged that Scotland Yard also hold him in a similar vein.
Last month they requested to interview him but he refused permission and the Met’s DCI Mark Cranwell, who is leading the UK investigation, said: ‘We can confirm that this individual remains a suspect…in the absence of an interview, we will nevertheless continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.’
Members of the media wait in front of a prison facility, where Christian Brueckner is being held ahead of his expected release in Sehnde, Germany, September 17
In an interview with German TV broadcaster RTL, Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said of his client:’ I consider the investigation into the Maddie case to be completely without substance.
‘I haven’t seen anything yet that makes me doubt my client’s innocence.’
When asked how Brueckner was feeling ahead of his release, he said: ‘I can imagine that he has mixed feelings, he is anxious because he simply doesn’t know what to expect.
‘There is a plan in place for his release as he has to be adequately protected and I have to ensure his privacy is also protected.’
