Madeleine McCann prime suspect charged with several sexual offences
Topics: News, Madeleine McCann
Gregory Robinson
Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: News, Madeleine McCann
The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been charged with several sex offences in Germany.
He has been charged with several sexual offences allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017, prosecutors have said.
Three-year-old McCann vanished while on holiday in Portugal in 2007.
She went missing from her bedroom while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal with her family in May 2007 and the case remains unsolved almost 16 years later.
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She had been left with her younger siblings while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were out for dinner in a tapas restaurant.
The police are currently investigating sex criminal and main suspect who was in the Algarve in 2007, which is were McCann went missing.
He is described as "a sexual offender that has been convicted several time also for sexual abuse against children" and was known to live on and off in the Algarve, Portugal, between 1995 and 2007.
He was reportedly in the area were Maddie was last seen 13 years ago, before her disappearance.
Christian Brueckner has been described as a white man who is about 6ft tall. At the time of the incident, he is believed to have had a slim build and short blond hair.
The convicted rapist is currently imprisoned in Germany serving a seven year sentence after being found guilty of raping a 72-year-old woman.
Brueckner has reportedly denied any involvement in the case.
In June 2020, German police said they believe McCann is dead and when the police announced the new lead, Kate and Gerry McCann described it as 'potentially very significant'.
"Kate and Gerry do feel it's potentially very significant. They have welcomed the appeal; they're not doing any interviews themselves about it because they wish the focus to remain on the police request rather than they themselves," their spokesperson said at the time.
Hans Christian-Wolters, the prosecutor leading the case against Brueckner, previously shared that he has 'everything he needs' to make a case against the suspect and had spoken about 'significant new evidence' against the suspect coming to light.
In a three-part documentary, Madeleine McCann: Prime Suspect, Brueckner spoke with British investigator Mark Williams-Thomas from his prison cell in Oldenburg, northwest Germany, where he provided an alleged alibi.
Speaking to The Sun, the former detective revealed in April this year: “We have since been in contact at length in writing and he has explained his position to me in detail.
“He has told me exactly where he was on the night Madeleine disappeared – and that he was not where the police say he was. He also insists that he is entirely innocent.
“My inquiries have unearthed evidence which is pretty explosive, but I’m not saying whether I believe what he told me. That’s for viewers to judge.”