Paedophile suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann ‘worked at apartments where she vanished’

Christian Brueckner
AFP PHOTO/ ITALIAN CARABINIERI
Sami Quadri30 January 2022

The prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance “repeatedly worked” at the holiday apartments in Portugal where she went missing, according to an upcoming documentary.

Maddie was three when she was abducted from a holiday apartment in Algarve in 2007.

Christian Brueckner, 45, is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal.

He was identified as a murder suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation in June 2020.

A documentary on the high-profile case is set to be broadcast on German TV channel SAT.1 on Monday night.

During the documentary, an anonymous witness alleges Brueckner was employed by a company that “repeatedly carried out repair work” at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz.

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In a statement to the media, makers of the film – titled “SAT.1 investigativ: Neue Spuren im Fall Maddie” – said Brueckner was “very familiar” with the club and the town where the McCanns stayed.

A spokesman for the channel told the Telegraph: “A reconstruction of the evening of the crime and extensive research in Portugal and Germany found that Christian B was very familiar with the Ocean Club area in Praia da Luz.

“Prior to Maddie’s disappearance, he repeatedly carried out repair work at the place where the three-year-old disappeared in 2007.”

Christian Wolters, the public prosecutor leading the investigation in Germany, praised the documentary makers for sharing their findings.

He said: “We are grateful to the SAT.1 team for sharing certain findings with the public prosecutor’s office.

“There are witnesses who might prefer to speak to the media than to us or the police. If this produces any ideas we will of course follow these up.”

The Metropolitan Police maintain their active investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, Operation Grange, is a missing person inquiry as there is no “definitive evidence whether she is alive or dead”.

Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher has repeatedly insisted the German was not involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.

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