THE biggest missing person’s case in the world has taken yet another jaw-dropping turn.
Prime Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner walked free from jail this week – despite prosecutors insisting he killed the missing tot.
BILD FotoserviceChristian Brueckner was seen with an ankle tag after being released from prison[/caption]
BILD FotoserviceHe was seen taking a puff on a cigarette[/caption]
PAMadeleine McCann vanished in Portugal in 2007[/caption]
AFPChristian Brueckner arrives at court in northern Germany, on September 5, 2024[/caption]
So how have we come to this point? What has it taken for a man deemed one of the most dangerous humans in society to be back on the streets – with little sign of a McCann case reaching court anytime soon?
The Brueckner saga started in June 2020 when German investigators sensationally revealed they had their man – a 42-year-old serving prisoner named Christian B.
At they same time they made the heartbreaking claim Madeleine was dead.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told: “We don’t have the body and no parts of the body, but we have enough evidence to say our suspect killed Madeleine McCann.”
At the time, Brueckner was already caged for the brutal rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005.
For many, it seemed the pieces finally fit – but Brueckner denied and continues to deny the claims.
But what wasn’t known at the time was that cops had also found a huge amount of shocking material at a disused factory owned by him.
The horde – revealed in a groundbreaking documentary by The Sun and Channel 4 that aired earlier this year – included disturbing evidence.
This included USB sticks holding stories written by Brueckner about kidnapping and abusing children, Skype conversations with other paedophiles, more than 75 swimming costumes, toys, small bikes, and drugs that could cause unconsciousness.
Chillingly, pictures of the monster posing near a dam just 35 miles from where Maddie was taken were found, too – including a nude selfie in which he had superimposed a balaclava onto his face.
Other parts of the jigsaw seemed to fit, as well – but it still wasn’t enough to build the case prosecutors wanted.
Days after Bruecker was named a suspect in 2020, a key witness – who was quizzed by cops within hours of Maddie’s abduction in 2007 – told The Sun how the paedophile was the man she saw acting suspiciously outside the McCanns’ holiday apartment on the night she vanished.
A second witness claimed that Portuguese detectives circulated a photograph of Brueckner years earlier, but failed to act.
And a Sun trawl of statements from the time all pointed to the involvement of a man matching his description – with a suspect and camper van, like the one owned by Brueckner, spotted several times before Maddie was snatched.
In addition, a British ex-girlfriend of Brueckner went on to claim days later that the night before the toddler’s abduction he told her: “I have a horrible job to do in Praia da Luz tomorrow.”
She also told how she asked him if he snatched Madeleine — but was warned: “Just don’t go there.”
That September, The Sun tracked down an associate of Brueckner – Helge Busching – in Corsica.
BILD Fotoservice
He also enjoyed a burger from McDonald’s[/caption]
Darren FletcherChristian Brueckner pictured during a trial in Germany[/caption]
Brueckner’s defence lawyer Friedrich FülscherDan Charity
He revealed how the convicted sex offender had replied, “She wasn’t screaming” when Busching had told him he didn’t understand how someone could “rob little children from a hotel”.
The terrifying comment, which was made when the pair were together at a festival in Spain in 2008, was reported to Scotland Yard by Busching later that year.
But he wasn’t interviewed by detectives until 2017, when he called a dedicated hotline for Operation Grange, the Met’s investigation into Maddie’s disappearance.
His testimony was passed to the authorities in Germany, and became part of the part case against Brueckner.
The story took a strange turn in May 2022 when investigative journalists claimed Brueckner had undergone “face-changing” surgery four months after the tot vanished to reset his jaw and have his “rabbit” teeth secretly fixed.
AFPMadeleine McCann who disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007[/caption]
The Sun claimed the £7,500 operation came shortly after an artist’s impression of the suspect by an FBI-trained artist showed a man with protruding teeth, and when Brueckner had flown back to Germany from Portugal while the search for Maddie continued.
The pair added they had “exposed gaping holes in Brueckner’s claims of innocence”, and had supplied German cops with a dossier of evidence – which included claims from a new witness who revealed Brueckner knew the holiday complex where the McCanns were staying “inside out”.
And five months later, it seemed progress was being made in the case when The Sun revealed Brueckner had been charged with five sex crimes that took place in Portugal, including two assaults on young children, between 2000 and 2017 – although none related to Maddie.
But prosecutors faced criticism over the length of time it had taken to charge Brueckner – and he would eventually be cleared of all of the alleged offences.
Hopes were again raised in May 2023 after cops conducted a three-day search of the Arade reservoir in Portugal, focusing on an area where Brueckner was believed to have stayed in his camper van.
The probe, a joint effort by Portuguese and German investigators, used sniffer dogs and a boat to search the water.
Several objects were discovered and sent for analysis in Germany – but the search ultimately failed to yield any significant evidence.
With police becoming increasingly desperate for a breakthrough, The Sun tracked down a potential new witness in March last year amid claims the BKA – Germany’s version of the FBI – wanted to talk to him.
It was thought the man, known as Ralph H, could help with the investigation as he was a close pal of Brueckner – but cops said he had “disappeared”.
However, The Sun traced him to his home in Braunschweig, where in a blow to investigators he said he would ‘never’ talk to them.
A month earlier, Brueckner’s trial into the unrelated sex offences – three counts of rape and two of indecent exposure – had started in the Lower Saxony town – following a row over where it would take place.
But if prosecutors hoped finally bringing the case to court would buy them some time and help keep Brueckner behind bars while they attempted to bring charges over Maddie’s disappearance, they were badly mistaken.
The trial got off to a bad start when it was adjourned after just NINE minutes following objections to one of the three judges by Brueckner’s lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher.
PAMaddie’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, pictured in 2017[/caption]
Brueckner’s dark past
CHRISTIAN Brueckner’s criminal record spans decades.
He was jailed in 1994 for sexually abusing children, convicted again of child sex abuse in 2016, and was living in Portugal at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
He was later convicted of raping the American tourist in Praia da Luz in 2005 – just yards from the McCann holiday complex – but was cleared last year in a separate rape and sexual abuse case.
A Sun investigation this year — aired on Channel 4 — revealed bombshell new evidence, including his obsession with snatching blonde girls.
But prosecutors are adamant he remains their focus.
Wolters has previously said: “There is no one else. He is the only suspect.”
She was accused of bias based on a series of tweets she had made in 2019 calling for the murder of the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Then in a shock move part-way through the hearing, another judge overturned an arrest warrant for Brueckner after ruling the court had not heard strong enough evidence from witnesses to keep him behind bars.
The announcement raised fears Brueckner would be cleared of the charges, and freed from jail once he sentence for raping the American pensioner expired this year.
Furious prosecutors filed a motion to have the judge – and her two fellow judges – dismissed, and a new panel appointed, saying they were concerned the court had already formed its opinion over Brueckner’s guilt.
They failed – but did seem to strike a blow against Brueckner when a former cellmate of his gave evidence to say he’d boasted of ‘stealing a child in Portugal’.
However, Brueckner was sensationally acquitted in October last year – with judge Ute Engemann saying prosecution witnesses had failed to persuade the court.
The not guilty verdicts represented a blow to the Maddie case – with the credibility of key witnesses called into question.
It left cops facing a race against time to keep Brueckner behind bars – with The Sun telling how desperate cops were planning to charge him if thats what it took to keep him caged.
Our bombshell documentary, ‘Madeleine McCann: The Unseen Evidence’, followed in May this year, and was quickly followed by an announcement in June of a fresh dig for proof by German and Portuguese police near Praia da Luz.
The three-day search focused on scrubland and abandoned buildings where Brueckner had lived – but ended with no success in finding clues about Maddie’s fate.
And Brueckner appeared to rub salt into the wound with a gloating letter from his cell that taunted cops: “Is there a body? No, no no.”
The Sun exclusively told how the sickening note added “the dropping of the investigation will hit the world like a bomb”.
How we revealed probe on evil perv
THE Sun has led the way in covering the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
In June 2020, German investigators named him as Christian B, and revealed their belief she was dead.
A month later we revealed fears over Brueckner’s allotment house with a cellar he was building.
That September The Sun tracked key witness Helge B down in Corsica, who claimed the sex offender told him: “She didn’t scream.”
In October 2022, The Sun revealed how Brueckner had been charged with a sex assault on a girl of ten near Praia da Luz days before Madeleine vanished.
In September 2024 The Sun printed claims Brueckner told an ex-cell mate he had taken a child in Portugal and begged him to burn his lair.
This May, The Sun revealed evidence against Brueckner unearthed from police files after an investigation into him — including child abuse messages.
The Sun revealed in June Brueckner bragged that cops would never pin the case on him.
Last week we revealed a cop investigating Brueckner paid for his early release because she feared for his human rights.
The 48-year-old also demonstrated an intimate knowledge of how the German legal system worked in his favour, writing: “You don’t have to be a realist like me to predict that the accusations made against me will not hold up and that the investigation will be dropped.
“You know, of course, that in Germany you don’t have to prove your innocence as a suspect, but that the public prosecutor’s office has to prove that you are clearly guilty.
“Even the slightest doubt leads to an acquittal, if there is a court hearing at all.”
There was still a chance to keep Brueckner behind bars, with an appeal against the judges’ verdicts by prosecutors. But it hasn’t been heard in time, and a review is still pending.
And incredibly, Brueckner was finally freed thanks to a COP who investigated him after she paid off a £1,253 unpaid fine for a separate offence that could have kept him in jail until January next year.
Rebecca K said she knew Brueckner was a rapist and paedophile — but feared that his human rights were being violated, adding she ‘felt sorry’ for him.
She admitted she was also motivated by revenge after falling out with her team at the BKA, claiming she was asked not to return following maternity leave.
The baffling act of charity allowed Bruecker to speed out of Sehnde prison in northern Germany on Wednesday, hidden under a blanket in the back of his lawyer’s £60,000 Audi A6.
It was the final bizarre twist in a rollercoaster saga that has put the man prosecutors are certain killed Madeleine McCann back on the streets – for now, at least.
Madeleine McCann’s disappearance
MADELEINE McCann vanished on May 3, 2007 – and cops believe Brueckner could have been behind her disappearance.
Almost 17 years on, no one has been charged in connection. These are the key dates
May 3, 2007 – Kate McCann finds Madeleine missing at 10pm
May 14, 2007 – Property developer Robert Murat is named an “arguido” or formal suspect
August 31, 2007 – The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual – a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine
September 7, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann are made “arguidos”
September 9, 2007– Madeleine’s parents return to England with their two-year-old twins
October 2, 2007– Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview
July 21, 2009 – Portuguese police lift the “arguido” status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns
May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Scotland Yard launches a review into the case
April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive
July 4, 2013 – Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance
October 24, 2013– Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found
November 27, 2013 – Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together
October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance
March 11, 2017 – The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September
September 28, 2017 – British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe going until March 2018
November 2017 – Cops moved the search to Bulgaria
May 2018 – Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
September 2018 – An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office
November 2018 – More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
November 2018 – UK police re-examine a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents
June 2019 – Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
June 2019 – Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers
June 2020 – New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo Christian Brueckner
April 2022 – Brueckner formally made an “arguido”
May 2023 – Police search remote Algarve reservoir Brueckner called his “little paradise”