MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian Brueckner confessed to an inmate he DID snatch a child from a Portuguese apartment, a court sensationally heard today.
Paedophile Brueckner, 47, is said to have confided about his past after asking cellmate Laurentiu Codin if he “too” was behind bars for child offences.
Dan CharityChristian Brueckner pictured in court today[/caption]
AFPBrueckner, 47, being led into the court in Braunschweig[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationMadeleine McCann vanished in 2007[/caption]
AFPThe Portugal apartment Maddie was taken from in 2007[/caption]
GettyA police mug shot of Brueckner[/caption]
The drifter then confided he had taken “a child” during a break-in in Portugal – and begged the fellow con to burn down his lair when he got out of prison.
Chilling Mr Cudin raised the prospect of Maddie being buried – saying the rapist had asked him “if the DNA from a child can be taken from bones under the ground”.
Cudin told Braunschweig Regional Court: “He said he stole in Portugal.
“He told me that in Portugal, he had stolen there
“He was in a region where there are hotels and rich people live. He said there was somewhere with an open window, he told me this. He was looking for money.
“He said he didn’t find any money but found a kid and took the child.
“He said that two hours later, there were police and dogs all over the place, so he then went away, out of the area.
“I am just saying what he told me. He told me that a person was with him, who he had had an argument with, allegedly it was his woman.
“He said he took the child in Portugal in his car, and in the time when the police and dogs were at the house, he drove away and he was gone.
“He asked me if the DNA from a child can be taken from bones under the ground.”
It comes after Maddie investigators have previously told of their firm belief the toddler is dead, although have not said why they believe this.
Codin also claimed Brueckner had seemed panicked about potential evidence he might have left at a crime scene – asking if a person could be traced by hair – or if they might leave a trace climbing over a balcony.
He alleged in court that sicko Brueckner had asked him to burn down his box factory lair when he was released from prison – believing he would never get free.
German FBI agents later searched the property and found a string of data storage and hard drives – although the exact relevance to the case has not been released.
Codin also claimed Brueckner had boasted about covering his tracks by burning a car – although he did not specify in court, which crime it related to.
Codin said: “He told me that he was there in Portugal with another person and that he set fire to a car or hired someone else to set fire to a car in Portugal.”
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”
“So he told me that the last time he had sex was with a woman from Portugal. He had preferences, he wanted to choke her, he wanted to pull her by the hair and ejaculate in her face. He told me that he didn’t do it with her consent but forced her.”
He added: “He asked me every time if I was a paedophile. Every time we spoke, he came back to that. Brückner said at the time: ‘Tell me, you don’t have to watch out for me’.
“He told me all these things in the hope that I was a paedophile too.”
Codin, 50, claimed in court that the German ‘confided’ in him while they were both on remand in the same prison.
He also alleged Brueckner told him of abusing “tiny” young girls on a “bus” he owned after snatching them.
Codin told the court: “There was talk of a girl, I don’t know if what he said was true or not.
“He said that he had a bus and that he had taken her with it. He said he kept some of them, but not others, but he never said that he had killed them.
“We’re talking about girls, not boys. Not all at once, always one at a time. He told me about two. He said that he had taken someone, had sex with her but he didn’t kill her.”
Asked by the judge how old his victim was, Codin said: “I don’t want to get it wrong, but it was very young, tiny. I mean young.
“Each time when we were together he spoke about it because he was convinced that I was a paedophile.”
At the time the criminals were in prison together in 2020 after Brueckner had publicly been named prime suspect over the disappearance of Madeleine in 2007.
The testimony amounts to a massive boost to the Maddie case – showing prosecutors in Germany now have A SECOND witness to Brueckner confessions.
Previously they had appeared to rely on the sole account of ex-drifter Helge Busching – whos credibility has been harmed during Brueckner’s current rape and sex offences trial.
Earlier Brueckner was confronted with images of Maddie in court for the first time as they were shown on big screens as part of exhibits.
Convicted paedophile and rapist Christain Brueckner was named as the prime suspect over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2020, although he has never been formally charged,
He is on trial for a string of rapes and sex offences unconnected to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, which he denies. Trial continues.