Madeleine McCann suspect cleared of unrelated sex attacks
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A suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann was acquitted of unrelated sexual abuse charges by a court in the German city of Brunswick on Tuesday.
Christian Brueckner has been formally identified as a suspect in the case of “Maddie” McCann, who disappeared from her bedroom in 2007 during a family holiday in Portugal. He denies any involvement.
Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug trader, is already serving a seven-year prison term in Germany for raping a woman in the part of Portugal’s Algarve region where McCann went missing. His sentence runs until September 2025.
In the trial in Brunswick, which started in February, Brueckner faced three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children committed between 2000 and 2017.
Prosecutors had argued for the German national to be given a 15-year sentence while his lawyer had called for him to be acquitted, saying he had only been put on trial because he was a suspect in the McCann case.
McCann, then aged 3, disappeared from her bedroom in May 2007 during a family holiday in the resort of Praia da Luz while her parents were dining with friends nearby.
The disappearance sparked a media frenzy in Britain and Portugal as the McCanns sought publicity to help find their daughter. Soccer stars David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo were among those joining appeals for information.
Her fate remains a mystery and no body has ever been found.
German police said in June 2020 that McCann was assumed dead and that Brueckner, in his 40s, was likely responsible for it, but they have never brought charges against him.
Brueckner,who moved between his native Germany and Portugal from the 1990s until his arrest and deportation in 2017, has been the main suspect for Madeleine’s disappearance for at least seven years.
Hans Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor in charge of the Madeleine investigation, has said in the past that he believes Brueckner abducted the three-year-old and that she is dead.
But the 47-year-old suspect, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in Portugal, has not been charged over Madeleine and denies any involvement in her disappearance.
The current trial in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, has been held on intermittent days over the past eight months.
The main charge against Brueckner was the rape of Irish holiday worker Hazel Behan in her room in the resort of Praia da Rocha in 2005. She has waived her right to anonymity.
Ms Behan was raped several times and whipped by a masked intruder brandishing a knife, in a prolonged ordeal that bore similar horrific hallmarks to the rape for which Brueckner is in jail now, said the prosecutor.
But his lawyer said Ms Behan’s description of her attacker did not match Brueckner ‘s, particularly a cross-like mark she said she saw on his right thigh, which he says he does not have.
