The main suspect in the kidnapping of Madeleine McCann is charged in Germany at the request of the Portuguese justice

The German Public Prosecutor’s Office has formally charged Christian Brueckner with the kidnapping and murder of Madeleine McCann on 3 May 2007 in Praia da Luz (Portugal). In fact, it has been the Portimao Prosecutor’s Office (southern Portugal) that has requested this accusation and confirmed the news.

The evidence that investigators have relied on to charge Brueckner are the statements of some witnesses and the location of his mobile phone in Praia da Luz the night that Maddie disappeared.

German prosecutors announced in June 2020 that they were investigating Brueckner as the prime suspect in the McCann case. In fact, Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the investigation, claimed that the German paedophile would have killed the little girl quickly.

“My private opinion is that he killed the girl relatively quickly, possibly abused her and then killed her. We believe that our suspect committed more crimes, especially sexual crimes, possibly in Portugal, but also in other places, such as Germany,” the judicial official added.

Brueckner is a German who has a long criminal history: linked to 17 cases of assault, theft or drug-related matters. His first sex crime trial took place in 1994. At that time he was convicted in Bavaria of abusing a child. The last case involving minors was a prosecution for possession of child pornography in 2016.

He is currently serving a sentence for rape in a high security prison in Oldenburg, north-west Germany and is also facing charges for the rape of Irish citizen Hazel Behan in Portugal in 2004.