The prime suspect in the disappearance of British 3-year-old Madeleine McCann in Portugal has walked free from a German prison, where he was serving time for the 2005 rape of a woman at the same hotel where Madeline vanished two years later, per the Independent. Christian Brueckner, 48, left Sehnde prison near Hanover early Wednesday, escorted by his lawyer and police, and was due to be fitted with an ankle tag so his location can be monitored. "I know where he is—but I can't say because he needs to now settle down ... before his next court appearance," Philipp Marquort, a lawyer for Brueckner, told the BBC.
Though German prosecutors believe phone data puts Brueckner in the vicinity of Praia da Luz, within Portugal's southernmost region of Algarve, when Madeleine vanished in 2007, he has never been charged in connection with the case. He lived in the Algarve and was previously convicted of sexual abuse of children in 1994 and 2016, but so far, evidence has fallen short of the threshold for prosecution. Marquort his client "is just relieved that all of the release process is over and that he is now out."
Still, he's been "the prime suspect in the German and Portuguese investigations since 2020 and 2022, respectively," per the BBC. He's also a suspect in the missing person investigation launched by Britain's Metropolitan Police, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell confirmed this week. The Met sent Brueckner an interview request shortly before his release from prison, but the German national refused, the BBC reports. Brueckner was acquitted in October of additional sexual offenses allegedly committed in Portugal, and a police search this June of addresses linked to him in Praia da Luz turned up no new leads.
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