A suspect in the disappearance case of three-year-old Madeleine McCann was acquitted on account of s*xual assault in a different trial on Tuesday, October 8. Christian Brückner, 47, was formally identified in the missing person's case in 2022. Madeleine McCann was last spotted in her bedroom during a family trip to Portugal in 2007 and has never been found.
Christian, who was tried and acquitted by a German court in Brunswick, has denied any involvement in Madeleine McCann's case, despite his last crime having been executed on May 3, 2007, in the same region where she went missing. The convicted p*dophile and drug peddler has been behind bars serving a seven-year sentence for five crimes between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal.
Christian Brückner killed Madeleine McCann, prosecutors allege
About 17 years ago, Madeleine McCann vanished from the Praia da Luz Resort while her parents were out having dinner with some friends nearby. It's been almost two decades, and investigations in Germany, Portugal, and the U.K. have yet to uncover sound evidence. However, many are convinced she has since died.
According to The Mirror, Christian Brückner would walk free come next year unless he gets charged with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told the outlet,
"Christian Brueckner is our prime suspect and still our only suspect. Nothing has changed in the last four years. We have evidence that he killed Maddie McCann. We have no forensic evidence, but we have evidence. If it’s enough, I can’t say at the moment. The clock is ticking. We only have one year. I’m not worried but we have to realise that we maybe have to come to a decision next summer."
He continued, noting that the conditions would have to be in their favor to keep the man behind bars.
"If the Supreme Court rules in our favour before his release, then we will try to get an arrest warrant for his retrial on these cases. But if they say there will be no retrial then we only have the Maddie case. If we don’t have enough evidence, then he will walk free from prison. We can charge him later, obviously, but if he leaves Germany then it’s not easy for us to bring him back for trial. For a trial in Germany you must be here, you must be part of the trial."
He also reflected on how complicated things could get if he left the country:
"We can’t stop him going wherever he wants to go after he is released. It would be a problem to bring him back to Germany. The only way is to get an arrest warrant before his release. And there are only two possibilities left - a retrial or the Maddie case. The clock is ticking. We only have one year. Now is not the time for us to put it on the table and decide if we should charge him. Maybe we will come to this point in the next year. Maybe we have to put it on the table then."
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He concluded that the fate of Madeleine McCann's case is contingent on the Supreme Court's decision and that a new trial would not be permissible before Christian's prison sentence concludes.
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