Christian Brückner, a suspect in the disappearance of English child Madeleine McCann in the Algarve in 2007, is due to be released from prison in Germany on September 17th.
Prosecutors believe the 48 year old, who is serving a prison sentence in Germany for rape, is responsible for the death of the English child in the Algarve, even though the case has never been solved and no body has been found.
Christian Wolters, a German prosecutor has expressed his concern about the release of Brückner, who has a criminal record for violent sexual crimes and is due to be released in less than 2 weeks. Without sufficient evidence to support an indictment, the German Public Prosecutor's Office cannot prevent the release of the suspect.
In an interview, Wolters stressed that Brückner remains dangerous and, according to a recent psychiatric examination, "further sexual assaults are to be expected."
“He did not undergo any therapy in prison and therefore we assume he will reoffend,” said Wolters.
Consequently, the German Public Prosecutor's Office has requested that Brückner be subject to electronic surveillance measures, but there is still no court decision on the matter.
But even subject to this type of surveillance, Brückner will be "a free man," the prosecutor stressed, who believes the suspect will leave Germany, given the media attention.
Christian Brückner has always denied any connection to the Madeleine McCann case, while the German Public Prosecutor's Office has never released the contents of the case, in the name of judicial secrecy.
Brückner's release on September 17 became possible after an anonymous donor paid a fine the German owed in June. He still had an outstanding fine of €1,446 from a previous conviction in 2015, and if he failed to pay, he would face another 56 days in prison. German authorities had hoped that the extended sentence would give investigators more time to bring new charges in the Maddie case.
In early June, searches took place in the Atalaia area, in Lagos, Algarve, requested by the German authorities, as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Maddie McCann in 2007.
For three days, around 30 inspectors from the Judiciary Police and an equal number of German police officers searched ruined buildings, cisterns and abandoned wells on dozens of properties in the Atalaia area between Praia de Porto de Mós and the town of Luz, in places where Christian Brückner had passed.
The work used ground-based radar, equipment that allows the identification of changes in the soil, brush cutters and weed whackers to clear parts of the land, and several objects were collected for analysis by the German police.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from the apartment where she slept with her two-year-old twin siblings in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents were having dinner with friends, just a few metres away.
In 2020, German police named Christian Brückner as the prime suspect in the child's kidnapping and murder, but no charges were filed.
Source https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/ - Photo by Michael Matthey/AP
