The “prime suspect” in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Christian Brückner, has been released from Sehnde prison in Germany this morning, and now faces another torrent of speculation.
People have opposing opinions on the subject, but most of the mainstream media show little doubt that his whereabouts and activities when Madeleine vanished in May 2007 need further investigation.
Having just served a seven-year sentence in a German prison for the rape of an elderly woman in the Algarve village of Praia da Luz in 2005, Brückner, now aged 49, still totally denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance from the same village nearly two decades ago.
Just days before his release in Germany, he rejected an international letter of request for an interview from the British Metropolitan Police. Neither the British or German police have sufficient evidence to charge him with any crime against Madeleine.
Still considered a possible danger to society, Brückner will wear an ankle bracket to monitor his movements.
The Week print and digital publication has noted that in October last year, Brückner was cleared by a German court of unrelated sexual offences alleged to have taken place in Portugal.
The Guardian has reported that Brückner was driven away from the prison entrance this Wednesday morning by his lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher. The Telegraph in the UK, the New York Times and ABC Australia are among the top news outlets that have today reported on the release.
Rare support for Christian Brückner's declaration of innocence in the McCann case has come from a Norwegian private detective, Brent Stellander, who spent seven years studying the area next to the village of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was staying with her parents and two siblings, in a rented holiday apartment.
In his 843-page book, The Sudden Impulse, Stellender makes it abundantly clear that he believes Brückner had nothing to do with Madeleine’s abduction, or indeed that she was abducted by anyone else.
Written by Len Port - photo courtesy of Shuttershock
