Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, has admitted that he was around 150 metres from the apartment where the British girl was staying in Praia da Luz on the night she disappeared in 2007. The German national, however, has again denied any involvement in her disappearance.
In an interview with the British newspaper Mail on Sunday, published on 20 September, Brueckner confirmed that he was in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine disappeared, but claimed he was there to “sell drugs”.
The suspect has never spoken publicly of his movements on the night Madeleine disappeared before.
“I was on the beach, not far from Maddie’s hotel, selling drugs,” the 49-year-old German was quoted as saying.
Brueckner said he had been in Spain, from where he brought marijuana into Portugal. That night, as police searched for Madeleine, he claimed he was stopped by officers three times, at one point around 150 metres from where the McCann family was staying.
“Luckily, they didn’t find the drugs; my van was full of them,” he said.
Brueckner said he was attempting to leave Praia da Luz quickly after becoming aware of the police presence, describing a scene of flashing emergency lights and checkpoints across the resort.
“I was trying to get away quickly,” he said.
Brueckner said he had remained silent until now because he believed the authorities were attempting to implicate him in Madeleine’s disappearance.
“I kept quiet because the police wanted to frame me for Maddie’s case,” he said.
The German has consistently denied any involvement in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance from the Praia da Luz holiday resort where her British family was staying in the Algarve in 2007. He has now reaffirmed that denial, despite acknowledging that he was in the immediate vicinity of the apartment that night.
“I have nothing to do with the disappearance of the girl,” he told the newspaper. “I would be happy if Maddie appeared tomorrow,” he said, adding that, if that happened, “everyone would understand” that the allegations against him had been fabricated.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from the apartment where she was staying with her parents and twin siblings in the Algarve in 2007. The disappearance marked its 19th anniversary this past weekend.
The German Public Prosecutor’s Office continues to regard Brueckner as the “sole suspect” in the case, maintaining that, after “five years of investigation”, nothing had been found to dispel the suspicions against him, including “no evidence exonerating him, no reliable alibi, and no indication that he could not have been at the scene of the crime”.
Source: Mail on Sunday
Photo credit: Archive image
