by Mick the Ram

The man who has been named as the main suspect for the much publicised disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007, has been acquitted in Germany of rape and sexual abuse charges in an unrelated case.  

Christian Brückner appeared at the Braunschweig district court in the north of the country and found not guilty of the five serious offences he was accused of committing.

The forty-seven-year-old is already serving a seven year sentence for raping an American pensioner, but is due for release in September 2025.

Presiding Judge Uta Engemann, said there was insufficient evidence for a conviction for the three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children, in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

Prosecutors immediately vowed to appeal the verdict against Brückner, who emerged as the chief suspect and likely to be responsible for whatever happened to the three-year-old British girl, who vanished from her apartment bedroom in the resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve, where she was on holiday with her family.

No charges have ever been brought and he denies any involvement in her disappearance, which sadly almost certainly resulted in her death, although she has never been found.

Lawyer presents telling defence

Such was the worldwide attention that the Madeleine McCann case drew, once Brückner name came into the frame, interest in his latest trial became widespread.

His lawyer, Friedrich Fülscher, pushed for an acquittal in this case insisting that it was “the only correct outcome” owing to the fact that two of the rape victims, a teenager and an elderly woman, had never actually been identified, and the prosecution was based around hearsay with no credible witnesses.

Incriminating videos

A key witness had earlier told the trial that he had broken into Brückner’s home in Portugal and found videos involving the rape of a girl and a woman aged somewhere between 70 to 80.

That woman never came forward, but an Irish administrator, Hazel Behan, did tell the court she had been raped in her Praia da Rocha apartment when she was 20 by a masked man, who broke into her flat in Portugal back in 2004.

She waived her anonymity and described how she had never forgotten her attackers eyes, which she said “bored into her skull” and she was certain they were Brückner’s.

Insufficient evidence

He was also accused of exposing himself in front of a 10-year-old German girl on a beach and to an 11-year-old Portuguese girl at a playground.

The prosecutors had argued for the German national to be handed a 15-year sentence, but none of the evidence was sufficient to convince the judge to “convict him of the acts he was accused of” and duly announced an acquittal.

Madeleine connection not yet proved

Brückner’s connection to the Madeleine investigation was touched on repeatedly throughout the trial, with Mr Fülscher, representing him remarking that “the McCann case hung like a fog” over the trial.

Braunschweig’s chief prosecutor, Hans Christian Wolters, has repeatedly stated the investigators’ belief that he was responsible for the little girl’s death, but despite citing apparent “concrete evidence” they have still to actually reveal what exactly that evidence is.

History of abuse on children

German police say the suspect was born in Bavaria in 1977 and grew up in a children’s home. He lived in Portugal’s Algarve holiday area between 1995 and 2007, doing odd jobs, including working as a waiter, and he was also known to have broken into hotel rooms and holiday flats.

He has 17 previous convictions, including for theft, forgery, drug-dealing, firearms offences, rape and sexual abuse of children.

Everything points to Brückner

Madeleine went missing shortly before her fourth birthday from an apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, on the Algarve, on the evening of 3 May 2007.

Her parents had left her with her younger brother and sister whilst they sat down for dinner with friends at a tapas bar in the complex around 100 yards away. The group had devised a rota system to check on all their children during the evening, with a different adult looking in on everyone’s kids every 15 minutes.

When it came to Madeleine’s mother Kate McCann‘s turn, she discovered her daughter was no longer in the room and so began a frantic search, which essentially has never actually ended.

An early witness was able to describe seeing a man carrying a young child in his arms wearing similar pyjamas to those of Madeleine and her photofit drawing had a striking resemblance to Brückner.

Parents desperately seeking peace

The likelihood of her still being alive somewhere seems almost none existent 17 years on, but her parents cling to the hope. Nevertheless, barring that unlikely miracle, what they do crave is the truth of what happened, so they can at least get closure.

Just last year they said: “All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice. We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive, but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know as we need to find peace.”

If Brückner is responsible then they will be deeply disappointed at the latest verdict, meaning the German could be free this time next year.