German national Christian Brueckner, a key figure in the investigation into the vanishing of Madeleine McCann, could soon be released from prison in Kiel, Germany, where he is said to be serving a sentence in relation to a separate case, Frankfurter Rundschau reported.
Madeleine McCann has been missing since May 2007, after the three-year-old disappeared from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, where her family had been staying. The incident sparked a massive international outcry but only this summer, investigators managed to reveal the name of a key suspect in the case, Christian Brueckner, who has been previously convicted for sexual misconduct. Brueckner is believed to have been in the area during the evening when the British girl went missing. Just this week, German prosecutors referred to the 43-year-old man as a “multiple sexual predator”.
According to the Frankfurter Rundschau’s report, Brueckner is now eligible for parole after serving two thirds of his drug-related sentence. The criminal is also facing another term for raping a 72-year-old American tourist in the same Portuguese municipality, nearly two years before Madeleine’s disappearance. However, the German has been reportedly battling the authorities in relation to the rape case, claiming that his extradition from Italy, where he was arrested in late 2018, was illegal. The Federal Court of Justice is said to be set to decide on whether to grant Brueckner parole this Sunday.
German authorities are also reportedly searching for the suspect’s ex-girlfriend from Kosovo, who is believed to be living with Brueckner in Praia da Luz prior to Madeleine’s disappearance on 3 May.
The investigators suggest that Brueckner, who is said to have been in the area that evening, received a 30-minute call on his Portuguese number from another phone shortly before the girl went missing. The police are now looking into any information related to two phone numbers made public.
Madeleine McCann was declared missing 13 years ago after vanishing from the holiday apartment. The girl was left sleeping with two of her siblings when her parents went to a nearby restaurant with friends. Her mum returned to the flat at around 10 pm to find her daughter missing, with the incident inducing a major international search operation.
German prosecutors announced this week that Madeleine was likely to be dead.
