The German suspect currently being investigated by German and British police for the abduction of Madeleine McCann has been allegedly linked to the disappearance of two other children; René Hasee and Inga Gehricke, the Guardian reports.
The 43-year old convicted sex offender is reportedly serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal in 2005. He has been named by German media as Christian Brückner.
René Hasee
Six-year-old German boy named René Hasee disappeared 24 years ago on a beach in the Portugese Algarve, while on holiday with his family.
The schoolboy, from Elsdorf, had been running ahead of his mother and stepfather towards the sea during a walk on the beach.
They lost sight of him and his clothes were later found, with the authorities speculating that he drowned in a tragic accident.
However on Friday 5 June, René’s father Andreas Hasee said that a German investigator called him to confirm they were reopening the case of his missing son.
He told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper he had not heard from the police for almost 20 years. “They told me they will now take a closer look at the case of my son.” Police had told him that “there may be a connection” between René’s disappearance and that of Madeleine.
Inga Gehricke
Five-year-old Inga Gehricke went missing from a forest in the Saxony-Anhalt region of Germany on 2 May 2015.
At the time of her disappearance, the school girl was visiting the Wilhelmshof district of Stendal.
She went to collect firewood with other children in the forest and did not return. She has been missing ever since.
Brückner, who had a property in the town of Neuwegersleben, around 60 miles south-west of Stendal, is not currently a suspect in Gehricke’s disappearance but German prosecutors told the PA news agency they are looking into possible connections between Madeleine and Inga’s cases.
New Developments
These developments have emerged as police in Britain revealed they had received almost 400 “pieces of information” in the first three days of launching a new appeal for evidence in the Madeleine Mc Cann case.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCann’s family spokesperson said it was “extraordinary” that a 13-year-old case could generate so much feedback.
Speaking on behalf of Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, he said,“They certainly will be encouraged to know the appeal is yielding results already and hopefully within that there will be crucial bits of information the police can act upon.”
He added: “They wait to hear any developments from police.”
Although German police officers said on Thursday, they believed she is dead, British officers continue to class the issue as a missing person case and her parents “still hope” she is alive.
According to German magazine Der Spiegel Brückner was flagged as a key suspect seven years ago. It reported that police in the north-western city of Braunschweig received a tip about Brückner in 2013 and sent it to the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation, where it “was apparently not acted upon, much to the consternation of the local investigators”.
Portugese detective have also been accused of identifying the German paedophile in 2007 as a suspect but later dropped the case. On Friday Portugese officers insisted they had passed on this information to British authorities in 2012.
Brückner is known to have been in Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance and data shows that his phone was in the resort on the night of her disappearance.
What happened to Madeleine McCann?
In May 2007, Gerry and Kate McCann were staying in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal with their three children.
The couple went for dinner with a group of friends in a nearby restaurant, leaving their three children asleep in the apartment.
They checked on them throughout the evening but when Mrs McCann returned to the apartment at about 10 pm, she discovered Madeleine was missing.
Her disappearance sparked a huge international search and sprawling investigation that continues to this day. The announcement of this new suspect is the most significant development to date.