Portuguese police have been told they will no longer be needed after 4pm today at an Algarve reservoir where a search for clues into Madeleine McCann's disappearance is unfolding.
Convicted paedophile and rapist Christian Brueckner was named as the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2020.
He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping an elderly American in the Algarve and drug trafficking - but it is set to end early next year. His relationship soon ended but he took on an array of jobs over the years, including swimming pool installations and car repairs - before settling down in the resort of Praia da Luz - where Madeleine McCann would disappear from 12 years later.
He is believed to have served prison sentences in Portugal, where he became known to authorities for drug dealing and breaking into holiday apartments and hotels. She said on the second and final day of testimony, delivered over 10 hours, that she still bears the scars of the attack, which took place in Praia da Rocha, in the Algarve, where she was working as a holiday representative.
She recounted in graphic detail how she was repeatedly whipped, raped, tied up, and filmed during the attack while he threatened: 'If you scream, I'll kill you'.Behan alleged she was raped at knifepoint by Brueckner, picturedJust a year later, Brueckner donned a mask and broke into a Praia da Luz apartment where a 72-year-old American tourist was living.
Prosecutor Vanessa Beyse said in one confession he boasted of 'raping an old lady' and 'tying up and beating her, which really excited him'.On May 3, 2007, three-year-old Madeleine McCann was snatched from her bed at around 10pm as her parents ate tapas with friends just yards away while holidaying in Praia da Luz.
Before her disappearance, Brueckner sold drugs accompanied by another man, according to a witness, but both were assumed to be British as they always spoke English. A house near Praia da Luz resort and Lagos in the Algarve, Portugal, that was used by Christian Brueckner, a German man suspected in the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCannJust four years later, Brueckner was sentenced to 21 months behind bars for 'dealing narcotics' in Niebull, in northern Germany.
Federal investigators in Germany had received a tipoff linking Brueckner to Madeleine's disappearance following the TV appearance by her parents on October 16, Der Spiegel reported. Brueckner talked to the mortician - also a convicted sex offender - about making films to 'document exactly how she is tormented'
He was returned to Germany for a sentence of 15 months, but after his release he found himself homeless and said he felt persecuted by the police who followed his every move, even as he slept on a park bench. Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner pictured in a bar in Hanover in 2011, just four years after McCann vanishedIn July, Brueckner was jailed for 21 months for drug dealing in the northern German resort of Sylt.
But German prosecutors say phone records allegedly show that Brueckner was near the McCanns' holiday apartment, near the Ocean Club, an hour before Madeleine disappeared. A former friend and roommate also sensationally claimed that he knew Brueckner was responsible for Madeleine's disappearance. Tatschl became convinced of his friend's involvement after watching an eight-part Netflix documentary on the case.'When I saw the Netflix documentary I knew immediately that he was guilty,' he said.
'I know why. Because they have no hairs or anything from Maddie what means that nobody can put anything like that into my stuff to find it. Picture shows the house in Lagos, Portugal, where McCann disappeared in 2007 while on holidays with her familyAt the end of May, police launched a major search of a Portuguese reservoir that prime suspect Christian Brueckner used to call his 'little paradise'.
Police had said they found a 'relevant clue' during their search of the beauty spot after an informant was able to match photographs showing Brueckner close to the reservoir. A source told the Sun: 'German officers have gone through more than 8,000 pictures belonging to Christian B. Busching explained how he came to know about Brueckner's shady past by discovering harrowing sexual abuse videos, and how his former acquaintance appeared to incriminate himself in Madeleine's disappearance.
Remembering the moment he witnessed the clips, which purportedly showed Brueckner sexually abusing an elderly American woman and a teenage girl in Portugal, Helge recounted: 'You could see how someone whipped the woman. She was tied up, lying on the bed, wearing painted ski goggles... must have been 70 or 80 years old. She shouted: You fucking b******!... then I saw it was Brueckner.
Helge went on to claimed he'd approached German authorities after finding the videotapes, but that a policeman told him to abandon them and keep quiet. 'In 2017 I had just served a prison sentence in Greece. When I heard about the 10th anniversary of the disappearance, I remembered. Apparently the call didn't help at all. So I contacted Scotland Yard again.In February, the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case was spotted for the first time in public since 2020.In the same month, the convicted paedophile appeared in court in the German city of Braunschweig facing charges of raping three women and molesting two children in Portugal.
The following month German prosecutors called for 'biased' judges to be thrown off the trial of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner. As well as rejecting the current judges in the rape trial due to concerns about bias, the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office requested that the case be 're-appointed with impartial judges'.
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