The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was released from jail today, with prosecutors fearing he will immediately flee the country.
Christian Brueckner, 48, was met by his lawyer at Sehnde prison, near Hannover, just before 9am today, leaving in the back of a car with a blanket over his head.
Police vans blocked the road as photographers and TV cameras attempted to prevent pictures being taken and one man was bundled to the ground.
The military style police operation saw three vans escort Brueckner’s car away from the jail with another car blocking traffic at a nearby junction.
The convicted sex offender was named by German authorities as the man responsible for the ‘abduction and murder’ of Madeleine in 2020, but no charges have been brought against him since. He denies any involvement.
Repeated searches in Praia da Luz, Portugal where Madeleine McCann disappeared aged three in 2007 have focused on Brueckner, but without a charge he must be released from prison without delay, the lead prosecutor investigating said.
Hans Christian Wolters says he believes Brueckner is still a ‘danger to society’.
‘We haven’t found anything in the last five years that exonerates [him],’ he told the BBC.
‘We found evidence that strengthens our case. But in our view it’s not strong enough to make a guilty verdict likely, and that’s why so far we couldn’t charge him or apply for an arrest warrant.’
Brueckner walked out of prison today after completing six years of a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-American woman in 2005 in the same area from which Madeleine vanished.
German authorities fear he will disappear overseas and have made desperate appeals for him to wear an ankle tag. His legal team insist he has ‘served his time and can come and go as he pleases’.
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Christian Brueckner leaving Sehnde prison in the back of a car on Wednesday
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Police vans blocked the road as photographers and TV cameras attempted to prevent pictures being taken and one man was bundled to the ground
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Brueckner was serving a sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Portugal
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Brueckner left in the back of a black Audi, with his lawyer in front
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Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, was released from prison in Germany today
Der Spiegel said his passport had been cancelled, he will be electronically tagged, must declare a place of residence and cannot leave without permission. It has since emerged that an ankle tag would not work if he left Germany, and would prove useless in tracking him.
‘This is an attempt by prosecutors to keep him in a kind of investigative detention where they have access to him at all times,’ Der Spiegel quoted lawyer Philipp Marquort as saying.
In a series of letters to the Daily Mail, Brueckner has insisted he has ‘nothing to do’ with Madeleine’s disappearance and his lawyer Friedrich Fulscher insists he has been made a ‘scapegoat’.
Dr. Friedrich Fülscher, Brueckner’s lawyer, told RTL the investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann were ‘without substance’ and said he hasn’t ‘seen anything yet that makes me doubt my client’s innocence’.
But prosecutors insist their evidence points solely towards Brueckner.
Mr Wolters said: ‘He is not only our number open suspect he is our only suspect – there is no one else.
‘We have evidence which speaks for itself, and which points to him being responsible for the disappearance and death of Madeleine McCann.
‘We have evidence against him but it’s just not strong enough to bring a case and so that’s why we haven’t charged him yet – we hope we can at some stage.’
He added: ‘You have to expect him to commit further crimes.’
Brueckner has not undergone therapy while in custody and not otherwise cooperated with the authorities, Bild reports.
The family of Brueckner’s rape victim in the United States, Diana Menkes, also fears he is still a danger to the public.
Mrs Menkes died three years ago and her family in Pasadena, California, agreed for her to be named also expressed shock and disappointment at his impending release.
Her nephew, Michael Foulger, told the Daily Mail: ‘It feels to us that he is still a danger to the public and should be closely monitored especially if he is connected to the Madeleine McCann case.’
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Madeleine McCann went missing from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007
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Brueckner was sat behind his lawyer in a black car with a blanket over his head as he left
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Police vans and media amass outside Sehnde prison, near Hannover
Madeleine’s disappearance almost 20 years ago has remained a mystery that has gripped public opinion, and her parents Kate and Gerry have always held out hope their daughter will eventually be found.
She vanished from the holiday apartment where she was staying with her family in May 2007 and sparked a massive Europe wide search which has become one of the highest profile missing person cases in the world.
With his long list of previous Brueckner fits the bill as the ‘prime suspect’ his first conviction for child sex offences was in 1994 when he was a teenager and it carried on throughout the late 90’s and into the 2000s.
Brueckner lived in the Algarve between 1995 and 2007, where, according to court documents seen by Reuters he burgled hotels and holiday flats.
He spent years drifting across Portugal and Spain and was known to be working as an odd job man in the Praia da Luz area at the time when Madeleine vanished and he was also involved in hotel burglaries and diesel theft.
Mobile phone data has placed him in the area of the Ocean Club holiday complex where the McCanns were staying, and he is known to have received a lengthy call before she vanished, and prosecutors are desperate to know who from.
When she disappeared, her parents were with friends at a nearby restaurant and Kate returned to check on Madeleine and her siblings and raised the alarm when she returned, found the window open and her daughter missing.
Over the years there have been numerous false sightings but nothing of substance until Brueckner was named by the German authorities as the prime suspect and it has since emerged that Scotland Yard also hold him in a similar vein.
Last month they requested to interview him but he refused permission and the Met’s DCI Mark Cranwell, who is leading the UK investigation, said: ‘We can confirm that this individual remains a suspect…in the absence of an interview, we will nevertheless continue to pursue any viable lines of enquiry.’
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A news photographer is stopped by police as Christian Brueckner leaves
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Police officers stand next to the high-security prison in Sehnde, near Hanover, September 17
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Members of the media wait in front of a prison facility, where Christian Brueckner is being held ahead of his expected release in Sehnde, Germany, September 17
When asked how Brueckner was feeling ahead of his release, Fulscher said: ‘I can imagine that he has mixed feelings, he is anxious because he simply doesn’t know what to expect.
‘There is a plan in place for his release as he has to be adequately protected and I have to ensure his privacy is also protected.’
McCann’s parents continue to campaign for their daughter, who would now be 22, to be found and issue a statement each year on the anniversary of her disappearance.
‘We love her dearly and miss her beyond words,’ they wrote on their website.
