09 February 2024 , 10:42
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An expat has revealed new information to the public in the search for missing Madeleine McCann. Maddie, three, disappeared from the holiday resort of Praia De Luz, Portugal, on May 3 2007 and it is still not known what happened to her. We take a look at recent developments.
In recent years Christian Brückner has emerged as one of the prime suspects in Maddie's disappearance, first identified by German investigators in 2020 before being made a formal suspect by Portuguese prosecutors in 2022. He denies any involvement in the case.
But Ken Ralphs, who was part of the same nomadic community in the resort, has claimed the German drifter told how he was plotting to kidnap a child just a week before the young girl's abduction. The 59-year-old told Sky News Christian had made an offer to a friend of his, who was desperate for money.
Christian Brückner denies any involvement in Maddie's disappearance (Shutterstock)
The youngster was on holiday with her family when she went missing (PA)"We were sitting around the fire one night after a meal, we had a few beers and during the early hours of the morning my friend began to cry," he said. "I asked him what the matter was and, eventually, he confessed to me he was getting involved with Christian to steal a child from Praia da Luz from a rich family." Tot Maddie went missing just a week later and Ken claims he went onto report the conversation to police back in England.
Last June, it was revealed investigators were searching a remote reservoir 30 miles from the holiday resort after receiving evidence from a "very credible" police informer. They went onto soil samples to compare with Brückner's VW camper van in a bid to confirm he was in the area at the time.
Urgent warning to parents after man tries to persuade children to get into car
A friend of the criminal told police in July his pal had boasted about using a burglary tool kit to access apartment 5A in the Praia de Luz resort complex - the same unit where Maddie was staying with her parents when she disappeared. German police claim to have "concrete evidence" Maddie is dead but no arrests have been made and they continue to investigate.
Last year police searched a reservoir 30 miles from where Maddie vanished (Phil Harris)Brückner is in prison in Germany for raping a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005 and he is set to appear in court on February 16 accused of five offences, including rape and of sexually abusing children, in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. Investigator Hans Christian Wolters said of the sexual offender in May 2022: “We are sure he is the murderer of Madeleine McCann".
One other recent update in the search was a Polish woman called Julia Faustyna claiming she was Madeleine, a claim which was later disproved with a DNA test last year, with Julia then issuing an apology. Back in 2013, Scotland Yard identified 41 potential suspects in the Maddie case and the following year four people were questioned but no arrests were made.