Madeleine McCann suspect could walk out of jail as early as next year if cleared
Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner could walk free next year if cleared of fresh sex attack charges.
The convicted paedophile is standing trial in a German court on Friday accused of vile crimes against women and children in Portugal. But Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher told German newspaper Bild of “a witch hunt” against his client and insisted: “I am convinced that there can only be an acquittal.”
He then said he had assembled a crack team to defend Brueckner including Atilla Aykac, who is famed in Germany for his courtroom grillings and legal ace Dennis Bock.
Speaking about the Madeleine case, he said: “I have no access to the files and no idea what is going on.” In 2020 Brueckner, 45, was named as a suspect in Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance but has not been charged with the crime.
Madeleine McCann was three when she went missing (PA)
Madeleine McCann disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007 (METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP via Gett)He is currently serving seven years for raping a US pensioner in the Algarve and drugs trafficking. But if cleared by a judge in Braunschweig, he could be freed in September next year.
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Prosecutors appear no closer to proving he was behind Madeleine’s disappearance — despite claiming they have proof she is dead. And they face the nightmare of seeing their prime suspect walk free if they cannot convict him of the new Portuguese charges.
Brueckner’s appearance in court will be the first time he has been seen in public since being linked to the Maddie case. He is accused of five offences in the Algarve between 2000 and 2017.
Friedrich Fulscher is the lawyer for Christian Brueckner (9News)They include the alleged rape of an Irish tour rep, raping a teenage girl in his Praia da Luz home and raping an elderly woman. He also faces a child sex charge for allegedly exposing himself to a German girl on a beach in 2007.
Media from across the world are due to descend on Braunschweig Regional Court. The trial is being held on 29 separate days over four months with a verdict expected at the end of June.
Madeleine McCann's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann (PA)Brueckner was charged in October 2022 but the case was delayed following a legal row over jurisdiction. Madeleine, then days short of her fourth birthday, disappeared from her parents’ holiday flat in the resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007. Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leics, were dining with friends nearby at the time. The couple won’t give up hope that Madeleine will be found alive.
Brueckner, who lived in a ramshackle Praia da Luz farmhouse when she disappeared, was named as a suspect in 2020. He denies involvement in the crime. If convicted of the new charges he could face an extra 15 years jail.
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