Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner chillingly winked in court as horrifying details of his alleged sex crimes were detailed for the first time.
Brueckner, 47, is standing trial over five sexual offences he is alleged to have committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. They are unrelated to McCannâs disappearance, but today his lawyer directly addressed the alleged links to the British girl. In the defence opening statement, Friedrich Fulscher said Brueckner had been persecuted by the media since being named prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case. He said his client is not guilty of the charges he faces.
One of the alleged crimes happened just weeks before three-year-old Madeleine vanished from her parentâs holiday apartment in 2007. His long-awaited trial finally got underway at Braunschweig Regional Court today following last weekâs last-minute adjournment.
Ute Lindemann opened the prosecution case and told the court that Brueckner raped an Irish holiday rep, teenage schoolgirl and pensioner between 2000 and 2006. It is claimed the following year he exposed himself to an 11-year-old German girl on a beach close to Praia da Luz. Bruecknerâs final charge relates to an alleged indecent exposure in front of an 11-year-old in 2017.
Madeleine McCann was last seen aged three at a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve region, in what is considered one of the highest-profile missing persons cases in the world. Bruckner was identified as a suspect by German investigators in June 2020, in what they have classed as a murder inquiry. No formal charges have ever been brought against Brueckner in the McCann case.
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He is already serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the rape of an elderly tourist in the Algarve who was attacked in her holiday apartment.
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The hearing has now adjourned for the day, and will resume next Friday.
Brueckner shook hands with his lawyers before being led back to the cells in handcuffs.
The prosecutor then outlined the alleged rape of a tour rep in Praia da Rocha in 2004. She said Brueckner broke into her apartment “via the balcony by pressing against the defective door and pushing it open”.
“He was dressed entirely in black, wearing leather gloves and a full face mask,” she said.
“He held a 30cm knife in his left hand, knelt over his sleeping victim and called her name, which woke her up. While she was panicking, he told her in a serious but calm tone not to scream.”
Brueckner then brutally raped the woman twice and whispered to her “you’re scared, aren’t you?”, the court heard.
Mrs Lindemann said: “She was in fear of death because she feared he would cut off her head with the knife.”
In the second alleged rape Brueckner attacked a girl, aged around 14, in his ramshackle farmhouse on the outskirts of Praia da Luz. Mrs Lindemann said the terrified teen was “tied naked to a post” in his living room and videotaped.
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“The girl addressed the accused by the name ‘Chris’ and made it clear to him that what he was doing was against her express will,” she told the court. “She begged him to stop and shouted ‘this is kidnapping, this is rape’.”
When the teen vomited, Brueckner allegedly shouted: “Now you’re messing up my entire carpet.”
The landmark search last year at a remote Algarve reservoir took place following a tip from a "very credible" German police informer, it has been claimed.
Respected Portuguese media outlet Expresso said an informant gave detectives "details" they took "very seriously."
While German prosecutor Christian Walters confirmed to the press that the search is based on "indicators" from a source that they could find evidence in the area.
At the request of German investigators, Portuguese police carried out a search for the first time in nine years.
Expresso, a flagship weekly publication of Portuguese media group Impresa, claimed at the time it "knows that these searches have their origin in a tip from a BKA informant who the police force considers very credible and that the German police took very seriously.”
It said that German police requested the searches after receiving this information.
The media outlet said it had obtained its information from a “source close to the investigation.”
It offered no information on what information German police had been given by its informant, who has not been identified for operational reasons.
Christian Brueckner showed no emotion as Ute Lindemann revealed details of the five alleged crimes.
She told the court that his first victim, aged between 70 and 80, was attacked in her Portuguese holiday apartment.
The prosecutor said Brueckner was wearing a “stocking mask that only had holes for his eyes and mouth”.
He put a pair of painted swimming goggles on his “frightened” victim before setting up two video cameras and raping her, it is claimed. After the rape he viciously whipped the woman “in order to enjoy the pain and fear he wanted her to feel”, the court heard.
Christian Brueckner, is said to have had surgery on his thigh to remove a birthmark following an attack on a woman.
Following an attack on a woman he allegedly held a knife point, Brueckner had a birthmark removed, evidence in court suggests. The victim described the birthmark to officers who then allegedly found scarring in the spot.
It was claimed that the scar was found on an earlier scan of the convicted rapist.
"When Brueckner was examined during his current imprisonment they found a scar where the birthmark should have been," a source told The Sun.
"They then went back through the records and found a body scan of Brueckner done by German investigators.
"Crucially, photos of his entire body were taken and at that time he had a significant birthmark on his left upper thigh at hip level."
In the defence opening statement, Mr Fulscher said Brueckner had been persecuted by the media since being named prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case.
He said his client is not guilty of the charges he faces.
He told the court: "Since June 2020, our client Christian Brueckner has been under constant worldwide media fire. According to the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office, he allegedly abducted and murdered Madeleine Beth McCann. The investigating authorities have been repeating this theory to the media like a prayer wheel.
"The greatest challenge for the court in these proceedings will be to free itself from these ulterior motives when investigating the procedural truth and assessing the evidence with regard to the accusations levelled."
The court has now adjourned briefly and Brueckner has been taken to the holding cells.
By Martin Fricker in Germany.
Christian Brueckner arrives in courtExtraordinary letters written by the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann reveal claims he "didn't" abduct and murder the youngster.
The MailOnline unveiled a string of letters allegedly written by Bruckner, showing his desperate attempts to exonerate himself from the case. The Mail reports that he wrote: "You can never imagine how it is when the whole world believes you are a child murderer, and you are not.
"I got told a long time ago that the prosecutor's office was closing the Maddie case because there is not even the smallest evidence. There will never be a trial.
"The prosecutors are not saying anything to the public because they must give the files to my lawyers - and they contain many (sic) material which confirms my innocence."
The Mail reports that they read "eyebrow-raising sexual allegations about key members of the investigating team" which cannot be published for legal reasons.
Closing his latest letter Brueckner defiantly says: "I'm writing this without self-pity and my self-confidence and self-control was never at a higher level.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Chin up! Better days are coming."
Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007 in Praia da Luz, Brueckner is accused of committing sex crimes in the same area (PA)German prosecutors said in 2020 that they believe Madeleine is dead and that their suspect Christian Brueckner was likely responsible.
There are now desperate renewed efforts to link him to the death of the British girl last seen alive at age three in 2007. It has been revealed that a village where suspect Christian lived could hold vital clues to solving the mystery of her disappearance.
Foral is the village where convicted rapist Christian lived in the months after Maddie's disappearance and is a 50-minute drive from Praia de Luz, where she was last seen alive.
The Sun has revealed that he lived in a run-down secluded home in the village and one source said: "Christian B spent a lot of time there after Maddie vanished.
"It was his favourite hangout and cops believe images of the area are among many of Christian B’s pictures they currently have in their possession."
Investigators spent three days last year searching the surrounding area of the Arade dam and reservoir, about 30 miles from Praia da Luz and uncovered a "number of items" that could be linked to the case. The German convicted rapist and paedophile often worked at the village restaurant and locals were reportedly scared of him.
"He came and went and was a really scary guy, people were scared of him in the village," one local said at the time.
Searches at the Arade dam, in Silves, near Praia da Luz, last year (AFP via Getty Images)Christian B has not been charged in the Madeleine McCann case, in which he remains under investigation on suspicion of murder. He spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort of Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance there in 2007. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance.
Prosecutor Ute Lindemann has read out sickening details of the sex attacks Brueckner allegedly carried out in Portugal between 2000 and 2017, including rapes and indecent exposures.
Christian B is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he committed in Portugal in 2005.
Prosecutors filed charges in the case going to trial today in October 2022, alleging that, at an unspecified time between 2000 and 2006, the suspect allegedly tied up and raped an elderly woman in her vacation apartment in Portugal. He allegedly beat the victim several times with a whip and recorded the incident on video.
During the same time period, he is alleged to have tied a German-speaking girl aged at least 14 to a wooden post in the living room of his residence in Praia da Luz, allegedly beating her with a whip and forcing her to perform oral sex.
In June 2004, the defendant allegedly gained access at night to the apartment of an Irish woman then aged 20 in Praia da Rocha before raping her, tying her to a table and whipping her. In separate cases in 2007 and 2017, he is accused of exposing himself to girls aged 10 and 11.
The court has set 29 trial sessions through to late June.
Christian B has been pictured arriving in court today.
Christian B, the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (Phil Harris / Daily Mirror)Brueckner has just arrived in court for the second day of his trial. He shook hands with his lawyer and gave him a wink before the hearing got underway.
He was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs by a prison officer.
Brueckner is wearing the same grey jacket as last week, along with a white shirt, khaki trousers and brown shoes.
Brueckner’s legal team, including flamboyant lawyer Friedrich Fulscher, arrived in the courtroom at 8.30am.
Media from across the globe once again queued to get sought-after seats in Court 141 at Braunschweig Regional Court.
By Martin Fricker in Germany.
The trial last week of the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann lasted under an hour and was dramatically adjourned after one of the magistrates was found to have called for the assassination of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Britta Thielen-Donckel, one of the lay judges sitting in the case, had posted on social media calling for the Brazilian to be killed. Presiding judge Christina Engelmann ruled the posts made Ms Thielen-Donckel unfit to take part.
Referring to Bolsonaro, the lay judge allegedly tweeted “kill the bastard now” and "kill the devil". In Germany, a trial is heard by five lay judges, not a jury.
Last week was the first time the public has ever seen Brueckner in public since being linked to the McCann case.
Christian Brueckner, has complained about the impact that his current trial is having on him.
The convicted sex offender spends his days inside his cell and feels like he is constantly in danger from other prisoners, a source has told reporters. Brueckner has also been moaning about his “awful” conditions behind bars and says that he cops are “playing a game” to try and make him crack up.
Speaking to German TV Brueckner’s lawyer Dr Fülscher said: “He’s been two years in solitary confinement, so of course he is not healthy.”
He added that the press attention was also upsetting his client, saying: “Brueckner found the media presence extremely stressful because the media are here for the Madeleine case, not this one. He is in poor physical health.”