I'm terrified Maddie suspect Christian Brueckner will hunt me down after he's freed from prison, says rape survivor

The Sun

9 hours ago

RAPE survivor Hazel Behan fears Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner will 'hunt me down' after his prison release.
Brueckner, 47, is due to be freed from a German jail in September after completing his sentence for the rape of a US woman aged 72.
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And Hazel, who has waived her right to anonymity, said: 'His sentence may be ending but mine never did. I have lived with fear every day for 21 years.
"Fear that I'll see him. Fear that he'll find out where I live and hunt me down. I also have fear that he'll do to someone else what he did to me.
'I've called him out in a public forum and I have genuine concern he could confront me.
"I wouldn't put anything past a person like him. If he is released, I will worry for every woman and child who, like me, believes the justice system is protecting them.
"A leopard doesn't change his spots.'
Convicted paedophile Brueckner was named as the prime suspect over three-year-old Madeleine's 2007 disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal, five years ago.
His expected release from his current conviction comes a month before Hazel will discover the outcome of her High Court appeal in Germany against his acquittal last October for raping her, another woman and girl in Portugal in 2004.
Although Judge Uta Engemann described the Dublin woman as a 'credible witness' and said 'we have no doubt something bad happened to her', she added there was not enough evidence to convict Brueckner on three counts of rape and two of indecent exposure.
Hazel went on: 'I am a survivor of sexual assault and rape — a title I never asked for, but one I have carried with me every day for almost 21 years.
"If he is released in September, he can go anywhere he wants. The police can only get involved in protecting me if he comes into my garden.
Madeleine McCann cops call off search as trawl of Brueckner's 'rat run' turns up nothing
'I think of every survivor who never got to speak, and every woman who might become the next me.
"The system may be ready to let him go, but I'm not. And neither is the wider society that deserves to feel safe.'
The 41-year-old added: 'I have no doubt this predator is capable of anything
"Age doesn't matter to him. It is about power and control for him and this won't have changed once he is out of prison.
'He has drifted across many countries over the years and targeted women and children of all ages. What's to stop him coming to Ireland and coming after me again?
'There have been reports he had plastic surgery and although his appearance is known, he could easily live underground and adapt a new identity and appearance.
'He is part of a world where people know how to stay hidden before they commit horrific levels of violence against women and kids.'
Authorities in Germany are convinced of Brueckner's involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Last week, officers travelled to Germany for a search of derelict farms in Praia da Luz he used for camping around the time Madeleine vanished.
Despite his denial of any involvement, cops carried out the extensive hunt in the hope of finding a shred of evidence to link him to Madeleine — and to keep him behind bars.
Hazel hopes if Brueckner is released in September, German police will monitor his actions.
And she said: 'It took the German BKA to restore my faith in the police as my experience with the Portuguese was horrendous, to put it mildly.
'I believe the BKA are doing a stellar job and working very hard to bring justice to those believed to be victims of Christian B.'
Former holiday rep Hazel also spoke of her ongoing trauma, adding: 'On the 16th of June 2004, 21 years ago, my life changed forever.
Face behind the mask
'The man who raped me took more than my sense of safety — he murdered my spirit and crushed my soul. He destroyed all the little parts of me that made me, me.
'He took my trust, my voice, and for a long time, my ability to live freely in the world.
'Since then, I have worked tirelessly to reclaim those pieces of myself. But no matter how much therapy I go through, how much time passes, some scars don't fade.'
Hazel also expressed her sympathy and support for the Leicestershire-based family of Madeleine.
She said: ' As a parent, I cannot begin to imagine what they have gone through and continue to go through every day for the past 18 years.'
On her fight for justice, she said: 'On the 3rd of June 2020, following 16 years of getting to know this 'new me', I was once again thrown back to 2004 — only this time, I was made aware of the face behind the mask.
"I grappled with whether I had the mental strength to highlight myself to the relevant authorities as a potential victim, but I knew, deep down, if I didn't, I would always regret it.
'The following four years were unimaginably tough for me and my family and nothing could have prepared me for what lay ahead.
"Facing the man I believed completely destroyed my life in court is one of the most difficult things I have willingly ever had to do.'
She has also taken a case to the European Court of Human Rights over what her lawyer called the 'systematic and inexcusable failings by the Portuguese authorities that has denied her, and others, justice'.