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The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Read Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner's sick letter in full – including chilling ‘no body' gloat
A LETTER written by prime Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner has been exposed, with the sex fiend goading cops by saying: 'Is there a body? No, no no.' The German paedophile bragged in the bombshell letter that cops do not have the evidence to back their accusations against him in the Madeleine investigation. 12 12 He wrote: 'It is the important questions, the decisive questions that can never be answered. 'Was I or my vehicle clearly seen near the crime scene on the night of the crime? 'Is there DNA evidence of me at the crime scene? Are there DNA traces of the injured party in my vehicle? 'Are there other traces/DNA carriers of the injured party in my possession? Photos?" Brueckner - named as a Madeleine suspect for five years without charge — has also revealed a creepy knowledge in letters of how the German legal system works in his favour. He wrote: 'You know, of course, that in Germany you don't have to prove your innocence as a suspect, but that the public prosecutor's office has to prove that you are clearly guilty. 'Even the slightest doubt leads to an acquittal, if there is a court hearing at all.' Brueckner even claims the case against him is built on 'purchased witnesses' and reveals his awareness of his global notoriety. He wrote: 'Now, my path is paved with misjudgements, so to speak, but from now on the whole world is watching. 'Not even the Braunschweig regional court will now dare to make an obvious misjudgement. 'Even if an attempt is currently being made to create a shocking overall picture of me through purchased witnesses, it is the important questions, the decisive questions that can never be answered with 'yes'. Madeleine McCann cops call off search as trawl of Brueckner's 'rat run' turns up nothing "And, not to forget, is there a body/corpse? All no, no no.' He adds: 'You don't have to be a realist like me to predict that the accusations made against me will not hold up and that the investigation will be dropped.' In another letter seen by The Sun, Brueckner described how he used his drifter lifestyle to avoid detection. He wrote: 'Do you know that I was a drug dealer at that time in 2007? Investigators know this. 'I bought marijuana in Spain and sold it on beaches in the Algarve. 'I was never caught by the police because I followed a few principles. 'If possible, only drive during the day so that my battered hippie bus doesn't attract so much attention, only drive the necessary and most importantly, never provoke the police.' He added: 'Together with my dog and a lover at the time I enjoyed the 'temporary hippie life'.' 12 12 He also whinges he has been framed so he can be scapegoated over the Madeleine case. He wrote: 'Right from the start they plotted a miscarriage of justice to make me vanish into thin air. And now half the world knows why.' And he adds: 'I am not exaggerating when I say that 80 per cent of what I have heard from the reports is not true. 'A large proportion of these lies are clearly being spread by the investigating authorities. My words are directed at those who are taking this seriously and are not laughing about it. 'Those who want to understand how brutal the German justice system is in its attempts to hammer through its own law, even if nothing is true.' The vile letters emerged as officers desperate to find a forensic link to him flew back to Germany after a new three-day search in Portugal this week. Scores of cops painstakingly combed scrubland near Praia da Luz with JCBs, radar and fingertip searches, believing the tot or her pyjamas could have been buried there. German prosecutors are convinced of Brueckner's guilt. It comes just weeks after a Sun investigation was broadcast on Channel 4 that revealed bombshell evidence found at the suspect's lair. The disturbing evidence demonstrated Brueckner's obsession with young kids. We revealed he wrote horrifying fantasies about abducting and abusing a blonde toddler — and how this would leave him 'in paradise'. He also boasted in online forums about his desire to 'capture something small and use it for days'. Brueckner remains in prison in Germany where he is serving a seven year term for rape. The 48-year-old convicted paedophile faces having his hopes of being released from jail in September scuppered after reportedly being accused of new offences against prison guards behind bars. 12 12 The latest search to find DNA or forensic links on the case appeared to have ended without success on Thursday. Police were seen taking fibres by hand while a hole was dug at the site of an apparent tent from around the time of Madeleine's disappearance. However, it was unclear whether the search had found anything with enough potential value to the case to be sent back to Germany for testing. Brueckner had already moved out of his cottage in Praia da Luz when three-year-old Madeleine, from Rothley, Leics, arrived with parents Gerry and Kate and her two-year-old twin siblings. He was living in his car, or wild camping in areas including this week's search site. Brueckner's letters "It is the important questions, the decisive questions that can never be answered. 'Was I or my vehicle clearly seen near the crime scene on the night of the crime? 'Is there DNA evidence of me at the crime scene? Are there DNA traces of the injured party in my vehicle? 'Are there other traces/DNA carriers of the injured party in my possession? Photos? 'And, not to forget, is there a body/corpse? All no, no no. 'You don't have to be a realist like me to predict that the accusations made against me will not hold up and that the investigation will be dropped. "You know, of course, that in Germany you don't have to prove your innocence as a suspect, but that the public prosecutor's office has to prove that you are clearly guilty. 'Even the slightest doubt leads to an acquittal, if there is a court hearing at all.' 'Now, my path is paved with misjudgements, so to speak, but from now on the whole world is watching. 'Not even the Braunschweig regional court will now dare to make an obvious misjudgement. 'Even if an attempt is currently being made to create a shocking overall picture of me through purchased witnesses, it is the important questions, the decisive questions that can never be answered with 'yes'. 'Do you know that I was a drug dealer at that time in 2007? Investigators know this. 'I bought marijuana in Spain and sold it on beaches in the Algarve. 'I was never caught by the police because I followed a few principles. 'If possible, only drive during the day so that my battered hippie bus doesn't attract so much attention, only drive the necessary and most importantly, never provoke the police. 'Together with my dog and a lover at the time I enjoyed the 'temporary hippie life'. 'Right from the start they plotted a miscarriage of justice to make me vanish into thin air. And now half the world knows why. 'I am not exaggerating when I say that 80 per cent of what I have heard from the reports is not true. 'A large proportion of these lies are clearly being spread by the investigating authorities. My words are directed at those who are taking this seriously and are not laughing about it. 'Those who want to understand how brutal the German justice system is in its attempts to hammer through its own law, even if nothing is true.' The seeming failure of longshot searches for any traces of Madeleine this week is the latest in a string of blows for the case. German authorities who maintain Madeleine is dead are racing to find a way to keep highly dangerous Brueckner behind bars after he was cleared of rape claims last year. He told this week he plans to 'hide' when he is released, as soon as September 17, taking hopes for the Madeleine case with him. The drifter was jailed in 2019, convicted of the 2005 rape of an American pensioner just streets from the Ocean Club, where the McCanns stayed in Praia da Luz. The Sun investigation aired on Channel 4 revealed the existence of computer hard drives which were vital in to persuading investigators of Madeleine's death. Our findings placed Breuckner at key Madeleine search location the Arades Dam, in Portugal. And a document puts him at the location — where he allegedly said 'she did not scream' as he discussed her with an associate. In the online message where he brags to another sicko that he really wanted to 'capture something small' he adds it would not matter 'if the evidence is destroyed afterwards'. German investigators last night remained hopeful British police might rejoin the investigation as an active inquiry. 12 12 12
The Herald
3 days ago
- General
- The Herald
Vast police search for Madeleine McCann evidence launched in Algarve
Portugal's investigative judicial police (PJ) said on Monday they would execute search warrants at the behest of the public prosecutor's office in Germany's Braunschweig, which in 2022 formally identified German national Christian Brueckner as an official suspect in the case. The search operation is expected to end on Thursday, said a spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office in the northern German city of Braunschweig. A source involved in the search said the targeted area was 'vast', with police using ground-penetrating radar across several hectares. Portuguese officers were following instructions from German police under a European investigation order. Reuters footage showed uniformed PJ officers in a cordon on a dirt road in Atalaia, a neighbourhood of Lagos municipality, waving through unmarked vans and cars with German licence plates from the city of Wiesbaden, where the federal criminal police office (BKA) has its headquarters. The BKA is assisting Portuguese law enforcement with 'criminal procedural measures', Braunschweig prosecutors told Reuters, declining to provide further details. The occupants of one of the German vehicles wore bucket hats, clothing with camouflage patterns and bandannas covering their faces. A van belonging to Portugal's maritime police also arrived. The force has jurisdiction over coastal areas and took part in previous searches of beaches, wells and reservoirs using specialist divers. The road the police cordoned off is located close to a golf course and less than 1km from the beach. The search area was close to a property Brueckner lived in, a neighbour told Reuters in 2020, though when was unclear. German police said in June 2020 Madeleine was presumed dead and Brueckner, in his 40s, was probably responsible. He has denied responsibility. Brueckner, a convicted child abuser and drug dealer, is behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve. His sentence runs until September, meaning he is set for release unless prosecutors find enough evidence to charge him over Madeleine's disappearance. In January, Sky News quoted the German prosecutor investigating Madeleine's disappearance as saying there was no prospect of charges being brought against Brueckner. Reuters
The Independent
4 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Will Christian Brueckner ever face charges over the disappearance of Maddie McCann?
The assertion that 47-year-old Christian Brueckner could be the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann looked a little thinner when he was acquitted in October on five unrelated sexual offences – two of which involved children – following a trial that began in February 2024. Despite the huge amount of interest around Christian Brueckner's past, the verdicts were no great surprise. They had been anticipated since last July when the presiding Judge, Uta Inse Engemann, in the German regional court of Braunschweig had ruled that there was 'no longer sufficient evidence of guilt for all of the charges'. Brueckner, a German national, remains in jail, serving the final months of a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in 2005 at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz — the same hotel where Madeleine went missing two years later. But as he seeks early release from the 2019 sentence, police in Germany are hurrying to charge the prime suspect in the disappearance of the British toddler before he walks free from prison in the next two weeks. It is now more than five years since Brueckner was first named and identified as the 'prime suspect' in the alleged abduction and murder of Madeleine, a few days before her 4th birthday, and longer still since he initially became a focus of investigation. There has been intense media speculation about his links to the McCann case and these were heightened by reporting of the often lurid details during his last trial. Engemann was alert to the risks of bias and the need to make a decision on the evidence alone. She reportedly referred in her final remarks to the judges' oath to serve the truth. 'This oath means that we don't have to cater to the views of the media and the table of regulars in a pub,' said Engemann. 'Everyone had heard about him in the Maddie McCann case. And they all knew that Brueckner since 2020 was always named by the public prosecutor's office. When in the media a person is described as a sex monster and a pervert, then it influences the witness.' Her comments brought to a close proceedings marked by sometimes ill-tempered exchanges between the prosecutor Lindemann and her court opponent, Brueckner's defence lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher, who had complained of the prosecution tactics, attacking the judges and the defence team and being, as Fulscher put it, 'particularly concerned with maximising damage' to the court and the trial. The prosecutor had wanted a 15-year jail sentence for Brueckner. In the end, she got nothing, During the BBC's Panorama programme at the end of 2023 with Brueckner's new trial imminent, Hans Christian Wolters, the chief public prosecutor for Braunschweig, repeated his claim that 'we think [Brueckner] was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and we think that he murdered Madeleine McCann.' But if there is evidence to make such a public declaration, why hasn't Brueckner ever been charged in Madeleine's disappearance? And if there is no evidence, why has the prosecutor repeatedly asserted his belief in Brueckner's guilt? Brueckner is a German drifter with a long criminal history, including sexual offences against children. His latest trial concerned alleged incidents in Portugal, in or not far from Prai da Luz, between 2000 and 2017. There were three counts of rape and two of indecent assault against children. In one of the rapes the 20-year-old complainant's attacker had worn a mask throughout and claimed she had recognised Brueckner, she said, by his eyes. There was evidence of a cell confession, and accounts of others who had stolen video tapes from Bruckner which they said they had watched, that depicted his attacks on two women. But the tapes were not available so the accounts could not be validated. One of the rape charges had been withdrawn before the final verdicts. A psychiatrist, Dr Christian Riedeman, giving evidence for the prosecution, told the court that Brueckner was in 'the absolute top league of dangerousness' to society and highly likely to reoffend on release. But it was then revealed the psychiatrist had not worked with or directly examined Brueckner, who had refused to see him. Brueckner's voice was the one missing from his trial – he never gave evidence, and only spoke once briefly at the end, when the judge asked him if he had anything he wanted to say: he was described as leaning forward and quietly stating, 'no, I would not like to'. There seems little doubt that Brueckner is a habitual and manipulative violent offender. His 2019 trial and conviction for the rape of the 72-year-old in Prai da Luz, made clear the elements of his sadistic pleasure in that offence. But, to emphasise the current position, he has never been charged in Madeleine McCann's case and his lawyer, Friedrich Fulscher spoke on Brueckner's behalf to Panorama, complaining of his client facing 'trial by media' in what Fulscher called one of the most famous cases in the world. The evidence against Brueckner was 'flimsy', he said, and 'lacking in substance'. Brueckner himself has always denied any role in Madeleine's abduction. 'Trial by media' has a familiar and discordant ring in this case. That is exactly what Gerry and Kate McCann were subjected to over 16 years ago by Portugal's Policia Judiciaria (PJ) – the equivalent of the CID – who began leaking outlandish claims about them to the press before finally making them arguidos – suspects – in their own daughter's disappearance. The details are painfully familiar. On 3 May 2007, the McCanns were holidaying in apartment 5a at the Ocean Club, Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast of southern Portugal. Unusually, it was not a gated resort but open to the town. Madeleine, who would have celebrated her fourth birthday nine days later, was sharing the back bedroom overlooking the street. She was in one of two single beds, furthest from the window, her twin siblings (now 18) were in travel cots between the beds. While they slept, their parents were in the Tapas restaurant nearby with their friends. Madeleine disappeared in the 55 minutes between Gerry's check at about 9.05pm and Kate's visit at 10pm, when she discovered Madeleine was gone. One of their friends had checked about 9.30 but, agonisingly, could not be sure afterwards that Madeleine was in bed. I went out to Praia da Luz in the summer of 2007 to report on the case and was there when it became apparent the McCanns were coming under suspicion. The events I witnessed transformed an investigation into a circus, as the world's media turned its cameras on the McCanns arriving to be quizzed at PJ headquarters in Portimao. They had tragic and far-reaching consequences for the investigation of what had happened to Madeleine and for her parents. As I reported at the time, the PJ – led by its misguided chief investigator Goncalo Amaral – had made a catastrophic misjudgement and 'abandoned the abduction theory', instead building an implausible case against Gerry and Kate McCann based on a misreading of DNA traces found in the boot of their car (which they had not hired until three weeks after the disappearance) and a pair of sniffer dogs brought over from the UK, whose 'alerts' at the car and in the apartment were somehow – and wrongly – taken to be hard evidence. Based on these 'facts', a theory was concocted that the couple had accidentally overdosed Madeleine with a sedative, she had died in the apartment, and they had secretly disposed of her body. Bizarrely, they offered Kate McCann a deal during her interrogation: she could admit to the crime, serve two years in prison and Gerry would be free to go home. She of course declined. They were both doctors, on holiday with a group of friends ('The Tapas 7'), how could they have carried out such an appalling crime? Had they hidden it all from their friends, or were the friends in on the conspiracy? It made no sense then and even less now. As the press seized on PJ leaks of reported inconsistencies in their accounts, the findings of the dogs, the DNA etc, I was often a lone exception to the general assumption that the McCanns were guilty – a phenomenon that quickly spread from Portugal to the UK. I remember arguing with an editor about their supposed role in Madeleine's 'death'. 'But what about the dogs, David? The dogs don't lie.' But they did 'lie'. The McCanns returned to England bound by 'judicial secrecy' – an official code of silence – which evidently did not apply to the Portuguese side who had leaked so much, including the names and contact details of all the McCanns' holiday group to a friendly Portuguese reporter. 'The secrecy code is like the speed limit,' a local journalist told me, 'Everyone knows it but no one keeps to it.' Soon after their return, at their invitation, I travelled to the McCanns' home in Rothley, Leicestershire, and went to the pub with Gerry McCann where we sat in a quiet corner and broke the secrecy code while he 'briefed' me for two or three hours on what had really happened that night. He took my notebook and drew a plan of the apartment showing the location and layout of the children's bedroom and how the abductor could have gone in and out unnoticed. If people recognised him in the pub they left Gerry alone. His stress was evident but he wanted to talk and afterwards took me home where I waited in the kitchen for a taxi. Madeleine's star chart for going to sleep well at night was pinned to the fridge. Speaking up for the McCanns exposed me to a little of what they have been going through ever since in terms of trolling on the internet and social media. I was called a McCann 'shill', doing the couple's 'bidding', and mocked for supposedly being a gullible investigative journalist. I described those people at the time as web ghouls, feasting on the misery of the McCann family while largely hiding behind anonymity on Twitter/X and elsewhere. In one very sad case, a woman, Brenda Leyland, revealed by Sky News as the real person behind the anonymous McCann troll Sweepyface on Twitter, took her own life. She had posted hundreds of messages attacking and accusing the McCanns. She was not the worst, by far. Even though the McCanns were officially released from arguido status by the PJ in 2008 when it closed its investigation, the trolls have never let up. They were back out in force whenever they are back in the news – #mccann – comparing Gerry McCann to child murderers and so on. The couple have shown extraordinary resilience in all the circumstances, no doubt focused on raising Madeleine's siblings, Amelie and Sean. Amelie attended a vigil this year on the anniversary of her sister's disappearance. There was never any doubt in my mind that this was a case of – as the jargon goes – stranger or non-familial child abduction and nothing to do with the parents. The McCanns, as I saw them, were then functioning at the limits of human endurance; their gaunt, strained faces speaking to a world of loss and no doubt guilt at not being there to protect their child. They have always clung to the hope that, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, Madeleine could still be alive. As Gerry told Crimewatch during an increasingly rare public appearance in 2013, there are cases where abducted children are kept alive. No doubt he was thinking of Natascha Kampusch, among others, who escaped her abductor in 2006 –aged 18 – after being held captive in Austria for eight years. Stranger abductions of children are very rare. They can be opportunistic and the openness of the Ocean Club could have presented the opportunity to a watchful predator, who may have observed the family's routine and the vulnerability of their corner apartment. This week's Panorama referenced sightings of a so-called 'spotty man' and recreated scenes of him watching their accommodation. An offender profile might well focus on local drifters, with a history of sexual offences. If only a police inquiry had dwelt on this from the beginning. The Met Police took up the case in 2011, its Operation Grange starting from scratch and their briefings spoke of patterns of increased burglaries in Praia da Luz in the months before the McCanns arrived, and unsolved sightings of men in the vicinity before and after the disappearance. It has been reported that Christian Brueckner's name was buried in the case files and that the PJ had made some cursory attempt to track him down before he came to the Met as a tip and they passed it onto the German authorities who opened their own investigation. The PJ also reopened an investigation and travelled to the UK where they reportedly provided an update to Gerry McCann. Panorama said they had apologised to the McCanns for the harm its original investigation had caused. No sooner had the apology been disclosed than the truth of it was being disputed on Twitter/X. It is certainly true that Brueckner fits what you could imagine a guilty profile would look like. He committed his first sexual offence against a child when he was still a child himself, aged 16. He appears to have been an active criminal for most of his adult life, drifting back and forth between Germany and Portugal, living in the very resort, Praia da Luz where Madeleine was taken, at the time of her abduction. It was there in 2005 that he raped the 72-year-old woman. Searches have yielded a buried USB stick containing child pornography and he is said to have been on the phone near the Ocean Club around the time of Madeleine's disappearance. He changed the registration of a car soon after and went on to commit other offences in Portugal and Germany. But, as the acquittals in his latest trial show, it is a dangerous game, to assume guilt, to try and fit the suspect to the crime. That's how miscarriages of justice occur. It is evidence that matters and answers that Gerry and Kate McCann hope for and, you may think, earnestly deserve. No doubt they are among the very many people waiting to see what will happen with Brueckner, and if the prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters will ever make the case against him in court – and not just in the media.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Where did this thriller come from?! Relegation has just got exciting again
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here. During the second division relegation match between Eintracht Braunschweig and FC Saarbrücken, probably only those who lost their remote control stayed in front of the TV today. Few chances, few exciters, and above all, little football. Apart from Florian Krüger's penalty kick for the Saarlanders in the 66th minute, the game had very little to offer for a long time. But let's put it this way: all those who stayed were rewarded the 83rd minute, Saarbrücken's Kai Brünkner completed a textbook counterattack to make it 2:0, resulting in a 2:2 overall score. A few minutes later, however, teammate Rizzuto received a yellow-red card for a foul that wasn't even that wild. The numerical disadvantage then led to Braunschweig's constant pressure (referee Stieler awarded nine minutes of extra time), and the hosts almost even got a penalty kick, which the VAR ultimately didn't want to give. After about 100 minutes, the game was temporarily blown off, and considering the chaos that unfolded in the last few minutes of the game, we can actually be genuinely happy about it: extra time is on. We recommend staying tuned, albeit cautiously: stay with it. UPDATE: In the 108th minute, Braunschweig scored with the very last action before the side change through Fabio Di Michele Sanchez to make it 1:2, and in the 120th minute, they even scored another goal after a counterattack to make it 2:2, ensuring they will remain a second-tier team. The conclusion remains the same in any case: we were unexpectedly given a very, very good football game.
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
Four former Volkswagen managers convicted of fraud in ‘dieselgate' trial
A German court has convicted four former Volkswagen managers of fraud and given two of them prison sentences for their part in the 'dieselgate' emissions test-cheating scandal which erupted almost a decade ago. The former head of development Heinz-Jakob Neusser received a suspended jail term of one year and three months from the court in the city of Braunschweig, according to the news agency Bloomberg. A former head of drive electronics, named only as Hanno J, was given a sentence of two years and seven months, German media reported. The heaviest sentence, of four years and six months, was given to the former head of diesel motor development Jens H, while the fourth defendant was given a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months. The defendants can appeal against the rulings. The scandal began in September 2015 when the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation saying Volkswagen had rigged engine control software that enabled diesel cars to pass emissions tests while emitting far more pollution in actual driving. The company has paid more than $33bn (£24bn) in fines and compensation to vehicle owners. Two VW managers received prison sentences in the US. The former head of the company's Audi division Rupert Stadler was given a suspended sentence of 21 months and a fine of €1.1m (£0.92m); his sentence is still subject to appeal. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The four found guilty on Monday, who have been on trial since 2021, were initially to have their cases heard alongside that of the former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn. Proceedings against him have been suspended because of his health issues, and it is not clear when he might go on trial. Winterkorn has denied wrongdoing. Further proceedings are open against 31 other suspects in Germany. Volkswagen said in a statement that the 'proceedings in the court in Braunschweig are against individuals' and had 'no significant consequences for the cases before the civil courts that Volkswagen is involved in' related to the scandal. Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report
