Latest news with #PolíciaJudiciária
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Madeleine McCann police leave empty-handed after three-day search
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have left empty-handed after a three-day search near where she went missing 18 years ago. Officers from Portugal's Polícia Judiciária, under the direction of German authorities, scoured 120 acres of gorse scrubland east of Praia da Luz for any trace of the three-year-old's remains. A team of 60 police officers, a JCB-style digger and ground penetrating radar (GPR) devices, all at an estimated cost of £300,000, were deployed in the hope of bringing closure to the infamous missing persons case. By the time the detectives packed up their tents at 5pm on Thursday, the sum total of their findings were a handful of animal bones, decayed adult clothes and some soil. And even then, The Telegraph was told that these samples would not be sent back to Germany for further examination. 'Not very well', said one police officer when asked how the search was going, hours before the digging stopped for the last time. 'We were criticised for not doing our job 20 years ago. Beyond that, I can't say anything', he told The Telegraph before walking back to his colleagues, shovel in hand. The new search area encompassed 20 plots of private land in the small region of Atalaia and is dotted with derelict farmhouses, disused wells, and abandoned buildings. It sits less than a mile away from the former home of Christian Brueckner, a convicted paedophile and the main suspect in Madeleine's disappearance in May 2007. Brueckner has denied his involvement and so far has not faced any charges in connection with the McCann case. Teams of officers used shovels and later diggers to excavate the ground floors of abandoned buildings and then scan the earth below with radar devices. Some questioned whether this short-lived search was based on fresh intelligence unearthed by detectives or whether it was more random and speculative than that. The answer remains unclear. It marks what could be the last roll of the dice in the detectives' bid to find answers and crucial evidence relating to Madeleine's disappearance. Brueckner is due to walk out of Germany's Sehnde prison in three months time after serving seven-year-prison sentence for raping an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, only two years before Madeleine went missing. Prosecutors view this window as the last possible opportunity to find the crucial bit of evidence needed to charge Brueckner before he absconds abroad and is likely never to be seen again. He was first named as a suspect in the case in 2020, when prosecutors in Germany claimed to have compelling evidence linking him to Madeleine's abduction and murder. However, the exact nature of that potentially damning evidence has never been divulged. Hans Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor leading the investigation, has repeatedly refused to disclose what has prompted the search. In the search site, the roar of chainsaws and hedge trimmers filled the air as they started clearing the shrub from the ruins of abandoned villas in the 73F (23C) heat on Tuesday morning. Their efforts were closely monitored by a throng of international journalists and press photographers with long lenses who clambered through the thorny undergrowth for a closer look. Dirt tracks heading north were cordoned off with police tape to deter the hundreds of tourists walking along the coastal trail that runs parallel to the search sites. Officers were sent in small teams of two or three to sift through the rubble and pack containers with soil to be taken away for further analysis. However, the Telegraph were told the samples weren't going to be sent back to Germany in yet another blow to the police investigation. At one property a team of half a dozen firefighters worked to dredge a disused well. The following day, a JCB digger was deployed to excavate the ruins along with a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) device, capable of mapping underground terrain to a depth of approximately 33ft (10 metres) and identifying anomalies. Detectives hoped the GPR may locate the crucial piece of evidence needed to formally charge Breuckner without damaging it in the process. Robert Green, a Professor of Forensic Science at the University of Kent, who led a programme for the Home Office setting out a national cold case strategy, explained its benefits. He said: 'Ground penetrating radar has proven to be an invaluable asset in forensic investigations, especially in locating buried bodies or remains. 'Its significant advantages enable the investigators to scan the area and generate real-time feedback, producing detailed images of subsurface anomalies that could represent potential clues, such as disturbed soil or voids that may suggest the presence of a body. 'In this manner, GPR effectively serves as the investigators' eyes, unveiling hidden depths without causing disruption.' However, the devices, also used in an earlier search in Praia Da Luz in 2014, do have their drawbacks. It takes an expert eye to be able to analyse the mapping data and discern between a natural feature such as a tree root or a piece of bone. The radar may also struggle to pick out particularly small pieces of evidence such as a tiny piece of fabric. Signals may return weakly due to highly conductive materials like clay. But for the detectives, their hopes that the GPR would be their saviour in the search for crucial evidence appeared futile after three days. On Thursday evening, the police officers and firefighters packed up their chainsaws and pickaxes at 5pm on Thursday and left the site after yet another fruitless search. The international team of Portuguese and German officers were seen shaking hands and applauding one another. One officer celebrated the end of the search by passing a crate of Augustiner, a German beer, to his colleagues. Professor Green had recommended that the Portuguese have on board an anthropologist or archaeologist and questioned the heavy-handed tactic of using JCB diggers. 'The GPR will highlight the possibility of underground anomalies, and employing heavy excavation equipment may have proven counterproductive,' he said. Approximately a mile away in the village of Sitio das Lajes on the outskirts of Lagos is Brueckner's old home, where he had lived intermittently since 1992. When the Telegraph visited the rundown cottage, it was boarded up with three cameras set up over the entrance with no signs of life. An algae-infested well filled with frogs sits a few yards away from the front door. Teun Koke, a Dutch father on holiday with his wife and six-month-old child at an Airbnb rental next door, said: 'When you read those stories, you think about your own children, but it didn't put me off bringing my family here 'It was a long time ago. 'We hope they find something that will solve that case, of course, it's a terrible situation.' But for now, the 18-year wait for answers goes on. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
Madeleine McCann police leave empty-handed after three-day search
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have left empty-handed after a three-day search near where she went missing 18 years ago. Officers from Portugal's Polícia Judiciária, under the direction of German authorities, scoured 120 acres of gorse scrubland east of Praia da Luz for any trace of the three-year-old's remains. A team of 60 police officers, a JCB-style digger and ground penetrating radar (GPR) devices, all at an estimated cost of £300,000, were deployed in the hope of bringing closure to the infamous missing persons case. By the time the detectives packed up their tents at 5pm on Thursday, the sum total of their findings were a handful of animal bones, decayed adult clothes and some soil. And even then, The Telegraph was told that these samples would not be sent back to Germany for further examination. 'Not very well', said one police officer when asked how the search was going, hours before the digging stopped for the last time. 'We were criticised for not doing our job 20 years ago. Beyond that, I can't say anything', he told The Telegraph before walking back to his colleagues, shovel in hand. The new search area encompassed 20 plots of private land in the small region of Atalaia and is dotted with derelict farmhouses, disused wells, and abandoned buildings. It sits less than a mile away from the former home of Christian Brueckner, a convicted paedophile and the main suspect in Madeleine's disappearance in May 2007. Brueckner has denied his involvement and so far has not faced any charges in connection with the McCann case. Teams of officers used shovels and later diggers to excavate the ground floors of abandoned buildings and then scan the earth below with radar devices. Some questioned whether this short-lived search was based on fresh intelligence unearthed by detectives or whether it was more random and speculative than that. The answer remains unclear. It marks what could be the last roll of the dice in the detectives' bid to find answers and crucial evidence relating to Madeleine's disappearance. Brueckner is due to walk out of Germany's Sehnde prison in three months time after serving seven-year-prison sentence for raping an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, only two years before Madeleine went missing. Prosecutors view this window as the last possible opportunity to find the crucial bit of evidence needed to charge Brueckner before he absconds abroad and is likely never to be seen again. He was first named as a suspect in the case in 2020, when prosecutors in Germany claimed to have compelling evidence linking him to Madeleine's abduction and murder. However, the exact nature of that potentially damning evidence has never been divulged. Hans Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor leading the investigation, has repeatedly refused to disclose what has prompted the search. In the search site, the roar of chainsaws and hedge trimmers filled the air as they started clearing the shrub from the ruins of abandoned villas in the 73F (23C) heat on Tuesday morning. Their efforts were closely monitored by a throng of international journalists and press photographers with long lenses who clambered through the thorny undergrowth for a closer look. Dirt tracks heading north were cordoned off with police tape to deter the hundreds of tourists walking along the coastal trail that runs parallel to the search sites. Officers were sent in small teams of two or three to sift through the rubble and pack containers with soil to be taken away for further analysis. However, the Telegraph were told the samples weren't going to be sent back to Germany in yet another blow to the police investigation. At one property a team of half a dozen firefighters worked to dredge a disused well. The following day, a JCB digger was deployed to excavate the ruins along with a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) device, capable of mapping underground terrain to a depth of approximately 33ft (10 metres) and identifying anomalies. Detectives hoped the GPR may locate the crucial piece of evidence needed to formally charge Breuckner without damaging it in the process. Robert Green, a Professor of Forensic Science at the University of Kent, who led a programme for the Home Office setting out a national cold case strategy, explained its benefits. He said: 'Ground penetrating radar has proven to be an invaluable asset in forensic investigations, especially in locating buried bodies or remains. 'Its significant advantages enable the investigators to scan the area and generate real-time feedback, producing detailed images of subsurface anomalies that could represent potential clues, such as disturbed soil or voids that may suggest the presence of a body. 'In this manner, GPR effectively serves as the investigators' eyes, unveiling hidden depths without causing disruption.' However, the devices, also used in an earlier search in Praia Da Luz in 2014, do have their drawbacks. It takes an expert eye to be able to analyse the mapping data and discern between a natural feature such as a tree root or a piece of bone. The radar may also struggle to pick out particularly small pieces of evidence such as a tiny piece of fabric. Signals may return weakly due to highly conductive materials like clay. But for the detectives, their hopes that the GPR would be their saviour in the search for crucial evidence appeared futile after three days. The search concluded at approximately 5pm on Thursday afternoon. The team took down their tents, packed away their tools and drove away from the sites. The international team of Portuguese and German officers were seen shaking hands and applauding one another. One officer celebrated the end of the search by passing a crate of Augustiner, a German beer, to his colleagues. Professor Green had recommended that the Portuguese have on board an anthropologist or archaeologist and questioned the heavy-handed tactic of using JCB diggers. 'The GPR will highlight the possibility of underground anomalies, and employing heavy excavation equipment may have proven counterproductive,' he said. Approximately a mile away in the village of Sitio das Lajes on the outskirts of Lagos is Brueckner's old home, where he had lived intermittently since 1992. When the Telegraph visited the rundown cottage, it was boarded up with three cameras set up over the entrance with no signs of life. An algae-infested well filled with frogs sits a few yards away from the front door. Teun Koke, a Dutch father on holiday with his wife and six-month-old child at an Airbnb rental next door, said: 'When you read those stories, you think about your own children, but it didn't put me off bringing my family here 'It was a long time ago. 'We hope they find something that will solve that case, of course, it's a terrible situation.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
‘He's calm, clever and dangerous': The battle to convict Madeleine McCann's prime suspect
The red dust kicks up again as police vans rattle along the narrow rural tracks east of Portugal's Praia da Luz, while the global press pack strains to peer beyond the cordons. For many, the scene is painfully familiar. Eighteen years ago, the search for three-year-old Madeleine McCann gripped headlines worldwide after the toddler from Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished from her bedroom at the infamous Ocean Club holiday resort. Now, in this same arid Algarve scrubland, the echoes of that disappearance in May 2007 still linger. But this time, nearly two years after the last search in 2023 – the most extensive since 2008 – a different urgency hangs in the dry air. Experts speak of a ticking clock, a new pressure driving this latest effort. The catalyst behind this three-day scramble? One man: German paedophile Christian Brueckner. More specifically, the need to keep him in the German prison from which he is set to walk free on September 17 at the age of just 48, despite his disturbing back catalogue of sadistic crimes and his status as the prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance. Chillingly, a leading German psychiatrist told a court last year that Brueckner had been tested and scored 99 per cent on a scale of dangerousness. Some 30 German police officers, joined by forensic experts and supported by Portugal's Polícia Judiciária – the national criminal investigation police agency – began fresh searches on Tuesday across a 26-mile area in pursuit of new evidence in Madeleine's case. Chainsaws, hedge trimmers and pickaxes are being used to clear thick foliage and access crumbling ruins, while mounds of earth are shifted across the barren fields. Equipped with radar capable of scanning 15ft below the surface, the team is expected to continue this extraordinary operation – scouring 20 privately owned plots and draining wells – until Friday. Currently serving a seven-year sentence for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American tourist near where Madeleine vanished, Brueckner has been the official suspect in the British toddler's disappearance since 2020 – yet he has always protested his innocence and has never been formally charged. Now it seems this heartbreaking British case has become the only means left for German authorities to keep the sex offender behind bars. 'It's now or never,' read a headline in Germany's Bild newspaper this week. Summing up the race to keep Brueckner imprisoned. Meanwhile, Brueckner has made his feelings perfectly clear in an extraordinary interview with German journalist Ulrich Oppold, where he described looking forward to 'a nice steak and beer' upon release. Refusing to answer any questions about Madeleine, he instead admitted he planned to flee if released from prison. Few offenders are as instantly recognisable as Brueckner, with his ghostly complexion and pale blue-eyed stare. His chequered criminal history makes for disturbing reading. In 1994, a teenager of 17, he was first convicted of sexual abuse of a child, attempted sexual abuse of a child, and carrying out sexual acts in front of a child. But he fled to Portugal with a girlfriend to avoid completing a youth custody sentence, and a European arrest warrant was issued. The pair split, and drifter Brueckner became adept at odd jobs, finally settling in his run-down house on the edge of the Praia da Luz resort in the mid-1990s. He would frequently return there over the years to come, and has since been linked to the disappearances of seven-year-old Jair Soares and 16-year-old Belgian Carola Titze, both of whom went missing during this period. In 1999, he was finally arrested by Portuguese police and sent home to serve his youth sentence, begging questions as to how a sex offender known to the Portuguese was not later tracked. Over the next nearly two decades, he flitted between the two countries, often dodging criminal proceedings ranging from drug dealing and sexual offences to theft. In his later rape trial, witnesses spoke of a life of crime, stealing from tourists and climbing 'through open windows in one or another holiday flat'. The particularly heinous rape for which he is currently imprisoned occurred in 2005, two years before Madeleine's disappearance. His 72-year-old American victim lived in an apartment half a mile from the McCanns. Late one evening, Brueckner broke into her home, where he beat her with a 30cm scimitar – a short, curved sword – before forcing himself on her. The rape was investigated in Portugal but police eventually closed the case. Brueckner continued living in his house, returning to Germany frequently, and was staying in a camper van several miles away when Madeleine disappeared. In 2020, police said his phone placed him nearby the night she vanished. It was only much later that a former co-conspirator of Brueckner's, who had stolen diesel with him – for which Brueckner was arrested in 2006 – found a video of the rape and went to police. In late 2019, Brueckner was finally sentenced. The 48-year-old was first linked to Madeleine's case in 2013 after the McCann's appealed for information on German television's version of Crimewatch, Aktenzeichen XY. Among some 500 calls, federal investigators received a convincing tip-off. A former colleague had linked Brueckner to a photofit of a man spotted near the site where Madeleine had gone missing. Then a month after the McCann's television appearance, the local police force in the German town of Braunschweig – where Brueckner was living at the time – sent a letter to Brueckner inviting him to be interviewed as a witness in the 'missing person case of Madeleine McCann'. Journalist Jon Clarke, an expert in the case, who has written the book My Search for Madeleine, explains this was a huge error. 'They messed up, they sent a policeman around to his house and told him he had to appear in a police station three days later to answer questions in the case of Madeleine McCann,' he explains. 'They actually wrote it on the letter, so he was completely warned, and in those three days who knows what happened?' Germany's Der Spiegel magazine has also highlighted the error, speaking to an officer who admitted: 'This should not have happened and in no way complies with common procedure in such a delicate case.' Assessing how Brueckner has seemingly slipped through so many cracks, Clarke also believes the number of different police forces involved in Germany, combined with Brueckner's moves around the country, as well as to Portugal and back, have complicated investigations. 'They've not been sharing information between different police forces, and it's been very difficult therefore to piece things together,' he claims. Nevertheless, Brueckner's crimes started to catch up with him. In 2017, he was convicted of sexual assault of a child in Germany in 2013, the five-year-old daughter of an ex-girlfriend, and sentenced to 15 months in prison. She was assaulted in a public park and graphic photos were later found on a digital camera when police were investigating him for a separate claim of domestic violence. It was after his release that he is reported to have been in a bar with a friend when televisions showed 10th-anniversary coverage of Madeleine's disappearance, allegedly prompting him to confide he 'knew all about' what happened, and then revealing video of himself raping a woman. The friend is understood to have gone to the police. The same year, another witness, Helge B, who had attended a music festival with Brueckner in 2008, told police the suspect admitted the killing while they were there, adding that Maddie 'did not scream', although doubts persist about the witness's credibility. Brueckner was arrested the year after while in Italy and extradited to Germany, this time on a warrant for drug trafficking. He was jailed for 21 months for dealing and then convicted for rape of his American victim. By all accounts, Brueckner is not stupid. Witnesses in that trial described him as a well-presented and intelligent man who drove a Jaguar, while in court he spoke eloquently, often reading from legal texts. This week, Clarke spoke to Oppold about his interview with Brueckner. 'He said he was so calm, and knew exactly what he wanted to say. He's very careful,' he explains. 'If you read his prison records, his psychological records, it's very difficult to analyse him because he doesn't let anyone in. He won't say anything. He's clever and cautious.' In 2020, the German prosecutor announced Madeleine was believed dead and identified Brueckner as the official suspect – the first time his name had been widely publicised. The evidence for this announcement has never been made clear although, last month, a Channel 4 documentary made in conjunction with The Sun disclosed a catalogue of grim discoveries it claims were made by police in 2016 at a disused factory Brueckner owned in Neuwegersleben, east Germany. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Telegraph
‘He's calm, clever and dangerous': The battle to convict Madeleine McCann's prime suspect
The red dust kicks up again as police vans rattle along the narrow rural tracks east of Portugal's Praia da Luz, while the global press pack strains to peer beyond the cordons. For many, the scene is painfully familiar. Eighteen years ago, the search for three-year-old Madeleine McCann gripped headlines worldwide after the toddler from Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished from her bedroom at the infamous Ocean Club holiday resort. Now, in this same arid Algarve scrubland, the echoes of that disappearance in May 2007 still linger. But this time, nearly two years after the last search in 2023 – the most extensive since 2008 – a different urgency hangs in the dry air. Experts speak of a ticking clock, a new pressure driving this latest effort. The catalyst behind this three-day scramble? One man: German paedophile Christian Brueckner. More specifically, the need to keep him in the German prison from which he is set to walk free on September 17 at the age of just 48, despite his disturbing back catalogue of sadistic crimes and his status as the prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance. Chillingly, a leading German psychiatrist told a court last year that Brueckner had been tested and scored 99 per cent on a scale of dangerousness. Some 30 German police officers, joined by forensic experts and supported by Portugal's Polícia Judiciária – the national criminal investigation police agency – began fresh searches on Tuesday across a 26-mile area in pursuit of new evidence in Madeleine's case. Chainsaws, hedge trimmers and pickaxes are being used to clear thick foliage and access crumbling ruins, while mounds of earth are shifted across the barren fields. Equipped with radar capable of scanning 15ft below the surface, the team is expected to continue this extraordinary operation – scouring 20 privately owned plots and draining wells – until Friday. Currently serving a seven-year sentence for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American tourist near where Madeleine vanished, Brueckner has been the official suspect in the British toddler's disappearance since 2020 – yet he has always protested his innocence and has never been formally charged. Now it seems this heartbreaking British case has become the only means left for German authorities to keep the sex offender behind bars. 'It's now or never,' read a headline in Germany's Bild newspaper this week. Summing up the race to keep Brueckner imprisoned. Meanwhile, Brueckner has made his feelings perfectly clear in an extraordinary interview with German journalist Ulrich Oppold, where he described looking forward to 'a nice steak and beer' upon release. Refusing to answer any questions about Madeleine, he instead admitted he planned to flee if released from prison. Few offenders are as instantly recognisable as Brueckner, with his ghostly complexion and pale blue-eyed stare. His chequered criminal history makes for disturbing reading. In 1994, a teenager of 17, he was first convicted of sexual abuse of a child, attempted sexual abuse of a child, and carrying out sexual acts in front of a child. But he fled to Portugal with a girlfriend to avoid completing a youth custody sentence, and a European arrest warrant was issued. The pair split, and drifter Brueckner became adept at odd jobs, finally settling in his run-down house on the edge of the Praia da Luz resort in the mid-1990s. He would frequently return there over the years to come, and has since been linked to the disappearances of seven-year-old Jair Soares and 16-year-old Belgian Carola Titze, both of whom went missing during this period. In 1999, he was finally arrested by Portuguese police and sent home to serve his youth sentence, begging questions as to how a sex offender known to the Portuguese was not later tracked. Over the next nearly two decades, he flitted between the two countries, often dodging criminal proceedings ranging from drug dealing and sexual offences to theft. In his later rape trial, witnesses spoke of a life of crime, stealing from tourists and climbing 'through open windows in one or another holiday flat'. The particularly heinous rape for which he is currently jailed happened in 2005, two years before Madeleine's disappearance. His elderly victim's flat was half a mile from the McCann's apartment. Late one evening, Brueckner entered her home, where he beat her with a 30cm scimitar, a short, curved sword, before forcing himself on her. The particularly heinous rape for which he is currently imprisoned occurred in 2005, two years before Madeleine's disappearance. His 72-year-old American victim lived in an apartment half a mile from the McCanns. Late one evening, Brueckner broke into her home, where he beat her with a 30cm scimitar – a short, curved sword – before forcing himself on her. The rape was investigated in Portugal but police eventually closed the case. Brueckner continued living in his house, returning to Germany frequently, and was staying in a camper van several miles away when Madeleine disappeared. In 2020, police said his phone placed him nearby the night she vanished. It was only much later that a former co-conspirator of Brueckner's, who had stolen diesel with him – for which Brueckner was arrested in 2006 – found a video of the rape and went to police. In late 2019, Brueckner was finally sentenced. The 48-year-old was first linked to Madeleine's case in 2013 after the McCann's appealed for information on German television's version of Crimewatch, Aktenzeichen XY. Among some 500 calls, federal investigators received a convincing tip-off. A former colleague had linked Brueckner to a photofit of a man spotted near the site where Madeleine had gone missing. Then a month after the McCann's television appearance, the local police force in the German town of Braunschweig – where Brueckner was living at the time – sent a letter to Brueckner inviting him to be interviewed as a witness in the 'missing person case of Madeleine McCann'. Journalist Jon Clarke, an expert in the case, who has written the book My Search for Madeleine, explains this was a huge error. 'They messed up, they sent a policeman around to his house and told him he had to appear in a police station three days later to answer questions in the case of Madeleine McCann,' he explains. 'They actually wrote it on the letter, so he was completely warned, and in those three days who knows what happened?' Germany's Der Spiegel magazine has also highlighted the error, speaking to an officer who admitted: 'This should not have happened and in no way complies with common procedure in such a delicate case.' Assessing how Brueckner has seemingly slipped through so many cracks, Clarke also believes the number of different police forces involved in Germany, combined with Brueckner's moves around the country, as well as to Portugal and back, have complicated investigations. 'They've not been sharing information between different police forces, and it's been very difficult therefore to piece things together,' he claims. Nevertheless, Brueckner's crimes started to catch up with him. In 2017, he was convicted of sexual assault of a child in Germany in 2013, the five-year-old daughter of an ex-girlfriend, and sentenced to 15 months in prison. She was assaulted in a public park and graphic photos were later found on a digital camera when police were investigating him for a separate claim of domestic violence. It was after his release that he is reported to have been in a bar with a friend when televisions showed 10th-anniversary coverage of Madeleine's disappearance, allegedly prompting him to confide he 'knew all about' what happened, and then revealing video of himself raping a woman. The friend is understood to have gone to the police. The same year, another witness, Helge B, who had attended a music festival with Brueckner in 2008, told police the suspect admitted the killing while they were there, adding that Maddie 'did not scream', although doubts persist about the witness's credibility. Brueckner was arrested the year after while in Italy and extradited to Germany, this time on a warrant for drug trafficking. He was jailed for 21 months for dealing and then convicted for rape of his American victim. By all accounts, Brueckner is not stupid. Witnesses in that trial described him as a well-presented and intelligent man who drove a Jaguar, while in court he spoke eloquently, often reading from legal texts. This week, Clarke spoke to Oppold about his interview with Brueckner. 'He said he was so calm, and knew exactly what he wanted to say. He's very careful,' he explains. 'If you read his prison records, his psychological records, it's very difficult to analyse him because he doesn't let anyone in. He won't say anything. He's clever and cautious.' In 2020, the German prosecutor announced Madeleine was believed dead and identified Brueckner as the official suspect – the first time his name had been widely publicised. The evidence for this announcement has never been made clear although, last month, a Channel 4 documentary made in conjunction with The Sun disclosed a catalogue of grim discoveries it claims were made by police in 2016 at a disused factory Brueckner owned in Neuwegersleben, east Germany.
New York Times
03-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Police Renew Searches in Madeleine McCann Investigation in Portugal
New searches are being carried out in Portugal as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a British child who went missing while on vacation with her parents more than 18 years ago. Police officers were combing an area near the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal's southern Algarve region, where Madeleine, then three years old, was last seen in May 2007. The Polícia Judiciária, Portugal's main national criminal investigation agency, said the operation was prompted by a legal order issued by German authorities who are investigating a German man, Christian Brückner, whom they believe may have killed Madeleine. The searches began on Monday and were scheduled to end on Friday, a statement said, adding: 'All evidence seized by the Polícia Judiciária will be handed over to agents of the German Federal Criminal Police Service, subject to prior authorization from the national Public Prosecutor's Office.' The Metropolitan Police, which led the original investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, said they were aware of the searches but were not present at the scene and would assist if necessary. Mr. Brückner, 48, is the main suspect in the case. He is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
