London
Reuters
–
British police investigated the loss of Madeleine McCann, a three-year-old British girl who disappeared from Portugal’s Algarve region in 2007, and said the 49-year-old German man was the suspect in the investigation.
German suspect Christian Bruckner lived in the Algarve when McCann disappeared and is scheduled to be released from German prison this month. He was first appointed as a suspect in the British and German police in 2020.
“We are aware of the pending release from prison of the 49-year-old German, the prima faculty suspect in the German federal investigation into Madeleine’s loss of failure,” DCI Mark Cranwell, a senior investigator at the Metropolitan Police Department in the UK, said in a statement Monday.
“This individual can be confirmed as a suspect in the Metropolitan Police Department’s own investigation.”
McCann went missing on May 3, 2007, and went missing on vacation with the family of the Algarve town of Praiadals, causing a frenzy of searches and attracted global media attention. She has never been found.
The German suspect refused to ask for an interview from British police, police statement added that officers will continue to pursue a line of viable investigations.
“We cannot provide further information while the investigation is underway. Any questions regarding the terms of his release should be directed to the German authorities,” the statement added.
German police said in June 2020 that McCann was supposed to have died and that Bruckner was likely to be held responsible. Brueckner denied involvement and has not been charged with a crime related to the case.
The convicted child abuser and drug dealer are at the back of the bar for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same area of the Algarve.
Prior to the expected release, Portuguese and German police spent four days in June looking for evidence related to McCann’s loss of failure in the Algarve.
