Saende, Germany
AP
–
A German man investigating the disappearance of British infant Madeleine McCann 18 years ago was released from prison Wednesday after being sentenced to prison in an unrelated case, police said.
The man identified by the media as Christian Bruckner was sentenced to seven years in prison, arising from the 2019 conviction for raping a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal.
He left prison in Saende near Hannover in northern Germany on Wednesday morning.
In June 2020, German prosecutors said they were being investigated on May 3, 2007, on suspicion of murder in connection with McCann’s loss disappearance. They said they thought the girl was dead.
Since then, police have been conducting further searches in Portugal. However, the suspect who denied involvement in her loss-disappearance has not been charged in the case. The investigation will not be affected by his release. He also remains a suspect in an investigation into McCann’s loss disappearance being carried out by British metropolitan police, and he says he refused a request for an interview.
His lawyer, Friedrich Furscher, said that if there was sufficient evidence, he was charged against his client.
The 48-year-old spent many years in Portugal, including the Algarve resort of Praiadals, around the time of Madeleine’s loss.
Investigators from the UK, Portugal and German are still piecing together what happened the night the 3-year-old Madeleine disappeared. She was in the same room as her brother and sister (two-year-old twins), but her parents, Kate and Jerry, had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.
The suspect was heard last year about several unrelated sex crimes that were allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017 and were acquitted in October. The judge said the evidence was insufficient for his beliefs, and that the court heard from unreliable witnesses, and that in part was influenced by media reports about the defendants.
The state court in Hildeschheim said it could not be legally disclosed whether the conditions must be met upon release. However, Fulsher confirmed to the local public broadcaster NDR that his clients must wear electronic foot tags and regularly report to the probation service, waiving his passport. German weekly Der Spiegel first reported on the decision without naming a source.
He is still facing the October 27 court date in Oldenburg, northwest Germany, if accused of shaming a prison employee. The city’s district court sentenced him to a six-week prison for this, but the defense appealed.
