Prime Suspect in Madeleine McCann Case, Christian Brückner, Released from German Prison
Christian Brückner, prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance, has been released from German prison after serving a rape sentence unrelated to the 2007 case.
German national Christian Brückner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann in 2007, has been released from Sehnde Prison near Hanover. He had been serving a sentence for the 2005 rape of an elderly woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Brückner, 48, was driven out of jail by his lawyer and will now wear an electronic anklet. He has never been formally charged in connection with Madeleine's disappearance and denies any involvement in the case.
Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz while her parents dined nearby. Her disappearance remains one of the world's most high-profile missing-persons investigations, with German prosecutors accusing Brückner based on mobile phone data placing him in the area, though they say the evidence falls short of criminal charges.
Investigators from Portugal and Germany carried out fresh searches earlier this year between the McCanns' former holiday home and properties linked to Brückner, but no new evidence emerged. In 2023, searches near the Barragem do Arade reservoir also failed to yield breakthroughs.
Brückner's criminal record includes convictions for sexually abusing children in 1994 and 2016, as well as petty crimes. In October 2024 a German court cleared him of unrelated sexual offences alleged to have occurred in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
British authorities continue to treat Madeleine McCann's case as a missing-person investigation under Operation Grange, which has cost more than £13.2m since its launch in 2011, with an additional £108,000 allocated by the government in April.
Main insight: Christian Brückner has been released after serving a rape sentence, but remains the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance, with prosecutors citing phone data despite insufficient evidence for charges.
This topic was reported by BBC News.
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