Christian Brueckner free to leave Germany after court overturns release conditions

The prime suspect in the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann has had a major win after a court ruling, despite his earlier threats.

Convicted pedophile Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann, will be allowed to leave Germany, a court has ruled.

The 48-year-old, who was freed in September after serving seven years for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal’s Algarve region in 2005, was named in 2020 as the prime suspect in Maddie’s disappearance in Praia da Luz during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

However, German prosecutors are yet to bring charges against Brueckner on her disappearance, despite being “very confident” of his involvement.

\Christian Brueckner is the chief suspect in the Madeleine McCann case. Picture: AFP

Brueckner has always denied any connection to Maddie’s disappearance.

Under the terms of his release from prison, Brueckner was barred from leaving Germany and ordered to wear an electronic tag, surrender his passport and establish a permanent residence.

But an appeals court in the northern German city of Celle has overturned the conditions, which means Brueckner will no longer be under police supervision, The Telegraph reports.

Christian Brueckner previously said he would flee and go into hiding. Picture: AFP

In an interview with German broadcaster RTL in June, Brueckner said he intended to flee Germany and go into hiding.

He said: “The fact is that I have been in prison for many years for something that I cannot have committed and therefore, through the participation of the media, half the world considers me a cruel rapist.”

Madeleine McCann disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007. Picture: AFP

Madeleine, then aged three, disappeared on May 3, 2007, from her family’s holiday apartment in the Praia da Luz seaside resort where she was stying with her parents, both doctors, and her siblings.

In the 18 years since the child’s disappearance, British, German and Portuguese investigators have hunted for any evidence linked to her abduction, carrying out searches in Portugal.

Hans Christian Wolters, spokesman for the state prosecutor in the German city of Braunschweig, confirmed in September that Brueckner remains the only suspect in the German investigation.

Originally published as Christian Brueckner free to leave Germany after court overturns release conditions