‘Paint solvent, lock pick kit’: Chilling new Maddie McCann theory

Disturbing claims have emerged about what the key suspect in the Madeleine McCann case may have been carrying when she was abducted. Warning: Graphic

The prime suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance had a burglary tool kit that could pick any lock and may have used it to enter and exit the little girl’s holiday apartment through the front door., a witness has claimed.

Convicted rapist Christian Brueckner allegedly boasted to a friend about the tools, raising fresh doubts over the official theory that ­the British child’s kidnapper clambered in through a window of her family’s holiday apartment in Portugal, The Sun reports.

German police are also probing the disturbing possibility that Brueckner may have used car paint solvent to sedate three-year-old Madeleine and opened her bedroom window from the inside to avoid inhaling toxic fumes.

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

Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her family at a resort in Praia da Luz in 2007.

Witness Helge Busching, a petty thief and former friend of Brueckner, told filmmaker Jutta Rabe for The Sun on Sunday he decided to ransack Brueckner’s Algarve home after learning Brueckner was serving time for theft.

He said: “I knew from Christian that he uses tools to break into holiday resorts, hotels and holiday homes to steal from tourists.

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

“There were passports on the table. There was all sorts of stuff lying around — cameras, suitcases, everything that tourists have with them. I also found a lock pick set.”

Busching, who kept the kit and told German police about it, added: “You can use it to pick any lock, including security locks.”

Brueckner is in jail for drugs crimes and is appealing a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old woman.

Police in Portugal have always said the man who snatched Madeleine broke in through the window and either left through a door with her or climbed back out the window.

But when asked how Brueckner got into the McCanns’ holiday apartment, Busching told The Sun on Sunday: “Through the door. Easily. He can open any door.”

Kate and Gerry McCann in 2017 on the tenth anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance. Picture: AFP

German police are said to allege that opportunistic predator Brueckner initially planned to rob the apartment before he found Madeleine sleeping in her bedroom.

A source told The Sun on Sunday that the statements by Busching seem to be consistent with an allegation long held by German police — that Brueckner entered the McCann family’s apartment through the front door.

The front door of the apartment was less likely to be viewed by the passing public as it was in a ­recessed area. Madeline’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann were dining with friends at the Ocean Club restaurant in their resort when their daughter was abducted while their twins slept.

The front door of the apartment where the McCanns were staying was in a recessed area and not highly visible. Picture: AFP

It is understood that police have also been told Brueckner had access to car paint solvent as he had been a mechanic, The Sun on Sunday reports.

Detectives are now looking into a horrifying theory that he used it to knock Madeleine out before taking her from the apartment.

It comes after Busching told German newspaper Bild of the moment he crossed paths with the Brueckner after Madeleine’s disappearance.

He claims that Brueckner asked him if we still went to Portugal to do business.

“I said ‘no’, since the girl disappeared there, there have been too many police checks for me and I don’t need that at all’.”

Busching said: “We came to Madeleine and I said, ‘Anyway, I don’t understand how the little one could have disappeared without a trace’.

“Christian had drunk two or three beers and then said: ‘She didn’t scream’.

“I immediately checked what he said. I thought, he knows that. He has something to do with it.

“At 3 or 4am he left a packed festival with his mobile home. I looked for him the next morning, his neighbours said: ‘He’s gone’.”

Originally published as ‘Paint solvent, lock pick kit’: Chilling new Maddie McCann theory