Dramatic update in Madeleine McCann case

There has been a dramatic update in the Madeleine McCann case almost 17 years since her mysterious disappearance.

There has been an update in the notorious Madeleine McCann case, almost 17 years after she vanished from a Portuguese beach resort.

The prime suspect in the British girl’s disappearance, Christian Brueckner, will have a crucial witness testify against him in court in a child rape case in February.

The 45-year-old is due to go on trial next month, accused of raping and sexually assaulting several women and a young girl.

The attacks are all said to have taken place in a 17-year period between 2000 and 2017 when he lived on Portugal’s Algarve coast – the area where Madeleine was snatched in May 2007 when she was aged just three.

Madeleine McCann disappeared from Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007. Picture: METROPOLITAN POLICE / AFP

Brueckner’s lawyer has claimed that his former friend turned police informer Helge Busching – whose testimony once helped jail him for seven years – was lying about evidence, but a German judge has since thrown out these claims.

Now Busching, who has been dubbed the “most importance witness” against the McCann suspect, is set to become a vital part of another case against the convicted rapist next month.

With Busching’s help, police made Brueckner the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance back in 2018.

The house where the three-year-old disappeared from in 2007. Picture: CARLOS COSTA / AFP

She would be 20 years old if still alive today. Picture: METROPOLITAN POLICE / AFP

Busching claimed he had stolen a camcorder with video tapes showing Brueckner sexually assaulting several women, which helped put him in jail for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman.

Her horrific ordeal occured one year before Madeleine was snatched from a resort in the same town while on holiday with her family.

Busching also told investigators in Brunswick, Germany, the year after Madeleine disappeared, that he had a conversation with Brueckner in which he allegedly said it was “odd that she didn’t scream” when they discussed her kidnapping.

Busching gave up his former friend’s name to Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange team police in 2017, which was around the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Busching also claimed that Brueckner told him at a Spanish kite festival in 2008 that he was involved in Madeleine’s abduction from Praia da Luz a year earlier

Christian Brueckner is the prime suspect in the case. Picture: Supplied

When asked in 2020 what he thought of Brueckner, he told the Daily Mail he thought he was “guilty”.

Brueckner has not been charged with any offence in relation to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.

“At last the world can see that I am not a liar. I was speaking the truth,” he told the outlet.

“I know what I saw and heard and if I can be of help to this case and the McCann one then I am happy to help.

“Everyone can hear what I have to say when I give my evidence at his trial later this year. I am not telling lies despite what Herr Fulscher says.”

Kate and Gerry McCann have never stopped looking for their daughter. Picture: Joe Giddens / AFP

Madeleine McCann went missing from her bed in a holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort town Praia da Luz on the evening of May 3, 2007, while her parents were having tapas at a restaurant metres away from their villa.

She was three years old, meaning if she is alive today, she would be 20.

Her parents Kate and Gerry, now both 55, have pledged to “never give up” on their quest to find their missing daughter. The couple also have 18-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.