Photos Maddie McCann suspect doesn’t want anyone to see

The suspect in the Madeleine McCann case is allegedly trying to stop specific photos of himself from being shown in court for a disturbing reason.

Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner is using data protection laws to try and stop birthmark pictures that could tie him to a horror rape being shown in court.

Brueckner, 47, allegedly “had the mark removed” from his left thigh to avoid being identified for the knifepoint attack on Irish holiday rep Hazel Behan, who will give evidence against him this week, The Sun reports.

Brueckner is refusing to let a health file that contains pictures of him with the mark be opened, claiming it breached strict German data laws, according to the publication,

It raises the prospect prosecutors will not be able to show the images in court – despite the importance in backing Hazel’s claims he was the attacker who whipped and filmed her.

A source said: “We have in Germany a data-protection law that says your personal data can’t be published or otherwise used if you have not given your consent.

“This is applicable to your health data files and Christian Brueckner’s defence team have therefore claimed he had never given his consent.

“The problem for him is the body scan was not a private act but made in connection with his previous sexual crimes and ordered by a judge.”

Christian Brueckner is accused of three counts of rape and two counts of child sex abuse allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

The charges are unrelated to the Madeleine McCann case, in which Brueckner was sensationally revealed as a suspect in 2020.

Full-body pictures of Brueckner are understood to have been taken while he was in custody for previous offences – before he decided to get the mark removed.

Brueckner is said to have been left with just a scar between his thigh and hip, which his defence team will claim is a coincidence.

His defence team have already asked a number of witnesses if they recalled the birthmark.

Prosecutors are said to be working on a legal solution, which will allow them to use the pictures as evidence in the current trial.

Hazel is set to give evidence at the trial in Braunschweig, Germany, in May, in person – although a request has been made for the harrowed victim to give evidence via videolink.

The court has heard Brueckner filmed as he raped and whipped her – leaving her in fear he would behead her, in Praia da Rocha, in June 2004.

During the attack the masked sicko allegedly asked her: “You are afraid of me aren’t you?”

When she lied and said “no” he whipped the helpless holiday rep then chillingly demanded: “Are you afraid of me now?”

Brueckner is already behind bars in Germany for raping a 72-year-old American tourist in 2005 in Praia da Luz, the same Portuguese seaside resort where Madeleine McCann, often referred to as Maddie, went missing two years later. Picture: AFP.

Three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann was on holidays with her family when she disappeared in May 2007. Picture: AFP.

Brueckner was previously said to have spent £7,500 (A$14,100) having his jaw reset and four “rabbit” teeth straightened four months after Maddie vanished in 2007.

Soon after, a police sketch showed a man with buck teeth seen near the McCanns’ holiday flat.

Madeleine, three, disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry, now both 55, of Rothley, Leics.

German investigators believe Brueckner abducted and murdered her – although no charges have been filed against him. Brueckner is on trial for a string of rapes and indecent exposure charges, uncovered during the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. He denies the claims. The trial continues.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.