Madeleine McCann prime suspect acquitted of separate charges
By Rob Hyde
Bremen, Germany: Convicted paedophile and rapist Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, could be released from prison next year after he was acquitted of separate rape charges by a controversial German judge.
German investigators believe Brueckner, 47, killed McCann, who was three years old, after abducting her from her parent’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007.
However, he has never been charged in relation to her disappearance.
Christian Brueckner arrives at the Landgericht Braunschweig state courthouse for one of the final days of his trial for sex crimes.Credit: Getty Images
Instead, he was on trial at a regional court for various non-related offences that took place in Portugal between December 2000 and June 2017. These include charges of rape and masturbating in front of children.
On Tuesday, Uta Inse Engemann, the presiding judge, said evidence against Brueckner was “insufficient” and acquitted him of all charges.
“We as judges have sworn an oath. And it is to serve the truth only.
“We take this very seriously,” Engemann said as she delivered the verdict of a full acquittal.
“But we cannot wrap people in cotton wool.”
“This oath means that we don’t have to cater to the views of the media and the defence and the prosecution or the table of regulars-in-a-pub.”
“We have to balance all the evidence presented to us.”
She said Brueckner’s case was impacted by speculation in the press.
“Everyone had heard about him in the Maddie McCann case. And they all knew that Brueckner since 2020 was always named by the public prosecution office.”
Germany police officers with sniffer dogs, an excavator and ground-penetrating radars spent three days searching for a break in the case.Credit: AP
“When in the media, a person is here described as a sex monster and a pervert, then it influences the witness.”
The trial was a fiercely contested battleground. The courtroom saw angry verbal skirmishes over 35 days of proceedings between prosecutors and the defence, led by Friedrich Fuelscher, along with shouted interruptions by Engemann.
Last week, Ute Lindemann, the chief public prosecutor, demanded a total of 15 years in prison for Brueckner, and for him to be placed under preventive detention, whereby prisoners deemed to pose a danger to society are not released even if they have served their sentence.
Fuelscher, Brueckner’s defence lawyer, tried to dismantle the prosecution’s case in his terse closing plea on Monday, and showed solidarity with the judge, whom the prosecution accused of bias in favour of Brueckner.
He said: “Last week, you attacked the professional judge, my colleagues and myself, polemically and personally for long bouts.
The Telegraph, London