Missing Madeleine McCann parents told she’s dead: German prosecutors

In a letter to Madeleine McCann’s parents, prosecutors would not tell what evidence they have supporting the news.

In this 2012 Kate and Gerry McCann pose for the media with a missing poster depicting an age progression computer generated image of their daughter Madeleine at nine years of age, to mark her birthday and the 5th anniversary of her disappearance during a family vacation in southern Portugal in May 2007. Picture: AP

German prosecutors say they have told the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann that they have evidence their daughter is dead.

But in a letter to the missing girl’s British parents, prosecutors reportedly would not disclose the evidence they have supporting the sad news.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters would could not disclose what evidence he had that led police to that conclusion, according to British publication The Mirror.

Mr Wolters told the tabloid he had “re-established contact” with the McCann family in writing.

“We, of course, really consider the fact that it is going to be very hard for the family when we tell them we assume Madeleine is dead.

“I sympathise with the parents but if we reveal more details to them it might jeopardise the investigation,” he said.

“We can’t say why she is dead.

Madeleine McCann disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007, aged just three. Picture: Supplied

Christian Bruckner, the man German prosecutors suspect is behind Maddie’s disappearance. Picture: Supplied

“It is more important that we are successful and we are able to get the culprit, as opposed to just putting our cards on the table and tell them why we think she might be.”

“We have concrete evidence that our suspect has killed Madeleine and this means she is dead.”

Rogerio Alves, a lawyer who represents the McCanns in Portugal, has been putting pressure on German investigators to reveal what evidence they have and demanded to know ‘what is being done to solve the case’.

Suspect will refuse to answer questions: Times

Police raised hopes last week that the mystery over the disappearance of three-year-old “Maddie” could finally be solved when they revealed they are investigating a 43-year-old over her disappearance from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.

The suspect, who was not named by police but identified as Christian B. by German media, has a history of previous sex offences including child abuse and rape.

He will refuse to answer questions because prosecutors must produce proof he was involved in her disappearance, his lawyer says.

German investigators believe that Christian Bruckner killed Madeleine shortly after abducting her from a holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007.

Yesterday (Sunday) they said that they were looking for links to an incident involving a ten-year-old British girl in the same resort in 2005, the year Bruckner raped a woman at a villa near by.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters. Picture: Axel Brunotte/AFP

Police know of nine sexual assaults and three attempts against British girls between the ages of six and 12 on holiday in the area between 2004 and 2006.

Yesterday (Sunday) the Portuguese police were said to be considering searching abandoned wells near a farmhouse rented by Bruckner on the outskirts of Praia da Luz.

Friedrich Fulscher, Bruckner’s lawyer, said: “Mr B is remaining silent on the allegation at this time on the advice of his defence counsel. This is quite common in criminal proceedings. It is the duty of the state to prove that a suspect committed a crime. No accused person has to prove his innocence to the investigating authorities.”

Bruckner appeals rape conviction

Bruckner, 43, is in prison in Germany for drug dealing. He is appealing against a conviction for the 2005 rape.

Mr Fulscher said: “Silence on an accusation never constitutes admission of the crime. After we have examined the files, we will see how to proceed.”

Asked how Bruckner responds to reports linking him to other cases around Europe, he replied: “We are reviewing every article and will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to take legal action against the media concerned.”

German prosecutors and Scotland Yard are following up hundreds of “pieces of information” after public appeals that featured the rented farmhouse, another house where Bruckner stayed, as well as a VW camper van and Jaguar car he owned.

They believe that the suspect burgled holiday homes and his mobile phone received a call near the McCanns’ apartment an hour before Madeleine disappeared, shortly before her fourth birthday.

Mr Wolters said that he did not appreciate the significance of saying last week that he believed Madeleine had died soon after disappearing

“I know it’s important for the British people when I say she is dead, but I did not know it was so important,” he told the Sunday Mirror.

On Sunday it was reported that Bruckner had boasted of smuggling drugs to Portugal in the hidden compartments of a camper van.

He regularly visited Nicole Fehlinger in the village of Foral, about 40 miles from Praia da Luz, where she ran a rehabilitation centre for troubled German teenagers.

Ms Fehlinger’s father, Dieter, told The Mail on Sunday that in 2007 Bruckner was driving a large cream-coloured Winnebago camper van with number plates from Hanover, northern Germany.

When Bruckner was asked what work he did in Portugal he is said to have replied: “I get money, because I have a special business. I transport grass [cannabis] in my van.”

He allegedly continued: “I have 50kg of grass, and I transport it around Europe. In my van, I can take 50kg of grass, nobody can see it … it’s a safe space in the van, nobody can find them.”