MADDIE SUSPECT’S SHOCK ALIBI CLAIM

He says he was miles away with teenage lover... and she backs up his story

THE prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has finally given a detailed alibi for the night the little girl vanished.

Christian Brueckner insists he was with a 17-year-old girl and miles away from Praia da Luz when Madeleine went missing. According to a new documentary, she backs his story.

The German paedophile drifter told the TV crew that the teen, on a family holiday in Portugal from Germany, stayed in his camper van on the night of May 3, 2007. The pair were stopped and photographed at a police roadblock the next day, he said.

Although his alibi does not cover the time Madeleine vanished, former detective Mark Williams-Thomas believes it raises serious questions over whether Brueckner could have taken her and disposed of her body before meeting his fling two hours later.

If true, the account could destroy hopes that police were close to solving the mystery of what happened to Madeleine, three, who vanished from her parents’ Algarve holiday apartment 15 years ago today.

Mr Williams-Thomas reveals today that Brueckner – now 44 – wrote him a four-page letter detailing his alibi which ‘blows to smithereens’ the case against him.

Writing in today’s Mail, Mr Williams-Thomas said he had tracked down the woman identified by Brueckner. He also questioned the mobile phone evidence which allegedly

‘Blows police case to smithereens’

placed Brueckner in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine vanished.

Brueckner, in prison for rape in Germany, was made an arguido, or official suspect, by Portuguese police last month. German prosecutors had previously said they believed he took and killed Madeleine.

He has been interviewed by the German authorities but reportedly refused to answer questions about his whereabouts on the night of the disappearance, although he has denied he was involved.

The convicted sex offender has now told the film-makers that he was selling drugs in the Algarve and was in a brief relationship with the 17-year-old during the week Madeleine went missing.

The teen’s family was staying a 40-minute drive from Praia da Luz, and Brueckner said he drove there nightly to meet her.

Mr Williams-Thomas said the woman, now 32 and living in Germany told how Brueckner’s behaviour did not change in the days after Madeleine’s disappearance.

According to police, mobile phone data puts Brueckner’s mobile in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine vanished.

But Mr Williams-Thomas said he had seen evidence that the phone in question was regularly used by a different man.

Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry are expected to mark the 15th anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance at their home in England, with her younger siblings, twins Sean and Amelie.