MADDIE COPS CLOSE IN ON SUSPECT
Push to get ‘ last piece of jigsaw’ that could link paedo to abduction
POLICE hunting Madeleine Mccann’s abductor are closing in on the main suspect – and just need one missing “piece of the jigsaw”.
New interviews by German and Portuguese detectives are set to be carried out on key witnesses in the Algarve who knew Chri sti an Brueckner.
Experts have described the development as“a very important step forward” and there is renewed hope it could lead to the paedophile being quizzed and even charged.
A well- placed source said: “The police have already put some witnesses on standby to sit down for new interviews.
“There is a real sense of new year, new hunt for clues.”
POLICE probing Madeleine Mccann’s disappearance are launching a push to find the “missing piece of the jigsaw” that could snare the main suspect.
German and Portuguese investigators are to carry out new interviews of key witnesses in the Algarve who knew paedophile Christian Brueckner.
Experts described it as“a very important step forward” and raised hope sit could lead to Brueckner being quizzed and even charged.
A second top- level summit between German, British and Portuguese detectives is also expected to take place in Lisbon this spring.
Prosecutors hope a new clue will give them what they need to directly question Brueckner about the case.
He was named as the prime suspect last year but is yet to be quizzed about her 2007 disappearance.
Bruec kn eris currently serving a seven-year term ina prison in Hanover for raping a pensioner in Praia da Luz in 2005.
A well- placed source said: “The police have already put some witnesses on standby to sit down for new interviews. There is a real sense of new year, new hunt for clues. It’s very much in everyone’s minds to get the case cracked.
“There’s a missing piece of the jigsaw still out there somewhere.”
VANISHED
A secret summit took place in Lisbon last summer between detectives from Scotland Yard, the Policia Judi ci aria and Bun desk rim in ala mt.
They met to “fine- tune” Brueckner’s profile in a bid to discover where Madeleine’s body could be buried.
German detectives have also spent time quizzing key witnesses in the Algar ve, including Mr Brueckner’s British ex- girlfriend.
Madeleine vanished from her parents’ holiday apartment at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz in May 2007. Parents Gerry and Kate Mccann had left the three- year- old alone with her twin siblings while they dined with friends at the nearby tapas restaurant.
German authorities say they are sure Brueckner abducted and murdered her but have declined to say what evidence they have.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters recently admitted that without new clues, the 43- year-old will never be quizzed over Madeleine.
Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher insists that the German has nothing to do with the youngster’s disappearance.
The Mccanns, of Rothley, Leicestershire, have refused to give up hope that she could still be alive.
It is very much in everyone’s minds to get the case cracked
WELL- PLACED SOURCE CLOSE TO INVESTIGATION