Maddie suspect has Brit lawyers
Brueckner boosts his legal team
THE prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has employed a team of British lawyers to help his case, it was revealed last night.
Christian Brueckner, 43, has instructed a UK legal firm to assist him as he tries to prove his innocence.
His German lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher said: “I can confirm we are using UK lawyers.”
But it remains unclear who is paying the lawyers’ fees.
Penniless Brueckner is currently doing time in a German jail and has no source of income.
When asked who was funding Brueckner’s representation, Mr Fuelscher replied: “I’m afraid I cannot answer that question.”
However, he said one of the lawyers’ roles was “looking at the media coverage surrounding him”.
It is possible the fees will be funded under the German legal aid system, which would mean the German taxpayers would be footing the bill.
Fuelscher has gone on record complaining about the “lack of objectivity” in some of the press reporting in Germany and the UK.
It is understood the legal firm combs all British news websites and reads every national newspaper each day to check coverage. Brueckner was named earlier this year as the chief suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance. Police said the drifter’s mobile phone records placed him in the Portuguese seaside resort of Praia da Luz on the night she went missing in 2007. She was nearly four years old at the time. German chief prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters has said there is “material evidence” she is dead. Brueckner has previouslybeen convicted of a string of charges including possession of child sex images and the rape of a pensioner
He is currently serving a 21-month sentence in Kiel, northern Germany, on drug dealing charges.
But he claims he had nothing to do with Madeleine’s disappearance.