Brueckner on brink of new sex charges
Lawyers allege three other offences
PROSECUTORS have moved a step closer to charging Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner with new sex crimes.
They have handed their files to Brueckner’s lawyer, the final step under German law before charges are brought.
The paperwork includes evidence allegedly linking him to the rape of an Irish tour rep and indecent exposures.
German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told the Mirror the files were handed to Brueckner’s lawyer Friedrich Fulscher earlier this week. They do not include any evidence relating to Madeleine’s disappearance from her parents’ holiday flat in Praia da Luz in 2007.
Mr Wolters previously said investigators are sure Brueckner, 45, who lived in the resort, abducted the three-year-old.
Former tour rep Hazel Behan says she was raped in Praia de Rocha in June 2004. She has waived her right to anonymity and said her masked attacker spoke English with a German accent.
The ordeal she has described was similar to the rape Brueckner carried out on a pensioner in Praia da Luz in 2005, for which he is still in prison.
Files handed to Mr Fulscher also include evidence allegedly linking Brueckner to two indecent exposures to children in Portugal. Mr Wolters said: “The defence attorney must be given a reasonable amount of time to work through the files and to discuss them with his client.
“In view of the quite extensive files... Mr Fulscher will need a few weeks.”
Mr Fulscher now has a right of reply before any charges are filed. Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leics, say they hold out hope their daughter is still alive.