MADDIE SUSPECT NEW CLAIMS
ALGARVE CASES BACK UNDER SCRUTINY
POLICE believe Christian Brueckner carried out a string of sex attacks on British youngsters in the Algarve before Madeleine McCann disappeared.
And they hope DNA evidence languishing in a Portuguese laboratory could link the German pervert to the crimes.
They include an attack on a girl, 10, who was assaulted by an intruder who broke into her parents’ apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in 2005.
At that time, Brueckner - a convicted paedophile and now prime suspect in Maddie’s disappearance in May 2007 - was living in a farmhouse on the outskirts of the resort.
German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said the attack – revealed by Scotland Yard six years ago – “forms part of our investigations”.
The victim, now in her 20s, came forward in March 2014 following a Met Police appeal.
She told how a tanned, white man speaking English with a foreign accent attacked her.
The incident was one of a dozen attacks or near-misses on young Britons in the Algarve linked to the same serial child abuser between 2004 and 2010.
In each incident, the attacker crept into the property and sat on the child’s bed or tried to get under the sheets before fleeing.
Police said in a number of cases, the attacker was disturbed by the child’s horrified parents.
Nine of the sexual assaults on children, aged six and 12, took place early in the morning.
There were three nearmisses and six incidents where the intruder was disturbed before anything happened.
Three incidents took place in Praia de Luz, five in Carvoeiro and nine in Praia de Gale, Vale de Parra, and Sao Rafeal.
Five of them were reported to local police at the time but not passed on to British officers.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, then head of Operation Grange, said at the time the attack on the 10-yearold was a crucial new lead.
He said: “We have got one crime which is very clearly in the heart of Praia da Luz in 2005,
Brueckner’s DNA could be cross-checked against the evidence from Praia da Luz
on a young, white, 10-year-old girl. This offence takes us into the resort so it is very significant. All these incidents pre-date the disappearance of Madeleine and I am extremely positive. They give us a real, clear focus going forward.”
He also revealed hopes that DNA evidence in Portugese labs could help crack the case. Sources say German authorities are linking Brueckner to the other sex assaults on British girls between 2004 and 2006.
He was dating a British barmaid at this time and driving a black Jaguar and mustardcoloured VW estate. Brueckner has already been convicted of a sex attack on a pensioner in Praia da Luz in 2005.
The 43-year-old, who abused kids as a teen in Germany, received a seven-year jail term last year, which he is appealing.
An ex-head of Portugal’s National Forensic Medicine Institute said evidence from the McCanns’ apartment could still prove vital.
More than 600 samples including hair and saliva were taken from apartment 5A.
Duarte Nuno Vieira said the samples are being kept in “optimum conditions” and could be revisited. It is not known if Brueckner’s DNA has been cross-checked with them.
In another development, prosecutors are increasingly convinced a resort employee phoned Brueckner to help him target the McCanns’ apartment.
The tipster allegedly knew Kate and Gerry McCann had gone out to a nearby restaurant.
Wolters said: “We are investigating if an Ocean Club employee helped the suspect on the night Madeleine disappeared.”
There is no evidence the employee knew about Madeleine’s kidnap in advance.