Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
New blow for McCanns
FOUR new alibis for paedophile suspected over missing Maddie
THE main suspect over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has an alibi backed by FOUR people.
Doubts over the case against Christian Brueckner come just 10 days before the 15th anniversary of Madeleine going missing.
It is a fresh blow to parents Kate and Gerry, who made a rare public statement on Friday welcoming “progress” after police in Portugal made paedophile Brueckner, 44, an official suspect.
Authorities have been told four witnesses support his alibi for the night Madeleine vanished days before her fourth birthday.
They spoke to a Channel 5 documentary presented by former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been in lengthy contact with Brueckner via letter.
The show is set to be aired on May 3, anniversary of the Leicestershire youngster’s disappearance in Praia da Luz. A Channel 5 insider revealed: “Brueckner has provided a very detailed alibi. “That has been checked out by our team and fully examined and we’ve spoken to four people who have gone on the record to independently support his alibi. They have nothing to benefit from supporting him and a couple of those people really don’t like him, but they have still backed his account.” Brueckner is in jail in his native Germany for rape.
Prosecutors there linked his phone use on the night to a mast near the McCanns’ apartment.
It is now suggested the phone could have been 20 miles away, as the mast covered a large area.
Our source said: “The German evidence is utterly flawed and a total mess. This telephone call has no credence at all. Brueckner’s account is that he wasn’t there and it stands up to scrutiny.”
Germany’s chief prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters has said his team has “concrete evidence” Madeleine is dead. But he told the Sunday Mirror: “There is no end in sight to the investigations.”