So pathetic that police pitied him

A COP on an elite team that collared Christian Bruckner has told of what a “pathetic” figure the pervert cut – scruffy, reeking and carrying a bible.

The fiend, 43, was seized under an international arrest warrant in Italy in September 2018 to face a drug rap in Germany.

He had fled to Milan a month earlier following child sex convictions and was sleeping rough.

Bruckner was identified as a fugitive when he asked consulate officials for a new passport, claiming it had been stolen.

A fake appointment was made for him to collect one – with six armed officers from the Mafia-busting Catturandi unit lying in wait.

Lt Andrea Papa said: “When we arrested him we could see the surprise, he was worried. He looked like a homeless person.

Evil

“He was unshaved, dishevelled, his clothes were dirty. He smelled bad. He had no phone or money, just a business card with his lawyer’s number and a bible. He seemed pathetic. We even felt sorry for him and gave him a bottle of water.”

Bruckner was convicted of drug dealing in Germany a month later and jailed in Kiel in Schleswigholstein, where he remains.

Last year, he was convicted of raping a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.

The officers who caught him in Milan had no idea he was a convicted paedophile – and were shocked to learn he is now a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine Mccann.

Col Michele Miulli, leader of the Carabinieri unit that planned the operation, said: “Most officers involved in the capture are parents.

“We investigate the most serious crimes but when you hear children were involved, it touches your soul.

“Anyone that touches children is evil, inhuman. It gives us a small gratification that he was caught but also we felt bitterness and sadness. We remember the story of Maddie.”