Madeleine suspect in prison until 2026 after rape appeal dismissed

The German suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will remain behind bars until 2026 after losing his bid to overturn a rape conviction.

Investigators believe Christian Brueckner, 43, killed Madeleine, then three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007.

He was last year found guilty of the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in the same Portuguese resort and sentenced to seven years in jail, at a court in Brunswick, Lower Saxony.

A federal court in Karlsruhe, a city in southwest Germany, rejected B r u e c k n e r ’s appeal against the conviction and confirmed the sentence yesterday.

The judgment comes weeks before German national Brueckner, who is also serving a prison sentence for drug

trafficking, been freed.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the McCann investigation, said the one year and seven months Brueckner has already spent in jail will count towards the seven-year jail term.

“Therefore, he should be in custody until spring 2026,” he told the PA news agency. could have

“We are pleased that the judgment is upheld because it shows that the Brunswick judiciary has worked objectively and carefully.”

Earlier this week, Brueckner was treated in hospital after suffering two broken ribs in a court incident before returning for a hearing the same d a y, according to authorities.

Brueckner was identified as a murder suspect in the Madeleine McCann investigation in June.

Mr Wo l t e r s has previously said investigators have “concrete evidence”, but not “forensic evidence”, that he killed her.

The Metropolitan Police maintain their ac tive probe into Madeleine’s disappearance, Operation Grange, is a missing person inquiry as there is no “definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead”.

Christian Brueckner.