‘Evidence’ that suspect killed Madeleine
A German prosecutor has said there is “some evidence” Madeleine Mccann was killed by the new suspect in the case but not enough to bring him to trial. Hans Christian Wolters, the Braunschweig state prosecutor, said police needed more information about where Christian Brückner had lived so police can search for Madeleine’s body. Mr Wolters told Sky News: “We have some evidence that the suspect has done the deed. That’s why we need more information from people.”
A GERMAN prosecutor has said there is “some evidence” that Madeleine Mccann was killed by the new suspect in the case but not enough to bring him to trial.
Hans Christian Wolters, the Braunschweig state prosecutor, said police needed more information about where Christian Brückner had lived so police could search for Madeleine’s body.
Mr Wolters told Sky News: “We don’t have the crucial evidence of Madeleine Mccann’s body. We expect that she is dead, but we don’t have enough evidence that we can get a warrant for our suspect in Germany for the murder of Madeleine Mccann.
“At the moment we also don’t have enough proof for a trial at court, but we have some evidence that the suspect has done the deed. That’s why we need more information from people, especially places he has lived, so we can target these places especially and search there for Madeleine.”
Last night it was reported that British and German police are looking to speak to a former girlfriend of Brückner, who they think may hold important information about the Madeleine case.
The German woman, who is believed to have dated the 43-year-old suspect for several years, is reportedly being sought by detectives over what she may know about Brückner’s past.
It was also claimed last night that Brückner, the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007, was investigated over the case four years ago and ruled out by Portuguese police.
A senior Portuguese police chief, speaking to a Spanish newspaper on condition of anonymity, said of Brückner: “We never found strong enough reasons to charge him.”
Today, The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that forensic evidence from Portugal in 2007 may have been destroyed or contaminated because the van owned by Brückner was used as a party bus for four years after he last used it. Detectives in France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Belgium are sifting through case files involving children, but there have been no major breakthroughs that link them to Brückner. Speaking to the Spanish newspaper
ABC, the unnamed Portuguese official, who claims to be a serving officer, said: “People talk about surprises in the Madeleine Mccann case with the capture of this German man, but for me it’s no surprise. This individual was already investigated around four years ago. There’s no evidence Christian Brückner is involved in her disappearance.”
German officials are still looking for a forensic breakthrough that could implicate Brückner in the disappearance, but hopes of finding anything in his old VW T3 Westfalia camper van appeared to be dashed last night as The Telegraph discovered more than 50 people have been in the vehicle since he last used it.
The son of a scrapyard owner who bought the van from Brückner used it to ferry his friends and family around the Algarve, hosting parties.
Officers only seized the van in 2019, 12 years after it was seen around Praia da Luz when Madeleine went missing.
Linda Brownlow, principal forensic science lecturer at the University of Greenwich, added: “DNA from those 50 people could itself be left behind over the top of Madeleine’s – thereby confusing her original profile.”
It was also reported in Germany that the authorities were distancing Brückner from two cold cases, including the disappearance of a six-year-old boy from a beach in Portugal and the murder of a prostitute, whoi was found dismembered in Hanover in 2010.