Maddie cops’ DNA plea
Germans want to check if saliva on her pillow is suspect’s
GERMAN detectives want to retest a mystery saliva sample found in the Algarve holiday flat from which Madeleine McCann disappeared.
The evidence was reportedly found on the three year old’s pillow at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz the day after she went missing in 2007.
Scientists in the Portuguese city of Coimbra were unable to extract a full DNA profile from the sample and its origins remain a mystery.
Now German authorities want to carry out their own tests on the “potentially vital evidence” in the hope a profile can be found.
Forensic experts would then try to match it with the DNA of paedophile suspect Christian Brueckner, 43.
Portuguese news reports said German investigators had asked for all evidence to be handed over so Brueckner can be tried in his homeland.
Scotland Yard’s request to retest samples was turned down by Portugal in 2012.
Madeleine, from Rothley, Leics, disappeared from the ground floor flat on May 3 2007 while her parents Gerry and Kate were having dinner with friends nearby.
More than 600 forensic samples including hair and saliva were taken from the McCanns’ apartment in Praia da Luz in 2007.
They remain in the Coimbra lab but it is not known if Brueckner’s DNA has been cross-checked with all the evidence. One saliva sample belonged to a boy who previously stayed in the apartment but sources say German authorities want to test the second sample from Madeleine’s pillow.
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley said: “There are far more complex tests now that couldn’t have been done back in the day.”
But a source close to Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria said of the German request: “This is a total waste of time. What’s even worse is that they now want to do it in their labs, as if ours aren’t good enough.”
Last week Duarte Nuno Vieira, a former head of Portugal’s National Forensic Medicine Institute, said: “In the Maddie case the forensic work done was quick and competent.
“The fact 13 years has gone by doesn’t mean the hundreds of samples collected can’t be revisited again.”
German prosecutors believe Brueckner killed Madeleine soon after abducting her from the flat.
Brueckner, who is serving a 15-month jail term in Germany for drug dealing, denies any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
He is also appealing against his conviction for the rape in 2005 of a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz, for which he received a seven-year sentence.