Portugal police tried to quiz Maddie suspect but gave up ‘as he was out’
PORTUGUESE detectives tried to quiz Christian Brueckner shortly after Madeleine McCann vanished – but he was not in when they visited and it is not known if they ever returned.
The astonishing revelation that police may have given up investigating the German – who is now the prime suspect in the case – came from Goncalo Amaral.
The disgraced ex-chief led the much-criticised initial probe in 2007 and has been in a legal fight with Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry for nine years.
Amaral, 60, said: “I have been told by colleagues, retired like me, that they had come knocking on the door.That person was not at home.”
He said he was not aware if any more inquiries were made after the initial visit, shortly after Madeleine vanished in May 2007 in Praia da Luz, aged three.
Amaral’s comments, in an interview on Portugal’s TVI, came after it emerged last week that Brueckner
‘All that’s missing for him to become the perfect suspect is for him to be dead’
told a judge he was a paedophile when he was in court in 2006, charged with petrol theft.
However, Amaral also branded Brueckner, 43, a “scapegoat”.
He told the TV interview: “He’s an almost perfect suspect.
“All that’s missing for him to become the perfect suspect is for him to be dead.”
Amaral also insinuated German authorities had altered photos of the VW camper van Brueckner was using around the time Madeleine disappeared.
The former detective, who was removed as head of the Madeleine McCann inquiry in 2008, showed interviewer Jose Alberto Carvalho photos he said were taken in Portugal of the same vehicle.
One showed a series of distinctive cartoon-style characters painted on the front and back of a camper van.
But the vehicle had no markings on it in the picture put out by police, he said. He added: “It’s the same vehicle flagged up in the police appeal. I think it’s important to ask why the photo put out by the authorities of the van was altered.”
The interview was his first since Brueckner’s name was made public.