Maddie nanny: Cops showed me picture of suspect just five days after she vanished
Questions raised about original probe Digging could start at suspect’s house
CHRISTIAN Brueckner was in the sights of Portuguese detectives within five days of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.
A nanny who looked after the toddler at the resort where she went missing said she was shown the German paedophile’s photo and told his name by investigating officers.
It came on May 8, 2007 – five days after Madeleine vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
The fact police were on Brueckner’s case so soon after Madeleine’s disappearance will raise further questions about the initial handling of the probe.
The nanny told the Mirror yesterday: “I was shown identikits the day after they took my statement [about her time with Madeleine].
“I recognised a few people from just being about… one guy I recognised was a known paedophile who later committed suicide. I am aware of his [Brueckner’s] name and face from photos I was shown but I don’t think I remember having seen him in real life. I’m aware police knew of guys like this in Praia da Luz at the time.”
Goncalo Amaral, who led the initial probe, said last April that a German paedophile had been identified in 2007 as a potential suspect.
He would not name him but confirmed the man is serving a prison term in Germany – just like Brueckner, who has a criminal record including burglary and child abuse crimes.
Amaral said his detectives found nothing to suggest the German was involved in Madeleine’s abduction.
Police could now carry out fresh searches in Portugal in a bid to solve Madeleine’s disappearance.
Portuguese authorities yesterday refused to rule out digging on land next to a farmhouse where Brueckner lived in the hills on the outskirts of Praia da Luz. It is close to where Scotland Yard teams previously used cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar in a hunt for remains.
Brueckner left the isolated property before Madeleine vanished, but he knew the area well. The house has several disused deep water wells nearby that have not been searched.
Neighbours say police visited the area and spoke to them several months ago but no major digs have been carried out.
An eight-day Scotland Yard search in June 2014 involving sewer searches and digs of two sites in Praia da Luz uncovered no new evidence.
The most significant police operation in Praia da Luz since Madeleine vanished, it included a search of scrubland 300 yards from the Ocean Club complex. Officers used groundpenetrating radar and specialist CSI dogs, then turned their attention to two other sites on the outskirts of the resort close to the main road to Lagos.
A military plane flew over the sites and took detailed images which were emailed to the British team on the ground to aid the search.
They compared the photographs with satellite imagery taken in 2007 to see if any soil had been moved over the previous seven years.
Portuguese police privately dismissed the British-led police work at the time as “senseless”. But it is understood new digs are “on the table” if concrete evidence about where Madeleine could be comes to light.
In another development, a “crucial witness” who called Brueckner’s mobile an hour before Madeleine was snatched has been named.
Respected Portuguese daily Jornal