Portuguese cops sent him home on child sex charges
THIS is Christian Bruckner in a Portuguese police station eight years before Madeleine Mccann vanished.
The 1999 mugshots, seen for the first time, show paedophile Bruckner aged 22 before he was extradited to his homeland of Germany.
There he would serve two years for molesting a girl of six in a playground when he was 17.
Experts said our pictures, taken in Faro, raised more questions about why Portuguese cops never considered Bruckner a suspect when Maddie went missing in 2007 while holidaying with parents Kate and Gerry.
Ex-detective Mark Williamsthomas said: “It is clear police failed to trace, interview and eliminate a local child sex offender because had they done so, then Christian Bruckner would have been flagged up as a significant person of interest and potential forensic evidence obtained from his campervan.
“This new information just reveals more incompetence with the initial police investigation.”
Officers in Portugal led by chief Goncalo Amaral have long faced criticism over handling of the case.
Bruckner was named as a suspect in the
Mccann case by police in Germany, where he is serving another jail term for drugs offences.
German prosecutors believe he kidnapped the three-year-old from a Praia da Luz apartment and killed her. The 1999 photos show Brucker smartly dressed with neat short hair – a sharp contrast to his pockmarked face in a photo released last month by police.
The drifter, 43, in prison in Kiel, Germany, is due to finish a 21-month jail term for drug offences in January.
He is appealing a conviction for the 2005 rape of a US pensioner in Praia da Luz following a break-in.
Bruckner was twice extradited from Portugal to Germany after international arrest warrants were issued. The second time was in 2017, after it was discovered he was wanted for child sex abuse and possession of child pornography.
Portuguese cops arrested him on suspicion of exposing himself to young kids at a playground 40 minutes from Praia de Luz. Just over a week ago, cops and firefighters searched three wells for Maddie’s body – but failed to find any trace.