Madeleine McCann murder suspect loses bid to overturn conviction for rape

THE MAN suspected of murdering Madeleine McCann has lost the latest battle in an appeal to overturn a conviction for rape.

German investigators believe Christian Brueckner, 43, killed Madeleine, then three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007.

He is serving a prison sentence in Germany for drug trafficking and is appealing against a conviction for the 2005 rape of a 72- year- old American woman in the same Portuguese resort, for which he was sentenced to seven years in jail.

The German court sent the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to decide on a point of law relating to his extradition to Germany from Portugal and later Italy.

According to court documents, he was extradited from Portugal for sexually abusing a minor in June 2017, then travelled to the Netherlands and Italy while still on probation after his release.

He was extradited to Germany from Italy in October 2018 on a warrant for drug trafficking before being tried and convicted of rape and extortion in December last year.

The European Court of Justice case centred on whether the German authorities needed Portugal’s consent to bring rape proceedings because of the 2017 extradition.

Italy had agreed Brueckner, referred to as Christian B in the German media, could be tried for rape and extortion in Germany.

The European Court of Justice ruled that only the permission of the Italian authorities was needed for the Germans to carry out their proceedings legally.

The decision is final and cannot be appealed but the case will now be returned to the German court to finally decide on Brueckner’s appeal, which he is likely to lose in light of yesterday’s ruling.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the Madeleine McCann investigation, has previously said investigators have “concrete evidence”, but not “forensic evidence”, that he killed her.