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GERMAN cops trying to crack the Madeleine McCann case have “just weeks” to save their investigation into the prime suspect, it can be revealed.
The Sun has learned that detectives probing Christian B fear the investigation could collapse by the New Year unless a fresh lead is found.
It comes just days after the convicted sexual predator’s own lawyer told a BBC investigation the work of the German officers was on “shaky foundations”.
Christian B is yet to be formally charged – but was named by cops as the prime suspect after three-year-old Madeleine vanished in 2007 while on a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
A source close to the investigation told The Sun: “The next few weeks are make or break for the detectives investigating Christian B.
“Publicly they are saying they remain convinced he is linked to Maddie’s disappearance, and that they will present evidence in due course.
“But, privately, the case is close to collapsing.
“There’s no new leads, and the primary witness they were relying on has totally gone offside.”
That witness is Helge B, a convicted criminal who, up until earlier this year, was reportedly working with German cops sharing intelligence about his former pal, Christian B.
Our source added: “Helge B hasn’t been supporting detectives for a long time, and there is a huge black shadow over everything he’s told them up until this point.
“The reality is that without a fresh lead or a change in the direction of the investigation the probe into Christian B will be dead in the water by the New Year.
“The clock is ticking and what makes things even harder is the fact that relations between the German cops and Portuguese officers are at an all time low.”
Our story comes days after Christian B’s lawyer claimed the police investigation into Madeleine McCann is close to “crashing down”, as authorities continue to search for the missing girl.
Friedrich Fulscher spoke to a BBC investigative journalist as part of a new documentary, “Prime Suspect: Who Took Madeleine McCann?”
He criticised the “lack of substance” in the case and claimed that it is close to collapse.
He said: “This is rather a sign that the prosecution’s investigations are built on very, very shaky foundations, so that the slightest breath of wind could possibly bring the entire construct crashing down, and this is an indication of how lacking in substance this investigation is.”
German prosecutors revealed sex offender Christian B was their prime suspect in June 2020 – and said they had “strong” evidence against him.
Prosecutors have since been determined to prove that the convicted sex offender was the one who snatched and possibly killed Madeleine.
They believe he initially planned to rob the holiday apartment before he “moved on to a sexual motive”.
The fiend is a prolific burglar, who has previous convictions for sex crimes against young girls.
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He has been linked with the disappearances of several children over the past 25 years, including that of a six-year-old boy in Portugal in 1996 and a five-year-old girl in Germany in 2015.
In May cops from Portugal and Germany scoured the Arade Dam near Silves, 31 miles from Praia da Luz, for clues.
Cops have hit several dead ends trying to nail Christian B – but his former friend came forward with damning claims that became the cornerstone of the German force’s probe.
German Helge B was a criminal pal of drifter Christian B when they lived in the Algarve around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
He told cops he was chilled by Christian B’s alleged dark confession when the pair met at a music festival in Spain a short time after the tot vanished.
As the pair discussed the case over beers, Christian B was said to have coolly confided: “She didn’t scream.”
The convicted rapist and child sex attacker clearly implied he had taken Madeleine, Helge B told cops.
But the case was left hanging by a thread as sources close to the German probe said the key witness was “wobbling” and threatening to stop helping.
Christian B is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the brutal rape of a pensioner in Portugal at a high-security prison known as the “Alcatraz of the North” in the German city of Oldenburg.
He could face trial as early as February next year for a string of heinous alleged crimes including three rapes and two sex attacks on children, it was reported last month.
Two of the alleged rapes are said to have taken place at his former residence outside Praia da Luz, where Madeleine disappeared.
In the BBC documentary, a woman said Christian B ran a “rebellious gang” in Würzburg, Germany when he was a teenager.
And others who encountered him in the years following Madeleine’s disappearance spoke of his violent and aggressive nature.
Bar manager Brigitte Szegedi recalled the “fits of rage” she witnessed him have with other patrons, while a former employee of the suspect claimed he once confronted him with a knife.
It was also revealed that Portuguese police apologised to Madeleine’s parents for the way they handled their daughter’s disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann were made “arguidos” – or suspects – in the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
Both were questioned by Portuguese detectives, who believed they had staged an abduction and concealed their daughter’s body.
Kate McCann has said she was offered a deal to admit covering up her daughter’s death in exchange for a shorter sentence.
The couple’s arguido status was lifted in 2008, but they remained under suspicion in Portugal for years.
